Hello from Hampshire

[Quagmire]

Hi all,

Just recently got into Airsoft through my two younger brothers, one of them has access to some private woodland which we usually play on with friends, but this weekend gone I played my first "proper" game at Gunman Alpha:

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Although I was totally knackered by the end, and covered in bruises from BBs/branches/the ground it was absolutely fantastic!

I've been running around with a bog stock Specna M4 (the 01 version) and am very happy with it so far using Geoff's 0.25s or 0.28s and a *slightly* trimmed XT M110 spring.

One small problem I had on Saturday was that I lost one of my hearing aids! My current head gear consists of some Bolle Tracker II's, a baseball cap and a Lonestar sierra mask. Antifog is provided by a home made fan unit based on a 5015 fan, piped into the side of the goggles (that's me on the left):

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What was happening was that the arm and/or strap on the goggles kept dislodging the hearing aid and I had to keep setting it back in place. After getting taken out in the afternoon and walking back to spawn I realised one ear felt weird only to find it had gone!

I'm thinking that to avoid this in future it might be better to go with some proper goggles rather than the spoggles I have now, attached to or fitted with the strap over a helmet to avoid things disturbing the aids.

With this in mind (and the fact that I have a 60cm head) does anyone have any recommendations on what might be a good starting point please?

Much obliged!

Quagmire

 

[Rogerborg]

Ahoy and welcome.  The Specna is a decent enough choice, there's not much that they want doing to them - maybe a Maple Leaf hop rubber and nub, and an XT or ZCI barrel, although the stock stuff works fine, if you keep the barrel and hop clean.

Ah, fog, the bane of our airsoft lives. I run various fan bodges myself, either 5015 based, or small fans on the goggles.  Dual pane also really helps, e.g. Pyramex i-Force, or paintball style masks like the Valken MI-3.

However, I'm not aware of any eyepro that would strap over a helmet and yet still give anything like a decent seal.  One reason I mention the MI-3 (or fancier Dye equivalents) is that the mask itself covers your ears, so should retain, rather than dislodge, your cyborg tech.  That would solve one problem, at the cost of creating another, getting a sight picture - I've lopped the bottom quadrant clean off my MI-3 to achieve that.

Much of airsoft is try-it-and-see, although at the cost of lost hearing aids, I can see why you'd want to get it right first time.  Worst case, can you pop a bit of tape or a plaster over them to keep them in?

 

[The_Lord_Poncho]

I use a mesh lower mask that includes separate mesh ear 'cups' - worst case would be that your hearing aids fall out but would be retained within the mesh for you to safely retrieve I would think. Something along these lines:

My goggles strap sits above the top of the mesh ear cups, so i would presume that your current set up's strap would too. Certainly worth a try, they don't cost much, and your breath can rather freely escape (certainly easier than the balaclava style face protection that you seem to use) which helps with reducing fogging..

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[Madhouse]

Hello & welcome!

I use the facepro with ear mesh too, because I don't fancy a BB in the ear but they'd also be pretty good a retaining a hearing aid. I pair it with Bolle X8000's and a baseball cap, have been thinking of trying a helmet but am concerned that one will just lead to me overheating and I also have a big head so also concerned one won't fit.

Another thing you could do (if the three of you were thinking of using comms) is get something like earmor M32's which would keep hold of your hearing aids (assuming compatibility with ear cups), allow you to chat and protect your ears both physically and audibly.

 

[Quagmire]

Thanks for the replies and the warm welcome!

Will checkout the mesh face protection and the Earmors look like a good shout too, my brothers do have radios, but they use the ear pieces, which I can't use- the Earmors would solve that. I might switch from the spoggles to some goggles too, which would avoid having the arms joggling the hearing aids about and dislodging them.

In terms of the rifle, I am working hard to hold myself back from falling into the upgrade black hole! The three of us are talking about purchasing a joint backup AEG (probably something like a Specna Flex) and if/when that happens, I might crack mine open to check shimming and air seal as a first step, but not until then!

Thanks again

Quagmire

 

[Justjay1986]

Hey dude, where in Hampshire are you? I'm also local, Southampton area. 

Re facepro, I use a delta mike and revision sawfly glasses, with am occasional fogging depending on the play, humidity and temperature where I play (underground mostly, ucap bunker)

Happy to meet up sometime in the future when I'm back on my feet (had hip surgery Friday so can't play for a while unfortunately)