My Maverick Mod., My first mod project. Options

[Dragonteuthis]

Dragonteuthis' Maverick Mod: The Foaminator 3000

Better than the Foaminator 1000 because, well, it has more thousands.

I've "stealthed" these forums for a few days, and from the advice and directions I've picked up here I've managed to increase my nerf experience greatly. So, I'll try to share with you what I've done so far.

It's only fair to preface this with the statement that I am biased towards the Maverick. I think it is an absolutely awesome gun. It's small, which I like, and has a 6-round magazine, which I also like. It's highly accurate, and can have a very high rate of fire, which is absolutely wicked when you're chasing someone who's diving for a piece of ammo. Also, swinging the barrel out and back in to reload makes lots of wonderful clicky noises. And finally, it's $8.

I used the following tools for this mod: A narrow phillips head screwdriver, utility knife, exacto knife, some generic epoxy, a small can of expanding foam sealant, a Dremel (coarse sandpaper), and some good scissors. In restrospect, of course, I didn't need all these things.

I don't have a picture of the completed gun because after I test fired it a bit, I took it apart again and I intend to spray-paint it black. I'm waiting for warmer weather for that, as the basement doesn't have very good ventilation. Also, I apologize if the pictures aren't sized well...I don't know how to resize them.

Step 1: Acquire a Maverick.

Step 2: Unscrew the thing. All the screws are on one side. Three hold the 'cocker in position (they are stubbier than the other screws) and another eight hold the main body together. Don't lose the screws, and gently pry the whole thing apart. The 'cocker has a spring strung on it; don't worry about that, you can put it back on easily.

Dissassembled Maverick:



Step 3: See all that complicated stuff involved with turning the barrel? Don't touch that stuff. Instead, take the barrel out.

Step 4: Pry off the "front" (i.e., farthest from the trigger) grey plastic thing. An orange cap will come off with it, also that will release a metal rod going through the barrel center. On the trigger-side of the barrel, the rod has a spring on it. Don't lose this spring. For now, set all the loose pieces aside. There are six screws holding the barrel together, three on each end. Unscrew all of them.

Barrel showing the grey thing pulled off.



Barrel taken apart all the way.



Step 5: (Note: If you are prone to using copious amounts of hotglue and/or epoxy, you could probably throw away the orange rings and make up their lack with a thick layer of adhesive. Your call.) See this thing? It's an air restrictor.

Air restrictor.



Throw away the bottom part, and use a sharp knife (or a Dremel) to cut off that rod and cut out the center of the restrictor.

After punishing the air restrictor.



Do that four more times. Now, Set those little orange rings aside.

Step 6: Here's the "back" or "bottom" of the barrel, where the air restrictors were.

Barrel Bottom



For this part, I used straws from Subway, but use whatever fits. Cut the straw into parts, and fit them into the handy provided slots.

With straws!



END OF PART ONE. I'm going to break this up into a second post.

This post has been edited by Dragonteuthis: Jan 18 2006, 01:35 PM

[Dragonteuthis]

Now, grab some adhesive expanding insulating foam, and squirt a tiny bit into each pocket, being VERY careful not to get any into the straws. Please note that expanding foam sealant KEEPS expanding for several minutes after you apply it, so err on the side of not enough. Also, before applying the foam, make sure it's one that can be easily cut away after it cures.

Foamy!



Let the foam cure (usually 8 hours), and then use an exacto knife to cut away the excess foam. You can give them a raised cut or simply cut them flat. The key is to make sure the orange rings fit.

Cut & with rings applied.



Step 7: With all six orange rings on (and the grey plastic thing on the end screwed on if you detached it), apply your adhesive of choice liberally to the orange rings and the edge of the barrel. Be careful and double-check everything before you seal it up. I took my Maverick apart and put it back together about six times before I sealed the barrel up.

Step 8: Now for something completely different. Take the plunger assembly (It's only two parts.) and pull it apart. If you want, you can stretch or replace the spring - I personally have not.

The plunger, apart.



Take a McDonald's straw (or Arby's; but Subway's is too small for this job) and insert it through the "male" part of the plunger, like so.

Plunger + straw.



Foam it up.

Plunger, straw, and foam.



After it cures (and yes, I'd do the barrel and plunger concurrently if I were you), cut away the excess foam and the excess straw. This will reduce space in the plunger, theoretically providing for greater air pressure. I'm not sure if it helps, but It certainly doesn't hurt.

Step 9: Hey, you're almost done. use a dremel to wear off the four tabs that keep the barrel from sliding out far enough for reloading...these tabs are circled below. You may need the help of a knife with the one on the gun. [Edit: For some reason, when I altered the picture to add rings, it increased the size of the rings. I'm such a noob when it comes to graphics. Here's a link instead of hogging the thread width]

Tabs.

Now, replace the plunger assembly (lube it if you want...does anyone have any advice on what kind of grease is good for this sort of thing?), and the barrel assembly. Also, put the spring back on the 'cocker. Double-check to make sure everything's there, and screw it back together.

Now, don't let the Roboraptor eat your darts



Congratulations. You're done.

Personally, I get decent performance out of this gun. I haven't used Stefan darts (don't own any), only the packaged ones and whistlers, but it still gets better range and significantly better power. This is my first mod ever, and I'd really like to hear what people think. Especially, if you do it up this way, please let me know how it performs. I'm curious. And I apologize if this mod actually decreases the performance of your Maverick.

Thanks for reading!

This post has been edited by Dragonteuthis: Jan 18 2006, 01:50 PM

[ompa]

Wow. I'm really impressed, excellent job on the modification! Welcome to NH, enjoy your stay, and keep up the attitude/good posting. I'd say more, but I'm on to study Spanish.

~ompa

[w0lf]

Nice job, maybe I should try this on my maverick although a bit of plastic snapped of my cocking piece, and i think it got sucked up in the vaccum cleaner, thus preventing me from putting the metal pin that the spring goes around, so I think I will have to find some way of fixing it, I tried the hot glue thing but it didnt quite work it shot with less power than before I opened the gun very dissapointing.

[Sqiggs89]

Cool. It seems for for every 10 new people I hate there is one cool one. But I hate a lot of people so oh well. And I'm almost as bad so I have no right to talk.

Anyway, this seems really cool. I was thinking of picking up another Mav (because mine broke) and if I do I'll definitly try this mod. With the foam and the starws in the begining of the barrels seems like it's going to regulate air more (which I'm sure is what you were doing) It's seems really cool and I like it.

[NerfMonkey]

Regulate? I think the point was to seal the turret.

Really nice first post, more than I can say for myself. I'd like to see more original stuff like this. Good job.

[theyellowdartmti]

Wow, thats pretty neat, and original. I like the use of straws and foam stuff. I think the foam stuff inspired my mind for a homemade.

-dart

[TheCheatIsNotDead]

I really like the use of straws. As you can see from my topic, I've already inclued that into MY maverick, though in a different way.

Good ideas! Props!

~TICND

[J_cobbers]

Nicely done, and original mod. Way to go using spray foam, that's not a material commonly used in modding but it makes perfect sense here. I might try this out on my own maverick if I ever find the free time to get back to modding.

This post has been edited by J_cobbers: Jan 18 2006, 07:59 PM

[Forsaken_angel24]

I like the idea of the foam and the straws. seems like a pretty solid idea. Ranges would be awesome. Excellent first post. The only suggestion I got is to use sn¡per darts. To make these just take a stock dart and cut teh suction tip off. Stick a little foam down the hole add your 3/0 fishing weight glue and tehn your done. Also if you are going to use stock darts pick up the Ruff stuff dart packs they are just a little fatter and create a better seal. I look forward to more of your mods.

[Cogsprocket]

I actually attempted this mod. In execution the modification of the plunger should increase the amount of compression and utilize more of the air in the plunger chamber. I'd actually thought of another way to do it, but in the end my idea seemed a bit over complicated. I did make a few modifications to Dragonteuthis' original modification:

- Wherever I used foam I sealed with silicone sealant. My thinking was that you could squeeze just a little bit more compression by sealing any places air might get away inside the plunger. I also sealed the revolver chambers using sealant.

- I used aquarium tubing instead of straws. This was simply because the aquarium tubing is a bit hardier than straws. I'm not sure if it really allows for as much air flow and more than anything I was experimenting with the possibility that the smaller tube may translate to more pressure.

I think I may have gone a bit wrong with it, however. I don't mean to ask a stupid question, but once you mod your gun like this does it cease to fire micros? For some reason after doing this mod it would no longer fire Nerf micros. I had enough resources to reverse most of the mod, namely the modification to the revolver assembly, however, I haven't reverse the mod to the plunger.

A bit of a learning experience the plunger modification seems to do very little for range as my un-modded Mav fires further. More than anything I'm looking for some advice concerning what chaging the dart mounts and removing limiters do for ranges.

A few simple modifications I've found actually do improve the performance of the Maverick including eliminating the gap between the plunger and the barrel are:

- Wrap the end of the plunger that meets the gun's frame with a thin strip of electrical tape. The idea is that this forces the plunger hard against the frame. I've noticed that both the plunger and the revolver have a bit of give in them right out of the package which could result in the plunger and barrel giving way during firing. If done properly this pushes the opening directy against the revolver creating a better seal.

- Again using black electrical tape, double a bit of it over itself to create a sort of washer for the front end of the revolver between the revolver and the swing arm, this, in contrast, forces the barrel back against the plunger to further better the connection between the revolver and the plunger. The key is to not overdo it as too much forcing together prevents the revolver from spinning on it's own.

- To further promote the seal and movement of the revolver locked and open lubricate the swingarm points and the front and back of the revolver with a non-petroleum based lubricant. I've found that linseed oil or vegetable oil work best and I use vegetable oil more often due to it's high viscosity. It does a great job of freeing the revolver to spin (allowing for a cool revolver spin when it's open) and promotes the seal between the plunger and the revolver.

I don't know how much of that can be taken seriously. I've not actualy measured any difference, but if you look at the distance between the plunger and the revolver when these mods are applied you can definately tell that the gap between the two is reduced almost completely and a better seal seems to be the result. I've found that pretty much lubricating everything involving the revolver assembly seems to be a great way to increase performance of the Maverick. Like Dragonteuthis, I've got a special place for this gun even if it's not the greatest Nerf armament out there. It's served me well during our office wars as its accuracy and rate of fire simply can't be beat by the automatic weapons my colleagues have chosen this season. I just hope they never figure out that the secret isn't in rapid fire dart-spraying but rather in simple aiming advantage.

Sorry this post was so long being my first and all. Thanks for everybody who've been putting up great tips on this site!

[Dragonteuthis]

[SG Pilot]

That's an interesting air pressure mod with those straws. But could you do this mod with other spring guns? Very original as said before.

[Spartan064]

Sweet dude I will try this as soon as I get money/liquid foam stuff/ another maverick(my mom smashed my last one to bits in a fit of rage).

[six-five-two]

Wow. Just wow. I gotta try this mod soon.

I modded my nitefinder so that the air restrictors are removed, but it was louder.

Does this mod make the maverick louder?