Are there any weapons suitable for use on Star Wars figures?

The only thing I never liked about stormtroopers was the MG34 and Lewis guns. I assume they were used in Episode IV to save money when the film had to have a fairly small budget but those weapons would never look like anything but what they were.

Are there any 1/6 guns that would be better suited?

I'm no Star Wars guru. With that said, consider that, since it's an imaginary story, the sky could be the limit on weaponry. Whatever your imagination can come up with should work just fine.

If you have to stick to "screen accurate" firepower, that's another discussion.

Yep. I have to agree with dadrab. If screen accuracy isn’t important, go with anything.

Indeed if screen accuracy isn’t important then how about Hot Toys Black Widow blasters?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Toys-MMS288-Avengers-Age-of-Ultron-BLACK-WIDOW-BLASTER-1-6-Scale/253693459969?epid=219509135&hash=item3b114efe01:g:y20AAOSwcLxYMaCd

That's excellent! Thanks Bad Wolf!

Well the MG 34 and Lewis gun are the tip of the iceberg really.  The e-11 standard stormtrooper blaster is based on a british sterling SMG, Han Solos DL-44 is based on a Mauser 96, and Princess Leia's blaster on the Tantive IV is based on a Margolin .22 MTs target pistol. One of the Sandtroopers in A New Hope is even carrying an MG15 used in WWII german aircraft as air to air machine guns among other things.  

Others that have been used include StG44s used by rebel troops on Hoth and Endor, Jyn Erso's balster is based on a PO8 Luger, and modified M4s can also be seen in Rogue one.  The Jawas ion blaster and Zuckus blaster are based off of heavily cut down lee Enfield rifles, Bobba Fett has a blaster based on a grenade launcher  that I can't remember the details for as I believe does Bossk also, and Dengar has an MG42 in The Empire Strikes back.

Some are heavily modified others just have a couple of pieces glued on and in the case of Dengars MG42 I think they just removed the stock.

There is a theme in Star Wars that most blasters are based off of real firearms.  My understanding is that Lucas wanted the weapons to look real and used like everything else in the Star Wars galaxy, and the quickest and easiest way to achieve the worn look and heft of a space age weapon was to use real weapons and dress them up as "Blasters".  
A lot of the weapons used in the original film were hired from Bapti's, a Theatrical armourers here in the UK and because they were hired any modifications had to be easily removable.  I guess that this may also be why they went for guns that looked more exotic to their 1977 eye.
I think too that people were much less familiar with weaponry back in 77/78.  Sure if you showed them a tommy gun, or a standard Lee enfield or other bolt action they would have known what it was, and of course veterans would have recognised them, but in general, I don't think most would have identified other types easily.  It took a lot less to transport a 1977 audience to a galaxy far far away than it would today.  We always have to remember too that Star Wars was basically a kids film when released and to kids those were blasters!!!  at least they were blasters to an 8 year old me    


So there is a lot of scope to either copy a weapon from Star Wars as most of these are available in 1/6 for conversion if not already available in a blaster version, or just make up your own Blaster from a 1/6 real steel of your choice which would be a very Star Wars thing to do .  There is really no right or wrong to it.

Paul

scalawag wrote:We always have to remember too that Star Wars was basically a kids film when released and to kids those were blasters!!!  at least they were blasters to an 8 year old me    

I was 8 when Star Wars came out and they looked like blasters to me too. Three years later my cousin brought a VCR back from Hong Kong (first one I ever saw) and the only movie he had was Star Wars. We borrowed his VCR for a weekend and watched that movie over and over and over. That Christmas my dad got us our own VCR and the first movie we bought was Star Wars. He told us that he bought the VCR for us but he admitted years later that he got it to watch pornos When I was a teenager I was snooping around trying to find where my parents hid our Christmas presents and stumbled upon dad's stash. Had a real good Christmas that year.

Loads of bulk deals on ebay for old 1/6 GI Joe and Action Man weapons that are quite sci-fi on their own but I often customise them for my own needs usually for custom Star Wars figures like cantina characters, Jabba's guards etc...

I think the sky is the limit indeed, if you don't care about screen accuracy. Although it was part cutting corners, it was also part realism (see Paul's post) to use slightly altered real weapons in the film, and I like that a lot, personally. Also, if an outfit messed up a weapon for your action figure, you have a better chance to correct that. Perfect example: Sideshow's really nice Dengar came with a weapon that was not screen accurate, but rather accurate to the real source weapon. But one could buy a cheap kit to build the weapon in 1/6 scale and leave out the unnecessary part(s). That's what I did. But I was going for screen realism.

JohnByng wrote:That's excellent! Thanks Bad Wolf!

Your welcome.

scalawag wrote:Well the MG 34 and Lewis gun are the tip of the iceberg really.  The e-11 standard stormtrooper blaster is based on a british sterling SMG, Han Solos DL-44 is based on a Mauser 96, and Princess Leia's blaster on the Tantive IV is based on a Margolin .22 MTs target pistol. One of the Sandtroopers in A New Hope is even carrying an MG15 used in WWII german aircraft as air to air machine guns among other things.  

Others that have been used include StG44s used by rebel troops on Hoth and Endor, Jyn Erso's balster is based on a PO8 Luger, and modified M4s can also be seen in Rogue one.  The Jawas ion blaster and Zuckus blaster are based off of heavily cut down lee Enfield rifles, Bobba Fett has a blaster based on a grenade launcher  that I can't remember the details for as I believe does Bossk also, and Dengar has an MG42 in The Empire Strikes back.

Some are heavily modified others just have a couple of pieces glued on and in the case of Dengars MG42 I think they just removed the stock.

There is a theme in Star Wars that most blasters are based off of real firearms.  My understanding is that Lucas wanted the weapons to look real and used like everything else in the Star Wars galaxy, and the quickest and easiest way to achieve the worn look and heft of a space age weapon was to use real weapons and dress them up as "Blasters".  
A lot of the weapons used in the original film were hired from Bapti's, a Theatrical armourers here in the UK and because they were hired any modifications had to be easily removable.  I guess that this may also be why they went for guns that looked more exotic to their 1977 eye.
I think too that people were much less familiar with weaponry back in 77/78.  Sure if you showed them a tommy gun, or a standard Lee enfield or other bolt action they would have known what it was, and of course veterans would have recognised them, but in general, I don't think most would have identified other types easily.  It took a lot less to transport a 1977 audience to a galaxy far far away than it would today.  We always have to remember too that Star Wars was basically a kids film when released and to kids those were blasters!!!  at least they were blasters to an 8 year old me    


So there is a lot of scope to either copy a weapon from Star Wars as most of these are available in 1/6 for conversion if not already available in a blaster version, or just make up your own Blaster from a 1/6 real steel of your choice which would be a very Star Wars thing to do .  There is really no right or wrong to it.

Paul

Thanks for the background info. Paul.

Although I am a big fan of Star Wars, I do find some of the ideas slightly irritating. If GL wanted weapons that looked realistic then maybe he should have kept to cartridge ammunition rather than beam or pulse weapons? The barrel shapes, cooling slots and other details do not really lend authenticity to the latter. The more heavily modified weapons like the Sterling at least have enough of different look for the eye to pass over them but I find the Lewis gun and MG34 too anachronistic for my figures.

Oddly enough, although I am moaning (it is what I do best) I don't mind them so much in the films as the action keeps me occupied but I cannot let my figures carry them!

Yeah I see where you are coming from JohnByng, but for me the Sandtroopers at least don't look right without them now.
Ironically as we are talking about them, I just bought a replica DLT-19 (MG34) blaster rifle to go with my Stormtrooper Costume when I dress up

Paul

Well you wouldn't be dressed without it!

I am probably just becoming an old git and have too much time for nit picking everything. Perhaps I should ask Death Dealer how he manages to avoid be overly critical?

JohnByng wrote:Well you wouldn't be dressed without it!

I am probably just becoming an old git and have too much time for nit picking everything. Perhaps I should ask Death Dealer how he manages to avoid be overly critical?

No not at all mate,  its all personal preference, and opinions can differ on things.  Its good we don't all like the same things.

I have an E-11 (sterling) blaster at the moment, and i'm also in the process of collecting the parts to build another E-11 that will have an electronics package for light and sound etc... The DLT-19 is just so that I have something different to use if I fancy it. They are good to lean on when you get tired trooping too

Paul

I used an el cheapo MP5 I got with a budget BBI figure, still looked right to me:



CHEERS!

I later added a WW2 Brit Pixie suit to make an Endor Ranger:



CHEERS!

That's a great Endor ranger, Roger! Nicely done. You should show off more of your kitbashes.

Most were on OSW and that particular one was dismantled ages ago, some of the component parts are in Chop's inventory, which is his once we sort the details out.

CHEERS!

That is very nicely done Roger, A great looking figure, and yep the MP5 fits right in.

Paul

The FG42 fits in quite nicely.

The other Rebel blasters used in ROTJ were based off the MP44 and M4, as well.

Recently you can see they've started using more weapons as bases, like M60s (see the big blaster Chewy has in Solo), MP40s (see Krennic's blaster in Rogue One) and the like.

The big suppressor does look right on the FG-42. The side feeding mag too. I went with the Black Widow Blaster and got three of them on Ebay.