9 replies to this topic

[Funky Mutha Facko]

Well these have been out to long to not have some kind of post about modding them, so here we are again. We will be going over how to "coupler" your firestrike with minimal dead space, re-enforcing the catch + spring rest, and using what you remove while minimizing it to fill the gap in the shell. This is what my finished product looks like.



Let's take a look on the inside.



You will notice that I removed everything in front of the orange piece that makes contact with the plunger tube. That orange part can perfectly nest 1/2 inch pvc once you clean out the inside. To take advantage of this we will ream out a piece of 1/2 inch pvc so that it will have an inner diameter of 5/8 inch and will work as a coupler for cpvc or the polyester barrels I use.



To create a dart stop hammer a small chunk of cpvc into some pvc and slice a piece about twice the thickness of coat hanger wire. Cut your wire to 5/8 inch and dremel divots half way through the cpvc on each side. Glue your wire into the divots and glue the whole thing to the pvc you nested inside the orange part. I also added a little epoxy putty around the pvc inside the plunger tube to cut down on dead space even more. Glue the whole shebang onto the plunger tube.



I swapped in a [k26] by unwinding the old spring off of the plunger rod and winding the [k26] on. No need to remove the plunger head. Then toss on a beefy catch spring and this part is finished.



Now before you put it back together, there is at least one more thing you need to do. When using a strong catch spring it will cause the trigger to bend the catch back instead of pushing it up. The simplest remedy I found for this was to add material around the screw port directly behind the catch so it doesn’t have any room to bend.



It just so happens that the black tube that makes up the light has what we need. Cut off the smallest ring, where it touches the circuit board. Glue that ring to the side of the shell where all the rest of the crap isn't.



Now if you want you can put it all back together and go enjoy some sub-optimal ass ranges, but I was not satisfied. Go ahead and cut all the useless crud off the blaster. Make sure you salvage these bits of plastic.



These parts can be used to fill the gaps left by the minimization. I used a combination of super glue and epoxy putty.



.... and finally the completed blaster



Comments are always appreciated.

Edited by Funky Mutha Facko, 06 January 2013 - 08:51 PM.

[Mully]

This is awesome, props to you for the first write up for the firestrike.
Ranges?

Edited by Mully, 02 January 2013 - 11:37 PM.

[ShaNayNay]

Sexy. How would you compare it in size and range-wise to that of a minimized Nitefinder? I've heard the Firestrikes barely get more range than Nitefinders stock. I also like how you were able to salvage parts of the blaster to cleanly cover up the cut off spot in the front. That is typically a big pain with Nitefinders, so props to you for finding a solution.

I second the request for ranges.

[DX-Robert]

Question for anyone who has already modded a Firestrike: How does it stack up to a 1st gen NF with comparable mods?

[Spud Spudoni]

Nice job. All it needs is its plunger tube relocated closer to the front of the blaster. Not only does this increase the movement for your plunger, but it allows you to add a longer section of [k26] into it.

And I'm pretty sure some dimmension of the plunger tube is smaller than a NiteFinder. So you have to put that into account when comparing this to the NF. The only thing that made a First Gen NiteFinder so good was its spring, so First Gen over other Gens will have no difference otherwise.

[Funky Mutha Facko]

I would estimate my ranges to be between 75 and 80 ft. This blaster is quite a bit smaller than a nitefinder but with about the same potential for mods. I find the handle a little uncomfortable. That little hook extension doesn't cut it in my book.

Nice job. All it needs is its plunger tube relocated closer to the front of the blaster. Not only does this increase the movement for your plunger, but it allows you to add a longer section of [k26] into it.

For the time being I'm just going to keep it on the original supports. If I really wanted to squeeze more range from it I'd just replace the whole plunger system. Don't think this will be replacing my sharpshooter II as my sidearm simply because I like having multiple shots loaded and ready to go. I did this mod for the community, for all the kiddies that will google firestrike mods in the future. That is why I kept it somewhat simple.

Edited by Funky Mutha Facko, 03 January 2013 - 06:59 PM.

[2TAGS]

What is the length of [k26] did you use?

[Chaos-blades]

These blasters are decent, the stock spring isn't great but with a good replacement they get ranges like a Nitefinder.

Not really sure why a minimisation is needed, it fits pretty easy in a pocket or holster. To each his own I guess.

That said, I like that you kept the other peices from the light/ammo holder rather than leave the open space.

Good work,

CB

[Exo]

These blasters are decent, the stock spring isn't great but with a good replacement they get ranges like a Nitefinder.

Not really sure why a minimisation is needed, it fits pretty easy in a pocket or holster. To each his own I guess.

That said, I like that you kept the other peices from the light/ammo holder rather than leave the open space.

Good work,

CB

The only thing better than small is really small. Except when...

FMF, good write-up here, clear, easy-to-read, and the pictures don't look like blurry blobs of blurriness.

Edited by Exo, 31 January 2013 - 10:57 AM.

[jboynerf345]

Nice job! Now all you need is a paint job to cover up the epoxy. I think your idea about covering that gap (from the minimization) with the debris of the shell is a very smart idea. Just one thing: What was the length of the [k26]? I think that it could be longer...

USER WAS WARNED FOR THIS POST

Edited by Zorns Lemma, 14 June 2014 - 01:23 AM.