Licensed Pulse Rifle pre-order

[SupMyNerfHerder]

I think he was referring to the wraparound sides of the vertical portion of the buttstock being thicker looking on the HCG. The angles of the photos are different and that may have a bearing on the visual interpretation.

Eltee is right - my apologies, I should have been more clear and have edited my post - I'm only talking about the bent vertical section of the shoulder stock. To me, at least, it's unmistakable that the HGC telescoping stock has a thicker (or wider) vertical section - this has nothing to do with the angle, as the screen-used PRs are only a few degrees off from one another. Look at the right hand side of the comparison montage I posted - see how the vertical red lines correspond to a shorter horizontal edge on the HGC than on any of the screen-used PRs?

Dan

 

[SSgt Burton]

Is the buttstock metal on the HGC?

Never mind- I just checked. It is.


Kevin

 

[Matsuo]

We changed the stock for durability adjustability and production restraints, sorry if this offends but in our defense almost all the existing hero guns have tweaked stocks. I wanted to avoid a potential weak spot.

It is a thinner gauge steel than the hero guns which were in my opinion unreasonably thick and they still suffered damage.

You have to imagine the stresses a 15 lb gun can put on a piece of sheet metal when dropped on end. Dont ask me how I know... I just know... it aint pretty.

M

 

[TridCloudwalker]

We changed the stock for durability adjustability and production restraints, sorry if this offends but in our defense almost all the existing hero guns have tweaked stocks. I wanted to avoid a potential weak spot

That's a change I am totally cool with, and if it does end up bugging me, a few seconds with a dremel will shape it down to hero specs.

 

[SupMyNerfHerder]

Actually, I can visualize it pretty well: I've bent a few high-end downhill mountain bike frames in my day each time I took a spill, so point taken. :lol

Then again, this replica is designed as a weighty display piece, not to withstand a 36" bare unit drop test. So with all my appreciation for robust design principles and generous safety factors, I'm pretty sure this replica would suffer irreprable damage no matter what angle or height you dropped it from.

If it's not too late, I'd like to know if you would reconsider retooling the dye for the stock - to my eyes, it's really the only blatantly inaccurate piece in an otherwise outstandingly accurate reproduction.

Dan

 

[Delmustator]

Matt, what type of steel are they made from? Are they mild steel?

I've fashioned stuff from 1/16" cold roll sheet metal on numerous projects and the stuff is some 20% stronger than mild or hot rolled sheet metal. You can hammer this stuff with a 10lb BFH with little effect. Cutting this stuff with a pneumatic sheers is like trying to cut leather with a plastic knife! My sheers cut mild sheet metal like butter.

Was this ever considered during the process?

 

[Lear60man]

One difference I'm seeing is that the HCG seems to have a thicker, softer trigger guard than the others, both screen used and just about any replica I've seen.

(Just a observance... as I too am very anxiously awaiting mine!)

I think you are referring to the mag well the forms into the Grenade launcher trigger guard. That area is very thick. Most replicas to date have thinned this out over the years including the Airsoft conversion.

Art, I get what you are saying about the carry handle opening narrowing towards the front. It all depends on what PR pics you have been staring at over the years. Some narrow some dont. I think this was the best overall idealized PR ever.

Cant wait!

 

[JOATRASH FX]

I think you are referring to the mag well ...

Nah, I was referring to the trigger guard on the Thomson but Matt cleared that up a couple posts later. :thumbsup

 

[Matsuo]

Dan, I dont know if it can be changed at this point, I'll ask though.

Del, I doubt it's cold rolled, it's more expensive and harder to form, thus I doubt the factory would go with it... TBH it was never considered, were making a prop for collectors not components for the aerospace industry...
How bout dont drop your PR...


The trigger guard for the GL is very wide, something that even I didn't know.


They revised the trigger guard on the thompson, I signed off on it and it's ready to go, it is a little thicker than the real steel but at least it's straight now not mushy. You have to remember that the real trigger guard on a thompson is paper thin, this would not translate well in resin at all, we had to thicken it up a little.


M

 

[sycor]

So from what I'm gathering from all this is that this piece went up for pre-order 11 months ago and the final design hadn't even been approved and production hadn't even started? That is rather upsetting. Especially since it was implied these things would have been shipping last year meaning production had started a long time ago. Hell, the only reason I don't cancel my order at this point is because I know Matsuo is involved. But I will probably never buy from HCG again.

 

[Matsuo]

Sycor, not exactly true, the Masters were submitted before preorders were taken. I cant answer for HCG as far as the way payments and orders are structured but I can tell you that once the production masters were finished they were sent to the factory for protyping. The time that has passed has been consumed by revisions corrections and re submissions not to mention the tooling nescesarry for producing metal shrouds... 11 months worth... If we had not gone through all that and pushed a prop out the door regardless, I would be looking at a 30 page long post about how crappy the HCG PR is.

M

 

[LDR]

I'm just happy its still going nicely, and that the shrouds look very nice indeed....and metal!

Cant wait to get these, and hopefully they will fit my all metal pr.

 

[Art Andrews]

SupMyNerfHerder, good catch on the shoulder stock. Fortunately, for those of us who don't see the HCG as much as a collector's piece as we see it as cannon-fodder for our next PR build, this particular issue can be resolved with a dremel and a metal file! My only concern, as Matt pointed out would be durability, but also as Matt pointed out, if we don't drop them, it should be a non-issue.

 

[Art Andrews]

I don't know if anyone would know this... but approximately how many tins of original Bess Brown do you think it would take to paint an entire Pulse Rifle? And, does anyone know if the originals were brush painted or airbrushed?

 

[sycor]

Sycor, not exactly true, the Masters were submitted before preorders were taken. I cant answer for HCG as far as the way payments and orders are structured but I can tell you that once the production masters were finished they were sent to the factory for protyping. The time that has passed has been consumed by revisions corrections and re submissions not to mention the tooling nescesarry for producing metal shrouds... 11 months worth... If we had not gone through all that and pushed a prop out the door regardless, I would be looking at a 30 page long post about how crappy the HCG PR is.

M

Oh I do not doubt that a lot of work is going into this. My complaint has nothing to do with you or your work on this. I think the PR will be worth the money. My point is that before they put this up for pre-order and took money (which they did for anyone who did the flexpay) all this stuff should have been done and the PRs should have been in production. The flexpay option, to me, implied that this thing was ready to ship within a month or two. At least it did to me. And maybe I read too much into the pre-order.

 

[Lear60man]

I don't know if anyone would know this... but approximately how many tins of original Bess Brown do you think it would take to paint an entire Pulse Rifle? And, does anyone know if the originals were brush painted or airbrushed?

Art you can paint a PR with one tin and have some left over. To save on bleed through, I paint mine with a coat of OD. Then BB. My hero PR is airbrushed BB with medium misting of OD, a mix of screen and real world accurate.

 

[Art Andrews]

Art you can paint a PR with one tin and have some left over. To save on bleed through, I paint mine with a coat of OD. Then BB. My hero PR is airbrushed BB with medium misting of OD, a mix of screen and real world accurate.

AWESOME! I am thinking I will leave whatever paint comes on ours (we got the BB version) but I know I am going to want to do a few mods and the whole thing will need a repaint (then a GOOD weathering). I have two tins of BB sitting right here, so I should be good to go!

My only issue now is that I am HORRIBLE with an airbrush and I have heard the type of paint BB is, doesn't work well in an airbrush to start with... Sad to know that I will probably have to send this off, just to have someone paint it!!!

 

[Birdie]

I brush painted my PR shrouds with BB and they came out fine. It's horrible to airbrush.

 

[SupMyNerfHerder]

Dan, I dont know if it can be changed at this point, I'll ask though.

Thanks, M!

They revised the trigger guard on the thompson, I signed off on it and it's ready to go, it is a little thicker than the real steel but at least it's straight now not mushy. You have to remember that the real trigger guard on a thompson is paper thin, this would not translate well in resin at all, we had to thicken it up a little.

Is it possible to see the revised trigger guard? Are the grip & trigger guard cast in one chunk of resin, or assembled together? I hope it's not the former, as this would definitely detract from the authenticity of the real-world Thompson. I only noticed the thickened guard the other day after seeing your updated photo. The trigger guard looks different in different shots on the HGC website - were different Thompson models used, or is it just the angle? In the one below, it definitely looks very thin, but careless Photoshopping may be to blame:

In this photo (as well as in your own replica and one of the hero PRs), I also noticed that the grenade launcher trigger forward of the magazine shroud is located a lot further away (centered in the hole) than the trigger in your updated pics, in which case the new location would be off, because from the side, it actually appears to be located behind the leading edge of the shroud - can you please shed some light?

I guess all I'm saying is that I'd rather have accuracy in delicate parts like the shoulder stock, triggers, and trigger guard than deviation for the sake of ruggedizing. Also, what parts on the Thompson are resin and which are metal? On the HCG site there's no mention of a working trigger or bolt action, and I don't recall if that's been disclosed in this thread.

Thanks!

Dan

 

[Lear60man]

AWESOME! I am thinking I will leave whatever paint comes on ours (we got the BB version) but I know I am going to want to do a few mods and the whole thing will need a repaint (then a GOOD weathering). I have two tins of BB sitting right here, so I should be good to go!

My only issue now is that I am HORRIBLE with an airbrush and I have heard the type of paint BB is, doesn't work well in an airbrush to start with... Sad to know that I will probably have to send this off, just to have someone paint it!!!

Problem with Humbrol BB is that there are 2 types regular and 'super'. Im not at home so I cant dig out the tins. Another problem is the age of the paint as it has been discontinued. You must use a thinner when airbrushing or it will clump. I cant remember what I used to thin it with (regular thinner or acetone). Many thin layers will give you a great look. But yea, OD misted with BB gives a great 'eye correct look'.