For my first attempt I followed the directions to the letter, and here was my first 1105:
(I dubbed it the "1105i" for Ice round so the name fit my color selection.)
My impressions of the dartsmithing process for the 1105 is that it is much more time consuming, because you have to tend to it for around 2 hours while you're doing the dipping, and then it's a 4 hour drying period. However, it is much easier than standard stefan making because there is no hole burning or hot glue involved. It's simply preparing your FBR and then dipping it into the Plastidip. Of course the question then becomes, "Are they any good?".
In my opinion, the answer is a resounding yes. For testing my new darts I grabbed one of my stock Nite Finders and took out the air restrictors. The only downside of 1105 rounds is that they're designed to be used in stock(air restrictors removed) barrels, or at the very least stock sized barrels. This makes them perfect for people that are less comfortable with modding and don't want to do the barrel replacement necessary to get the most out of stefans, because 1105's work very good in stock barrels and they're easy to make.
Of course with that it sounds like I'm saying they're a "newbie" dart. This is not the case. These darts perform with amazing accuracy and distance. I got comparable distances with my 1105i and a stefan in the same NF, so you're not sacrificing any performance with 1105 rounds over standard stefans. The other bonus is that the plastidip tips are very durable and make perfect domes(generally) if you allow the plastidip to dry without messing with it.
Overall I'd highly recommend making some 1105's for yourself. They're easy to mass produce, have great performance, and they'll last longer than stock darts or stefans.
Ok, if you survived all that talking, I'm going to get into some pictures with my "alternate assembly method." The only problem I found with my 1105 rounds was that I wasn't getting the FBR straight enough, and because the domes are so perfect along with less weight in the tip, the darts will follow the direction your darts are curved in if you don't have them very straight. I have made good batches of 1105 rounds using FBR, but I was thinking, "why not just retip stock darts?" I tried it, and it turned out perfectly. Here's a brief guide to preparing stock darts to be dipped.
First, you want to gently pull the rubber tip off the foam:
Then trim the rubber down so just the part that sticks into the dart is left, and push that piece back into the dart.
From there just follow Matchstick_Man's dipping instructions and you'll end up with this(this one was made from a sonic micro dart):
The advantage of converting stock darts is that they'll work in guns with the pegs still in, and also the foam is more durable/straighter.
Hopefully more people will try to make their own 1105 rounds. I think Matchstick_Man really came up with a effective dartsmithing method. Here's the original 1105 topic.
Edited by SpectreX, 18 February 2006 - 06:31 PM.
