Some more info has appeared online over at Sanken (the Japanese wholesaler) concerning the new Phoenix ‘High Protection Gear’ products. Sadly they aren’t planetary gears like those found in the Systema, but are still different from the norm.
The main sector gear is made from a shock absorbable construction with the pickup tooth suspended in an inset rather than being a physical part of the main gear. From what I can see the gear is actually three parts, the rear teeth on the back of the sector gear that engage with the spur gear are the same part as the pickup for the loading nozzle and the gear axle. The top that you can see in the shot is a separate part and comprises of just the interrupted piston teeth and in between there’s a nylon damper to remove the shock from rotary play between the two halves. Thus the wear and tear normally associated with the instant load created by engaging with the piston is reduced, and the wear on both the piston teeth and gear itself is reduced.
Reportedly these gears have been proofed to cycle over 300,000 shots, which is double the test figure that I last knew of that TM AEGs normally have to pass.
As an added bonus the gears are said to feature “automatic shim adjustment”. I’m not sure what they mean by this but I assume that the gears somehow have a shim system built into them. The bevel gear is curved in shape with oblique cuts on the angular faces of the gears. This is said to produce a gear similar in style to helical gears and means that they rotate smoothly and quietly.
It’ll be interesting to see what the take up and reports back are about this type of gearset innovation and if successful no doubt we’ll see gears like this appearing in the non Japanese AEG makes in the future.
Also over at Sanken there’s some shots of the the upcoming Marushin releases including the 8mm Marushin M2 Carbine which were taken at the last hobby show in Japan (Sizuoka) with known release dates for the new Ruger revolvers listed as being the end of May, the “T.Roosevelt” SAA after July, Hawk Talon (the match style SAA) at the end of June, the and the M1 Garand and full stock M1887 Shotgun out in July. Marushin M1 Garand details can now be seen here, with the release PDF on their site here (thanks go to Marc for the quick email).
According to Sanken the KSC HK33 project is nearing completion as the production and part processing is complete leaving them with just the assembly and final finishing touches to do. KSC are now looking at a July release for the much hyped (and somewhat late) AEG.
