Lozart

I looked into both (basically being a massive WAS fanboy) and chose the Condor Gen 2 belt. The main reason being the condor has the flaps (fnarr) you can lift up to attach any droplegs to the actual belt instead of the MOLLE. Reason being that while I don't like the standard drop leg that rides somewhere near a teenagers knee I do prefer a lower riding holster so my chest rig doesn't interfere with my draw (I use a Safariland style holster with a Safariland dropflex adaptor to lower it by about 4" from my belt). I do have a WAS yoke set that works absolutely fine with the Condor belt too so I have the options.

Hope you have deep pockets...

The problem with masking off trades is that they'll inevitably end up looking a bit rubbish. If you REALLY want to keep it all try and see if you can get decals made (if you have an inkjet printer you can get special paper and make your own). Personally - I wouldn't worry about it.

If the markings are engraved then you shouldn't be spraying so much paint as to obscure them anyway. If they're laser etched or painted then you're screwed whatever you do because they're not deep enough to hold any masking material (like wax).

With regards to goggles though and specifically the Boogie Regulators - you have to take into account what they're designed for. Boogie regulators were originally designed as jump goggles for paratroops. They're only intended to work when you're moving fast enough to be forced air ventilated (so on a motorbike, falling out of the sky that kind of thing). Plenty of people seem to have been sucked into getting regulators because they are L33T Tacticool opr8tr goggles without realising that they will fog straight up the second you stand still.

ESS ICE. Cheap as chips on ebay too.

Yes, you should have put in the spring as it was.

I used to support Liverpool, then I grew up and realised that football was rubbish and started watching MotoGP instead

I get the insurance viewpoint and the whole section 5 spin stabilised explosive thing, but are they ACTUALLY any more capable of causing harm than a MK5 to the face? If knocking peoples eyepro off is the problem then that's no different than the kinetic rounds or even the marker rounds which everybody seems far happier about. An explosive going off in proximity to your face is a bad thing regardless of how it gets there.

Actually - yes. Let's say you fire a pyro at someone from a launcher. You hit someone a reasonable distance away and it goes off with the force of a MK5. You then throw an actual MK5 at someone again at a sensible distance and it just happens to go off when it reaches them. They both have the same explosive force and are both in a similar proximity to the target. So tell me - what is the difference in terms of risk of personal injury?

And that's different from throwing a MK5 at someone how?

If you went for the WAS Nemesis rig which is very similar, the pouches are designed to take M4, AK or G36 mags. http://www.uktactical.com/p-9400-warrior-assault-systems-nemesis-chest-rig-mk1-coyote-tan.aspx

https://www.facebook.com/H-T-Immersive-Simulations-280624112112945/timeline/

Anything by Warrior Assault Systems www.uktactical.com

Having used it in the past, I'd say save your money (unless you plan on doing a lot of car maintenance).

I'd say the CV joint stuff you've linked to is too heavy for an AEG gearbox, personally.

Or for those magical moments when you get the whole thing back together for the 98th (and final) time but suddenly realise you forgot to grease your gears - this: http://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-fluids/grease/3-in-one-professional-white-lithium-grease-400ml

I'd go for this: http://www.abbeysupply.com/airsoft_gun_grease_lt2.html

No. Also High torque builds are for high FPS not high RoF. This is a mistake people seem to commonly make - one way to achieve a high RoF is to use a low ratioe gearset (13:1 or similar) and drive it with a high torque motor. This doesn't make it a high torque gearbox! You need higher torque gears AND motors if you're pulling a strong spring for high FPS but the down side of that is a reduced RoF.

If you get them spot on, they are spectacularly quiet. It's just really hard to get them spot on. I've tried (and failed) and went back to standard gears and a decent shim job.

Neoprene pads can help but don't "squish" as much as a sorbothane pad. They do however last a bit better so if you buy a cheap sorbothane pad (like the ones from Pro Airsoft) you should ALSO get a neoprene pad to glue over it in order to protect the sorbothane from damage. As cyrexx said though, a sorbo pad will reduce the effectiveness of an airbrake piston head so it's kind of an either/or not as well as.

Helical gears - normal gears have the teeth cut straight across the thickness of the gear wheel. Helical gears are cut at an angle so that when they mesh they have a greater surface area in contact. They're more usually associated with high torque gearsets in sniper rifles etc. To be honest, setting them up perfectly so they are silent is a MASSIVE pain in the arse, a well shimmed standard gearset should be almost as quiet and a lot easier to achieve. Grease - you need a lubricant sufficiently sticky to stay on the gears and not fling off, but with low coefficient of friction. Lithium grease always works well for me or standard Abbey CT2. Silicon is not really robust enough for gears, fine for piston runners though.

As you correctly suggest the main source of noise in an AEG is the piston impacting the head. Part and parcel of getting the best out of your gearbox though is correcting the AoE which would involve fitting a sorbothane pad http://airlab.parts/collections/gearbox-parts/products/sorbothane-pad-70d-hardness which will help reduce that noise. An airbrake piston head will also help but be aware that both mods WILL decrease your FPS as a side effect. Helical gears can help too but MUST be perfectly shimmed to be silent, otherwise they will sound like a tin of wasps.

That's the spirit!