Plane Model: Catalina RTF

Manufacturer: Guan Li

Supplier: Mikes Models Market (Ebay) £99.99

Specifications:
Wingspan: 1380mm (54.3")
Length: 880mm (34.6")
Flying Weight: 780g (27.5 oz)
Drive System: Twin 370 carbon brush motor with gearbox
Speed Controller: 25A speed controller
Servo: 4x10g
Battery: 8.4 V 1000mah Ni-MH
Control system: 4 CH Multifunctional Radio Transmitter and Micro Receiver

BUILD REVIEW

This is a review of the build-only of my Guan Li Catalina .

It arrived a few days ago and after around 7 hours of work Today (Wednesday 1st October 2008), I have managed to get it assembled .

Upon opening the box, the fuselage was much, much fatter than any of the other planes I'd, Also, there were a lot of loose pieces, almost all of which would have to find their place on the plane before I could call it a day.

Another thing that was pretty clear after looking at the contents was that, despite being labeled an RTF, (ready to fly) this plane was hardly going to be "Ready To Fly" any time soon.

With both the need for gluing at several stages of assembly AND the need to fill in gaps that the documentation didn't cover, this was going to take a while.

Here's a few pictures of some of the notable pieces that came with it; namely, the wings, the engines, the props, and the 7-cell 1000mah NiMH battery pack.

I started the assembly process. To be honest, this plane felt more like a kit than an RTF, or even ARtF. It was actually sort of like when you go to MFI and purchase one of those wooden Flat Pack furnature "packages", and what you get is actually a load of MDF, some hardware, and printed instructions. Except in this case, the instructions that came with the Catalina were missing steps or outright wrong.

For example, one step says that I am to insert the aileron servos into the wings and then fasten them with two screws. !!

Ok--except there's neither any way to access the screw holes in the servo when it's in the molded slot in the wing, nor would there be anything to screw into even if I could insert the screws.

Obviously, these were intended to be glued in, which is what I ended up doing. And then it doesn't even mention anything about gluing the aileron servo covers over the servos--Mind you I did not use them in the end - never even mentions them in the instructions, except to list them among the parts that should have been included in the box.

Those are just a couple of examples, and I could talk about quite a few more but I won't. . Probably the most egregious shortcoming was that there was absolutely nothing in the instructions and, yea, even in the design of the plane which accounted for the motor and servo wires needing to be pulled out of the foam engine compartment, along the bottom of the wing, and then into the fuselage. I actually ended up having to carve out some wiring channels into which I laid the motor and servo wires before covering them with Fiber tape to hold them in place.

This is a ridiculously poor oversight, as there was absolutely no way for the plane to go together without the assembler performing some kind of manual modification to the wing, as the wires would not allow the wing halves to fit snugly onto the wing mount with the wires running into the fuselage.

Another aggravation was the fact that the rudder came simply as a piece of foam (the rudder itself) and 4 tab hinges. There were no slots in either the rudder or the vertical stabilizer into which I was supposed to insert/glue the tab hinges, nor anything in the instructions detailing the process. Well I managed to get everything together with the exception of the wing pontoons (since I'm going to try flying it over a grass field first and thus have to belly land it, which I imagine could be pretty rough on the flimsy pontoons).

It's a big Bird--54" wingspan, 34" length--although it's really the bulk of the fuselage which makes this plane look so much bigger , Should I be able to get it airborne and keep it there for any amount of time, I'm confident it will look pretty impressive flying around.

Here's some pics of the finished product:

You may also be able to tell in the pictures that the dihedral of the main wing seems to be off. I need to toy around some more with the wire struts to make sure they're not keeping the wings pulled down like that, but I think it's more to do with the poor manner in which the wing halves connect to the wing mount on the fuselage. I'm definitely going to need to make some changes there prior to flight, for stability's sake.

Note that I reinforced the bottom of the fuselage with Fiber tape along with the usual treatment of the main wings (Cover the ducts I had to cut out for the wires ).

SUMMARY:

Well, I don't want to get too involved in passing judgement. but after all the grief of getting the thing assembled, speaking strictly on the build process, quality of the parts, and comprehendability of the instructions, I'd have to rank this one as NOT for beginners.

It's a whole lot of work for what, I suspect, will be a niche plane in my fleet. I very much doubt it's going to see nearly as much flight time as a lot of other aircraft due to it's fragile nature nad poor quality.

THE GOOD:
Unique plane design--big bird that will definitely get some looks when I take it to the field Really

Only RTF boat plane I've seen

Good price for a 4-channel RTF especially given the very large size for a scale plane

Modular setup; very easy to upgrade Rx and ESC.(which I did - I used my own and not what came in the kit

Fairly easy to upgrade motors, provided you can find some that are the right size with mounting screw holes correctly placed in the front.

Once the wires were in place and connected, all the electrics worked perfect the first time.

Nice, strong, responsive servos that give good, full action on all control surfaces. (Maybe even too much--a heavy thumb could well crash this thing pretty quick with over-control.) - so for this reason I have added 50% Dule Rates

Big props on gear reduced motors put out a LOT of thrust at full throttle.

THE BAD:
AM Tx and Rx -- junk pile fodder

Crowded canopy; poor access to battery compartment; difficult to keep control and power wires out of the way of the rudder and elevator servo arms.

Quality control on the parts was very bad; had to machine down one of the motor mount slots with a Dremel just to get the wood support to slide in. Several places where the foam fuselage halves weren't fully glued together and were loose.

Very fragile stock--maybe even after tape reinforcement. Very thin foam walls in the fuselage. Also, it uses push rods for wing struts--very weak; carbon fiber, balsa, or even some stiff tubing around the rods would have been acceptable. Finally, the horizontal stabilizer wing is very,

VERY fragile, even after taping almost the whole surface area. In particular, the outer edges are barely connected, and I expect they'll be snapped off at some point.
The glue that came with it is very messy and weak/rubbery; (so I did not use it) I used two-stage epoxy or something simple like Foam Safe Cyno Glue.

THE UGLY:
No on/off switch on the plane? And to connect the battery, both hands have to be between the two propellers that barely clear the fuselage canopy? To remedy this, I'll be installing my own on/off switch in the very near future.

No landing gear + thin foam wall could mean EOL (end of line) the first time I try and belly land this thing. Fortunately, the Fiber tape seems to have increased the durability of the fuselage substantially without adding too much weight.

The wings are not easily removable once the wing joint cover is glued into place. Given that this is a big plane, that's a serious problem for transport.

The velcro mechanism for holding the cockpit canopy in place is HORRIBLE. Very hard to get the canopy all the way on, and once it's all the way on, it's near impossible to get the darned thing off again without bruising/denting the foam.

'WE' Baby Hi-Capa 3.8 full-metal gbb pistol

I have the WE 1911 (new release version) and it is great - yes the paint can flake a little but so what it looks used.



I also have the WE HI Capa full size and it's not given me any problemsso when I saw these I had to have one of each - they are just great - the quaity is so good for a WE.



The first thing that suprised me was the weight of the Baby Hi Capa's they each weigh more than the we 1911 and the WE Hi-Capa but they are smaller.




If you like BLING get to silver one with the GOLD "WE" logo embeded into the pistol grip - the Pistol grip is plastic but nice - I also noticed that the Pistol grip is thicker than the WE full size High Capa which when combined with the extra weight gives the Baby WE a much more Chunky, stubby feeling (very NICE)






Only problem I had was with the silver one and it would not fire - the trigger was stuck - It took about 30-35 minutes to strip it and sort the problem out - which turned out to be a mistake made by the person who assembled it - a leaf spring was in the wrong place within the hammer mech - This could indicate a poor quality control process or just my luck that I had the silver on made on the Friday ???



The Black model is just as good and tacktile as the silver one - however the black pistol grip looks better (not so plastic looking as the silver grip) - but both are great little WE's



Another bonus is that my WE Hi-Capa mags - that are longer than the Baby WE mags fit into the Baby WE so I can have more rounds - but the Baby we mags will NOT fit into the Full size WE.


Good Value - I'd say YES - two pistols from RSOV (with shipping and Customs) for the price of ONE here in the UK - GO FOR IT

NOTE - all my WE's have come from RSOV.COM

FT

Help Support our Airsoft Friends DOWN UNDER !!

Hi

As you will all know I have been so very busy at work - I have had NO time to make any Airsoft Videos, go to a Skirmish or Update my Blog.

Well I have just got a few minutes and would like to ask that you pop along to the link below and add your support to see if we can help bring back Airsoft to Australia.

How legal is airsoft in Australia at the moment?

Severely restricted.Airsoft is currently restricted as per the “Firearms Act”, which defines replicas into various categories, which are mainly

Category A (which covers bolt action rifles),

Category D (covering shotguns)

Category H (covering hand guns and pistols).

All other airsoft replicas are covered under Category R.

Currently, you can only obtain bolt action rifles (cannot be semi automatic and cannot contain a magazine) under the Category A licence (and only been successfully tested in Queensland), and because there are no airsoft manufacturers in Australia, you must have the relevant paperwork from your jurisdictions Police service (Permit to Acquire, or similar), Customs paperwork (Firearm importation declaration) and a legitimate reason to hold that replica as defined under the “Firearms Act”.

In a nutshell, why was airsoft ‘banned’?It’s important to understand that airsoft is not “black-banned”. There are some instances where ownership is permitted Airsoft was restricted under legislation because of how realistic a replica is in appearance and weight, and because of their capability to fire pellets.

so pop along to this link and give them your support - we nearly had it banned here in the UK...and it could happen to any country at anytime.

http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/bring-airsoft-guns-back-to-australia-now/sign.html#se

Two weeks away in the NetherLands

I have just come back from spending two weeks in the Netherlands, the Weather was fantastic, very sunny and Hot.

I have just finished replying to all the messages that you have sent to me via the different methods available, (YouTube - Comments, Messages), Email .....

I'm Sorry but I have No time to do any Airsoft stuff - as I am in Spain all next week -

Hope to do something first week in June ??

Type 97 - with VN Mag

Here are two photos of the TYPE-97 - one with the Standard M4 Mag. - and one with the M16-VN Mag.

Urban Assault 25th April 2008 - SOME PICTURES

Embrionicboy - with his M4 something or other - Sorry forgot what it is M4-RAS thing :-)

Foxtrot Tango - with my new JG Thunder Maul

Stickymonk - with his Galaxy MP5K - heavy Mod

URBAN ASSAULT 12.04.08 - A SKIRMISHER'S REVIEW

Update from Urban Assault Saturday 12th April

MY thanks to Embryonicboy for writing and sending this report

and here is what he had to say:

'I feared the worst with rain forecast for the Saturday. Woke up to
find bright sunshine. Lots of wind though, but this wouldn't matter
would it, at a mostly indoor CQB environment like Urban Assault? Hmmm
well, more on that later.


After a rather chilly gear set-up and a much needed brew we paid our
dues which is gone up a fiver, we all stood around having the safety
briefing. Pretty much a full house again and lots of banter and good
fun was had. I had a chat to a mate of FT's who was telling me about
falling over last skirmish and damaging his SCAR. Sounds painful!!


Anyway, game on and as usual it was a semi auto in the Casino and West
Wing. Last time I played this game they made the teams start further
apart, which helped, but this time normal service was resumed and it
became a battle of the corridors. I have some battery issues in my UMP
but still managed to get some good fire down on the red team. No score
draw, moving on...


Next up both teams had to capture canisters. Blue team attacked this
game like they were possessed. Stickymonk and my original idea of
defending the west wing was soon made pointless after our team
hammered through the reds until we were camped outside there respawn
point. At this point we had control over the whole site apart from the
Police Station and we were giving it plenty! The reds tried to break
out but it was to little and too late. Game ended with the most
comprehensive win I have ever had!


By this point the weather was getting rather warm, no worries, we
would be inside defending a building surely after fighting down the
length of the site?....erm no. We had to attack a landrover defended
by the red team. So we set off and attacked. But it was too well
defended near the Garrison and by this point, I was knackered!


After lunch we had our go at defending the landrover, which we did
although Reds made a good effort. Next up we played a game, moving the
'executive' to different points around the site. These were usually as
far as you could get and all the fighting was once again outside. Bit
disapointed as we walked past these great buildings, not being used
for skirmished. Hmmm, not much 'urban' at urban assault.


We called it a day when our next briefing involved blues attacking the
police station for a third time! To hot and too tired we headed off
after a good day, but wishing there had been more CQB and indoor
battles...


Embryonicboy

All Work and no Play :-(

How time flys when your - WORKING!!!!!! - I have not had a moment spare to make any Airsoft Videos so far this month -in fact I have not even been out for a Skirmish this April (YET).

We are all over our few weeks of the Flu, the new garden fence has been put up, and all is well - work is up-to-date and I'm back in the UK for next weekend - so with any luck I will be at Urban Assault on 26th April :-) and I will be using the TYPE 97 (I'll take the Trusty CA SCAR as backup just incase the battery does not hold out on the TYPE 97 or god forbid something goes wrong inside it.....

I have not done any more work on the BFG Armour - I have a helmet ready to paint and fit a Camera too - but as I keep saying these days - too much work - in short its a classic case of too much to do and so little time to do it........

Well I hope that i have better news next time I post here and some new photos to show.

FT

Future Weapson - Preview

Thought I would let eveyone have a sneek peek at three of the AEG's I hope to get my hands on this year:

FT

Crappy Easter !!!!

I had a really bad Easter - First Just before the holidays - five panels and four posts to my garden fence got blown down in the Wind

so I have had to get all new ones, (not fitted yet) On top of that it rained, and then we had SNOW, and then more rain and wind.....

On Bank Holiday Friday my Wife went down with the FLU... so I have spent the past four days looking after her.

On Easter Sunday - I started feeling the Flu coming on myself - and today Bank Holiday Monday - we both have the Flu.

So bottom line is - I feel sick , Did not get the garden fence put back up , and I have not done any airsoft videos ..

What a complete waste of a 4 day Bank Holiday.

FT

Today I got a new Software package to edit the videos , up to now I have been using Windows Movie Maker , The new package is called "Pinnacle Studio Plus Version 11" .

I will have to play around with it for a little while and see what I can do with it.

This period of learning will not stop me do the reviews as I will continue to use WMM - until such time as I am happy working with Pinnacle Studio Plus.

FT

Type 97 Battery configuration

Just in case anyone is wondering what type of battery Configuration that is needed here is a picture - Strange or what !!! and it's also fitted into the body and grip of the Type 97 - so you charge it in place.

FT

Real Sword Type 97

Well at long last if finally arrived – out of all the AEG’s I have purchased this one took the longest to get to me – it took TMC at least three weeks to post it (turns out they had to get it from a company called Airsoft global, as TMC were out of stock.

Then another week to get to the UK, a week in customs and then another week with the Import Agent...

I am afraid I was sending and leaving some very angry message to both TMC and the Import Agent –

Although I must give credit for TMC – they went out of their way to try and sort the problems out for me.

the UK Agent went away for a week on the day I paid them for delivery by DHL – so that caused a lot of agro –I was sending emails and leaving messages with the UK agent every day and the agent was not getting back to me (now I know why but at them time – I thought I was in a scam of some sort) – I even got to the point of asking for my money back from TMC and contacting my solicitor about the UK agent.

But within a few days of the UK agent getting back – my packaged arrived

I’ve made a short video of the TYPE-97 being unpacked.

Now all I have to do is to get a special battery configuration built or find a LiPo that is small enough to fit into the pistol grip.

I’ll let you know how I get one next week.

FT

Urban Assault March 15th 2008

FT:

I did not get to Urban Assault on the 15th (as I was having my Portrait taken by A Graduate Photographer from Portsmouth University for an exhibition in london during June, but I was sent this repot of the day by "peterboroughmike" and have posted it here for all to read.

OK over to you "Peterboroughmike"

Peterboroughmike:

Anyway as for the report back about this Saturday game ( 15th ); Firstly looking at the weather reports on Thursday, and there weatherman telling us we should expect cloud, no sunshine and rain, my confidence wasnt souring when i thought how it would be, i am overly cautious about using my gun in the rain, at the stage it is at now, i dont want to get it wet and ruin the internals or what have you, so i was a bit down struck by the report.

Me and my mates arrived at around 8:15, and the weather was looking good, low winds, relatively clear skies, no rain!! Fantastic i thought, todays not going to be to bad after all.

With the weather reports as they were mid week, i think it threw alot of people off the idea of playing, because it wasnt a great turn out really, probably 100 tops, apparently the numbers were almost half on the day as what was expected.

The day didn't turn out too bad, although the blue team were getting royally spanked on pretty much every game played, all bar the 2 towards the end, and the last game was strange and i am not sure how it worked.30% of the total players took arm bands off and played the attackers, and red and blue combined as one, the attackers would kill the red/blue players at which stage the dead man would remove his bands and join the attacking team, basically untill its last man standing, the last man standings colour team wins, as far as i know.

its nice to see they are trying new game types, and i think people that stayed enjoyed it, we lost alot of players including myself on the last game when it had started to rain, so over all i couldn't really tell you much on it, It might be that people were leaving because they didnt like the idea of it, how it was played, or because of the rain, but hopefully it will be tried again and you (FT)can get a good view on it yourself .

FT:

Thanks for the Update

FPS Test for the BFG

HI - Just a quick update to let everyone know that I have completed the first chrono tests for the BFG and I'm very happy with the results

FPS is most of the time between 322-325 with the odd peek (one or two) at 340-345.

Rounds per minute is steady at 750.

This gives it a Joule rate of about 0.96

all this using 0.2g 6mm bb's

Limit set at UA is 328fps with 0.2g 6mm bb's = 1Joule

so it's almost spot on.

Next review and new poll

OK - so I've done the Jing Gong - SIG552 review and I will have finished the Closeup look for the SIG552 this week - so then I move onto do the VFC SCAR - as that was the winner of the review poll last month.

Hummmm... that means we now have a new poll to see which item is next in line after the VFC Scar - you will see that the new poll is a mix between Rifle and Pistol - so you vote and let me know what I will be doing a review on after the VFC SCAR.

FT

Inert Ammo - going Cheap !!!

I thought I should share this with you all - it's a link to a site that I get my Inert Ammo from, it's worth a visit , but in order to see the prices, you do need to set yourself up with an account ( it's free) -

http://www.cheepaschips.co.uk/

Stubby Killer ready to Rock and Roll again

Took time on Sunday to fix the problem with my stubby killer

The problem was all of my own making - I had replaced the original silencer for one that was a little longer, I did this as I want to fit a MAD BULL SHORT m203 onto it and I did not want the M203 extending past the end of the silencer,

But when I put on the longer silencer I did not extend the length of the inner barrel - this was now a good 4 Inches short of the end of the silencer.

I have now replaced the original inner barrel with an m4 Systema tight bore and used a hacksaw to chop it down so that the inner barrel now comes right to the tip of the silencer.

Gave it a little spray with matt black paint and the Stubby Killer is ready to strike fear into the enemy once again...

Real Sword Type97 Update

Quick note - it's in the UK and has cleared Customs - just waiting for the shipping agent to get it to me - should be within the next 5 working days .

Urban Assault 1st March - Part 2

During skirmish No.3

I noticed a little bit of Black shoot out from the end of my Stubby Killer along with the BB’s – my first thoughts were – oh that’s only the remains of my Black bb’s

It got a little worse as the game went on – and the a BB shot out of the Silencer the BB was split in two part went left and part went right – followed by about 6 or 7 other bb’s that all just fell to the floor...

Now that did get my attention – So I decided to take the silencer off and see what was going on – it turned out that little bit of black was not a bb at all it as a bit of the internal foam being hit by a stray BB that pushed it out but due to this some other BB’s started to hit the foam and the odd one would get trapped then another would hit it – split it and push it out - ..

Well I decided to call it a day with the Stubby Killer – when I got home I took all apart and found what was left of the foam. (See picture) - Double click the picture to get a better look.

Thats all I have time for now - next session I have at UA I will not play - I will take my video camera and get video from a Spectaters view point.

FT

Urban Assault 1st March - Part 1

Another Great day at Urban Assault in Cambridgeshire East of England..it was a little bit windy and the sun was sun shine glories.

I collected my repaired VFC SCAR – turned out to be screws that hold the trigger plate together were too tight and so when the trigger was pulled the pinched it in place and the return spring was not strong enough to push the trigger forward again so it locked half in and half out.

I also collected the G&P Stubby killer – that was a down grade (now its FPS is 315-320) just right for UA. – Nick the Wizard who does all my internal work – told me he just had to cut the spring down a little – Job done.

Did not take the gun cam today but did take my still camera – only to find out that my son had been using it and the batteries were totally flat – but I did manage to get a snap shot of this bunch of lads – they came from all over the place in the UK - they skirmish as a team called "SETAS" – I did not ask what it stands for. (see Picture)

At lunch we all had a great chat , Fixed a ACOG red dot scope, and diagnosed a P90 failure to fire, they all took a look at the CA Scar and VFC Scar I had with me, It was nice to meet you all lads.

On a more comical note – my mate, who has not done airsoft for about a year came along and I had helped prepare all his kit – we kitted up – and went to the mandatory briefing, and then on to the Chrono , so he steps up to the plate , pulls the trigger (on his TM M4-S System) and NOTHING happens its dead – he swings his backup weapon up to get it chrono’d (G3-SAS) pulls the trigger and NOTHING its dead .

Turns out that he thought I had put the batteries into his guns – but I always put them in at the site on the day – and I did mine thinking he would do his – but he just picked up the weapons and that was that – I put it down to the year he had away from airsoft .. The whole incident did make me smile thought..

Urban Assault 16th Feb - Gun Cam video posted

Short note to let you all know that I am posting the gun cam video from 16th Feb 2008 taken at UA - My thanks to Stickymonk and Embrionicboy for the help they gave me in getting the raw video. - don't forget to check it out on youtube and leave a comment when you do.

FT

How Time Fly's

Well - I've got a confession to make – I had intended to make the SG552 review video last weekend (24th Feb) – but I ended up going to a local Toy fair. Sorry L

I’ve also had some problems with the video taken via the gun cam at Urban Assault on the 16th Feb – when I loaded it onto my new Vista computer the sound did not work.

So no video yet – I need to get it over onto my old XP machine and do the editing work on that.

Something I found out this week was that fire Support had already fixed my VFC SCAR and my G&P Stubby Killer and had them at Urban Assault on the 16th !!!!!! but no one told me so I have had to wait another 2 weeks – I collect them on the 1st March – I will use the Stubby Killer.

Work has been very busy so I have not been able to make any new videos, and as they say “Time fly’s when you’re having fun”.... or working hard !!!!!

To finish on a positive note the kind people at Popular Airsoft sent me a copy of the Maiden Issue of the Popular Airsoft Magazine! It’s a really professional PDF magazine with loads and loads of articles and photos. – I recommend that you check it out

http://www.popularairsoft.com/last-maiden-issue-popular-airsoft-magazine

Oh and incase anyone is thinking that I get something for this I don’t I truly like the New Mag azine and just want to share.

Well I'm off – got to think about the kit I need to get ready for Urban Assault this weekend (1st March)

FT

Video Poll results in

My Thanks to the 211 who took part in the Poll for what AEG I will do a video review on after the SG552 - here are the results of the votes


30% - VFC SCAR
27% - Well Warrior I (L96)
25% - M14 EBR
10%- M14 Socom
6% - CA SCAR


so it looks like the next videos will be


SG552 video review followed by VFC SCAR - the rest of the results don't count so i will put up another poll for the Video after the VFC SCAR once I have posted the SG552 Video Review


FT

Urban Assault 16th feb Part 2

me sitting on the ground (still with assualt vest on ) enjoying the winter sun

- note the headshot that went between my helmet and my glasses....

man did that sting !!!!!

Double click the photo for a better look

Urban Assault 16th Feb Part 1

It was a great Morning/Day sunny and no wind at all - in the (AM) it was a little Cold - but the Sun soon made a differance.

I have never seen so many people in attendance at UA for a normal Skirmish day - it was teaming with people - on a rough count I would have said over 150...(thats 75 a side) - resulting in a target rich environment.

But before I did anything I got the BFG out for a Photo and to get an Office chrono reading for it - and it passed so I can use it at Urban Assualt - even it it is a little on the large side.

I decided to use my CA SCAR and it's office Chrono was 314FPS - it's so quiet when compared to a Clones it makes you think it's not even working - but it is and it's great , I was thinking that I might sell it but I have decided to keep it. (see photo of me standing next to EmbrionicBoy).

Urban Assault this weekend 16th Feb

I'm all ready for UA this weekend... I'm taking the following AEG's

1. SG552
2. CA SCAR - fitted with M203
3. CA m15A4 SportLine
4. The BFG

I will also take my M203 grenades x 4 (180Rds) and my Glock23F.

I hope to get some good Photos and also let Embrionicboy or Stickymonk try out the gun Cam.

FT

Next Review item SG552

OK ...OK....ok....I get the message - due to popular demand -the next review will be the Jing Gong SG552 - now I have already use this baby at Urban Assault and apart from the need to have a velocity reducer fitted I can report back that I had no other problems with it at all.

(FPS without the Velocity Reducer is 362), I needed to get it down to 328 or I would not be allowed to use it at UA - in the end it ended up at 290 using the RED velocity ring.

One small problem I did have was with the Sg552 Mag's - they are designed to join together and each one has two little knobs that stick out on both sides of the Mag and these get in the way when the Mag is in the Assault vest pouch.

Also if you join two mags together the mags will not fit into a pouch on my assualt vest as they are too thick (the Mag pouches are made for M4 mags)..

Watch out for the review of my SG552 MID-FEB.

FT

Review of the ACM M500 Just posted on Youtube

I know it is long overdue, but at a long last I have just posted the video review of my All China Made (ACM) M500 C0mbat Shotgun on YouTube.

I've attemped to combine the following in this review

1. Arm Chair review

2. Closeups

3. Chrono info

If you have not seen it yet go check it out at FoxtrotTango1 on Youtube.

FT

New M4 and my money back

Well that was nice - the good people at Tokyo Model Company sent me back the second payment within minutes of me making the mistake - so problem solved.

Now all I have to do is wait for the Type 97 to arrive ......tick.....tock....tick.....tock....

Also today the new M15A4 Sportline from Classic Army arrived - nice bit of kit - reminds me of the original Tokyo Marui M4's - metal parts with a plastic body... I will take it to UA with me on the 16th Feb.

I've already added:

1. Type 552 red dot sight

2. PEQ laser,light unit

3. vertical grip

4. Crain stock

NICE :-)

Payment Mistake

Today I decided to stop messing about and get the Real Sword type 97 from TMC - Tokyo Model Company - but I made a stupid error when paying and it seems I have paid Twice !!! DOH !!!!

Anyway - I have sent them notice that I want one of the payments returned as I don't want two of the Type 97's. so I will have to wait and see what they say/do.

It should be OK as they are a Good Company and I have used then many times in the past, I do have to say though - that I don't like the "NEW" website they are using.

Oh well - all I can do is wait to hear from them......

FT

Project BFG - Take Shape

Well today I have completed the following tasks on Project BFG

1. Paint the Nerf Blaster

2. Gut the Nerf Blaster

3. Strip down the donor rifle

4. install the donor rifle into the Nerf Blaster Body

I still need to tidy up all the cuts in the plastic body I have made, and find a place for the battery to go,

At the moment I have some masking tape on the back end - this will be removed later so the stock can slide up and down (adjustable)

On friday I will test it out - and if OK take it to Urban Assault on the 16th - should be fun to see what people say about it !!

Project BGF - Donor Rifle

I've got this Jing Gong M4A1 Para - I like it but it will be the easy rifle to strip down - so I am using it as the Donor Rifle for the BFG Project.

Project BFG

Today I started working on Project BFG - .. and I have made some good progress.

But I am getting ahead of myself – What is project BFG you might ask – well it’s an Idea I have had for a long time now and it’s this

Take something like a NERF blaster – gut it out and put the workings of an Airsoft Rifle inside it. (simple idea really)

Well I now have the Nerf Blaster and its 1 meter in length and about 6cm in width I’ve Stripped it out and I will be using a Jing Gong M4A1 Para as the Donor rifle.

I’ll post a progress update in the next few days

FT

G&P Stubby Killer - DOWN GRADE

Yet another AEG I have that needs to be down graded -

I got the G&P Stubby Killer for Christmas , but due to work it's been sitting in the box up until now, so the first thing I did was to chrono it - 340 to 360 FPS -

Now you hve to know that this is a very small "STUBBY" M16 - my first thoughts were - if I put a short M16 VN mag in it and tell eveyone its a small sniper rilfe they might let me use it at Urban Assualt.. think again.

So I have handed it in to Fire Support (they now have two or my AEGs) for a 328FPS downgrade.

This should take two-three weeks and I should have both the VFC SCAR and the Stubby Killer back in action.

FT