Search the Community

Love 4x or more for spotting peoples arm bands through the brush myself, but I don't wear my glasses in games; and you certainly don't require it anyway. End of the day, if you're at a site and ask anyone with a scope to take a quick gander through it for a sec to see how you like it they're going to say yes.

My son has been using ExFog for over a year now and is very happy apart from that, he hasn’t found a good solution for mounting the tubes to his googles yet (but then he isn’t trying very hard either). I’ve recently received the Novrtisch Antifog Unit 2nd Gen and can now actually compare the two. First of all they both will do the job just fine, it is more about the features and the attachments they come with. Usability: The ExFog uses one button to toggle between different modes, low, medium, max, off while the Antifog has an analogue potentiometer aka knob and a ‘max’ button which goes to full power for 30 seconds to defog the glasses and then goes back to the current mode. IMHO the Antifog wins the usability. Having to toggle through the different modes is a bit annoying, having an analogue knob is more convenient. Tubing: The Antifog comes with green tubes so that is nice but they are a bit on the soft side and it is easy to get kinks. On the other side because the tubing is softer movements don’t tend to pull the tubings out of the glasses but just kink them. I guess that is a benefit. The ‘T’ attachment that comes with the Antifog has IMHO a more solid connection (it doesn’t disconnect as easily) as the magnetic adapter you now get with the new ExFogs but the ExFog connectors are more versatile. ExFog wins the attachments unless you have a google where you can actually use the T connector. Then the Novritsch adaptor is superior. Overall I would say ExFog wins the tubing one but time will tell. I haven’t been able to play with my Antifog yet thanks to a dodgy foot. The flexible tubing might not be an issue at all. Attachments: The Antifog only comes with some Velcro stickers, that’s it. I bought the Novritsch bonie with it which has Velcro on the back so that is not a problem and most helmets have Velcro patches on the back but if I play with my Barrett then I have a problem. Luckily I have all the attachments from my son’s ExFog. That comes with all the Velcro stickers and a head band so that you can wear the unit without anything. That head band just has a Velcro patch on so it works with the Antifog as well. The winner here is clearly the ExFog. Summary So even though the ExFog wins two out of the 3 categories here I would choose the Antifog on the field just because of the usability issue. The one complaint my son has with his ExFog is that his tubes come undone from his goggles. He routes them inside his helmet and they come straight down and he pushes them through holes on the top of his goggles. The tubes are quite stiff to avoid kinks but it also means that any shear force is likely to pull them out while some softer tubes might just kink for a bit and then relax again. Is anyone playing with Novritsch Antifog and can give their feedback on how the tubes behave?

Just a quick update on a few things. The BR-55 had its first game at the start of this month. It worked well for the whole game, though I found afterwards that the V1 Maple Leaf magazine springs I used are useless and lost most of their shape. The V2 ML springs have apparently improved on this, so I'll have to pick some up before the next game. The "squashed" springs should work fine for the SMG magazines however, so no great waste. After a long day it made me realise I need to work on my arm strength more. I've sorted the small problems and sticking points, redesigned the bolt slightly, so it has a nice HK esque lock and slap now (allows a Halo 3 accurate BR reload). Still have one or two little cosmetic details to touch up, but I'd basically call the thing done short of threading the barrel. I had to find a decent cylinder head, nozzle and tappet combo that had good tolerances to stop the midcap syndrome. I still had to shim the tappet and nozzle a bit. I've heard of some people gluing them together, but I didn't particularly want to do that. I also significantly improved the airseal / consistency. Ironically though, having tested it to +/- 2 FPS at home, the moment I got to the site, it varied wildly on the chrono. I suspect it may have just been the first few round in the magazine giving me trouble. Sadly the magwell was too narrow to fit an M4's hi-cap / flash mag internals. I think for future long rifles I'll look at integrating existing magazines into a shell. Small video after optimising the pre-cocking, 7.4v 35C, stock LCT motor and gears. VID_20241029_174825558.mp4 Here's the basic 2 point sling with fast adjustment that I put together. Credit for the design goes to Thrifty Operator on youtube. I'm also working on a new helmet, based on the Halo 3 Marine, specifically the action figure version as it has a sleeker UA plate on the front. I made it detachable as I'd never seen this done before. The helmet looks very much like some of the concept art helmets without it. I've also included a built in 5015 fan in the peak that will hopefully blow air into my glasses. Worst case scenario it becomes a head cooler if I can't duct it efficiently. Unfortunately I was tempted into attempting to print it in plain ABS. I had a spool sitting around that needed using for something. I've never printed anything in plain ABS, only improved, and was not prepared for it. Sadly there was much splitting and warping, and this caused the print of the back to fail near the end. I had to graft on a freshly printed part using ABS sheet mixed into a gloop with acetone. I'm looking at the D30 stealth helmet padding when I can affort it in combination with EVA foam placed where needed to bulk up. It's a little pricy, but worth it for the protection, durability and comfort. See, experience of printing ABS (left), experience of printing PLA super tough (right). Note the many patches of smeared ABS gloop to fill the cracks and bond the two disparate halves together. It'll be a (not so fun) experience sanding into to a smooth finish. That is at least one strength of ABS, the ability to repair and patch it together with its liquid counterpart. Very advanced and certainly not janky method of holding the back of the helmet on while the ABS gloop dried. Trust me I'm an engineer. The ABS as it starts to melt (took a while). PWM circuitboard and battery (yellow) Fan intake at the front of the peak, TPU rubber fan duct (interchangeable. I'm still scrounging up money for a HPA unit, but I'm hoping to have a Scalar Seraph in hand by early next year for building the HPA SMG and MA5. In the meantime, working on this helmet and stuff to sell like my Halo medkits, biofoam etc to fund more projects. The Halo Reach M73 concept art LMG is something I'd also like to pursue. Take care, thanks for reading. 👋

Heads up for those interested. I bought some trittech glasses from Fife wargames. They arrived next working day and I’m happy with them. I dropped them a quick email to ask about extra lenses and Oli has highlighted they have another order of trittech stock coming in around 3-4 weeks time. The price is fair - would cost you £5 more to order from Trittech directly once you consider postage for both orders. Either way you’ll be waiting 3-4 weeks to receive them I guess?

I thought it might be useful to have a phone mount on my plate carrier so that I can use the Ares Alpha app to see my location, that of the objectives etc. So I got myself a cheap mount from AliExpress that protects the phone and holds it securely in place (in landscape mode) on my chest. I can then simply open it up slightly, see my location on the map and close it again. And then I started testing it: To unlock my iPhone you swipe up from the bottom, however the mount has a strap over the phone to hold it in place and you can’t do it without sliding the phone out. ❌ Face ID on the iPhone only works if it can see your face but I’ll be wearing a mask. ❌ Ok I enable ‘unlock with Apple Watch’ but the phone will not do it when in landscape mode, only portrait mode ❌ So I enter a passcode but I would have to take off my gloves to do that ❌ When the phone is unlocked I can’t actually see anything as it is too close to my face and I would need to wear my reading glasses to see anything detailed. ❌ But apart from that it really works nicely😂

I have found that Bolle Cobra glasses with antifoam wipe (Revision, as above) never fog with me (not that sweaty compared to some) Available in clear, yellow, grey and other lens colours for under £15 but they will stop 6Joule steel BBs DeltaMike face pro for outdoor games, but after some cheek / nose shots <5m in CQB I have a NB Tactical Mk2 mask that I am holding in place with just some 4mm elastic and a cord lock. They will sell you a mesh snood / balaclava for £30+ but that seems to cause fogging and doesn't keep it as secure!

Unfortunately eye/face protection and dealing with fogging is one of those things where everyone's a little different. Don't be surprised if you have to try different things before finding what works for you. Personally I use glasses with a mesh face mask and use cat crap on the lenses at the start of the day and again at lunch if it's a warm day. One other thing that can affect fogging is what's on your head. A helmet or beanie will trap heat more than something thinner like a bush hat or cap

Alternative to the Novritsch system is ExFog (you can get it from PatrolBase). My son uses it and you can hardly hear it. I am thinking of getting one myself and then design and 3d print a bracket for my Wiley-X which holds the tubes in place. I had bad problems with fogging at first as I was wearing googles over my normal glasses. Changing to contact lenses helped a bit. So did adding some additional ventilation holes from the top on my googles. The Wiley-X are ok as well as long as I don’t have the glasses touch my forehead. If I use the strap instead of the normal arms the lenses are the most secure but are fogging up like mad. It is for this setup that I am considering the ExFog. It is basically a balance act between no fogging and best eye protection. Ideally you would want both. I personally would not use mesh masks. I’ve got a little shooting range setup in my loft and I have lots of brocken BB fragments lying around. The danger comes when you get shot from close range as that’s when BBs tend to shatter.

I use mesh in the woods - opinions are mixed, but personally I am very confident in them - lots of hits at various ranges, and they have shrugged them off. Theoretical possibility of BBs breaking up and particles going through, but should that happen, I am confident said particles would be more an irritation than a danger. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/nuprol-shades-mesh-glasses-eye-protection?fv=5297&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw59q2BhBOEiwAKc0ijdfKfZisTXqVrTj8lsUQPyfJNNaLap0L_MCH2kAYYsavH_S8w_9LUBoCBDIQAvD_BwE Indoors, due to the extreme close ranges, I use full goggles, combined with the novritsch anti fog system suck on the back of my helmet. Googles are the Pyramex V2 - which actually are identical/are the OEM for the Nov goggles. On their own, they are pretty low profile, with good all round visibility, and actually really excellent antifog properties. But, combined with the anti fog unit, and I have never had fogging, even super hot and sweaty, static, in a cold building. You are right to ask about the noise though - you can hear a low hum/whine, even when the unit is wound down to its slowest setting (which frankly, is all that is ever needed). I suspect outdoors it mostly wouldn't be noticeable, but at times in a dark and silent building, it can be annoying.

How the hell do you pump it into those tiny glasses?

I use a home made fan setup that is based on a 5015 blower, piped into my Bolle Tracker 2 glasses, it works well and never fogs. Biggest downside is very occasionally getting a hose caught on a branch or twig and the whirring noise can be a pain when you are trying desperately to hear somebody who you know is out there somewhere. I wouldn't say that the noise emitted would be enough for someone to hear you though, just might prevent you hearing them! If you have access to a 3d printer try having a look for "get the fog out" on thingiverse.

I had my first airsoft game recently, and it would have been nice if I could have seen anything besides the fog in my glasses. I was using Bolle Tracker Clear which I find very safe, the way they cover the eyes completely leaving no open area where the bb could slip through. But the very same thing makes them fog as hell. I managed to borrow some goggles from organisers, which performed better but they did fog as well. Another issue with them is that I could not see my vest or mags on it. The view was completely blocked. My main priority now is getting some proper eye protection. I did hear about anti fog solutions which I may try later but not with the current glasses, if they fog this badly I believe the anti fog will wear off quite quickly. I did see some videos about novritsch anti fog system mounted at the back of your head along with the googles. Did anyone have a chance testing them? My main question is was the fan noise noticeable at high settings and would I face similar issues with chest view obstructed? Do you have an alternative? Perhaps something with two layers but most definitely something that covers the face really good and also does not interfere too much with a mesh mask? What are your opinions on the subject? 100 quid is the most I am willing to spend.

Hello Hello, I remembered I had an account here and asked some questions some time ago related to these projects. I figured I'd do a bit of a project dump on what I've been up to. I'll use this thread for future additions, as I certainly have more planned as funds allow. The BR-55 and M7 SMG are near completion and are fully functional. Both need a few tweaks and some internal parts. I'd stopped both projects until January this year, and started both from scratch with the aid of my new printer, a Prusa XL (single head for now). Due to ill health, I had to stop work on the BR, having completed a lot of but not all of the physical aspects, and instead directed my attention to the design work for the M7. The M7 requires a lot less metal work (only cutting some rods and drilling about 4 holes in a 3x12 stainless bar, and a couple in the alu barrel mounting). Thus both are being worked on in parallel. I'm currently in the process of refining a few things. Needless to say, neither project has been particularly cheap. Credit to Kingdom of Airsoft and Perun for the original idea to use the ETU++ as a "DIY" solution. The BR-55 A bit of a mix of The Halo 2, 3, and H2A designs, I went for a mix of aspects due to preference, and deepened the stock to allow fitment of a V3 gearbox. It weighs around 4.5KG unloaded, and is reinforced with 15mm stainless box section within the upper, and 12x3 stainless bar running down either side of the stock. There are various bits of metal rod where needed. Surprisingly it's pretty well balanced on the (very comfy) grip, and will stand on the grip alone unsupported. It's printed very solidly in eSun's PLA super tough. It feels very sturdy and there are no squeaks or wobbles. (old video where it's basically being held together by me, you can also see my H2A Marine helmet). 1:1 to the "real" size. Guts: It uses a perun ETU++ hooked up to various microswitches for operation, and has a proper 3 position selector with a mechanical safety. This means no bullpup trigger bar and a snappy trigger. The round counter is fully operational, utilising Tachyon's solution with a custom graphics pack and modified sensor layout, removing the need for a "sock" on the end of the barrel. The round counter is reset by pulling back the charging handle. Manually (very, very carefully, I swear) removed the sensor and emitter from the board, applied heatshrink, and superglued to a saddle that straddles the hole I drilled in the barrel. Also contains compass and clock. Quite useful for timed games. The gearbox is a V3 LCT AK, with an airsoft-pro G36 chamber and 450 something-mm ZCI barrel. Sadly the ML bucking I used (60' macaron) has given me some issues, and will not lift a .25 without dropping 70+ FPS. Having attempted the usual fixes and various nubs, I'm at a loss. I have a psionic Tho-R on the way for both the SMG and BR, so touch wood that'll be an improvement. The airsoft pro chamber is nice in that it bolts directly to the gearbox, removing that as a variable for air leakage. The battery compartment is in the foregrip, with an AK dust cover style button for easy access and removal. The space is sizeable, and I can't see much trouble fitting at least a 3000mah 11.1v in there (if only I had one). I intend to include a small toolkit. The magazines are fully custom, with ML superfeed springs (hello midcap syndrome). Not perfect, but I'm working on improvements. Thanks to Igniz for some pointers on dimensions. I intend to try integrating AR mag hi-cap guts at some point for a skirmish mag. The mag release is situated in front of the mag well, and gives a nice satisfying click on seating. The well is intentionally loose for the addition of velcro, giving a secure fit. These feed into a modular feed block that interfaces between the chamber and magazine. I've allowed provision for a built in tracer and a mechanism to prevent BBs from dropping. Takedown: Basic takedown is very simple and tool-less. It involves removing the foregrip, removing a detent pin from in front of the trigger guard, then sliding the upper forward out of the 1/3 rifle length grooves. The braided battery cable should slide free easily. Removing the gearbox requires removing the hop from the gearbox, pulling the squished wires out, unscrewing 5 bolts on the back, and feeding it out through the open hole in the back of the stock, followed by disconnecting the deans and microswitch cable. Somehow both better and worse than the AUG. The pistol grip is held in by 6 M4 bolts and I doubt that'll ever go anywhere. Printed and oriented for maximum strength. The entire upper takes down into sections from around the 15mm tube. Other nifty details and gaffes: -There are 6 QD sling points, 2 rear, front and mid (in front of the receiver). -Rubber (TPU) butt pad and coating for the cheek rest. -The cheek rest is too far forward to comfortably use. Game design moment. -The rail is too far forward for most magnified optic's eye relief to be useful. You can however lift the stock over your shoulder to get close enough. -I neglected to put a ledge on the front of the trigger guard, which the fire select detent mechanism attached to. This meant if you put pressure on the trigger guard (say with your hand), it would move the fire select lever up and down. This has been rectified quite easily, if a little wastefully. -I dropped the whole lower receiver onto a concrete corner from several feet while carrying it to the food dehydrator to cure, after the final coat. I nearly screamed in anguish. Thankfully, PLA-ST is very tough, and it sustained only a minor dent on an edge. This is the first battle damage. Remarkable material for being so cheap and easy to print. -I originally intended the design to keep the hop up chamber with the upper upon disassembly. I found that no matter the spring used, firing would cause the hop up to move forward 5mm with every shot. I suspect this has something to do with the anti double feed mechanism it has. It's now fixed to the gearbox, and is somewhat delicate when unsupported by the upper, hanging by only a grub screw. At some point I'll look at fixing it proper to the lower. -The magazines had to be angled forward to be in an optimal position to feed. -I didn't think my power wiring through very well, and it's a bit of a rat's nest. The excess power wires that give sufficient length for the gearbox to be removed have to be stuffed into a hole to keep them out of the way. Not an easy prospect with thickly insulated 14awg wires. Needs improvement. -The muzzle flash is printed and currently just friction fits on the barrel. I've the means but not the expertise to use a lathe to cut a thread into it. When that happens, I intend to buy Foundry's alu flash hider. -The painting was a bit of a nightmare, and contained a lot of stops, starts and bad farts . Accidentally wiping off paint with unintentionally strong spirits, gray overspray onto black, clear clouding, dropping final piece onto concrete... etc. -The detail lines on the stock were so shallow, sanding and spray putty almost removed them in places. Without thinking I set to with a knife, butchering some grooves into several hundred hours of work. -Much like an old warplane being restored with a few bolts or a nameplate being the "same plane", the foregrip was the only part that made its way over from the original project. Considering the detail lines were so small that they didn't even print, I'm kind of wishing I hadn't. I'd say the (almost) end result is worth it though. M7 SMG Ah, the first proper CAD project I ever worked on, and the first airsoft gun I ever attempted. Frankly, the original I started 5-6 years ago was unsalvageable. Looked pretty, but holy moly, what a mess. It's not wasted though, you learn things. I have to say I'm quite happy with how this one turned out. Far less faff than the BR-55, almost everything worked as intended without much trouble. Printed in much the same fashion and material, but a fair sight simpler. (please excuse the mess, Prusa XL enclosed in the background) The guts: JG Vz.61 AEP innards form the working part of this pew pew. Regrettably, AEP performance isn't always the best, and repairing broken ones can be iffy. You can imagine my disappointment when I finally finished a gun that's been 5-6 years in the making, and it has an effective range of 15 feet. The stock bucking applies no backspin at all. Thankfully everything else works, and I have a Psionic Tho-R on the way to help remedy that. The gearbox unfortunately had an incident where the cut-off switch fell off internally, as evidently no thread lock was applied at manufacture. Awaiting a fine torx set to get at it. The feed route is an interesting one, given it goes around 4 bends and finally ends up vertical. Works just fine though apparently. (Note it's a little more noisy than it would be, as there's no barrel or hop unit, or BB being fired) VID_20240811_210834390.mp4 As a salve for the disappointment that may be gripping some of you upon hearing the acronym "A-E-P", this gun's perfectly sized for a P* F2, and would require minimal design changes to adapt it for such. This gun also uses the Perun ETU++, and this time with some wire management (woo). I've got a very satisfying clicky electronic safety that uses magnets as detents, as I had no room to integrate a mechanical safety in the linear trigger. It's very ergonomic and easy to toggle with the trigger finger within the trigger guard. The ETU was intended for this project originally as a way of getting around the lack of semi cut off present on CMG gearboxes (CQB gun with no semi is as useful as a max joule sniper in CQB), but proved perfect for bullpups. The fire selector isn't in the most ideal of locations (under the magazine well), but it can be easily toggled with the off hand. The battery compartment is in the grip, and a cap comes off with the push of a button at the back. It can hold standard sized lipo batteries, preferably short ~1200mah 7.4v. I'm very pleased with the magazine seating / locking mechanism. It was a problem with the original. This time there's a hook very securely mounted to the back of the receiver. As you slide the magazine forward onto the tray, the hook falls into a groove in the magazine, and as the fore of the magazine seats into the mag well, the hook locks the magazine in the X axis as the mag catch locks it in the Y. You can jerk the gun around by the magazine only without play. Nice click too. Both the stock and foregrip change position. The stock extends by around 95mm, and locks securely with a 5mm stainless pin into a 12x3 stainless bar. The foregrip also locks with a metal pin, but into ABS+. It has no side to side play, but has a little forward and back play when deployed. I've decided it's negligible given it's minor and doesn't make a noise. The ejection port / charging handle also works smoothly, though it's not for thick or gloved fingers. The top iron sights are removable, to be replaced with a pic rail. Side and bottom rails can also be added. Takedown: A little more tool intensive than the BR-55 for basic takedown. 2 bolts allow the removal of the upper "cap", 6 more for the inner "block" which houses the hop up chamber, feed block and outer barrel. This slides forward off the nozzle and up. This allows the gearbox, pressured down by the upper cap, to be removed. Nifty details and gaffes: -The stock detent spring has been a source of frustration and fiddling. I've spent some time trying to get the spring mounted onto the pin block. To be improved. -The stock pad is TPU with ABS encased within to mount the 2 QD fittings (designed for single point slings only, unless the front is wrapped with something). TPU doesn't deal with overhangs well, and the quality leaves something to be desired. I'm hoping a second head for the XL will solve this problem (multi-material integration). -The original Omron SS-5 switch I bought for the trigger sounded *exactly* like a computer mouse. I couldn't stand this and instead bought some of the XSS-5 copies that actually feel more solid and sound better. -Surprisingly ergonomic, though the grip is less comfy than the BR. I didn't want to sacrifice the aesthetic too much. The sights are useful for airsoft even if you can only really look down them when holding the gun out like a pistol. You can still align them while shouldered. Adequate for lobbing small plastic balls at other nerds. -The suppressor seems a little pointless for an electric gun, but I'll likely do it anyway at some point. It's very janky and intended to use an olight key ring torch with a threaded "presser" on the back to turn it on. I'd rather do it when I can thread the barrel. It'd also be more useful for a HPA version. Man I love the aesthetic of this thing. Drawing a blank here, nothing much went wrong. I'd hate you less for wanting me to make you one of these. That's about it for now. You may have noticed a new helmet in one of the pics, with built in forehead / glasses fan. Future projects will be the HPA SMG when I'm not poor (gee I wonder where the money went), Mk23 M6C Socom, and a HPA MA5B. We don't talk about the WE tech Glock I turned into a magnum. Needless to say I don't like WEtech anymore. I'd love to daytona a Halo replica, but alas, money. Ask away, just be aware I'm a little closed on specific details as I do plan to make a little money on these. Cheers for reading.

Fogging is a git. Options are: 1. Mesh goggles. They don't fog, but there is the chance (and it does happen) that a bb could break etc and shards get through, however I've never experienced it more than just being like flakes of dirt in my eye. They're a bit like wearing sunglasses so low light situations aren't great. Great with or without face pro 2. Glasses/goggles and no face protection. Fogging generally happens when there's a lot of moisture. Face masks catch a lot of the moisture from your breath and then bam. These will still fog just from sweat, but normally an anti fog spray (I use bob hopes visor spay) is enough to tackle it. Glasses (make sure they're well fitted) need a safety rating but Screwfix stock loads of cheap options (bolle siliums are my fav). 3. Goggles/glasses with mesh facemasks. Check out the delta mike snoods and the cheap Chinese mesh masks that almost every Airsoft site/shop stocks. They let more moisture out than a plastic mask but not perfect. Anti fog is still recommended. 4. Some sort of fan system. There's loads of home made options, using pc fans etc. some commercial options. If you must have full seal eye pro, I can imagine this is the only certain way. All things said, I find if i use anti fog on glasses and I allow my head area to breath as much as possible (not wearing a helmet or scarf) then I'm not affected by fogging. Some glasses have an anti fog layer on them, they typically don't last long. Most new players aim by following the path of the bbs. If you get a red dot you could get a riser.