Editorial, January 05
I finally got a chance to get out and about

I managed to get through my notes for the past few months and finish off the December and November editorials from 2004, they aren't quite as full as I'd like, but that's what you get when I get distracted with other things. Can't be everywhere at once, sorry about that, this article is written a little into February so you'll have to forgive the slight overlap into the next month.

Well the new XM8 kits are going out the door now, so they'll be in the stores soon. Hot on the heels of the XM8 release is a new UMP and railed M14 from StarAirsoft, and lets not forget an M1 Garand from Smokies, an M21 from Hudson, another M1 Garand in 8mm from Marushin and a new M14 and UMP from GuayGuay. Who says Airsofters aren't spoilt rotten? At this rate this year looks to be one of the best ever for new releases with almost every wanted AEG in mass production, and we still haven't really seen the usual surprise offerings from Marui.

The M14 from Marui is probably the most (over) hyped release from them yet, most likely because they've been showing off their de-act and poster (of the same de-act) at every trade show since BlackHawk Down became the box office release that it was. There's still no evidence that they've done anything towards that release yet. Curiously enough I've chatted to two independant sources this past month that both said they'd heard from Japanese collegues that Marui's only reason to announce the upcoming M14 AEG was to spite the custom houses in HK that were working on their own versions. Obviously without proof of anything it's hard to be certain, but it certainly makes sense.

Why is it I get the feeling that in light of current release news Marui will be either announcing their own UMP, or simply releasing it at a trade show this year? I'm just guessing here, but the pattern would certainly fit.. if there was any real pattern to witter on about that is.

It's hard to gauge without access to financial figures from a few places but Airsoft around the world looks to be becoming increasingly popular. With that I mean that like anything Airsoft grows, but of late that growth seems to be quite high. With increased publicity around the world licensing issues have reared their head several times. Smokies had what are still unexplained patent issues over their M1 Garand replica prior to release, and rumors are coming back from ShotShow '05 that H&K were unsurprisingly not hugely impressed with GuayGuay's planned UMP release. It's just a feeling, but with the increased popularity and the wealth of new copies coming out copyright and trademarks may well turn out to be a bigger problem for imports in the future. ClassicArmy and ICS solved their issues with Colt over their M4/16 copies with appropriate licensing, but that may prove to be a bit of an issue with Glock and H&K replicas.

I've had a bit of time now to wander around in some of the new Task Force boots from CopChopUK and break them in, or my feet into the boots; I never really know which gives in on that count. Either way they are a nice comfy fit now and made a decent addition to any equipment selection. If you're a biker the steel toecap boots with the steel braced sole may well be of interest. Alpine Stars boots look good and suit certain bikes, but they're not in any way practical off the bike.. they're actually blooming uncomfortable even wandering the short distance from the pumps to the cashier at the fuel station. A decent set of boots means you can at least commute on a bike and walk without having to carry a spare set of shoes or run the risk of crippling yourself walking in uncomfortable boots.

Tanaka's anticipated S&W 500 revolver release is out soon. Strangely Tanaka are releasing it in black initially rather than satin chrome that the real thing comes in. This looks to be down to Tanaka making the new 500 out of their newer heavy weight compounds which as yet haven't appeared in chrome/silver. Differing lengths of the X frame are sure to appear from Tanaka after the first release is out. Me? I'm waiting for the 4 inch model to appear.

In news that's still Airsoft related (well kinda) a guy has added some pages online showing how they managed to encase an entire server in an Airsoft gun case. Case mods are all the rage these days, but the gun case setup is somewhat different. The cases can be found on SuitcaseServers.com. The guys behind the website seem rather upset that their publically viewable website was mentioned on SlashDot. Seems a bit like writing something on a billboard and telling passers by not to read it to me. If you don't want something going public guys, don't make it public - 'nuf said really. Oh if you're after a case similar to the ones on show and can't be bothered to make it yourself they'll be selling custom built versions. Checkout their website for all the pretty pictures.

Retail visits: Over the beginning of the year I've had a chance to visit Airsoft Armoury for a mug of coffee and an update with things there, visit the lads at Wolf in their London store for the first time (I've not been there since they were in High Wycombe) and trundled over to CS Shop for a mug of tea and a chat with Steve. I'll post fuller details for each shop and add the complete series of pictures online at some point, but for the moment here's a quick idea of how things are at each store.

Airsoft Armoury: Things change pretty quickly at Airsoft Armoury. There's a heap of KWA stock in at the moment (piled up the ceiling as you can see), and the layout of the store changes quite a bit to keep things fresh. Doubtless the layout will have changed a bit by now, but it does give you an idea of how the store looks.

Bear in mind I popped into their store near London, not their newer branch up further North. Allister was around for the day and as it was fairly quiet just before Christmas it was a handy time to have a natter about the latest and greatest happenings in the world and have a play with the CA36C. There's already a long review of their store in the reviews section here, so when I get a moment I'll update that with the new shots to keep things all nice and up to date.

Wolf Armouries: A trip up to Wolf gave me a chance to use public transport for a change. I would drive, but I wasn't exactly keen on taking my car around London. Whilst I'm not that comfortable on trains, they do give me free time to sit and read the paper. At some point I guess I'll get around to lugging the spare laptop with me on such journies to type up my thoughts as I go, but I didn't have the forethough at the time. Plus.. well it was an early start and I was half asleep anyway.

Wolf wasn't what I expected and in truth I didn't really have much of a mind's eye idea of how Wolf was set out and organised. That last time I had the store described to me was when Lee had recanted the details to me on the phone but that was blooming ages ago when they first setup shop. I sadly don't get to that end of London much at the moment so just haven't been able to drop in. In fairness to Max I didn't tell him I was coming (sorry Max), but then again I'm not one to stand on ceremony - it's nice just to travel incognito sometimes. When I arrived they were busy unpacking a huge shipment new in that afternoon so I promised not to take photos of the boxes as it'd just be unfair.

The store is split in two with clothing and equipment at the front, then behind a partition and secure door in the middle are allt he rifles and pistols. The showroom at the back is quite dark because of the paintwork (purple and green if I remember right) with stainless steel and chequerplate cabinets and flooring. I'm told it's similar to the way that DenTrinity Shop looks, but I've never been there so can't really comment personally. If you've found something that you want to play with you'll find a quite reasonable length range at the very back.

There's a heap of interesting odds and ends over at Wolf, and a nice selection of wierd and wonderful stuff there if you know where to look. A lot of the truly special stuff like the gas BAR and the Paul Piper minigun aren't really for sale. The Smokies M82A1 was there but I have a feeling that it has now been sold.

A lot of new stock was hidden pending pricing and stock reorganisation, although there was lots of KingArms, StarAirsoft, G&P and HurricanE gear in which was very nice to see. It's not that well advertised, but a standard 1Joule /M100 upgrade kit (made by HurricanE) that includes a new spring, piston head, cylinder, nozzle, mainspring, oilless bearings, and spring guide will only set you back 34.99 UKP. Now that's not bad; my first upgrade FTK set me back around 150UKP over 5 years ago.

CS Shop: Combat South's shop is quite well hidden, Steve has a nice little unit in a retail park near Portsmouth which includes a garage and workshop underneath (perfect for storing your 110 and trailer), with the shop itself over the top. Just because it's out of the way it doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of people dropping in. Like anything in the Airsoft world word gets around quicker than any advertising and everyone that goes to CS Urban or Woodland (which includes pretty much all skirmishers in the local area) knows about the place.

Inside the shop there's the obligitary wall of gear, plenty of clothing and two walls of accessories to have a poke and prod through. I'd not seen the CAW PEQ Launcher in the flesh before, so I though I'd take a quick picture to put it in scale with other RIS devices that were on display. Yes.. it's bigger that you though isn't it? Well I thought so anyway. Very random I know, but if you look to the left of the glass cabinet there's a photo of Jo and Lenny from Flecktarn.co.uk in the background.

I almost missed it (but then again I can be oblivious to most things sometimes) but there's also a handy test range at CS Shop just to the left of the gun wall.

I think that pretty much covers the January period - mental note to self: carry pen and paper next time I'm out and I'll remember to write the important stuff down.