F1 Illustrator Disassembly

[Cdn_Cuda]

In this edition of Cuda takes apart a marker he’s never seen before I’m taking apart an F1 Illustrator that got tossed in on a local deal. Never held one or seen one in person prior to this. Let’s hope things don’t break!

[Cdn_Cuda]

Starting off east, removing the wire detent:



Then the two nobs on the back of the marker:



Both came off quite easily.

I believe the white plastic piece is an aftermarket velocity adjustor. Screw in to put more tension on the main spring.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Next remove the cocking pin in the hammer. It just unscrews.


Then remove the two grip frame screws to remove the trigger frame.


And then remove the rear airline adaptor:



And then the barrel:

[Cdn_Cuda]

With the barrel removed you can then remove the lower tube plug:



And remove the spring assembly and the valve pin:

Next you’ll need to remove the valve retention nut in the bottom of the body (just like a cocker or Spyder)z

With that remove you can coax out the full valve:

[Cdn_Cuda]

Now only the only things left in the body are the bolt and the hammer.

After some exploration, I noticed a hole on the top of the body. Not bolt to screw, although it is threaded. So I stuffed an Allen key in to see if it was like a cocker hammer. Nope!


There is a pin that connects the bolt to the hammer and it just pushes out:


So that allows the bolt to be removed, leaving only the hammer. Not much luck in getting it out, I noticed a pin in the body that keeps the hammer pin place:


Not sure how to remove that pin other than with a punch. Be nice to get a new oring on the hammer.

Oh, and getting the valve out was a little bit of a pain but used some macroline to help free it:

[Cdn_Cuda]

So finally I have everything but the hammer removed and cleaned. Will put on new orings and get it all back together.

[Morgenstern]

Neat! I always assumed these were what the Brass Eagle Raptor was based on since they were so similar but I never knew for sure. It’s unreal how light and compact these are compared to the other blowbacks of the same vintage like the VM-68 and .68 Special.

[wthomas333]

Nice write up! I am confused on the pin and hammer though. So the hammer wouldn’t just slide out the back once the connecting pin was removed? That seems strange. I’ve owed several of these and that’s how they all disassembled, as well as all my Raptors which are nearly identical. Maybe I’m forgetting something since I sold all my F1s, but I don’t remember a pin that prevented the hammer from coming out the back. It’s kinda hard to tell from the pic where in the body that pin sits.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Didn’t get a great shot of it, but here is where the pin is:

[Cdn_Cuda]

Looking at it, I might be able to leverage it down and out. Does not seem necessary with the valve retention bolt, but modern Spyders have a similar pin.

[wthomas333]

Ok, I remember the pin that the valve sat against. I actually wish the Raptor had one to help protect its softer brass valve body. But I guess I’m just not understanding. Is that somehow preventing the hammer from sliding out the back of the gun?

[Cdn_Cuda]

Hammer doesn’t seem like it will come out the back. I did try but thought the lower tube narrowed a little in the back. Maybe it was just tight and needed a little more prying.

[Rolling Thunder 67]

Good start to a tear down of a F1, the access hole in the top with threaded pin you noticed is the linkage pin for the bolt and hammer and is meant to be pulled from the top of the marker. check under your foam bumper of the top rear plug, there maybe a machine threaded pin on it. which you would screw in through top hole and remove the pin. hope this helps

https://www.vintagerex.com/pics/gunpics/FAST/F1%20Illustrator/manuals/F1%20Manual.pdf

[Cdn_Cuda]

Thanks! Doesn’t look like I have that pin. Got that piece out without issue though. Have the marker cycling using the back bottle. Need to reseal the airline for the bottom line.

[Cdn_Cuda]

And all back together and a few barrels.

[Cdn_Cuda]

No idea, but would explain a lot about the barrel! It and the brass barrel came buried in the gear bag.

[Chappy]

Now it’s both! Genius, I’m surprised the gardner bros didn’t patent this.

[scottieb]

That is a pretty neat idea with the barrel.

[Brokeass_baller]

For that linkage pin, try threading in the cocking screw or something. My F2 has a typical top cocking pin. But, my Laser, which is a clone, kinda, uses the thumb screw from the frame. The system seems very similar to your F1.