Model 98 Project Inspiration

[Toestr]

I bought this the other day because I have yet to have ever owned or shot a proper Tippmann 98, and this has all the obligatory old school upgrades. Thought it would be a cool winter gun being so overgassed and the extended trigger guard allowing for gloved hands.

It's in worse shape than I was expecting. I thought the flatline would be metal on top; it's rather chinsey feeling plastic. Expansion chamber is leaking and doesn't want to come apart. The locknut for the stock is very rough, as is the buffer tube. The receiver has bubbling paint and pitting. There's a chunk taken out of the right side exposing the pin bore for the front sight (should be easily epoxied).

Thought about giving this a cool powder coat but I'm not sure if it's worth it given the condition of it. Maybe a paint job instead? How durable can just spray paint be? Not sure what parts I want to keep or get rid of. Or if I would rather get a 98 Custom to have modern upgrade compatibility.

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[JeeperCreeper]

Maybe just play some games with it first, make sure it works for you and you want to keep it.
Paint can hold up just fine, especially if this is a winter beater gun. Powder coat is awesome, but can be expensive. I would only recommend it if it really had sentimental value, as you will struggle to get all the money back if you end up selling. I have seen more tippmans with rattle can jobs than probably any other gun. Maybe do a cool snow camo pattern?

[Cdn_Cuda]

Painting is easy. Bake it if you want to do a really good job, but if you like variety just a good spray bomb and change it as you see fit. Very easy to paint these.

As for this of a 98 custom, I say go with the 98. Having taken apart enough 98 Custom and various offspring I prefer the 98 for everything except the clip ring on the valve. That majorly sucks. The 98 Customs have a bunch of pins that pop out and triggers just held in place the a wing and a prayer. Take the receive apart and good luck!

At the end of the day you’re still going to have a Tippmann 98. You can only polish the turd so much. The Model 98s have a better looking body and are just that much more different than your run of the bill boring 98 Custom.

Hell, take that body, find some crazy colour changing paint and make a Kameleon tribute!

[BrickHaus]

I painted many 98s in my day. Bake it on at a low temp and it holds up well honestly.

Polish the internals. And hot soapy soak for that flatline barrel.

The 98 flatty barrel imo was the best. It was longer than the other flatties so it seemed to work better.

Chrono like 250-260 with a flatty and itll shoot tits.

tippmann used to offer to re sand blast the inside of your flatlines as needed. The grit wear as you use em, and they can get less effective. They still may offer the service, but see how it looks after a good wash.

[P.I.C.T. Tactical]

There is nothing like bringing a 98c back to life and running it. I got a used 98c pro on here and with all of the old 98 upgrades I had saved over the years I did this.

I like mag fed and limited paint play so I built this for straight mech play

[Cdn_Cuda]

Those mag adaptors look great! How well do they work?

[P.I.C.T. Tactical]

As long as you are using the short ones, fine.

[OpusX]

If you "know a guy" so you can cut down on cost, powder coat is nice. The problem I had was overspray. I had to hand sand and polish off a bunch of overspray inside the body. It all worked out, but just an fyi.

[Toestr]

I'll probably paint this one then. I'll have a look at some paint sections at hardware stores, but I think I'll end up going with barbecue paint. Does baking the paint stink up the house or anything?

I saw a Tippmann effect 98 on FB the other day. That was pretty cool. I kind of want to do an eclipse splash tribute powder coat (I do know a guy), but on a nicer example.

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[Jordan]

I used wrinkle paint on mine. It does require baking at a low temp to complete the hardening/cure, but it seems durable.

I would strongly recommend sand/bead blasting the body shells prior to paint or whatever you decide to do, the paint will adhere much better.

[Toestr]

Are new 98 threads backwards compatible? I just tried a new style barrel on this and it worked.

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[Macdave06]

What about hydro dip? Like 25 bucks for the material and activator. Seems to hold up fairly well. Unless you're just looking to do a solid color.

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[OpusX]

I kind of want to do an eclipse splash tribute powder coat (I do know a guy), but on a nicer example.

Well in that case go for it. Overall the sanding I had to do would have been done anyway as part of an internal polish.

I opted for green flake. It turned out well.

[glaman5266]

The 98 flatty barrel imo was the best. It was longer than the other flatties so it seemed to work better.

Chrono like 250-260 with a flatty and itll shoot tits.

I agree with this. The newer Flatlines aren't nearly as good as the older ones. Had both the older & newer Flatlines for an A-5 and the older one shot remarkably well when set to 260-270. The newer one broke a fair amount of paint. I think the curvature of the barrel in the newer ones is too steep. It also doesn't help with paint quality being what it currently is.

I'd stick with the older Flatline. The plastic up top is just a shroud/housing.

[Toestr]

I finally got this sandblasted to try and take advantage of the warm weather and get this painted today but it wasn't quite warm enough.

Still not quite sure what I'm going to do for paint. Right now I'm thinking either plain black, VM style silver tiger stripe, or purple chameleon.

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[Trbo323]

People/blue color changing all the way.


Here's some others for more inspiration



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[ElectricBullshark]

I saw all the 98 porn, so i'll add mine too. Lol. This is a set i built from a $70 model 98 i found on ebay, turned it into a fancy shmancy sniper rifle bundle. Not pictured is the 20 oz c02, remote line, gun bag, mask, pod pack, squeegee, and parts box. Mind you i love restoring tippys, polishing internals, adding every aftermarket part i can find, and flipping them. Mainly to get people into the sport and make a little pocket change for scratching my foster gun owner itch. Lol

Edit- upgrade list
- 5 stage expansion chamber
- Hand adjustable velocity screw
- 18" apex2 barrel
- adjustable carbine stock
- bt bipod + barrel mount adapter
- d.o.p. rocket cocker
- all new springs, o rings, polished internals, new detent, deep clean
- b.a.s.e. anti jam gravity feed hopper
- metallic green/metal flake paint