So guys I've got a fair bit of surplus, and I come across things in trade from gun shows etc. One of the reasons I've got a pile of like new military boots sitting a few feet from me right now;) Well I had some chemical suits, basically the old school charcoal lined, tri color and woodland camo jackets. I knew from warning's from others that they will make a mess. I can't say I was surprised it was messy but how messy was impressive;) For guys not in the know these things put out a black dust that is hard to get off anything. My hands are black right now despite trying to wash them up;) Anyways worthless for me with the liner, and the wife would kill me if I tried to wash it in her washer to get them to the point they didn't loose the dust. So after doing some reading around I decided to cut the liner out of the jacket. Then shake it out good, and used a blow off tool in my shop to get 99% of the dust out of it. Now it's fairly clean I'll likely send it through a wash cycle one of these days when my wife isn't looking just to get the last residual bits out.

None the less I just tried it on a few hours ago after cutting the liner out, and I gotta say it's sort of interesting. Allot of guys don't like them apparently, I sort of do. Sleeve pockets much like new BDU's but more heavily built since it's that rubber coated fabric used in all sorts of mil suits. Two chest pockets that open towards the center which would be fair access wearing a vest, less so with a plate carrier. Mostly though I like the way it's cut, and fits. Maybe it's my build but it's a bit more snug than normal tops, and I think will fit better under a plate carrier. Little longer sleeves which is a plus since I'm pretty dang tall and short sleeves riding up bugs me.

So I'm curious if anyone else has fiddled with these or even cut the liner out etc, so far I'm digging it. And from what I know they are cheap, so it might be a deal if your willing to cut the liner out and clean up the mess;) I did that outdoors even though it's just over 20 degree's today;) So I'm curious to hear experiences, I haven't played with it yet since I just cut it today. And the snow is still heavy enough I'm running ACU till it melts, then I'll transition back to my normal woodland camo for the warm weather.

Take care!

Luke

Hey guys and gals, recently a good buddy of mine came up to the area for some other projects and ended up playing airsoft that weekend with me. Well come to find out he had one of the Parrot Bebop drones in his car so we decided to use it to film some of the game. Afterwards I was very impressed at the video quality because of the stabilization very interesting stuff.

Here is the video I tossed together after that first game, keep in mind we really didn't plan ahead here. It was more less "hey we have this cool piece of tech, let's try and make some interesting video with it". But also we're in tree cover which was a huge challenge for me flying the drone since before shooting this I had a whole 6 or so minutes of practice before dodging the branches;) Either way it was very interesting and I think could be used to some good effect to compliment some of the airsoft video's out there by mixing it with gopro footage. I also should mention this was "staged" at least the part filmed, it was after some of the guys left already and without much planning the way guys move and don't take cover etc;) Well it was a test;)



So I'm wondering who else has been playing with this tech for taking airsoft video, and possibly mixing it with gopro footage etc. Also what are you using for hardware? After this was taken I actually got a care package from that same buddy with all hid "old" drone bits and parts and got enough parts and pieces to build out an AR drone 2.0 well actually two of them though one camera isn't functional the rest of the chassis is. I'm considering mounting something like a Mobius to that one for a little better video quality. That said the AR drone is not a stabilized platform so the video certainly won't be as good as that I did in the video above as far as smooth camera movement.

I've also got the idea that once I get this all together it could be used in a larger game for recon type of applications. Right now with the Bebop and the skycontroller it's got a range of around 2km according to specs, likely less with obstructions but still far enough to be interesting. It's fairly easy to fly above the level anyone would have a real chance of shooting it down, and honestly I'm not too concerned with that. If someone can't be trusted to not shoot at equipment which isn't in play and is against the rules so to speak I don't think they have any place playing airsoft. I'm not really planning to bring this to any games beyond the ones I control so if someone shoots it, they won't be playing with the group anymore. With the limited battery life of these drones as well and longish charge times it does limit itself to pretty much a 8-10 minute flight every hour or so depending on how many batteries you've got setup. The AR drones I've been rebuilding are running fairly standard 3s 1300mah lipo cells from Hobby King so it wouldn't be a stretch to get several and be able to run more frequently etc depending on the game.

But that's more of a secondary idea, primarily I'm thinking they could make some interesting in game footage. I did do a bunch of video at the game we did recently at our semi normal field of the sawmill which I'm still working out time to snip together and make a semi cohesive video from including the gopro footage. But I'd love to hear what anyone else has been doing in the same area, as well as ideas from other guys on what they think of the use of drones either for video, or augmenting gameplay in some way.

Take care!

Luke

Well guys over all the years I've been playing radio has typically not been much of a priority for most of the places I've played. Some of the games I played down in lower Michigan years ago it was helpful but not necessary. So typically I ran an FRS radio and for a while one of those crappy throat mic's that never worked well from Radio Shack and mostly ran just the raw radio clipped to my gear.

So fast forward, I've always thought radio comm's were an important part of airsoft and I've been planning on bringing them more to the forefront of the games I'm organizing as well as just getting prepared to use them more in game.

But my question is less to do with the radio itself, I'm planning on picking up one of the UV5F I think it is, eventually but right now I don't really need any more than a simple FRS radio I already own will offer for features. So I'm more wondering what you guys are running style wise for comm equipment. IE Just a speaker with mic, throat mic or some other variation. What works best for you? Does it depend on play style?

Right now I picked up a fairly normal shoulder style mic, but I'm a little leery of it giving away my position if someone is rattling off on the radio. So I'm wondering if something with a headset type of component would maybe be more practical. But that said I'm just curious to use some of you guys experiences which are likely to be more in depth than my own at this point with radio's;)

So I'm open to input what are you guys using and what do you like about, what have you used you hate and why?

Take care!

Luke

This isn't necessarily a Christmas themed thread, though the timing is fitting for anyone who's getting airsoft gear or guns for Christmas. This also doesn't require pictures, though guys are more than welcome to post them if they have them on what they are getting.

This thread is just purely a chit chat about what guns your excited about and planning on picking up or talk about projects your working on etc. So informal but just might be of interest to other guys like myself who are always working on some project or another.

So I'll start off.

Since I got back into airsoft I've been pretty much always solid working on something, since my 10+ long guns had been sitting so long most of them needed some sort of attention. That said the TM guns needed allot less attention or none compared to my CA's and a few other brands. So I will say if your going to leave a gun sit for 8+ years, a TM would be a good choice;) Anyways I got most of those guns back in action and I sold a few here and there now I'm working on some new projects.

Right now I'm working on an M16 project, basically I got a box of parts from another guy in this area a bunch of M16 parts, from stocks to barrels and just lots of stuff. After looking it over I decided I had most of the parts to put together a complete gun. Well I bought the bits I needed, and decided it would be a DMR type of platform and started putting it all together. Ran into countless problems, I will say I won't piece together a gun like this again;) PITA, but eventually got it running then blew out the front of the gearbox since I really didn't take any precautions against that. So now I'm in the process of rebuilding that gun with a goal FPS of around 500-550 and range of around 100 yards. I'd like it to pretty much match my VSR10 build but allow semi auto and be fairly reliable. I should be there the next time I'm able to dedicate some time to finishing that build. I've got all the parts just need the time to put it all together and get it tuned.

I've got a Snow Wolf Barrett that I got in trade, missing the gearbox but I've got the parts on hand for that as well, which will end up being my next project and likely will be another high FPS build but I'm going to have to figure out how to reinforce the front of that gearbox as well based on what I've seen with this M16 build. But this should be an interesting project, it wasn't one I would have normally bought. But I got a great deal on it in trade and figured it would be an interesting gun in my collection so that's coming up.

And in other interesting projects, I've got a TM AK47s missing the folding stock and a few other bits. It's functional and stock, runs great but it's ugly and well missing the selector switch so you reach in the side to change fire modes;) I've been planning on putting that into a metal body with full wood and tossing some bushings and an M110 or M120 spring in there for a Terrorist type of loadout gun. It should be a pretty easy project and it should be a good reliable gun at the end of the day.

So that's my project list right now, there are actually a few more but rather than making a huge post I'll throw them out later as I build them or get started on them. Those are the first three on my list right now.

On things that have caught my eye lately. I need an M203, we started using vehicles at the site I play most of often and that's becoming a need rather than a want though that's pretty normal.

I've been watching the release of the new TM GBB M4, hoping it might be a viable option with our colder climate though I still have my doubts would be nice to have a good reliable GBB system though and it's sparked my interest.

I'm still very interested to see how the new TM Shotgun comes out and if it's as interesting as it looks but hopefully we'll see more news. I don't think it's a gotta buy yet, but it's getting there.

So that's my list, interested to see what everyone else has been up to;)

Take care!

Luke

Well guys I doubt many have noticed, but I know some of you knew I've been pretty strapped for time lately trying to keep up with my business and hitting here etc. Well we were expecting a baby actually mid month, and she waited until the 31st to make an appearance;) So after the craziness now we're back to normal crazy at home and in the shop with a toddler and a newborn. But as crazy as that is it means more time than I've had the last few months leading up to this time frame. For guys who don't have kids when you bring home the first one it's insane your not used to not sleeping etc, you'll damn near go crazy. After that, well your just used to be sleep deprived and apparently it's allot easier. Since my wife and I with our son were still completely shell shocked at this stage, and this time it's been a couple days and I just came out to the shop to get to work for the first time since we got back home.

Either way for guys interested here is a picture of the new little girl of ours along with my son:



Take care!

Luke

Well guys and gals we're not going to allow the sale of real steel firearms in the commerce section or on MIA. There are plenty of places on the net you can advertise and sell guns etc. Rather than mixing hobbies we're going to keep the commerce area restricted to airsoft related items. As such real steel accessories and things that cross over between the two hobbies are more than welcome just not firearms.

Also I just want to note this isn't anti-gun by any stretch so please don't get that impression, I'm very likely one of the most pro gun guys you'll meet, my business is firearms holsters and I spend most of my time on that side of the hobby. But this just isn't the place for it.

Any questions or concerns just shoot me a PM.

Take care!

Luke

Hey guys spent the better part of today fighting with an AEP I offered to help a friend with. Started with working on the hopup and getting it working as well as converting it to a lipo. Well those two things are done and I know these aren't FPS machines but from what I've read these should shoot between 200-240 stock. Well I've been pretty consistently in the 180FPS range and it's sort of driving me nuts.

I tore down the gearbox stretched the piston oring confirmed good compression. Greased the box and did general clean up of the china grease that was in there. Shimming looked alright and I decided to leave that be. Same FPS after reassembly. So since I didn't like the fact that there wasn't a way to do an oring between the nozzle and cylinder head I started thinking it over. I ended up shortening the end of the cylinder head that goes past the cylinder itself(which the nozzle rides in). I took and super glued an oring there after trimming the nozzle reinforcement(between the spot it rides in the tappet plate), so that I could get 100% airseal from the box going forward. So that worked, I left enough of a ridge to index the box to the hopup chamber while still having an oring making connection around the nozzle sealing that section. It's also held in by the chamber area with this setup works pretty well. After putting it back together I gained 10fps. But I'm still holding around 190fps. I tried teflon tape on the bucking, and a few other little things with zero gain. Can't tell 100% but I don't believe I'm loosing anything between the nozzle and bucking, looks like a good connection can't feel any air leaking, also don't see a piece of paper moving while cycling with it upside down.

So I'm sort of at a loss, I don't know the history of the gun so the spring in the mech box could be weak. That's about the only thing I can think of at this point since I've pretty well addressed any other place it would be leaking air. But I'm open to suggestions of things I might not have tried etc, since I spent nearly the entire day working on what I thought with be at most an hour project;) But I tend to get pissed at things like this and sit and work on it for 9+ hours until it works. Except tonight I've done that and ended up nearly back where I started, engineered some interesting things in doing it but didn't solve the FPS issue.

Take care!

Luke

This topic has been moved to Recruitment.

http://www.miairsoft.org/index.php?topic=428.0