Max Force: A new contender?

Over the last few weeks, quite a number of blogs and other news sources have been lighting up about a new line of "spitball" launchers. This is the Max Force line by Jakks Pacific. While normally, many die-hard Nerf fans seemingly won't give anything other than dart shooters a chance, one thing I've noticed is that a decent portion of these fans are actually quite impressed with these new blasters. One only needs to look at what Max Force claim to be able to do, to be figure out why this is the case.

The Shadow Hawk 100

Take this as an example. The Max Force Shadow Hawk 100. On the box, there are similar claims to what it can do as the rest of the line. It can apparently reach ranges of 100 feet (over 30 metres), and accurately, with a kind of biodegradable ammo that resembles a spitball, sticks to it's targets, and wipes of easily for cleaning up. That's 3 times further than a stock Nerf Longshot, and as far as a heavily modded one, and Nerf darts are not accurate at that sort of range. For outdoor wars, you wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up, because the ammo will decompose. Now, if you ask me, that is seriously impressive if it lives up to that. The best part is, IT DOES, according to Jerm from Nerf Mods and Reviews, who wrote this Review. I have not personally been able to get my hands on one in my area of south-east Queensland yet, but i after seeing the following video, you can be sure I'm trying my best to acquire one.

And then there is Max Force's answer to Nerf's slamfire, The Terrornator 85 (pic below). It works similar to slamfire, except it fires both when you push the handle forward, AND when you pull the handle back. It also comes with an extendable ammo belt that according to Jakks Pacific also works in their other clip fed guns. 85 foot ranges, fast firing, and an extendable ammo belt probably makes this one of the most desirable taggers out there right now.

Terrornator 85

So, does this mean that finally, Nerf has some formidable competition? I think so. After all, if you go to the Max Force site, there is a banner at the top that clearly states "Graduate from foam". With accurate ranges way over what Nerf can achieve, This might be a fair statement. So far, the only downside I've heard of is the lack of a trigger on these blasters. This doesn't bother me too much, but I would prefer to see a trigger mechanism incorporated anyway. Again, I still Don't have one of these to review, I can't find them anywhere yet but I'm so eager to get my hands on this line to try it out it's not funny.

Review and visual guide: OMW stage 1 Recon mod kit

Orange Mod Works, about a month ago now started taking pre-orders for a kit they had developed that would enhance the power of the good old Nerf Recon blaster, at a reasonable price. They named the kit the Nerf Recon: stage 1 kit. For roughly $23AU delivered, I could not resist, so I ordered a kit, and had to wait a fair while until it was delivered (thanks again, Australia post).

The kit turned up today (finally), so when I got home from work I went right ahead and dug up my Recon from the monstrous pile of boxes I have from moving on the weekend and set myself up to do this swap over of parts. Please note that the Recon in this picture below already has the safety locks removed, the air restrictor drilled out, and it is also left hand bolt modded. For the guide on how to do the bolt mod (the bolt handle mounted on the cocking slide) CLICK HERE. Anyway, below is what I started with.

First of all, it comes packaged in a nice little black box, and inside the parts are protected with bubble wrap and  plastic sleeves. In the stage 1 kit, you receive a short installation guide, metal trigger catch and stronger catch spring, a vastly more powerful main spring, and a metal reinforcement plate that goes in the stock mount. I'm not overly sure of how necessary this plate is, but as far as I can figure out, it might serve a double purpose and act as a spacer to give the stage 2 kit plunger enough room if the back of the plunger is thicker than the original. Installed, it makes your Recon quite powerful. I was surprised at how stiff the spring actually is, and after doing a couple of test fires and losing some darts over the back fence, I am now really excited to use this in a Nerf war.

To install this kit is really simple. If you've modded a Recon before, you won't have any trouble at all. First, remove all the screws (including the two hidden at the front under the cocking slide, take the black stock mount off, and split the top half of the shell from the rest of the blaster. Below, is the internals minus a couple of safety locks. I also had a spring from a Longstrike in there as the main spring, and a plunger from a longstrike since this blaster was originally missing the main spring and had a broken plunger when I first got it.

Take out the stock trigger catch and catch spring, and also the stock spring. keep these as spares if you want, the spring from the Recon can also be used in a Longstrike, Raider, and Alpha Trooper. I wouldn't be surprised if they also fit the Quick 16 and Speedload 6 Dart Tag blasters either. Next, place the new spring on the plunger, then slide the new trigger catch (with the stronger catch spring placed on) over the top, and set it all back in place. Then, place the reinforcement plate in the stock mount, it only goes on way, it will drop straight in if you get it right, if it doesn't, flip it around until it does. It should now look like the picture below.

 Put the shell back on and screw everything back together. Annnd that's it! Installing this kit is really that simple. I haven't yet range tested, but I must be getting 60+ feet. I still need to replace the teflon tape under the O-ring and glue up the air release hole, and I'm still considering whether or not I will pack a spacer on the plunger to add even more compression to the new spring but at the moment I'm going to see how things go.

Summing up, these kits are well worth the money, and do not disappoint. go to www.orangemodworks.com to order yours.

STW Mobile

just a very brief post to let everyone know, particularly those reading this on PC who also view this blog on the go, that I have updated the blog to use a mobile template when viewed by a mobile device. Hopefully you'll find this easier on iPhone etc. and less impacting on load times and data usage. If you have any feedback for this, it's greatly appreciated whether positive or negative.

Nerf gone mental!

I saw this on the Urban Taggers blog, and thought it was WAY too awesome to not post!

Nerf Alpha Trooper custom rebuild: part 2

Continuing on with my rebuild of my Nerf Alpha Trooper from parts, I had a bit of spare time to come up with a solution for the lack of fitting barrel tip, and also added an attachment rail to the left side.

The previous barrel tip was the end of the inner barrel from the "front gun" barrel extension that comes with the Nerf Longshot, and I though it didn't really look right. So, wondering what the Alpha Trooper would look like with the Spectre "silencer" barrel, I decided to do something to incorporate one. The one thing I didn't want to do was make it permanent, though. So, with a ton of grinding down, I was able to get a barrel adapter piece from my old Longstrike to sit in place quite well and line up with the inner barrel tube tube perfectly, so i hot glued it in place on one side of the blaster shell. After putting it back together with the silencer barrel on, I thought it looked pretty good, but i was worried the extra barrel length would have an effect on range, so I tested it out, and found I only lost 1-2 feet on average.

The side rail was the next thing to do, and I already had a spare Nerf Recon top slide that I could use to obtain a clean, flat rail from. I cut directly on the crease and then used a bench grinder to clean up the cuts. placing it on, I used hot glue again to fill in any grooves under the rail and it now seems really solid. I wasn't sure what side I should put it on at first, but eventually I decided I would just put it on the left for now and try to find another Recon slide to cut up and put on the other side as well.

With all of the attachments on, it looks a little bulky, but very cool, and nothing gets in the way. The weight is still way less than a stampede, and better yet, it can still be stripped right down to be just the blaster if needed.  I still need to put the right hand side rail on, find a dart jam door, clean up the hot glue a bit and add some paint. I'm looking for suggestions for colour schemes, and comments on this setup, so feel free to suggest and comment away!

Orange Mod Works Recon mod kit 2 pre-order

Ever wanted bullet proof strength internals for your Nerf Recon? Well, over at wwworangemodworks.com you can now pre-order the stage 2 mod kit for your Recon!

"Our stage 2 kit replaces the original breech and bolt carrier group with our own Orange Breech, aluminum bolt sled, and plunger. The Orange Breech is unique in that it gives you the advantage of precision-cut metal tubing while preserving the original function of the blaster. With the dart to breech fit being a near perfect seal, distance and accuracy are greatly increased."

Coupled with the stage 1 kit (which already yields ranges of 65ft flat), I wouldn't doubt that getting over 75ft ranges is possible. I can tell you, that makes the good old Nerf Recon much more valuable!

price for the stage 1 kit from the website is US$16.99 +shipping, and the stage 2 kit is US$24.99 +shipping, so for well under 50 bucks plus shipping, you have yourself a pretty damn epic Nerf blaster!

-Rolley

Orange Mod Works website up!

Orange Mod Works, creators of the stage 1 mod kit for the Nerf Recon and the book, Nerf Modding A-Z: Nerf Recon, now have their website up and running, and is worth a look. You can even downlad the PDF version of Nerf Modding A-Z: Nerf Recon for FREE. So have a look, www.orangemodworks.com