mG36 is alive

On monday I brought my mG36 home after it was repaired. It had replaced piston, gears and power spring. I paid 304 PLN for repairs and new parts, equivallent to $106.



The guys from the Asgshop who tuned my replica say that I was supposed to know that using 9.6 volt battery that causes high rate of fire might damage it. And that I should contact them when I bought the 4,000 mAh battery I used at that game. It didn't matter that this voltage was suggested by them without any other information, like "use 9.6 volt batteries but with capacity below 2,000 mAh" or similar.

One conclusion: guys from Asgshop screw up your replica.

Oh, and since the replica received more powerful power spring, it now does have 400 fps muzzle velocity. :)

Airsoft replicas vs frost

It's winter on the northern hemisphere and in many regions we have temperatures below the freezing point of water (0°C → 32F). You might begin wondering if it's safe for you and your replica to attend airsoft games in such conditions.

Low temperatures

Airsoft electric guns - AEGs

AEGs are powered by batteries, mostly NiCd or NiMH rechargeables. Those batteries work best in room temperatures. If it's colder, their capacity drops. If it's very cold they won't supply enough power for the electric motor to pull the power spring in the mechbox. Low temperature also makes all greases and oils a lot more viscid -- it makes it even more difficult for the motor to move.

Read the rest of the "Airsoft replicas vs frost" article.

New airsoft stuff

I can't remember how many articles I wrote about stuff I bought. This is one of such articles. ;)

On november 10th when I shipped my mG36 for repairs, I received a package at my post office. The package was wrapped tight in a black foil, and consisted of two boxes.

From Airsoft from Poland photos

After everything was unpacked, it looked the following:



As you can see, I bought:

• a new carry handle with a picatinny rail for my mG36,
• a 9.6 volt 4,000 mAh NiMH large type battery, to fuel all my energy needs,
• a sophisticated battery charger, capable of charging and discharging airsoft batteries with a current of 500 or 1,000 mAh (good for large batteries, not so good for the smaller ones),
• the side rail for AK-47 sight mount.

I need some sophisticated equipment

I don't have any high-tech charger / discharger. At the moment my equipment used for charging and discharging my batteries consists of:

• charger for 8,4 V batteries, capable of supplying 250 mA current, the one that comes with Cyma replicas,
• some variable rate charger that gives 12 V and 15-240 mA current,
  
• very simple discharger, made of 55 W 12 V car bulb, shown on the following photo.

From Airsoft from Poland photos

Discharging batteries takes time. Since it's not automated, I have to look at the bulb from time to time when I am discharging a battery. I can't leave it unattended...

Charging batteries is not fully automated. The chargers are cheap, they only supply the specific amount of current. They don't check if the battery is fully charged, so may overcharge and destroy the battery. The only way to make sure the battery is not overcharged is to watch the time carefully (and know exactly how long the battery is supposed to be plugged to the charger) and check from time to time if the battery is warm... I can't leave the charger unattended for the last part of the charging, when the battery needs to be unplugged.

I need to buy a good automated charger and some cheap discharger to make sure my batteries are healthy and may live long...

Cyma AK47 review -- bullshit

I saw a review of Cyma's CM028 - AK47 replica. And I thought I must write here something, because the review is bullshit. But what to expect when the replica is reviewed by someone who sells them, not by someone who only uses replicas!

Around 2:12 the guy says the following:

Not only will bigger and more powerful battery increase the rate of fire (...), also increase the range and accuracy up to 5 to 10 per cent.

Come on! The only thing that changes when you supply 9.6 volt current instead of 8.4 volt is the engine speed. The engine revolves faster, the gears in gearbox revolve faster, the power spring gets compressed faster. But the energy delivered to the piston by the spring does not depend on how fast the spring was compressed! So no matter what battery you use, the amount of compressed air that will push the BB through the inner barrel remains the same.

Well... there may be one case when it isn't the same. If you connect 12V battery to stock replica, the engine may try to compress the spring when it didn't decompress itself fully. The engine may revolve so fast that the next gearbox work cycle will start before the piston reaches the cylinder head.

Long time, no game

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.

From Airsoft from ...

Edited @ 21:30 - There's no game tomorrow, those locals aren't eager enough.

First game with my new replica

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.

mG36 - one step back

I wrote couple of days ago (in post MG36 phase III upgrade, day one) that the barrel I could not be properly attached to the rest od the replica. What I wanted to express is that there's one part of hopup chamber that holds the barrel to the chamber which doesn't fit because the barrel has notch in different place that the original one.

I removed that barrel on saturday and installed the original one, that's why I titled this post "one step back". :)

Yesterday I had my first chance to test the replica during airsoft game. We played it inside one of abandoned tractor factory buildings. What I noticed yesterday:
- the replica is now better balanced since the heavy battery is now installed inside the stock,
- the stock cannot be folded because of the battery iside (that's why the 3300 mAh battery for this stock has different cell setup).

Here's a photo of my replica at it's current state of upgrade.

From G36 and its m...

By the way -- I just noticed why the stock had different connector on the cable, that's because the battery had the same T-type plug. I wonder why they couldn't use the standard small or large plug?

Yesterday I also got a chance to attach the C-magazine to my replica. See below...

From G36 and its m...

One of the guys had the G36 with STAR grenade launcher and that magazine. The grenade launcher looked nice but the effect of launching all the BBs inside was...poor (in my humble opinion).

mG36 phase 2.66

Phase 2 ²/₃ done. I attached the battery stock today. My father borrowed for me the proper hex key, 1.5 mm wide. On the following photo you can see the stock in it's fully-retracted position.

From G36 and its m...

Here you can see the hex key, the hex screw and the pin with the notch that didn't allow me to remove it without unscrewing the screw.

From G36 and its m...

I also put the wires inside the replica's body, above the gearbox. It was not easy since there's no much free space. Two photos below show the wires under the magazine socket and as seen near the hinge between body and stock.

From G36 and its m...

From G36 and its m...

New order, new replica

Today I ordered a new replica at MachineGun.pl airsoft shop. The order consisted of:
- Classic Army Steyr AUG A1 replica,
- 8.4V, 1,200 mAh NiMH battery,
- bore-up cylinder set for AUG,
- spring guide with bearings,
- 6 mm ball bearings,
- another hi-cap magazine,
- helical gear set.

I wanted the replica to be silenced, so I ordered all the things MachineGun.pl says I should. I am going to pay for all this stuff something around $600.

Quick photo of mG36 at phase II

From Airsoft from ...

This is the look of my mG36 replica at second phase of it's construction. It now has the 3000mAh 8,4V battery attached to the left part of the body, connected by a gray wire that goes to the front grip. You can also see the second high capacity magazine. Both give me the very large amount of ammo to be fired in very long bursts. ;)

If you'd like to see how the replica looked like when I got my hands on it, check the post titled G36 @ home

mG36 Phase I completed :D

Today I finally received the parts to my mG36 I ordered last saturday. I got an airseal nozzle, large battery on NiMH cells, 8.4V, 3000mAh and two connector plugs. The latter are required for wiring so I can attach the battery to the stock.

Unfortunatelly I didn't notice that the battery has large connector plug and ordered two mini ones. :(

Todays plan was to prepare the wiring and see where to place the battery. I had to utilise the power plug used to deliver 12 and 5 volts to hard disk drives. It had the metal connectors of the proper diameter to connect to the battery's plug. With a small help of a soldering iron I managed to attach two sets of connectors to the wire, one pair of them was then put inside a connector plug.

Then I started to figure out where to attach the battery. Before I got it, I thought to put it somewhere on the stock. But since the battery is large, it would be very difficult. My father suggested to attach it to the mG36's body, on the left side, between the pistol grip and the optical sight. It will not make the front of the gun heavier (as it happens in the MG36 I wrote about couple of days ago) and will not disturb the aiming through the sight.

The Phase I is completed, I made the wiring and plugged it to the gun. Next thing is to attach the battery and wiring to the body. Phase III is tuning of the gun, i.e. adding the airseal nozzle and 170% power spring.

Parts to my mG36 are now being shipped

On saturday I ordered in Machinegun.pl ASG shop parts for converting my G36 into mG36. First of all I need to explain why mG36. About MG36 I wrote couple of days ago (cheap alternative to M249 machine gun). And mG36 is a...cheap alternative to MG36.

The bipod I already got, since it was attached to my gun when I bought it. I just needed a large magazine (drum magazine would be best) and a large battery to power the gun. Since I couldn't afford the drum (to be honest I shouldn't buy any airsoft stuff until I buy the VW T3 :( ), I chose to buy second hicap magazine. This would give me almost 1 000 BBs in magazines. And since the magazines will hold not 2 500 BBs but less than 1 000, the M in MG36 is not capital. ;)

So I ordered one hicap, one large battery, two battery connectors (I need to prepare a wire so I can attach the battery to the stock and power the gun from there) and a nozzle with seal. I want to install the CA 170% power spring to my G36 so there will be a chance to install the nozzle and get another 5 or so fps. :)