Well, time to necro. So a few things have happened since my last update. First, the guy making my stock went AWOL. And has been so for about a year and a half... And he kept my gun... Honestly I kind of gave up after that. The Echo1 ZB-30 is a discontinued gun and I paid around 400 quid for mine, so I wasn't really wanting to buy another, assuming I could even find one. So I kind of shelved the entire thing. I did continue to work on the uniform though, as I figured I could still make a Spetsnaz loadout or something. I built up a decent SSG gearbox for my PP-19-01, and successfully modified it to take a Taginn Tag-015 launcher. These are ultra rare launchers from Taginn - lost of people know of the ML-36, but the Tag-015 is the AK variant. It was only made in small batches, and was rather quickly discontinued due to lack of interest from the community. Taginn launchers are kind of ridiculously expensive, even though they are worth it, and more people run guns with under-mounted RISs than people run AKs, by a large margin. Plus the ML-36 has a standalone kit. However I happened across a sale of one that was leaking, for around 300 quid. A steal in my book, and all it took was a quick replacement/restoration of the o-rings inside. Some external modification was needed - the LCT PP-19-01 is a short barreled gun and doesn't have a standard AK front sight block. But I added a barrel extension and cut it just enough to fit the launcher. I also use larger batteries than can fit in the upper receiver, so I had a custom battery tube made that fits inside of the Zenitco stock. Finally I have a real Kobra sight that came off my real steel KR-9 to use as its optic. The gun is now perfectly fieldable and fits two three preferred roles; SMG and AT. Again, my whole point of this kit was to simultaneously keep as close to the character as possible, but accept modifications to actually make the kit usable at a weekend-long MilSim. However I am not entirely happy with it, and am actually making a Titan build that I will likely replace it with.
My Maruzin PPK/S was replaced by a bronze-kitted Maruzin PPK. Its slightly longer than the PPK/S, and 100% cooler looking. I also finished my vest setup - it now allows for 6 PP-19-01 mags (8 total with the two in the gun), two PPK mags, two TRMRs, a SWAT VTG, 5 Taginn rounds, radio, genuine Soviet canteen (not gonna ever drink out of that lol), and a satchel on the back for an HPA tank and bladder. I bought a few more uniforms - my Chechen ATACs is cold-weather gear, and we don't really get that here in the Southern US. I now have Berezka, Partizan, Fall Partizan, EMR, and Desert EMR (I can't find the official name for the pattern, but its an arid variant of EMR). I also got a second Maska-1 and painted it to somewhat match the Fall Partizan pattern. At this point my kit was fully fieldable.
At this point I thought I was done. I had a few options for a Russian loadout, and could even use it at MilSims for both sides. The Tachanka dream could be laid to rest...until last week...
Im browsing HopUp (a popular sellers forum here in the US), and come across a sale post for a working Echo1 ZB-30, for 200 quid. It was missing its charging handle, and more importantly its butt-pad. A quick search shows both parts - as well as replacement internals - can be bought online. So I bought the gun, and The Lord lives again! A new charging handle assembly, butt-pad, and metal flash hider (original was plastic) were ordered soon after. The gun arrived yesterday, and the other parts should be here Tuesday. In the meantime I took measurements and begun CADing for the mag adapter. I didn't want to do anything too permanent, as I'd like the ability to keep this thing as a ZB-30/MG-30 if desired. So far it looks like it'll be either a 2 or 3 part print; the first is ready for printing (I didn't get much sleep last night haha). However my printer is being a PITA right now, so I'm sort of on hold for now. Ill keep y'all updated!
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