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Hello again, It's been a slow few months. The moths inhabit the empty wallet, and the paint is slow to dry in the cold of late winter / early spring. I have since acquired the HPA engine (Scalar Seraph, though I've yet to acquire the tank and regulator. I've started working on the HPA adaptation of the M7 SMG, and will be looking to do do some preliminary thinking and design work for the MA5B (Assault Rifle). Cute lil thing. I reprinted the entire helmet as the prior one was too small for me. I also printed it as one piece instead of 2, out of PLA-ST instead of ABS. I got a significantly cleaner and stronger print. While experimenting with the electronics, it turned out that DC fans usually don't like PWM unless they're designed for it. This means that unfortunately I had to ditch the controllable fan speed for a simple on / off switch. Preliminary sanding done using orbital sander, proxxon pen sander for details, and hand sanding. My fingers and tendons thanked me for buying the pen sander. Layer of Motip spray putty that needs to be sanded right back to the base material. Leaving too much on makes the paint easy to chip / flake off. Unfortunately I spent a lot of time sanding the helmet smooth, painting it with a rather heavy top coat of Maston olive green, before figuring out an alternative finish that I'd rather use. It sealed the deal when I foolishly thought the paint was fully set and I turned it over to paint the bottom. Somehow I hadn't thought of making a helmet stand, and the paint on the top marked from the bubble wrap I'd set it on. I sanded it back a bit before applying the textured finish. The technique I discovered was simply painting over a textured spray paint, which provides a nice textured finish that's extra matt and scratch resistant. Unfortunately this meant I wasted rather a lot of somewhat expensive paint. Comparison between the same paint, both smooth and textured. Rustoleum textured paint. Created a helmet stand for painting without the paint ever touching anything. Overcoated with Maston olive green. Unfortunately the black also didn't fully set, and the masking tape marked it lightly. The lacquer evened it out well enough thankfully. I've never had this many issues with paints not setting even after days, even in the cold months. I had the same paint mark from sitting on fabric weeks after painting. I ended up using a food dehydrator inside a large cardboard box, set to 50'C for 12 hours to "bake" the paint. It seems to work well. Voila. I think it came out rather well. The chin strap was a bit of an experiment, to see whether a fully elastic strap would work. It didn't, it's *too* elastic. You want a little bit of flex to allow your jaw to wag, but too much and it allows the helmet to shift and pull right off your head if you fall. So as you can see there are multiple layers of elastic with some inelastic strap to remove the elasticity rather than ripping all the stitches. I'll certainly change it at some point. I've used a magnetic buckle as I did with my previous helmet that makes it easy to secure with gloves on. Due to the buckle, you can't get a cheek weld on the side it's on. It can be reversed easily, but not something you'll be doing mid game. Getting a cheek weld in general is awkward, but it's the price you pay to use a "sci fi" helmet. It is possible, and better than my prior helmet in most ways. I've also added TPU (rubber) pads to the inside and bottom of the mandibles to stop any scraping against guns to protect the finish of both and reduce noise. The padding is a rather crucial part of this helmet. Not only is it about comfort, but it's about safety too. I see a lot of dodgy custom helmets, and I wanted this one to not be a death trap while running around playing in the woods. I've bought a set of quality D30 pads from a body armour shop, which are amazing at absorbing impacts. Some may know D30 from motorbike armour / padding. These form the primary padding around the skull, while my own DIY padding protects the neck from rotation of the helmet. It consists of 20-30mm of hard / dense EVA foam, with a soft open cell fronting and sewn mesh covering. The fan and battery is integrated in such a way that it doesn't protrude or create any pressure points. The fan is a little louder than desired, but it does actually work to clear / prevent fog if you tilt your glasses slightly so there's a gap at the top for the air to pass into. I imagine it works well for goggles as the top vents would be closer to the duct outlet. The side panels can also be replaced with low profile ones that should allow wide goggles to fit. Key thing for me is it's low fuss, no tubes to mess with, and it's there when I need it. It's a little noisy for running all day, but there's enough capacity in the 18650 battery to do so. Something I may look into eventually is fitting a full face shield, a little like the NMPD police helmets in ODST. The Bolle sphere would be the main candidate as it has a 16J impact rating. One more project I'll be working on is a backpack for my kit and the HPA rig. I wanted to do the hardcase trooper backpack from Halo Reach. This'll be a tall print, using up 359mm of the XL's 360mm build height. I want to add some MOLLE modularity to it. I'll be sewing the straps and padding system, and likely padding out the inside so it's not a rattle can. On another post I'll detail the DIY chestrig I made once I have the chestplate and pouldrons finished up. Thank you for reading, more updates to follow

*Insert popcorn gif here* Especially if you look at how the band broke up and the butter salesman's dumb fuck antics over the past few years

SCAR-L. 👌🏻

That’s a really good question - it’s somewhere amongst the various “is it a RIF” threads in here I had a thread on a paintball forum which had the majority of the complex assortment of relevant legislation & case law points, and had tagged it there - but that has since died and taken my ‘convenient & tidy-ish” reference list away before I managed to rescue the content I shall endeavour to relocate it

That's a big if though. It's far more likely that if it does sell it'll be to someone in GB

I did not mention anything about how RM view anything; neither did I claim that NI is part of the mainland. I stated that NI is part of the UK, which it is. Perhaps you would like to argue with something I have actually written.

Oooh! Are we planting potatoes?

Ah, that makes more sense. I was indeed being uncharitable, and got it bass ackwards. Mea culpa. Well, good luck to them. Better to own the brand than be the whipping boys for someone else.

Oof. Case law uber alles. Do you happen to know the case?

Any gearbox should be able to handle a M105, it's not until you get to M130 and above you can start to have issues with motor, gears and battery. Of course not all M105's are the same, was it one of mine or an ASG?

I`ve never been charged extra sending parcels from northern ireland to mainland uk with either royal mail or parcelforce. Parcel force 48hr is the same roughly £10 to £15 depending on size and weight and royal mail small parcel tracked 48 is the standard online £3.45 price from ni to mainland uk.

Aps uar, fnc, tar21, sa80, fn2000, m249, G36 with a magwell adapter, just a few examples of alternatives to an AR platform but uses the same mags.

So many AEG's use m4 mags... go for something different. About 28 of mine use M4/stanag etc mags & everyone of those AEG's is different from the next, less than half are M16/M4 variants.

It's not part of the Mainland as far as RM is concerned. PF applies a 70-150% Surcharge on parcels shipped from Mainland to NI - i've shipped maybe 50 parcels to NI in the past 3 years, you may not think it is the case, it definitively is the case and has been the case for over a decade. Just like shipping to the Highland or Islands of Scotland is more expensive. They are not within scope for normal Mainland deliveries. https://www.parcelforce.com/sites/default/files/parcelforce-worldwide-account-surcharges-and-additional-services-guide.pdf DPD for example, won't even ship to areas of the highlands at all.

Im looking, want another M4 so I can use my existing mags Not finding anything that tickles my fancy at the moment though

Alright lads and lasses, Thought I’d pop in and say hello – I’m Steve behind LongshotTactical.co.uk, your new favourite corner of the internet for all things airsoft (well, hopefully). We're a UK-based online shop run by someone who actually plays, not just someone who googled “tactical” once and started flogging gear. Whether you’re after BBs that don’t shatter like your hopes on game day, tactical gear that won’t fall apart when you sneeze, or just some solid advice that doesn’t sound like it came from a 12-year-old on TikTok – we’ve got your back. Here’s what we’re all about: Top-quality BBs, gear, clothing, and accessories at wallet-friendly prices No-nonsense advice and proper reviews (if it’s rubbish, we’ll say so) Fast UK shipping and actual human support Articles, tips, and banter for players of all experience levels And did I mention the prices are cracking? So if you're sick of overpriced kit and daft delivery times, come have a nosey. We’re just getting started and would love to have more of the airsoft community on board. Plus, we’re always up for a bit of chat – especially if it involves gear, gameplay, or where to get the best bacon butty after a skirmish. Catch you in the forum – or better yet, in the field. - Longshot Tactical www.longshottactical.co.uk

Here is one of the chunks Luke posted about the whole thing. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/197sBsmGQP/ After this they did start dealing with warrenty and sales in the uk for all the remaining warhead stock I believe but this is one of the inciting incidents.

We've already had a short chat about that and I'm not sure we'll find a price we're both happy with. Just saw this thread now and I can see why you're not keen on buying a whole boneyard m14 for the sake of one part. This is going to sound horrible but you can use a purple plunger from a calpol tube cut to size to repair an airsoft feed tube. I've done it once on a proprietary hop unit. It wasn't pretty but it worked. The part is already broken so you've nothing to lose by trying.