M56 SmartGun BFONG Full Auto Build

[Church]

Well i kinda got a bit of overtime in and i managed to track down a additional 8-301w set so now ill be able to repair the initial one i got and the one thats coming in

But so far i gotta replace some power capacitors and horizontal control regulators cause the image was very spotty at times

 

[joberg]

What's Jonesy doing in there

 

[Church]

What's Jonesy doing in there

Being a little turd like he was in alien

 

[Church]

Well finally had a chance to get the 8-301w apart and look inside

Seems they liked modular designs for these and on the back of the screen ill need to apply a few coats of "Slip Plate graphite" spray as the aerodag has flaked off 90% of the tube (simple fix)

Aside from that its replacing pretty much every electrolytic cap and foil/oil caps

Transistors are a secondary as i dont believe any have failed but anything could happen

Also the set is flat out filthy and will need thorough cleaning (and some paint weathering once i have a chancetorepaint it)

 

[Church]

Well im going to be making 2 posts here soon as a follow-up for not posting anything for a while

So first off i did get a second 8-301w set and it had a very fun surprise (STILL NEEDS REPAIRS!!!) otherwise itll self terminate from cap leakage and corrosion

But still after nearly 64 years its good to see it withstood the test of time

 

[Church]

As for my second post this is a update on the metal situation for the AR-125 brackets for the smartgun (and a possible flash hider as well if i can find a good machine shop)

And in the video as you can tell ive got quite a metal horde going on

And the best part is theres even more metal i still haven't sorted through outside *cue mad scientist lightning*

And some updates on the MG42:

So the MG42 is going to come in a little later than expected but thats due to one buying these tv sets and 2 because im currently in transition to a new job location (not a new job but a transfer) and it will pay more but its taking a long time to transfer due to....*ahem* "managers not giving a F about employees"

And the fact that one of our managers got fired due to being rude to a DOD agent didn't help either (ok im done rambling)

But the MG42 is in fact not ww2 stock but instead its a MG42/59 and its a little different but not by much (and yes its still gonna be full auto fun)

 

[joberg]

Well im going to be making 2 posts here soon as a follow-up for not posting anything for a while

So first off i did get a second 8-301w set and it had a very fun surprise (STILL NEEDS REPAIRS!!!) otherwise itll self terminate from cap leakage and corrosion

But still after nearly 64 years its good to see it withstood the test of time

It looks very good for its age for sure

 

[Church]

Well the brass (left) and aluminium bronze (right) appear to be casting quite well

For those who dont know theres aluminum bronze which is pretty tough and easy to mix, also a lighter shade

Then theres regular bronze which has a more brass like appearance but is also darker slightly but ages with a nice patina

Aluminum bronze i would love to mix more but this is purely for a test casting using some tin mixed aluminum (amalgam) and it made some very good results

Weight is a little lighter than i thought and i wanna say for those wanting a more unique set of components to your smartgun i feel i can deliver it once i can get some custom molds mixed up for recasting (prefer to try getting a set of molds machined out for quicker pours)

But as for using more exotic metals i believe i can put out a set of silver brackets every once in a while should one want to be a bit more exotic with their components but shouldn't come as a surprise the more exotic the metal the more the price will be

 

[Church]

Well finally managed to find one of these 4 in one lamps (the mg42 is currently underway and will be in by late next month and im excited about it because ive been waiting nearly half a year to get it)

I might swap the switch out for a different one later but so far it works perfectly, also the wiring was super simple and almost no modifications were needed. There are rumors that these are painted brown bess but i feel if i was to repaint them that id have to leave the switch place untouched as it wouldn't make sense for a military item not to have any labels on it unless it was a destructive device (like a grenade or claymore)

 

[Church]

Well the MG42/59 is currently underway and within 5-8 weeks it will be here fully restored and in full glory

Next step after is saving up a bit of funds for casting supplies to reproduce the brackets for some additional funds for this then its getting some more bits and bobs along the way

I have some very unique plans for using this MG42 and i might even be able to work out a way to retrofit some hi8/vhs-c camcorder tech for use as the camera captures for a more accurate capture

Also i hope everyone is excited about the aliens expanded documentary coming out soon

(All personal information has been removed from the photo but this is only half the cost of the MG42/59 and yes its running at 9000$ just for the MG42)

 

[septic]

You're using the Beretta licensed version, yeah? [Not an actual Rheinmetall marketed MG1 / MG42/59? IF it was the MG1, these are quite rare, I believe, and as such, you might be better to sell it on un-modified and use a MG3 as a base (assuming you want to stick with 7.62, which makes more sense/easier.]

 

[Church]

You're using the Beretta licensed version, yeah? [Not an actual Rheinmetall marketed MG1 / MG42/59? IF it was the MG1, these are quite rare, I believe, and as such, you might be better to sell it on un-modified and use a MG3 as a base (assuming you want to stick with 7.62, which makes more sense/easier.]

Im undetermined right now so i might keep the mg42/59 unmodified

Primarily i wanted to get it in 8mm but the only option was the 42/59 so if i cant do a trade/resell then ill likely just hold onto it for the time being till i can get a mg42/53 or something similar

 

[septic]

8mm's a PitA, in my country; I wish I'd picked up a 7.62 conversion kit years ago, they were cheap as chips, now they seem quite hard to find.

 

[Church]

8mm's a PitA, in my country; I wish I'd picked up a 7.62 conversion kit years ago, they were cheap as chips, now they seem quite hard to find.

I spoke to the BFONG expert and it seems that 42/59s are sort of common here (hell the place im buying it from had 6 kits on standby) so i might just go ahead and get it converted and get a second one later thats a yugo m53 or something similar as theres always a market for the mg42 guns here

Also in terms of live fire the mg42/59 isn't able to fire 8mm correctly due to its buffer spring, top cover, and feed tray but once its converted to blanks there will be no issues there as theyll be swapped out easily

I do plan to have more than one but for now the 42/59 is really my only option here and it will need some extensive cosmetic modifications but everything is primarily reversible if one should desire to put it back to a live fire (but it would need gunsmith milspec equipment to do so) and i only know about 2-3 places that could do it here

 

[Church]

Ok so good news and bad news

Good news is i managed to track down 2 of these arms that need a little modification but is 100% accurate

Bad news is out of both of them i only have found 2 mounts....that aint so good

I need to either cast out 2 more or get a machine shop to craft 2 more but again thatll be a bit after the MG42 comes in which should be 5-6 weeks from now

 

[Church]

Ok so progress update

Mg42/59 is paid off but now were on a 12 week wait time (possibly 10-9 weeks left now) till its completed and fully rebuilt

Until then ive decided to work on a few other pressing projects such as a speed cola machine ive been dying to get into (should have probably done it before the mg42 came along but oh well now)

Quite a few things to work on till the mg42/59 gets built but until i have any major progress on them ill probably be on and off till it happens

 

[joberg]

??
Those machine are quite expensive in my neck of the wood

 

[Church]

Ok so update today:

The mg42 currently has 12 weeks left for R&D testing (they want to make sure its 100% stable before shipping out)

But another project has come up with some....incendiary knowledge

So i have found pretty much all the parts needed for this unit to become fully functional but im stumped currently on these cosmetic peices

On the image titled "flamer 2.jpg" the base component is 2x triang incline piers upside down but the circular bit is unknown and on the second photo all the circled portions are unknown

 

[Church]

For such a simple flamethrower this is definitely a Frankenstein of a unit

This is only 4 kits so far but each and every one has certain peices that are added in such a way to give it that charm it desperately needs

Got another 5-6 kits left to go on it but luckily the kits out there for these models are abundant but i am going to be making a full kit for those looking for the cosmetics to it (going to be attempting pewter casts due to the high heat it will be making later on)

 

[joberg]

Getting there. Eager to see the build