Smitty

should be soon. I'm still trying to get the perfect castings. The black resin is a little more viscous than the white resin so it traps air more than the white resin. Rotating the molds seems to help but I still get those fly in the ointment air bubbles on the scope castings. One things for sure I'll be offering quite a few "factory seconds" kits for the low-low.

Well I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that on the blaster pieces, there is a large contrast in glossy/matte surfaces where I laquered parts of the blaster which will require the blasters to be painted but this wont sink the entire ship. I will be painting the kits before they ship out with a flat black paint that very closely matches the resin. So the whole point behind black resin is not lost, if the paint gets scratched, the scratches will not show up as bright white scratches. Now for the good news! There is a large contrast in glossy/matte surfaces on the scope. This results in the silk screen writing appearing much more boldly. So the words "Single Point", the front cone and the rear eye glass and turret caps look extremely realistic against the matte surface of the scope's body. I will not be painting the scopes in order to preserve this effect.

The open end of the scope is not part of the mold. I drilled that out after the fact. I won't drill out the ones on the production blasters as I'll leave that up to the buyer. Every one of these that leave the United States will only be available in kit form, that way I won't have to worry about customs blahdity blah blah. Stateside buyers will have the option of a fully finished blaster. I'm pouring up the last of the white resin right now. As soon as I have those out of the molds I'll offer those in this thread at a discount to scrounge up the cash for the black resin so I can start production. There's a slim possibilty a 3rd one will come out too but I doubt it. The resin bottles are getting pretty light LoL

Voila! The scope came out of the mold beautifully!!! Lonewolf I think you'll be happy to know that the "SINGLE POINT" text showed up in the molds. Like you described on the droopydoo scope it does appear in the castings ever so slightly. Also the serial number on the scope showed up as well. Here's pics of the unpainted development blaster Enjoy!

A pile of trigger guards and the development blaster. The trigger guard on it is a little shorter where the front part meets the grip than all the other trigger guards.

Thanks for the compliment John! I stated earlier that that the trigger guards would be machined out of steel. I went with Aluminum instead. I cranked out 14 trigger guards tonight and they turned out real nice. Tomorrow I'll line 'em all up and hit them with flat black paint. Right now I am casting parts with last years left over white resin but when production actually starts they will be cast in Onyx black resin. The rest of the silicone has been ordered so expect an update on the scope early next week!

Darn it all!!! I still dont have enough Silicone to finish the molds. The scope mold is about half full so one more batch of silicone will definitely do the trick. The good news is the rest of the blaster molds are finished and I have one complete set of castings assembled minus the scope and trigger guard. The trigger guards will be machined from steel just like the ones from my previous blasters.

HD Closeup of grip

First Pistol grip out of the mold!

I guess I did not order enough silicone...time to order more. This stuff is so thick I almost burned up my girlfriend's mixer! I should be able to get a casting of the pistol grip tomorrow and post up a picture. Oh so close now. So far I'm only a yeaqr behind on this project LoL!

Silicone arrived today, making the final pours today! Should have some casting pics up by the weekend!

Its based on the Alan Sinclair measurements which fit the singlepoint scope perfectly so these should be spot on to the movie blasters. Additionally they will fit the holsters made by the popular TB armorers. I make that statement based on the fact that my last blaster molds passed that test and were also based on the Alan Sinclair measurements. Much smaller than the Kenner blasters. My last blaster met all the requirements for Lancer status and the new molds have a much higher degree of accuracy so I am expecting the same results. Of course as soon as the molds are finished I'll be offering a few blasters at a discounted price for a few troopers to give 'em the Pepsi challenge and post a review. At this point I'm in a holding pattern as I await the arrival of the rest of the silicone. With any luck I should be pouring castings as early as next week. Stay Tuned!

Thats sweet! I've always been just an onlooker when it comes to steampunk but yep, that right there is pretty darn sweet!

Yay!!! Man that power cell is a bugger to demold but it looks great! The brown speck on the second tier of the powercell is a speck of dirt not a hole.

Not in production yet but really really close! Last night I poured the molds for the power cell and barrel nozzle. I'm about to pop the first castings out of those 2 molds in about 5 minutes. *crossing fingers* I also applied the detail silicone layers and pour containers for the receiver and pistol grip last night as well. Just ordered more silicone for the final pours on those parts too. Last big item to do on this is mold the siglepoint scope. still trying to figure out an approach for that. There are lots of inconvenient undercut details for the scope that makes it the hardest part of the process. I'll sell em in kit form and fully finished. I don't want to talk price on this yet but i promise it to be very competitive! Here's a pic!

Well I finally found a suitable piece to serve as the additional ring on the tip of the power cell. Ordering some casting materials next

Here's a pic from the gallery showing the extra ring on the end of the power cell http://forum.bikerscout.net/index.php?app=gallery&image=370 and here's a pic from the gallery showing how the front tip of the scope has apparently been hollowed out http://forum.bikerscout.net/index.php?app=gallery&image=376 As for the turret cap being removed on the original I havent seen any screen grabs that show wether this is the case or not.

I have a question about casting the scope. I was fortunate to have both caps for the turret adjusments but I believe most everyone casts with the top cap removed exposing the dial. Should I do the same with mine or should I remove the top cap for the mold?

Hopefully the writing will show up as you say, I agree it would be a nice touch. Hopefully I can start pouring the molds within the next two weeks.

None of the lettering on the scope is raised or recessed. They are "inked on" so they will not show up on the castings. On the underside of the scope is a recessed serial number that will remain and be present on the castings. I found a picture of the additional circle you referred to. I'll add that detail to the powercell right away!

I got the transistor put on today. I cant wait to get one completed! I have enough casting stuff to make a mold of the nozzle and the power cell but the other 3 parts I gotta get materials.

I meant to have this done over 6 months ago but I never got around to the task. While on my holiday vacation I got plenty of time to work on it. I gotta find a transistor for the grip and I'll be ready to start working on molds. Here's a little slideshow thingy to show it off. www.wix.com/smithchristopherl/tbpreview