DL's DL-44 Blaster build

Yes, this is yet another Han ANH "Hero" blaster build thread...

I started on it more than two years ago, with a first-run steel-and-brass DEC kit and a Denix Mauser with wood grips.
It looks as if it is finally coming together now, and it is about time that I showed it so that I can share some things that I have learned.

I first intended to use the Denix only temporarily until I could get something more accurate. Then after having seen other people's Denix-accurizing mods (especially kpax's) I started following their example.
But I never stopped, because I'm an anal-retentive perfectionist with an obsessive-compulsive personality ...

Denix mods

I have had a resin-cast of an MGC for many years, and I found it to be a great reference for the dimensions - although many details differ from the real Mauser C96. Because it is a resin-cast, it is a little bit smaller than a real MGC.
I think the smaller size has been to my advantage though because where the Denix is smaller than the real thing, I found that the shrunk cast
seem to match those dimensions quite well.

Compared to the real thing, the Denix Mauser has features too far back: cutouts, trigger hole and upper
receiver. The biggest mod has been moving those forward. This has involved both cutting and filling.

Filler
As filler on the Denix, I have been using slow-cure epoxy mixed with Denix shavings and little bit of colloidal silica. In early tests, this seemed to take "bluing" with Birchwood-Casey Aluminum Black really well. The silica keeps it from running.
Later on, I noticed more and more visible grain, and some fillings did not blend in very well at all. I have therefore also attempted using dark graphite powder and black dye but the fillings can still be visible.
Until a few days ago, I used to darken the fillings with a black marker - but then I read of Zink Spray on this forum. I tested it and found that it does take bluing almost as well as the zink-alloy the Denix was cast in -- and if it doesn't I can remove it with acetone and start again.
Right now, I am covering the most visible fills with zink spray and darkening them with Aluminium Black. (But I'll show that later)

If I were to start over, I would choose a filler that would be easier to work with and not bother with metal shavings. The shavings have only caused visible grain and tiny bubbles. Perhaps Milliput with black dye for epoxy kneaded in would be best.
The question is open whether the finish of the ANH Hero was really blued steel or if it was painted. If you would paint it, the colour of the putty would not matter.

Slide moved forward 5 mm and down a mm.
On a real Mauser C96 the "slide" (upper receiver) and "frame" (lower receiver) are slid together on rails. The slide even moves a tiny bit when the gun is fired.
Because the Denix is cast metal, it does not have rails. There is only the tip of the rails left, for show - the part that protrudes in the front, and on that is a very visible screw that holds the two parts together. In the back, the slide and frame are held together with two short pins force-fitted in there. There is also a plate inside in-between the slide and the frame which the bolt is supposed to slide on.

The holes in the locking pin in the frame are on bumps that are supposed to fit in recesses in the bottom of the slide.
To make new bumps, I epoxied in aluminium L-brackets as reinforcement that I cut flush. Then I drilled and tapped
new holes to fit a bolt.
Instead of two pins, I opted for one long bolt made from a threaded rod with a slot at one end for a flat screwdriver.
I filled the hole on the left side of the slide. I also had to mill away some inside the slide and cut the sliding-plate into two to make it all fit.
I attached the rear part of the sliding-plate permanently to the back of the upper receiver and filled that to make it more accurate -- on the real Mauser that is one part with a large hole.

At the front, I removed the screw and filled in the holes for it.
I cut the start of the channels into the slide and let the frame catch into that. This means that I don't need the screw in the front any more
to keep it together.



If I were to do this again, I would try to put in the effort of making full rails. Mill the channels in the slide, and build rails on the lower frame with aluminium L-bracket.

Recessed details moved forward
Moved about 2.5 mm by routing (Dremel routing bit) in the front and filling in the back.
When filling, I used templates made of popsicle sticks covered with tape (which is made of PE and nothing sticks to permanently)

I have tweaked these a few times. Filled, routed, filled .. over and over.
Eventually I poured silicone into the large cutout that I was most happy with and used that as pattern for the other: I wish I had thought of that earlier.

Trigger finger hole moved forward
- Cutting the base of the trigger guard and bending it. Oops, it broke.. Epoxied back in.
Apparently the Zamak alloy that the Denix was cast in is very brittle.
- Filed away material in the front
- Filled.



The shape of the hole is not that easy to do by eye. I have reshaped it many times.

Eventually I found ways to visualize the hole and make sure that the ceiling of the hole is flat.
The top and bottom of the hole should be flat, and the top should be precisely 3 cm above the plate, so what I did was that I applied epoxy paste and let it cure sitting against a part protruding from a piece of square tubing that is 3 cm wide.
The square tubing was taped so as to not stick.

I visualized the shape of the hole as two ellipses where each one's origin is the other's apex.
I drew the shape on the computer, glued it to cardboard and cut it out to use as a sight-template for filing the curvature
of the hole.



To be continued ...

Yeah, I'm not much of a photographer... Sorry about the bad pics.

A month ago, the Mauser looked like this (without trigger, sorry). Many flaws are visible here that I am now trying to fix using the Zink Spray.


Hammer
With the upper receiver moved a few mm forward, the Denix's hammer did not line up properly. The old hammer does also have a bad shape and is not high enough.
So ... I made a new one out of aluminium, but keeping the Denix's hinge position and mechanism. I had a piece of 8mm wide alu stock with the hole in the top of the right size. I dremmeled the cutout for the Denix spring with routing bits and routing attachment and cut the hammer out. Instead of using thicker alu stock and milling thinner the portion that goes into the lock frame, I glued on side plates on the top, drilled them and filed them flush. I scored the concentric rings with drill bits for wood and deepened them with hand files. Work in progress-pic:


Again I filled the hinge-pin's hole on the left (visible) side. I replaced the pin with one of steel made from a broken drill bit. It slides out when I tip it over but if it didn't I could get it out with a magnet.
The hole will be covered by the washer between the Mauser body and the scope mount's crossbar -- and this will prevent it from sliding out.

Safety
* Cut groove in top, glued in a slice of the barrel, shaped.
* Filed down forward knurling. Deepened back knurling.

Loop for lanyard ring
New smaller loop made from aluminium, 15×15 mm bar ( actually, I started off with a spare pommel cube from a Obi-Wan TPM lightsaber that I built many years ago. ) Made notch in bottom of grip frame and in loop so they fit together. Positioned it somewhat forward of the old position. Epoxy, epoxy putty, filed flush, shaped. Darkened with Aluminium Black ... but that rubs off easily.

And yes, the grip frame is a little bit reshaped as well. I did not make the front of the grip frame thinner but I made the loop in (what I think) is the correct thickness.

Mystery piece
Mystery piece found only on the ANH Mauser on the right side of the upper receiver behind behind the bolt stop. I cut it from the sliding plate inside and shaped. Epoxied on.

...

Looking good.

Wow, that attention to detail. Can't wait to see more!

Takedown Latch


On a real Mauser C96 the takedown latch is at the back at the bottom of the lock frame. It locks the lock frame -- and the entire slide -- from sliding out of the lower frame.

The Denix did not have a takedown latch detail, so I wanted to replicate that. I thought it would be fun to make it functional even if it would not do anything.

In a real Mauser the latch's spring is actually a protrusion of the hammer's pin, and that would be much too difficult to do.
I opted to use a pull-spring between a notch in the bottom of the latch and a screw inside the grip frame.
The base of my takedown latch was made from a slice of T-profile aluminium. The top was glued on and the top filed down. The latch shares space with the Denix's hammer spring so I had to make a lengthwise hole in the base of the latch for it to go into.
The trickiest bit though was widening the hole into the grip frame for the latch to fit.
To make it fit lengthwise I had to make it shorter than the available space. I have to insert it first, then insert a small cube at its tip that just lays there preventing it from sliding forwards.

Shaping the Slide Rails

On a real Mauser C96 there is a rounded transition above each slide rail to the walls of the Barrel Extension but on a Denix that transition is sharp.
I filled these spaces, but to shape them I needed something longer than a needle file so I glued sandpaper to a rod and use that.

There are lengthwise grooves on the outsides of the slide rails. These are not consistent between different guns. On the particular gun that was used for the Han ANH Hero the left groove is more narrow than the right one.
I filled the existing groove, and stuck a narrow metal template into it while the putty cured. The template was taped so that the putty would not adhere to it.

To then shape the outer curve of the slide rails, I made another tool: I taped the rails of my cast of an MGC and slabbed on epoxy putty and a length of alu L-bracket..
When that had cured, I glued a piece of sandpaper into that. Then I could use that for sanding the sides of the slide rails into the right profile, guided by the flat bottom of the L-bracket.



There were tiny holes that were filled with Zink Spray. After spray and rebluing it looks like this:



New Bolt Stop
I don't quite remember what was wrong with the Denix's bolt stop but because I was unhappy with it I used it to test if vinegar would strip the factory-bluing. Apparently, vinegar dissolves Zamak! I was left with only a fuzzy small pebble .... :facepalm

So I had to make a new Bolt Stop either way ...
I cut this from aluminium using scaled photos as reference. I am not sure if the length is correct -- I was limited by the stock I had.
Darkened with Aluminium Black.

This puts my blaster to shame. All i did was remove the denix logo.

Sorry for the necropost, I don't know how I missed this thread but this is some really nice work! I'd definitely like to incorporate some of your ideas on my build. Have you made any more progress on this? And what zinc spray are you using? I looked into that for the same purposes a couple years ago but didnt get far before getting distracted.

Are there any updates to this? This is one of the best Denix mod projects I've seen yet! (Also sorry for the necropost.)