10-Hole Hero:
The Front Block
THE SPECIAL DESIGN OF THE 10-HOLE HERO FRONT BLOCK
fig. 1: "10-hole" front block with the "three circles" on the left,
"8-hole" barrel vent with the single circle on the right.
Another readily apparent difference between the 10-Hole Hero Pulse Rifle and the rest of the Hero Pulse Rifles is the distinct pattern on Front Block.
On all other Pulse Rifles seen in the movie, the lower half of the Front Block has a circular recess with a raised center below the Remington 870 barrel. On the 10-Hole Hero however, there are three such insets, two smaller circles and a larger circle in the center, all with circular raised centers.
Bug Stomper theorizes that this was most likely done by (mis-)using a milling bit without a center cutter as a drill bit to create the circles with the raised center. Most likely, the three circles done on the "prototype" front block were reduced to a single circle to reduce manufacturing time and possibly cost.
On the 10-Hole Hero Pulse Rifle, the Front Block was small enough to slide into the SPAS cage from the front. It was apparently only secured to the Pulse Rifle with the four grub screws on the side of the Front Block, i.e. by being pressure-fit onto the Remington 870 barrel and magazine tube.
On all other Hero Pulse Rifles, the Front Block was secured in place with a screw through the top right side of the SPAS cage (interestingly only one screw on the right side, none on the left side). Therefore, on most other Hero Pulse Rifles, there are either no grub screws at all, and on a few, only the two upper grub screws are present.
On most fan recreations of the Front Block, the Front Block only partially slides into the SPAS cage and is wider at the front so that it rests on the front edge of the SPAS cage, with pre-drilled holes to attach it to the SPAS cage.
fig. 2: "10-hole" front block on the left (no screw through SPAS cage), "8-hole" front block on the right with the screw.
One exception is the Delta Pulse Rifle, which doesn't have the screw through the SPAS cage and was also held in place only by the grub screws. As mentioned on the main page, the Front Block with the distinctive three circles and the grub screws is now on the Delta Pulse Rifle, most likely indicating that the complete grenade launcher section of the 10-Hole Hero was transplanted to the Delta Pulse Rifle after filming.
Because the "Hero" Front Block was attached to the Rifle only by grub screws and was able to be slid in and out of the SPAS cage, there is no fixed position of the front block. This is the reason why the Front Block seems to be protruding more from the SPAS cage in some photographs, especially of the Delta Pulse Rifle, and to seem thinner in other images.
fig. 3: "Delta" front block protrudes quite far from the SPAS cage, but is only attached by grub screws.
Lastly, the "Hero" Front Block has a rounded slot milled into the top of the Block which is missing on all other Front Blocks (see fig. 3 . However, on the Delta Pulse Rifle, no grub screw goes through the top of the Block; this cannot be confirmed for the 10-hole Hero Rifle, but if the theory is correct that the complete grenade launcher section was transplanted to the Delta Pulse Rifle, the same should apply.
Furthermore, there is no grub screw in the bottom of the 10-hole Hero Front Block which can be confirmed with the "prototype" images.
fig. 4: The slot on top of the "Hero" Front block, visible on the "Delta" rifle (right) and on the screen-used 10-Hole Hero Rifle (left).
In collaboration with Bug Stomper, I have created what I believe to be the most accurate version of the Front Block in Fusion 3D and am offering it for download below.
