RS Propmasters ESB TK slow and steady build in Portland, OR

[Infern0[TK]]

First troop as a TK at a Make a Wish event with the Air National Guard 142nd. Armor held up pretty well despite having to climb into and out of a pickup truck twice (with the help of three other people)! 

 

Since I needed a blaster, I decided to try to finish an ESB promo pipe build that @MoSc0ut had very kindly printed the parts for and started for me back in 2020.

 

I set myself the goal of finishing it to a troopable level in 48 hours (including paint dry time) which for my usual pace is unheard of…

 

Monday:

 

Pieces

 

 

 

Bending and installing the printed t-tracks (ignore the bottle of umeshu in the back - this was a sober build).

 

 

 

 

 

Assembly/filler primer on some bits + a few hours of researching placement for everything

 

 

 

 

Tuesday:

 

Pre painting

 

 

 

 

Wednesday:

 

Final pre troop (temp approved by our GML for one troop only!)

 

 

 

 

(Ignore pup in the BG)

 

 

Post mortem:

 

For the short timespan it came together pretty well. Unfortunately I ran out of satin black and the closest thing I could get at short notice was semi-gloss, so the finish is way too shiny. Aside from a repaint/clearcoat, some printed bits need more glazing putty and filler primer, especially t-tracks and stock. The scope rail should be filled in as well. A few bits just need more sanding, but no more than a couple evenings worth of work at most. 

 

And as @justjoseph63 will know, I’m already looking towards my next ESB build with an original stock

 

At the troop:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Nice Blaster and great Trooping . Congratulations ! 

[MoSc0ut[TK]]

Hey, those parts look familiar! Nice work friend!

Jim M
TK-50899

[Infern0[TK]]

6 hours ago, MoSc0ut said:

Hey, those parts look familiar! Nice work friend!

Jim M
TK-50899

Thank you Jim, and huge thanks again for helping me out with it! 

[Infern0[TK]]

9 hours ago, TKSpartan said:

Nice Blaster and great Trooping . Congratulations ! 

Thank you!!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Looks AWESOME, Garrett!  As you mentioned, there are a few places where some more glazing putty is needed, but it turned out fantastic!

 

Depending on how detailed you want to get on your next build, one thing I would suggest is to go to Ace hardware (there are several in the Portland area) and pick up a few odds and ends.  The cool thing about Ace is that they sell specialty screws (thousands more choices than Lowe's or Home Depot) and you can purchase them individually!

 

I would go for a star-head screw in the side greeb

   

 

For the muzzle they have the hex-head bolts (hundreds of sizes) and Carriage bolts to attach the folding stock (which you should be receiving tomorrow). 

        

 

 

[Infern0[TK]]

Thank you @justjoseph63! Already got the hex bolts sorted which I just randomly happened to have in the correct size: 

 

… and heading to Ace at some point soon to get the rest of the hardware for the folding stock and grip… but that’s for another build thread 

 

As far as the screw in the side greeb there… I have to be honest, I spent a good half hour or more trying to figure it out, and from the angle of the slots I’m not convinced it’s supposed to be a star head screw. It really looks like a super-stripped Philips head to me.

 

The only other thing I could think of was that they used a five point star screw, which do exist, although not sure if they were around in 1979…
 Thoughts?

[Sly11[Admin]]

Congrats on finally getting your TK done and out on a troop.

You look fantastic!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

This is a conundrum of sorts, Garrett.  The original ones definitely look to have 5 lobes (points) and appear to be 5 point Torx screws, very similar to the ones you showed.  BUT, those are Pentalobe (security) screws because of the small post in the center and didn't come into use until many years after ESB.  I used the 6 point Torx type as I could not find the 5 point version in the right size.  If you do, please let me know!  In the grand scheme of things, I highly doubt anyone will notice either version, lol.

 

          Torx                   Pentalobe