Yet another webley list.

Looks great. Really a great pull there. Sounds like a really interesting project.

Interested!

Interested on both accounts!

Good luck with this Mike, your work speaks for itself and I am sure the price will reflect excellent valu for money.

Don't want to commit just yet (but don't want to miss the boat either!) I will have to bide my time for the moment. Seriously interested in the actual gun.

been waiting on this sucka for awhile, and Mike you know i am totally in on this one!!

Wandered when this would appear Mason... looks very clean!

yes. I would get one of them

You've got my attention ;-)

Interested!!

Interested!

You know me Brother. I'm interested as with all else.

I'm intrested

interested for sure.

Thats pretty cool!!!!!!!!!!

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I am interested as well.

Last night I tweaked the barrell mold a bit to clear up a few bubbles that were happening in non visible parts of the mold. It should be 99% bubble free now. The bubbles didnt cause any real blemish, but I want the whole thing to be as solid as possible.

I finished up a couple of the smaller pieces, such as the grip and the barrell lock.

Im going to put the dclamp in rubber tonight, for the second time, to try to get it to be all one solid piece, and to get it bubble free. So far its proving a bit difficult, but not impossible.

After careful consideration, I decided to fill most of the holes with clay. Instead of having them show in the mold. This is because the screws in the gun are a really strange size. This way if you want to use the screws to attach pieces you can just tap the hole to the size you want.

These 1917 british screws are non conventional to say the least

Very interested!!

You do good work..im interested as well.

Count me in!

I had some nice breakthroughs last night.

As you know, or to recap, the goal here is a webley cast thats durable, modular, and has no (or very very few) parting lines.

I feel ive broken new ground with the barrell, and the stock as of now.

Im doing some pulls of the smaller pieces now, such as the grip in a bronze/brass hybrid look. The barrell lock is done, and those lock in nice.

The next piece is the hand grip. Again, these are complicated to get a nice pour with no air bubbles, and no seam line on it. But im confident I can get something pretty close.

Last night, I wanted to test my theoretical next step in the webley process. Instead of high impact, virtually unbreakable plastic, I poured some barrells in.....RUBBER. Just like my knees. The end result was a lot better than I had hoped for. I think that I will be able to offer these in rubber as well.

If someone could answer this for me, id be grateful since ive never seen a real webley kit converted.

1. How far into the barrell does the tube insert?
2. When dropped whats the most common piece to break on a resin blaster?
3. If you have my rubber knees, you know how durable they are, are yo uinterested in a rubber gun with no cleanup/seamline? That weights about 1/3 what a solid resin gun would?


The following pic is the barrell in rubber. note when I shake this thing, it doesnt deform. It doesnt sag, and it doesnt show any deformation once its been bent and returned to normal. The barrel your looking at has been bent in half 50 times. I think that I would fill it with nerf foam to add a miniscule amount of weight, but give it a little more shape support. Im not sure thats necessary though.

Once I get the full gun built up in rubber ill know a little more.

Rubber is a little more expensive and harder to work with, but if the gun never breaks, and comes out with 'original' finish on it, thats got to be worth something.



This barrell was trimmed with my fingers. If you own the knees, its similar trimming on the inside with a small pair of scissors.

Niiiice work...impressive

Agreed

That looks fantastic Storm!

looking good storm...

Its great to see these pics!

Im really excited about this and of course interested!

Dave

This project has been a long time coming. And its shaping up even better. Spideyfett offered to helpme put together some of the much needed greeble/pieces for the ESB blaster conversion. Specifically and mainly the scope, but some other helpful information came from his direction.

The fact of the matter is that FP, during his time in indiana, took some time to explain some mold making techniques. Without that help, I dont think that I would be able to do the gun in the fashion I am doing it in. Combine that with the resoursefulness of Spidey, this project looks better and better every minite.

'I love it when a plan comes together!'

Ooooo....

Interested!

This is unbelievable, in the first pic, you would almost swear it's a metal barrel, then to to see how much of a bend you can apply to it and still have it return to it's original shape, it's pretty amazing!

Looking forward to seeing the rest of the pieces molded up!

Right now the pistol grip is in rubber. I had wanted to post some pics of the stock. The mold turned out good. But the plastic I have to do them, im not happy with. Its so thick in the mold that the seam line when I squish it is a blob, and more importantly, it actually bulges out the mold.

Im going to look at a few different things. But the stock is the only thing proving to be a bugger at this point. Second half of the pistol grip will happen tonight, and the D-plate (which ive molded before so i know how that works) goes in. So by the weekend I should be able to post a full pic of the gun in different plastics.

Im excited about the rubber gun Especially because I know how hard it is to clean up a seam in rubber. So having none is a definite bonus

Great news!!!

WOW, this is amazing M2.

I'm curious, if these parts would work with other kits as well. Perhaps a way to slowly build up a 100% rubber gun as resin parts break or are upgraded.

So if I break my resin barrel, can I add your barrel to my current kit? Think about the trigger... how many people pull their resin trigger... but only once Could I add your trigger to my kit? I don't know? I assume it's all about if the parts are molded the same, but how different can they all be... right? right?

Yes, I think you could use kit parts.

For simplicity im not doing a deep well on the trigger or the hammer. They are a flat surface right below the visible area. So its easy to attach. The stock, dclip, and barrell, and barrell catch are all exactly like the real thing. The piston grip is identical outside, but inner surfaces have been simplified to glue to.

So the short of it is, if your barrell is standard from say, a sidewinder kit, it should be able to be replaced with a rubber one.

And to clear it up, ill offer a rubber kit, and a resin kit. Rubber will be unbreakable but cant (probably not sure) be painted _quite_ as nice as a resin. The other thing about the rubber, is if you gash it, or have a trim line theres not really a way to clean it. So the rubbeer is more of a 'stunt' model.

Hope that makes sense.

Well the updates are trickling. Thats because theres SOOOO LITTLE humidity here that its taking 36 hours for the silicone to cure.

I have the dbracket in 1st half of silicone.
New trigger guard in silicone.
Pistol body in 2nd half of silicone

I have 2-3 of each part pulled so far. and most of them look pretty good.

The trigger in rubber is proving difficult becaues of air bubbles. I think im going to re-make the parts in a deeper, squish cast mold. But ill be able to pull parts from these to get pics and get a list together.

The stock is proving difficult. I have a few more ideas today. Theres virtually no seam line, which is good.

The bad is the way I molded it im getting some bubbles in the butt of the stock. Which is an easy place to fix, but still irritating. But im going to try over filling the stock today, see if it makes a good pull.

The bad is the stock weights 5 lbs in rubber. Its a beast. But will never break.

Havent done one in solid resin, in hollow cast resin, its decent, but gonna have some wiers spots, which I dont like.

All in all. i expect to be able to see what its going to look like this weekend.

M2

Ok the good the bad and the ugly.

First heres some photos of a webley ive taken out of the mold, and just glued together with only trimmin gwith my fingers.

Great work as usual M...

Now, the obvious problems

Im not liking the mold line. You can see in one pic a 'mis aligned' mold created a step in the back of the grip.

I chose to put the mold line there, as it is not seen for the most pert. However, I didnt do a very good job of creating registration (Not big enough anyway) on the mold.

It was an 'experiment' anyway. So now I know. Im going to work on re-doing the grip.

The barrell is pretty good. the grip plates are good. The hammer is pretty good. All in all, for not being cleaned up at all, its pretty good. And the rubber barrell fits on just as well.

The other glaring problem is theres NO mold line anywhere on the stock, except the very butt gets some bubbles. I did a hollow cast stock, and its decent, but unless its thin resin, which is heavy, the stock is difficult to get bubble free. Not sure why. probably because the amount of 'squish' I use, isnt enough to fully releae the bubbles.

In short, im still workin on it. Ill likely sell some of these first pulls for half price, and I think that people will be happy with them, considering, but im still trying to get the best replica possible.

I apologize for the poor pictures.
Mason

Just when you think you are in the clear and done buying stuff...bam! Have ya started a list yet M?

Originally Posted by Mojo-Fett

Great work as usual M...

Not nearly as nice as the sidearm project. But im making progress slowly but surely.

I have not started a list yet. For me to do that I would have to set the price at 199.99 shipped, because this project is staying under $200.

I am going to redo the grip again, and have yet to finish the dplate.

The trigger guard is in new rubber atm, and the stocks im not sure about what material to use. The 'lightweight' stuff would cost me almost $20 a pull, with no mistakes, and it doesnt debubble well, so there will be a lot of mistakes.

I bit the bullett and bought the degass chaimber. Im ordering the vac pump now.

It should make the (next) molds last a lot longer, which is good cause im gonna need to get 20 guns out to recoup

Thanks for the input. It looks a little better in PICTURES than it does in person, in some spots. in some spots it looks bettter in person.

M2

What type of adhesives would be needed to attach the scope brackets and V8 engine arm set-up to sides?

THX

I keep looking at you barrel bend pics. It doesn't look like rubber at all. Im still interested.

These are poly-u so any poly u adhesive works.

Thick CA even works.

You need a flat spot for any 'brittle' glue to adhere to though, so any place wher eyour 'building up' youd want a 2 part epoxy or something thick.

I will be pouring more and more parts today and test fitting. Im going to start the pistol body again. So lots of updates coming.

Looks incredible as usual. Your perfectionism is most appreciated too and letting us know the process towards the final product is really great, we learn and it builds a buyers trust. I'm always amazed at your speed. Can't wait to see more.

It looks great even with the line in the grip. I tend to think if I make that trip you would be teaching class all day...


Have you thought of maybe a foam core in the stock to cut weight?

Chris

Yah bro, I thought about the foam core. The issue is that its a mold with a cap. Im going to pick up a bit of foam, and try pouring one, but the seam line needs to be near invisible. Reason being is it has a _real_ wood grain texture. Any sanding ruins that. Therefor the seam is on the butt plate around the edge of it.

Ive thought about hollow roto casting it, and then drilling a couple of vent holes at the cnc'd part where the bracket attaches. That way the holes are covered by the bracket.

In all, realistically without this thing being 'injection molded' its hard to get every bubble out, but im trying to make sure that There is as little cleanup as possible.

Especially in the high profile areas.

Ive gotten quite a few pm's asking about individual pieces. Which I dont mind selling, but I need to clear it up.

The mold will be good for roughly 20 kits (barrell mold, stock mold) which use a LOT of silicone. Now, it could last till 30-40 but this batch wasnt de-gassed, which will improve the mold quality a LOT.

The reason the larger molds dont last as long is because the larger the piece, the more heat that is given off from the part. The more heat, the shorter the parts life span.

Each barrell I sell means one less kit. So when I break these out and offer up the pieces, they arent going to be dirt cheap. They are going to have to be a % of a full kit.

Lets say that the kit is $175 each. I need to break it down into the parts and sell them accordingly, because each major piece I sell, is in fact, a whole kit that can not be created.

Because if I sell 5 barrels, that only leaves 15 kits. I can see selling 5 spare bronze grips, and bodies, maybe D brackets, less stocks, and even fewer hammers, trigger guards, backplates/risers etc.

So I guess Im warning that ill post a price on individual parts, in different materials, but expect, a barrell for example, to be $40-60 shipped. Depending on the material etc. Which isnt cheap. But unfortunately I have to do that, because the break down on this project is really pretty incredible.

So far:
Gun $1700+ (Thats the BID but theres a 10% premium, shipping, documents, etc)
Plastics/Rubbers 250+ (100 resin, 100 rubber, dyes, powders etc)
Silicone $500+ (The gun oil inhibits platinum resins, the tin I use is 144 a gallon. HS3 from Alumilite)
Clays, releases, box materials $100

So to this point, not including 100+ hours i have $2550+ into this.

Not including humidifier, vac chamber, vac pump, and other things that are 'tools' and will depreciate over 10 projects.

So once I sell 15 guns, if I price them at 175+shipping to keep them to your door under $200, ill be even on materials (except ill have to buy more by then. (Granted I still own the gun

So I guess my point is, I love to share. Im the kind of person that wants to share things I have with people. Id have to sell 50-75 of these to make the kind of money that I could make doing something else with my time. Like web software. Which im MUCH better at

So understand, when I, and or any of the other people here like FP or Alex, or MOW or anyone that theres a lot more that goes into it than the '$10' in resin.

Really the people to thank for this project are Chris (FP) and my daughter. Because the profit I made from the knees, and the last 10 orders of helmet foams that my daughter helped me with, all that money went into this.

And its well worth it, as long as everyone appreciates the work thats put into it.

That being said, im off to redo the grip mold. I see what I did wrong the first time, and I think I can REALLY improve the results. And im waiting on the D-Bracket and triggerguard mold to be completed anyway

Thanks as always for the interest.
Mason

Looking good bro, I am interested pending final price.

I'm not sure what the mold looks like, but we used to take a piece of styrofoam and suspend it as centered as possible with thin rigid wire or toothpicks and pour conrete around it in the mold (sand casting) to half the weight of preforms. It's just another idea and in most cases we couldn't see the spots where the wire was. I'm sure with this medium it would leave small spots, though.

Still like the looks and you can count me in on it, regardless.

^ ^ a bladders not a bad idea.

Im looking for a self skinning expandable foam right now. but havent found anthing id be happy with.

The main options are lightweight resins, or rotocasting it. One costs a lot more, the other takes a lot more time. Rotocasting a stock would take as long as rotocasting a helmet The last time I rattlecast it it got some thin spots in the buttplate. But thats because the gas entrapment actually pushed my squish cap off. Im wondering if I tried it again with the cap fastened on if id get a good rotocast in just a 7 minute shaker.

you know to put me on this list at the top for a full set, brother!! cannot wait to see this sucka in full form!! great work MM, as usual...

I was hoping the silicone would be fully cured tonight, but its not. so tomorrow ill pour the second half the new body. And pull a dplate and new trigger guard and stock fo rhis gun. Ill have a full gun put together tomorrow night I think, to see where I ned to tighten things up, and figure out the price.

The one i have put together, is pretty dcnt for all scrap pulls Its probably the one ill use for myself. Though not perfect, it will remind me 'DONT START ANOTHER ONE OF THESE PROJECTS!, Do a puzzle or something.'

Originally Posted by Stormrider

it will remind me 'DONT START ANOTHER ONE OF THESE PROJECTS!, Do a puzzle or something.'

Amen to that! Do you know how many of us have said that when working on costumes?

It wont come to any surprise to anyone that knows me, that im OCD and ADD at the same time.

Today I was bored, so I went ahead and glued a scrap gun together.

I then pulled a cold cast D-Bracket and roto cast a black stock.
I laid them all together, and heres what you get.

Mind you, none of these parts have been cleaned, sanded or painted. Just taken out of the mold warm, and the trimmings torn off by hand or an exacto knife

I cant wait to pull a nice dplate and grip tomorrow.

Goodnight

Ahhhhh Yes, The Ole Pool Table / Workbench, Nice!

"CLASSIC"!

It's looking great!

Well Ive got a good cast of about everything but the pistol grip, which is taking another bath in silicone now.

Id say im looking at 95% bubble free on outward faces. Im struggling a bit with the dbracket right now. Its, as we all know, hard to make a plastic dbracket thats sturdy enough for the gun. It wont break, but it wobbles a bit when shook. It doesnt sag when held, or moved, but wobbles.

The stocks im gonna roto cast and it will be up to you all to drill and fill with foam if yo uwant. They should be pretty tough though. Or ill use the more expensive filler, but ****, is it messy.


Im going to sell some of the rough mockups at half price, but there will be some cleanup on them, as what makes it a 'rough mockup' is the fact that there are a few air bubbles in them.

Right now, im still under 200 shipped, for the first 10-15 guns I do.

Spidey is helping me put together the parts to make a ESB kit, again, bubble free with proper finish, that I will make sure is a bolt on solution for this kit.

Lastly, im talking to my machinist about making:
Metal Trigger, Trigger Guard, , hammer that are exactly like the real one. I dont know what he will charge me. But I wont mark it up, and offer them in a kit, as long as he thinks he can make them without difficulty.

So, with that being said, I quick glued together a webley last night to see how it would look with all early run parts and a rubber barrell. Ill post the pic tonight, and you can tell me what you think.

Im not sure that the rubber barrell is necessary, but they will be available. Right now, this first list, is going to be limited to 15. Figure 195 shipped in the US. Shipping outside will be a 'buyers risk' if customs decides it looks too much like a real gun. Which im pretty sure they will. My family doesnt know the difference between the real one and the fake one from 5 feet away.

We can start a list if anyones interested.

If I dont get a list, ill pull, piece, finish and sell finished kits until they are gone.

ciao
m2

PS: The dbrackets are NOT silver. I just did that because I was bored.

i am down, brother!!! woo hoo!!!

Im down and PM sent.

Im hoping it can come separated in kit form for us international folks?

Like I have a wooden stock already so if I could just get the rubber parts and then the trigger etc in a different package - customs should be ok... *shrug*

A lot of hassle for you perhaps but I am a HUGE fan of your work sir!

Dave

175-200 or 275-300?

I'm confused...

Man those rock! I might want a wall hanger!

Edit made. sorry ) 175

For all you modelers out there, I just came up with a new signature. What do you think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"For all of you who complain about 'watching paint dry', you obviously have never had to watch silicone'

Cure already.

Very interested! BTW - I love watching silicone dry!

-Ryan

Originally Posted by Stormrider

Edit made. sorry ) 175

no worries...just making sure and letting you know that I'm interested!!!

Heres the stocks with the D brackts. Real and cast, straight out the molds.

I think if you reinforce the brackets with metal it would be pretty sturdy.

Sign me up for a full kit. I am loving the way these are turning out. I knew you would do them right.

Grip is out of the mold! I should be able to put together an example and take good photos tonight. Im going to ONLY clean up with a razor knife, and tack it with super glue, so figure this is what the gun will look like with a 10 minute build.

If the grip works as well as all the other parts, ill be REALLY excited, because they can start moving out.

Im your huckleberry

You've mentioned ESB conversions, are you going to be offering ROTJ conversions as well?

Im admittedly not a cannon master. So im learning whats screen acurate for esb, and then yes, id like to do a rotj. The problem at this point is that I dont want to confuse myself.

However because this is a TRUE webley. And id like to think with all the things ive come up with, one of the closest thats available without having a real one. (Mostly because of the lengths ive gone through to make the castings virtualy pure straight from the mold) any conversion for a 'real' webley would work.

Correct me if im wrong, but you need:
Pipe slid over the real barrell
18 ish T grips to glue on.
Different scope (or at least mounts)
Additional greebles on the shell housing part of the barrell.
Different greebles on the stock.

So yes, I can work on that right after the esb kit.

However im not as masterfull a builder as some of the guys here. Some people may want to do their own scratch build parts, which is why ill be doing the greeble packs/mods seperate, so that anyone that doesnt want them, doesnt have to pay for them.

Make sense?

I hope so, it would be a first
m2

Makes sense to me. I might be down for 1 of your half price practice pieces then pending talking to the wife. lol and then picking up a ROTJ conversion either from you or elsewhere at a later time.

i am still in brother!!

I'm with FettDad...count me in!

Originally Posted by Stormrider

Heres the stocks with the D brackts. Real and cast, straight out the molds.

....Best pull I've seen yet.