Find content
First and foremost, this is a very long write up. Sorry about that. I had to do a lot of stuff to make the maverick not suck. If you are an experienced modder, much of this write up will look familiar and many individual steps can be found in the nerfhaven mod directory. The final product would not have been possible without the brilliant mods and write-ups of Capt. Slug, Carrtoon, and many others. I would also like to give a shout out to alex6432 for this post and his utter inability to spell nitemav which inspired me to do this mod.
I will be detailing every step that I took to make a nitemav in hopes that even someone like Talio’s mom would be able to do this mod (like she did me last night).
Here is what we are making:
Things you need:
Nitefinder
Maverick
Handyman spring (these are the ones from home depot)
About two feet of Barrel material (I used thick wall PETG because it fits my darts well)
Zap a gap (I love this stuff. It dries relatively fast and binds incredibly strong)
Amazing goop
Hot glue and gun
Cutting tools (something that can make straightish cuts is good)
Screwdriver
Silicone lube
Craft foam
Disclaimer:
I have now done this mod on both the yellow guns and the clear series and even though this write up is done using the clear series guns, I would highly recommend not using them. The plastic is softer and bends more easily making it harder for the catch to work when you add in a stronger spring. I had to cut my handyman spring down a couple extra coils and heavily reinforce the area where the spring rested against the catch with my clear series nite-mavs where with the yellow ones I did not. That being said, the clear series does look totally bad ass with some leds (see very bottom).
Step One: Fix the Rotation Mechanism
This mod has been outlined before by the likes of Capt. Slug, but in an attempt to make this write-up as complete as possible I’m going to go ahead and detail it here. First, open your maverick. You do this by first unscrewing the cocking handle, removing that, and then unscrewing the rest of the screws. The inside should look like this:
For this part of the mod, we are going to focus on this part:
Remove those four screws and take the rotation mechanism out.
Take off the screw at the end and take apart the rotation mechanism. This is how the parts should be ordered.
To prevent the rotation mechanism from skipping when you pull the trigger, glue the two teethed pieces on the left together with some zap a gap. Let dry then reassemble.
At this point you can also rip out the plunger parts, but hold on to this piece and the extension spring from the cocking handle. You will need them later.
Step Two: Replace the Barrels
While you still have your maverick open, remove the barrel cylinder.
Grab your claw hammer or prying tool of choice, put it under this piece and pry it off.
Be careful not to let the pieces go flying as you are going to need all of them shortly. Now, remove the screws from the barrel cylinder there should be 3 on each end. Pull the cylinder apart. Remove all of the air restrictors and pegs, but keep one of the springs for later.
Take the right piece and cut along this line:
Throw away the left side of the peice you just cut.
Then, take the 3 1/2 inch segments of PETG and insert them into what is left of the barrels where the cylinder attaches to the rotation mech (this is where the air restrictors were). They should fit very tight. If you are paranoid about air escaping or them coming loose, feel free to goop or hot glue them in:
Once all barrels are in, reassemble the drum and screw it back together. Finish reassembling the barrel cylinder with the restrictor spring inserted like so.
The point of this is to help push the cylinder back against the plunger tube, making it harder for air to escape. (I don’t really know how well this works, but it doesn’t hurt)
Step three: Roulette mod
This is a mostly cosmetic mod but it does have some benefits. Firstly it allows for easier reloading. Secondly, it will make things easier when you increase the seal with craft foam later.
Cut off these plastic parts.
Also cutting here will help later. (they can rub against the craft foam seal when opening and closing the barell)
