Dragonteuthis

I purchased some foam backing rods at the local True Value, that being the only store nearby. They are "MD" brand, 1/2" diameter. I have straightened out the foam. Using a hot glue gun, I made a little dip into the front of the dart, dropped in a size "B" fishing weight, then covered it with a glob of hot glue. I have not drilled a hole into the back of the dart.

I fired it out of two guns. One is a Crossfire with the air restrictors removed. The other is a Big Bad Bow. I modified the BBB by removing the air restrictors, and shoving a crayloa barrel down the stock tube and epoxying it there.

Both the guns fire Nerf Dart Tag micros very well. The Big Bad Bow fires them very far indeed. However, my home-made stefans do not perform well. Fired out of the Crossfire, they sail much shorter than the velcro-tipped dart tags, regardless of what angle I fire them at. When fired out of the BBB, they whip into a crazed spiral when they exit the gun and barely make it ten feet (in a random arc, at that!).

I have some theories as to what I may be doing wrong. First off, is that perhaps Stefans should be fired out of a different kind of barrel. Since they have no collar, maybe they should be shoved all the way into a barrel? I'm not sure.

Secondly, I think I may have used a weight that's too small. I believe LGLF recommended size "BB" weights, and I wanted to be a bit safer, but perhaps I erred in that decision.

Thirdly, perhaps my weights are off-centered. I'm not sure how exactly to get better at centering them, though.

Luckily, I only made a few darts to test, so I've got about 18 feet of FBR left. I'd really appreciate any help at all, so I can improve my dartsmithing techniques and make some quality ones. Thanks in advance!

Note: I did do quite a bit of research on making Stefans, including these forums. In fact, it's the expertise here that inspired me to try my own hand at it. If I missed a thread that solves my problem, I sincerely apologize.

I just painted my Maverick, at last. the temperature's finally high enough for good paint application. I used Krylon "Fusion" paint, I saw some cans of "Ultra-flat Camouflage" spray paint, so I grabbed them. Good paint, it applied very well. Dunno why, but the green took MUCH longer to dry than the black. I did miss two spots, but mostly it's done.

To paint the blaster, I took it apart and laid the parts down on newspaper (not enough, though, cover a VERY wide area!). As you can see, I missed the right-hand side of the trigger. heh. The photos don't show it well, but I also left the front orange tube unpainted, so that it's fairly evident I'm not trying to go for a "real gun" appearance. Just a "cool" appearance.

Has anyone seen this new package? It's a crossfire, strap-on shield, bundled with a Nitefinder (though the box labels it as a "Firestrike," it IS a nitefinder).



I'm posting this because this bundle costs the same as a standard crossfire box. So, if you, like me, have been holding off on buying a crossfire, pick this sucker up! You get a free nitefinder. Plus, you can get a RED nitefinder....

Found these at my local Wal-Mart in southern Pennsylvania. Their price was under $10 ($9.86 or something), so I picked up two of each color. I have no idea whether or not these are a wal-mart exclusive, limited edition, or what.

Happy nerfing!

Edit: And here I thought I was posting something newsworthy. I didn't even know about the bonus blasters with the big Dart Tag set. But a quick search on eBay turned them up. heh. I'll try to overreact less when I see a new product in the future. Sorry about that.

Admin Edit:
You can find mods for the Maverick and other nerf blasters in the Modification Directory.

Dragonteuthis' Maverick Mod: The Foaminator 3000

Better than the Foaminator 1000 because, well, it has more thousands.

I've "stealthed" these forums for a few days, and from the advice and directions I've picked up here I've managed to increase my nerf experience greatly. So, I'll try to share with you what I've done so far.

It's only fair to preface this with the statement that I am biased towards the Maverick. I think it is an absolutely awesome gun. It's small, which I like, and has a 6-round magazine, which I also like. It's highly accurate, and can have a very high rate of fire, which is absolutely wicked when you're chasing someone who's diving for a piece of ammo. Also, swinging the barrel out and back in to reload makes lots of wonderful clicky noises. And finally, it's $8.

I used the following tools for this mod: A narrow phillips head screwdriver, utility knife, exacto knife, some generic epoxy, a small can of expanding foam sealant, a Dremel (coarse sandpaper), and some good scissors. In restrospect, of course, I didn't need all these things.

I don't have a picture of the completed gun because after I test fired it a bit, I took it apart again and I intend to spray-paint it black. I'm waiting for warmer weather for that, as the basement doesn't have very good ventilation. Also, I apologize if the pictures aren't sized well...I don't know how to resize them.

Step 1: Acquire a Maverick.

Step 2: Unscrew the thing. All the screws are on one side. Three hold the 'cocker in position (they are stubbier than the other screws) and another eight hold the main body together. Don't lose the screws, and gently pry the whole thing apart. The 'cocker has a spring strung on it; don't worry about that, you can put it back on easily.

Dissassembled Maverick:



Step 3: See all that complicated stuff involved with turning the barrel? Don't touch that stuff. Instead, take the barrel out.

Step 4: Pry off the "front" (i.e., farthest from the trigger) grey plastic thing. An orange cap will come off with it, also that will release a metal rod going through the barrel center. On the trigger-side of the barrel, the rod has a spring on it. Don't lose this spring. For now, set all the loose pieces aside. There are six screws holding the barrel together, three on each end. Unscrew all of them.

Barrel showing the grey thing pulled off.



Barrel taken apart all the way.



Step 5: (Note: If you are prone to using copious amounts of hotglue and/or epoxy, you could probably throw away the orange rings and make up their lack with a thick layer of adhesive. Your call.) See this thing? It's an air restrictor.

Air restrictor.



Throw away the bottom part, and use a sharp knife (or a Dremel) to cut off that rod and cut out the center of the restrictor.

After punishing the air restrictor.



Do that four more times. Now, Set those little orange rings aside.

Step 6: Here's the "back" or "bottom" of the barrel, where the air restrictors were.

Barrel Bottom



For this part, I used straws from Subway, but use whatever fits. Cut the straw into parts, and fit them into the handy provided slots.

With straws!



END OF PART ONE. I'm going to break this up into a second post.

To preface, All I've modded so far are some Mavericks and a Nitefinder.

I just got a Firefly last night, and while I like the fact that it has a 8-dart cylinder and is kinda bulky, I can't seem to get it apart. I've unscrewed every single screw I can, and for the most part it pries apart nicely. But at the back edge of the shoulder stock it simply won't come apart.

Now, trust me on this, I HAVE removed every single screw. However, when I peek inside from the front end, it looks like there are two or maybe three screw posts in the back that don't have eny external sockets to them. Are these glued support posts? Is the gun just sticking together? I've tried prying it a lot, but I'm starting to get some whitish "strain marks" on the plastic due to my efforts, and I'd really rather not break the stock if I can avoid it.

Any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated. I'm desperate to get the thing apart, because right now it shoots horribly.