Spacebobs Blasters

[spacebob]

Hi there peoples,
I've got a few blaster projects on the go, i like to make these things myself as much as possible and have a three quarters scratch built E11 to post in a week or two, a completed Empire Fett blaster that i am to post up after that, but first...


Last year at the London comic con there was a stall selling some cheap hasbro figures and other bits including the rebel nerf blaster for £6 brand new.
Having seen the comparison photos on this very site, I knew it had a lot of accurate details and basic section sizes and could be modded very close to the MR so how could i resist, £6, really.


First of all I printed out the wizard of lights outstandingly amazing (as ever) plans, thanks Mr "the wizard".
after working out where I needed to cut i used a very thin blade on my small band saw to get to the business.

(click on the tiny pics to make them big,big pics)


as you can see its mostly a matter of lengthening the main tube/barrel.
I found in my box of bits a tube that would be glued inside the main body of the blaster front and back.
I had to cut away some of the bits inside the body that were in the way and also cut shapes out of the tube so it slid past the molded detail of the ejection port, the rear section was not so bad.




Over the red extension tube was then glued inch and a quarter pvc pipe to fill out to the right size.
The grip where the batteries had been got some metal threaded bar instead to add weight, then filed to the right shape and filled.
The sight and rail were glued in the right position and the rail was extended with cut up pieces of plastic and filled along with the rest of the blaster.
Inside the main body a very long bolt was glued in place to add some more weight you can see it sticking out of the end there before adding the silver end of blaster which I had left loose for ease of painting.




The area where the trigger goes has been filled out to be the right shape and i made a trigger guard (not in pic) from aluminium and fitted a trigger that i had left in my extras box.
I'm enjoying this one quite a bit as its cheap, surprisingly accurate and above all very, very fast compared to my normal projects.
Here it all is ready for paint.



It has been painted but i need to take pics and just fabricate the d ring detail before its done.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Love the mod. I did a less extensive one a couple years ago. You're doing a lot of things I lack the nerve, skill, and tools to do.

Is your trigger guard going to be the round chunky ones from A New Hope? If so... Awesome!

There used to be a guy on eBay who sold D-rings with attachment piece, that is where I picked up mine.

However there is one problem I see that it does not look like you addressed. Once you finish the paint and remove the tape, you are going to see the orange plastic through the front of the scope. Some people were able to remove it with a heat gun. Some people (like me) melted it. I replaced mine with the clear protective cap from a pump spray bottle of Armor-All. Not perfect, but close. What I should have done was cut off the the lens, Dremel out the orange plastic from inside, polish out the scratches and remount it flush. I also fabricated the red piece inside with a small section of a lightsaber from a Darth Vader figure.

 

[Paul6700]

Spacebob, that is pretty cool. I look forward to seeing it done. Where did you get the plans?

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Btw: those are nice cuts. What did you use?

 

[spacebob]

Ahh Questions, I like questions, I have answers.

First MJF I did start making a bigger trigger guard, i was going to thin it down slightly actually but I decided that if i was going to do that then I should also do other things like droop the barrel and have no trigger but then it was turning into something else. The details on this toy blaster are so close it seemed a waste not to go neat and sharp. The trigger guard is going to be just a normal sterling one i'm afraid.
I can make the d ring and holder easily enough as they are simple shapes really.
You are right about the orange showing and i probably will fix it as its only one cut and not a big problem to paint out. I like the idea of the lightsaber blade, I think i have a cheap red plastic paintbrush that will do though.
I used a thin blade on my band saw to cut the blaster up, an essential and very versatile machine, I wouldn't be without it now.

And secondly P6700 the plans are the wizardofflights work he has done some stellar stuff and along with people like rafalfett and others deserves only appreciation for making these projects so much more enjoyable to complete.
think that's it I'll post some pics tomorrow

 

[spacebob]

Hi there,

Here are some painted pics and further works.


I made a d ring holder out of plastic and bent a real d ring into the right shape.


I cut the sight up to fix the little problems and it should work.


Here it is at the moment,
nearly finished.

 

[Darth Lars]

Looks good! :thumbsup

 

[OdiWan72]

View attachment 360915
Here it is at the moment,
nearly finished.

I wouldn´t believe you that this blaster is based on the toy, if you wouldn´t have posted the WIP-pictures..exceptional work!!!
You can add an extra touch of realism by adding a resin SP scope and real scope-rings in the future...

Love it

Markus

 

[spacebob]

OK finished,


Really am very pleased with this


Added a coke bottle lens.


I may do something to improve the scope clamps.


I'm so impressed with what you can do with these toy blasters, I think that's as good as i will need anyway.
Seeing as they are so cheap i would advise anyone to have a go at this.

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Bravo!

 

[spacebob]

Thanks MJF,
I am still very pleased the rebel blaster, about £8.00 inc paint and filler. Boss........ Anyhow.
I have photos of my now complete E11, I would have posted earlier but I just can’t find my early progress pics before painting so these will have to do I’m afraid.

The idea was to use a doopydoos kit and scratch build/replace as much as possible, using as much metal as possible to give the right feel.

(Click on pics to make them hi res ones)
These first two photos show all of the scratch built parts with all dimensions taken from the now surplus parts of the kit.


The bolt is made from a timber dowel with a very thin metal raised bit.


The barrel is cut from part of a building site fence outer frame, easy to drill and cut as it is very mild galv steel.


Here it is before the t-track which is made from some random plastic parts from some packaging I found and modified.


The ejection port shrouds were cut from some aluminium childs stilts.


The end cap for the magazine was remade as the doopys one is a bit odd.
Most of the folding stock was an aluminium spirit level, the end/butt part and the sight surround are both cut from thin steel plate.


The trigger and trigger guard are both cut from aluminium bits.



Thanks for looking

 

[Country Paul]

Damn that looks awesome

It could be a real sterling, awesome build

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

That is also a very well done piece. The parts and final finish are terrific.

 

[spacebob]

Thanks for the kind words guys,

I think painting and weathering are best done while all the parts are separate then the is a subtle but noticeable difference between them.
It not only looks real but more importantly feels real. It is very heavy, the inner barrel is a solid piece of steel bar.

 

[jkno]

The E-11 looks like a real Sterling Fantastic work on it!

 

[grenater]

Brav-freaking-o looks great, everything!

 

[zeca]

I am REALLY impressed with the quality of your work.

 

[spacebob]

Thanks Jkno, Granater and Zeca glad you like it.

And we continue, so the last in this little trilogy is my scratch built, ESB EE3.


The front barrel is a vacuum cleaner tube that was the exact diameter with all the details drilled in appropriate spots, the webley barrel is a plastic pipe and filler to give the correct taper.
I made this a while ago but I wasn’t posting anywhere then. You may of seen it on my “Spacebobs Empire” thread on TDH along with my FPII Boba ESB paint up but here it is in all its glory.


Here you can see the main shape of the main body just waiting for filler to hold it all together.



Now as this one is made from plywood plastic and filler, a lot of filler,
its quite heavy but not as convincing in hand as the E11.


I fill, I sand, I paint.


When I started I had no plans, just pics so it is about a half inch too long over all.
Soon after I started I found Alan Sinclairs fantastic plans so I had them too.


Scope rails pics, more ply and plastic.
There are quite a few progress pics to share so I shall split into 2 posts. Laters.

 

[spacebob]

Ok more is more.

Not really sure what wood the stock is supposed to be, mine is a nice piece of oakey goodness.


I printed out 1:1 square on photos of the stock greeblies and glued them to thick card.
I then cut the shapes from the layers and superglued them together to make them 3D,
This approach works really well on this sort of thing.


The scope rings that came with the scope were nothing like the fett ones so I had to scratch build those as well. The V8 model parts were made from plastic.


The grip was made by filling out on to of a piece of plastic that is cut the right shape, and then gluing mesh to the outside. A thin lip is glued in place and then more filler up to the lip.




Here it is all finished


The only thing I didn’t scratch build was the scope as they are readily avalible and very cheap. The one I bought was a little short so I extended it by adding a little more with the join under the scope ring.



There we go.. hope you like it

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Wow!.... just... Wow!