Review: Grey "Waffle" Darts

Back when K'nex launched their line of blasters, they also created a unique type of dart tip. This dart looked essentially like an Elite, however instead of having a hollow tip, it used a series of layers of rubber for cushioning. It wasn't too long before aftermarket copies of the K'nex dart started showing up. Shortly afterwards, darts started becoming available with tips similar in style to the K'nex dart, but with holes straight through the tip. This type of dart was dubbed the "Waffle" dart. A friend of mine gave me 30 grey Waffles to try out.

Review: Nerf Doomlands Desolator (US orange trigger)

The Desolator is a blaster belonging to a sub-theme of Doomlands, Impact Zone. This subtheme features a vastly different colour scheme to regular Doomlands blasters, being primarily white instead of primarily yellow/orange. Regardless, they maintain many distinctive Doomlands-style features, such as the translucent window on the sides of blasters. While the Desolator is essentially "just" a Stryfe, being a Stryfoid is by no means a bad thing, as the Stryfe is a great blaster in itself. What the Desolator offers then, besides being a Stryfoid, is its unique and awesome design, and I was rather excited to get my hands on one. Unfortunately, the Desolator never arrived in Aussie stores, so after months of waiting I eventually purchased one off a fellow Aussie who had imported several.

Mod: Desolator Overhaul

Received my Desolator a couple of days ago and fell in love with it, it's a beautiful blaster. I gave it an overhaul hopefully worthy of its shell, and it's turned out quite nicely.
EDIT 7/12/16: A couple of new, relatively small mods have been added.

Review: Nerf Modulus Tri-Strike (Aus grey trigger)

The Tri-Strike is the first Modulus blaster to be sporting some properly new accessories, boasting the ability to fire three different ammo types from all its components. This is exactly the sort of thing that I was hoping the Modulus line would bring, accessories that wouldn't be seen in the Elite line. I waited for the price to drop a little before picking one up.

MHvZ Game Report 19/11/16 - Rhino-Fire Usage, Blind Bomber Return

We had quite a good MHvZ event today, a good turnout and some good games. I also got some use out of my newly completed Rhino-Fire.

Announcing Giveaway Winners!

We received 6 entries in total, 3 in each Australian category. There wasn't a single International entry so naturally noone won that category.
For the First Australian category for the Modulus, the winner was OpponentMocha6.
For the Second Australian category for the Hammershot and MTB motors, the winner was Harrison Gibson.
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all entrants! You can find the images they submitted in the rest of the post.

Mod: Rhino-Fire with MTB Honey Badger Pusher

I was given a Rhino-Fire some time ago, and had no real idea what to do with it. I eventually settled on replacing the pusher with a Honey Badger and running it off a 3S LiPo. Though similar to a Rapidstrike in many ways, there were also a lot of other issues to deal with.

MLF Game Report 23/10/16 - Slow Starts, Long Games

Had quite an unusual MLF event today. Quite a few players arrived late, so we started the day rather slowly with a relatively smaller player count. As people started to arrive though, the games got bigger and more intense, culminating in a series of extremely tight and long games.

Mod: Underbarrel BBUMB

This is something I've been working on recently. At MLF, shields are a huge threat that can only be directly countered with grenades and rockets, however carrying an extra blaster purely for rocket duty is an absolute pain. I wanted something that I could attach to my blasters that would still provide decent grenade launching ability. I acquired this set of BBUMB internals, and with some spare parts, set to work.

1 Million Views and Giveaway! [CLOSED]

So we recently hit 1,000,000 total views! Thanks everyone!

This is a graph of the views per month over the whole five-and-a-half(ish) years. That steep drop at the end is naturally due to only being half way through October. In the past year and a half the average number of views seems to have increased.

Some data on the audience of the blog. Glad to see Internet Exploder's usage decreasing.

To celebrate this milestone, I'm organising a giveaway. Just about everyone will be eligible to enter, and there's no skill required, just participation. Full details, T&Cs, etc can be found after the break.

***GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***

MHvZ Game Report 8/10/16 - High Player Count, Hostage Survival

We had a lot of players today which made for some really good games and in particular some rather big and scary zombie hordes. We also tried out a new Survival variant, Hostage Survival.

Review: Smooth Artifact Flywheels and Straight (Red) Flywheel Cage

Aftermarket flywheel parts are somewhat of a rarity compared to the plethora of springer mod parts that are out there. While there are all kinds of springs, breeches and other internal parts available, flywheels and flywheel cages are pretty rare. These Artifact parts are only the 3rd aftermarket cage and flywheels I know of, and the first non-canted cage and first non-proprietary smooth concave flywheels I'm aware of. Given my love of flywheelers, I was naturally very excited to get my hands on them.
EDIT 8/10/16: Chrono numbers have been added.
EDIT 9/10/16: Some alterations have been made to the cage + flywheels segment.

Worker Parts: Stryfe Mag Release, Thumbscrews, RS Pusher

I received a package from China containing a variety of Worker and Artifact parts. I'll be talking about the Artifact parts in a future post, but I thought I might as well do a quick post on all the other parts I bought.

USC Dart Review and Testing

Suction darts are an extremely popular and fun dart type, because of their exceptional accuracy and the sheer fun of sticking them to smooth, flat surfaces. Due to their large heads however, the traditional suction darts don't work in mag fed blasters, which dominate much of today's blaster range. Nerf released mag-compatible suction darts will smaller heads some time ago, however I've never seen them in Australia for a reasonable price. Third party mag-compatible suctions (dubbed "Universal Suction Clones") have also been available for quite a while, and I decided to get a bunch of them.

MHvZ Game Report 10/9/16 - Lower Player Count, Balloons

We had less players than usual today, resulting in a later than usual start. There was also a little rain, though for the most part that didn't interfere with play. We did however have an opportunity to try a new zombie mutation which was rather interesting.

FVN/VTN Dart Mini Test Fire and Observations

FVNs are a more recent dart design to appear. It merges the bullet-like tip design of ACC darts with the hard vinyl material of FVJs. I wasn't intending to get some for myself, but a friend of mine bought a bunch and passed me some to test.

Mod: Complete Rapidpistol Build, 3S HoneyBadger Issues

 

This is something I've worked on for around the past two weeks, and I'm fairly happy with it. I've never been a fan of the Rapidpistol, I never liked how they force battery pack placement above the pusher or in the stock. I also personally much prefer having a full fore end or proper foregrip as opposed to the snub nose of a typical Rapidpistol. However I acquired this Rapidstrike in parts, pre cut for a reasonable price, so I set about to complete it.

MLF Game Report 21/8/16 - Rain, Black Hawk Down

We had quite an eventful MLF game today. The on-and-off rain had quite a significant impact on play, and we also played a few rounds of BHD for the first time in a while.

MHvZ Game Report 13/8/16 - Semi Auto Testing, Blombies

Today's MHvZ event was pretty good. I was able to test out several of my newly completed semi auto flywheelers. We also had quite a high player count, which made for some pretty good games. We also saw the return of Defence Survival.

More Motor Mods: Black Dog/Pigs, Banshee'd Modulus

More motor related mods and things! This is the datasheet I use for almost all the motor specs I quote.

Review: Buzz Bee Cyclonic (22m/72ft EU)

Everyone loves spinning barrels, so it's always exciting when a promising blaster is released with them. The Cyclonic is a full auto flywheeler, which Buzz Bee proved they can do decently with the Brute. I wanted to acquire one for myself to see how it would stack up as a budget full auto flywheeler.

Quick Mod: Micro Front Rail Attachment

Something I've always wanted for my Bullpup RS and Elite Rayven is a front rail for attaching foregrips, without extending barrel length significantly. While I've gotten by just fine without any proper foregrip, I really wanted to have a foregrip but didn't want the extra barrel length from an ordinary barrel attachment. I came up with this, with a spare Retal barrel and Rayven muzzle.

Motor Mods: Blade 180/-3240 Stryfe, XP180 RS Pusher

Got a few more mods and experiments done, both involving some form of 180 motor.

Comparison: Elite Rapidstrike vs Elite Hyperfire

I've got a Cyclonic review coming up soon, but that could take a while. In the meantime have a comparison between Elite's two full auto rifle blasters. How does the Hyperfire stack up to the Rapidstrike?

MLF Game Report 17/7/16 - Flywheeler Saturation, Play Area Switching

MLF is becoming more and more saturated with flywheelers, and there are less and less springers and airblasters that see use. Nevertheless, we were able to have a lot of good games. We also switched play area half way, which helped to add a bit of diversity to the day.

My First Experience with Paintball

Now for a completely different post, sadly without pictures. A friend of mine took a couple of us out to paintball for his birthday. This was the first time I'd played paintball so I thought it would be a good time for a paintball vs Nerf comparison. There were 5 of us in the group, so we were thrown together with two other groups of strangers, totalling around 16 players.

Review: Buzz Bee Destiny (18m/60ft EU)

The Buzz Bee Destiny is one of Buzz Bee's most exciting releases this year. It offers a return to good old air powered rapid fire, a system used by the Nerf Magstrike and BoomCo Rapid Madness, both of which have a significant number of fans. How does Buzz Bee's foray into this tech compare, and how does it stack up in the modern world of blasters?
Disclosure: This blaster was sent to me by Buzz Bee Toys for review. I would like to thank them for their contribution, however note that it will not bias the review in any way.

Jase3D: Another Aussie Parts Seller

Jase3D is a relatively new seller of 3D printed parts in Australia. He's produced only a couple of different designs so far, but the ones he has released (that I have seen in person) are all fantastic.

Review: Gavinfuzzy Retaliator Pump Grip

Probably the biggest flaw holding back the Retaliator is its awkward top slide prime. Not only is it relatively uncomfortable (compared to most preferred priming mechanisms), but it's also a relatively awkward motion and gets in the way of aiming. The solution to this problem is, naturally, to convert the Retaliator to a pump action, and the included barrel piece is a perfect mounting platform. Gavinfuzzy Customs provides one such pump grip.

Review: Nerf Elite Hyperfire (21m Aus grey trigger)

The Hyperfire is one of the more exciting 2016 releases for me. I'm personally not into things like the Mastodon or Khaos, but I love full auto. The Hyperfire presented itself as a replacement for the now hard-to-find Rapidstrike (at least in Australia), and though its extremely high retail price was annoying, still presented great potential. My enthusiasm was blunted substantially when it was revealed/discovered that the Hyperfire uses a conveyor belt feeding mechanism instead of a traditional pusher, but I still wanted to see for myself how it compares to the beloved Rapidstrike.

Mod: Flywheel Brass Guide (19/32" in an RS)

Something I've always hated about flywheels is the apparent lack of accuracy. Whether because I'm bad at setting up flywheel blasters or they just hate me, who knows. One of the steps I took towards trying to improve accuracy was switching to Worker flywheels, which as I noted in my review, work quite well. I decided to try a brass dart guide, as it was something I had the materials for on hand, and something that has had a lot of varying results.

MLF Game Report 19/6/16 - High Player Count, Rapidstrike Spamfest

Today's MLF event was quite a good one. We had a much higher than usual player count and so had some quite intense games. There were also more Rapidstrikes than usual this event.

MHvZ Game Report 11/6/16 - Squad Survival, MTB Hellcats

Despite some rain early in the day, today's MHvZ event was quite good. We tried out some changes to standard Survival, and I got a lot of use with my Bullpup RS, with newly installed MTB Hellcats.

Mod: MTB Hellcats in Rapidstrike

MTB Hellcats are MTB's first foray into 180s. They're intended for use on 3S, spinning around 36kRPM at 12V like Rhinos, but generating around 3x the torque (exact numbers can be found here). I picked up a pair to replace the Falcons that were in my Bullpup RS.

Mod: Quad Rocket Lanard Shotgun

The Lanard Shotgun/Air Zone Tripleshot is an older pump action blaster that had a turret of 4 sets of 3 darts, and it was intended to shoot out 3 darts at a time. Though in stock form it was pretty awful, a huge plunger tube and surprisingly strong stock spring gave it massive mod potential, and there are a huge number of examples of modded LSG/AZTS's that can be found with a simple google search. I wanted to do something different in the same vein as my triple rocket Titan - a pump action quad rocket blaster.
Do note that my particular model is specifically a Lanard Shotgun, I don't know how different it is to the similarly coloured Air Zone Triple Shot.

Melbourne Nerf Wars Game Report 29/5/16: Stryfe Dominance, Rapidstrike Woes

My first time with MNW, it was a somewhat different experience to what I get at MLF.

Mod: MTB "Reapers" in an RS

MTB "Reapers" (name coined by Foam Data Services) are a prototype 2S 180 motor that hasn't (yet) been put into production. These samples were sent to Ryan of MTB along with samples for the MTB Hellcat, which should be arriving in the next few weeks. I acquired a pair of the Reapers, with the other pair being sent to FDS. I installed them in my 2S LiPo RS rifle.

Review: Worker Flywheels

Aftermarket flywheels are another one of the developments aimed at pushing flywheel technology further. These Worker flywheels are an excellent example of such, a set of drop-in flywheels. Let's look at how these wheels differ to stock Nerf flywheels, and how performance is affected.

MLF Game Report 15/5/16 - Low Player Count, Rapidstrike Testing

MLF event with less players than usual for the majority of the time, with several players joining in about an hour before the end of the rounds. Nevertheless the day had quite a few good rounds, and the play area was very nice. I chrony'd several blasters as we had a chrono on hand, which was very useful for me.

MHvZ Game Report 7/5/16 - Police Appearance, Virus Bunkers

MHvZ event with a surprise appearance by the police. I'll let the MTB video fill you in on more of the details and such. Basically someone in the park saw what they thought was a rifle of some kind, called the cops, and the cops responded appropriately. Thankfully noone was fined or anything, but obviously it's better if the cops don't need to come at all.

Review: Nerf Modulus Recon MkII

With the first Modulus blaster being a flywheeler, the next logical blaster to release is a Retaliator-based springer, being that the Retaliator platform has the most tacticool potential. Nerf did exactly that, releasing the Recon MkII. How does it compare to the still available Retaliator?

Mod: FK-180PH-3250 Rapidstrike Pusher Motor

Another motor experiment, this one of the -3250.

Review: MazoFactory MOLLE Single Grenade Pouch (HSG1)

One of the common mechanics in Melbourne Nerf groups is the utility of "grenades", an ammo type that can be thrown or launched, which are usually designed and used to combat shields. They also often have special abilities if they directly hit a player. With the creation of shields for MLF, the continuing importance of grenades in MHvZ and the increasing usage of Demolisher rockets and other thrown ammo in my own games, I decided to get some dedicated grenade pouches to allow easier and faster access to any grenades I'm carrying. Enter the MazoFactory Grenade Pouch (HSG1-R2).

Note that a variety of objects count as "grenades" in Melbourne games, depending on the group and what is available at the time. Common "grenades" are Demo rockets and Vortex Pocket Howlers, although stress balls are commonly used in MLF. Pretty much any throwable ammo is applicable to "grenade" for this review.

MLF Game Report 17/4/16 - Grenade Launchers, Worker Flywheels Usage

Another MLF event, because of the shields there was a lot more grenade action. I also got a good amount of experience with Worker wheels in my Bullpup Rapidstrike, and tried out my Demolisher with MTB Honey Badgers.

Mod: MTB Honey Badgers in a Demolisher

Quick post regarding the new MTB Honey Badgers. Mazofactory Grenade Pouch review will go live once I've combat tested them at MLF this Sunday, then Recon MkII and Worker flywheels at some point too.

MTB Honey Badgers are a 130 sized motor intended for use as a high speed RS pusher on 3S - getting about 14dps as opposed to Rhinos at about 9dps. Their specs however also suggest possibility for use as a 2S flywheel motor. I decided to try them in my Demolisher as I didn't want to bother with Blade 180s for it.

Birthday Presents 2016

A little late this year as I've only just had the chance to go and buy things.

From left to right, top to bottom:
Arduino Uno kit, Recon MkII, Lego 75126, Lego 75131, Lego 75132.
Mazofactory Grenade Pouch review to come soon, Recon MkII after that and hopefully an MLF game report after the 17th.

Review: Nerf Elite Dual-Strike (grey trigger)

The Dual-Strike is one of the more unusual new blasters, a blaster capable of firing both Elites and Megas, and switch between them at will. Naturally this system, assuming it is relatively efficient and effective, is intruiging and present a lot of potential.

Note that this blaster belongs to a friend and I borrowed it for this review, so I may not be able to answer subsequent questions about it as accurately as I would like.

MLF Game Report 20/3/16 - Black Hawk Down, Shields

My second MLF event, with some shields and a new (to me at least) gamemode.

MHvZ Game Report 12/3/16 - More Traitors, Rival Appearance

Another HvZ game, I had to leave a little early because reasons, but we still got to play quite a few rounds.