Not like it's dead or something. It's just gone, because I sent it to my favorite ASG shop for repairs and tuning. You probably remember that the AUG is broken and I wanted to tune it a bit.
I disassembled the replica a bit and packed it to a solid cardboard box (I got one FedEx box suitable for stuff up to 25 kg (55 lb) and cut it in half since it was too high for the replica). I protected it from any harm with a lot of mashed newspapers. Here's a photo of how did it look like.
According to the star callendar, the winter started last week. So this is the first airsoft game I had this winter. :)
Since I have my mG36 at home, I decided to use this replica. My AK47 was broken the other day, and my MP5K PDW is used by my girlfriend. So this left me only one replica to use - the mG36. :)
The game was rather boring. The guys there had more fun with showing off who whas the best stuff than actualy using the stuff. This is quite popular amongst the airsoft players who can afford to buy an expensive replica. In polish conditions, Classic Army replica that does cost PLN 1,300 ($520) is an expensive one, since average salary in Poland last year was around PLN 2,650 ($1,050). People that own cheap pump-action replicas are often very young and enjoy the airsoft games because of the action they may have...
The game took place in a very interesting place that I had never visited before. It is located near Nadarzyn, a town 20 km (15 mi) from Warsaw. The place was used by polish army, I heard that by some anti-aircraft protection squad. I tried to find some photos to show you, but found only these two galleries, made by an ASG team I am very familiar with - the Cannon Fodder. So herethey are. :) If you'd like to see how the place looks on satellite photograph, you can see it below.
Oh, you probably will be interested in some photos made last sunday. I must disappoint you a little, because I decided to show only one, not very intersting, photograph. Photo of me, holding my mG36 replica. I am sorry, but we couldn't get any better photos that day. :(
This article is somewhat a static article. It contains everything important about my G36 - CA36 ASG Replica. It'll be updated every time it is necessary. You'll find all posts tagged "g36" here. :)
I bought the G36 replica on february 2006. I paid for it $400. I purchased the replica, two small 8,4V NiCd 600mAh batteries and front grip with bipod installed.
I wanted to change this replica into cheap alternative of M249 machine gun. Into cheap alternative of MG36. MG36 has drum magazine and bipod. But I didn't want to buy the drum mag.
Instead, I bought a large 8,4V 3000mAh battery and second hi-capacity magazine. I installed the battery on the outside of the replica's body, because it couldn't fit anywhere else. This was the second phase of mG36 conversion.
Later, I bought battery stock to put the battery there. After installing this stock the mG36 is in its third phase.
The replica's gearbox is full stock. I want to install 170% Classic Army power spring and sealed nozzle.
Update: October 25th, 2008
My mG36 was sent for tuning in ASGShop. I ordered:
installing precise barrel suitable for G36,
installing a airtight nozzle
but as those parts with original power spring gave only 290 fps I eventually ended up with:
M110 power spring by Guarder,
Deep Fire cylinder (not bore-up, I don't know why),
DF aluminium piston head with bearings,
DF reinforced metal cylinder head,
silicone hop-up bucking (rubber) from Systema
.This set gave the replica the muzzle velocity of 396 fps.
Last week I wrote that my AUG A1 is broken and needs repairing. I also mentioned that I'll have 10% off all the prices needed for repair, hopefully I'll also get that discount for all the parts required for upgrade / tuning the replica. So why don't I augment my AUG?
But what can I tune? I can only put there ball bearings (the one I bought were of 6mm diameter, not 7mm, so didn't fit) and power spring. Since I already have one spring I consider sending it to the shop with the replica for installation. I don't know yet, because they'll probably charge me for that comparable amount of money I'd pay for new spring from them. The power spring will surely be tuned, but I think I'll leave the bearings "as they are".
I like to spend my money on airsoft stuff, so what could I buy this time (I already bought some stuff last month)? On the market you won't find many addons for Steyr AUG replica. The only interesting thing to buy is the Phantom Silencer Set. But is it really worth it? In the shop that's gonna repair my AUG this set costs $180. I think I'll leave this for the future. Since I bought it, I didn't use my AUG more then few times. I think we must first get along before I buy anything for this replica. ;)
Oh, by the way, I found an interesting video on YouTube. Unfortunatelly it's in french, but it describes how to make this Phantom Set AT HOME! I have no idea what are they saying, but I think the images are descriptive enough... Enjoy!
Yesterday I played an airsoft game with Pluton Egzekucyjny (a young ASG team from Żyrardów, the town I live in). The game took place in Adamów, in couple of abandoned buildings. They were used by PKP, polish national railroad company.
First of all, when I opened my car's trunk and the replica bag I noticed that my Cyma AK-47S has broken stock. When I bought it I was aware that the folding stock in every replica is very delicate and may be broken soon. This disallowed me to use the replica, because I couldn't separate the stock from the rest of the gun. Only one of those rings that attach the stock to the body was broken and I didn't have hex key to remove the other.
This was it -- one large hall, one three-story office building with two stairways and many entrances.
The hall inside.
The office building as seen from the inside of the hall.
The office building. Cool red paint on the walls and pink tiles in toilettes.
One of the stairways. Broken windows. I heard that one of the people almost fell out through this window. It looks as it is not high above the ground, but this photo was taken while standing on top floor.
The hall seen from the office building.
The office building seen from near the hall.
I had much fun, 'cause I played with my favorite replica - MP5K PDW. :D
This article is not exactly part of the series titled Best Airsoft Places. I don't consider this place one of the best, but it surely is interesting enough to mention it on my blog.
We played there once, at the beginning of our airsoft career, 3 years. Most of people from our team had only spring replicas, some shotguns, pistols and stuff like that. Only two of us had AEGs, including me.
The place was a primary school. We played there at night, with lights out, and all the classrooms shut. So we used only corridors and stairways. But that was just enough fun for all of us.
At home I have my Classic Army Steyr AUG A1. For some time it's broken. I borrowed it to a friend of mine couple months ago, and he broke it. He fixed it by himself and then I borrowed it to another guy (I own 4 AEGs, so it's difficult for me to refuse if someone asks me for such favor), soon at the first game the gun stopped shooting. So it became obvious that I need to send it to some professional to get it fixed.
Three weeks ago I asked my favorite ASG shop if they can fix my replica. I got an answer that their main service guy had to be operated not so long ago and they can't take more replicas for repairs. They informed me that I can send it after november 25th. But yesterday, when I asked if this offer is still open, I got an answer that they have to postpone my case to next year, because of the same reason. What other options do I have? None... They told me that I can get 10% discount on parts to be used during the repairs. When they're going to repair it, I'm going to ask them to fit the precise barrel I got from them (510 mm precise barrel for M14 replica, it won't fit there, so I am going to ask them to replace it with a proper one) and power spring. I want to have a couple fps more, but want to use 8,4 V batteries. So slightly stronger spring and the precise barrel will be enough. I remind you that the replica already has bore-up, helical gear set and spring guide with bearing.
I have to wait till next year and then I'll send them the replica. I simply have no choice, I want to get it operational again...
This is the review of my Cyma AK-47S replika. I wrote it because I believe there is still some place on the internet for articles about cheap airsoft replicas. Cyma replicas are certainly the cheap ones. I'd say, they're on the second shelf, while the first shelf are Tokyo Marui, Classic Army and similar priced replicas.
I read a review written over a year ago, followed by long thread of replies on one of airsoft discussion forums. The thread author wrote:
I found the CYMA AK on airsplat some time ago, and believe me, I was as skeptical as you. (...) A less informed friend of mine who is getting into airsoft (...) bought one. I expected him to receive it and immediately be sorry with his purchase--surprisingly, it wasn't the case. Upon arriving for our game that day, he showed me the AK. I was shocked upon picking it up to discover how heavy it was--it felt like a real steel AK from the weight. Also, I was surprised to notice the gun was almost all metal--in fact, ALL metal except for the grip, handle and stock, which were shockingly decent feeling plastic. Then I figured, what the heck. It looks good but will shoot like crap. Not so! I was VERY surprised when I was hiding behind a tree about 40 feet away from my friend (...) when suddenly a barrage from his AK ripped through the branches and demolished me.
I won't agree that Cyma CM028 is able to break tree branches. Nevertheless, I agree that most of serious airsoft players year ago wouldn't consider purchasing Cyma's replicas. The manufacturer's name was known as a definition of poor quality.
But the replica I own is supposed to be cheaper copy of Tokyo Marui replica! It has metal gearbox, plastic body and metal hi-capacity magazine! With the replica you get the hi-cap mag, stick type 1,100 mAh battery (I got S version with folding stock) and a battery charger! This means, that you need only the replica, BBs and eye protection to have airsoft fun! Standard Tokyo Marui replica comes with low-cap magazine, with no battery or charger. The player had to buy battery and charge it somehow. This makes thisCyma replica a good bargain!
What about muzzle velocity? There are two generations of Cyma AK-47 replicas on market. Mine is from first generation, an exact copy o Tokyo Marui replica. It is supposed to have something around 290 fps on 0.2g BB. I use 0.23g BB, and had 266 fps on chronometer. The replicas from second generation are said to have 360-380 fps muzzle velocity. They still cost in Poland somewhere around $150. :D
The guy quoted at the beginning of my article is wrong. The replica has plastic body, and plastic (wood imitation) grips. They imitate wood really good, I must say...
The hopup is easily adjusted. The sight can be adjusted as well. One can adjust it to aim higher - in the real-steel version this was used for shooting long range. In airsoft I use this feature if I adjust the hopup for long range.
Here are two video reviews I found on YouTube. :)
This article will start "my replica reviews" series. :)
I had no time to write here about the last game I attended. Since last saturday I am ill and have to stay in bed. Of course I use the computer every now and then, but that's not enough time to write a new blog post.
There was 25 people at the game, some 8 of them young, less than 15 or 14 y.o. But since it was only couple of them for each team, it wasn't very disturbing.
The game took place at a place with two deserted buildings, grass and some other plants and stuff. Nothing very interesting, but it was small enough for fast game rounds.
I used, as usual lately, the AK 47s. My girlfriend played with MP5K PDW.
Here's a photo of me, proud with 4 kills in one round.
That's the new sight on PDW, in my girlfriend's hands.
One thing more: a movie made that day. Nothing very interesting, but photos and videos are always better than my poor english language. ;) The guy who posted it on YouTube doesn't allow it to be embedded, so you have to watch it on your own. ;)
Most of the stuff I ordered on sunday (I got it at a local post office two hours ago) satisfies me. But I am not glad with the AK-47 mount base...
If you look at this mount, can you guess it's to be mounted with the longest rail facing bottom? The description says that it fits the gas tube, but this is not true! The gas tube is made in a way that it can't be mounted there. The mount base fits the barrel, but this is not the thing I intended to get. I am very disapointed... :(
If you read this airsoft blog for some time, you probably know, that I was grumbling for last few days. I wanted to play airsoft games badly, but didn't have any games around to attend.
The worst was last evening. I didn't know if there was going to be any game with my friends from SHAMO today. I also found out that there was very large airsoft game in Nadarzyn. Over 300 people fought along with a good scenario. Players had to enlist to the game some time earlier, so I couldn't play with them. I felt very sad, to cheer up a bit I went to one of the cheapest online airsoft retailers. It's the cheapest one, because they're closing their store and are selling their stuff for lower price they paid to get it.
I will purchase: - red dot sight, - two RIS mount bases for this sight, one for AK-47 (to be mounted on gas tube) and the other for MP5K, - proped mount rings for the sight, - 6.04 mm precise barrel for AK-47, - F330 power spring (theoretically can give 330 fps, I'll keep it for later use, if I plan to tune any of my replicas), - laser dot sight, - mid caps for AK-47 and MP5.
Nothing very sophisticated, total cost $245.
The todays game took place. I am not very pleased since at the beginning it was only 5 of us, with 3 AEGs, one pump-action shotgun and one pump-pistol. After one hour two other guys came (seemed like they were father and son, the latter aged 16-18) and we had a bit more fun.
Better this than nothing, so I stopped complaining and tried to get as much fun as possible. Here are some photos.
That's me, having fun. :)
That's Squarek.
That's Squarek. He had an opportunity to shoot my back, but instead came from behind and scored "silent kill". :)
That's Squarek, looking for enemy. At that moment he was using his pump-pistol. The other guy had M14 AEG with red dot sight.
He fires...
He scores!
Squarek and his victim.
In todays game appeared: me, Ania, Squarek, two MP5Ks (mine and Squareks, he sold his on internet auction but plans to post it tomorrow), AK-47 and some other stuff. :)
I got my AUG back. This leaves only one of my replicas in my parents' apartment - the mG36. AUG is broken, so I sent an email to my favorite airsoft reseller (not the one I bought the stuff from, they're more expensive and didn't have all the stuff I need) to ask if they can (are willing to) fix it. :)
This is an old Shamo movie, made couple years ago. If I got my database right, it was shot on september 14th, 2004. It was shot by Ziutek and later cut into pieces and put together by Mamut.
At that time I still had my first AEG replica - the MP5 SD3 and wore my BDU in urban camo. This way I am easily recognized in the video.
Few words about what you can see in the movie. It was shot in the Halinka. The second scene (running) starts at one end of the Columns place. After that you see a group of people running, this was taken from inside the two story "office" building inside. You can see how vast is the building, stock replicas couldn't hit those people. One of the following scenes show the "office" as seen from above (the red brick building with no glass in windows with yellow metal pylons next to its wall), from the room that was placed highest in the building. You can see me climbing on the pylon to get to the first floor. To be honest that was the first time I climbed, I was too afraid that if I got shot I'd be scared and do something stupid like letting go and falling down. Later, after the movie was made, I tried it once or twice. But I wasn't the bravest one -- one of the girls that played with us for some time climbed once to the second floor. :)
And that's about it. The rest of the movie is very dark, because the camera was cheap and there was not much light at the time we made the movie. :)
Since there's no airsoft game in Żyrardów tomorrow, I'll feed my airsoft hunger with photo-memories.
Today the second place in the contest for the best airsoft place in Poland - the Miami.
This place has nothing to do with Miami and, to be honest, I have no idea why somebody named it this way. It is a place used some time ago for railroad stuff, located in Warsaw.
Here's a photo from Google Maps.
The most important building is the one with the weird shape. It's an old roundhouse. For a better description let's assume it has it's beginning and end. The beginning would be at the left hand side of the building on the satellite photo.
Here's the roundhouse as seen from south.
Here's the inside of the roundhouse. Photo taken while standing at the beginnin of the building. As you can see it is divided in half by a large wall.
Most of the games we played there were very simple. We fought in the roundhouse, one team started at it's end, the other at the beginning. The beginning had couple of rooms on the first floor that would give this team large advantage. In most cases they just started to defend that place, so we changed starting places after each round.
On the following photo you can see the wall. The people are from opposite teams. You can imagine the fun we had. A small note: we have a rule that one cannot put his arm behind any obstacle (wall, door, whatever) and shoot if - he can fire only if he puts his arm, replica and head to see what's inside. :)
The same wall seen from the other end. It was often that two or more people stood at it's end and sprayed BB's to hit or simply scare the other team. Unfortunatelly I don't have a proper photo...
The following photo shows the roundhouse's beginning. The camera was located somewhere near the wall. You can see why the people defending that floor had such an advantage -- they had a perfect place to hide. It looks like it's an end of one of rounds, the defenders get their butts kicked. ;)
Oh, that's me. Marked with red cloth to show that I got killed.
The camper-defender. Note that we don't condemn camping - we set the game rules that campers don't have their advantage. Even if the round rules are that the attacking team must get into one room in a building in a specific time and there's a camper inside that room, it's not difficult to hit him. Three or four people rush inside at the same time - he wouldn't kill them all, would he? ;)
This is the campsite from within.
No explanation necessary...
They made it, the last defender got shot.
Enough photos from the roundhouse.
The Miami had couple other interesting places. For example - an old pool for water in case of fire.
There was one quite large building. Two stories high (ground floor and a basement), one long corridor and many rooms on each floor.
Unfortunatelly, the place got demolished. I am very sad, because it was VERY playable, something like the Q2DM1 map in Quake ][...
Photos were made by me, Mamut, Squarek and probably someone else...
The last time I attended airsoft game was may this year. I moved from Warsaw to Żyrardów, a town 40 km (25 miles) away. Most of my friends that I play airsoft with live in Warsaw. For some time I had no car to drive (my Volkswagen T3 isn't in working condition, I broke it's engine shortly after moving to Żyrardów), and was too lazy to go to Warsaw by train. So I only attended one game, that took place on weekday, after work. I took my MP5K with me to work, so didn't get tired after the game.
Tommorow I am going to a local airsoft game in Żyrardów. I am looking forward to this game, because I lack airsoft action. ;) I plan to take there my MP5K and AK47, because those are the only replicas I moved here. I borrowed the AUG to a friend of mine and the mG36 is still in Warsaw.
I had to discharge four 600mAh batteries. Two sticks and two smalls. The only proper tools to discharge them I found here were two computer fans. Using old computer power supply and small sockets I made a wiring that allows two batteries to be connected parallel to the replica / charger / discharger. If all my sticks get discharged I'll use this wiring to coonect those two smalls to the AK47. ;) The photo below shows the wiring and the discharger I made yesterday.
This is the first post in new series: best places for airsoft games. I would like to show you my favorite 10 spots for airsoft games in Poland. Since I live near Warsaw, they're aren't far away from our capitol city.
Each one of them will have at least couple of photos and a brief description.
This is the place I started my airsoft games at. No wonder I like it very much. I played there first time 5 years ago and last time somewhere in the beginning of this year. We were thrown out of there by security guarding the hall so we had to find ourselves another place to play.
The most important advantage of this place is that it is a hall and we play inside. You don't have to worry about rain, snow. There are two two-story building "inside" the hall so we can also play some office hostage rescue / bomb defuse scenarios. This is one of those buildings, shown from the only non-roofed spot in the place.
This is the most fun part of the hall. We call it Filary (Columns). You can see them at the left hand side of the photo. One group starts from one, second from the other end of the columns. There is also a long room next to that spot, shown on the following photo.
This is my favorite place, because:
we could play many different scenarios, including very short skirmishes,
the whole hall is protected from rain, weather didn't stop us from playing.
Added on nov. 2nd, 2007 Take a look at an old Shamo movie that was shot inside the Halinka. It'll show you how nice the place was in more details than I can describe with my poor english.
There's a moment in boy's life when he becomes a man. I think it is the time when he leaves his backpack and buys a briefcase. Like the one on the photo:
Here's a photo of Squarek's MP5K with scope and flashlight. Of course he doesn't use this telescopic sight all the time, it was attached just to make a couple of photographs. Instead, he uses red dot sight.
As I mentioned my new airsoft purchases, I bought one new replica. This is a good time to tell my blog's readers what I got.
So I bought Cyma AK47S and I must say that this was one of my best purchases. I paid 429 PLN which is equal to $150. It came in complete set with stick 1,100 mAh battery (NiMH) and (what is very important for me) 500 BBs hi-cap magazine.
I bought the AK47S because it has folded stock and stick battery. As I own also MP5K PDW, now I have 3 stick batteries.
As I thought, the replica is equivalent to Tokyo Marui and I hope that it'll last at least as long as TM do. I used 0.23 gram BBs and measured 266 fps muzzle velocity. This is equivalent to 280-290 fps on 0.20 g BB, the standard for stock TM replicas.
Addition: I wrote an article on Cyma CM028 (AK47) on one of my sites in polish, thought you might be interested.
Yesterday I bought online two new airsoft replicas, one for me, one for my girlfriend. I won't explain you what I ordered yet, until I have them at home and use them for first time. I want to surprise my airsoft friend. ;]
As I mentioned the last time, at the moment I stay for the entire month in Brussels, Belgium. For the time I receive my standard payment + Euro 1,500 for the food and stuff like that (apartment in which I live is paid). I plan to take most of this money back home, and decided that some of it I might spend on airsoft.
But later I thought that tuning the replica means I'm not good enough to fight with other airsoft players. So now I am thinking that perhaps it'd be a better idea to buy another replica instead, like some AK47 by Cyma for less than Euro 150. It has 290 fps muzzle velocity and I believe it is enough.
I am sad but I will not send my G36 to tuning this month. In march I'm going to be the entire month in Brussels, Belgium, so I won't be able to use the freshly tunned replica. There is no reason in spending the money now when I'll have a chance to use the replica first time in april. It'll have to wait for two months from now. I'll ask my girlfriend to send the replica for me in march so I'd have it done by the beginning of april.
Because my car is broken I didn't attend any airsoft games lately.
About two weeks ago I started thinking about getting one of my replicas tuned. At this moment the MP5K and mG36 are full-stock (I mean the gearbox, not the body, bipod, battery and other stuff). AUG has the "silent" set installed, more info can be found in the post about the silenced AUG. But it does have significantly better muzzle velocity than stock replicas, I believe it's got something aroung 350 fps. (Mamut's CA870 after his tuning has 410 fps on 0,2g BBs and 380 fps on 0,3g -- meaning that the light BBs don't gain all the energy the power spring can give).
So I decided to put some money in my airsoft replica tuning.
Since MP5K cannot be used with battery larger than 1200mAh 9.6V (after small modification of some kind), I decided that MP5K will remain as it is now.
So the decision is to choose between tuning AUG and mG36. I wanted to get muzzle velocity around 420-430 fps. Tunned by ASGShop.pl both replicas are upgraded to this level by installing:
M120 power spring
super torque up gear set (Classic Army)
reinforced bearing guide with bearing (Deep Fire)
reinforced cylinder, cylinder and piston heads (the latter with bearing) and nozzle (Deep Fire).
Since AUG has already got both bearing guide, gear set and the bore-up cylinder set installed the tuning will eventually be only to put power spring inside. I have the Classic Army 170% power spring (I got it free of charge when buying G36) so it seems that this entire tuning will be for free (only the costs of installing all the parts...).
Later I decided that I will not put money in AUG. Why? I am afraid that the battery I have (8,4V 1200mAh) will not be enough to "fuel" this replica.
So I decided that I'll send my mG36 to ASGShop and order the 420-430 tuning. But instead ot all the reinforced cylinder-piston parts, I'll install the bore-up. It should cost similar amount of money but I believe I'll gain few more fps. Addiotionally I'll send them back the barrel I ordered and ask them to send me the one that'll fit (more about barrel troubles is written in mG36 phase III upgrade - day one.
Yesterday I played entire airsoft game (more than 3 hours) with MP5K PDW only. The game took place near my home in one of buildings of old tractor factory. I didn't want to carry the bag with mG36 so I took the Kurz and hid it under my jacket. :)
I was very glad of the game results. There were played few scenarios connected to each other (i.e. -- in one of the scenarios we had to capture a prisoner -- we got him so in the next round we could place a spy in the opposing team). I killed 7 people but got shot only once! Using stock MP5K PDW replica, with only 270 fps and low range against players who got replicas with more than 400 fps, requires a lot of thinking and crawling. I killed two guys by only saying "you're dead" -- they were close enough to be sure they'd got shot and save ammo.
I sprayed only something around 300 BBs, less than 1/4th of the amount I spray with mG36.
