27 replies to this topic

[AssassinNF]

I'm currently (finally) in the middle of creating this monster (for those of you who don't know what the MT is, go here)

I've gotten the Titan's pump and Tank/Barrel to fit in the case fine, but when I moved on to the Hornet 6-blast chamber assembly, I soon found out that I had dremeled the case down to a thin plastic sheet, and the blast chambers were still too wide.

I'm going to finish this thing no matter what happens, but I'd rather not have to cut the entire front off of the magstrike to fit in the hornet. Does anyone have any ideas about what I could do? I thought maybe I could cut squares in the sides of the case and let the blast chambers stick out a little, but I wanted to see if any of you guys would think of something I hadn't before I butchered the case any further.

Also, I fixed the questionable fittings and connections I used on this, and now it's leak free. It takes 20 pumps to fill it completely, but you don't need anymore than 15. The ranges on the hornet are easily 50'+ with the stock barrels, and this contraption is looking very promising. I just need to fit it in that damn shell.

So does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, I'll just update this thread when I finish it, instead of making an unnecessary new thread.

EDIT: I've solved my Hornet problem, thanks for all the suggestions. Expect this thing to be finished later today or tommorrow I think I'll do a write up for it.

Edited by AssassinNF, 04 September 2008 - 08:39 PM.

[AssassinNF]

I don't know Hornet internals, but could you slice that plate vertically, leaving 3 and 3?

If so, you might be able to stagger them for a narrower fit.
Or even stack them for 3 over 3.

Stacking them 3 over three definitely wouldn't work. The Titan tank is in the top part of the magstrike.

Staggering them sounds like a good idea. The only problem is that I don't have a cutting tool that I feel comfortable enough with to get that close to the airtanks. I'm sure as hell not going to risk it with a dremel. Another problem is that I have the MS case cut so that the 6 tank assembly fits in perfectly, and almost locks into place, but it's much too wide to close. I'm not sure I could do the same setup with staggered tanks. Sure it would fit, but it would be all loose and wobbly.

The tanks are pretty much staying in their current configuration. The tangled mass of vinyl tubing connecting them will probably make sure of that.

[Z4]

I think, judging by the details you've given, that cutting small holes in the shell would be fine. As long as you make them fairly close in size and shape I personally think that it would look fine. If you don't like the holes, you can always to something artistic with epoxy putty or Bondo.

[imaseoulman]

Cutting holes/grooves for the pieces that stick out is an option, and perhaps the easiest.

Another option would be to cut a couple of "slats" to create a bit of a flap so that when you screw it all back together the flaps would be forced open a little bit by the bulging internals. Then to add stability you could drill a couple of small holes in the shell and tighten it down with some zip-ties. Just an idea.

[Aimless]

Use fire! Seriously, you could gently heat the areas that need to be expanded and conform them to the internals. Just be careful about which areas you heat and how much, as you could warp the shell enough that the screws wont engage.

Edited by Aimless, 03 September 2008 - 10:01 PM.

[CaptainSlug]

I'm going to finish this thing no matter what happens, but I'd rather not have to cut the entire front off of the magstrike to fit in the hornet. Does anyone have any ideas about what I could do?

Well, the hornet barrel pairs do not have to be level since they fire in sequence. You could install them rotated at an angle if they will fit that way.

[Mr BadWrench]

Ive always disliked the razor saw. My mom builds dollhouses and has thrown away dozens of them, The way the blade is attached to the back leaves your cut depth to only be about 1in plus the back is stiff but the blade is flexible so it will bind and catch...

this is what I use (when im not using the REALLY sweet bandsaw my mom gave me).. this one has the thinnest blade...
http://www.harborfre...temnumber=39273

theres a cheaper one
http://www.harborfre...temnumber=94722

and a 2 sided one..
http://www.harborfre...temnumber=92599

I have not cut plastic with the second one, but the other two cut VERY precise.. the 2 sided one is VERY sharp and I have cut myself with it several times being stupid.

Don

[CaptainSlug]

If you're cutting plastic that's not terribly thick and you don't need very much precision, nibblers or wire cutters work fine.

Edited by CaptainSlug, 04 September 2008 - 02:10 PM.

[AssassinNF]

I had forgotten that the hornet tanks are connected in pairs. Even if I removed them from the 6-barrel assembly thing, I couldn't stagger them as JustSomeBob suggested. And now that I look at the setup I have, I really don't have any room to stagger them at all. They fit in very snuggly with almost no room to move when I place them in half of the shell. Any higher up, and they hit the Titan, any lower, and they hit the pump.

Cutting holes/grooves for the pieces that stick out is an option, and perhaps the easiest.

Another option would be to cut a couple of "slats" to create a bit of a flap so that when you screw it all back together the flaps would be forced open a little bit by the bulging internals. Then to add stability you could drill a couple of small holes in the shell and tighten it down with some zip-ties. Just an idea.

I like this suggestion... I could probably do something like this:


and cut along the blue line, creating flaps on the side like imaseoulman suggested.

If you're cutting plastic that's not terribly thick and you don't need very much precision, nibblers or wire cutters work fine.

I know that all too well The dremel is not the only thing I've been using to gut this shell. I've even been ripping things out with channel-locks.

I suppose if the flaps don't work, I can just cut the holes. It's just more cosmetic work I have to do later.

[Maeric]

Trust me, you can get a hornet to do anything with the right tools and fittings. I sliced mine right down the center and hung the halves off a Longshot. (This is my new project, almost done, Harbinger's the name) If your not going to use the front of the Magstrike anyway, just cut out enough room to shove the hornet shell in there, and fill in the gaps with epoxy putty.


Personally I think you should have stuck with the Titan case, but that's just me, I don't really like the look of the Magstrike.

Edited by Maeric, 04 September 2008 - 04:43 PM.

[AssassinNF]

Success!


I thought about what imaseoulman suggested, and cut two long slits in the front here:


It's a tight fit, but it works.

I've yet to set up the trigger, that's next. Then comes the tubing, and covers for the inevitable external tubing. Then after some cosmetics this thing will be finished!

By the way, What do you guys think of it so far?

[Magic]

Incredible.

[Aimless]

One of the most awesome things ever jammed into a Magstrike shell.

[AssassinNF]

Thanks for all the comments!

I've "installed" the SMDTG trigger:



Unfortunately, I was right about external tubing being inevitable with this beast. If anyone's got any suggestions on how to solve this, I'd like to hear them.

That piece of PVC is covering a length of vinyl tubing that runs from the pump to the titan tank. I have some large 1"-or-so diameter vinyl tubing that I'm planning on using to cover the rest of the external tubing.

And I'm done working on it for today. Why? Because the main trigger is drying



I will more than likely finish it (aside from cosmetics) tommorrow. All that's left functionality-wise is installing the main trigger and making a few small adjustments to the shell.

Now to figure out what to do with that tubing...

EDIT: I just realized that in the first picture the shell isn't lined up straight. It's just kind of sitting there. In reality it lines up perfectly (with a little effort )

Edited by AssassinNF, 04 September 2008 - 08:17 PM.

[Lynx]

It's a good thing I was here to help you with that.

What would you do without me?

[AssassinNF]

Unfortunately, I was right about external tubing being inevitable with this beast. If anyone's got any suggestions on how to solve this, I'd like to hear them.

I'd need to see an overall "establishing" shot of the whole assembly (open) to come up with practical suggestions.

Here you go:

Open:


Closed:


The hole for the Hornet Tubing:


The hole for the tubing connecting the pump and the SMDTG trigger:


The SMDTG Trigger:


Yes, I stupidly put the SMDTG trigger in the other side of the shell. It makes assembly a little interesting, but it still fits together fine. The large tubing under the gun in some of the pics is the Giant Vinyl tubing I was talking about. I might end up covering the external tubing with some of that.

I just don't see a good way of fitting that shit inside the shell. It's like I've used up every inch of space on the inside, so I'm trying to come up with a decent cover for the external tubing.

Also, I barely worked on this thing today. Why? Because my longshot was malfunctioning (stupid catch) and I spent the day fixing it instead of working on this. I'll be extremely surprised, though, if this thing isn't finished and ready for paint by Monday.

[CaptainSlug]

Nice work so far.

It's a tight fit, but it works.

That's what she said.

[Blasphemy]

Holy crap, that is beautifully crammed into that Magstrike shell. You are doing barrel replacements, right? You could try to squeeze your tubing through those vent-like slots in the front, it wouldn't solve the problem, but it might be less all over the place.

[AssassinNF]

Nice work so far.

It's a tight fit, but it works.

That's what she said.

Thanks
Hahaha, I guess I left myself wide open for that one

Wow, it looks like every passage is pretty well filled.

Conceivably there's room to route a hose along each side of the trigger, if you could punch through the ribs.
Otherwise, all I can suggest is to expand the shell around the pump body in some way.

Now you see my problem. I've used up every inch of space. And if I expanded the shell, the pump wouldn't fit in so perfectly (as it is, the fit couldn't be better). So now I'm thinking up ways to cover it.

Holy crap, that is beautifully crammed into that Magstrike shell. You are doing barrel replacements, right? You could try to squeeze your tubing through those vent-like slots in the front, it wouldn't solve the problem, but it might be less all over the place.

Thank you. I will definitely do a barrel replacement for the titan, and maybe for the hornet. The hornet has it's AR's removed, and the stock barrels fit my stefans well, so I might not replace them. Besides, I fucking hate ramrods, and I'd rather not have 6 couplers.

I could do that, but the hole I cut for the tubing allows me to have all three in relatively the same area - so they will be easier to cover up. All three tubes fit together snuggly in the larger vinyl tubing, so I will probably cut a piece of that and form it to the right shape to act as a cover.

EDIT:

It's a good thing I was here to help you with that.

What would you do without me?

Yes, Lynx, Thank you for knocking some sense into me. Trying to make a frankenstein case out of the titan and hornet cases would have been hell. The Magstrike case is perfect for this, and the Hornet Case was perfect for the mini-salvo.

The only question now is what to do with the Titan case when I'm done... [/evil plans]

Edited by AssassinNF, 06 September 2008 - 04:46 PM.

[Z4]

Superbly done, I applaud you. I'm glad that you didn't have to cut holes in the sides of the case for it to fit, it looks far better with the slats. Just out of interest, how many pumps does it take to fill the whole thing?

I also think that that big tubing will work well to cover the other three, but first paint the little tubes different colors so it looks sci-fi-iy

EDIT: Never mind, I went back and read the original thread and the first post.

Edited by .Z4., 06 September 2008 - 05:01 PM.

[imaseoulman]

I'm glad you went with the flap thing. It looks amazing. It didn't even look that good when I pictured it in my mind. Excellent work.

As for the tubing...you don't have a lot of internal space, so you may want to focus on external space. What I may have done, and may still be possible, but you do have a few holes already, would be to move the tank back a bit in the casing and extend the length of the pump handle, creating a bit more room in the shell and then ran the tubing down and out the bottom, along the bottom of the casing (the casing around the pump tube) and then back up at the spot where the front widens a bit right below the magazine well. It's hard to say if that would work without actually seeing it up close and in 3-D, but either way, I'd keep the tubing below the blaster. Then again, if you look at some of my work, I'm not one for making tubing inconspicuous.

Looking closely at the SMDTG trigger, I'm curious as to why you chose to place it where you did. It seems like it would be akward to reach down there and push it down. What finger do you use to depress the trigger? Is it easy, difficult, (un)comfortable? When I made Arachnophobia II, I never really considered putting the SMDTG triggers anywhere except for where I did.

[AssassinNF]

Z4, it takes 15 pumps. I can pump it to 20, but I get nervous.

I'm glad you went with the flap thing. It looks amazing. It didn't even look that good when I pictured it in my mind. Excellent work.

As for the tubing...you don't have a lot of internal space, so you may want to focus on external space. What I may have done, and may still be possible, but you do have a few holes already, would be to move the tank back a bit in the casing and extend the length of the pump handle, creating a bit more room in the shell and then ran the tubing down and out the bottom, along the bottom of the casing (the casing around the pump tube) and then back up at the spot where the front widens a bit right below the magazine well. It's hard to say if that would work without actually seeing it up close and in 3-D, but either way, I'd keep the tubing below the blaster. Then again, if you look at some of my work, I'm not one for making tubing inconspicuous.

Looking closely at the SMDTG trigger, I'm curious as to why you chose to place it where you did. It seems like it would be akward to reach down there and push it down. What finger do you use to depress the trigger? Is it easy, difficult, (un)comfortable? When I made Arachnophobia II, I never really considered putting the SMDTG triggers anywhere except for where I did.

I see exactly what you're saying, but I don't think I can move the pump back without having to cut more holes in the gun. You can probably already see the small rectangular holes in the sides I had to cut to get the pump to fit. Also, running the tubing down and under would require more tubing... and unfortunately I have run out of it.

The tubing isn't in the way of anything, so relocating it isn't really necessary. It's just a cosmetic preferrence.

I can use either my pinky or ring finger to press the SMDTG trigger, and It's really not awkward at all for me. I have fairly large hands, though, so I'd imagine this would be awkward for some people.

[nerfer34]

Very nice work. It looks menacing.

But I have to agree, I don't like the trigger location. But whatever floats your boat.

I'm looking forward to seeing the final, final product!

[AssassinNF]

The damn thing has a leak. So when the new pump handle is done drying, I'll have to find it and fix it.

Aside from that, it's functionally finished. It has a new pump handle, the main trigger is installed (and works beautifully), and I can now screw the case back together and it holds together fine. I may have to add some zip ties or something to the front, because there are no screws left in the front.

Now I just have to make sure my new PS3 doesn't keep me from working on this.

[AssassinNF]

I'm typing a writeup right now.