Saturday, October 18, 2014

ERTL MCS Mod Guide

This is basically going to document the whole mod process of this PAS whice I've dubbed the ERTL Modern Combat Shotgun or MCS. The mod essentially converts the uncomfortable, impractical blaster it was to a more comfortable and versatile weapon.


This is a shot of the stock PAS and my old Raider which I'm going to sacrifice for this mod as I now own a Rampage although you could actually make due with any blaster with a stock mount. There isn't really all that much else you need for this mod, just basic tools like a Dremel, a drill, a hotglue gun, and a soldering iron. Actual parts basically come down to a 1/2 PVC coupler, CPVC coupler, a piece of 19/32 brass, super glue, and lots of epoxy putty. Not really much.
Take the Raider and gut everything except for the trigger plus it's spring and the main spring, set those aside. The rest is basically garbage since reverse plungers don't really have a place in nerfing anymore. Then go out and buy a Rampage to replace it.
 The PAS's internals, nothing really much needed to do here. Just remove all the internals.
 Remove the ball launcher, it should just slide right off the brown piece. Don't throw it away, you'll need it later on.
Take the Raider spring and slip it under the PAS's spring. Stretch the raider spring a little so it accounts for the full length of the plunger draw. It should provide a good boost in power without making the blaster too hard to prime. The stock seal is fine so it kept it as is but I added a piece of a Big Bad Bow arrow for padding of the front.
Take the ball launcher and hack it off on the second ring from the back, now you can get rid of it or make into a barrel attachment or whatever. Stick a short piece (About 5cm) of the 9/16 brass into the brown piece and fill in the dead space with hot glue.
Put the sanding drum on your Dremel and sand out the inside of the orange piece until the 1/2 PVC coupler fits inside perfectly, then glue it in. Before doing so I took the CPVC coupler, chopped it in half and rammed it into the back of the PVC coupler before gluing it to the orange piece. This allows you to use both PVC and CPVC barrels.
This is where it gets tricky, chop off the the stock and trigger guard from your PAS shell and then chop off the Raider's grip and stock mount like the way pictured. This takes some trial and error as the halves must line up but once it's out of the way, it's smooth sailing. I super glued the shell pieces together to hold them together while I fused the two pieces together with a soldering iron.
 When the the pieces are fused, take your epoxy putty and fill in all the gaps. Then once it's dry, Dremel down any excess and sand it smooth with sandpaper.
 Now onto linking the triggers. Just cut down the PAS's trigger and then shave it down close to the shape above. Then drill holes in both triggers and link them with string, fishing line, wire, etc. I used part of an old catch spring for mine as so far I've had no issues. Since the internals are on the left side of the blaster I had to hotglue the Raider's trigger spring to the left half to make it easier to open and close the blaster. Make sure you test this thoroughly because it takes trial and error.
Afterwards, you can go ahead and slap a nice paint job on it which I haven't quite gotten to yet or you can just put the internals back in and seal it up as is. Toss on a stock and a barrel of your choice and you got yourself a highly viable and very powerful primary. Mine hits around the 110 foot mark with an 8.5 inch barrel consistently and it's pretty damn accurate. With a hopper this blaster is just unfair. I'd have to say this is one of my new favorite primaries, probably more so than my Longshot or Crossbow. Here's a video of it firing.

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