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With a new toy hopefully on its way soon, I should really reserve a space for pictures in this thread.
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The one thing I can say is that I would almost trade all of Tom Kaye's advancements just to undo the damage he inadvertently did to the world by introducing the power feed.
It was introduced at such a critical juncture in large scale paintball MFG time, and we are left with sooooooooooo many blowbacks stuck with powerfeed hopper left configuration.
He almost balanced his contribution by coming out with the no rise feed emag body but the damage to spyders and piranhas and so many other blowbacks never went away.
You have to hand it to tippmann for not making a powerfeed gun.Leave a comment:
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I bought my first Spyder in 1996, and to Cave's point, cut my teeth in the game with it so the appreciation has always been there for me. I think a few of us are doing the same thing, fulfilling the unfulfilled dreams of our youth while also trying to preserve a part of early paintball history of a marker that seems to have only maintained a small cult following as the years pass. It's been great to see the interest rise over the last couple of years and even better to see the restorations and new builds that have materialized.Leave a comment:
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I hear ya. Almost all of the rails I’ve seen offered by SP are windowed. That second pic at the top is from the SP catalog and shows a sp spyder starter kit in black with the jewel. -
No qualms here. lol
I adore the classic spyders and like some (most) of you, am building and acquiring all the stuff from my youth that was un-obtainable at that time.
My goal was to have one of every classic spyder model. Never did finish that plan though.
Allot of my motivation for building spyders was simply a zen thing. Kept my busy and focused. Also kept the bottle away.
Now i have 2 kids which does much of the same.
Was curious as to others motivation for spyders.
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My opinion on the matter is based on the SP catalogs. SPs were always open cut. If you want the SP specific build it should (requirement for me) be open cut. If you are doing an eclipse build, open or jewel cut is fine.
I have a smart spyder and a smart mag both with open cut rails. Not an eclipse jewel or eclipse milled (mag parts specifically) to be seen.
However I did swap some bodies around on both to be more aesthetically pleasing and get custom slot and detent covers made for the spyder. I will eventually have to get some parts match anodized.
Oh I picked up a gadget stock recently too! -
I absolutely dig how many of y’all still love spyders here on mcb.
I always round out the day of walk on play with a spyder. Its a blast watching people snicker a little when they see me put up the cvo or cocker and whip one of these out. But after that first game they’re all telling stories of their old spyders and ask to hold it.
I feel most of us cut our teeth on these and still building/using them pays respect to that.Leave a comment:
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On a fun side note, this is ready to go to Caustic for a full match (ICE). It’s exact spec for an eclipse deluxe.
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This ad from SP specifically calls them eclipse rails. I loved finding this out. I just wish I had a time machine because I would have scooped this stuff up like it was going out of style.
It took me forever to find the 3 I have now. It sucks to think about how many attics, landfills and moldy gearbags have these hiding in them.
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Good point on the rails. Both the rail with the window and rail with the jewel is from eclipse.
Ads show a mix of both.
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Good points... I started the sport with a Spyder, so I'm biased, but there's still something visceral about a blowback. I think they'll live on, somehow.Leave a comment:
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I will one day, a time to be appointed at a later...time... gather all of the precious, fix a camera on it, then reenact the "hydraulic press channel" on YouTube. I will then systematically fix reaction cams at appropriate locations around the MCB world. Immediately after posting said video, I will post the link on MCB and immediately engage the reaction cams. Then I will, like MJ from the Thriller video, feverishly watch the show and munch down on the 'corn.
But seriously, I don't care if anyone else enjoys spyders. I do. I have 3 kids one of which is nearing playing age. I have a love of old fashioned things so I look forward to teaching the kids how to service everything and find the love in tinkering. Something you can't really do with most new fangled gizmos. The goal is to teach them how to use their hands, common sense, respect for things and others, and enjoy paintball as a game. Screw that tourney need to win crap. Foosball? wuts that? Baseketball? Never heard of her. Just go and have fun. -
What Ganon said. There are a handful of builds that will stay with me because I built them to suit me specifically or I am satisfying a desire from my youth. The rest will be sold after I have finished my documentation to preserve the history of an era; not unlike what Dan has done for many markers and founders of the sport. It's a passion project of sorts that when complete will be posted and available for all in the community.
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