Pile of Poo Contest - Myrkul's beater tippmann

[Myrkul]

Busted up 98 body. Pin for the feed neck latch has pushed through the aluminum of the body, breaking it. Also looks like someone started chopping it up before it made its way into my Tippmann parts bin. I have some miscellaneous parts laying around, but for the most part the gun needs...everything. I'll update this regularly.

Current Parts:
Broken Tippmann Body: $0
Tippmann 98 VASA: $0
Tippmann 98 back cap, with home brewed RVA: $0
Tippmann 98 Grips: $0
Tippmann 98 feedneck: $0
Tippmann 98 trigger & guard: $0
Tippmann 98 Super R/T: $0 - Probably going to leave this off....
Scratched up gas through grip: $0
Standard Duck Bill: $0
Giant pile of springs: $0
Giant pile of screws: $0
Various lengths of steel braided lines and fittings: $0
Valve off eBay: $15.78
Misc. Parts from our very own Sharkytrav: $20
Striker off eBay: $7.99
Clippard switch: $32.52
Hose Barbs: $10.63
Aluminum Stock: $7.99

Aluminum Power tube and front bolt: $21.99
(I know they do nothing, but with as much as I am planning on exposing the power tube, I wanted to make sure it was silver and shiny)
Barrel: Gifted from the bottom of Nobbie333's gearbag.

Total cost: $116.90 (including shipping charges)




First order of business:
Clean up the sloppy chops, maybe expand them a bit, & fix the feedneck latch hole.

[boarder2k7]

That's definitely a beater! I wonder what the goal was with that slot, maybe directly attaching a regulator?

[DavidBoren]

I did that to a 98 when I was a kid. Threaded the ASA adapter directly into the bottom of the valve. Not sure why, actually... maybe I didn't have the bottomline adapter designed to replace the foregrip... maybe I didn't want it out where the foregrip was... who knows at this point.

[Myrkul]

Probably trying to get a minicocker VA in there would be my guess....although in my experience most minicocker VAs have even worse gas flow the regular 1/8" NPT fittings...

[Brokeass_baller]

That's definitely a beater! I wonder what the goal was with that slot, maybe directly attaching a regulator?

That's exactly what it's for. A buddy of mine tried to make a DIY low pressure M98 and did this to his.

[Myrkul]

Update:

Spent some quality time with the hack saw and a hand file. Accidently broke the body around the velocity adjuster where the metal got too thin, but this is to be expected with poo projects. Obviously it still needs a lot more cleaning up, but its a good start.


Should I expose the linkage arm? I've seen it done a few times back on Model98.org back in the day and wondered what people thought of it. I'm leaning toward it with this one....

[Vince]

Well I guess you can polish a turd.

[boarder2k7]

I mean if you're going to hack it up then hack it all the way up. Exposed linkage arm, second cocking slot on the right hand side, DIY shark fins (less good on these newer ones where they moved the logos around), the slice it in half across the trigger guard screw quick strip mod....

There's so many choices for a beater 98c


Edit: If you're going for it anyway...

[Myrkul]

That's kind of what I was thinking. It's getting hacked, might as well go all the way with it. I'm not confident I can do shark gills or a second cocking slot with just hand tools, but might as well go all out since we are already there. It'll most likely get the quick strip mod too.

[Myrkul]

Update:

I "think" I'm finished chopping up the body now, unless anyone else has any ideas. I opted not to do the "quick clean" mod since so much aluminum is already missing I don't want to weaken the body even further. I've also acquired the remaining parts I'll need.

Obviously it still needs a lot of sanding. Next step is to fix that hole for the feedneck latch, hand sand the body to clean it up a bit more, then bead blasting. For the feed neck latch I've opted to create my own special screw to plug the hole. This avoids JB weld which can (but not always) be problematic for the new finish. I think this will clean up super nice.





Open to additional suggestions!

[Myrkul]

Update:

I decided to pull some of the aftermarket parts to keep the cost down, I might re-add some, but ultimately I decided to take this build in a slightly different direction.

I threaded the blown out hole for the feed neck latch for 6-32.

I chopped down the sides of the sight rail and sanded everything down to the best of my ability.



My Father-in-law has access to a bead blaster & powder coating at his work, and has graciously offered to help. The body has been dropped off for bead blasting. Unfortunately, the color I had purchased for this build isn't going to arrive until the 14th of January, and rather then wait and try to cram everything into the last 2 weeks, I've opted to use a color I had laying around from a different project. I will post pictures when it is back in my hands.

On to fine tuning the internals!

Drilled out the Vertical ASA fitting for a marginally higher valve volume


I received a mud covered Tippmann 68 Carbine CVX valve from I&I sport's Ebay store. They apologized for the mix up and said I could keep it, (surprisingly lucky, since I picked up a 68 Carbine 2 weeks ago) they sent an actual 98 valve no additional charge. The "o" rings where completely done on the new one, and the brass face the cup seal rests against was all dinged up. Sanded the dings out of the brass, chopped down a super weak spyder valve spring, and replaced the internal "o" rings with some buna ones I had laying around. I had a spare nylon "o" ring for the eternal CVX "O" ring.



The aftermarket power tube & front bolt arrived. The front bolt has an internal "o" ring to help it seal against the power tube....unfortunately there were countless horizontal groves in the powertube let over from manufacturing. It was awful, you could hear the bolt moving over the ridges if you slid it back and forth. Spent a few hours sanding the ridges out so the front bolt now glides smoothly and dreamily like its supposed to. I'm curious to see if that internal "o" ring improves efficiency or velocity at all (I doubt it, but you never know....)



Finally, I decided on a parts bin gas through grip and dug out my super R/T from the parts bin as well. I have a very love/hate relationship with response triggers. I love having them and showing them off, but I hate using them (why it was in the parts bin in the first place). Rather then have this just rot in a parts bin, I've decided to try and incorporate it into the build, with the requirement that it can quickly and easily be disabled or enabled on the fly. (So a cheater mode basically). I have a plan for this, we'll see how it pans out.

[boarder2k7]

I have an RT on my 98 with a flatline. Great for when you want to reach out and touch someone. This was also put together during the 00s BPS wars so a slightly different environment. I'd have to turn it down a bit to play with it now I'm sure.

[Myrkul]

My whole issue with them is I can't figure out how to get them to not chop paint at high speeds. I can spring 98s light enough to pinch paint, but you throw an RT on one and its chop city. I've tried cyclones, ported feed necks, powerfeeds with a rotor, and still would chop too frequently for it to be playable....Then again I always tend to tune them to be on the fast side of things....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RLD5r5hQrE

[boarder2k7]

Interesting, I don't remember having that issue with mine and I used to be feeding it with a Revi or a Halo A, then B. I didn't have it tuned up as fast as your video though, certainly not for any extended rates of fire. I didn't have the money for the paint!

[Myrkul]

I'm sure the paint is a huge factor too. Stack clipping has been the bane of my existence for around 2 years now. 90% of the tech work and tuning I do to my gear is just trying to minimize it's impact. Oddly enough the 98 is better then most because of the Tippmann ball detents, but the paint can only get so small before even they have problems.

[Myrkul]

Update:
Preliminary mock up on the "selector" switch for the R/T. Obviously I still have to modify that bracket extensively, and I'm still not sure this is getting included in the final project yet (Space concerns), but here is where my head is at.



Nice little acid bath to etch everything post bead blasting but pre-powder coating.

[Spydercam]

I like the RT switch ! 🙂

[Myrkul]

Thank you! I'm still not sure about it but we'll see how it turns out when its all finished!

[Myrkul]

Powder coating pictures, should be back in my hands later tonight!

[Brokeass_baller]

This is coming along great!

[Myrkul]

Well.... Unfortunately the powder coat did not turn out as well as some of my previous projects. It was a two stage powder coat that required a sliver base coat before the final pink coat, and my father in law had not worked with that kind before. It's certainly passable for a poo project, since it was free, but not as nice as it could have been. Most of where I'd didn't stick well is on the back of the grips.



All cleaned up with hardware added


Custom screw I made with a hand file and a drill to fix the feed neck latch, works perfectly.

[boarder2k7]

I love the pink!

[Axel]

Bahhhh. You gotta just pretend that's how you meant it to be done in the first place! 😁