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[Tyno Krast]

I am currently writing the back story for this weapon so stay tuned for that. But for now here she is....





She's an S&T Arms replica PPSh-41 airsoft gun. She's made of stamped steel and hard wood and she's HEAVY! Weighing it at a little over 8lbs you can do curls with this little lady and get a bit of an upper body work out while you troop 

Although she's a heavy beast I think there is a lot of Swarsy potential here. Plus I need the exercise anyway. I also opted for the real metal and wood for the feel. When kids ask to hold weapons it's always fun to see them react to a weapon that isn't made of plastic. Really adds to the illusion I think. 

Because so many Star Wars weapons were built around actual WWII weapons I wanted to continue with that tradition.

My first choice was a Thompson SMG. Although I do like the Chicago Typewriter gangster style Thompson I felt the military version would have been better. But ultimately I went with the PPSh because it's not nearly as recognizable as the Thompson which means it might be easier to mod and disguise.

Plans so far:

Strip and refinish the stock.
Add a scope or two
Add some Scout trooper greeblies to the drum mag (see photo below)
Possibly add some t-track to the barrel
Cut down a stick mag to make a short blaster cartridge with some DL-44 greeblies on it.

The idea behind the weapon is that it will be blaster and a slug thrower hybrid. The shortened stick mag will be the "power cell" while the drum mag will hold the "slugs"

Drum mag greeblies


I'm not going to gut it because I want to keep it functional. Of course there will never be batteries or BBs in it when I troop. So I'd like to keep the modifications as modular as possible so they can be easily removed if I ever want to do some real airsoft skirmishes.

Any ideas or advice on how to mod would be greatly appreciated. Especially when it comes to mounting a scope. I have no idea how to mount a scope to this gun without damaging it.

[TaJin]

LIKE IT SO FAR! About the scope, I would buy a small picatini rail and attach it to the top using small screws. Then mount the scope to the rail. Hope this helps.

[Dresdon Acacin]

I would say chop the stock into pistolgrip but add the thumb loop and bottom plate to make it like the EE3 stock, that would make it a lot less recognisable I think....or maybe the stock cover plate thing...

[Tyno Krast]

Thanks vode.

Chopping the stock is not an option. Because I plan on keeping it functional chopping the stock will remove the battery well. What do you mean "stock cover plate"? You mean the greeblies boba has on his stock? if so then I'm already on top of that  8)

I've been looking into the rails Tajin. Just not sure if I can do it without drilling into the gun.

[Valeskor Zevkin]

It has a lot of potential, but am I wrong in thinking that all weapons HAD to be rendered non-functional before passing?

[Ref Al'drann]

It has a lot of potential, but am I wrong in thinking that all weapons HAD to be rendered non-functional before passing?

It has to be unable to fire. Without batteries, it is inoperable.

[Calder Varad]

Obviously this is your build and you can do what you want, but when I saw it, my first thought was that it looked a lot like Bossk's signature rifle. Behold...



I'd throw on that secondary hand grip and, like you said, a scope or two and bippity boppity boop, there you have it.

[Dresdon Acacin]

Yes I meant the stoc greeblies.

You can even just JB weld the rail on if drilling isn't an option. For fasteners you could even just use 1/8" pop rivets, the barrel shroud looks pretty thin so you could probably put the scope mounts far enough down the barrel that its just going to be drilled into the should and put a couple rivets to hold it in place. Or, if the material is thick enough you could drill and tap it to take some 8/32 machine screws or some similar size to hold the rail on. Heck, you could even make do with a bar/strip of aluminum or pvc if you bevel the edges so that it has a groove and lip acting the same way as a rail would to hold the scope on.

[Tyno Krast]

Thanks for the input vode. Every little bit helps!

Cal I was thinking the same thing lol. Even went and researched the weapon to see if I could make this a different model or a more modified version of the one old Bossky Wossky uses. What I found was that Bossk's rifle is more of a launcher than a blaster. But the similarities are still there. Especially once I get that stick mag in there

Dresdon I've said it before and I'll say it again....you are an evil genius when it comes to creating implements of sci-fi death. However....I'm no longer in my "batcave" so that means I don't have access to my workshop or tools. But I do have CA glue and a dremel tool so I'm still slightly dangerous.

But.....I did find a less invasive solution to the scope mounting issue. The solution was aimed right at my face the whole time and I completely overlooked it! Simple, effective, cheap, removable, and Swarsy!

[Dresdon Acacin]

Windshield wiper blades?

[Tyno Krast]

I've actually got some plastic T-Track material but i'm not sure if I'm going to use it or not. I want to put some kind of grip on the bottom. Just not sure what yet. Any suggestions?

Now that I have the scope mounting figured out I can use the same method to mount something under the barrel as well

[Dresdon Acacin]

If you do I strongly discourage relying solely on an adhesive-put a couple short poprivets to be safe, you can get countersunk ones that wont even show.

[Tyno Krast]

Been slacking on the PPSH. Spending a lot of time tweaking the armor. But....

I recently got my hands on an airsoft M79 grenade launcher. I still plan on doing something with the PPSH but I really like the look of the the M79 and I think it's got some Swarsy potential.



Plans for the M79

Clean off the orange "safety" paint
Mount the scope
Refinish the wood furniture
Add a few greeblies from the Visible V-8 model kit
Give it a new paint job and weathering

At the moment I'm not 100% sure how to mount the scope or even if I should use the scope in the picture. It's pretty beefy but I think it looks ok with the the look of the weapon.

I'm also debating on adding the EE-3 style "fins" to the front of the barrel. I may also add a barrel extension and if I do that I will definitely do the fins. But for now I'm undecided. Any thoughts on that?

Also not sure what to do about the rubber slab on the butt stock. I like that it gives the stock a bit more length but without it I can add a few greeblies to the butt.

Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated.


*UPDATE*

Picked up a few bits from the Depot today.

I was debating on lengthening the barrel. But I found some parts that seemed to fit so I'm going for it.



Here's how the parts look when added to the end of the barrel.....



I'll be rounding out some of the edges and of course giving everything a paint job. The entire barrel extension will be removable.

I am very much out of my depth when it comes to weapon modification so any help or advice would be much appreciated!

I'm also thinking I might scrape the original scope. It's cool and I like it but it's a bit too steampunk I think.

[Tyno Krast]

Managed to get a few modifications done on the EH-14





The section that joins the main barrel to the mods is still pretty rough. I'm going to be smoothing that out so it's more flush with the barrel.

Of course a scope and a few greeblies are on the way as well.

Next week I'll be refinishing the wood parts. What do you think would look best: Wood tones or black? I'm leaning toward wood tones.

Should I add the t-track/fins or just leave it alone?

Critique and advice are greatly appreciated!

[ConDar Ward]

Wood Tones & Skip the T-track .....    IMO ....

 But What Do I know ....

Your Build your Call ..... 

[Calder Varad]

I like it already! 

[Ref Al'drann]

Now I want one... Don't be surprised if you see a build thread for an M79 from me. And just when I said I was done with rifles...

Beautiful weapons. I'm a big fan of your work as you know

[Tyno Krast]

Thanks ner'vode!

yeah the M79 is turning out to be a lot of fun to mod. And it feels weightless compared to the PPSh

I like the design of it because you can get a nice Swarsy look with very little effort. Plus it's close enough to the EE-3 to be Swarsy without being an EE-3 clone.

[bioshutt]

our very own Hondo Karr had a blaster that resembled an M79

[Calder Varad]

I like the design of it because you can get a nice Swarsy look with very little effort. Plus it's close enough to the EE-3 to be Swarsy without being an EE-3 clone.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[Prudii Senaar]

I'm really liking the look as is....just wondering though, where'd that massive steampunk-y scope COME from? Not something you see often

[Tyno Krast]

The scope was something I found on FleaBay. The price was right and I liked the look of it.....until I paired it with the weapon. It didn't look right with the PPSH either. Too steampunky.

I think it's an old surveyors scope. That monster weighs 2-3lbs easy.

I'm going to be making the M79 modular so I can use it for steampunk and post apocalyptic cosplay as well as Star Wars costuming. So when I'm not wearing Tyno I'll pop off the Swarsy scope and pop on the giant steam punk scope.

I'm still on the fence about the t-tracks but I think I came up with an idea.....

Rather than attaching the t-tracks directly to the weapon I'm going to make a "t-track sleeve" that can be slipped on and off the weapon.

[Cpt. Rhiis Mok'tau]

Nice! I've been looking for an M79 to use for this same purpose, but I can't find one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Where'd you find yours?

[Tyno Krast]

I got it HERE

This was the cheapest place I could find. Most other sites want over $200 + shipping.

It's not "cheap" but I saved my pennies for a couple of months so it didn't sting too bad.

If anyone wants to get this particular brand be aware that you're getting exactly what you pay for. I think this is a great costume prop but I wouldn't actually use it for an airsoft skirmish.

It's a bit wobbly but a couple of small bits of craft foam tightened it right up so now she's solid as a rock.

Also the selector switch for the leaf-type sight came off and I wasn't able to replace it. Which is not a big deal of course for costuming but for reenacting/airsoft this would be a big problem.

The wood is decent and the metal parts are aluminum. It's not nearly the quality of the PPSH but it's light weight, easy to mod and will definitely get the job done.

[Cpt. Rhiis Mok'tau]

Right on, thanks for the link!