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

[The5thHorseman]

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!

Thank you for the kind words Austin.

Now the following of the build.
14) The Molex Connectors. As you can see, they aren't perfectly symetrical in shape.
1. One of the lateral face has an offset...
2. ... while the other is smooth.
3. One of the upper face is smooth...
4. ... while the other has a molded line on it.

Given the fact the Molex connectors aren't symmetrical, it means they have a correct way around. Hence i had to determine the one used for each of the four Molex connectors on the original blaster.
1. The Front/Left Molex is clearly oriented so the molded line is facing upwards.
2. The Front/Right is oriented so the smooth lateral face is facing outwards.
3. On this picture we can see (barely) that the Rear/Right Molex is oriented so the molded line is facing upwards. To confirm that we can also see that the smooth lateral face is facing outwards.
4. The Rear/Left Molex was the hardest to determine. However on this picture the lighting source is directed straight on the Molex yet we cannot see any molded line at its top although on the pic 1. (which is cropped from the same picture) the molded line is clearly underlined by this same lightning. Therefore i concluded this Molex should have its molded line facing downwards.

Once the way of each molex determined, i just had to install them.
1. Each Molex has two pins to secure it to the barrel mount for safety. Even if we can see on some reference pictures that the original blaster lost one of them at some point so i guess its accurate .
2. The two front Molex secured to their barrel mount.
3. The two rear Molex secured to the rear barrel mount.
4. Mounted on the barrel, and plug.

15) The Barrel Mounts. To secure the Barrel mounts and their "scope foot" i decided to use screws for both of them rather than glue, still in the idea to be able to disassemble the blaster if needed.
1a. 1b. One of the two "scope feet" before.
2a. I drilled two holes for pins on the bottom face to prevent the "scope foot" from pivoting on itself around the axis of the central screw.
2b. The screw i'm using is countersunk, so i countersunk the "scope foot" top face so it can fit inside.
3. The matching holes for the pins and screw in the barrel mount.
4. The two pins preventing the "scope foot" to pivot on itself.

1. Then i aligned the rear barrel mount on the barrel, making sure its top was at the horizontal. Then i reported the postion of the barrel mount's central hole on the barrel. This way i'm sure everything's aligned.
2. The hole once drilled.
3. 4. The rear barrel mount with its "scope foot" secured on the barrel. I used a Viking nut on the inside of the barrel which was quite difficult to put in place by the way.

1. 2. I reapeated the same process with the front barrel mount that goes on the barrel plug.
3. The two barrel mounts secured.
4. With the molex and the chrome tube. The barrel plug for the front barrel mount and chrome tube isn't glued, the friction being by far enough to lock it on.

That's it for now.
The next update will mostly be about the scope and it will wrap up for the build in itself!

- T5H

 

[BobasDent1138]

Absolutely stunning! What are you using as pins?

 

[The5thHorseman]

Absolutely stunning! What are you using as pins?

For the smallest pins, i use pieces of paperclip, and when i need bigger ones i cut the tip of different size of pop-rivets.

Alright, last update before the painting.

16) The scope.
1. 2. 3. 4. I started by cleaning the scope rings with my dremel.

1. Then i positionned the adjusting block onto the aluminium tube per reference and marked it.
2. Here again, i used two pins to secure it safely.
3. Final aspect. The two ends of the scope are glued with the aluminium tube.

17) The scope is secured on the "scope feet" with two scope rings. However, because of the resin screws which make the scope rings inflexible they were non-functionnal. Fortunately the screws are very close to classic and easy to find 4M screws and thus easy to replace.
1. 2. So i grinded down the resin screws and drilled holes to install real screws. Needless to say that when handling the rings some caution is required as they can snap easily. But once fitted around the aluminium tube they remain quite strong.
3. 4. Real screws in place.

1. When the screws are tightened the scope ring can't fit over the "scope foot" because it's too narrow.
2. To install it i can loosen the real screws, and then spread the ring's legs (impossible with the resin screws).
3. 4. Once both rings were fitted over the "scope feet" i secured the scope by tightening the screws. This makes the scope removable which is nice.

18) And finally. After several comparisons with reference pictures i came to the conclusion that the chrome tube was a little too long to my taste.
1. So i made a mark from the bottom of the tube at 1.5cm.
2. With a hacksaw and some elbow grease i shortened it down.
3. 4. Comparison. The chrome tube is glued to the barrel plug.

(I would also have loved to modify the patern of the vent holes as it appears to be wrong to me.) Forget that.

Thanks for looking!
- T5H

 

[Sidewinder]

You could have simply pushed the resin plug further down inside the barrel rather than cutting the tube. Also the chrome tube hole pattern is correct you need to mount it with the line of round holes at 3 o clock as you look down the barrel.

SAS

 

[The5thHorseman]

You could have simply pushed the resin plug further down inside the barrel rather than cutting the tube. Also the chrome tube hole pattern is correct you need to mount it with the line of round holes at 3 o clock as you look down the barrel.

SAS

About the hole pattern, what makes me believe it is wrong is this picture:

On this one i can see that the group of 3 holes disposed together should be facing the line of 5 holes whereas on your tubes they are side by side.
What do you think about it?

 

[Sidewinder]

TBH i've not seen that pic before.

I suspect they're not holes but just marks on the tube inside.

Also the spacing is wrong for them to be part of the five hole line. The 'hole' nearest the end on a real MPP is not actually a hole but only a drilled recess on the outside for the shroud clamp screw to locate in.

Maybe same as seen here? http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10957

If you are right however then one of two things:
1, its not actually an MPP(as has long been believed) as normal MPPs do not have holes there - at least none of the three real vintage MPPs I have nor any I have seen does.
2, they were drilled when the prop was made.

SAS

 

[The5thHorseman]

Looking at your reference picture, you might be right. Those two black dots i took for holes could only be marks on the inside.

And now i realize that my tube is glued the wrong way around because of course i chose to glue it with the row of 5 holes facing downwards... Haha, how ironic!

 

[The5thHorseman]

Good evening,
I've been in full Translation Mode tonight as i really wanted to end this thread now! So without further ado, let's finish this.

19) The Grip.
a. b. Sidewinder's grip is cold cast which is perfect to obtain really convincing metallic reflects without much efforts by just sanding it with wirewool 0000.

a. However i still needed to weather it so firstly i applied a generous overall Black wash.
b. Secondly i applied a Brown wash more sparingly.
c. Then with wirewool 0000, i polished the flat surfaces until it shines again and normally the creases should stay weathered giving a nice depth to the grip.

20) The Chrome Tube.
a. b. With my airbrush i applied a coat almost opaque of Humbrol Black n°33.
c. d. I added slight touches of brown around the muzzle and vent holes.

a. b. c. d. e. f. With sandpaper (600) i sanded the chrome tube to make it shine again and removed some of the black paint. I purposely kept the sanding light around the vent holes and muzzle as it makes sense to have more weathering here.

21) Painting the blaster parts.
a. b. c. As i have many mobile parts i needed a thin yet resistant paint to apply on the blaster. For this step i favorized the paint resistance over the accuracy as i didn't want the paint to chip off during troops. So instead of trying to reproduce a dark steel appearance i chose a paint used for firearm finish.
Also when it comes to paint thickness the airbrush is the best way to obtain very thin layers so i prefered it over rattlecans.

All the parts (almost) and hardware painted. And yes, there's two scopes.

22) The second scope is courtesy of Intwenothor and is a real one with real scope rings and is extremely close to what was used as the original prop.
a. b. We can see that my resin scope (the aluminium tube) is slightly shorter than a working scope.

23) Weathering the Black.
a. Firstly i hit the edges with metallic paint, or sandpaper for the coldcast parts.
b. c. d. After that, i added hints of rust weathering using pigments. I purposely had a heavy hand during this step as the fixative (to lock the pigments on) i am using tends to dull them down.

a. b. c. When applying the pigments, i focused on the creases and kept it very light on flat surfaces.

The blaster once painted, reassembled, and weathered but without the stock. At this point i had already applied the fixative and as you can see the rusty hints have been dulled down and are now only visible up close.

Eventually i may add some more silver weathering with rub n' buff for a more steelish look..


24) The stock. Honestly i didn't really know how i was going to handle this in order to have a convincing "wood" feeling. This was for me the key point to have right and firstly i thought about buying a wood stock and then tint it with wood stain, but then i thought i'd give the paint a chance before doing that and it finally went quite well.
a. b. The base layer is a mix of Humbrol n°62 + few drops of Black n°33 and is applied with an airbrush. As you can see the layer isn't uniform as i didn't prepare enough paint and i had to overspray the lines i traced for the greeblie positioning as they would still have been visible if not. But all in all, nothing dramatic.
c. d. This is where the wood is starting to take life. I applied an overall wash of "Devlan Mud" not thinned, not shaken. The "Devlan Mud" is a paint from Citadel/Games Workshop which consists in a Dark Brown wash with a sheen finish if not shaken and a strong covering power if not thinned.

a. b. c. Now the most important step. With this same "Devlan Mud" but lightly thinned this time, i traced wood veins on the stock. The objectif is make the veins more and more opaque with successive layers of wash to blend them in. For this step i like to keep my hand light but fast, not overthinking it. However i did take a good look at real wood veins on stock, or tree before starting to have an idea of what would look credible.
d. I needed a forth pic, so here's what the "Devlan Mud" looks like out of the jar .

a. b. c. d. e. f. After that with "Nuln Oil" (which is the same type of paint from Citadel/Games Workshop but Black), i darkened certain areas of the stock: dents, around the sling ring and nuts, edges, the place where the wrist rests, etc... Here again, the objective is to darken them progressively with several successive washes so the blends are invisible.

a. Lastly, i painted in metallic the nuts which normally serve to secure the stock to the D-bracket (non functionnal here).
b. The sling ring is painted black.
c. I then applied few black washes on the nuts, with silver enhancements.

a. b. c. d. e. I finished with 4-5 coats of Gloss varnish, making sure that i had masked the ring and nuts before.

26)
a. b. Once varnished i finally was able to glue the stock greeblies into position. As you can see i also painted the central greeblie in its distinctive red before that.

Side note:
a. The central greeblie can also be glued this other way around as we can see it on this reference pic (b.). It most likely fell off and was reglued afterwards in a different orientation than during this reference picture.

27) The sling.
a. b. c. Around the stock ring i did a basic node to secure it, however i'm pretty much certain it isn't accurate.
d. To me the accurate way seems to be the way illustrated on this picture. Unfortunately, the leather strap i had was too thick, and i was too clumsy with it to reproduce it.

a. About the extremity that goes around the handle ring, i cut a tongue with a notch.
b. c. Once the extremity fed through the ring, i stuck the tongue in its notch. After that i glued the two parts of the sling together for more safety, but i'm quite convinced that there's a rivet on the original sling to keep them together (hard to see however).

28) One last tiny detail.
a. Piece of wire.
b. c. Wrapped around the two screws that normally serve to tighten the front barrel mount. I've wondered about the possibility to be two washers instead, but finally i think they put this wire to bring closer the two legs of the barrel mount, and thus to help securing it and prevent it to twist. The washers however would have served no purpose, that's why i tip toward the wire hypothesis.

The blaster finished 1

The blaster finished 2

The blaster opened.

Size comparison with my old E-11.

Finally... Done! Just need to buy an Airsoft grenade to load inside the barrel.

- T5H

 

[Archon]

Absolutely beautiful. Congratulations!

 

[intwenothor]

Looking at your reference picture, you are clearly right to me! Those two black dots i took for holes seem to be only marks made on the inside.
Thanks for the lesson ;-).

And now i realize that my tube is glued the wrong way around because of course i chose to glue it with the row of 5 holes facing downwards... Haha, how ironic!

They're holes.

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10968

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10969

There are some other images out there from the carbon chambers where the orange light shows throw these holes. They're not marks on the inside of the tube. Nice build.

 

[The5thHorseman]

They're holes.

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10968

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10969

There are some other images out there from the carbon chambers where the orange light shows throw these holes. They're not marks on the inside of the tube. Nice build.

You're killing me man! Looking back at those pics they're undoubtedly holes. Was i right, was i wrong?

The most probable possibility would be that the prop department slightly altered the MPP to customize it. So two holes on the underneath face near the muzzle should be added to the original design of the MPP for a Boba Replica.

 

[Sidewinder]

Interesting. That second pic clearly shows the MPP is oriented as I stated - so those holes must have been drilled for...who knows what reasons?

SAS

 

[BobasDent1138]

This is so beautiful! :') I have to ask: 1) what color did you use to paint the blaster? This is what I'm most curious about as I've followed your thread/tutorial and actually made mine open successfully which got me pumped! haha I don't want it to chip either.
2) How did you apply the rust?? With an airbrush?

 

[The5thHorseman]

This is so beautiful! :') I have to ask: 1) what color did you use to paint the blaster? This is what I'm most curious about as I've followed your thread/tutorial and actually made mine open successfully which got me pumped! haha I don't want it to chip either.
2) How did you apply the rust?? With an airbrush?

I'm happy to hear that my build thread has been of any help to make your blaster able to open!

1) For the metal areas i used Duracoat 4-Matte Black but this stuff is expensive as hell! However it should be a lot more resistant than standard paints, which is why i chose it over a more accurate paintjob. The Duracoat is designed to be applied with an airbrush though so you must have one first. I just hope it will work with resin as well as with parkerized metal surface (that's why i made sure to sand all my parts before painting it to give more grip to the paint).

2) The rust is applied with soft brushes of various size depending of how large was the area to cover.

 

[intwenothor]

They don't really have to have been drilled

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10969

there are some pics of hole layout in this thread in post 18 so it only has to be the case that the hole nearest the edge with the brass dimple by the serial number needs explaining as the other hole is clearly always a hole where a flathead screw passes through. The dimple correlates to where the knurled screw holds the shroud/bulb housing to the tube so either: repeated use of the screw created a hole by damaging the dimple so it fell through, a design variation made by MPP, a defective unique flash or they drilled it. Either way I don't see a great mystery here. They're clearly holes. As MPP kept no records and these are quite rare a final answer could be tough.

 

[BobasDent1138]

Awesome! Thanks! Yeah that's a pricey one... I may just risk it with a regular paint and clear coat. Hmm tough.. Also is the soft brush one of those brushes with the foam tip? Or something else?

 

[RoboTarot]

That "wood" stock is absolutely stunning, man! Seriously, every paint up you do (boots, shin tools, EE-3) is bookmarked for future reference once I'm there with my build. Thank you for posting such great threads!!

 

[Sidewinder]

Those two 'mystery holes' are not in the same line as the five holes used for the switch/shroud clamp dimple. They are 90° around the tube from them. None of my MPPs nor any real ones i've seen have holes in that specific longitudinal/circumferential location relative to the normal rectangular & five hole pattern of an MPP.

Therefore they must be additions either by the prop house (for some reason) or by whoever owned that particular MPP before the prop house obtained it.

SAS

 

[The5thHorseman]

That "wood" stock is absolutely stunning, man! Seriously, every paint up you do (boots, shin tools, EE-3) is bookmarked for future reference once I'm there with my build. Thank you for posting such great threads!!

You're welcome. As i'm not moving fast, i leaves me a lot of time to take pictures and make threads like that .

Awesome! Thanks! Yeah that's a pricey one... I may just risk it with a regular paint and clear coat. Hmm tough.. Also is the soft brush one of those brushes with the foam tip? Or something else?

I call "soft brush" this kind of brush, opposed to this kind. I didn't really know how to call them in english so i used the first word that made sense in my mind!

- - - Updated - - -

Those two 'mystery holes' are not in the same line as the five holes used for the switch/shroud clamp dimple. They are 90° around the tube from them. None of my MPPs nor any real ones i've seen have holes in that specific longitudinal/circumferential location relative to the normal rectangular & five hole pattern of an MPP.

Therefore they must be additions either by the prop house (for some reason) or by whoever owned that particular MPP before the prop house obtained it.

SAS

I agree with SAS on this one. These two holes aren't lined with where the row of five vertical holes are.

With these new informations i may go and unglue my Chrome tube, add the two "anomaly" holes and glue it back.

 

[BobasDent1138]

Ohhh okay i see the brush you mean. Gotcha! Thanks! I'll have to grab some haha