9 replies to this topic

[imaseoulman]

First, I want to know what's up with all you slackers? All you kids go to all the toy stores and post about what you find and you all neglect to notice/mention this? I'm speechless, really. I stopped by a Toys 'R' Us, just to see if they had any clearance toys for NERFing and I had some time to kill so I looked at the NERF section and after I saw nothing new or exciting, I began walking out when a big red box caught my eye. It was some sort of air-power rocket launcher that launched none other than the Iron Man himself.

I read the description and it said that you pump 10-12 times and then push a button on the pump to launch the figurine. That means back-pressure system (piston valve) and we all know how much I love those. So I looked at the $30 price tag and decided that it was worth it for the sake of science and a final hurrah.

Well, the first thing I noticed is that it has stupid ball bearing safety in it that only allows you to fire it from a level surface-- something similar to what the Titan has. Unlike the Titan however, the ball bearing is inside the blast chamber. So, already, modifying this is not for the weak of heart.

When I went to rebarrel this bad bow, I was completely surprised by something else. THE BARREL IS PART OF THE BLAST CHAMBER! So, I'd love to give you ranges with a rebarrelled Iron Man Bazooka, but that's not going to happen until I can fix the damage I did when I hacked the blast chamber apart...that may not be for a few months.

So, here's the final recommendation for those that pick one of these up:

Cut open the base of the blast chamber (the part that looks like it is the blast chamber) and then either pry apart with pliers the housing for the ball bearing, or just drill a whole big enough for the ball to come out. After that, plug the small hole that ball normally covers, and then reseal the blast chamber.

Finally, add a PVC coupler to the END of the barrel, as that's really part of the blast chamber and attach your barrel. I'm guessing that there is nothing that dumps as much as fast as this does in all of NERFdom.

[Ice Nine]

This thing sounds like a fucking beast. By volume, how large is the usable tank when compared to, say, a BS tank?

It also seems too bad the trigger is in the pump; if they were separate one could make a PVC shell for this gun with a different, more comfortable pump. Does it use standard airgun tubing?

[imaseoulman]

Are you sure there isn't a place where you could just epoxy on a nice strong magnet? That would mostly depend on how deeply embedded the ball is.

That combined chamber/barrel design sounds a bit like the Nat Geo. launcher.

For the blaster to work, you need the ball in a very precise place...I guess you could use a magnet to hold it there, but if it got knocked loose, getting back in the right spot could be a pain. Maybe e-taping it on would be better than epoxying. That's assuming the bearing is magnetic. I'll have to test that.

This thing sounds like a fucking beast. By volume, how large is the usable tank when compared to, say, a BS tank?

It also seems too bad the trigger is in the pump; if they were separate one could make a PVC shell for this gun with a different, more comfortable pump. Does it use standard airgun tubing?

It's about as big as four BS chambers.

The tubing is vinyl and maybe slightly higher ID/OD than 1/8x1/4. For a trigger you could use a lot of different things including an AS-1 push-button valve or whatever. It actually wouldn't be too difficult to fashion a finger pull trigger to the existing one and just remove a lot of unneeded plastic.

[Draconis]

Sorry, I would have bought one a long time ago, but $30 for something that no war would ever allow seemed a little excessive. We are anxiously awaiting photos, however. I think Bob is right about the design. it sounds VERY much like the roto-rockets. How wide is the OD of the barrel?

[baghead]

Dude... do my eyes deceive me or is the IronMan rocket himself made of Foam? if so... I want to see someone run around shooting Iron Man at people at a nerf war. Heck... I'd do it.

[imaseoulman]

Yes, Iron Man himself is made of foam. Very soft foam at that.

Is the Nat. Geo. Launcher's barrel part of the blast chamber as well?

I've never actually seen one before.

[Split]

No and it and the variations of the nat geo (Roto rocket and so on) aren't back pressure guns anyway. Not really that similar. I remember seeing this though. And while firing Iron Man at people would be sick, someone would no doubt just grab it and you'd have nothing to shoot (Vacc.)

Yo bud. seoulman is trying to say that the barrel is part of the chamber, and the valve is at the tip of it. Lrn2reed kthx.

Edited by Splitlip, 06 February 2009 - 06:13 PM.

[Draconis]

Is the Nat. Geo. Launcher's barrel part of the blast chamber as well?

I've never actually seen one before.

Yes, it is. The valve opening is right at the front of the barrel. I'm pretty sure it's a piston valve, by the way it actuates. I'm not sure what Split is smoking though.

[SchizophrenicMC]

You use this to make a nerf loser rifle. And that's NOT the filter speaking.

That said, I'd get it to make use of my Titan missile...

[imaseoulman]

Haha, if you could have held out a couple more days, I could have posted pics. I just finished boot camp this week and I'm now at NNPTC (Naval Nuclear Power Training Center). I'll be going home next week to move my stuff (including my still far too mammoth sized NERF arsenal). Splitlip and I had a conversation on the IRC chat right before I left and we brainstormed some good ideas on how to bypass the safety. It can easily be done by moving the tubing that leads to the tank. If you have the tubing come in elsewhere you can then plug that little hole that the ball bearing covers. I didn't get a chance to do this, but it shouldn't be too hard. We had a lot of other ideas like drilling a hole, removing the ball, sealing the hole and patching the drilled hole, but the idea of moving the tubing seemed easiest. This blaster has a lot of air output. I'm not sure how long it will be before I get back to it, but hopefully I will soon.