Tools and materials
1) Philips screwdriver
2) Cutting instrument, a Dremmel or other rotary tool recommended.
3) Sanding tools, Dremmel attachment recommended but you might get by with sand paper files.
4) ½ in CPVC
5) ½ in PVC,
6) 1 in. PVC
7) Foam craft sheet
8) Electrical tape
9) Hot glue and a hot glue gun
10) epoxy/amazing goop
11) Optional PETG
13) maybe a ruler or tape measure
Part I Case modification
A. Begin by unscrewing the gun and opening it up. Don’t forget to take off the cap for the battery housing. Remove all the electronics, wires, circuit board, LED and the lens for the site. You won’t need them and will be replacing it with CPVC ammo holders. Remove and save the black plastic ammo holders. You’ll be using one of them later. Remove everything else, except maybe the trigger, it won’t get in the way during the mod and stays in place fairly well.
B. In order to make room for the additional ammo holders and new barrel assembly you will need to selectively cut away a lot of stuff from the front of the Night Finder’s body. Cut off the bottom section that held the ammo holders. Next you will hollow out the box shaped area that held the LED light. What I mean by the Box section is the area that is bound by silver paint job in the shape of an “n”
1) Cut off the Front bottom of the box section right above where the ammo holders were. It is important to leave the posts for the screws on the top of the box section intact.
2) When doing this there is a section right behind the box area that narrows. You can cut off the sides and bottom here to make even more room for the ammo holders that are to come.
C. Cut off the silver casing on the front of the gun that covered the front of the original barrel. This will leave the box section projecting alone out of the front of the casing.
D. Hollow out the battery storage area at the base of the grip. You will not need to cut too \much away, as the goal here is to make room for one of the original ammo holders that was mounted underneath the LED light. Take your time and use the ammo holder to figure out how much you need to cut. Then take the battery cover and cut a large oval shaped hole in the bottom so that the ammo holder will be accessible through it don’t worry about cutting away the place for the screw that holds it in place you won’t need it. In the alternative you can substitute CPVC ammo holders instead or recycling one that came with the gun. More on CPVC ammo holders in part III.
Part II Barrel modification
A. The original barrel and plunger has four parts, the plunger tube, a “gap filler” an air restrictor and the actual barrel. Throw out the old barrel, and keep the plunger tube and either the gap filler or the air restrictor. You can do this part of the mod in one of two ways. You can keep the air restrictor (the part that has the peg that stick out) and hollow it out and glue it to the plunger like in Ragornock’s PETG mod, or you can hollow out the gap filler (the piece that has a bump on the side which fits into the notch on the end of the plunger) and glue that to the plunger tube as I did. If I redid this mod I would use Ragornock’s method, as the gap filler can get cockeyed if you are not careful.
B. Next you are cutting your new barrel and barrel cover to go over the plunger tube. You can use either CPVC or PETG if it is available. I cut my CPVC barrel to about 3 inches long. After cutting it, sand down both ends so that you have a neat and flat surface. Then on the end that the dart will leave from sand the inner wall as far back as you can so that a micro stefan will load easily, a Dremmel is very helpful here. If using PETG you will not have any internal sanding to worry about.
C. If you are using a PETG barrel this step is optional.
Cut a very short section of ½ PVC about a ¼ inch long and again sand it so both sides are nice and neat. You will be gluing /epoxying this on to the end of the plunger and gap filler / air restrictor, so make sure it will fit back into the gun’s frame and sand down the PVC until it fits. This piece will help keep the CPVC barrel straight. Then epoxy or goop the CPVC barrel into the ½ in PVC. You may have to sand it to fit. My PVC and CPVC fit perfectly.
D. After attaching your new barrel to the plunger wrap the joint in electrical tape, and place the entire barrel assembly into the frame to see that it fits. Mark on the barrel where it clears the frame, use a pen or marker. Cut a section of 1 inch PVC that is the length of the mark to the end of the barrel. Sand the ends so that they look neat. Next take the foam craft sheet and cut a strip that measures the same length of the 1 inch PVC section you just cut. Wrap the craft sheet around the CPVC barrel in three separate layers, using electrical tape to secure each layer. Then slide the 1 inch PVC over the top of the barrel wrapped in CPVC, leaving room so that it will not get in the way went you close up the gun.
Part III Ammo holders and reassembly.
A. To make your ammo holders, cut 6 sections of CPVC that measure about 1.5 inches long. You can make them longer, depending on the length of dart you use. Just like the front end of the barrel sand the inner walls so that darts are more easily inserted.
B. Epoxy or goop the black ammo holder into place on one side of the grip right where you hollowed a space for it, making sure that the gun case can close properly. If you prefer you can make two more CPVC ammo holders and use those instead. Then reinsert all the internals for the barrel assembly and firing mechanism and close up the gun. Put the battery cap back over the bottom of the grip, hot gluing it in place. Now for theplacement of the 6 CPVC ammo holders; hot Glue 4 of them horizontally in the box area and the remaining two behind them and the box shaped area vertically. Then hot glue the 1 inch PVC barrel cover to the top of the box area for security.
Part IV Cosmetics.
A. Painting. If you want to make the gun look really sweet paint the gun frame, ammo holders and barrel cover before you put everything back together.
B. Porting. On the barrel cover you can drill holes through the barrel cover and into the craft sheet to expose the color of the foam craft sheet and give the gun a nice subtle accent.
That about does it. The new barrel should rock compared to the original and the ammo holders mean less fumbling in your pockets for a reload. You can still add rubber bands or mini bungiees or what ever. I know this was a long write up but I hope the details were helpful.
I'll have pictures of the finished product up in a few days (I hope) after I get some film developed.
Edited by J_cobbers, 08 April 2004 - 12:29 PM.
