Blaster EE-3 Carbine build as ESB using Sidewinder's kit. *Final update: Painting+Assembling*

[The5thHorseman]

Hi TDH,

Alright... We're all quite psyched about the new SW7 trailer, but Boba Fett wasn't in it so "Move along, move along..." .

My EE-3 being finally finished i thought why not making a build thread for it as i haven't seen even one around. Here's a pic of all the different parts from my Sidewinder kit. The kit's accuracy is pretty amazing and the casting quality is really excellent: very few air bubbles, some cold cast parts, internal reinforcement for the fragile parts, etc...
Honestly the kit could have been put together very quickly and with almost no extra work, but as i like to make things to last i had few ideas to bring it on a bit further.

1) First i drilled the holes for the sling's rings which are around 8mm wide. My widest drill bit was 3,5mm so i had to enlarge the holes by making circles with my Dremel until the holes diameter were large enough.

Honestly I have regrets about this part. With some more work i could have replicate the Webley's locking way using a swivel that allows the ring to rotate on itself yet be secured. But at the time i hadn't figured out how it was working.


2) A little unexpected:
1. While sliding the rear barrel mount up to where i wanted it to sit around the barrel the resin screw, too short, broke off.
2. I drilled 3 holes inside the screw to insert pieces of paperclip in order to maintain the gap needed for the barrel mount and also to serve as armature for the future sculpture.
3. 4. The paperclips pieces glued.

1. Beginning of the sculpture to recreate the missing part of the screw.
2. 3. 4. The screw resculpted and lengthened thanks to the paperclip pins.

3) In ESB, the blaster's hammer is never seen cocked so Sidewinder altered this part to allow it to be glued. However as i wanted to make it moveable i had to recreate the missing parts.
1. 2. 3. Using paperclip i made an armature to reinforce the epoxy or the adds would break very easily.
4. Ready for sculpt.

1. First pass of epoxy. No particular precision here, it was just a base for the following.
2. 3. The hammer after the second pass of milliput and final adjustements using sandpaper.

After some research on the net, i found a reference pic detailing the hammer's lower section. The rounded section appearing to be two different parts maintained by a pin.
1. 3. Using this picture, i incorporated the lateral grooves and the middle pin just for my mind's sake (because let's face, this is quite useless!).

With the adds i sculpted the hammer couldn't fit in its slot anymore. To solve this i grinded down the resin with my dremel doing my best to recreate what a real Webley looks like.
1. The slot as it was...
2. 3. ... once reworked.

Same thing with the lower section. To allow the hammer to be cocked some grinding has been needed.
1. Before the grinding. The areas hatched in red being where i had to grind in a slanted shape.
2. Once grinded (i went through the wall while doing it but fortunately it was going to be hidden under the grip).
3. The hammer uncocked: tipped forward and with the firing tip in its slot.
4. The hammer cocked: tipped backward and the firing tip visible.

To secure the hammer in place, instead of using the original Webley screw position which was too low for me and would have made me remove too much resin to my taste (i didnt want to jeopardize the integrity of this part where a lot of weight rests), so i decided to use a homemade pin.
1. I drilled a hole from side to side.
2a. 2b. 2c. I cut a pin wide and long enough (paperclip once again).
3. Drilled a matching hole in the hammer.
4a. 4b. Once assembled. No glue needed.

That's it for now, i still need to translate all i have written about this build from French to English. And strangely it sometimes takes me more time than writing natively in english...

-T5H.

 

[Viper]

Wow!! Will be following this. Excellent work.

 

[intwenothor]

Yeah this is great. For me this is the best kit out there but your alterations are looking stellar.

 

[intwenothor]

Yeah this is great. For me this is the best kit out there but your alterations are looking stellar.

 

[The5thHorseman]

Thanks guy!
@mhlayne. I'll try do go as fast as i can so you can get some insights about how i did with my blaster and work your way with your own.

 

[Sidewinder]

Warming the 'strap' of the rear barrel mount allows it to stretch a little to avoid breaking.

I'f i'd known I coulda sent you untrimmed hammer/trigger

Good work thus far.

SAS

 

[The5thHorseman]

Very useful informations here SAS. Thanks for sharing!

And don't worry, resculpting the hammer myself was fun and it gave the impression of being a prop maker

 

[The5thHorseman]

Some more stuff translated. Not the most interesting though...

4) As i wanted to be able to disassemble and assemble most of the blaster once finished, i didn't choose to glue the handle grip.
1. Instead i added epoxy on the grip inner face to give some more material to the central screw that will secure it.
2. The epoxy add once sanded to the right height.
3. On the handle i noticed a small dimple and a matching channel on the D-bracket so i assumed there must be some kind of a pin here that helps to align the two parts together.
4. So i drilled the dimple all the way through...

1. ... Then i fitted the handle grip with tape.
2. With my Dremel i reported the hole location drilled on the previous step on the inner face of the grip.
3. Same thing with the central screw. However, here i used the head of the screw to mark the grip instead of my Dremel.
4. The two holes reported on the grip.

1. After that i cut a pin designed to align the grip on one side and the D-bracket on the other.
2a. 2b. The pin glued.
3. The alignment between the channel and the pin when you slide the two parts together.
4. Slided together.

1. I added a second pin at the bottom of the grip to secure it more sefely and to avoid it to pivot on itself while i tighten the central screw.
2. The two pins maintaining the grip.
3. 4. The grip pinned. The central screw goes all the way through the D-bracket, the handle, and up to the grip, preventing it to fall.

After a quick mock-up of the D-bracket with the handle/barrel and the stock, i discovered that the whole was too heavy and was often disconnecting the D-bracket from the handle despite the central screw and the locking channel at the bottom.
1. To solve this i added two screws going from the inside of the handle to the D-bracket. They aren't going all the way through so once the blaster is fully assembled they aren't visible.
2. Here again to give more material to the screws i added epoxy reinforcements inside the handle.
3. 4. The screws tightened and keeping the two parts together safely.

Hopefully I should have another update by the evening!

- T5H

 

[The5thHorseman]

Continuing this build.

5) My main goal with this blaster was to be able to break it open like a real Webley.
1. On this pic you can see the little disc around which the spring coils around on top of the "pistol section(?)". However i did end up grinding it instead.
2. The disk once grinded.
3. And then replaced by a working spring. Eventually i would have loved to get a stronger spring but in the end this one is doing the job well.
4. The matching hole for the spring in the Barrel Latch that fits over the "pistol section".

Despite the sanding i couldn't get the two parts to slide together smoothly and they kept jamming the spring making it useless. In fact it was jamming because i hadn't sanded the underneath of the slides.
1. To sand the underneath, as i didn't have any files at the moment, i had to improvised something. I installed a long enough piece of metal on my hand-drill...
2. ... then i rolled pieces of sandpaper around the tip which allowed me to give a good sanding to the underneath of the slides.
3. The two parts fitted together with the spring.

1. Also be sure to give a good sanding into those two depressions on the barrel or they will block the Barrel Latch too.

6) To secure the Barrel Latch to the "pistol section" and prevent it from falling off i just reproduced the Webley's locking mechanism.
1. The head of the "locking screw" can be find on the side of the Barrel Latch...
2. ... which normally goes through the piece and exit on the inner face.
3. 4. The screw grinded. The military screws being different from what you can find commercially the drill diameter i used is slightly smaller than what should be.

1. 2. The screw in place.
3. The matching notch on the "pistol section" which is normally hollow but has been filled in for casting purpose. The screw is supposed to insert itself in this notch to lock on the barrel latch.
4. The notch grinded allowing the screw to slide up and down but not over a certain range.

 

[Sidewinder]

FYI on the real Webley the little disc on top of the frame is what the spring fits over to locate it and there is only a hole in the breech block for the spring.

A little silicon grease after painting on the slot and runner will help it slide more easily.

SAS

 

[Viper]

That is awesome.

 

[The5thHorseman]

FYI on the real Webley the little disc on top of the frame is what the spring fits over to locate it and there is only a hole in the breech block for the spring.

Dang... The Webley MK1 n°1 is really such simple gun. I assumed it would be a little bit more complex thus the hole i drilled. Thanks for the information, i will edit my post in consequence.

 

[The5thHorseman]

Major mod covered in this update!

7) With the fact of being able to break open the blaster, i also wanted to have the possibility to fit inside the barrel a false airsoft grenade. In order to do that i had quite some work to do to recreate the breech details as there was none on the cast.
1. Unfortunately i didn't thought about taking a picture before i start working on it but i found this one from SAS that pretty much shows what it looked like.
2. 3. The breech after working it with various Dremel bits. The main purpose being to recreate the groove where the munition fits into.
4. 5. After some touch-ups with epoxy.

8) At this point the blaster opening was still impossible because of a part located on the underneath of the barrel.
1. The section framed in red in this picture is a moving part on a real Webley that is pushed forward when the gun is opened. However on a resin cast, this part being still it prevents the blaster opening.
2. The same section after some grinding.
3. 4. The extremity in shape of a hook on the "psitol section" is the part that was conflicting with the now grinded section. On a Webley this is the part that pushes the entiere mobile section forward when you open the gun.

9) To make the hinge articulation i've looked on the web for an original Webley screw and nut but unfortunately i couldn't find anything that shipped to France...
1. So i had to improvise and decided to use a classic screw secured in a clinch nut on the other side. now that i look back at it, it might be a little too over-engineered.
2. 3. As my clinch nut was too long i had to report its position on the hinge section and then drill a hole in the resin so it can fit inside.
4. The whole setup in place.

Thanks for looking!

- T5H

 

[The5thHorseman]

10) The classic spring trigger mod.
1. 2. 3. To allow the trigger to move back and forth i had to grind down some of the resin inside the trigger housing.
4. Then i drilled the hole for the screw in the trigger using the original Webley's location.

1. The back of the trigger before.
2. Before drilling i scavenged a spring from a ballpen...
3. 4. ... and once i knew the spring's diameter, i drilled a hole in the back of the trigger large enough to house the spring.

To secure the trigger, i obviously decided to use the Webley's screw location.
1. The resin screw removed.
2. 3. I haven't drilled all the way through for this one as the thread of the screw i'm using isn't as wide as the Webley's screw. So to keep the outside accurate i kept the cast of the resin screw on this side.
4. The resin screw replaced.

The military screw sizing doesn't perfectly match the different screw sizes we can buy, the M3's head being to large and the M2.5's one being too small...
1. So i took a M3 and grinded down its head until it has the right diameter. On this picture the grinded screw is on the left and the untouched one is on the right.
2. M3 screw. Too large head.
3. M3 screw with the grinded down head and able to fit in its emplacement.
4. The screw in place.

1. Then i drilled the second hole that was going to house the other end of the spring inside the "pistol section".
2. The trigger installed with the spring between it and the "pistol section".
3. The transversal screw securing the trigger in position.
4. The trigger guard in place. I realize i haven't taken any pictures of that because SAS basically did all the work, but it's just using the same screw locations an original Webley uses. One from the inside, one from the outside: (

).

 

[The5thHorseman]

Alright, let's keep on going.

11) Now that the Webley was assembled it was time to intall all the different greeblies to transform it into a proper EE-3.
1. First i positionned the "Disk greeblie" on the left side of the blaster per reference.
3. 4. As this one wasn't going to be bothering, i decided to simply glue it with a central pin to reinforce it.

1. The biggest hole is placed so it leaves access to the hinge screw for future disassembling.
2a. 2b. For the second "disk greeblie", as the biggest hole is positionned differently, i needed to secure it without any glue if i wanted to be able to remove it to access the hinge articulation. To do so, i used a headless screw.
3. The two "disk greeblies" in place.

The connecting rods will simply be glued on once painted so no pictures about them.

12) The stock greeblies.
1. First i disposed the greeblies per reference pictures and outlined their positioning with a marker.
2. I then reinforced all the greeblies with two pins to avoid them from falling off too easily during a troop. For small and precise holes like that i always use my old hand-drill as i have much more control with it.
3. Final positioning.
If you're like me ( a bit of a loon ) you will have noticed that if the lateral greeblies are perfect, the central greeblies are quite far from the thing.

1. 2. 3. Same process with the greeblies on the inner face of the stock.

13) About the central stock greeblies.
1. As i was saying above, Sidewinder's mold for them is far from the thing, therefore...
2. ... i entirely grinded the inside of the greeblies with a Dremel and sandpaper.
3. Then i lined the base with a sheet of paper cut to dimensions.
4. And filled the base with epoxy. The sheet of paper prevents the milliput to adhere to the base and enables it to be removed once dry.

1. Once dry i unmolded the epoxy "cake" thanks to the paper folds on the sides.
2. Using the hollowed square frame i made a cardboard as per reference.
3. After that i reported the cardboard onto the epoxy "cake".
4. And then i extracted one by one the differents shapes from the epoxy with my dremel, and fine tuned them with my x-acto, sandpaper, and hand-drill. Once satisfied by their shape and height, i glued them inside the base.

The squared frame is still a bit too small for me to be completely happy with them but it was fun to do. Actually not at all! What a tedious work...

And of course as there is two greeblies, i had to do the whole thing twice...

-T5H.

 

[Matty Matt]

This thread is crazy. And I mean that in the best possible way. Great work.

 

[BobasDent1138]

This is THE best thread I've ever laid eyes on :love I'm definitely going to start on this stuff today! I NEED mine to loo like this!!! haha Also, can I ask what you're using for the sculpt on the hammer and the other parts you did? Is it Bondo or is it a clay? Or something else? I need to get that too lol

 

[The5thHorseman]

This is THE best thread I've ever laid eyes on :love I'm definitely going to start on this stuff today! I NEED mine to loo like this!!! haha Also, can I ask what you're using for the sculpt on the hammer and the other parts you did? Is it Bondo or is it a clay? Or something else? I need to get that too lol

In fact this is an awful stuff i wouldn't recommand anyone! But that's what i had at hand at the time . The stuff is Milliput Terracotta which is designed to repair pottery. However there are several different types of Milliputs and even if i have never used it before i would rather recommand the Milliput Super fine White.
But for you US guys, Bondo will certainly do just work just as fine. We just don't have access to this stuff here in the EU.

 

[BobasDent1138]

Great! Thanks! I'm probably going to find a putty like yours because i hate bondo xD Its got a really bad smell and it's kind of tough for me to work with, But thanks! And keep up the incredible work!

 

[BobaFiend]

You're doing a great job here Germain, if I ever make another Webley I'll be following this thread. I love your functional mods to the kit!