8 replies to this topic

[Forsaken angel24]

Alright so I was reading up on this matchstick dart and decided to go and give this stuff a try. First I would like to say don't pick up the plasti-dip spray. It evaporates to easily and leaves little ammounts of cured rubber behind. I had hot glued a small rubber tube to the nozzle I would spray and the stuff would then drip into the stefan hole. Again, don't waste your time.

Here is a step by step list on how to make your Matchstick stefan.

Step one: Get your FBR straight and using a hot glue gun burn a hole in the FBR.

Step two: Pour a little ammount of hot glue in the hole. ( I would have used Plasti-dip but it never seemed to cure properly.)

Step three: Drop the weight in the hole and make sure its in good and snug. Push the weight down a little to ensure there are no airholes between the glue, the weight and the FBR.

Step four: Grab Momma's turkey baster. (or buy your own because it can never be used for cooking again). And create an air tight seal between the plastic nozzle and the rubber squeeze thing. To do this I wrapped E-tape all around the part where air would come out.


Step five: Suck up the Plasti-dip using the turkey baster and squeeze out the Plasti-dip gently into the hole creating a dome. (make sure the plasti-dip is not flush with the stefans sides!)

Step six: Leave out to dry for 4-6 hours.

You will need to repeat steps five and six at least 4-5 times to make a good dome. As the curing process brings the size of the dome down significantly. This is after one coat after drying.


General Tips:

Tip 1: Dont spill any of this stuff on the side of your Fbr or the dart is ruined. The rubber will catch in the barrel and either send your dart out spiraling or will not send it out at all. Either way it creates useless barrel friction. This is also why you should never makes your domes flush. In a nutshell, The rubber parts can never touch your barrell.

Tip 2: Make these in a place that is well ventilated. This stuff is potent and kills more brain cells than britney spears. It is labeled on the can that owners of Plasti dip should use it while using a respirator. Luckily I had an old SARS mask kicking around so I'm hoping it helped a little.

Tip 3: Make about 20 of these at a time. 4-6 hours can seem like a long time to wait one one dart.

Tip 4: After cleaning up, squeeze all Plasti-dip out of turkey baster back into can then take a coat hanger wire and scrape out anything that might plug the hole. I have used that turkey baster about 6 times now and it still hasnt sealed up.

Performance:

It is true they don't hurt as much.
They seem to go just as far as stefans. (I will range test on weekend)
They Bounce! I shot at my wooden shed from 60 feet away and the thing bounced back and almost hit my shoe.
Even after being fired several times out of a high powered gun the dome was unharmed.

Pros:
A longer lasting dart head.
A color that stays strong
A softer hit
Bouncing goodness.

Cons:
The Plasti-dip in liquid form is really bad for the brain
The making process is very tedious.
Takes more skill to make than a stefan.

Overall I love it. Sorry guys I dont have a digicam at the moment but hopefully I can borrow my sisters and show you guys some pics with range test results by the weekend. Any questions I would be happy to answer. Finally more good pics of the final product and more.






EDIT: It has been around 6 months now and the once so cushy stefan tip is now almost as hard hot glue itself. I felt this was an important update,

Edited by Forsaken_angel24, 29 June 2006 - 06:03 PM.

[Matchstick Man]

edit

Edited by Matchstick_Man, 21 June 2006 - 11:29 AM.

[Forsaken angel24]

The rubber is so tough that every time one of these darts break on me, it is always the foam. These domes are unstoppable. Now if we could only find a tougher foam that is just as light. This post is to also say that the pics are up baby!

[hoshiadam]

I've been tinkering with glueing two layers of camp pad (1/2" polyolefin foam mat) together and cutting a dart down the middle. Reason I am doing it is for an odd barrel size, it is just under 1" diameter. The foam might be significantly stronger I think. I'm new to custom ammo, and I haven't played with FBR yet.

Adam

[baghead]

From My Experrience the most durable foam by far is the white FBR avaiable @ www.aloghomestore.com the stuff is just killer, It's verry durable and is really easy to spot. you may want to try using that.

-bags

Edited by baghead, 13 December 2005 - 12:24 PM.

[Forsaken angel24]

Nice. I just placed my order yesterday. I ordered 20 feet to see how it holds up and mainly because its white. Which will be good in the summer because all there is in Canada at these times is snow and pavement. The only three colors available are grey,black and white. I called a company but they said the minimum order was $5000 for a custom color job.

Edited by Forsaken_angel24, 13 December 2005 - 04:53 PM.

[koolsteve]

i like the idea, but.... i havnt even made a stefan yet.. better learn the basics.

[The Infinite Shindig]

i like the idea, but.... i havnt even made a stefan yet.. better learn the basics.

You have a lot of basics to learn. I'd suggest you slow your posting down, and actually read this forum to see what is expected of you. The Code of Conduct is your guide, and you had better use it. If you don't I will suspend your account for the next 9999 days.

[koolsteve]

Rules read...