Clearing Out The Attic And Guess What I found?
Finally Putting an Old Hobby to Rest...
I gave up airsoft some time ago, but never actually got round to getting rid of a lot of my kit... Which including my collection of guns. I maybe harboured some idea that there was a slight chance that I would eventually be fit enough again to go on the occasional outing to a local club (ironically, we have one just outside my home town now). But, to be honest I was fooling myself. Airsoft is a young guys game.
So, what to do with my guns - which have been gathering dust in the back of out attic? My wife has wanted ride of them for years, and now there seems little reason to keep them and I have nobody to pass them onto.
Uncovering a Treasure-trove?
Really, I had completely forgotten what I actually had in the way of airsoft guns and in what state they were in. Out of sight is out of mind. So when I was recently tidying up my attic man-cave and got to the boxes containing my airsoft equipment it was something of a surprise.
However, one not so good surprise was the state of my guns as - at the time they were put into storage - I was just in the process of upgrading or customising several of them in expectation that I *might* still have one last season of airsoft skirmishing in me!
My LCT AK74U 'shorty' is a prime example of a gun that was in a very poor state when I uncovered it. In it's heyday - in it's original new form - the 74U was an beautiful little carbine ideally suited to CQB airsoft play...
Whilst the LCT replica was a thing of beauty the old style Soviet configuration of teh gun was not to my tastes when I was into creating a 'modern Russian' loadout (back in the days when the Russians were out friends - remember that short period of time?). I wanted to update the gun's furniture with the - then - latest 'tacticool' accessories that were coming out of Russian, principally from the company of ZENITCO.
Unfortunately, although I spent some money getting together the bits and pieces I needed to do this conversion that's as far as I got before the gun was assigned to the attic.
Fast Forward to 2024...
So, what I had when I opened the AK74U box was a collections of parts and a partially disassembles airsoft gun! Oh dear...
While the reassembly job wouldn't be that much of an issue I soon realised that I hadn't quite finished gathering ALL the bits that I needed to complete the project. There was one component that I hadn't got round to buying and - of course - all these years later it's now a bit hard to get (Russian airsoft loadouts having kinda gone 'out of fashion' for some reason...Cough...)!
The bit was the upper handguard gas tube cover. I still had the original LCT wood handguard but that kind of spoilt to look of my modernised AK74U project. SO something had to be done to rectify this...
It's a bit of a fudge, but as I cannot get hold of the real thing (they are out there but are a bit expensive) I thought 'what the hell' and decided to have a go at 3D printing a replica.
Luckily, there are plenty of airsoft replica parts available over on THINGYVERSE, the 3D model repository. And, would you believe it, a quick search of the site garnered me nearly exactly what I was after...
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| Above: 3D model of CYMA AK-74U Upper Handguard by Twiggy Designs. |
The design I found was nearly - but not quite - perfect as it came with an integral top mounted picatinny rail for mounting other accessories. But, no problem - I imported the model into TinkerCad and removed the unnecessary part leaving the top of the handguard flat...
From there it was as simple as importing it into FlashPrint and sending the model to my Flashforge Adventurer 3 printer...
Usually, for me at least, the actual printing part of this process is the most straight forward one. However, on this occasion, I happen to have had a little hiccup in the printing.
I must have neglected to reseat the printing tray securely again after I had took it out to help release the previous print I did (the tray - or 'bed' - is a flexible metal type that is designed to be removed so that you can flex it so that completed prints can 'pop' off it when it is bent)... Ooooops!
The upshot is that the bed shifted slightly mid-print which caused the print to shift slightly mid way through...
Er, bum fluff! That was a long print as well, so rather than reseat the bed and then start a new print all over again (several hours of work) I decided to see whether I could rescue this print and repair the fault.
Tis would entail my filing and sanding each vent in the handguard to straighten out the zigzag misalignment so that - hopefully - you would not notice there had been a boob. Easier said that done, as getting a file or sanding stick into each of the narrow vents wasn't easy and it took me a very long evening of filing away the faults to end up with something that looked anywhere near acceptable...
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| Above: Just over halfway through the repair and you can see the vents starting to look straight again. But still a lot of sanding to go! |
Anyway, I eventually got close to the part looking OK-is, but I figured that it's going to be painted then partially hidden by an attached scope mount so maybe I'll get away with it. It ended up not looking too bad when I fished working on it...
Sanding 3D PLA filament can be a bit tricky - depending on the make and quality - as it has a tendency to fray leaving fibrous 'hairs' on the surface. This is - I believe - because of the way the print is created using 'strings' of filament to build up a surface. The remedy is to either shave off any random fibres or - what I do - is I use a lighter to burn off the little 'hairs'! 😆
It's Looks OK, But Does It Fit?
Looking the job is one thing but fitting the handguard into the attachment collar that came with the LCT AK74U is another thing. Airsoft replicas are infamous their haphazard dimensional accuracy, one make of airsoft replica might look the same as the same model made by another manufacturer but the relative fit might be totally different. So there's no guarantee that although my 3D model says it's made to fit an AK74U, I wouldn't bet my life on it!
I'm sure it will be 'in the ball park', but I imagined that I will have to do some custom fitting by way of my sander! 😂 ...Let's see...
Huzzah! (And phew!) BUT...(There's always a 'but') one slight issue raised it ugly head... I can see right through the vented handguard now. 😕😖
I Didn't Think of That! Whoops!
Now, as an electric airsoft gun the thing that drives the mechanism is - of course - a battery, hence 'Airsoft Electric Gun'. But, naturally, the real AK rifle does not run on a battery, the Kalashnikov design is a gas-operated rifle with a short-stroke gas piston. This functions by by diverting the gas produced from the firing of it's cartridges back along a tube connected to a port at the front end of the barrel to the piston which is housed in the receiver. This gas basically pushes the piston backwards which is then pushed forward again by means of a spring... I simplify the engineering involved but you get the idea.
Anyhoo, as I say, the airsoft gun does not use gas so it does not need a gas tube. In a AEG replica AK the tube is simply omitted or a fake 'half tube' is used to connect the handguard collars with which the top handguard is then connected to the gun. Not a problem as a solid top handguard piece hides this fact...
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| Above: The fake gas tube and connecting collars from my LCT AKS74U replica. Note the 'half tube' used. |
But I now have vents in this handguard Oooops.
So, I now have to make a fake gas tube because you can see through the vents and it would be obvious that it's not there.
Luckily for me, this appears to be a common problem among airsoft AK customizers and some cleaver clogs has 3D modelled a replica of the AKS74U gas tube and very kindly uploaded it to THINGYVERSE...
Off We Go Again... More 3D Printing!
Again, I should point out the difference between a REAL AK and an airsoft replica, particularly when it comes to dimensional accuracy an how the two are put together. It became apparent very quickly that whatever replica AKS74U that this fake tube was (dimensionally) based on it was not the LCT model that I had!
There were differences that would make fitting a wee bit tricky. I had to modify the fake tube slightly in TinkerCAD and then print it out in two separate pieces to ensure it could fit.
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| Above: My new fake gas tube. Note it is printed in two halves. |
Next I had to saw off the restraining collars from my LCT's fake 'tube' so I could reattach them to my new tube. And at this point I test fitted the collars onto the handguard (see above pic) and again has to readjust the tubes length to fit properly!
Hooray! Getting there!
And now the scary bit... The test fitting. I mean I shouldn't be too worried as I have been checking and modifying dimensions as I've been going along, but you can never be quite sure that things are perfectly correct until you first have them in place (I'd make a rubbish engineer)!
And guess what?
The handguard and collars fits perfectly! The group locks into place nicely with no rattle. Smooth!
...Drum roll for second check. The fake gas tube...
Well, would you look at that. 😁
Now, all that remains is for me to glue the loose gas tub parts together and fit the handguard to the tube assembly and collars. But first, everything needs a clean up and light sanding and any nasty seams filled before painting.
But, I will leave things here and do a special gun reveal post later and the finishing off and polishing takes a wee while.
This will be the second of my old airsoft guns to be renovated or repaired... Five more to go! 😖
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