9 replies to this topic

[Cartaya]

I know this is almost an impossible question to answer as written in the title, but maybe more like...

*What was the first ever "effective" Nerf mod.
*What was the first "published" Nerf mod.
*What was the first Nerf mod to do the community good (not necessarily effective or published).

I was wondering about this, thinking of coming back to Nerfhaven, hey what started this all?

Hope this question takes you back.

--Cartaya

[ToadBrews]

The first ever nerf mod was almost certainly somebody shortening the strings on a Bow and Arrow, or maybe removing the arms entirely.

[Speedr117]

Wow fail I thought the op said your not the.

Edited by Speedr117, 17 April 2017 - 08:45 PM.

[blitz]

Probably the first modifications were simple aesthetic improvements: black spray paint, taping on a flashlight, restringing bows, wrapping handles in tape, etc. 

 

The guys who did that and/or started rebarreling, spring replacements, etc.

a) never posted their work

b ) are long gone from the community

c) didn't post it here. 

 

Nerfhaven contains a hell of a lot of content, but older forums would have more of that kind of information. Unfortunately, that data has been mostly lost. 

 

If Orange's Nerf Page and the Nerfing Wikia is to be believed, the first foam-shooting blaster with a trigger was the Sharpshooter. A year later came the Arrowstorm, with a pretty beefy spring and a nice plunger tube. 1995 saw the Nerf Crossbow, another nicely sprung and volume-d springer, albeit with a trigger. The first air blasters came in 1997 with the  SuperMaxx line. Plugging the pump was so simple and I'm sure that gives a nice performance boost.

 

However, this is just speculation. I'm sure that older individuals here would know more, but just release dates is enough to gain something of a picture (however small). 

 

Talio's blog has his recollections from 2003, and Groove posted his Guru mk1 in 2002, so we know that hot glue stefans and pvc couplered blasters existed at this time. The rest can be gathered by going back in the subforums here (about 2003 onward). Pictures may not exist anymore, but the words do. 

Edited by blitz, 17 April 2017 - 10:03 PM.

[Cartaya]

This is what I was afraid of actually, that Nerf History, like all history also being in the eye of the beholder, might also be largely forgotten.  Me not being that vintage into modding (maybe 2008 with one blaster, more serious 2012 on), I always love stories from veterans like Apollo256 and Baghead at S.C.U.N meets, mostly the parts I missed before being really involved.  I even Tweaked a Sharpshooter back in my Highschool days, nothing much, mostly the Darts with the fins.

--Cartaya

[Meaker VI]

There are still ancient logs of the old days of nerf here on NH, poking around some of those are from 1999. They still reference other works, likely from NerfOnline; the nerf website which NH descended from.

[Daniel Beaver]

The first mods are lost to history, but I would imagine that someone probably tried to build some homemade or modified ammo for the Blast-a-Ball and Blast-a-Matic back when those were released in the late 80's. It would be pretty simple to insert some lead weights into the balls.

The Bow 'n' Arrow was the earliest of the spring-powered blasters, and there are a lot of options for exterior mods. Adding bungee cords is a quick mod, which I'm sure many kids experimented with. The Original Nerf series didn't have all that much modding potential.

The Crossbow got a lot love as a platform for modding because, at the time of it's release in 1995, it was the first Nerf blaster with a decently large plunger tube, a trigger.

Meaker linked to the old Nerfhaven mods page, which is a good overview of where the hobby was in the early and mid 00's. I also get a kick out of reading The Den of Foam, which offers some historical insight into the 00's mindset, as well as some mods and value judgements about now-classic blasters.

[Draconis]

Ahhh, webrings.  How I miss thee.

[Meaker VI]

 I also get a kick out of reading The Den of Foam, which offers some historical insight into the 00's mindset, as well as some mods and value judgements about now-classic blasters.

 

Man, that's a trip. I've owned or used many of the blasters on those pages. Still have a sawtooth, warthog, maybe a missilestorm (which, if it's truly in my parts bin, I should now mod and use just so it can be among the most ancient blasters still in use by anyone), Airtek2k, a BBB; I remember owning a DT3, old strongarm, and perceptor (original Jolt; #thejoltisjustaperceptorreshell) but sadly they have been lost to the aeons.

 

Been thinking it'd be fun to drop a sawtooth mod on teh reddits. I opened it maybe 18 years ago and didn't ever get it back together quite right. Just can't think of what, exactly, would do it justice.

[shmmee]

Cartaya, thanks for this post. It's brought back a flood of happy memories. My go to blaster back in my early days was a sharp shooter 1 - not that there was much in the way of options back the day. My brother and I were close friends with another set of neighbors who had 3 boys close to our ages. Nerf wars were a constant staple of our summers. The oldest of the 3 brothers was absolutely lethal with his BnA. I could lead out a target and pick us off while we were at a full sprint - every time.

 

My first mod was an overhaul of my sharpshooter 1. I remember wrapping a bit of e-tape around the side vents in the barrel peg and *shudder* stretching the spring. It added about 10' of range but that's a pretty big boost for a blaster that would be lucky to hit 30' angled. Another amazing moment came when I realized I could stuff darts into the barrel pegs of my arrow storm and double the range - that simple little hack was probably the most effective modification i can remember - at least, up until barrel replacements came into fashion. I think Crayola markers were a goto source for after market barrels. They had a natural tightening ring towards the back of the marker.  

 

I actually ran a razorbeast for a round at the last war I attended. I stuffed cpvc inserts into the chain links so i could fire 1/2" darts. The range was impressive - even by today's standards but the accuracy was horrific. The highlight of my night was landing a kill with it. I'll occasionally run a rip saw just so the old school manually rev'd flywheel tech can scream back at the lipo'd blasters. Its hilarious to see how many modern day nerfers struggle at dodging a very slow moving projectile like a ballistic ball or vintage arrow. Leading out a target is another forgotten skill necessary to be effective with slow moving ammo.