RichardSK Inspired Stembridge S&W

[CarolinaQuirk]

Hey Folks,

Inspired by Richard's work with the HFC .38 special FBI revolver conversion, I took it upon myself to try and make a Stembridge myself. Below is a brief pictorial of my effort:

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_0914.jpg
The pistol as it came out of the box (after removing the grip assist).

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Removing the grip exposing the gas cylinder. Drilling into the filler port at the bottom is necessary to install the lanyard assembly.

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Interior assembly. It is essential to memorize the part placement here if you want to fiddle with it. My recommendation it to not mess with it. Bad things will happen. Just ask Richard.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_0928.jpg
Cutting the grips in preparation for fabricating the rounded edges out of steel putty (available at your friendly Lowes Home Improvement. Ask for the stuff in the tube)

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_0926.jpg
Fabricating the end. This stuff is easily sandable once cured.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_0936.jpg
Spraying the grips a uniform brown. I prepped it by lightly sanding the surface.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_0925.jpg
Cutting down and stripping the barrel to the correct 4 inch length

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_0939.jpg
Assembling the parts before final prep (weathering the grips, installing the lanyard, fabricating the front sights, and boring the barrel tot he proper .45 cal)

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1013.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1018.jpg
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http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1017.jpg
Fast forward (lot of sweat and tears, and oh, I forgot to take pictures) here is the finished product

Feedback encouraged!

[RichardSK]

Looks great CQ. I like the damaged grip, nice touch. It seemed to me that reshaping the original barrel would have been more difficult than fabricating a new one. I like your final result.

[Indiana G]

great work. thats an excellent conversion!

[CarolinaQuirk]

Thanks Indiana G!

Yeah Richard, the thought did occur to me, but I weighed it against not being able to have the spring-loaded connector piece to the cylinder function properly, so I hunkered down with the pipe saw.

[RichardSK]

Something I thought of after I posted. Have you heard of dry brushing? It is the reverse of how I painted mine. Rather than removing black paint to get to the steel underneath, you weather the piece by adding the steel over the black. Take a 1/2" wide, thin, soft bristle brush that can be found at any artisit supply store and some Testors steel paint. Dip the brush to coat the bristles and remove as much paint as you can on the rim of the bottle. Then brush on a paper towel to remove more paint. You want as little as possible on the brush. Then brush back and forth over edges, the trigger guard, etc to achieve the same effect as in my photos. It is advisable to practice before doing the gun if you've not done it before. Use a smaller brush for tight quarters. The results are the same as mine without all the work. You won't even have to seal it. If it wears off, do it again.

[CarolinaQuirk]

Richard,

Yeah, its a great technique. I've been building scale models for about 15 years now, and drybrishing is a great way to add oil streaks, soot stains, or metal wear. I tried a dry brush of a Testors aluminum buffing metalizer, but I think the surface of the plastic was too smooth for the paint to get a firm hold, and it tended to wear off. I'm going to try chrome steel/gunmetal blend and see if I get a better reflection off it.

[retrojess]

Very nice work. Looks good.