E-11 Stormtrooper Blaster
I purchased this E-11 resin kit at Wonderfest from Arsenal Models. The price was reasonable and it looked like it would be an easy build. I did end up doing several modifications.
The main body is solid resin, which gives it a nice, heavy feel. We'll get to the downside later.
My biggest complaint would be the quality of the resin casting. The surface was mostly in good shape, but there were many, many bubbles just below the surface that appeared as soon as you started sanding. The ends and hilt were the worst spots, but a little putty took care of it.
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I chose to do a well worn and weathered finish, because who wants a pristine garrison weapon that's never seen any action?
The two bolts on either side of the barrel had fairly soft detail, so I replaced them with real hex bolts. I did the same thing with the one on the bottom of the hilt.
The barrel was too shallow and not a truly round. I drilled it out, slide a copper tube in and filled in around the edges. A little sanding and the barrel is flush and the seams disappear.
The kit came with the sight mounting rail, but it was too thin and sagged under the weight of the sight. I replaced it with 1"x1/4" stock. On the sight, I drilled out the front and added an actual glass lens. I also removed the three resin molded screws and replaced them with real screws
The kit came with a real metal D-Ring for the rear. The end cap needed to be rounded off, which exposed a lot of bubbles.
A real glass lens for the rear as well. I had an old pair of small binoculars laying around that were just about the right size.
The magazine required a lot of cleanup
The biggest disadvantage of the solid casting is that it was impossible to add a spring to the rear bolt return. It should be visible inside the slot just below the sight rail.
The "folding" stock is all one piece with the main body, it looks pretty good from above, but becomes pretty obvious when viewed from below.
Overall, I think it looks pretty good. I certainly wouldn't advise raving it around in public without a Stormtrooper costume.