Bulldog44 DVH E-11 Blaster Kit & Mixed Blaster Part Builds 2020

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Original DVH E-11 Blaster Kit (2014)

Already started to build the kit but will try to record progress from here. I have a few other blasters in progress too made up from spare parts from Doopy, DDay and my own casted parts. I will update those blasters here as well. Stay tuned! 
 

The DVH kit came with a 40mm diameter pipe and the inner diameter was big enough for the bolt to fit inside. Unfortunately the 40mm pipe looks too big so I went with some locally found pvc pipe that measures almost exactly 38.1mm outer diameter. The walls of the pipe are too thick to fit the bolt so for this blaster the original DVH bolt will not be used. I might make a custom bolt plate or make a partial bolt cast that can be trimmed and glued in place. 
 

Other parts that still need some work are the t-tracks and the folding stock. The power cylinders are too big looking so I will not use the ones supplied with the kit. The scope and counter have some issues but I will use them anyway. In general most of the parts came very unfinished and required lots of trimming, sanding and re-shaping with epoxy putty. This was a new groundbreaking kit at the time being cast from original parts that still preserved the paint & patina finish. It paved the way for more accurate cast from original part kits and inspired me to have a go at casting original scopes.
Thought it was about time to break out the parts & bring this kit to life. 
 

Edited October 28, 2020 by Bulldog44

[T-Jay[TK]]

Hi Brian, great to see you are running a new build thread again. It was about time.  This kit will be a challenging one, I guess. Looking forward to your next update and cannot wait to see, what you turn this into...

 

Following.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Hi Tino! Yes, well overdue indeed. I am out of space and excuses so this had to get started. Hoping to add a bit of history info on the development of the kits from DVH, DDay to the parts I am now slowly molding and casting in phases. 
For the DVH kit there are a lot of areas that require drilling out to get that realistic look but I think I might not go too crazy with this one and leave it mostly as it came. 
And about the bayonet lug flattened area on the receiver tube continued from this thread -https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/48391-sterling-smg-mk4-l2a3/?do=findComment&comment=704931  I believe you are 100% correct that the flattened area extends to the second hole. I only have the casting of the front end of the receiver to reference. It looks like it goes past the first hole but the front end was part I have is cut off slightly past the first hole so it’s hard to tell for sure. This is the only thing that seems to be incorrect on Andy’s template. I am not sure if this was intentional or a detail he missed. Maybe there variations on different era sterling’s. 

Just to keep an accurate account of the builds I didn’t use the temples seen above for the first 4 receiver tubes I drilled out. I used the e-11 temple found in the template section. Both templates are very close in comparison but I think Andy’s template seems to bit more accurate when using my DDay aluminum receiver tube as a second reference. 

 

Blaster #2 - Hybrid/ FrankenBlaster  (Local plumbing PVC pipe receiver)

Doopy parts: magazine well, possibly using doopy counter too

DVH/Dday parts: Folding stock

Magazine clip from Gazmosis

Additionally Bulldog Prop parts.

The DDay folding stock was casted in 2 parts and really helped give that extra look of realism. I still need to add the folding arm pipe detail once I get the inside area drilled out. 

Next up, I still need to fix the bayonet lug flattened area to extend to the second hole on this receiver tube and all the other tubes I have in the cue. 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by Bulldog44

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Here is a quick look at the 3 types of folding stocks I will be using for my blasters.

The top stock is the original one from the DVH kit; one full casted piece, non-moving parts 

The middle stock is from Phoenix Props kit. I am not sure if this was modified to cast into 2 parts from the DVH kit stock. It still has the old sterling paint in some areas so I think that is what this is from. Then Dday went with newer parts to cast from. I might be wrong about this so please feel free correct me. 

The bottom stock is casted from the paint stripped parts I acquired from Dday. 

Side View

Top View

Parts For Part 

 

For the DVH and Phoenix Prop stocks I am working on removing the inner resin to fit in the folding arm tubing. The DVH stock is really interesting as it has all the paint texture and battle worn look & feel to it. Lots to clean up and patch but still fun to work on. Nice point about this stock is the hinge mount part is casted with the stock wishbone arms so its easy to glue onto the receiver tube & the outer hinge caps are casted into the piece.  The Phoenix Prop stock was a huge improvement from the DVH and Doopy stocks as it added more depth and detail by molding the handle part separately. No Need to carve out areas to make it appear like 2 parts. 

 

The stock I casted will have all the parts included. I have only molded the large parts so far but hope to start on the smaller parts at some point. The stock will be fully movable, lightweight but with the parts being plastic and very thin, I don't think it will be very strong and will eventually break.

Just fun to go from a static one piece stock assembly to a 1:1 part for part replica. 

 

Edited November 16, 2020 by Bulldog44

[T-Jay[TK]]

My Phoenix Props kits a few years ago all had a one-piece folding stock, which (as far as I know) was cast from the cleaned Sterling parts set that you have now.

 

I always wanted to see (and have) a detailed resin folding stock. Yeah, it might break - but I would take that risk.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

12 hours ago, T-Jay said:

My Phoenix Props kits a few years ago all had a one-piece folding stock, which (as far as I know) was cast from the cleaned Sterling parts set that you have now.

 

I always wanted to see (and have) a detailed resin folding stock. Yeah, it might break - but I would take that risk.

Interesting. I had a look back into Dday's posts and it seems he did cast the stock in 2 parts at first but then moved back to a one piece cast. So your stock is the newer Phoenix prop stock. https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/28047-phoenix-props-e-11-stormtrooper-blaster-kits-a-new-hope-and-esb/?do=findComment&comment=414476

This explains a lot as I noticed on the wishbone stock part I have the paint texture is still present as it was on the DVH stock. So he somehow casted the stock, cut up a few stocks  & separated the parts and recasted them. 

I understand why he did this now as it is very time consuming to cast all the parts, especially when you are offering blaster kits.. But like the scopes, I always want to have all the parts like the real deal. Not sure I will ever offer full kits but would like to try to cast all the parts and see how things stand from there. When that time comes I will certainly be interested to your feedback on the parts like you did with the scopes. 

 

[T-Jay[TK]]

3 hours ago, Bulldog44 said:

(...)   So your stock is the newer Phoenix prop stock.   (...)

That is correct.

3 hours ago, Bulldog44 said:

(...)   Not sure I will ever offer full kits but would like to try to cast all the parts and see how things stand from there. When that time comes I will certainly be interested to your feedback on the parts like you did with the scopes.    (...)

Your work on the hollowed resin scopes was absolutely outstanding! Thinking of a full blaster kit with the same high level of details makes me want to start right now.

In other words: whenever you do this, I would be honored to build it.

Guessing I do then need an acrylic glass case not just for the scope, but the whole blaster, he?

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Thanks Tino for your kind words. Hope I can keep up the same quality as the scopes. Some parts like the stock and the end cap have proved very difficult to cast with out incident.  Even if they are not perfect parts I think they will be fun to assemble and patch up. Stay tuned!

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Sorry no updates for the blasters but looking for information on measurements for the power cylinders.

 

I am in the process of making my own set of power cylinders and looking to buy resistors that are located behind the main baseplate. I have read through Playfulwolfcub's info but can't seem to find the correct resistors to order. I don't want to waste lots of money ordering possibilities so if someone has the correct size I can refer to that would great. I think Usaeatt2 listed the specs on the resistors he used but it does not seem to guarantee the sizes when ordering. He said they were about 9.2mm in length?     

 

The power cylinders are certainly not easy to make. I am making lots of guesses on the dimensions to keep these original as possible and not rely heavily on Playfulwolfcub's (Andy's) research too much out of respect. Most of the materials are locally purchased items so the measurements are restricted to what I can buy here. The only things that I need to source from outside Japan are the resistors if I can't find them here and the 10BA bolts and nuts from the UK. 

 

Any help here is greatly appreciated. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Bulldog44

[Sly11[Admin]]

This is one of the many good threads we have on power cylinders

 

 

[T-Jay[TK]]

2 hours ago, Bulldog44 said:

(...)   Any help here is greatly appreciated. 

Will send you a PM when I am home again.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Progress on making my own power cylinders:

 

Here is what I have made so far. Aluminum base plate is still not cut to finish yet. My tools for drilling and cutting are very basic so its hard to make these with more precision. More work on these in the next coming weeks. 

 

Paper mockup of the base plate. Still need to work on my template but so far it seems sufficient to use.

 

End Caps- 10mm metal fittings. These are used in jewelry making. The walls are too thin when placed onto the 9mm tubing so I need to use some kind of filler or glue. It,s literally a hairline seam to fill. I can use 9.5mm piping so the end caps fit perfectly snug but it somehow doesn't make the end cap stand out enough, looks almost seamless. 

I used a mini pipe cutter to trim down the caps, sawed off the top end eyelet, drilled a center hole for the 10BA bolts and filed down the sharp edge a touch to make them look more like the original end caps. 

 

 

Ordered some fuses from the UK to try those for the end caps like Playfulwolfcub used.

I also bought some locally found stainless steel screw caps that look perfect for the end caps. They need to be trimmed down too and I need to remove the inner threading. Not sure my hobby drill press can do this type of work but I will give it try. 

Here you can see a side profile of the metal I need to remove. 

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Bulldog44

[T-Jay[TK]]

Wow Brian! Seems like you are stepping into Andy's footprints here.

Thought you are working on power cylinders from resin.

Okay, of course it takes a precise master to make a mold.

But if you put such effort into sourcing correctly shaped parts, then maybe you could consider offering metal versions as well... ?!     (feeling the pressure? )

[Bulldog44[TK]]

21 hours ago, T-Jay said:

Wow Brian! Seems like you are stepping into Andy's footprints here.

Thought you are working on power cylinders from resin.

Okay, of course it takes a precise master to make a mold.

But if you put such effort into sourcing correctly shaped parts, then maybe you could consider offering metal versions as well... ?!     (feeling the pressure? )

Offering metal versions??????  No way!!!!!  Ha!  I can't even drill the center hole correctly.  Maybe if I get better at making them it's an idea to think about. But if people want really accurate and machine crafted power cylinders they should go to Chris or Dennis, Andy as well if he decides to make them again. Chris's cylinder kits are super nice too for the people who want to build them.   Perhaps I could prepare kits for the budget builder. The materials I use are relatively cheap. Just labor intensive and hard to get the drill holes perfect and the cuts clean and aligned. 

 

Hopefully I can make a nice enough master set to cast from. Many possibilities how to go about this, cast part for part or 1-3 part assembly. Not sure yet. 

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

These are looking pretty darn awesome Brian, nice work sir.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

17 minutes ago, Sly11 said:

These are looking pretty darn awesome Brian, nice work sir.

Thank you! They are certainly not easy to make consistently. I find something wrong each time I work on the parts. 

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Had a chance to test drilling out the inner threaded section on these caps. Luckily I had the right size drill bit but found some drilling oil is needed.

You can see from left to right- pre-drilled, partially drilled and fully drilled out.

Last thing to do is to cut down the cap to its final size with the mini pipe cutter. 

These caps look really nice and have some weight to them. Unfortunately more expensive than the jewelry caps and require drilling so these are just for experimentation at the moment. 

 

 

Has anyone ever used this service for CNC laser cutting service?  If it's cheap enough I might try to get some base plates made from my templates.  Might be easier and cheaper to use aluminum so its easy to bend the plate to the finished right angle. 

https://www.emachineshop.com/

[T-Jay[TK]]

If I get you right, Brian, only your master set of power cylinders will be metal, to then use these for making resin molds.

 

Now, if you plan a separate base plate for the resin copies, then why not making this from 1mm ABS plastic sheets? Cheaper costs for material, for tooling, perfect to CA-glue with resin, easier to shape and bend, more lightweight and still strong enough to carry the few resin add-ons. I have 1mm ABS pieces in my Completion Sets and you can literally cut them with a pair of scissors. So much easier and faster than working with metal. Just my two cents.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

12 hours ago, T-Jay said:

If I get you right, Brian, only your master set of power cylinders will be metal, to then use these for making resin molds.

 

Now, if you plan a separate base plate for the resin copies, then why not making this from 1mm ABS plastic sheets? Cheaper costs for material, for tooling, perfect to CA-glue with resin, easier to shape and bend, more lightweight and still strong enough to carry the few resin add-ons. I have 1mm ABS pieces in my Completion Sets and you can literally cut them with a pair of scissors. So much easier and faster than working with metal. Just my two cents.

Yes Tino, correct. I am trying to make a master set to make copies from. That’s the plan for the resin ones at least. 
 

I tried using right angles ABS strips for the base plate. ABS is easier to drill for sure and would certainly be a better idea for the resin power cylinders as you suggested. The right angle parts are okay but I am not liking the sharp angle of the bend so maybe it’s better to have them laser cut on a flat piece and then just need some heat to bend them into shape. 
Thanks  for your suggestions. I was originally thinking of all resin casted but the base plate is not so straight forward to mold and cast. Fragile as well I imagine. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Bulldog44

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Latest on my power cylinders- 

Found some newer style end caps that are cheaper and easier to modify than the ones I previously posted. 

End caps: 10mm OD/ 8mm ID   Brass Tubing: 9mm OD

 

To get the end cap inner diameter to fit over the 9mm brass tubing I had to drill once with an 8.5 flat profile drill bit and then again with a 9mm drill bit. I found drilling in one go with the 9mm drill bit resulted in more inaccuracy.

The great thing about the flat profile bit is that it leaves a nearly perfect centered indent. This sets up my marks to drill the center holes for 10BA screws. 

I am really liking the look of the brass tubes. Unfortunately it's very expensive and not easily available in large quantities here in Japan. 

Aluminum tubing and ABS tubing are the other materials I will be testing out to see what is easiest to use & more economical.  

Sorry this is becoming more of a power cylinder build thread than blasters at the moment. Hopefully I can get back on track to finish the blasters at some point.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Here are the 4 different tube materials I have tested so far. 

From left to right: 

A- Plastic hobby tube (9.2mm OD) / Caps made from jewelry strap ends.)

B- Clear ABS tube (9mm OD / decorative metal screw end caps)

C- Aluminum tube (9mm OD / decorative metal screw end caps)

D- Brass tube (9mm OD / decorative metal screw end caps)

Not sure what is the best to use overall but for price, availability and ease to work with, the clear ABS hits all of those checks. They will be painted so the clear tubes shouldn't be an issue to use. The brass ones have nice weight to them though. 

 

The main issue I have at the moment is not about the materials so much but my tools for creating the end notches. Using my dremel set up with a resin cutting wheel but I can't cut nice straight, even notches. Homework for the next few weeks will be looking into better ways to make nicer cuts or consider buying a better piece of equipment. Its probably better I tackle the base plate first before wasting too much time on just the notch issue.

 

Lastly- Capacitors 

5mm plastic hobby craft rods- Filed into shape using my drill and some metal files.  Main tube section measures 25mm in length. 

Still very crude and unevenly made but I think they are looking okay for now. Aluminum looks nicer than the plastic ones but for they take more time to file into shape. 

Thanks again for stopping by. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bulldog44

[T-Jay[TK]]

The caps made from jewelry strap ends (A) look a bit off to me, while the decorative metal screw end caps (B, C & D) look like a perfect fit.

 

Wouldn't worry about the tube material, as it gets painted anyway, like you already said. Go with what is easy to get and work with.

1 hour ago, Bulldog44 said:

(...)   Using my dremel set up with a resin cutting wheel but I can't cut nice straight, even notches.   (...)

Would suggest such a set of needle files for this (of course cheaper ones). The square and flat files will be good to use with the clear ABS tubes (better than AL or brass tubes).

 

The capacitors, well, they simply look perfect.

Grab a thin wire, heat one end with a lighter and push it into the melting plastic to get those wires for connecting to the base plate. Or pre-drill with a very small drill bit.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

18 hours ago, T-Jay said:

The caps made from jewelry strap ends (A) look a bit off to me, while the decorative metal screw end caps (B, C & D) look like a perfect fit.

 

Wouldn't worry about the tube material, as it gets painted anyway, like you already said. Go with what is easy to get and work with.

Would suggest such a set of needle files for this (of course cheaper ones). The square and flat files will be good to use with the clear ABS tubes (better than AL or brass tubes).

 

The capacitors, well, they simply look perfect.

Grab a thin wire, heat one end with a lighter and push it into the melting plastic to get those wires for connecting to the base plate. Or pre-drill with a very small drill bit.

Yes, the jewelry caps are not the best and require more tedious cutting and sanding to get the right look. Plus the walls are super thin so they don't nice used on the thicker 9.2mm tube. Visually not well-balanced. Thanks for your feedback. I feel better now going with the decorative screw caps. I just ordered more to work on over the holiday break.

 

Good point about the tubes. Agreed, the ABS clear tubes are looking to be the material of choice if I make lots of these power cylinders. And those needle files will probably do the job better than me fussing around with my dremel. If I can fabricate some cheap jig set up to keep the tubes perfectly straight, then I think this will greatly increase my success rate and speed up production. Perhaps I can make the brass or aluminum ones as an upgrade if I solve the notch issue.  

 

Thanks also about the capacitors.   Not sure they are perfect but hopefully they pass for replica looking capacitors.

I have some really fine drill bits to make holes but would like to try your idea first. 

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Not much of an update on the blasters but just thought to share my progress working out how to make my own power cylinders. 

Lots of material testing and sorting out dimensions I am happy with.

 

Got my 10BA bolts and nuts. Sourced some local resistors here in Japan and still on the hunt for better braided wire. The red stuff I got cheap from ebay is just nylon sheathing. Good for making things cheaply but the detail is lacking. Made my crude templates for the base plate in MS Publisher. Trying to learn some CAD draw so I can make files to send to a laser cutting company. 

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Does anyone know of a reliable and affordable laser cutting/CNC service to recommend? Looking to have the power cylinder base plates professionally cut as making them myself takes up too much time and more importantly very inaccurate.