The fascinating story behind the Empire’s iconic E-11 weapon as seen at the fabulous Royal Armouries in Leeds, UK
Star Wars movies may have grossed billions at the box office, and probably more for merch, games and other spin-offs, but the original movie was made on a tight budget, and that meant some smart cost-cutting moves.
Take the Imperial Stormtroopers’ blaster rifle, the E-11, and the Rebels’ DH-17 blaster pistol, for instance.
Creator, George Lucas, and production designer, Roger Christian, wanted Star Wars to be ‘grittier’ than its predecessors – the likes of Flash Gordon and Star Trek – so they rejected the idea of futuristic rayguns, and instead found a clever way to cut costs.
Lucas’ team approached UK movie armourers, Bapty & Co, to develop the film’s weapons, and B&C plumped to base them on a real weapon, the British Mk4 Sterling submachine gun, the successor to the legendary Sten gun of WW2.
At the time, in 1976, the Sterling was still in use, and eagle-eyed viewers would have spotted what it was, so the weapons had to be extensively modified.
Bapty & Co disguised the giveaway drilled barrel with metal ‘splines’, which were actually drawer runners bought from UK DIY store, B&Q (Block & Quayle back then, who knew?). They also added a WWII American tank sight, while the recognisable side-mounted magazine of the Sterling was reduced in size dramatically. Suddenly the weapon was unrecognisable and ready for shooting (not literally, well, kind of literally!).
The DH-17 Rebel forces’ blaster pistol appeared in the opening scenes of Star Wars (1977). While it was also based around a Sterling submachine gun, it had the stock (the bit that goes into the shoulder) removed, and looked more like an enlarged pistol.
The drilled barrel was also replaced with a fluted ‘grip’, and a Singlepoint reflex rifle sight was fitted. The final shape was then moulded in plastic to create multiple weapons needed for the shoot-out scenes.
The blasters continued to evolve as more Star Wars movies were created, and the entire history is revealed in more depth on the UK’s Royal Armouries’ website (following the RA’s brilliant Make: Believe 2019 exhibition). Check it out here.
Blasters are good, but… ©Action Movie Kid
Print-ready 3D-modelling plans to create various versions of these blasters are available for $35 from renderhub.com
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Author:
John Sootheran
John’s a cosplay photographer and videographer who visited his first con in 2017, and has been to numerous London, Birmingham and Manchester events since.
He finds the cosplay vibe addictive and is one of the team to launch worldofcosplay.com
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