Freddy's ANH E11 Blaster Build - a student's path to join the Empire

[Freduster[TK]]

Good evening Troopers, it's time to hit the forum with a bigger update again: the scope is pretty much finished!

After my work with the car surfacer a couple of weeks ago it was now time to take the next try and drill that thing out properly!

 

First, after sending down any outstanding surfacer with a metal file I started drilling with this forstner bit here:

This was what the scope looked like afterwards:

 

Then, as the hole was about as deep as the lens and the plastic casing around it (I decided to keep the casings of all the lenses I used on which would later make it a lot easier to fit in and glue), I switched to this massive thing here:

Also notice the aluminium rod + bit construction that we had to build because the drill would not have reached far enough into the scope.. I guess every Chadra-Fan out there would have been proud! Anyway, afterwards the scope looked like this:

 

After a couple of rounds with a rotary cutter (God, I am learning so many new technical terms, it's actually amazing what a blaster build does to your vocabulary ), it was time to get the smaller side done. For this side, we used a "countersinking cutter" (at least that's what my trusted online English dictionary spat out when I punched in the German word "Senkbohrer") because it had just the right diameter for the hole we needed to fit in the smaller lens including its casing.

Obviously we also had to free the lens first:

Turns out I could be very happy with the result!

 

Finally we only had to connect the two holes we drilled by first drilling a very small hole and then widening it with bigger and bigger holes. This is what it looked like:

 

For my final trick, I put in the lenses to see what it will look like after painting and glu(e)ing:

The bright orange will probably disappear a little bit after I painted the inside of the scope black, but I am still very happy with the result and cannot wait to finish this (probably most complicated) part of my blaster!

 

Cheers, Freddy

Edited February 25, 2018 by Freduster
screwed up the format which is now fixed :)

[T-Jay[TK]]

A very radical and unusual approach, Freddy. But who cares?! The result speaks for itself - and that looks good so far.

 

Not sure if you have to paint the inside of the scope at all. I would only do this, if the resin is visible somewhere inside when looking through the lenses. Just my two cents.

[Freduster[TK]]

Update! Managed to get some work done today as revision went really well this morning so I could treat myself to a bit of blaster building!

 

Yesterday I had a read through T-Jay's Lucky#Eleven build for some inspiration, and thus I went on to highlight the writing engraved on the back of the scope with a white crayon:

Went on to polish the white paint of that wasn't meant to stay, and I was pretty happy with the result. Furthermore, I spray painted the D-ring (but forgot to take a picture) and also worked on the front sight. Just like everyone who wants some details on the blaster, I used some green stuff from Tino's blaster kit to add some nice details, and my beloved file helped me with that:

 

I'm gonna have to take another study break for the next couple of days sadly, but might be back with an update this weekend. However, if anyone has any feedback, of course I am going to follow this website closely

Edited February 27, 2018 by Freduster

[T-Jay[TK]]

Looking good so far, Freddy. Maybe check some reference photos regarding the front sight cage. That crosshatch pattern is different on front and rear side of the cage.

[Freduster[TK]]

Also your letter with the missing screws arrived today, Tino! Cheers for that again! I'll hopefully get something else done over the weekend

[Freduster[TK]]

Progress update (yay!): needed a break from studying today, so I decided to put good use to the new screws I ordered from Tino.

These are the results:

 

I also sanded down the front of the scope rail to make it fit into the hole of the tube, and it's looking good It feels like I'm getting closer and closer to having all the detailed "bigger" parts together which, once assembled, will form a pretty good looking E-11 (for my eyes at least, for most of you guys it'll probs be a pretty average use of the individual parts I used ).

 

The only bigger issues I'm gonna have to overcome now are the trigger mod and the hengstler counter. But I'll read through some more parts of the forum and I should be fine

 

Freddy

[Dracotrooper]

Looking good! Keep up the great work

[T-Jay[TK]]

Looks good. Don't forget to weather these screws. Otherwise they will be too shiny.

 

If you want, you can place the two inner screws on the scope front a bit deeper, like on real scopes.

[Suspend]

On 2/27/2018 at 10:50 AM, Freduster said:

Yesterday I had a read through T-Jay's Lucky#Eleven build for some inspiration, and thus I went on to highlight the writing engraved on the back of the scope with a white crayon:

 

Went on to polish the white paint of that wasn't meant to stay, and I was pretty happy with the result.

 

Hey Freduster, I found out yesterday if you hit the leftover crayon with a hair dryer you can easily get rid of the remaining crayon residue off the scope. 

 

Mark

 

[Freduster[TK]]

Hi Mark! Cheers for the advice, I'll definitely try that out @T-Jay: do you have a good method for weathering the screws?

If I can spare some time today I'll probably finish my blaster mod, but with an oral exam coming up tomorrow I might have to do other things

 

[Freduster[TK]]

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing: are there any approval requirements on the Hengstler counter? I am striving for a more idealized build and don't need a 100% accurate Sterling gun. And I am kind of scared of the whole number and plexi glass thing, I am tempted to just leave it the way it is. Is that somehow gonna affect my chances to become a member, EI or Centurion (because I am aiming to build the armor very screen accurate)?

[T-Jay[TK]]

5 hours ago, Freduster said:

(...)   @T-Jay: do you have a good method for weathering the screws?   (...)

Just partially add black paint on the screw heads. Avoid the area close to the slot. That will make it look like paint chips from using a screwdriver.

4 hours ago, Freduster said:

(...)   Is that somehow gonna affect my chances to become a member, EI or Centurion (because I am aiming to build the armor very screen accurate)?

For Expert Infantry and Centurion the FISD focusses on your armor mainly. The only important thing on the blaster is the ring on the end cap.

[Freduster[TK]]

Newstime!!! Had a few hours to spare today to do some more work on the blaster, and I made some decent progress

 

After a trip to the local home depot I increased and upgraded my arsenal:

Insulation tape was a bit expensive and since the only thing i needed it for was masking and the d-ring, I just went for cheap multi-coloured adhesive tape. Due to the budget surplus I also got some more spray paint as well as some smaller files which I thought would probably be very useful - and I wasn't wrong. But first things first...

Finished the end cap:

Finished the breakthrough in the folding stock: (This is where the files were used the first time, and they did well! Instead of clearing the whole thing out, I basically carved out the bottom part, but left some resin in the top corner where most blaster builders apparently add some green stuff - probably looks a lot better this way, but I'm a lazy trooper and went for the easier way.

I also weathered the scope so I can now put it aside and work on some other things before finally mounting it

 

I also worked a bit on the trigger so I will hopefully be able to finish that soon - some other smaller things were done which I just didn't take pictures of; whatever

 

With this project finally taking shape, of course I am already thinking about other things...

 

Aaaaaand since I managed to get the girlfriend hooked on Star Wars, aaaaaaaand with the armor hopefully coming in soon I will not stop working anytime soon. Especially since it's just sooooo much fun

Sadly she has decided to pick the wrong side, but putting together a costume which actually consists of real clothes will be a totally different challenge, and I'm certainly looking forward to that!

That was it for today, Freddy out

[Freduster[TK]]

Another update due to another busy day working

Got a few smaller things done, for example the selector switch which is also glued onto the E11 now:

 

Also I replaced the resin screw with a real one on the mag well:

 

I also fixed some smaller resin remains that shouldn't have been there anymore and at the same time upgraded my magazine:

 

Final thing today was the start of working on the front sight block and pin, of which the latter I had to build from scratch:

(the left thing looked like a smaller version of the right, but sadly I forgot to take a before-picture )

 

And finally, after a bit of rule of three calculations (inches into centimetres), I put together a front sight block which I am of course going to change a little bit to make it look accurate:

 

Before I forget, I attempted to fit the scope rail on today and the rear sight cracked in two. Now it has received some E6000 and is hopefully gonna stay in one piece again, but does anyone have an idea how to mount the rear sight onto the tube without risking a snap again?

 

Cheers for reading, Freddy

[T-Jay[TK]]

Super-glue (Sekundenkleber) is best for resin to resin bonds but the E6000 will surely be good, too.

You can fit your rail into the rear sight and use 1 screw to mount it there and that same screw to mount the rear sight onto the receiver tube.

[Freduster[TK]]

Hello FISD! It's been a long time since my last update, but exams and holidays kept me from working on the E11. HOWEVER: today finally marks the day where the trigger mod struggles come to an end! This was the main issue I wanted to make my way round for a long time, but now that it's been done, it really wasn't that hard

I started by fitting the nail and the trigger into the grip and filled up the hole with green stuff:

Next, I glued the trigger guard and filled up the little spaces between the guard and the rest of the grip with more green stuff:

And then I decided to make the most of the really warm weather in Germany right now and carried on in the garden and installed the bayonet lug and the end cap clip - both with little metal pins that I got out of snapping nails in two or three equally large parts:

These updates now leave the blaster at this state:

 

It's quite fascinating how simply adding the trigger and the guard suddenly turn this piece of resin into something that looks a lot like an E11 already - and I'm really looking forward to adding the other parts that are still missing. Also I decided to cancel my pre-order of the ANOVOS kit and as soon as my money is back in my account, I'll get an RS props kit - I've been waiting for the kit for almost 6 months longer than I should have, and this annoyed me quite a bit. So instead I am going to finally get my kit soonish, and sadly I probably won't be able to get it done by the 12th of May where the Role Play Convention is taking place in Cologne (unless I find someone who lives around Duisburg and is willing to give me a hand and build up the armor within less than a month), but the next event will come, and until then I will finally have my armor checked and will be a 501st member. And I can tell you, I'm very much looking forward to this day!

 

Cheers, Freddy out!

[kwakermad[TK]]

Nice build you have going on here. Just one thing I have spotted, you have not filled in the duvet on the side of the magazin. This is from DD moulding from the end of a whole mag, where as the blaster mags where cut down and would not have this detail.

Edited April 23, 2018 by kwakermad

[Freduster[TK]]

Hi Bob! Sorry, I don't exactly know which part of the mag I should fill in.. Could you describe the exact spot and what to do with it more closely? Thanks for the advice anyway, and say hi to my patria adoptiva for me

[Dracotrooper]

Hi Freddy, I think Bob must be referring to this part of the magazine (Correct me if I'm wrong Bob):

 

 

ps, keep up the good work; looking fabulous!

Edited April 24, 2018 by Dracotrooper
spelling mistake

[Freduster[TK]]

New update

 

Got a lot of stuff done again today as my armor should be here soon as well!

First thing was the correction of the mag, thanks again to @kwakermad and @Dracotrooper! This is what it looks like now:

Now that I worked on the mag, I decided I might as well get the whole thing done. So I screwed and glued the mag well onto the blaster:

And afterwards added the mag top as well:

 

Afterwards I prepared the scope rail which now looks like this:

 

Today was a pretty successful day which brings me closer to finishing the blaster This is what my to do list looks like after today:

 

That's it for today, tune in in a couple of days for the last steps of my E11 build!

[kwakermad[TK]]

Sorry didn’t reply to your clarification earlier, I have been absent for a while.

Yes that little dimple that Dracotrooper highlighted was what I tried to describe. Looking at your progress I really need to get my but in gear and get some work done on mine my trouble is I don’t know how far I want to MOD mine. Keep up the good work it looks great.

[Freduster[TK]]

To be fair I had the same problem, but my decision came during my build. I realised how long it takes to apply some of the mods, so i just decided on a couple that I thought would be absolutely necessary to make my E11 feel like a weapon worth of a Stormtrooper So just pick a couple and make a to do list, I just find it really satisfying to tick what I got done every day - plus it shows you how close you are to the finish line

[Freduster[TK]]

Another BIIIG update today: I carried on my work on the scope rail and prepared the hengstler counter:

Afterwards I glued both sides together and added two screws:

Then I decided to carry on for a while and added the folding stock - and then the rear sight - and then the scope rail; and I just worked my way through it so quick I even forgot to take pictures of that

So instead, here are some pictures of the (nearly finished) E11:

 

Now all that's left before painting is the bigger "flash guard" in the center of the tube and the power cylinders. Concerning these, I may have been too stupid to read properly, but didn't find anything about the specific location of the cylinders on the mag. Do I place them parallel to the tube or parallel to the shape of the mag well? I think I've seen both versions, but would like to hear from the experts what they prefer

 

Cheers guys,

Freddy

 

P.S.: I'll hopefully be back with the finish line update tomorrow evening

[Freduster[TK]]

We're getting closer to the finish line! After visiting the future colleagues at RPC this Saturday I underwent a boost of motivation once again, and so I carried out the last steps. Glued the last two parts with my E6000 and after it all dried I sprayed on another layer of primer. However, first of all I masked all the areas that I didn't want to be black after spraying (i.e. the ejector port which I already sprayed metallic silver, the scope lenses, the part of the scope with the white writing on, and finally the spring. That's the state of the blaster right before primer:

And after half an hour of drying, I added a couple of layers of black spray paint. After removing the masking tape and after another 24 hours of drying, this is what my E11 looks like now:

The very last step now is going to be a bit of weathering and a final layer of clear coat to protect the paint. And I also finished this project just in time as my RS Props kit and helmet are going to arrive on Wednesday. So this project might come to an end very soon, but I enjoyed it thoroughly and am also very happy with the result. I will probably finish this WIP with a couple of final pictures soon, and next weekend (at the latest) I will start my ANH TK WIP thread.

Cheers,

Freddy

[T-Jay[TK]]

Great news Freddy, looking forward to your final pictures.

Been at the RPC with the 501st both days last weekend. So sorry to hear now, you were there and we missed to meet. Maybe more luck next year when you join us with your RS armor.