I acquired this kit recently through contacts in HK.
Honestly, it's a great kit. I was amazed at the shear amount of cast metal created for and used in this kit. It's well designed and nicely put together. That being said, there are also many inaccuricies in the kit, most of which are
not very evident to the average consumer or to those who haven't researched this subject thoroughly.
The fact that the mag base has the two black mag tabs attached to it is very notable. You remove the mag base seperately, which exposes the M1A1 mag before you take the M1A1 mag itself out.
The GNG kit is generally wider than other kits. For example, the Spas 12 cage used on the GL (Grenade Launcher) is slightly wider and longer. Also the mag well is too wide. The mag well should taper more and more as you move down from the area below the counter. On the GNG kit it doesn't taper much, if at all.
The rear stock is composed of two parts instead of one continuous metal piece. To accomodate the stock locking mechanism they designed, the rear of the shroud is larger (comes up higher) than other kits.
The section that's been cut out of the side of the spas 12
grip that is supposed to fit around the spas 12
cage's ejection port, is not as long as the section that's been cut out of most of the other kits' grips. Most other kits have one additional vertical segment cut out. Personally, I like the way the GNG grip is considering how far the spas12 grip can be pulled back on the cage.
The GL is missing a trigger. Many kits out there are missing the GL trigger. But there really should be a trigger there.
The ejection port of the GL should extend a little higher up into the Spas 12 cage. That being said, the main reason for them to do this is because, (A) I think they copied the overall design from an icons stunt PR, and (B) the way it is currently designed is better for structural integrity being that the cage itself is plastic and the ejection port's inner sliding block is really just a tube. If that tube had to extend any higher for a taller ejection port the strength of the cage might have a problem.
The trapezoid-shaped bracket on either side at the front of the shroud, is shaped a little taller than it should be.
The front triangle barrel supprt should be a simple hollow metal triangular band when looked at head-on. Instead it appears solid when looked at head-on because that is where the light gate sensor is placed to count the BBs as they are fired and exit the barrel.
They got the outer diameter of the 10mm barrel pretty close. Well close enough. But the inner diameter should be larger. It's as if they were going to use this exterior barrel as an extension of the inner BB barrel, which is a pretty bad idea as the inner surface of the exterior barrel might have texture, burs or other issues that would create added drag or spin on the BBs. The exterior barrel would have been better if it's inner diameter was widened some more, say to... 10mm
This can probably be done still, considering the outer barrel is metal.
There are probably some other inaccuracies that I haven't noted here. Please don't take these issues as major drawbacks because they really aren't. The main issues I have with this kit is the fact that (A) you have to remove the mag base before you can remove the mag itself, (B) I'm not sure how strong the shoulder stock's locking mechanism is yet compared to the GWII locking mechanism, (C) the lack of space for a large battery. However, this really is a great kit. It is well designed despite it's
VERY minor aesthetic inaccuracies which the vast majority of consumers would never notice. The metal content in the kit blew me away! So much of this kit is metal that I was
really surprised. To imagine that they got so many parts made in
cast metal is very impressive.
Overall the quality is very good. The contacts on the counter's 9 volt battery connector could have been better.
As with most kits it really depends on what you wish to use this for. Do you want to use it in airsoft skirmishing games or for shooting cans and targets in the back yard, and as a high end prop. Personally I think it's best suited for shooting targets and as a high end prop. It's got cool features,
appears pretty accurate, can fire BBs and the counter counts down
reasonably well. The reason why I think it may not be very good for skirmishing is because I'm not entirely sure how strong the shroud is. I can't say if it will hold up against pellet hits well. Then there's the issue of the mag base. I don't like the idea of being in a fire fight and having to remove the mag cover, followed by the mag, replace with a new mag and then try to carefully replace the mag cover. That takes about 6 seconds when no one is firing at you. In a fire fight... maybe 8-10 seconds if you're lucky, compared to 1.5 - 3 seconds on a MIM kit. The lack of a large battery isn't great but can be circumvented by having a few batteries (2 or 3) handy which you could switch between games.
In the end though, it's a good kit. And worth the money.
-Alex
"The M41-A. When you absolutely, positively have to kill every mofo in the room. Accept no substitutes."
Edited by: [url=http://pub217.ezboard.com/bthealienslegacy.showUserPublicProfile?gid=uscmcorps>uscmCorps[/url] at: 4/23/04 3:47 pm
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Yeahhhh well, if ya ask me to review something I'm familiar with... you know my tendancy to go all out! 