Hi, I’m Luke.
Today on Out of Darts, let's get skewered!
It seems like the 3D-printed releases in our hobby just do not stop, and I couldn't be happier.
This is the skewer it was designed by Taffy,
and this specific one was printed by my buddy Kyle down in the bay area.
Now, full disclosure: this blaster was sent to me for free, so that is somewhat of a compensation.
Also, Kyle is a friend of mine so keep both of those things in mind.
This is a TalonClaw-like platform, but it has a big twist.
It's a talon magwell, and we've got a center
core that skewers the whole blaster -- where it gets its namesake.
This handle right here, which is a nice t-pull,
goes all the way down the center and attaches to the breech, so it's got a nice rock-solid feel.
The blaster has a rather unique operation in that you fire, prime, return the prime, and fire again.
But, because of this really good air seal and rock-solid feel,
the blaster is extremely quiet, performs very well, and overall, it's a lot of fun.
It's a very goofy blaster compared to some, but it really forces you to slow down, take those
shots and make them count because you are not going to prime, fire, prime, fire -- that thing.
It's going to be a little bit more of a sniper blaster if you will.
The grip is quite comfortable.
I actually think it's superior to TalonClaws, and Lynxes, and other things.
I think it's nice and rounded; it fits my hand really well.
Ergonomically the blaster is fairly simple.
You've got a very basic t-pull back here -- a pretty “no muss, no fuss” set of internals.
On the note of ergonomics again, it is an oddball blaster.
It's a blaster that feels like you should be
shouldering it, but in its current configuration, you can't shoulder it.
So, it's more of a take your shot and aim, which
to me might make it a little more difficult to actually aim.
Now another user out there named “Sillybutts” online took Taffy's internals for the skewer
and put them inside of a ‘95 crossbow replica that I think he also designed.
Pretty unique concept; I think my buddy DrFlux is going to have some more content on that very soon.
It's got a more solid feeling as far as the connectivity of all the
pieces and how they interlock, and I think that's mostly due to having
that skewer running through the center of the blaster.
Now, this magwell specifically is talon-compatible, but it is not
a vanguard-style talon magwell.
So, you cannot put this in afterward.
I do believe that Kyle and other vendors do sell
a version that is the vanguard style, where you can swap the mag while you're actually using it.
To me, that's not a deal-breaker, but it is a nice thing,
especially when you get used to pulling it out in the middle.
I love being able to pull the mag out while I still have one in the chamber so I can fire.
Or dry-fire in this case.
But it's nice to have that option at the end of the day.
In this situation, you always are going to have to de-prime it before you do that.
But again, like I said, it is an optional add-on that you can get.
It's a relatively simple blaster as far as construction and overall look and feel.
I think the prints here could use a little bit of improvement.
I would re-slice a few of these pieces, but there might be some things I’m not aware of.
I see a few layer lines and some zits that are basically from a layer start or end -- usually
a retraction, and I think some of those could just be hidden a little better.
You can see them right here on the grip there are -- what we always call zits, but it's really
a layer transition where the nozzle retracts, moves up to the next layer, and then starts again.
I think what you could do is instead: there's lots of room to hide those
lines here -- these little zits, for lack of a better word,
you could hide them inside where the customer is not going to see them.
So, that would be my suggestion on the actual print quality itself.
Other than that, the parts do feel rock solid.
It's worth noting that Captain Slug is apparently a hardware supplier for these kits.
So, we've come full circle:
Other people are making stuff, and he's making the hardware kits.
Hopefully, Slug is having a good time and getting some sleep with his new baby…
That's not how it works(!)
Aesthetically it's a funky-looking blaster, especially with this color scheme,
but you could accent this a lot differently by choosing more primary colors up top and not having
so much of the cascading color effect.
But this does a really nice job of showing you all of the different
pieces there are since they're alternating all the way through, and I think that's pretty neat.
Somehow, when I throw the Tachi on,
it starts looking AK, and I think it's just this little bit up here.
I think in these nice bright colors I’m not too concerned about it.
I would feel very fine about playing with this.
Performance-wise the blaster hits very high.
You can hit 200 to 225 [FPS] with it.
We'll put the actual numbers that we received with for this exact unit on the screen here.
Again, that's a 20-shot average like we always do.
I've only got two other blasters that shoot as hot as this one does,
so now I just need to find the game to play with it.
Most of the games we're playing at right now are 150 FPS cap,
so I’ll probably swap the spring to actually get some test footage.
It definitely has a nice feel; it's really easy to sight down the entire barrel.
One upgrade I think I would probably throw on here is to drop a scar barrel on it.
But pretty standard barrel size would be easy enough to do;
we have several that would work directly.
At the end of the day, I think this is a really fun offering.
I'm going to give it 4 out of 5 stars, mostly due to just not being quite as war-practical as others
as far as taking aim, but I think it's a really neat design, really clean, and really goofy fun.
If you want to check these out, you can buy them at Kyle’s shop.
He's on Etsy, I believe, right now..
But, if there's any updates to the shop, I will put those down in the description,
and you can find all the pertinent information on that blaster there.
Thank you so much for watching!
We've got a lot more coming.
We're heading into our busy holiday season -- or maybe this is posting during the holiday season.
Thank you for all your support!
Until next time, I’m out of darts.
Let's get skewered!
That was embarrassing…
It wasn't primed(!)