The SC-40, otherwise known as the Almond Bomb:
To make one, cut off 1/2" from the bottom of an Almond/Cashew/Peanut/Whatever container:
If your stefans are shorter than mine, you should probably cut the canister shorter. Your darts need to stick out of the canister just slightly.
These are extremely cheap and easy to make, and can be very effective if used correctly.
How to throw them:
First, load them with 38-42 darts, depending on your stefans. To work correctly, they need to fit loosely enough so that you can turn the canister upside down and they'll fall out easily.
Hold it like this. Make sure your fingers are covering the darts (covering meaning making sure they don't fall out), and throw it backwards, darts facing you, making sure you use your fingers to put the force of the throw into the darts and not the canister. If done correctly, the canister will flip around in mid-air and release all the darts in the direction you threw it. For best results you should throw it slightly upward.
The harder you throw it, the farther it goes. The difference between this and just throwing a handful of darts is that all the darts fly in the same direction, and you get the maximum range out of the power of your throw.
From elevated positions, I have been able to rain foam on people 80' away. Under normal circumstances, an upward throw can fling darts 50-60 feet, acting as kind of a nerf-mortar. From 30', these can be used as a last-ditch effort to spray a rusher with foam. They are very useful indoors as well, and can be thrown around corners.
The only problem is carrying them. As you can see, these are fairly large, about the size of an RF20 turret. If you intend to carry them on you in a war, you should take a longer piece of FBR, and shove it in the side of the SC, acting as a 'pin', forcing the darts tightly together to keep them from falling out. To throw it, simply remove the pin.
If anyone tries these, please review them in this topic. Questions are of course welcome, and if there is still confusion as to how to throw these, I will try my best to explain more clearly. I will also try to get a video of these posted, but I'll make no promises about that.
I will keep the original topic below for refference:
The original topic:
I honestly have no clue how I stumbled upon this idea, but somehow I was messing around with pipe insulation and came up with this:
This is a Shotgun Canister. The one in that picture is the smaller, 3-dart version. This basically throws 3 darts in a nice, focused spread in the direction you throw it. It's the same effect as just throwing darts by hand, except the darts fly straight and don't flop around in random directions. It's not exactly a grenade, but it's useful, compact, and simple as hell to make/mass produce.
Let's get started:
Materials: 3 Dart Shotgun Canister
Scissors / Utility Knife
1/2" Foam Pipe Insulation
1" Foam Pipe Insulation
Ruler
First, cut 3/4" of 1/2" Foam and 3" of 1" Foam
Then stick the 1/2" Foam in the back of the 1" Foam so that the back is as flush as possible. My foam fit together tight enough that no glue was required.
It's that simple.
To throw it, You throw it backwards. Seriously. Hold it like this, making sure that you have a finger (or two if you have small fingers) on the three darts. Then throw it, making sure you push off of the darts with your finger(s) at the end of the throw. The Canister turns around in mid-flight and releases the darts with all of the force of your throw. The Canister then falls to the ground in front of you. It's really not hard at all to do once you get the hang of it.
The range depends on how hard you throw it. I've got all three darts to fly 80'+ with angled throws, but it also works at ranges under 20'.
After I made and tested the 3-dart SC, I loved it, but three darts wasn't very impressive, so I decided to come up with a larger model:
That is the larger and much more useful 9-dart SC. It performs the same as the 3-dart SC, but with 9-darts.
For the 9-dart SC, Start with 3/4" of both sizes of Foam and 3" of a large cardboard tube. I used one that fit nearly perfectly over the 1' Foam and was sturdy enough to hold together. I'm sure rolled paper or some other material would work in place of the cardboard, as long as it is fairly light weight. Squeeze both sizes of foam into the back, as flush as possible, and you're done. If the Cardboard/Paper/etc is too loose and the foam can easily slip out, you can glue/staple the foam in place:
Hold it like this and throw it the same way as the 3-dart SC.
You're Done! If you like them, make some more, if not, you only wasted a few cents worth of foam.
These designs are for use with tagger darts. I don't know if this would work with stefans, but I'm pretty sure it could if the canister were shortened to fit the stefans.
If anyone makes stefan compatible ones, post them in this thread. Also feel free to experiment with this design to come up with different sizes, etc. I'f you discover anything interesting, feel free to post it here
Also, here's a little sneak peak at my current project:
That's a very old picture, and the actual gun is currently near completion. I'll make a thread on it when I finish it.
Edited by AssassinNF, 22 September 2008 - 11:02 PM.
