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Star L85


Hissing_Sid

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i garuntee that they introduce it at that price to see what the demand is, once they realise tht they are selling out at 400 thy will probably take the price down and send us loads of them then we will all be happy, except me, i was happy in the first place

perhaps hardcore, it would be the fact that they arent selling out

 

.x.X.Krystal.X.x.

I really hope you're trying to be funny with the top post, otherwise you just made yourself look silly. :)

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Ordering from WGC

 

CA249 + Box Mag + shipping = £560

 

Happy xmas to me, happy xmas to me......

You better let me play with it <_<

 

Yellobelli: because you posted something I disagreed with, so I started discussing it with you. Just because I'm not buying one doesn't mean I can't have an opinion of it.

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hardcore, if you arent considering purchasing one of these, and you dont have one for testing, why are you posting here?

and yeah that was a typo

 

.x.X.Krystal.X.x

 

Didn't think you were buying one either.

 

My opinion: Its a £400, ugly AEG. It had better dance and sing for me to even consider it. And it doesn't, so I'm not.

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hmm...

pot metal, cocking handle doesn't go fully back, new type of gearbox and lots of screws to remove...... sounds very much like a certain TM AK47 a few years back, and look how that turned out.

*useless fact alert*

the actual real steel L85A1 cost £80 to make many years ago but the HK mod pushed the price up to over £400

 

£400 for the Star L85 series seems a bit steep but considering that we have a VCR bill on it's way and lots of british airsofters want one it's no suprise Star made the price so high. (how many people who bought one would have paid £100 more if it was released at £500?) as with there UMP the price will drop with time although probably not until the evil VCR takes affect

 

as for me, I'm getting one. i have always fancied a full metal sa80 AEG

I could get a academy one and butcher a famas, add a new barrel and hop, modify the magwell, stick it all together and hope for the best

or

get a gas one (gas is sooo last season :) )

or

bash my wallet again and buy the Star one and then wait for some nice company to make some replacement parts if it all goes horribly wrong.

 

and my final words on this post...

 

at least it's not another armalite clone

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I saw one in the flesh, so to speak, at Wolf's and was mildly impressed.

 

Not impressed enough to buy one, but it felt solid and I could see its attraction.

 

If you want an SA80, then regardless of the price, it's the only game in town until G&G put theirs out? However, this will probably be post VCRB, which makes things problematical.

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oh come on, have you held an academy sa80? you can twist the thing into a prezel, worst atempt at an airsoft gun ive ever seen.

 

Well I never held an Academy but handled the HFC springer. And it is a massive gun. No squeeks no wobble. I agree that the Academy has poor reputation, but you can fix it up if you want to. The gun with total overhaul would cost around 250. And it would be a trusty AEG at the end.

So the Star is not the only L85 AEG for sale. The Star have the following pros and cons compared to the Academy:

Pros

Excellent Outside build quality,

Works good out of the box

 

Cons:

Costs 4x as much, 2x in case of an upgraded Academy

The SUSAT is extra (and barely usable if I understood right)

 

I don't write a word about the power, because the upgraded Academy would happily shoot 1J just like the Star. On the other hand, the Star has the option to be powered over 1J, while the Academy has not.

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few quickies as ive obviously not had a look inside the damn thing yet :)

 

fire select can you see a better design for it within current context of the rest of the parts, or is the surrounding layout such that its the only viable option but could do with better materials?

 

Eg is it worth going to effort of getting equivalents machined out of something a bit more substatnial or if that effort is going to be made should opportunity be taking to improve on it?

 

gearbox - does it look up to a fair bit of use before big screwdriver time, or is it as dry as a camels beep/poorly shimmed/bushed and in need of bit of preventative maintenance before use

 

inner barrel - how high do you need to go on the screw(ed) count before its removable Im thinking on basis 6 zillions screws i can live with as long as five zillion of them dont actually need to be extracted for general tasks :)

 

stevie

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er... get an academy and fix it up good,

itll cost less and it comes with more mags, but dont grill me for this please i am trying to help but i dont know the quality of the extras contained wirh the academy.

maby it wont cost less

anyways

hope this helps lol

byo

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fire select can you see a better design for it within current context of the rest of the parts, or is the surrounding layout such that its the only viable option but could do with better materials?

 

Eg is it worth going to effort of getting equivalents  machined out of something a bit more substatnial or if that effort is going to be made should opportunity be taking to improve on it?

Definately.

As far as I can see, the main suspects are the shaft which the selector pivots on and a cam which fits over it.

The cam is already a fairly loose fit on the shaft and the cam, itself is barely 2mm wide at some of the sharpest corners.

 

TBH, there isn't a vast amount of tension on these parts, except when you press the spring decompressor down, but I can't help worrying that these components aren't terribly good quality to begin with and they're only going to get worse with wear.

The fact that people are already suffering problems with the fire selector also compounds this.

 

Copying these parts using a stronger material would, literally, take half an hour with a lathe and some hand-tools. Not a big problem at all.

If I was to buy one of these I think I'd do it sooner rather than later and then fit the copies right away.

 

gearbox - does it look up to a fair bit of use before big screwdriver time, or is it as dry as a camels beep/poorly shimmed/bushed and in need of  bit of preventative maintenance before use

I must admit, I barely looked at the gearbox. I explored far enough to figure out how to tear the gun apart and then put it back together again for the night.

Tommorow I'll have a better look.

 

I would, however, say that the ease with which an 8.4v mini pack could wind the M120 spring suggests that nothing is having a particularly hard time inside the gearbox.

 

I think most of the damage that hapens to these gearboxes will be done when people take them to bits to fix something and end up snapping bits off when they are tightening screws etc.

 

I couldn't tell for sure but it looks as though the hop-up and cylinder are a single unit. I can't really see how this is possible since there is an air nozzle inside it as well. While I'm at it, I didn't notice how the tappet plate works either. :unsure:

Anyway, point being that these are probably NOT standard parts. It looks as though you will need parts from Star to keep this beastie running.

 

inner barrel - how high do you need to go on the screw(ed) count before its removable  Im thinking on basis 6 zillions screws i can live with as long as five zillion of them dont actually need to be extracted for general tasks :)

Haha! Forget it. :(

 

Here's the deal:-

 

Remove 2 x screws from butt-plate and remove butt plate.

Remove 2 x screws from rear sling loop and remove rear sling loop.

 

You now have access to the rear of the gearbox to change the spring. Think CA249. Same idea.

After that it gets more fiddly.

 

Remove foregrip screw, front sling loop and foregrip.

Remove front and rear receiver pins.

Remove 4 x screws from front of upper receiver.

 

You can now remove the upper receiver... which achieves nothing. Literally. Nothing.

 

Remove 2 screws from barrel clamp and remove barrel clamp.

Remove 4 screws from area around trigger.

 

You can now slide the entire outer barrel out of the front of the lower receiver.

Great, but that still doesn't give you access to any of the spinny-windy-shooty bits.

On we go...

 

Remove the 3 screw/pin things using an allen key or similar.

Remove Fire-Selector screw securing screw and remove Fire Selector (Carefully retrieve detente spring and BB).

Lift inner barrel.

Slide bottom part of barrel clamp out of lower receiver.

Lift up gearbox.

Remove screw securing trigger linkage to gearbox.

 

You can now, finally, remove the gearbox, hop-up and inner barrel all in one lump. Yippee!

 

The inner barrel seems to be secured by a standard C clip.

Hopefully it'll be a standard barrel so a suitable tight-bore will fit - More news tommorow.

The hop-up rubber parts should come out with the barrel.

 

The rest of the workings, are held captive by the gearbox halves.

The gearbox isn't terribly complex but I thought twice about taking it to bits cos I'm not familiar with it and I'd hate to suddenly realise I didn't know where a part goes. :blink:

 

I'll have a look tommorow and see if I want to pull the gearbox to bits.

 

One thing which, as I thought, is kinda dodgy is the bushes. The gun has metal bushes.

I know this is uber-pessimistic but if something overheats then the heat will be transmitted to the bushes without damaging them. The bushes will heat up the gearbox shell and it'll melt cos it's plastic.

 

TBH, I reckon the external parts of this gun are absolutely bullet-proof. On the assumption that the VCRB might limit access to external parts then this gun really IS a smart move for the brit airsofter.

As long as internal parts are available.

 

If anybody else releases an SA80 then I see it going one of 2 ways:-

1) It's conventional and has an alloy body in which case it'll be seen as the "runner-up" to the Star SA80.

2) It'll be innovative and unique in which case it'll be seen as an "alternative" to the Star gun in much the same way as ICS is to CA.

 

The only way you're ever going to "beat" Star is by producing a gun identical to the Star SA80, with a metal gearbox, and selling it for £150 less.

 

The SUSAT is wonderful. It is vastly better built than the G&P ACOG.

However, the field of view is pretty small and the eye-relief is ridiculous for airsoft.

In fact, seriously, if I was the MD of Star I'd seriously be wanting to know who the f*ck let the SUSAT get all the way into production without noticing that it is impossible to use with goggles or a mask. For airsoft.

Expect a Star SUSAT RDS early next year. For another £100, no doubt. ;)

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I agree with the 'stop focusing on the negative' sentiment. I wrote a strongly-worded letter to the Consumer's Association for doing exactly the same.

 

I read a review in Which? Hi-Fi and rather than just tell me all the good points of a range of hi-fi's, it just kept nit-picking, and pointing out their faults. It even had the cheek to rate them in terms of quality. What is the point in such pessimism? I want Which? to tell me that the stereo I have is great, and that no matter what I buy with my money, it's top stuff.

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