Battle Worn Version Features include:
- Custom made Hensoldt-Wetzlar scope made of all original materials, and real optical lenses! More than 27 individual parts!
- Grille made of 3 hand-cut Veron model kit cylinders
- Denix C-96 Mauser replica customized especially for this prop
- Steel bull barrel complete with threads for the rifle barrel extension (as seen when the original gun appeared in "Naked Runner")
- Custom made steel MG81 flash hider and mounting collar
- Steel scope mounting bracket and hardware
- Barrel greeblies made of PVC and ABS plastic
- Functioning hammer, trigger and bolt!
- Real walnut grips, stained and weathered
- Brass grip escutcheons and blued steel screw
- Trigger, hammer, and bolt are stripped and finished grey.
- Bolt extractor shape is blued onto the bolt
- Raised bosses on the Denix sight mounting pin are removed and proper countersink added
- Top of rear sight bar is milled flat to remove the added Denix "lump"
- Entire Denix is stripped, polished, and reblued before aging
- All seamlines are ground off
Now THIS is a good blaster to have at your side! Perfect for display, conventions, collecting, or just because it's cool!
Our Han Solo DL-44 Blaster is the result of a years of fanatical research. We've procured all of the original elements that are currently available including Veron model kit cylinders and pushrods, Hensoldt-Wetzlar scopes, and MG-81 flash suppressor and adapter. We've spec'd them all in minute detail. We've searched out the best manufacturers for each of the parts required to duplicate this prop, down to the screws. What we're offering here is incredibly close to the real prop.
How fanatical? Well, we've reproduced every detail that can be reproduced, even those details you will never see. Such as the bull barrel threaded at both ends (the original custom Mauser was made for a Frank Sinatra spy movie and had a detachable rifle barrel.) Such as a COMPLETE Hensold-Wetzlar scope with ALL INTERNAL PARTS, painted or left bare exactly as the original scopes. Such as using 3 Veron cylinders to construct the "grille" instead of making an easier, simpler (and cheaper) one piece grille. We've duplicated every scratch and chip that is visible in the few reference photos that are available. The scope mounting nuts have straight knurls. The scope tubes are real steel, not cheaper and easier aluminum. The scope adjustment knob has a hexagon pattern knurl.
We start with a zinc metal model gun made by Denix in Spain. We completely disassemble it, and saw off the barrel. We drill a perfectly centered, perfectly aligned hole for the new barrel using a milling machine and custom jigs. Then we mill the face of the receiver perfectly flat and perpendicular, and thread it with real gunsmith threads. The zinc gun parts are all hand polished to remove all of the Denix finish. The barrel extension is then machined to remove the raised bosses around the rear sight retaining pin, and the holes countersunk like the original. The Top of the rear sight bar is machined flat to remove the lump that shouldn't be there. The inaccurate firing pin is ground off of the bolt retaining rod, and re-blued, The rear edges of the frame are radiused like the original. In preparation for the new, more accurate walnut grips, the brace in the center of the grip frame (for the plastic grips) is cut away and filed smooth. All seamlines are ground away and faces flattened. The scope bracket mounting holes are then drilled and tapped. The frame, barrel extension, and rear sight are then re-blued. The bolt, trigger, and hammer are tumbled to a gray finish. The extractor shape is added to the bolt with bluing. The blued parts are then hand aged with steel wool. All zinc parts are then sealed with dry oil. Then we hand-chip the paint on the ends of the scope and elevation adjustment knob. The scope is tumbled to introduce random dings and scuffs. The scope mounting bar is silkscreened to reproduce the chipped pattern on the original. The scope bracket and rings are tumbled and hand-aged with various abrasives. The thumb screw for the bracket is tumbled and sealed with dry oil. The gun is reassembled and a tumbled "bull" barrel is hand-matched to it and installed so that it rests at the perfect angle of rotation without any gap. We pre-assemble the thumbnuts and studs with thread locker, we tumble them then grind away the blued finish on the outer face. We mount the scope bracket with the thumb nuts. To match the angle and details of the scratches of the original blaster, we use a masking template to paint them while in place. We add the distinctive scratches to the rear outside of the scope, and burnish the flash hider to a dark grey finish. A flash hider mounting collar replica is fitted to the barrel, and the flash hider installed. The Veron cylinders are cut, assembled in a custom jig, hand shaped, then glued to the magazine well. The rear sight is glued to the top of the gun to hold it down (real Mauser sights have a strong spring to hold them down. They don't "flip up"). The greeblies are assembled and glued to the top of the barrel. New walnut grips are hand sanded, stained, the brass escutcheons aged, then installed on the gun. Done! It's a crazy, crazy amount of work, but we are always striving to make the "battle worn" version the best replica we can make.
