More on the Airsoft pistols

Gentle reader,

Some time ago, I did a posting on the two airsoft pistols I'd bought via eBay. One was a replica of the iconic Colt Model 1911. 

The real pistol came out in 1911 and was issued to the US Military. They needed a pistol with more "knock down" power than the 38 caliber revolvers they were using. It seems that drug-crazed Filipino rebels could take numerous hits from 38s and keep on coming.

The 1911 is a 45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. Colt invented the rounds as well. Commonly referred to as "ACP". i.e., 45 ACP rounds.

Back to the airsoft pistols. They shoot 6mm plastic balls either through a spring-loaded ram or with gas pressure like a real gun. The difference is the gas is not ignited. Compressed CO2 was first used and still is. Airsoft often uses "Green Gas" which is propane with a little silicone oil mixed in. A far cheaper way is using propane alone and oiling the gun parts from time to time.

Now, the really fun ones are fully metal and have working "slides" the piece on top around the barrel that one "slides" back to chamber a round and cock the gun. The design is called "blow back" often combined to one word: Blowback.

Since writing about the two versions of the 1911s I'd bought, I'd found two airsoft copies of the pistol that replaced the Colt Model 1911: The Beretta M9 or M92. There was much teeth gnashing over buying a "foreign" gun for the US Military. However, they tested numerous pistols from many makers and the Beretta was the best.

The first one I won was made by Western Arms in Japan. One of the premier airsoft makers. In fact it is the only fully licensed replica of the real Beretta M9. The second one was made by Kuan Ju of Taiwan. Made mostly of metal with some polymer parts, it weighs nearly what the WA models does. 

Below, the first photo shows, left top, standard M1911. Left bottom, the customized "tactical" 1911. Top right is the  Kuan Ju (KJ) M92, and bottom right the Western Arms (WA) M92.

 Another angle of the same arrangement is below:

 Below is the pair of Beretta M9 or M92s. The KJ on top, the WA on the bottom.

Below is the KJ on the left, WA on the right:

  And finally below, another view, KJ on the left, WA on the right.

Below is the KJ with the slide open and the magazine removed showing the left side of each:

Note the styized "KJ" on the grips. Same model from the right side is below:

Below is a detail shot showing the stamped makers name and location:

Below is several detail shots of the Western Arms (WA) model. The KJ, as stated has some polymer parts. The WA is all metal except for the grips.

 Take a look below at the stamping on the WA model:

 Below, the Beretta symbol on the grip. Compare it to the KJ grip above:

 Here's another stamping detail shot. Note that the previous owner for some unknown, and stupid, reason tried to obliterate the markings. WTH?

 Below is the plain M1911 with the required orange/red tip installed as well as the magazine removed and the manual:

 Below is both sides with the slide locked back:

 Below is the "tactical" or customized model 1911. A real one like this could cost more than $1,000:

 Below is the top with the slide open, and below that the view up through the hand grip with the magazine removed. Note the front piece of the slide is fixed and has a fiber optic site:

 Below, is the same pistol and the ambidextrous holster that I found for it. Middle and second below show it holstered and with a spare magazine:

 Below is with the slide locked back and the manual and magazine out:

 Left side view. The magazine and gun are called "Hi-Capa" because the 6mm rounds can be stacked in such a way as to hold many more than a straight column, 26 total:

 Below, the view as if siting down the barrel. The rear site is adjustable and the fiber optic front site is clearly seen:

Lastly, the customized model from below with the magazine out. You can see a mark from the laser site I had mounted to it:

So, why the update? All four are for sale on eBay. Nancy's drive to get me interested in real guns has at last worked. 

Thanks for looking!

Scott

Modernization of a vintage corner-horn speaker

Gentle reader,

Some time ago, I found an ancient University brand corner-horn loudspeaker at BThrifty. The first time I looked at it, I passed it by. They only wanted $9.99 for it, but I could see light where the speaker's surround was supposed to be, indicating it was falling apart. Below is what it looked like, but I've already removed the speaker. You can just detect the second piece of wood behind the original panel.

They are called "corner horn" speakers because they are designed to be placed in a room's corner to further enhance the bass. Klipsch is best known for their corner-horn speakers, dating to the 1950's. Below, you can see that the rear of the cabinet is designed to fit in a corner. Also note the cut-out at the bottom rear for the rear waves to exit the cabinet:

Still, a few weeks later it was still there and being 30% off Thursday, I took a chance. Turns out, originally it had a 12" full-range or perhaps coaxial driver in it. Someone in the past had replaced that 12" driver by roughly cutting a piece of plywood and mounting a 10" Wharfedale woofer in it's place over the 12" hole from the rear. Here is the removable front panel after I've installed the tweeter and moved the woofer to a lower location:

Well, as I said, the surround, oddly flat, not convex or concave was mostly gone. No one at Wharfedale USA was any help, far too old. So, the closest replacement foam surround I could find was $15.00 and was too large after all. I had to cut it, and overlap the ends to make it fit the odd-sized UK cone.

To truly make it a full-range speaker, I needed a tweeter. My friend, Cy Bean on Washington state, had a 16 ohm metal tweeter for a good price. I adapted the crossover parts for a Genesis speaker to the two drivers. It had a nominal reading of 13 ohms or so. Too much resistance for all but vintage tube equipment. Thus, my putting my creation on eBay. No takers. (See photo above for what I just typed.)

I'd also found a car speaker at Salvation Army. It had a 10" Alpine metal cone woofer in a cheap carpet-covered cabinet. $15.00. Put it on eBay also, no takers. Upon taking it apart, I found why it sounded so crappy: Too small a cabinet, sealed cabinet, no crossover nor filler. So, the poor thing was trying to compress the air in this tiny box and play notes higher than it was designed for!

So, I tried it in the University cabinet. WOW, now that was some bass! The Alpine could breathe at last! So, next step was a replacement baffle board. That's the wooden panel that the speakers are attached to at the front of a speaker cabinet. Here is is below prior to the new wood:

I bought a 2' by 2' piece of birch 3/4" plywood that was perfect for the job. Carefully centered the driver's hole and added a nice Dayton 4-ohm dual-voice-coil crossover, plus proper filling for the cabinet. Here is the crossover. The coils separate the high frequencies so the woofer does it's work of reproducing the low music only. The black capacitors (four of them) block the low frequencies from reaching the tweeters. This crossover is designed to have outputs for smaller front speakers. This allows the dual-voice-coil subwoofer to handle only the bass which small speakers cannot reproduce. 'Cause they're too small.

Then to keep the sound waves coming from the rear of the driver from simply being absorbed into the carpet the cabinet would be sitting on, I added a bottom piece of 1/4" Lexan sheet. Lexan is nearly unbreakable polycarbonite plastic. I added some closed-cell 1/8" foam tape to the top of the Lexan to further damp the sound wave. Here is the filling below. I placed loose weave fabric in front of the filler to keep it out of the rear of the driver:

Below is a series of photos of the empty cabinet. That stuff on the walls is sound absorbent, but not the usual fiberglass used later on.

 Note the port in the photo below which is designed to bring the sound waves from the rearward movement of the driver out to the front and hopefully to reinforce the sound by having the waves meet. 

 And finally, below is two photos of the finished product. Not shown, (because I forgot to take a photo of it) is the nice dual input panel I installed. This allows both right and left channel's bass is reproduced by the unit.

I tested it with a Telarc CD of Beethoven's Wellington's March with cannons and muskets. Well, Nancy and Gretchen (our fierce miniature Dachshund) were downstairs and based on her barking every time a cannon fired, I'd say it worked. The air being moved front AND rear (via the reflex port at the bottom of the cabinet) was quite impressive.

 

Now, to convince someone on eBay to buy it because I have no room, nor need for it!

Thanks for looking!

Scott