sla73 Posted April 10, 2016 Report Posted April 10, 2016 (edited) Hello All, So I've been lurking around and posting to other guys build threads and it’s probably time I start a thread of my own. First a bit of background! My kit came sometime the middle of last year, yes there will be a long build time on this blaster - my apologies. I have already been working though my build so there are quite a few tasks have already been done. Extras I using for this build are: T-Jay's e-11 - Completion Set (v1.9) + Hengstler conversion counter Gazmosis's - replacement Magazine themaninthesuitcase - 3D printed parts. A real M38 Scope (but needed to find some replacement screws) - UPDATE, I have opted to mod the resin scope as the the real one is probably too heavy for a doopy.. Snaggletooth’s - Replica Hengstler 400 Various tins of paint, glue, other bits a pieces, clamps etc.. Reference material, The E-11 reference document of course! Props to all the other guys posting their builds (T-Jay, Bulldog44, Gazmosis, usaeatt2, thrawns-guards, themaninthesuitcase) just to name a few. There are loads of tips tricks, insights and a new mod every day! – Keep innovating guys and thanks! Anyway here we go!! The Front Sight modI worked on some resin cut from the block left over from my Hengstler mod. All bit s are hand carved and glued together. This was my second attempt, the first one I made from the actual doopy doo casted piece, but I broke it when drilling the holes. Hengstler mod I managed to get hold of the Hengstler conversion counter from T-jay, the finished product looks okay, but when I was mucking around gluing the inside I got a little too smart and accidently glued the push in reset lever in the out position. I can still change the numbers when I take the cover off. The mod part next to the reproduction. Power CylindersI opted here to use Chris’s (themaninthesuitcase) 3D printed parts, really happy with the result. Pre Painting Post painting Re painting, first I put coat of Mr. Surface 1000, then tried a few different paints. Tried a coat of X-18 semi-gloss back and freaked, was way to shinny. So I covered it with XF-84 dark iron (flat). The flat dark iron hides the bumpiness of the print quite well I think. Anyway Its all hand painted tho, so spray coats would probably come out even better. For the resistors I just used some plastic from one of my daughter’s toys. I cut four pieces drilled tiny holes in the ends and glued in some wire. Recoil spring end cap and firing pin assembly Noting really special here, just been following some of the standard mods out there. Folding Stock I used some of the 3d prints on this part of the build Handle and trigger Again pretty standard mods. My real M38 scope and replacement screwsIn these shots the screws look nice and shiny, they have rusted over a bit since the pic’s were taken. Real against replacement – if you need a screw I have a few left over. That's it for now. Thanks for reading. Cheers Bryn. Edited May 5, 2016 by sla73 6 Quote
Crusader_6[TK] Posted April 10, 2016 Report Posted April 10, 2016 It sure looks very good! You did great with the power cylinders! I knowI did a poor job lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote
sla73 Posted April 10, 2016 Author Report Posted April 10, 2016 It sure looks very good! You did great with the power cylinders! I knowI did a poor job lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thnx dude, I thought I had stuffed them when I started painting them.. but when I put the last coat on I was surprised how well they came up.. The grey metal smooths the 3D printed piece out quite nicely and adds some depth to it.. still thinking how I might weather it (rust dust?) and if I should rub n buff it another colour.. Quote
Crusader_6[TK] Posted April 10, 2016 Report Posted April 10, 2016 I did a primer coat, an aluminum paint coat and then a hammered black coat and then light sanded the parts I wanted to look weathered. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote
sla73 Posted April 10, 2016 Author Report Posted April 10, 2016 A couple of pics of and update - extractor and plunger - Miliput molded and sanded.. Thnx 1 Quote
Thrawn's guard Posted April 10, 2016 Report Posted April 10, 2016 Great work so far Bryn.<br><br> I have a feeling that this will be a very good build. 1 Quote
Crusader_6[TK] Posted April 12, 2016 Report Posted April 12, 2016 You are making a good documentation of your build, keep it up! I should have done the same, but I either build or take photos. I'll be looking up this build closely! 1 Quote
T-Jay[TK] Posted April 12, 2016 Report Posted April 12, 2016 Hey Bryn, nice to see you finally started a build thread We never get tired of watching things like this... Following 1 Quote
themaninthesuitcase[Admin] Posted April 12, 2016 Report Posted April 12, 2016 I find it really weird how my parts are now a headline feature in a build You did a cracking job on them though, I just hope my own come out half as well. 1 Quote
sla73 Posted April 13, 2016 Author Report Posted April 13, 2016 Thanks for all the positive comments and encouragement chaps. I just need to keep the motivation and regular posts up ! Quote
sla73 Posted April 14, 2016 Author Report Posted April 14, 2016 (edited) Bolt, extractor and plungerHi there, A bit of an update to my last post, where I posted pictures of the extractor & plunger bits of the bolt (I think that’s what they are called). Anyway, I wasn’t happy with the milliput piece I made, the round pin just didn’t look right. So I hooked it out and replaced it with a tube of plastic (yellow) the same as the ones I used in my resistors on my power cylinders. Decided to add serial numbers on the bolt (T-Jay Mod), well was planning to was just getting up the nerve. So I also dremeled out the top of the bolt and filled in with milliput and pressed in the numbers (copied of T-Jays new pipe build). This was tricky as I tried green stuff first, it was way to sticky. Ended up putting in milliput and wetting my fingers to smooth it in, pressed the numbers in and gave it a light sand when it was dry. Pretty happy with the result, the sanding helped heaps as the number punches I used pushed the milliput out a bit. Will update after I paint. Have the same coloured paint that T-Jay used on the bolt on his latest pipe build . Edited April 15, 2016 by sla73 3 Quote
Crusader_6[TK] Posted April 14, 2016 Report Posted April 14, 2016 Amazing detail! Keep up the good work! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote
sla73 Posted April 17, 2016 Author Report Posted April 17, 2016 (edited) Bolt, extractor and plunger - Update 1 Okay so I wanted to see how the bolt would look painted, see below. Not too worried about painting it now as I will just mask it off when I spray paint the barrel later. I also painted the end of the bolt where the spring cup is. As you can see in pics below, for the spring cup I used a marker and I cut the end off of the marker to make it look more like a real spring cup. Here is a shot of the marker in the back of the PVC pipe before cutting painting.. Oh if you are wondering what I used for the angled stripe for the bolt, I used plastic collar stays from my work shirts.. Nice and thin and easy to work with.. Okay that’s about it for now, oh one last thing the metal coat paint I used shows up all your bad sanding and glue, so it there was a little more work tidying up than I expected. Cheers Bryn Edited April 17, 2016 by sla73 3 Quote
T-Jay[TK] Posted April 18, 2016 Report Posted April 18, 2016 Very nice catch on recreating that rear end of the spring cup Paintwork also looks good. 1 Quote
sla73 Posted April 19, 2016 Author Report Posted April 19, 2016 Very nice catch on recreating that rear end of the spring cup Paintwork also looks good. Thanks Tino, I sort of thought to myself, hey I could cut the end off of that.. and presto.. Quote
sla73 Posted April 23, 2016 Author Report Posted April 23, 2016 (edited) Selector switch modification – Update 2I decided to do the selector switch mod that I saw on Thrawn's Guard build, thnx J Chris. I previously had just done the standard nail and hole mod. But I just wasn’t happy with it. So I went off to Jaycar here in Sydney to get a male a female 3.5 mm stereo jack bits, but I found 2.5 mm ones so I thought smaller might be better. In the end I don’t really think there was much difference. One challenge I did come across was when drilling out the switch out I stared running of resin for my hole. I decide to fill the drill hole back up and just glue in the shaft into the switch. I had to grind the back of the 2.5 mm male plug to get the shaft free, once I grinded enough of it just pulled out form the front of the plug. Anyway the rest was pretty standard, drilling and gluing with epoxy etc. I managed to get the female piece in nice and flush, but I did need to grind the outside of then tube where the thread was to keep the diameter down so that when the switch is plugged in it is pretty much hidden. Much better than the nail and hole mod! P.S. One thing that you can't really see in the pics, the female part of the jack sit in nice a flush (it looks like they sit out in the pic), so should be hidden when I paint (when i get there) Cheers Bryn Edited April 23, 2016 by sla73 1 Quote
sla73 Posted April 24, 2016 Author Report Posted April 24, 2016 (edited) Magazine housing – magazine release button – Update 3Hello again, so it’s a long weekend here in Sydney (for ANZAC day) so I have had the opportunity to work on another mod. This time the magazine release button! I also picked up a toggle switch while I was at Jaycar this week getting the 2.5m jack for the selector switch. First step, I built up the release button with a leftover block of resin from the resin counter. The idea is make the shaft of the release button a little longer to hide the bits of the toggle switch. I shaped and drilled it out the and glued in the switch. Next I drilled a hole in the magazine housing and had to built up the bottom of the toggle switch up with a small piece of styrene left over from my helmet build. You will notice in the next picture that I had to grind the thread of the toggle switch down so it would move within the shaft of the release button. Up Down (my daughters finger) I will leave it unglued for now until I am ready to paint. Cheers all.. Edited April 24, 2016 by sla73 3 Quote
Tr00per Posted April 24, 2016 Report Posted April 24, 2016 (edited) Looks great Before you paint, you might want to have a good look at the foresight guard.. The ''dog-legged'' stamped checker patern shouldn't run all the way to the front of the foresight guard. Front : back : As for the breech blocks all around, a fun thing to know is ''for example'' S66 9 602 153 M 2380 Means : Sterling manufactured in 1966 (S66) , Abridged NATO code 960-2153 , Steel batch code M2380. Edited April 24, 2016 by Tr00per Quote
sla73 Posted April 24, 2016 Author Report Posted April 24, 2016 Looks great Before you paint, you might want to have a good look at the foresight guard.. The ''dog-legged'' stamped checker patern shouldn't run all the way to the front of the foresight guard. Front : back : As for the breech blocks all around, a fun thing to know is ''for example'' S66 9 602 153 M 2380 Means : Sterling manufactured in 1966 (S66) , Abridged NATO code 960-2153 , Steel batch code M2380. Thanks Dennis, I will revisit that guard for sure. P.S 1966 was a good year, will make the SSMG 50 years old this year! Cheers Bryn Quote
sla73 Posted April 30, 2016 Author Report Posted April 30, 2016 (edited) Folding stock and sight guard and rear sightHello Again, I have a quite a few little updates to share, I only think I need to fit the magazine and do the ejector and mussel guards and I will almost be ready to think about painting. Anyway, I re did the sight guard as Tr00per pointed out to me that the knurling on the front was extending down too far. I wasn’t happy with my first go so off it came, I gave the piece a bit of a tidy up and thinned it out a bit too. I am really happy with how it turned out. I used green stuff, I have had problems with this putty before so my first thought was to try and get some magic sculpt, Chris (themaninthesuitcase) has used this on his build and the results were great. Anyway that option was way too expensive, $21 plus the same for shipping to Australia. So had a first go with milliput that was a disaster and went back to green stuff, I found the secret was to keeping fingers wet when sculpting. With the rear sight I decided to keep this simple, tidied up the resin casting of the outside bush and drilled a small hole through and drilled out the ends of an aluminium 1/6 rod and inserted it. Should come up nicely when painted. For the part in the middle of the folding stock I drilled holes and used a 5 mil aluminum rod and drilled out the ends. There are a few other mods, I drilled and shaped the butt of the folding stock! For the folding stock hinge bit, another pretty standard mod. I drilled out a washer and used a small spacer got from Jaycar. I am also considering using the space for the middle of the folding stock too. Lastly I put the grub screw is the magazine housing. That’s all folks and thanks. Cheers Bryn Edited April 30, 2016 by sla73 2 Quote
Tr00per Posted April 30, 2016 Report Posted April 30, 2016 (edited) How are you gone tackle the rear sight, as the small cuts on the curved top needs to point towards the end of the tube, but this would mean you need to figure out how you are gone attach the scope rail. Using a real m38 scope might be too heavy to attach the scope rail true the rear sight peak hole. Edited April 30, 2016 by Tr00per 1 Quote
sla73 Posted May 1, 2016 Author Report Posted May 1, 2016 (edited) How are you gone tackle the rear sight, as the small cuts on the curved top needs to point towards the end of the tube, but this would mean you need to figure out how you are gone attach the scope rail. Using a real m38 scope might be too heavy to attach the scope rail true the rear sight peak hole. Hi Dennis, Yes, this matter that I didn't really consider well.. I am now thinking that I might fill in the rear sigh with epoxy glue and go in as far as I can into the barrel with a screw. Edit - See the pic's below where there is a hole from the casting, that I have filled. The real M38 as you say is quite heavy.. Or I guess I might need to think about modding the resin one that came with the doopy kit and save the real scope for my next build which will be a pipe build...... hmmm..... Do you know of any troopers who have a real scopes on a resin blaster? Edit - I just had a thought, perhaps a drill a hole under the rear sight where the crew would go in and then epoxy glue a nut in, to screw into.. Cheers Bryn.. Edited May 1, 2016 by sla73 Quote
themaninthesuitcase[Admin] Posted May 3, 2016 Report Posted May 3, 2016 On my build I have some 1.5mm brass rod to pin stuff with, including the rear sight. I pinned the back of the sight and the front is held down by a screw that goes through the scope rail, through the sight and then into the barrel. The sight is also superglued and the gaps filled with magic sculp. Seems pretty strong. I don't know how much more stress a real sight would add, so long as it can't really move to get any leverage it might be okay. 1 Quote
sla73 Posted May 4, 2016 Author Report Posted May 4, 2016 On my build I have some 1.5mm brass rod to pin stuff with, including the rear sight. I pinned the back of the sight and the front is held down by a screw that goes through the scope rail, through the sight and then into the barrel. The sight is also superglued and the gaps filled with magic sculp. Seems pretty strong. I don't know how much more stress a real sight would add, so long as it can't really move to get any leverage it might be okay. Thanks Chris, I am reconsidering whether I will use the real scope, I want to do a pipe build so I might save the real scope for that project. So it looks like I might need to do a scope mod... ! 1 Quote
Bulldog44[TK] Posted May 4, 2016 Report Posted May 4, 2016 Just my opinion but I secind that thought of saving the scope for the pipe build. I know people have used real scopes on resin blasters but think the weight may lead to cracking,etc. it will feel extra top heavy too making it uncomfortable to troop with. 3 Quote
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