DIY Jawa Ion Blaster w/ optional LED
My daughters are both cadets in the Galactic Academy costuming organization. One of my daughters is a Jawa. Ever since she’s seen “A New Hope”, she’s wanted the Ion blaster that stunned poor ol’ R2D2. In my never-ending quest to build prop weapons from home improvement parts, I set my sights on a Jawa Ion Blaster. The actual movie prop is a shaved down Lee Einfield bolt action rifle that was used by the British Army.
I found some blueprints of a Lee Enfield rifle online and designed some templates based off of those blueprints. With the stock and magazine templates now complete, I set a course for my local home improvement store to find some parts for the bolt, trigger, trigger guard, barrel, and muzzle. After some fiddling in the plumbing department, I found a good combination of parts. To add a little more flair, an LED can be attached to the blaster
Here are some photos of the finished product:
If you like what you see, check out the how-to video below. All of the parts, tools, and building materials can also be found below. Thank you for watching!
PARTS
Wood and PVC Templates FREE
½” PVC x 2’ $1
¾” PVC x 2’ $2
3” PVC x 2’ $6
1-½” x 3” PVC adapter coupling fitting $3
1-½” x ¾” PVC reducer bushing $2
¾” x ½” PVC reducer $1
½” PVC cap 40cents
½” PVC clamps $1
1” (¾” actual) board $9
#8 x 2-½” wood screws $1
#8 x 1” wood screws $1
#4 x ½” pan head sheet metal screws $1
Flat aluminum bar $3
Etsy coin battery, switch, & LED (optional)
TOOLS
Jigsaw
Small Vice
Clamps
Hacksaw
Drill
Various drill bits
Phillips Screwdriver
Sandpaper (assorted grits – 120, 220, 400)
Dremel (optional)
Trim Router & ½” core box bit (optional)
BUILDING & FINISHING MATERIALS
Wood filler
Wood stain of your choice
Polyurethane finish of your choice
Elmer’s wood glue
E6000 adhesive
Rustoluem Painter’s Touch Gray Primer
Rustoleum Painter’s Touch Metallic Aluminum
Rustoluem Painter’s Touch Flat Black
General’s Powdered Graphite
Krylon Satin Clear
By chance are the templates available?
Hello Noel,
Thank you for visiting my site! My apologies for the bad link. I have repaired it, please try the link again to get the templates. Good luck on your build! Please send me some pics when you finish so that I can post them up here. MTFBWY!
Love your tutorial, using it for my little one’s costume this Halloween. I’ve got all the tools and material but I’m unable to get the template pdf to work. I see that you mentioned you fixed the link. Is there another link that is working?
Hello, sorry about that. Here is a link that should work. https://bit.ly/3m32X4l
Thank you for letting me know, I will update the broken link 🙂
Have a Happy Halloween and good luck with your project.
Hey HT
I am having trouble getting the wood templates out also.
Any tips??
Thanx! Bob Haderer
Hello Bob,
My apologies for the delayed response, I was out of the country. I just tried the link, and it worked. It should let you download a zip file containing 3 PDF files. I recommend doing it from a Mac or PC, not a mobile device. Let me know if you are still having issues. If so, I can email you the templates.
Thank you! 🙂
Hi HP,
Thanks for your response. I’ll let you know.
Thanks again!
Bob
Can I name (link) you as my source for my Jawa Ion Blaster Plans?
Please respond by email.
Thanks
What size LED light did you use? There are multiple sizes in the link for the LED light. Thanks.
Hello, I used the “chip” 3.2mm size. Good luck with your project! 🙂
Is the tutorial you have made approved for 501st tripping? I am a Stormtroopers and I’m making this blaster for my girlfriend who is going to be a Jawa (of course) and I need to be sure she’d be able to troop with it.
Hello,
Thank you for visiting my blog. It is my understanding that weapons for the 501st Legion are not approvable or dis-approvable. They simply need to match the CRL. For Jawas, the Ion Blaster does not have a requirement listed. Your best bet may be to grab a few screenshots of the pics from my blog post and ask your GML to see if the blaster would be acceptable.
Excellent website very useful for my garrison.
Just building my first Jawa costume.
Can you please email me the jawa blaster templates.
Thank you
Trevor
Hello Trevor,
The link below the video contains the templates. I just checked it and it is working. Please look for the “Wood and PVC Templates” link on the page. It will allow you to d/l a zip file of the templates. Thank you 🙂
Could you tell me the measurement of the board? I´m from Europe and not that familiar with inches. How thick is it??
I do not see the pop-up ball sink drain item used for the bolt in your materials list. I had to rewind a few times to hear what part you were using.
Thanks for putting this amazing tutorial up Happy Trooper! I made two for my kiddos, added a switch and coin LED and BAM! Awesome Jawa’s!
Thank you added sound and lights.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dl44blaster/permalink/1797069517122059/