DL-44 Project Part 1

Okay, so... here's my wee Star Wars DL-44 Project... I was asked by several folks to post photos of my progress...

The base gun is a HFC "Box Canon", a Chinese version of the 1896 "Mauser Broomhandle" purchased from this eBay seller: [link]

I went through that seller because he seems to be the only person that has the short mags for this particular airsoft gun (the short mags for the HFC have been discontinued, and for good reason... they don't hold a lot of gas, and tend to jam the loading pin... this weapon has both firing pin, and loading pin, however, it's an easy fix.. simply strip it, and replace the forward recovery pin with a new one that's a bit longer... part number HG-196-19... I made my own piece out of a small piece of metal peg, some solder, and ground it to the shape I needed with a file first, and then a dremel)

My repair job has actually brought up the FPS to about 500FPS, giving it a louder "pop" when there are no BBs in it.

Now, as for the rest of the parts that will be used for this project... the disk is a watch battery (the supplier I used for parts was out of the disks, but I think the battery gives it a much better "Star Wars" look about it) that is simply hot glued on (using high temp hot glue... the low temp will NOT work... it will look like it works, but the slightest jostle will pop it off)

The grill work, as well as the scope mount (both the T-Mount, and the cross piece, as well as the scope rings) are from a company called "Blast-Tech Industries". Their web site is [link]

Their product is VERY high quality, and their shipping is VERY fast! In fact, I got the item in the mail about an hour before I even got the confirmation e-mail from them that the product was shipped! (it takes them about a day or two to answer e-mails, but, they do NOT slack as shipping product... it seems the product was on the truck only an hour after the payment was confirmed through Pay-Pal)

Now, I could have bought the scope through Blast-Tech, but, I already had my old 22 LR scope that came off of one of my old rifles, and 22 cal. scopes are rather cheap through Big 5 or any other sporting goods store that sells guns, or airsoft supplies. Any gun shop should have them as well.

Now comes the tricky part... the flash guard... in the movie "Star Wars A New Hope", they used the nozzle from a fire extinguisher for the front end of the blaster... and you could do that, or buy a flash guard from Blast-Tech, but, what mine will be is the flash guard from an AK-74 rifle... they actually make these through Tokyo Marui out of steel, so you don't need to go to any surplus shop for it (they are next to impossible to find through surplus shops anyway)

The AK-74 flash guard was used on the "Empire Strikes Back version of the blaster, and honestly, that's about the only part I like about the Empire Strikes Back version of the blaster (rumor is they lost the original prop from A New Hope, and thus the redesign... but the over all effect of the Empire Strikes Back version is it looks too much like a modern firearm, and I like the aesthetic appearance of the New Hope Hero blaster a bit better.... it looks a bit more "Buck Rodgers meets Steam Punk, meets George Lucas" in style.

So, there ya have it... this is the blaster so far... today, I will be drilling and threading the gun to mount the scope, and either cutting the barrel for the flash guard (cutting the outer barrel, but leaving the inner barrel to stick through) or, possibly cutting the flash guard to fit over the barrel itself (it depends on what sort of tools will be at the shop for that)

Oh, also, for safety reasons, I have blaze orange plugs (that fit in the barrel... available at any serious airsoft shop) as well as a blaze orange safety cap (also readily available at any serious airsoft shop... most airsoft stores will give these away for free) for over the flash guard for when it's being worn in costume, or transported... easily pulled for display, as well as photography purposes. Federal law states that in order to buy or sell an airsoft gun, or any toy gun, they MUST have a blaze orange tip.... however, state laws vary by state, and county... in my county, it is legal to remove the orange tip, provided the tip is replaced before sell or transport.

I will be uploading photos of the blaster through each step.