Sidewinder ESB EE3 build

[Short4ATrooper]

Some of you may have seen a previous post of mine asking for help. I had been using this thread as a guide:

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

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...

www.thedentedhelmet.com

However, something strange is occurring as none of the pictures are displaying which makes the thread much harder to follow!

In the absence of any other build thread I’m yet to find, I figured the only option would be to start my own. Blasters are easily the weakest part of my skill set - I know nothing about real guns for a start, I think the only terms I know are ‘trigger’, ‘hammer’, and ‘stock.’

My goal is to have a 501st clearable EE3. Not interest in mods to make the kit function like a real Webley as I’d have no cause to use any such functionality at a troop. I’ll be asking lots of questions about what goes where!

Before I start, I’ve mostly been priming greeblies but therein lies my first question:

Is it better to prime and paint all the individual parts and then assemble everything, or assemble first and then paint?

To me, it seems logical to paint all the individual pieces first and just do the weathering when it is fully assembled but I’ve been told it’s not good to do this because when it comes to glueing parts together, you’d be glueing paint to paint, and the bond wouldn’t be as strong as if you glued the raw parts together.

What’s the consensus?

 

[Spicy fett]

Get it completely assembled before painting. Just like you said it can cause things to not glue quite as well. I would say if you can’t find any builds on this you could look up some weebly assembly material since the sidewinder is just a recast of an actual flare gun.

 

[Short4ATrooper]

Get it completely assembled before painting. Just like you said it can cause things to not glue quite as well. I would say if you can’t find any builds on this you could look up some weebly assembly material since the sidewinder is just a recast of an actual flare gun.

Great, thank you for replying.

I have the greeblies primed but I can sand back the parts that’ll be glued. I’ve found a few good photos of assembled Sidewinder kits that should be good enough for reference. I’ll post some progress photos here soon, now I know to start with assembly.

 

[Short4ATrooper]

Here’s how we’re looking thus far:



A few parts have been “pinned in” wherever possible. I use wooden skewers or thick metal paper clips to create dowels and drill holes in the part and the corresponding fixing point - this helps with dry assembly and also gives an extra anchor point when glueing. The stock greeblie that covers the corner of the grip is one such “pinned part”.



I haven’t finished the scope yet, in fact I think it might be on backwards currently but I’ve only attached one end as I still need to be able to get the scope rings off for painting. Attaching the end that is currently on there was a challenge. As you can see from the other end - there’s not much to glue to:



So I rolled a thin little ‘sausage’ of milliput, placed it around the rim of the scope tube and squished the scope end on to it. Once dry, I sanded it back, placed some super glue around the join and sanded again while it was still wet. I’ve done this a lot on blaster builds, it’s a great way to reinforce a join.

All the parts that are screwed on, as opposed to glued and are still removable - trigger guard, D-mount, scope mounts, flash tube e.t.c will be painted before assembly.

I’ve decided to abandon my plans for a movable hammer since there really is no need. Also I don’t see how I’d be able to engineer it to stay cocked/uncooked. It’d just be loose which I don’t like the idea of. The trigger has the classic spring mod so is “pullable” which isn’t necessary but is super satisfying!

 

[Short4ATrooper]

Some more work has been done, lots more parts have been “pinned in.” I was concerned about the possibility of the barrel mounts twisting so I wanted to pin those to the barrel to prevent that from happening. Here you can see where I’ve inserted wooden dowels through the barrel mounts and into the barrel. I was able to get some milliput on the inside of the barrel around the dowels too, to reinforce it further.



They’re in pretty inconspicuous places to begin with but I sanded them back and used some spray putty to fill any gaps. Once re-primed and painted they should be pretty much invisible.

I also ended up with a functional hammer after all! Just by logistics of securing it, it seemed the best option was to “pin it” and the barrel ends up hiding the pin anyway:



Because it’s such a narrow gap, the mechanism is quite tight so the hammer doesn’t “flap around” like a feared.

 

[Short4ATrooper]

Small update. Some stock greeblies painted.

White first:



Then black, before being sanded back a little and dry brushed with white:



Pinned in the back:




Got the stock painted too:

 

[Short4ATrooper]

More greeblie painting:



For the side greeblies, I sanded them back to reveal the white underneath and used dry brushing but for the centre pieces I wanted a more definitive damage look, more like the paint had flaked off so I used masking fluid and intentionally removed it when the black paint was still tacky to get a nice grimy look:





And here they are fitted to the stock (on one side at the moment)

 

[Short4ATrooper]

Very nearly there now.





The wooden dowels / pins I used to secure the brackets to the barrel are now invisible:



I’m now in the process of sealing with a satin clear coat and then I’ll do a little more weathering, though not too much.

A lot of the weathering on the main barrel section happened naturally when I wire wooled the black, revealing the coat of silver underneath but I’ll want to dry brush a little dirt & rust. I also want to dry brush a lighter brown on the stock as I think it’s a little too dark at the moment.







Now I just need to source a leather strap. Any ideas on where to go as well as dimensions (length, width, thickness e.t.c)?

 

[Jango_fett_jr]

Looking great! This thread should help you with the leather strap:

Blaster - ConvergenceProps: ESB EE-3 Sling- Tutorial

Hey guys, as promised here is a picture tutorial on how I did the ESB EE-3 Sling on my foundparts build to look as it appears on the screen For this method, I highly recommend softening the leather sling first using Neatsfoot oil so that you're able to get the rear knot tighter as well as give...

www.thedentedhelmet.com

 

[Short4ATrooper]

Looking great! This thread should help you with the leather strap:

Blaster - ConvergenceProps: ESB EE-3 Sling- Tutorial

Hey guys, as promised here is a picture tutorial on how I did the ESB EE-3 Sling on my foundparts build to look as it appears on the screen For this method, I highly recommend softening the leather sling first using Neatsfoot oil so that you're able to get the rear knot tighter as well as give...

www.thedentedhelmet.com

I’ve got that thread bookmarked but unless I missed it, it doesn’t mention where to get the strap

 

[Jango_fett_jr]

Post in thread 'ConvergenceProps: ESB EE-3 Sling- Tutorial'
Blaster - ConvergenceProps: ESB EE-3 Sling- Tutorial

“AMAZON; 4oz (1/16"thick), 3/4" wide leather straps at 72" (enough to make two in case I messed one up)”

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072QVS54G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[miggs fett]

I’ve got that thread bookmarked but unless I missed it, it doesn’t mention where to get the strap

he sells them already made as well

 

[Short4ATrooper]

Thanks guys