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Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade

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1weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Empty Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Sun May 12, 2019 4:09 pm

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
Sideshow has produced a full pack of Empire Strikes Back bounty hunters, including Dengar. These are all generally excellent figures, but in Dengar's case they overlooked one fairly signature detail when it came to his long blaster rifle. In the film (though not in some of the released pre-production photos), Dengar sported a modified MG 42 with the bipod and buttstock removed. Sideshow's weapon is beautifully sculpted and painted (even if a bit too evenly for my taste), and has the bipod removed; but the buttstock is still there. While I would agree that the weapon looks silly without the buttstock, we are supposed to strive for movie accuracy, are we not?

So instead of modifying the Sideshow piece, I purchased an inexpensive 1/6 MG 42 kit on eBay, put it together without the bipod and buttstock, and finally got around to painting/weathering it. I wanted to give it a used, worn appearance, and to reduce the plastic-looking effect of, well, black plastic. I think it turned out reasonably well, even if the less accurate Sideshow weapon has finer detail.

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Dengar10

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Dengar11

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Dengar12

What do you think?

#starwars #empirestrikesback #esb #dengar #bountyhunter #weapon #mg42 #machinegun #scifi #custom #repaint


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skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
I think it turned out excellent! Smile If you hadn't pointed it out I wouldn't have noticed -- amazing what a bit of weathering can do! It's also smart to create an additional custom accessory rather than just modifying the original. : )


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"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
Looks great, and far more screen accurate, as you say. Nicely done.


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Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade C8485110

scalawag

scalawag
I may do this too if I can find a decent 1/6 MG42 to butcher lol.

The original MG42 has a removable butt stock so that it can be more easily used in fighting vehicle interiors, so all the armourers did for the film was unscrew the stock from the end of the receiver.

You have done a nice job on this kit one Gubernatorfan, it looks good.

Paul


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weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Yv5cCVM

scalawag

scalawag
I just realised I do have a spare MG42 from Dragon I think, but its currently on a gun rack as part of a collection of WWII (ish) german weapons.

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade WHvz8cT

Paul


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weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Yv5cCVM

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
skywalkersaga wrote:I think it turned out excellent! Smile If you hadn't pointed it out I wouldn't have noticed -- amazing what a bit of weathering can do!  It's also smart to create an additional custom accessory rather than just modifying the original.  : )

Thank you! Yes, I don't like messing up complete sets unless absolutely necessary (and resale value is only part of my concern) -- hence applying the modification to a separate piece. However, I do mess with parted-out items more often, even if they are from pricey sets.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looks great, and far more screen accurate, as you say. Nicely done.

Thank you Mark!

scalawag wrote:I may do this too if I can find a decent 1/6 MG42 to butcher lol. The original MG42 has a removable butt stock so that it can be more easily used in fighting vehicle interiors, so all the armourers did for the film was unscrew the stock from the end of the receiver. You have done a nice job on this kit one Gubernatorfan, it looks good.

Thank you Paul! Your expertise comes handy in the explanation as to why this was an easy modification for this weapon. As for making your own, you can also get a low price kit to put together... at any rate, nice gun racks!


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scalawag

scalawag
So I couldn't resist the urge to have a go at this too after seeing the excellent results GubernatorFan achieved.

So I set to modifying the Dragon MG42 that I had in hand.

First job was to remove the Bi-Pod which was easy enough as it just pulled off of its pin. Next the but stock was removed. Its a sort of clam shell on this version of the MG42 so I prised apart the two sides and job done.
Next the more destructive elements. The front sight is permanently fixed in the upright position on the Dragon model, so it was cut off cleaned up and repositioned to the folded position.
The pin that held the Bi-pod also needed removing, as did the latch pin for the same, so these were cut off and the scars cleaned up.
The last of the physical mods was to round the spigot that the stock had been wrapped around. On the model it is a square block at the back of the receiver, but on the real gun it is round and has threads that the stock screws onto. I filed down the profile of the block to be more round, and I tried to replicate the threads but failed to get a convincing enough look so filed it back to smooth.
Last step was paint. all the scars and mod work was blended into the original finish using Tamiya Gun Metal acrylic paint, and the grips were painted in Tamiya red brown with the fixings screws picked out in Tamiya flat aluminium to match the look of the original SideShow item. I should mention that my intention was to get this to look as close to the provided MG42, but with the modifications.

The Dragon MG42 is not as finely detailed as the Sideshow offering, but it is not too bad at all. I did notice while doing the mods that the top half of the rear sight is missing on the Dragon gun so I will have to take a look at that at some point, but overall I am happy with the outcome.

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade PNYXtH6

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade U6FJOLw

And in the hands of our protagonist:

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade 9bUD2bG

Paul


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weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Yv5cCVM

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
Nicely done, Paul. Thanks for the detailed write-up.


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Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade C8485110

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Yours looks great, too, scalawag! Smile

And I've always liked the look of Dengar, reminds me a bit of this rather dashing Albanian volunteer from WWI. Wink

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Albvol10


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
skywalkersaga wrote:Yours looks great, too, scalawag! Smile

And I've always liked the look of Dengar, reminds me a bit of this rather dashing Albanian volunteer from WWI. Wink

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Albvol10

Holy cow. Great photo, S. I honestly thought that WAS a behind the scenes photo at first glance. Nice catch.


_________________
Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade C8485110

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
I did a double take when I first saw that pic too! While I'm no expert on the era by any means, I do have a rather big fascination with 'the Great War' for a variety of reasons, and I was looking up something totally unrelated one day and stumbled across it. I was like, 'well hello there, Dengar!' ;D


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
scalawag wrote:So I couldn't resist the urge to have a go at this too after seeing the excellent results GubernatorFan achieved. So I set to modifying the Dragon MG42 that I had in hand... The Dragon MG42 is not as finely detailed as the Sideshow offering, but it is not too bad at all.  I did notice while doing the mods that the top half of the rear sight is missing on the Dragon gun so I will have to take a look at that at some point, but overall I am happy with the outcome.

Beautifully done, Paul, and useful explanation for anyone modifying a Dragon MG42. There are many eBay listings for the simple sets that you put together, which may actually be based on the Dragon product. They are very affordable, and since one puts them together in the first place, some of the modification is not necessary, though I do remember slicing off something to get the right look (it was a long time ago). Anyway, one could search eBay for "1/6 MG42".

One minor detail that you might be interested in replicating: although we don't get a very clear view of it, it appears that the very front of Dengar's gun was in a distinctively more silver/aluminium color than the rest. It is the front of the recoil booster -- part 21 in this diagram:

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade 561abc90bd259a3bc7911ce12966c0f9

I tried to reflect this in my painting, without making it too blatant (and it is isn't overly obvious in the photos). I think you can kinda see it in this set photo:

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade DengarIG88Fett-TESB30

skywalkersaga wrote:And I've always liked the look of Dengar, reminds me a bit of this rather dashing Albanian volunteer from WWI. Wink

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Albvol10

What, Lawrence of Albania? Smile


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scalawag

scalawag
Yeah that is an interesting little detail GubernatorFan, and I am not sure what is going on with it.  It looks to me just to be the conical flash hider at the end of the recoil booster that is lighter.  As far as I know these were all made from steel and blued so I would guess that maybe 1 of 3 different scenarios is playing out here.

It could be that the lighter look is due to lighting.  The flash hider is smooth sided and more reflective than the rest of the recoil booster which has vent holes, grooves and knurling added to its surface.

Or it could be that the bluing has worn off, or been removed.  Being at the end of a fairly long firearm these parts do pick up a lot of wear over time, so this is plausible too.

Or the armourers painted it silver to look more Star Wars, but given the minor nature of the other mods to this gun and the slightly dull look to the silver colour in the pick I think this is the least likely possibility.  If they had painted it silver I think it would stand out more than it does.

For me the most likely cause is a worn part, but really it is impossible to tell from the limited source material we have, it could just as easily be an effect of lighting, or both combined.

It is something to consider though for my upgraded blaster, although as I mentioned my intention was to use the dragon to replicate the SideShow item as closely as possible but with the stock removed.

Paul


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weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Yv5cCVM

scalawag

scalawag
Stryker2011 wrote:
skywalkersaga wrote:Yours looks great, too, scalawag! Smile

And I've always liked the look of Dengar, reminds me a bit of this rather dashing Albanian volunteer from WWI. Wink

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Albvol10

Holy cow. Great photo, S. I honestly thought that WAS a behind the scenes photo at first glance. Nice catch.

That is a great pic and yes definitely very reminiscent of Dengar. I love these pics from WWI etc.... I have more than a passing interest and especially with the weapons of the time. Everything was so new and experimental back then its fascinating to me to see how some things worked and some didn't.

Paul


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weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Yv5cCVM

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
Interesting interpretation about the coloring of the gun, Paul. You do know your stuff. Smile


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Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
My guess on the lighter part is the blue wore off. It happens quite a bit on the larger weapons (it happens today on the semi-autos, as well) — mainly due to heat build up at the end of the muzzle.


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Mark

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weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade C8485110

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
If it is a question of wear damage as both Paul and Mark suggest, I'm glad that although I purposefully painted that part a more silvery color (mixing Vallejo silver and gunmetal grey), I didn't make it too shiny.


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scalawag

scalawag
I have now added several layers of dry brushed silver to the flash hider on my modified MG42 to try and give more of the look seen in stills from the movie.

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade HQNvTSs

Paul


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weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade Yv5cCVM

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
Looks good, Paul.


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Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade C8485110

scalawag

scalawag
Thanks Stryker2011

I wish we had clearer shots of Dengar with this weapon.

Having studied the pics I have available to paint the muzzle on my adapted gun I am beginning to think that there may be something else going on with the muzzle end of this gun other than it just looking more silver.

In GubernatorFan's pic of Dengar on the star destroyer bridge it seems possible to me that the dimensions at the muzzle of the blaster may indicate that it has a shorter, more cylindrical (rather than conical) device.  It just looks a little short, and well odd to me.

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade IR2RueM

This may also be evident in this pic from the same scene, especially perhaps the more straight sides of the flash hider.  Not clear at all I know.  Looks more silver here too

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade SJSy0Oi

and again here.  Its blurred, I know and could easily be a standard muzzle device too.  Looks less silver again in this pic though.

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade DY7Og8Q

Now I am more than happy to accept that this is an effect from lighting, or the angles at which the pics where taken or even that it is due to the fuzzy and sometimes out of focus nature of the screen grabs (why oh why did he pick up what appears to be 4-LOM's blaster for the promo pics which are by and large pin sharp lol).
However I do wonder if there is another explanation, and after some looking I have found pics of MG3s (the NATO version of the MG42) which show it being used with a different muzzle device which interestingly appears to be shorter and less conical.

This is an Austrian MG3

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade PqXQYDd

And a Norwegian one (less likely I think)

weapon - Star Wars Sideshow Dengar weapon upgrade ZHEmt9Z

Interestingly both these pics seem to show some sort of brightly coloured 'practice' ammo being used with the guns (possibly plastic practice rounds??), and so I wonder if these muzzle devices are some sort of practice or blank firing muzzle break.  It is interesting too that the Austrian version's muzzle device has been painted red/orange.  
Is it possible that what we see on Dangers gun is one of these with the red/orange paint removed???
 
Its far more likely I know that its is a standard MG42 Muzzle device that was used, but perhaps this was changed to give the muzzle a different look from the similar one on the MG34 that 4-LOM has in the same scene, or perhaps someone just thought it looked more Star Wars I don't know.  I don't even know if these muzzle devices are interchangeable with an MG42.

As a side note you can see that on the Norwegian MG3 the buttock has been removed for use on the vehicle mount, just like Dengar's has no butt stock.

As I said I really don't know about the muzzle it might just be me, but somehow it just looks off from a standard MG42 muzzle, although the more I look at it now the more it looks like a standard muzzle device.   The low quality pictures make it very difficult to tell with any degree of certainty.  I really don't know here and I am doing a lot of thinking out loud while searching for an answer that may satisfy my curiosity.

Paul


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