I have been playing paintball since 99, this is my 4th and final custom build.
I still own 2 of the 3 previous I've built. Because let's be honest, like classic cars. You'll never get the money out of them that you put into them, but without your money, you'll always be stuck with someone else's version of your idea.
I was always a fan of the "full builds" guys used to do back in the day, like that purple Chrishanks spine cocker that had a match anodized eblade, mech, and pump setup.
I swore off e-cockers once I picked up an Excalibur.. I always wanted one last build for the fun of it. And I wanted it to be "different"
Pre-covid I scored a used but not abused TJD pneumatic assist pump kit. And that got this ball rolling, originally I had intended to build an appropriate pneumatic assist, as in something that stylistically looked like it made as much sense as a pneumatic assist in the first place, but mid block, because i prefer those at this point, and with an auto trigger, cause why wouldn't you?
As the parts started coming together from what I had on hand and what I had to locate, I was able to build a fully working gun to iron out the kinks and discover some of the growing pains for pump assist, including the need to locate an 86º frame, i needed a WGP spec full body for the pump assist to work correctly to begin with. and I've always had a soft spot for "featherlight milling" because I've been an AKA guy for a long time, I was lucky enough to score an RKJ extreme body, and he also happened to have a DYE UL frame in raw from the first run, which is actually what changed the trajectory of this one into a FULL build., I added the regular pump kit because it was too easy not to.. it even matched my trim color
some problems presented themselves in the initial build, like how to get an auto trigger pin into a semi auto arm, and a midblock no less... after some conversations with simon, bill from CCM, and getting the actual pump arm specs from TJD directly I was able to make an educated guess as to the right spot, so i got some midblock pump arms from simon and sent them to Antle with that info and he sent me back pump arms with an A/T pin
next issue I ran into was the ASA required a T-slot adapter, and that put the macroline at an angle I really didn't like, so i had both frames sent off for t-slot
this needed a unique anno, I have a rule, busy milling is better with simple anno, busy anno wont hide plain milling .. i thought about the old mexican confetti anno of the days of yore for a minute.. but i wanted something memorable.. i had some ideas, and an incredibly pleasant experience with caustic the last time i worked with him, so i started looking at some of his recent stuff, and decided on kintsugi, i really liked the idea of this thing looking a little "glued together" and i wanted it to look like marble, but still be polished to show off the milling, he was like "i got you"
so, after realizing what part i finally forgot to order (a regular semi auto pump arm) , and encountering some physical fitment issues between my detent and the A/T lever, i even found out these UL frames have both frame stops if your creative with the right hardware..
now to deliver on the hype, some of these shots are just straight up glamor shots.. its a difficult anno to capture the colors correctly its also a 3D ano with the gold on its own higher layer.. i have a large batch i took with my DSLR, but i haven't gone through those yet. i tried to get these with both barrel tips i had made, and i tried a dust back with the whip tip on some to try and work with the matte nature of the carbon
Semi Auto
lesson learned, you CAN in fact overdo it.. this whip tip will be living with the pump builds.. something about it on the semi looks off unfortunately
I still own 2 of the 3 previous I've built. Because let's be honest, like classic cars. You'll never get the money out of them that you put into them, but without your money, you'll always be stuck with someone else's version of your idea.
I was always a fan of the "full builds" guys used to do back in the day, like that purple Chrishanks spine cocker that had a match anodized eblade, mech, and pump setup.
I swore off e-cockers once I picked up an Excalibur.. I always wanted one last build for the fun of it. And I wanted it to be "different"
Pre-covid I scored a used but not abused TJD pneumatic assist pump kit. And that got this ball rolling, originally I had intended to build an appropriate pneumatic assist, as in something that stylistically looked like it made as much sense as a pneumatic assist in the first place, but mid block, because i prefer those at this point, and with an auto trigger, cause why wouldn't you?
As the parts started coming together from what I had on hand and what I had to locate, I was able to build a fully working gun to iron out the kinks and discover some of the growing pains for pump assist, including the need to locate an 86º frame, i needed a WGP spec full body for the pump assist to work correctly to begin with. and I've always had a soft spot for "featherlight milling" because I've been an AKA guy for a long time, I was lucky enough to score an RKJ extreme body, and he also happened to have a DYE UL frame in raw from the first run, which is actually what changed the trajectory of this one into a FULL build., I added the regular pump kit because it was too easy not to.. it even matched my trim color
some problems presented themselves in the initial build, like how to get an auto trigger pin into a semi auto arm, and a midblock no less... after some conversations with simon, bill from CCM, and getting the actual pump arm specs from TJD directly I was able to make an educated guess as to the right spot, so i got some midblock pump arms from simon and sent them to Antle with that info and he sent me back pump arms with an A/T pin
next issue I ran into was the ASA required a T-slot adapter, and that put the macroline at an angle I really didn't like, so i had both frames sent off for t-slot
this needed a unique anno, I have a rule, busy milling is better with simple anno, busy anno wont hide plain milling .. i thought about the old mexican confetti anno of the days of yore for a minute.. but i wanted something memorable.. i had some ideas, and an incredibly pleasant experience with caustic the last time i worked with him, so i started looking at some of his recent stuff, and decided on kintsugi, i really liked the idea of this thing looking a little "glued together" and i wanted it to look like marble, but still be polished to show off the milling, he was like "i got you"
so, after realizing what part i finally forgot to order (a regular semi auto pump arm) , and encountering some physical fitment issues between my detent and the A/T lever, i even found out these UL frames have both frame stops if your creative with the right hardware..
now to deliver on the hype, some of these shots are just straight up glamor shots.. its a difficult anno to capture the colors correctly its also a 3D ano with the gold on its own higher layer.. i have a large batch i took with my DSLR, but i haven't gone through those yet. i tried to get these with both barrel tips i had made, and i tried a dust back with the whip tip on some to try and work with the matte nature of the carbon
Semi Auto
lesson learned, you CAN in fact overdo it.. this whip tip will be living with the pump builds.. something about it on the semi looks off unfortunately
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