Paintball

[randall ace]

well, i finally got out of the house today - which was nice , because due to this injury i dont get out much - anyways i was at a local paintball store to get some 90 macro fittings and line for the mag project and saw this old, abused, and well tortured rental 98 CUSTOM hanging on thier wall. it was marked 45 bux ....i have a weakness for 98's ..... thier tech said it shot money ( yea right) and just needed a good home . .. i never even bothered to air it up and try it - once i had it in my hand i felt its age, and abused state , and it just screamed out abused ...the more i looked at it the more i felt sorry for it .it has obviously had a very hard life. so needless to say i grabed it off the wall and brought it home .... it came with a stock barrel that was so trashed i actually tossed it in the trash - it looked like someone jammed a stick down it to clear it at some point - many deep scratches down the lenght and the tip was mauled and out of round... it also came with a safety that didnt work and no trigger guard at all. the feedneck pins were siezed into the body and the feedneck wouldnt move at all - so i had to force the feedneck down and off and punch out the pins - wasnt easy

** this will be a kind of build thread with alot of pictures



















this is probly the most abused one ive had - so i figured id start with stripping the body and go from there .once i got inside it looked well used but had obviously had some parts replaced...( most likely to get it where they could sell it as working).... this will definatly need a new power tube - cracked- and a new sear - major wear - also a proper trigger spring - this looks like a pen spring- ..

inside shots.....













its hard to see in the photos- but the power tube is majorly cracked








-i cant figure out what this junk is - or why its here

[randall ace]

so ..... i stripped the shells,prep'd the bolt, and began to polish the internals, which turned into a huge job due to amount of use/abuse this old dog had ... but the stripping didnt come out too bad.....now gotta work on polishing it - gonna be up late tonite...LOL

** the next step will be to have the outsides of the shells bead blasted ... but that may take a few days because the guy i usually use is on vacation till after new years ..... also i ordered a complete rebuild kit and all new internals ( minus the valve)

[Mr.Smith]

Looking good so far!
Subscribed, wanna see the end product...

[alpha434]

Dude! Love it. I've been doing all the maintenance on a local field's rental fleet and recently started restoring all of their 98s.







I don't have any before pictures of those two... You can imagine, though... The old paint was pealing off everywhere and they were gross. The abuse was depressing, and we decided that renters would feel better about playing if they have nicer guns.

Those are the only two I've gotten to powdercoat so far, though. Out of around 100 guns before next March.

I'll be keeping an eye on your project, too!

[randall ace]

that pink is hottttt........ what method did u use to strip them ?

[randall ace]

well--- still waiting on my body guy to get back from vacation to do the blasting of the outter shells with sand and glass bead - so i took another stab at polishing the shells again today ..... spent more than 5 hours doing this .... but i think the results are stunning .....


*** EDIT ***

I WAS ASKED HOW I DID THIS ON PM - WHAT I DID WAS TAKE SMALL PIECES OF 300 GRIT SAND PAPER AND WET SAND THE INSIDE SURFACES - NOT THE FRONT AND REAR BOLT CHANNELS * AVOID THOSE AREAS**- BY HAND.. TAKES TIME AND ELBOW GREASE - BUT IM OFF WORK AND DISABLED SO I GOT NOTHING BUT TIME ...LOL .... TAKING MY TIME AND WORKING SLOWLY I WAS ABLE TO GET THE BIG STUFF OFF LIEK THIS - THEN I WENT TO 600 GRIT WET SANDING - THEN TO BRILLO PADS ......TAKE U TIME AND WORK SLOWLY !!

















** what do ya'll think ??

[randall ace]

- these have only been cleaned up and brillo-padd'd ..... i have yet to run the dremmel buffing wheel over them or the actual neverdull polish ......

[randall ace]

ok.......... got tired of waiting for these shells to get blasted - and i actually hitched a ride to wal-mart today , and came across this product



- so i figured id give it a try ..... and it worked wonderfully !!.... very very little odor- striped the powdercoat in under 4 hours - took 2 coats - giving 90 minuites sit and work time between brushing ...

** what you do is lay the shells out on a cardboard backing - as you can see i have use a lovely medium flat rate box - then you brush it on with a small paint brush ( i used a 1 inch cheap-o paint brush ) i used a thick metal cup to work out of - the label dosent recommend plastic - and worki it in slowly to all the cracks and crevaces... then let it sit for 60-90 minuites ( it will NOT dry - dont worry) then take your stripping brush and begin to scrub it paying close attention to the hard to reach areas - the paint stripping brushes walmart sells are a great option and are way cheap !! ** now this scrubbing will produce a little splatter so make sure to lay down a drop cloth - then wipe it down with a disposable papertowel and repeat the process - i only did so that i could get a small amount of residue left in the cracks- ect - most was removed with the first coat




seen in this pic is the stripping brush


..took alot of elbow grease, working with a stripping brush ( also available at walmart) working slowly and getting in all the nooks and crannys but definatly worth it .....
















-----------------------------------------------------------------

** second coat begins







--------------------------------------------------------------------

*** shells now have excess wiped off and ready for neutralizing and cleaning








-----------------------------------------------------------------

***** after washed in dawn and steel wool ran over them to shooth them out














- i still have yet to fix a few small flaws in the metal i discovered while stripping , but all in all i think they came out good.......

[zigenscarface]

I've done a few of these already and the biggest pain is getti g the old finish off lol I always seem to get chemical burns

[randall ace]

this stuff claims to be safe and non toxic ... the fumes werent bad at all - nice citrus scent - and i did it at the kitchen table ......just be sure to wear gloves...when you scrub all the old paint off with the brush it will splatter some ... be sure to protect the surrounding area with a drop cloth or something ......