The discussion of the Alien series of films and the props used in them is the aim, but if it's got Big Bugs and Big Guns, then they are welcome too!





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PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:24 pm 
Harvester of Sorrow
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Location: Lancashire (Wirral born)
Service Number: A04/TQ1.0.32156E1
Country: United Kingdom
Sexy!

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:48 pm 
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Location: Kent, UK
That is an outstanding build! Bravo!


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:46 pm 
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Country: Germany
I love it! That's a fantastic build!


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 11:54 pm 
AKKURAZI
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Location: Bochum, Ruhr area
Country: Germany
Outstanding, that rifle is top notch.


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 Post subject: Re: Pulse Rifle madness! 1st up: The "Hero"- FINALLY DONE!
PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 12:30 pm 
THAT guy
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Location: Virginia
Service Number: A03/TQ2.0.02146E1
Country: United States
Thanks everyone. I feel like I own my "grail" prop, as they say.

BTW, 16.3 lbs in case anyone was wondering. It feels heavier than that in hand, but the Thompson and 870 airsoft components are all aluminum, so it makes sense that it checks in a bit "lighter" than expected. I'd like to think I'm a pretty strong guy, but it is difficult to imagine what it must have felt like to lug around an original all-steel hero.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:42 am 

Location: Los Angeles
Looks fantastic. You have some real talent


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 Post subject: Re: Pulse madness! The "Hero"- (Re-wired, page 3)
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 1:41 pm 
THAT guy
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Location: Virginia
Service Number: A03/TQ2.0.02146E1
Country: United States
Well, it was only a matter of time...the battery is dead. With the battery being in the gap at the barrel portion of the shrouds, I need to take the shrouds completely apart to access it. So...Time to re-do the whole damn thing! Gonna re-wire this sucker, install my 'majenko' board, and put the battery in a better spot.

(might as well repaint it too).



Majenko told me his board is set to run off 5v-15v. Of course he warns the higher the voltage, the more heat and the more wasted energy. He also cautioned against going too small as 'button cell' batteries like the CR2032 dont have enough current and lead to dim, flickering numbers.

While that may be true...for fun I decided to try not one button cell, but TWO x CR2032s in this type of holder that links them together. At 3v each, this should bump me to 6v. The counter was bright and strong! They probably won't last long and will be more costly to run than 9v, AA or AAA, but if they actually fit and you can change the battery without taking it entirely apart I think it is worth it.

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Got it on amazon. Very cheap and ULTRA flat. The thing can fit in LOTS of spaces (with some dremeling).




With the battery decided, I needed to learn to wire things. All pretty simple thanks again to Majenko. This diagram was posted by him on a previous thread, so I hope it is OK to repost here.
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Majenko's wiring diagram for micro board.png
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For the momentary contact switches, I grabbed 2 x of these from my local Radio Shack. They were ultra small and under $3.
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Pretty simple function. When the white wedge is in, the switch is on. When it is up (spring loaded) the switch is off. This will serve as both my 'trigger' and magazine' momentary contacts.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 1:56 pm 
Prop Churner Outer
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Location: Bath, Maine
Service Number: A03/TQ1.0.12143G1
Country: United States
Very cool! I wish I knew something about wiring... that's a skill I need to develop for sure.

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 Post subject: Re: Pulse madness! The "Hero"- (Re-wired, page 3)
PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 2:08 pm 
THAT guy
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Location: Virginia
Service Number: A03/TQ2.0.02146E1
Country: United States
Accessing the trigger is a bit of a PITA on the airsoft thompson, but once you have it apart, you have options.

With the trigger removed, I cut a little square out of the top of the housing so I could drop in my momentary switch. In this spot, the wedge dangles free except when the trigger is pulled. When the trigger is squeezed, the black nub drags across the wedge.

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Some material had to be dremel'd out of the metal gear box to make room for the wires, but all this led to a good snug fit when I reattached the trigger.


Leading the wires out of the trigger and into the shroud required a path being made. Drilling a hole, rounding out 'U' channel, and unscrewing the support on that side got it done. A nice little path was made.
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Luckily, installing the contact point for the magazine was far easier. I just epoxied it in place where the magnet used to be on the HCG shroud. There was already a natural path to the counter.
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Nice and easy. With the magazine 'in', the wedge is in and the counter will be live (and reset to 95 with each removal and install)



Now for the battery, I decided it would be best if I could just pull it out the bottom of the mag well. By dremeling a slit in the horizontal mag guide, I created a 'pocket' for the battery holder.
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The bottom ridge there acts as a natural 'stop' to keep it from sliding down once you tuck it into the slit. In fact, it sits too tight out of the way, so I stuck that little tab on it so I had something to grab when I wanted to pull it out.

It sits flat enough that it doesnt interfere with the mag action, but is accessible with the mag removed. Success!

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So this is how the wires sit. Some care will be needed when I pull the battery holder out, as I need to make sure the wires get tucked back in so that they don't get snagged by the magazine, but other than that, this will be FAR easier than disassembling the entire thing to change a battery.

Better still, I have a functional counter! Slapped it together and all works great.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 4:49 pm 

Location: New York City USA
Country: United States
Hello bigbisont :) I've been reading this post for a while thank you for all the photos and info you provided to all of us! Looking forward to your next build!!!


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:48 pm 
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Location: Spain
Service Number: A08/TQ1.0.02129E1
Country: United Kingdom
Hi

Great work. Could you post a link to where to get the momentary switch, as we don't have radio shack in the UK.

Thanks

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69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes

A08/TQ1.0.02129E1


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 Post subject: Re: Pulse madness! The "Hero"- (Re-wired, page 3)
PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:15 pm 
THAT guy
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Location: Virginia
Service Number: A03/TQ2.0.02146E1
Country: United States
Soon we won't have radio shack in the US either! I heard they were going out of business and I am actually surprised my local one was still open...

I picked mine up in person so I don't have a real online source of them.
If it helps at all, this is the link to radio shack's website http://comingsoon.radioshack.com/spst-1 ... ZPnGvlViko
Hopefully some of the info in that link can lead you to a similar item.


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 Post subject: Re:
PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 4:44 pm 
Harvester of Sorrow
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Location: Lancashire (Wirral born)
Service Number: A04/TQ1.0.32156E1
Country: United Kingdom
robedavies wrote:
Hi

Great work. Could you post a link to where to get the momentary switch, as we don't have radio shack in the UK.

Thanks


CPC is your friend mate :)

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 9:36 pm 
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Location: Spain
Service Number: A08/TQ1.0.02129E1
Country: United Kingdom
Thanks just got two off eBay

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69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes

A08/TQ1.0.02129E1


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 Post subject: Re: Pulse madness! The "Hero"- (Re-wired, page 3)
PostPosted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:04 pm 
THAT guy
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Location: Virginia
Service Number: A03/TQ2.0.02146E1
Country: United States
Found another way to upgrade this puppy.

Finally located an actual metal "lower" for the airsoft thompson to replace the plastic default.


The bad part is it is chromed! Anyone have any tips to remove chrome that don't involve a car battery or hours of sanding?

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Still, looking forward to stripping it down and get rid of the last remaining plastic.
Also got a real wood grip with it. It isnt any thicker than the plastic one, but hopefully it will sand down nicer and just 'feel better' than the plastic grip once I modify it.


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 Post subject: Re: Pulse madness! The "Hero"- (Re-wired, page 3)
PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 4:10 pm 
THAT guy
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Location: Virginia
Service Number: A03/TQ2.0.02146E1
Country: United States
And nearly 3 years later with planned upgrades...finally progress!

All it took to kick it into gear was:
-for me to drop it at a convention, have the counter LEDs get damaged, and bend my stock.
-It got rained on coming home from the convention so the steel parts started rusting up.
-The paint started wearing badly (I just painted over the top of the factory olive drab, so my top coat of brown bess started scratching off revelaing not shiny aluminum, but rather just OD paint. ugly!)


So the rejuvenation project is under way full swing finally

-Stripped it all down and re-bluied the steel.


-Stripped the shrouds and repainted. Pretty cool to see them bare.
Attachment:
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-Upgrading the handle to wood. The quality of wood was actually pretty poor, and after the mods, it will look pretty much the same as the old plastic handle. But hey, at least I'll know it is real wood, right??? It also got thin enough to blow a wall in the front. I gave the inside a coat of JB weld epoxy to reinforce it.
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-For the lower, nothing fancy. I used a 'scothbrite' type pad to scrub as much of the chrome as I could off. I then used an 'etching primer' and black paint. The match is good enough. Not sure how well the paint will hold on but so far its pretty good.


-For the damaged counter...wowza. So I actually lucked out and got Majenko at a time his v3 boards were in stock. I promptly burnt it to a crisp. Not sure what I did exactly, but I did modify it so I am sure it was my fault. He installed these quick connects on the new boards so that you didn't have to solder directly on to it. The problem was the quick connects made it thicker, so I pulled them all off and soldered direct to the board anyways. I must have pulled something else important off too because it fried.

Back to Majenko I went. Turns out he had fixed the issue of the thickness of the quick connects by making them downward facing in the latest batch! Problem solved! Only the 2x CR2023 button cell batteries I used to use on the v2 boards werent strong enough to power it! So with his guidance (great guy that Majenko!) I got to sourcing a rechargable 3.7v lithium ion battery that was the same size as my old battery pack. It would last longer, have more power, and be rechargable so that I didnt have to remove anything to replace batteries.

That is where I am at now. The battery was cheap (like $8 on ebay). The control board with USB hookup for that battery was also dirt cheap ($4 for 2).
I tested it out with the USB on the old v2 batttery just to make sure I didnt fry anything. I am ready to install, but finding a place for the control board was a pain.
Best I could figure was the bottom of the mag base. It was out of the way, but easily accessible. It required some heavy dremeling to make room though. I have my charging board next to my mag switch now.

Test on old (board complete with LED that shines red when charging and blue when done)
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Location of charging board
Attachment:
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 10:22 pm 
Mercenary
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Location: KMS Bismarck
Country: Germany
Ha, u go almost the same way as me to power up the counter..., I just put the loading board at an different location...

Nice build...!!

Thanks. Where was it you decided to put yours?


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 Post subject: Re: Pulse madness! The "Hero"- (All new upgrades, page 3)
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 3:50 pm 
THAT guy
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Location: Virginia
Service Number: A03/TQ2.0.02146E1
Country: United States
man o' man. What a journey. Planned upgrades in Nov '15. Damaged bits in Aug '17. Pile of parts for what feels like forever...
When I finally got all the wires sorted out and shorts found, turns out I couldn't find the dang screws and rear bracket (behind the grip)!!! So I had to scratch build one and buy new screws. Such a pain.

But finally it is done! Again.
-Stripped and repainted shrouds
-100% wood and metal upgrades
-USB rechargeable battery installed to latest version of Majenko board

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And back rocking on the wall completely functional.
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and with his buddies
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20190109_102627.jpg
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 4:41 pm 

Location: ATX
Country: United States
Great collection!

The PKD!! Love!

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:00 pm 
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Location: Spain
Service Number: A08/TQ1.0.02129E1
Country: United Kingdom
Looks great :D

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69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes

A08/TQ1.0.02129E1


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