Hatchet

Right, here are some images to try and explain what's going on. Here you can see the gearbox shell and piston. Note the recess where the cylinder goes. Above - How I'd expect this to be in a working setup. The piston head is as far back as it can go, and the lip of the piston head catches against the gearbox shell as designed. Contrast this with the picture below (which you get when applying side pressure, even with the cylinder in) and you can see the piston won't come far enough back and therefore doesn't release. When it's in this locked up situation it's possibl

Yes, I'm sure they're not. Battery is a 7.4 3000 lipo, but I have tried others. And feeding it directly from the charger... (13.3v or something). A high torque motor *might* do more, but if I can find a fix instead it'd be better.

Will do. I should have some time on Thursday to dig out the camera, etc and try to get some decent images. Being the heretic that I am, it did cross my mind that it'd be nice if someone made a non recoil gearbox that would fit inside the shell so you still got to take advantage of the excellent hop, etc...

I think I may have *finally* had a breakthrough in why my sopmod keeps locking the gearbox when using an upgraded spring. It's absolutely nothing to do with shimming, motor height, pistole grip, electrical supply, stock tube, etc. It's to do with the piston/piston head. This can be replicated by taking the gearbox all the way down, so you just have the piston and the empty half of the shell. Then, use your thumb to push the piston hard against it's rails as you slowly draw it back. There's a lip on the piston head that sets how far back it can go. However, on mine, with side pressu

New pistol grip and stock tube fitted. Same problem. Argh! Have shimmed it as best as I can and it *seems* fine. When run without the spring in it will turn all day and motor engagement sounds good. When run with the spring in it will run fine for a bit and then start randomly locking the gearbox up. Sometimes a sharp tap to the side of the shell frees this up. I'm sure this thing has a bias depending on which side is face up when you're shooting. My only other thought is perhaps lateral movement of the bushings. *This* close to breaking it for spares and going back to V2/V3 based

First test "in anger" today. Having the Spectre installed in the MP5 meant I was able to run with a collapsible stock and the advantages that offers. Several times throughout the day I was able to get in firing positions that would otherwise have been impossible. The compact length and light weight meant I was more mobile than almost everyone else who were running M4's. It also afforded me the ability to easily sling it on my back for crawling forward into postions with my MK23 for a bit of silent death. The overall responsiveness of the motor (a standard TM EG760) and pointability mea

Yeah, I had got the Chimera and was checking in on the website every couple of days as part of the routine. Tokyo Marui, BTC, Arnies, that sort of thing and saw that it had gone from "Coming Soon" to "Add to cart". So did the usual thing of order mine, tell the other shooters on FB and then give it a couple of hours before mentioning it on here. Think they sold out the same day. There's a BTC Spectre review thread up already for the normal ones (which I have put a poor quality video on). Agreed on the next gen MP5, although I struggle to see how they'd fit the mechanism in. A gbb seems

Yeah, I have a Chimera in a G3 and a Spectre in the MP5. I'd have a "Next-Gen Spectre" as soon as they come out. Assuming I ever get round to fixing the CQBR of course. Ironically have been having so much fun with the MP5 now it's spectred up, that I haven't been that fussed about rushing to open the M4 up again.

Here is a video. I appreciate it is overly large, mainly pointless and the sound quality leaves something to be desired. It's also not on YouTube or any of that. It is, however, my first one, and naturally I feel very pleased with myself for managing something trivial. It probably won't stay up there forever, but for now, here it is: http://www.tea-and-medals.co.uk/BTC.mp4

MP5 is a V2 gearbox, and the trigger board used is the same in the spectre/chimera (I believe), so trigger response should be identical. I find it noticeably finer than it was before, but you could probably get a custom adjustable trigger to make it even more so.

It was certainly the same on the Chimera. I guess it's down to personal preference. There were times I felt that it went into auto too quickly when I was trying to do bursts in rapid succession - I guess it depends on how fast you are getting your finger off the trigger. A lot of it will come down to play style. With the mp5 and locaps, full auto empties it in a couple of seconds, so I doubt I'll have hybrid or auto programmed, but for the G3 (until I can afford the DMR upgrades) with a 500 round on there, full auto could be fun.

Yup, no problem. Or post it up here and we can build up the useful info on this thread.

Warning - what other pictures did you want/need? You shouldn't need a spare selector plate, you can modify your usual one, it'll still work fine. Jal - Both the Chimera and Spectre are showing out of stock at the moment, so I'm guessing instructions on this will be up before they're up for sale again. Darklite - One of the things I like about this setup is that if you wreck the trigger board you can swap it out with a replacement for a relatively small amount ($15). I've already had to do this on my Chimera where I managed to make a mess of things. Still, it's all learning.

No problem. And also thanks to BTC for PMing me about this potential issue with the G3's. I'm happy to report my G3 was working fine with the Chimera (the Spectre having gone into the MP5). Briefly. And then I managed to shear one of the data cables. Mnngh. I'd already busted one, so I've just gone and ordered some molex connectors/pins so I can repair it. Cheaper and quicker than buying a replacement cable, once you take US postage etc etc. Of course, the parts will turn up Monday... Still, have the Spectre MP5 to put through it's paces, I'm thinking semi/hybrid burst for that. Once

As discussed, the following filing area of the selector cam allows it to clear the microswitch. I still need to put it back together and make sure it changes modes ok, but I think it should.

Yup, although at a 45 degree angle from the underneath to halfway up the "point" is probably best rather than straight on from the front, otherwise it might not move the selector plate. Meddling time...

Here's a (slightly large) image to give you an idea of where the problem lies. As you may or may not be able to see, my selector cam has actually worn away slightly on the underside, which seems to give it just enough clearance. That said, my fire selector is wrecked anyway, so I may see if it's possible to fit a different trigger/switch somehow.

You might want to hold off on that. I got a PM saying they weren't suitable for G3's as the fire selection cam will rip the sensor switches off the back of the trigger board. Having looked at it, this does seem to be the case. It may be possible to shave a fraction off the cam to make it work. I'm going to have a better look at it today, I'll see if I can get some pictures.

No idea. Well, this installed pretty easily. No problems with the cable routing, it came with a deans connector, but I have resoldered to an EC3 to match the rest of mine. Functionally it's identical to the Chimera, at least as far as I'm able to tell. Performance with a 7.2v lipo is fantastic, I'm running an mp5 with a 2600mah in the front handguard. Can't see any reason why you'd want to put an 11.1 in there, it's instantaneous as it is. Now to put the "old" Chimera into my G3 and it's all good.

It's here! Hope to get it installed and maybe a quick video either today or tomorrow. Good times.

Just got the shipping notification for mine. A week between payment and shipping, guess he's pretty busy. Now for the inevitable wait for ParcelFarce customs notice, so probably another two weeks until I have this in my grasp. Arrrrgh, hate waiting! Edit to add - yup, showing as out of stock now.

This has been released... I've already ordered mine based on how excellent the Chimera is. It's going into an MP5 with collapsible stock to give more battery space in the front handguard. I'll try and get some decent video, the current one is from my mobile, 10mb and I have yet to master youtube, etc.

NGM4-114 - Rear Fuse assembly. If they do it, as I slightly melted mine. Still works, but it probably wouldn't hurt to have a spare... As an aside, having got one of the BTC Chimera's on my backup AEG I am even more keen for them to finish the SOPMOD version - they're absolutely brilliant.

"She realised too late that one was a loaded stun grenade that went off when she inspected it." Did the inspection basically consist of removing the pin then? Which would in turn rather make me question her statement of "I've been around explosives long enough to deal with pyrotechnics and thunder flashes and smoke grenades in the past. This was just totally unexpected." However, in a bid to stay on topic...