3D printed T21 Blaster build

[Lou210]

So originally 5 years ago I was working on a kit from spOOL68 here on the forum that consisted of resin parts, I downloaded a T21 template  and began building the wooden stock /main body and barrel made of a PVC pipe and a plastic cup, well I never fully finished it and put the kit away, fast forward to now and I noticed how hefty or cumbersome this weapon can be not bad if you want something that feels substantial and more accurate in components, but with the advances in 3d printing I figured I'd give it a shot and have a lighter rifle I wouldn't mind trooping with.

So I order a kit from a shop on Etsy called Galactic3DEmpire, Gaven does some amazing work and does various weapons from Starwars or any other series you can think of , he shipped my order out quickly since this was the last one he had in stock (if its not in stock you can always message him and request it, but may take a little bit longer) he also does commissions.

Just a heads up this T21 Blaster isn't completely accurate in some of the details

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Galactic3DEmpire?ref=yr_purchases

attached is the previous kit which is awesome if you want something with a little more weight to it and the last set of photos are of the new 3d kit from Gaven

 

 

 

Here is the 3D printed kit, it has a sturdy feel and doesn't feel frail like some 3d printing stuff.

[Lou210]

Heres a closer looks at the pieces one good thing is the print lines on the barrel will give the barrel that machined look some people replicate with nylon string.

 

heres a pic of two of the pages of the instructions 

As you can see this kit utilizes some 3d printed dowel/pigs, but you will need to still buy 2 wood dowels.

[Vf2112]

That's pretty bloody cool

Where do you get these?

[Lou210]

1 hour ago, Vf2112 said:

That's pretty bloody cool

Where do you get these?

its not listed on his page right now cause he doesn't have it already printed so you have to message him and request it, he also makes the other sand trooper weapons 

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Galactic3DEmpire?ref=yr_purchases 

[Lou210]

So here is the progress so far, I picked up the two wooden dowel rods at home depot and then got to work on putting it together, some parts did need to be sanded a little with 220 grit to have the fit together cause they were to tight of a fit.

I will say a quick tip would be to run the sand paper down the wooden dowels to smooth them out so they can slide through the holes in the parts easier otherwise you'll end up like me having to use a rubber mallet.

For assembly i used some CA glue with zip kicker.

 

 

 

 

[Lou210]

I made two changes to the kit,

The first one is didn't use the supplied sling mount which is accurate to the real Lewis machine gun, but instead i drilled a hole in the stock where it goes and threaded in this metal sling mount and then added some glue to really lock it in, I know its not accurate, but this going to be used for trooping so need it to be sturdy.

The second change I made was I used the resin oil brush lid from the previous resin kit I had because the this kit had just a regular cylinder peg 

 

Other than that the kit is assembled and next is to sand and fill most the layer lines by using a mix off 2 parts plastic wood filler and 1 part acetone, brush the mix onto the areas that i dont want layer lines. 

After that then sand with 220 grit and spray with ultra high build sandable primer.

 

[Lou210]

Alright so I used the initial wood filler with acetone mixture thinned down to a milk like consistency and it did a pretty good job of filling some of the print lines only issue is it builds up in some of the crevices,  especially the corrugated part of the barrel. I went through parts of the rifle with a flat tip screw driver and sand paper to remove some of the build up and keep the details sharp then sprayed primer and repeated the sanding.

second coat and sanding

 

[Lou210]

Sanded a bunch of time and honestly got tired of it and inpatient and just sent it since I have a troop tmrw and really want to have a blaster for May the 4th.

Blaster is painted flat black and weathering started 

 

 

All pretty much finished, but just kinda confused on what the actual T21 should look like and which greeblies are correct I see all kinds of builds and they arent all the same some have the metal greeblies on the stock and some don't , some have the telephone wire and thick gauge wire on the barrel and some dont, some have the half circle middle sight and some don't. 

Anyways heres the rifle.

[Vf2112]

Absolutely beautiful