DIY: Boba Fett EE-3 Carbine Rifle (ESB version)
I think I speak for most Star Wars fans when I say: Boba Fett is one of the coolest characters in the Star Wars universe. He’s mysterious, his armor’s all banged up (he’s seen some action), and he’s got a bunch of neat gadgets. We all know that he made it out of the Sarlacc.
One of my favorite Star Wars weapons is Fett’s EE-3 from the Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars prop designers made Fett’s weapon from a Webley Mark 1 flare gun. This gun was used by British pilots during WWI and in the early stages of WWII. Extending from the Webley’s barrel is another prop familiar to Star Wars fans: an MPP flash tube, also used for lightsaber hilts. Some additional greeblies used to decorate Mr. Fett’s rifle were:
– 2 custom Maclow clips to hold the scope
– 4 Molex connectors on the sides of the Maclow clips
– a piece from a Revell V-8 plastic model kit
– 4 AM Aerial Earth Plugs
– unidentified square pieces on the stock
– 2 rectangular pieces to mount the scope (possibly scratch built)
Using some Webley flare gun blueprints drawn by Alan Sinclair, I made my own templates that can be applied to wood, PVC, and a sink tailpiece. Most of the materials were found at my local home improvement store. The other items were found online, and also in a craft store. If you like Boba Fett, and you like to build stuff, I have a great project for you! Check out my Boba Fett EE-3 Carbine Blaster build on YouTube:
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
PARTS
EE-3 Templates FREE
1” wood (¾” actual) $9
½” wood $3
¼” wood $2
1-½” PVC coupling $1
1-½” PVC pipe $3
1-½” sink tailpiece $9
Plastic sign or sheet 1mm thick $5
#8 1” Flat head phillips wood screw $1
#12 1” Flat head phillips wood screw $1
1” binding post screws x 2 $1/each
1-¼” post screw $1
¼” -20 x ½” socket screws $2
Small D-rings $2
Picture hangers $5
3/16” x 1” Fender washers $2
½” Tooth lock washers $1
⅛” washers https://goo.gl/ROXfB9 $2
1-½” (40mm) Maclow clip (shipped from UK)
1-¼” (32mm) Maclow clip (shipped from UK)
Molex connectors $4
Tasco 3-7×20 scope $17
Double-cap rivets 8mm x 6mm $4
.5” leather strip $6
TOOLS
Jigsaw
Hacksaw
Drill
Various drill bits
Dremel
Screwdrivers
Small hammer
Center punch
Vice
Sandpaper (60, 120, 220, 400 grit)
BUILDING & FINISHING MATERIALS
E6000 adhesive
Epoxy putty
Bondo filler
Bondo spot putty
Wood filler
Rustoluem Painters Touch gray primer spray
Rustoleum Painters Touch flat black spray
Graphite powder
Krylon Satin Clear spray
Varathane American Walnut wood stain
Varathane Polyurethane Satin
Acknowledgements
Alan Sinclair for the Webley flare gun blueprints
Dan Brown (BH-2618) for modelling his Boba Fett armor
Spider effect by GreenScreen Brasil
Soundtrack: “Glitchy Trailer” by Sky Productions
Did you make your stormtrooper uniform.
Yes and no. I did not cast the parts. I purchased a kit from Anovos.com. It is a kit and requires trimming and glueing. It did take a few weeks to construct. If you are interested in acquiring Stormtrooper armor, head over to whitearmor.net and have a look. You can see what goes into getting a set of armor. Thank you for checking out my page 🙂
Love your site. Not only are you good at prop building, but you are also an excellent web designer.
Do you think you’ll ever make a ROTJ version EE-3?
Hello Dylan,
Thank you for writing in. At this point in time, I do not have any plans to do an ROTJ EE-3. As you may know, Rubie’s has a plastic costume blaster for the ROTJ EE-3: http://amzn.to/2y810Iw The stalk and stock are not very secure, and there is some seam filling that needs to be done. For the stalk/stock connection to the pistol grip, I would probably use some kind of plastic epoxy to get a nice firm bond. Then I would fill in any seams using Bondo or other filler, then sand it down with 120, 220, and 400 grit sandpaper. After that, i would prime the entire blaster, then employ paint techniques from the Han Solo blaster that I have listed on this blog. There is some work that needs to be done, but the shape is definitely there. If you don’t mind putting a little TLC into the blaster, you can turn this plastic prop into a nice costume accessory. You could also sand down and/or shave off the stock greeblies and replace them with 3D printed greeblies.
I down loaded the template for the EE-3, but there wasn’t a template for the pvc pipe. Could I get the diamentions for that or do I use the template for the MPP flash tube?
Good catch! Sorry about that. I have updated the link. The 1.5″ PVC template is now in the zip file. The dimensions are: 15.3cm x 22.5cm. Good luck on your project!
Thank you sir!
Hello,great tutorial
But What is the length of the barrel ?
Regards
Hello,
Thank you for watching and visiting. Are you referring to the metal sink tailpiece? If so, I’m afraid I don’t know the exact length. I eyeballed it. As you can see from the video, the sink tailpiece is held in by friction tape, so it can easily be adjusted. There may be another online resource with the exact measurement of the barrel. In the ESB film, it was a Webley flare gun, with a Graflex flash tube sticking out. The PVC barrel template length should be very close to the Webley flare gun. I just don’t know how far the sink tailpiece sticks out.
Thank you!