revlimiter's Quest Design E11 build

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Santa hid a beautiful hunk of resin under the tree this year for me. I thought I'd do a build thread for this thing... whatever I end up doing to it.

 

 

 

This is the blaster in it's stock gorgeous state from Quest Design Canada. It's just lovely. And that loveliness is the reason I'm a bit hesitant to hack it up. I mean, I will, but it's just so pretty out of the box.

 

I asked for mine to be shipped as unbuilt as possible and Quest wasn't too happy about that request, but agreed to have the counter and rear cap not installed. Don't get me wrong, Quest Design was very nice to deal with, but they really didn't want to ship anything but a completed blaster.

 

And complete it is. I'll detail how many of the parts on this are NOT resin using my patented Magnet Technique (tm).

 

Metal grip screw

 

3 metal screws on the front scope (I don't believe the tiniest front screws are metal). And, of course, the included aluminum scope rail.

 

Metal trigger guard. The screws holding it in place are also metal.

 

The tiny screw behind the power cyls is metal.

 

And there's a screw holding the aluminum rail in place.  Did I mention the aluminum rail and the nice mount for the counter?  So awesome.

 

And here's all the goodies I have to upgrade this unsuspecting blaster with. To my knowledge, this is the last kit that @T-Jay had in stock. I received it late November and am still overjoyed to have it. SO. Many. Parts!!!

 

Red lens monocular to hack up and install in the scope.

 

Hollowed out Hengstler counter!

 

A plethora of micro screws and nuts. Single LED for scale.

 

The larger screws and goodies.

 

And a set of greeblies from @justjoseph63

 

Now I just have to figure out what I want to change and what I'm happy with. The scope and counter are certainly getting some luv. The screws at the barrel front are also easy marks. Probably the grip lock screw as well.  And I need to print that spring forming tool.

 

If anyone has hacked up one of these, I'd love some suggestions.

[Sly11[Admin]]

Very nice indeed.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Quest Design makes IMO the best pre-built blaster out there.  Lots of great details, but Tino's kit will bring it t the next level!  By the way, I purchased a lot of Tino's stock and will be offering up the finishing kits at some point in the near future. 

 

I think one of the reasons they probably don't like to sell their product unassembled is that someone could re-cast the various parts. 

 

A few things I would suggest:

 

1.  Make sure the Hengstler counter is in the "ideal" position.  

 

2.  It's not a big deal by any means, but the Philips head screws could be replaced with V-head screws and then the tops filled in as there were no screws on the trigger mount area.

Side note:  Philips head screws weren't used on TK blasters until ROTJ.

                                                                                                                                                                                           

       

 

3.  Assuming you will be making your own "fuses" for the center with Tino's kit, be extra careful when removing (grinding out) the ones that are cast into the present one, as well as the screws on the front of the power cylinders.  

                                                                My set up using Tino's kit

   

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress, so take your time, ask lots of questions and I'm sure it will turn out spectacular!

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

I hadn't even thought about those phillips screws on the trigger guard. I'll certainly take care of them. There's also one holding the rail in place on top that'll get swapped out.

 

On the counter, is THIS the ideal location?

 

This is basically as far back as the metal rail attachment allows. I can go slightly higher or a lot lower. I can also remove some meat off that rail attachment to bring the counter back a bit farther. 

 

It's just taped in place.

 

 

Trying to go off this one, but I'm just not quite sure.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by revlimiter

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

I think what you have in the first photo is just dandy, Adam.  Maybe a smidge lower, but I would have no issue passing that at L3 even as it is.

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

I managed to not take a pic of my new Sterling folding stock from Joseph. I'm trying to decide if I'm brave enough to integrate this into the Questdesign.

 

I did manage to get a bit of work done. I started with the spring.

 

I printed the excellent spring forming tool from this thread...

It worked a treat after I read the part mentioning that the tool needed to be glued to the PVC pipe. It doesn't work too great without being glued on there. But man did it produce a nice spring.

 

Just perfect.

 

Unfortunately it didn't fit the Quest blaster. The tube walls are apparently super super thick.

 

So I shrunk the spring down to the 1/2" pipe size annnd... still too big. WTF blaster?

 

Then I finally got out the calipers and measured the tube. I wandered all over the garage and house looking for a decent pipe or handle that would go in the E11 and found a random bamboo butterfly net from last summer. It fit just right.

 

I shrunk the spring down to fit the bamboo but had just terrible spacing on the coils, so I smashed it down to full compression and then manually opened each coil up to a mostly-even spacing.

 

Once inside the barrel I rotated things to show 11 exposed coils. It scratched the heck out of the inside, so I carefully repainted with a small brush... and got paint on the spring. It has since been fixed. No visible paint is currently on that spring.

 

Then I got brave and whipped out the dremel. Off came the blobs on the front barrel and in went Tino's correct socket head capscrews.

 

 

I'll fill any imperfections with green stuff.  But holy crap is this a lot better by itself. And the Quest Design resin cuts easily.

 

I decided I was bold enough to hack out this incorrectly pointing screw... and then I discovered it was aluminum under the paint.

 

Some careful work with a screwdriver has it pointing the right way.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Looking GREAT, Adam!  Nice to see that you have the passion for accuracy, brother. 

 

As for replacing the folding stock I see one small issue (and maybe another down the way) but nothing that can't be remedied!

 

The rear part of the actual stock looks like it was molded in to the base, as there is no pivot point.  This can be fixed by using your Dremel to cut it down flat, though as seen in the third pic**

      

 

**This is a detail from the ROTJ version I'm working on, but you get the picture.

 

The other item is the catch that holds the stock to the shroud in the front...  it will need to be able to latch onto the underside of the shroud to hold the stock in place.  You will more than likely have to cut a notch in front of the forwardmost hole for the catch to grab onto.  I know you mentioned that the tube is pretty thick, which may prohibit this from happening.  Not to worry, though!  You can thin down the thickness in that particular area with the Dremel (but just enough to where it will hold).  I know this because I had the same exact issue with the ROTJ version I'm doing and it works fine.  

 

Since mine was a little on the thin side I reinforced the front of the tab with a thin piece of aluminum glued to the inside.

 

 

            

 

Can you post up some pics showing the points where the existing stock is attached to the shroud?  

[revlimiter[Staff]]

5 hours ago, justjoseph63 said:

Can you post up some pics showing the points where the existing stock is attached to the shroud?  

 

Definitely!  The stock seems lightly attached to the main body on the QD. It's got...

 

This nose attachment, another small one about halfway up the barrel, and...

 

The rear attachment. Looks very simple to cut free TBH. I just gotta psyche myself up for it.

 

In doing research I found this older thread:

showing the attachment method that the real Sterlings used - a hollow tube on which the stock rotated and the pins went into. I may try to replicate that. I picked up some hardware at Ace yesterday with the correct diameter for the metal stock.

 

I also did a bit more to the blaster.

 

The included D clip wasn't quite right and it rattled a lot.

 

I've had this X-acto razor saw for something like 5 years and never opened or used it. Well, it was the night. And holy crap how did I wait this long? It's impressive. The cuts it makes are super super thin. Very little material is lost at all. And it's very quick.

 

I think this razor saw will be just the thing to remove the resin stock. And if I can't get a good fit with the metal one, it should glue back on with very little visible change.

 

I snipped the new D clip to the right size, gave it a bit of hidden electrical tape wrapping inside the housing to keep it from rattling, and glued things back in place.

 

I also popped the rail off and found THESE. Square security screws holding the scope in place. Time to dig around the toolbox and see how good I've been at hoarding security bits.

Edited January 5, 2022 by revlimiter

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

You might want to sand down the D-ring if possible before you paint it.  Otherwise if when the paint chips off it will be gold instead of silver.   Gotta' get me one of those saws!

[revlimiter[Staff]]

omg good call! I'm sanding the ring even now. Fortunately, I haven't yet painted it.

[revlimiter[Staff]]

I had some downtime today so I got to finish up my scope mod.  The number 1 thing I wanted out of this blaster was a cool scope. I wasn't sure if I could accomplish it, but some metal repro kits are on ebay for $80, so I figured even if I totally destroyed this scope, it wouldn't be too painful to replace.

 

I managed to find the right size square security bit to remove the scope. I also took the little monocular from Tino apart and removed the included Quest screws to be swapped out with the more accurate ones.

 

Step 1 was drilling out the nose. Pretty easily done since my drill bit collection had one of the right size. I drilled a bit farther into the scope than the front plate depth.

 

Because that front plate was coming off.

 

I wanted to have light shine through the scope, which meant drilling up at an angle from the front to meet the hole from the back. I didn't want to do that through the scope's nose and then rebuild the nose with putty later. It seemed like slicing off the front plate was easiest and best. That razor saw is coming in clutch for this build.

 

This is the front side. I hollowed it out a LOT and opened up as large a porthole as the material allowed.

 

And this is the back.  There are no words for the sheer volume of resin dust covering my garage and every part of my being. It got EVERYWHERE. And it was not quick.

 

Drill. Sand. Hollow. Drill. Blow. Sand. Drill. So very much work. But I got a pretty straight hole through the body, I didn't blow through any of the walls (though you can see light through part of the base) and I got the monocular elements to fit!!

 

Rear element test fitted. This just looks so damn cool. I love the orange coated element.

 

I got the reticle in place as well. It IS indeed right side up when installed, even though you really cannot make out the numbers with your eyes. The only way I could figure out which way was up was with the camera.

 

"Completed" front. It still needs clean up, paint, and weathering of course. But I'm a proud trooper right now! The nose plate glued back on just fine. The gap isn't quite even all the way around. I'll probably clean that up with the dremel cut off wheel (very shallow cutting) before paint.

 

Glue still drying on the rear element.

 

The way light is projected out the front. SO dang cool. And no spending money on a replacement scope for me!

[T-Jay[TK]]

Very good progress, Adam. Glad to see it worked and you are happy with the result.

 

Sorry for being late with that tip, but spade drill bits are ideal for hollowing resin scopes because these create 'flakes' instead of fine dust and do the job pretty fast.

Maybe it still helps future builders...

 

Can't wait for your next update.

[revlimiter[Staff]]

On 1/6/2022 at 7:05 AM, T-Jay said:

Sorry for being late with that tip, but spade drill bits are ideal for hollowing resin scopes because these create 'flakes' instead of fine dust and do the job pretty fast.

Maybe it still helps future builders...

 

While that tip would have been probably been nice before the dremeling, I've apparently never had a set of spade bits. There's a couple in my drill drawer but not enough, so I've now got a nice set on the way from amazon for the next project that needs them. Thanks Tino!! It's always nice to expand the tool collection.

 

 

Today's update - the Hengstler counter.   I originally ordered the hollow/empty counter from Tino to keep my options on this build open. I thought it might be good for electronics. I also wanted to print my own numbers as I did on my Hellhounds build.

 

And then I was installing a set of early Miata gauges in a cluster for photos and spotted the odometer size.

Look at those numbers... those 6 digits.

 

Perfect? MAYBE!!!

 

I make mostly Miata parts for a living, specifically gauge components, so I have a lot of clusters laying around. I fished a parts cluster out of the shed and harvested the odometer from it.

 

A few minutes of work got some digits free and shoved in the Hengstler box for sizing. The box both closed and showed the numbers through the window. Proof of concept!

 

Then I spent the next hour carefully hacking the odometer into place in the counter.  The reset shaft (the "top" shaft seen in the pic where I'm holding the odometer) is the exact size for the holes in the Hengstler. It's a bit too long, but a quick snip got it cut down to size.

 

I kept the security spacers between the digits for nice spacing. I moved that blank column from after the ones to before the hundred thousands.

 

And I had to neuter the reset ability. The white teeth got nearly completely cut out and the springy reset button no longer springs. But that's okay.

 

Having an NA Miata odometer inside my Hengstler with my TK number is maybe the best thing I could ever hope for. I've owned an NA Miata for almost 22 years now. It's part of my soul. And now it's part of my blaster.

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

This.... looks... FANTASTIC!   Well worth all that effort, Adam.  Your OCTKD is in full-on mode... (welcome to the club).    Looking forward to the next batch of photos!

 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

I got brave.

 

And just like that the stock stock is off. OEM stock? Quest stock? The included one. It's outta there. The razor saw made quick work of it.

 

The stock was glued in place in the two spots in the back and these two spots in the front. There's even hole details underneath.

 

Here's the two stocks together. The Quest is on top and seems to be rubber. It's quite flexible. It's also about 10% the weight of the real one.

 

Holes drilled and some chips patched with glazing putty. The resin really enjoyed chipping under here. I also only drilled these holes at 3/8" instead of the full with the idea of keeping a bit more meat at the bottom of the barrel to support the metal stock.

 

To grind out what I needed to grind, the nose needed to be cut free. Inside I was amazed to discover some PVC! The Quest blaster has a tube of PVC running the full length for strengthening. Look at that wall thickness.

 

Then I drilled out the pivot. I tried to leave as much meat here as possible also. I opened the hole up a bit more than the metal pins required as I didn't want to pressure fit anything and weaken the surrounding resin. Gluing in place would be just fine.

 

Some cut down clevis pins in 5/16" to fit the stock. I considered doing the same tube mount that the real Sterlings used, but couldn't find a full width 5/16" tube. If these pins don't hold I'll figure out a new mounting method.

 

There's a lot of work cut out for me here. Pun sorta intended.

 

The clip on the metal stock has a wide base... which means...

 

Yeah. That's a big wedge needed to be cut out. I cut little by little test fitting and cutting. Took most of an hour. But...

 

BAM!! It latches on perfectly. I added a small moon of aluminum for the clip to grab onto and to spread the force out.

 

I then epoxied the aluminum reinforcement in place and let cure 24 hours. I also applied some green stuff to the nose and did a knurl... which I later learned doesn't extend down that far. And that's okay, I can sand it back to the correct level.

 

Note that tiny little sight. I'm trying to decide if I need to make a better one or if I can just overlook that itty bitty thing.

 

After getting the stock in place, I had to put things back together to see how it felt.

 

IT FEELS GOOD. The folding stock really works, folds, and extends.

 

And it actually locks in place on the end.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Very nice

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

I did the exact same thing with the aluminum "moon" and it has worked out great.  I like the heft that the metal stock gives as well.

 

"Note that tiny little sight. I'm trying to decide if I need to make a better one or if I can just overlook that itty bitty thing".

 

Yeah, I would.  I have always made my own by cutting the head off of a machine screw and then grinding down the end (you could use a metal file, though).  Just Dremel off the old one, drill a hole and screw it in.. done deal.

 

  Crappy illustration, but you get the point, lol.    

[T-Jay[TK]]

14 hours ago, revlimiter said:

(...)   did a knurl... which I later learned doesn't extend down that far. And that's okay, I can sand it back to the correct level.   (...)

 

Note that tiny little sight. I'm trying to decide if I need to make a better one or if I can just overlook that itty bitty thing.   (...)

 

 

 

Maybe that helps.  And here is an idea, how you can easily build a front sight pin, that will most likely never break.

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Okay, there's no way I'm living with the tiny sight. Thank you Tino and Joseph!!! I think I can certainly make something that's an improvement on what is there now.

[Scimitar[TK]]

That sight is broken on my QD E-11, so I'm definitely going to look into this as well. Thanks @justjoseph63 & @T-Jay!!

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

8 hours ago, revlimiter said:

Okay, there's no way I'm living with the tiny sight.  I think I can certainly make something that's an improvement on what is there now.

 

Face it, brother... you have the eye for detail now and there's no getting around it.. (we should start a 12 step program for those of us who are bitten by this bug)!  

 

  

[revlimiter[Staff]]

On 1/14/2022 at 6:05 PM, justjoseph63 said:

 

Face it, brother... you have the eye for detail now and there's no getting around it.. (we should start a 12 step program for those of us who are bitten by this bug)!  

 

  

 

That pic! hahaha! I feel seen.

 

Last weekend's hacking was some tiny details.

 

This is my Before pic. It's not too bad I guess. There's decent detail. It's serviceable. But it could be better.

 

Accurate screw/nut vs the huge thing that came with the mold.

 

Much better! This was super easy, so I decided to start in on the three capacitors.

 

I'll admit, they look rather wonky in this shot. They seemed a bit better IRL. They're barely visible anyway though.

 

And just like that they're installed! This took an incredible amount of grinding to fit. The "floor" beneath these capacitors needed to be mostly flattened to get them all fitting underneath the center support/divider thing. But they fit! Rear insulators painted black, front insulators painted brown.  I built the front support piece and ran wires through, around, and over.

 

Some tiny resistors made their way underneath each capacitor. You can also just barely see the front wing.

 

And wired up. It really looked like a mess until the spiffy red wires made their appearance. I no longer hate this and am pretty dang proud of the result.  They're gonna need some careful weathering to really bring them out.

 

And then...

Reposting this to show that sad front sight. Look at that tiny thing.

 

It's a bit better already.

 

Please be forgiving when looking at this.  I molded and sculpted this in place without removing the guard frame. It's not quite correct. The dimensions are a bit too large overall, but it's decent, about the right shape, and much much better than the nothing that was there before.  The little block is made out of POR15 epoxy clay. It's easy to work and something I've used several times before. It smooths when wet and cures in about an hour. I sculpted the blocks with long thin screwdrivers.

 

I cut down a threaded rod as per Tino's excellent tutorial.

 

Drilled in place. I used green stuff to get the two metal pieces protruding to where I wanted them.

 

And painted! Everything is protected by the guard. I also sanded the front of the guard flat to remove knurling where it shouldn't be.

 

SO MUCH BETTER! Not perfect, but better than what was there. And for being sculpted in place I'm quite happy with the result.

 

I'm feeling good about the blaster now. It's about time for paint and weathering.

[T-Jay[TK]]

Wow! What an update, Adam.

 

Everything you did makes this blaster better.

[Scimitar[TK]]

Keep it up Adam! I'll send you mine when you're done.

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Research is getting me nowhere with this, so I'm asking my build thread - What clearcoat should I use on my blaster?  I want to lock the weathering in and not mark up my pretty white armor with little black streaks. I assume there's a really good one out there that I just can't find.