I'm a HUGE Star Wars fan / nerd / geek....the list goes on. Call it whatever you will. But I have been in love with the movies and the expanded universe ever since my dad showed me Star Wars: A New Hope on Videodisc for the first time back in 1983. From there, I was hooked. So what better prop to build than my own E-11 Blaster from the films. Now, there are a few different versions of the Stormtrooper Blaster in the original trilogy. Each with it's own features and greeblies. I decided to focus on the blasters used in Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. At the time I built this, I wanted to join up with the 501st - Vader's Fist (a Star Wars Costuming Club that focuses on those of the Galactic Empire). Look it up. It's very cool if you haven't heard of it. Well, full Stormtrooper armor costs around $800 for a good set. But i decided to build the blaster first since it would only cost me around $70 to do so.I read many forums (mostly on www.whitearmor.net) on how to make the blaster that would conform to the costuming clubs standards. Pretty simple really. There were 3 ways of going about this - (1) build it from scratch using mostly PVC pipe (2) build it using a decommissioned Sterling WWII machine gun or (3) purchase a HASBRO toy Stormtrooper Blaster toy and hack and modify it. I chose the 3rd option and I was very pleased with the result. Let's begin...
I began by buying the toy blaster from HASBRO for $36. This was 1/2 of my cost right off the bat.
At first glance, the toy blaster looks pretty good. But there is some stuff that I needed to do to it to make it pass the Stormtrooper qualifications of the 501st. Along with buying the toy blaster, I also purchased the following materials as shown below: 110 grit sandpaper (not shown), 600 grit sandpaper, E6000 glue (my favorite), Krylon Fusion spray paint (Hammered Chrome and Flat Black) and a small jar of Testor's silver model paint (optional).
The first thing I did was decide if I wanted to remove the audio sounds and lights from within the barrel. I unscrewed the gun and pried apart the barrel to disconnect the soldering on the wires rather than remove the speaker and all the inner parts. Although once you take out the screws the only thing still holding it together was the smaller of the barrel tips. Therefore, I cut it off. No worries though. It was going to come off anyways.
Second, I reassembled the blaster and put all of the screws back in place. Sanding down the entire gun starting w/ 110 sandpaper helped take off the brightly colored paints. I focused on all of the manufacturer's "raised lettering" on the sides of the blaster. Since making a replica prop...I am going for movie "realism", so seeing some lettering on the blaster will make it seem more like a "toy". One I removed the "raised lettering" I also cut off the rest of the orange barrel tip and then sanded smooth over the area where the barrel tip use to be.
On the top (rear) of the blaster toy there was a solid black sight rail. I wanted it to resemble the screen version so I completely cut off the rail and installed my own version that connected to the underside of the scope and goes all the way to rear-most "iron sight" on the rear of the blaster. You'll also notice in the pictures below that the blaster was sanded smooth as well as I had filled in all of the screwholes permanently with a sandable Epoxy Putty. That way the gun will have the appearance of a real working Star Wars blaster. Small detail but at least I know it's done on the finished product.
From here, I had to put the project on hold for 2-3 weeks because my wife and I were having our first child & I also had ordered the next "parts" of the blaster in the mail and they were coming all the way from the UK. There is a great site called Doopydoos. Weird name...I know. But they have some great custom made Stormtrooper Blaster parts that fit directly to the outside of the HASBRO toy blaster that helps make it more screen accurate than it is out of the box. These pieces were cast out of resin and I highly recommend them. You can find these pieces at the following link.
DoopyDoo's - Star Wars Props and Replica parts
You'll have to do the math on your own as to what the prices are for the parts and shipping. I think in the end the pieces I ordered cost me around 15 EUR which converts to roughly $23.25. Don't remember what shipping cost. Here are a few pictures of the resin pieces before installation.
Attaching the resin cast pieces to the blaster was pretty self explanatory. If you need reference just check out some pictures online. I used the E6000 glue to attach everything. It dries very quickly too. This stuff is very strong. Once it's on....it's not going anywhere.
I attached the tail piece on the rear end onto the blaster first. But first, you might have to pre-drill a few small holes in the sides of the resin piece to be able to add a D-ring Like I have shown. I made my D-ring out of a single piece of thin chain link because at the time I couldn't find a D-ring. But the piece of chain worked out great. Required a lot of patience and slow cutting with a hacksaw. The piece on the lower side went on like magic. Very easy to install. The next pieces to install were the screen accurate blaster barrel tip as well as the Hengstler counter and various odds and end that attach to the left side of the blaster. This really makes the gun have that extra detail seen in the films and also gives the blaster some really great weight and feeling to the gun.
Some people hack up & modify the scope but it's not necessary. I was pleased with how it looked already. The final resin piece to be attached was the "folding stock". You see them on the blasters in the films but you never actually see them in use in the movies. My "folding stock" is non-functional and came in 2 pieces. This was the most difficult part of the build. It required the use of multiple clamps to help in the gluing process but as long as you do a few "dry fittings" you should be fine. Just make sure all of the seems line up correctly. I kept the clamps on the for 24 hours just to make sure everything was set in place. This piece probably had the most E6000 glue. Turned out great. Just another great addition to the prop.
Now, one of the final additions before painting and weathering was minor detail work on the sides of the barrel. In the 501st, there are certain requirements for the blaster barrel. Depending on what style you're going for....whether it's ANH, ESB or RotJ style of blaster....there are requirements as to how many of the T-tracks you have on the barrel. Since i was modding a HASBRO toy blaster I was required to add 2 more T-tracks along the exposed barrel holes on the sides. I looked everywhere and could not find anything resembling. After a few weeks of searching, I finally made contact on www.whitearmor.net forums w/ someone who was selling it. I paid around $4 for a few pieces of plastic T'track and trimmed it to match what was already on the toy blaster. Almost an exact match if I do say so.
One thing I wished i had done was hollowed out the plastic in the center of the front "iron sight" but perhaps one day i'll go back to do that. Now I was ready for paint and weathering. This is always my favorite part of the builds. I researched and researched. And decided I wanted my blaster to look as though it had been dropped a few times or perhaps weathered just from excessive use. You have to use your imagination when weathering. Focusing mostly on edges, rounded surfaces and some flat areas. I began my priming the entire blaster w/ gray primer. Let it dry for an hour or so and then I gave it one good coating of the Krylon Fusion - Hammered Chrome paint. The Krylon Fusion brand is made specifically for plastics. So it adhered very nicely. The Hammered Chrome paint is very thin so let it dry a good amount of time. After it is not "tacky" to the touch...you'll want to begin the weathering process. Once again, this part is optional. You're going to think I'm crazy but i used yellow mustard. YES!! The kind you put in a burger or hot dog. With a toothpick (because I wanted very fine - chipped away paint edges) i applied the yellow mustard to a few spots where I thought the black paint would wear. Give the mustard just a few minutes to dry and then it's time to hit the blaster with the Krylon Fusion - Flat Black paint. I gave the blaster 3 coats. After drying for an hour or two it was time to remove the yellow mustard. You'll notice wear the mustard was by the raised areas of paint. Using an old toothbrush and hot water, I scrubbed the mustard away from the black paint revealing the chrome paint underneath. here are the results.
Now that it was done, I needed a way to display it in my ever growing Star Wars collection. So I decided to build a stand for it. After working on some designs using AutoCAD I came up with a pretty cool and simple design. Using a piece of 1x6, a couple of 1" diameter dowels & a die-cut Imperial Cog sticker...I made this display stand as shown below. NOTE: EACH DOWEL WAS CUSTOM CUT TO FIT THE SHAPE OF THE HASBRO BLASTER AS WELL AS THE SHAPE OF THE RESIN ATTACHMENTS.
And that does it for the E-11 Stormtrooper Blaster. Very happy with the results.
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