10 replies to this topic

[Ryan201821]

I was very bored today on this rainy afternoon so as I was listening to GWAR I decided to mod my Commlink II. I haven't seen anyone do a write up for it so I thought why not.

Materials needed:
Some kind of saw or Dremel
5 or 6" of barrel material of your choice
Epoxy
2.4 mm Flathead Screwdriver (you can get these in a kit at Wal-mart for a few bucks)
Lube (optional)
Drill
New philip screws (optional)

First part is probably the hardest. Getting the fricken thing apart. As most of you know, the Commlink has these stupid triangle screws. Hasbro obviously didn't want you to mod this gun. Here is a picture of the gun stock.

Take your screwdriver and very carefully unscrew all screws by putting the flat head to one side of the triangle and unscrewing it without stripping it. If you do strip it, take you drill or dremel and drill out the screw. This is the last resort. Make sure you get all screws including the one on the handle on the other side of the gun. This is where the batteries are put in. There is one to get it off and then one underneath that also. See the sticker all the way to the left of the gun? There is actually a screw under there. After all the screws have been removed the gun won't come apart. There is an orange part near the barrel that prevents you from opening it up.

Either saw that sucker off or somehow pry it off. I just sawed it off with the dremel. Finally you get the gun apart and here is the internals.

Take the plunger assembly apart. Here is the barrel and plunger tube.

The barrel on the right can be thrown away. Cut the little lip on the plunger tube off with you saw and sand it down. Next take your barrel of choice (about 5 or 6") and epoxy that baby on there.

After this put a little lube on your plunger head and you should be good. I was going to do a spring replacement but there is no way you can get the existing spring off so I said the hell with it. Assemble the gun back together. You can screw the old screws back in or put some new screws to make it easier on yourself. Here is the final product.


Now you have turned a piece of crap into a gun that gets ranges like a well modified Nitefinder.

Enjoy!

~Ryan201821

Edited by Ryan201821, 13 May 2006 - 12:58 PM.

[ompa]

Beautiful. Well-explained modification, and reminds me of how stupid I feld selling my CommLinks at a garage sale 3-4 years ago.

~ompa

[hokiefan0705]

I have two commlinks, but they are a pain in the butt to open. I have not modded them, but this gives me a good idea on what I am going to do. Nice mod, great job!

[meiser5]

That was a very good explanation. As a matter of fact that has given me an idea, Ill add a mod soon if it works.
But back on topic, that was very good job of getting the orange peice off without messing up the look of the gun.

Edited by meiser5, 13 May 2006 - 02:16 PM.

[ItalionStallion]

Awesome mod. Its always cool to see people do things like that to older guns.

BTW if anyone is interested i have 3 Comm links for sale.

[blinkycc13]

Kirbysayshi, add to the mod directory.
Anyway, it is cool that you modded a gun that was sort of mod-less before. Good work.

[Forsaken angel24]

Congratson being #1. This is the first modification of a Commlink II that I have ever seen.
What lube did you use?

[warx]

I'm guessing the walkie-talkie parts on the inside do not work after you modded the gun. Not that you'd want them to be functional, anyways.

Is the gun as bulky as it looks?

[TED]

Just to note I think Falcon has modded a commlink before and I have also, but you are definately the first to do a writeup. Personally I think that the commlink gets better ranges than the nitefinder. Good work!

[Ryan201821]

I actually used canola oil for the lube. It works very well as a lube...The gun is actually not that bulky. It weighs a litle more than a maverick...The walkie talkies still work because I didn't alter with the electronics inside the gun. I actually use them during a war with my brother and his friends. The range on the walkie talkies is actually pretty good for an outdoor war.

[Falcon]

I've brassed one of mine, but I wasn't planing to put up a write-up for awhile (if ever) so I don't see any need to bring up mine.

Nice job! Very clear, looks like good results.

The main reason these things weren't ever really made into minstream gun (in terms of their use) is because they get ranges similar to heavily modded nite finders (their plunger tubes are about 3/4" longer than that of a NF) but they're so damn bulky that it's not worth the extra few feet. They're abso0lutely huge. Begfore my clan got more serious with modifications and such, and before we went mainstream in terms of wars, (WAY back in the day) my primary was one of these. We didn't count gun hits as a hit (save manta's of course) at the time, so blocking darts with your guns was allowed. The side of a Commlink II is so big and flat, it was perfect for this, and I used the tactic liberally.

When my main one was still firing megas, I had about 6 heavy duty bands on it, and it was easily out distancing a fellow clan member's banded mega-firing LnL with no problem at all.

They really are great guns, but they're so big for what they do. That, and back when they were on shelves, they were SO DAMN EXPENSIVE (like $30 or somethig) that few people really got them in larger amounts.

I've been looking at the shape of the commlink's shell, and I'm thinking about pulling one of mine out, doing a massive shell reduction on it, and then painting it. Considering how long it is, it could quite easily be made to look like one of Jango fett's blasters, but with some decent range. It'd make it relatively holsterable too...

We'll see.

In the meantime, great job. Way to ressurect an ancient piece of plastic, and make a decently working hunk of junk out of it!