Clip-Fed Barricade Build Log

Hello Oznerf, i've been working on this mod for about a week and a half, after I discovered that Woolies are selling Barricades for $20- at the moment

The mod started with a complete gutting of the poor Barricade - it looks rather sad with only two thin strips of plastic holding the front end on...



Now it's been rebuilt with some chunky 2mm plasticard, with a scratch built clip release made also from a conglomeration of card scraps, a small spring and one of the metal pins from inside the LS Front Gun pump action.





This is just a quick entry as it's been a long week and I still have miles to go, as you can see from the internals shot I haven't done any of the wiring, but it will have all the standard 'cade mods including trigger-activated flywheels, high voltage battery and taped flywheels for extra grabbiness.

If anyone has any questions, queries or quibbles feel free to let me know about it here Any advice or constructive criticism folks may have is also welcome!

That's cool. Different enough to the standard ways too.

Very nice! I like how you did the clip, very clean.

I think you have discovered the cleanest, nicest looking (with a paint-job) way of clip modding a barricade, I have 2 barricades so when you have finished, I could use this as a guide, and go akimbo style

Very clean and hopefully sturdy enough to hold a 18-barrel, or 35-barrel if you are feeling crazy.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

abowden wrote:I think you have discovered the cleanest, nicest looking (with a paint-job) way of clip modding a barricade, I have 2 barricades so when you have finished, I could use this as a guide, and go akimbo style

I was thinking about making some templates for folks interested in copying the design, but after comparing a couple of Barricades with a mate we found that the shells seem to vary in their dimensions from unit to unit, anyone know if this is a common thing with NERF guns?? The actual process is pretty simple (fiddly, time consuming, but simple ) and just requires some careful measuring to get a nice clean fit - anyone with a metal ruler and some plasticard can get similar results! Plasticard is best sourced from eBay as Aussie price are basically robbery, i've had good luck from UK sellers in the past and it's best to buy in bulk

Joey wrote:Very clean and hopefully sturdy enough to hold a 18-barrel, or 35-barrel if you are feeling crazy.

The design is pretty solid, though it will probably get some reinforcing in parts with hot glue or epoxy. My plan is to use it with the 18 shot drum, but it will hold the 35 too, and it looks pretty cool with a Raider stock on it When it's painted i'll show it with all the options!

Really nive and clean man.
Shame I hate barricades.

-James

I love how clean that is!

Also the homemade lock system is very creative, well done.

Sorry it's part of the forums that you have to finish making it before you post it.... JOKESSSS. =).

I'm actually quite keen to see what the finished result is because it looks really clean. Very 'streamline' compared to others you find on the net, they're kind of bulky. It looks like your one could actually fit in the holster.

Any idea how you're going to paint that?

littlebro05 wrote:Sorry it's part of the forums that you have to finish making it before you post it.... JOKESSSS. =).

I'm actually quite keen to see what the finished result is because it looks really clean. Very 'streamline' compared to others you find on the net, they're kind of bulky. It looks like your one could actually fit in the holster.

Any idea how you're going to paint that?

I like to make build logs so that i have peer pressure to finish things, hehe The whole point of this mod was to be as small and slim as possible - it is about an inch shorter than a stock Spectre and just a tad wider. The clip used will determine how portable it will be I guess, the 18 drum is what i'll be using unless I go full SMG with a 35 drum and stock!

I've decided to paint all my blasters in a 'District 9'/Whiteout style scheme, so white with orange, black and grey trim. Hopefully that scheme will satisfy all war restrictions and the po-po too

There is also a slim (SLIM) chance i might try and put an adaptor on the front so it can have a barrel extension attached, but i doubt it will happen as it's not very practical and the front end doesnt have a lot of support for it as it stands now, heh.

Alright, after a bit of frantic effort to beat sundown, I got the majority of the painting done on this blaster - it's a kinda 'District 9/Whiteout' affair, and hopefully noone will mistake it for a real firearm!

Here it is in regular mode



And in Beast Mode!



The internal wiring is all complete and the circuit has been tested, all that is needed now, apart from some more paint detailing, is for the battery to arrive and be fitted and the flywheels taped... hopefully all will be ready for the competition by week's end!

As usual, any comments and criticism are welcome!

Oh dear god!
It looks so clean. As if it was meant to be there.
Wow.

-James

Excellent work, mate.

Though, I'm a tad concerned about the scratchbuilt magazine well.

Hopefully, all that work doesn't get torn off to the side, after a firm accidental knock on the drum or extended magazine.

Wow... excellent work! This is now one of the officially most cleanest clip fed barricades I've seen to date! It would be great at fast paced wars set up like the Dart Tag Championship.

melbnerf619 wrote:Oh dear god!
It looks so clean. As if it was meant to be there.
Wow.

-James

Thanks! It's not quite so clean up close, as it's a prototype I made a few errors here and there that the sandpaper just cant hide, but I think it turned out pretty well

mull wrote:Excellent work, mate.

Though, I'm a tad concerned about the scratchbuilt magazine well.

Hopefully, all that work doesn't get torn off to the side, after a firm accidental knock on the drum or extended magazine.

That's definitely a concern, and I took every precaution I could think of to strengthen it given the lack of space i'm working with, heh. The plastic used to make the NERF guns is similar to the styrene used in plasticard, but you have to rough up the surfaces of both plastics to ensure a proper fusing - the 2mm plasticard is sturdy and attaches well, but I reinforced it with hot glue inside just in case (I may add more too). I guess the only way to be sure is to take it out and play, it may well end up on the drawing board again, we'll see!

littlebro05 wrote:Wow... excellent work! This is now one of the officially most cleanest clip fed barricades I've seen to date! It would be great at fast paced wars set up like the Dart Tag Championship.

It does have a bit of heft to it due to the flywheels and motors, but with the 18 drum it's fairly compact and i'm looking forward to using it in close range games like HvZ

Thanks for the kind praise everyone, i'll be updating again soon, hopefully with good news about the batteries!

Screw this man. Just take it to the next level, replace it high torque motors so it can handle 12Vs or something.

Slightly off-topic..

How difficult was it to paint the plasticard, as opposed to the normal nerf plastic shell?

ie: Just the normal prep method's, or did you have to do something different to prime it.

Cheers,

Fantastic work! Seamless integration. Massively impressed.

I have not seen a better barricade, any chance you could make a template (with areas that may need to be adjusted highlighted, or something)

littlebro05 wrote:Screw this man. Just take it to the next level, replace it high torque motors so it can handle 12Vs or something.

I've been looking at the motors on Hobbyking.com, and read up on some of the SgNerf forums discussion of higher powered motors for Stampedes and the like, it could be worth a try 100ft Barricade would be pretty sweet, hehe...

clunk07 wrote:Slightly off-topic..

How difficult was it to paint the plasticard, as opposed to the normal nerf plastic shell?

ie: Just the normal prep method's, or did you have to do something different to prime it.

Cheers,

In the past, i've noticed that vinyl dye doesn't tend to soak into the plasticard surface as readily as it does with the Nerf plastic, and scrapes off easier that regular paint, so I took the time to sand it with a couple of grades of finishing paper to help it along (which I had to do anyway, since it was a pretty messy build in parts!). In other words, nothing really out of the ordinary, i'm sure your regular methods would work on it!

Sadavi5 wrote:Fantastic work! Seamless integration. Massively impressed.

Having seen some of your own work, i'm flattered by the compliment I'm a big fan of your Unity system!

abowden wrote:I have not seen a better barricade, any chance you could make a template (with areas that may need to be adjusted highlighted, or something)

If you want i'll try and put together a basic template, the majority of the work is assembling the 'box' and making a nice snug fit for the clip using some plasticard railings. The only real tricky part was the clip release, which went through several versions before i was happy (it still needs tweaking, to be honest). I've no doubt there are easier ways of doing it, but I tend to work late at night when the old brain is a bit mushy

I've finally finished the work on this blaster - it's still missing it's high voltage battery but all the mechanical parts work just fine, and it shoots, which is always good

Here's a video demonstration of it in action, forgive my messy kitchen




And here's another pic of it:



Thanks to all for your input and encouragement for this, my first major blaster modification!

Also: Depending on how much folks like this design, I may be doing a limited production run of them some time in the future if I feel it would be viable, so feel free to tell me how much you like it, haha!

Wow it looks like an SMG, very nice indeed.

Love you work Mate, The paint job great and It remind me of the Nerf new super soaker range of blasters.

Keep up the good work mate.

That's an awesome job, from the pics you would swear it's off the shelf it's so clean!

Whiteout baricade. NICE!

-James

Calico wrote:That's an awesome job, from the pics you would swear it's off the shelf it's so clean!

Exactly, if one had not seen the original build thread it could easily be mistaken for a new proto-type Nerf weapon...

Kudos!

Wicked job bro.

Very clean, and very nice paint job. Looks like it came straight from the Nerf factory.

Calico wrote:That's an awesome job, from the pics you would swear it's off the shelf it's so clean!

boosted6 wrote:Wicked job bro.

Very clean, and very nice paint job. Looks like it came straight from the Nerf factory.

Thanks guys, and well done for your own results in the CWC competition, you both had excellent entries and your praise is quite flattering, given your own modding/painting skills

The Blockade prototype is now basically 'complete' following a total rewiring and the addition of a 7.4v LiPo (charged to 8.4v). At the Sydney Bass Hill war yesterday I put at least 150 darts through it over the course of two seperate rounds, and only had one overheat shutdown, which was due to me revving it too much in the excitement, not during firing, hah! Overheating can be an issue with voltage modded Barricades, but it seems to be handling the additional power well

The plasticard clip modification has so far proven very sturdy, even surviving an 11 year old yanking 35 shot drums in and out of it Overall i'm very happy with the result, it makes a neat little primary for close-quarters fighting and it quite accurate with the sili-tip darts we were using - though i think a heavier dart could be used for better range, i'm working on some snap-cap stingers with a small enough diameter to use with flywheels.

Thanks again to everyone for the kind comments and encouragements!

Have you thought of re-wiring the motor button like I have in my tutorial. It may help with over-revving...

Cheers,

I think what makes it so nice is the time you to with the plastic. Taking the guns lines into consideration rather than just plonking a square edge on it.
I think its that alone that made me Oh the paint is also very tasteful which I like, nothing worse than some pink and purple pokadot "THING"
(no offence to owners of said pink and purple pokadot "THINGS")

Dude its so clean and the paintjob is mad.

Please will you make a template???

or would you contract these??

If you contracted these, how much would you demand for a custom paintjob as well?

Man, I honestly want one.

I too cry out for a template (even if it is a rough one that I can adjust to my own barra)