Fishin’ With Cuda - A Spanky Fishbone Rebuild

[Cdn_Cuda]

Going to be working on a Spanky Fishbone and thought I’d allow those interested to come along for the ride.

This little fishy spent time in Alberta as part of Silver Creek’s paintball museum, then made its ways east to Ontario before it ended up in my hands on the west coast.

Needs a good cleaning and a rebuild at least, but I’ll be tapping into my parts horde and see if we can make some changes/improvements.

So this is our starting point:

[Cdn_Cuda]

In preparation for the rebuild need to see where we’re at first. No point in tearing apart a perfectly functional marker! So added a little oil in the ASA and some in the ram and tossed a tank on it. Most things leak, but thankfully not the body! The full length cuts tend to have that issue. So with that out of the way, time to take it apart!

[Cdn_Cuda]

And here we are in bits and pieces!


So has what looks to be a Shocktech Rat valve, an unknown unthreaded RVA, and stock hammer.

Front pneumatics look to be a WGP ram, Oracle 3-way and a nice Palmer LPR. All needing rebuilds.

[nerdcore]

The purple Rat valve is like a fun easter egg in a blue & red ano build. Kinda like Lego hiding a single pink piece in the heads of their BrickHeadz line.

[Cdn_Cuda]

And after a bit of cleaning, here is a better look at the milling on the body. It’s more impressive than I originally thought. This is the first time I’ve had a fishbone in my hands.

[Cdn_Cuda]

And the front and back as well. The front has extra milling by the barrel



And the back you can see the tubes pressed in,

[Folly911]

I'm just seeing the opening of this for the first time..... Unbelievable, never knew it didn't have jam nut threads

[Cdn_Cuda]

Folly911. It may have had them but if it did the threads are stripped.

[Cdn_Cuda]

UPDATE: The lower tube does have threading for the jam nut, the marker just didn’t have one.

Now I was thinking about a modern overhaul, maybe even a Nova valve but there is no valve nut on these markers. The tube does not have any threading for it. So I may use a CCM valve I have kicking around, or the Rat valve if I have an o-ring that will fit on the valve pin.

Having worked on a Timmy recently, not a fan of trying to get a tiny o-ring on a wide valve pin.

Additionally, I have the option of swapping a this to pump and using my red acrylic CCM pump handle I have. Just need a new pre-2k main rod. Still up in the air over mech vs pump.

[__Z__]

Use a Laz valve, deals with all of your valve related issues since it's a sealed unit.

[Jordan]

Use a Laz valve, deals with all of your valve related issues since it's a sealed unit.

It's a 9/16" lower tube - a Laz valve won't work.

[Magmoormaster]

Huh, I never knew these didn't have jam nut threads. That's interesting.

Also, like I said on reddit, I'm dying to know what the detent is. I'm fairly certain my old teammate's Hybrid Quest had one but I can't find corroborating pictures.

[Jordan]

Are they not NDZ detents? I'm pretty sure I had a set on an old Impulse.

EDIT: maybe AIM hybrid detent?

[Magmoormaster]

Nah, NDZ detents look like this:

https://www.e-paintball.com/product/...e-ball-detent/

Hybrid is my best guess, but like I said I haven’t been able to confirm it.

EDIT: ok yeah the autococker parts id page on Facebook shows it as “hybrid abs.” That page was the first place I looked when I tried to id it, but somehow I didn’t see it.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I was incorrect. It does have threading for a jam nut. Whoever built it last just didn’t put one in.— or maybe it’s stripped. Can’t get the nut to thread.

[Heavy_D]

Any idea what the bolt is?

I found an identical one in my parts drawer in a different anno(raw), So JW'd...

[Magmoormaster]

That’s a shocktech alien bolt, a precursor to the later supafly bolt.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Playing around in my parts bin yields me this option. It’s a 2k pump kit but give an idea. Still not sure if I want to be mech of pump. I own more pumps than mechs though.



Definitely like the Chrome Slider with the body though.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Now onto the fun part, getting the internals
sorted. Turns out my spare valve also appears to be a rat valve with a slightly different stem. The purple one is the original one from fish, the blue one is from my parts bin and several replacement seals!



Being this was a Superman build (and still might be) goi g with the blue valve now with the springs that came with the fish as I assume they will work fine.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Another mockup with the internals in. The front block needs a rebuild now.



think I might swap the grips to the red dye stickies.

[Cdn_Cuda]

The slider really helps show off the Fishbone milling. The swing frame was wider so obscured it more.

[Cdn_Cuda]

So a question for anyone reading along, is it worth putting a volumizer on the front block? I have a chrome ANS one on another pre-2k cocker, so easy enough to pop it off and put it on this one. I know it increase the internal air volume, so worth it in this case?

[Jordan]

Probably not, they're really only needed for Minicockers and make it a PITA to route the hose from the LPR.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Jordan Thanks! I'll skip it then.