BlasterMaster 3D kit build

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

The point of "No return" has arrived, and I've glued the two halves of the trigger assembly together and it's clamped for an hour or so. There is a screw that goes into the trigger pivot post but the hole is oblong and a couple of slices of the post broke off while I was gently trying to insert the screw. I glued them back on and will gently drill out the hole once the other glue sets. 

 I found that the battery would not fit either in front of or behind the bolt inside the spring like I had hoped. I got rid of the holder and directly soldered the positive wire to the top of the battery. No solder would adhere to the negative end of the battery so I used  the connector from the holder and tightly electrical taped around the entire battery to prevent shorts and to securely connect the connector and it's wire to the negative side of the battery. The tape is black so it will help hide the battery inside the slot that the cocking lever slides in.  Still won't quite fit in front of the bolt, but fits nicely into the spring end now. I drilled the hole through the center of the bolt to feed the plug and wire though and have added another coat of silver to the bolt. 

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

Successfully glued the trigger housing together without gluing any moving parts together. Have sanded and attached the trigger and grip to the barrel, and waiting for that glue to cure. Glued one end of the trigger guard in place as well, it's kind of springy so I'll let the first end dry and then glue the other end and secure it in place with tape until it dries. I'll likely carefully mask off some parts and hit some of it with a bit more matte black then set aside for full paint cure before giving it the final matte clear coat that will hopefully help keep the paint on coming in and out of the holster. Getting close.

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

I realized to add that I had to open up the hole in the bottom of the barrel a little at the back to accommodate the 2 additional wires coming out of the trigger assembly where they did, not a big deal but clearancing was needed.

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

I have completed the trigger assembly and it's 2 switches work nicely. I have test fitted and glued it on. Due to the limitations of the pieces I had, the switch to change from stun to kill is basically upside down. I am not happy with the existing speaker, it's too big and hopefully something with a smaller diameter will fit and sound better. I have stuffed the battery the sound chip and all the wires into the barrel and magwell. the charge cable, it's plug and the power/charge light will reside in the removable magazine which is also where I'll access the power switch. Both red and blue LEDS still work at both ends of the barrel after all the jacking of the wires I had to do to wiggle everything into place. The sound chip barely fits, it's designed for bigger blasters with more room in it's defense. Looking for a 1" 2W thin speaker to use, the 1 1/2 that came with it along with the sound chip are just too much to fit in the magwell together and it's the only place the sound chip will fit, too wide for the barrel. More to come, very close to being finished.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

14 minutes ago, Dax Corrin said:

I am not happy with the existing speaker, it's too big and hopefully something with a smaller diameter will fit and sound better. 

Have you thought of adding a speaker jack so you can run a cable up your arm to and amp, I found this solves the problem of using quiet small speakers. I do this will all of my weapons, really stands out at a noisy convention  

[T-Jay[TK]]

And if Glen's idea does not work for you, maybe you can install your speaker inside the Hengstler counter box.

 

Getting the wires there can be challenging, but I have seen people running them below the scope rail or right through the receiver pipe into the counter.

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

9 hours ago, T-Jay said:

And if Glen's idea does not work for you, maybe you can install your speaker inside the Hengstler counter box.

 

Getting the wires there can be challenging, but I have seen people running them below the scope rail or right through the receiver pipe into the counter.

Hengstler counter is also 3D printed and not hollow. I may see if I can shoehorn the speaker in before the sound board but not hopeful...  Audio jack to my amp is a possibility, would have to see where I could tap into the speaker wires and discreetly mount the jack.  EDIT: I'm hoping a slightly smaller speaker might actually be a better speaker too.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Dax Corrin
added additional thoughts

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

OK, sometimes a big step backwards is needed for a giant leap forward. I think Val Kilmer said something like that in "Real Genius". I managed to get the speaker and chip both in the magwell for testing, not final fitting and that was good. Still couldn't put the magazine in and turning the switch on and off requires needle nose pliers due to limited space between speaker and chip. Then had a failure of a wire at the power (charge) plug and pulled it all back out. Discovered I had gotten super glue on that plug, so it wouldn't come back out. Also the pigtail with the status LED comes out of the wrong side of the board, but having been designed for a larger blaster I can't fault the builder for that. I had to remove the body of the plug for the pwr port, and I soldered the charge plug wires directly to them both and shrink tubed them, then bent them 90 degrees for more clearance. I also shortened the pigtail for the status LED (which is hidden and only seen when turning on or off or charging) and flipped it to the other side of the chip (to component side) but got the red and green wires backwards so when green is supposed to be lit it's red and vice versa. It's not visible to anyone but me and I'll know so not a big deal. I also ground off one of the mounting tabs as it was preventing the magazine from closing. Now the speaker is in, the chip is in and both are glued in place and everything works. Looks like I'm limited to 3 pics per post based on size. More to come in next post.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Dax Corrin
replaced do with due

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

Maybe it won't allow any more pics at all. I've exceeded my allowable uploads. Scanning the rest to Imgur and linking. Let's see if this works... Edited Yes, it worked.   I added my TKID 12485 to the counter and a clear plastic cover. I'll fill in the chipped paint on the folding stock screws and then mask off the speaker holes scope and LED openings before spraying matte clear on everything to help protect the paint. Works great sounds pretty good and looks pretty decent but unweathered as I don't have those skills.

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Dax Corrin
Added additional details after loading pics to imgur, and correcting typos

[T-Jay[TK]]

Great work, Greg.

Glad to hear you were able to get all issues with the electronics fixed.

Can't tell how it sounds, but it LOOKS really good.

The only thing I noticed is the bayonet lug. Seems it needs to get rotated by 90 degrees:

 

For the weathering, maybe Chapter #29 of the FISD E-11 Blaster Reference will inspire you and help you with that...

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

Roger, I'll fix that. And, if you have heard Anthony Bailey's sound chip, that's what it sounds like.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Dax Corrin
added content, epic content. :P

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

And I removed and rotated the bayonet lug to it's correct orientation.

[Dax Corrin[501st]]

After giving the black paint plenty of time to cure, today I hit the last of the blaster with matte clear paint. I had hit part of the back and the folding stock already but had to re-paint some of the black of the end piece after the clear glued it to the cardboard I set it on to coat.  :(  Tonight the whole blaster pretty much got hit again, thankfully with NO paint wrinkling. That is a huge win alone. I removed all the tape and it looks really good but like a new blaster not one that has been weathered. 

[T-Jay[TK]]

In case you want to add some weathering (still possible), you can check the 'Weathering Chapter' in the FISD E-11 Blaster Reference.

 

Maybe it inspires you...