MOD: Modulus Blaster Stock

If you read my review of the Strike and Defend expansion pack for the Modulus, you might be wondering how you can improve it. Other than duct-taping a giant piece of cardboard to it, there's sadly not much you can do to improve the shield. But that backup pistol built into the stock? Yeah, that can shoot lasers.

Difficulty: Easy
What you'll need: Phillipshead screwdriver, Nite-Finder EX-3 spring, and wire cutters.

The key to this mod is a simple spring replacement. But it has to be the right spring, because very few will have the ideal combination of features: a) it fits, b) it's stiff, c) it's not too stiff, and d) it can compress enough to be able to catch.

Hmmmm. The real key is not so simple…

But by my magic arts, I have determined that the correct spring can be found in a (drumroll please) Nite Finder! Yes, the 2004 powerhouse, that good old easy-to-find Nite Finder EX-3. Its spring is just about right, but you do need to cut off a quarter to a half-inch of it so it can compress all the way. So without further ado:

1. Open it up
Pull out the screws, take off the top of the shell, and you're left with the mechanism, which looks like this:

Strongly reminiscent of a Jolt, no?

The stock, clamshelled.

Then carefully remove the plunger casing by taking out the two screws in the back, so that you can...








2. Swap springs.
Twist the stock spring off the plunger rod, that twist the new one on. Remember, if you're using a Nite Finder Spring, you should cut off a little from one end so it can compress enough. Whether you do or not, you should put the stock back together without the outer screws and see if you can cock it. If you can, proceed. If not, cut the spring a little shorter and try again.


3. Reassemble.
If you can successfully cock the gun, then you've gotten past the hardest part. The seal is already pretty good on my model, but if it's not on yours (i.e. air escapes out the back), you can throw on one or two wraps of e-tape or teflon tape. But that's probably not necessary, so you can just screw it all back together.


Boom. Nobody will expect the kind of performance you can dish out from your new backup. They'll think you're some sort of Nerf wizard when you use it against them. Your "Blaster Stock" is no longer stock.


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MOD: Demolisher missile launcher

Unfortunately, as previously stated, this gun was not very well-designed for power-boosting. Yet at the same time, it does have a nice little wiring-clip so that you can completely split the two halves apart. Hmm. Didn't think that one through, did you, Hasbro?

I found that it will be more trouble than it's worth to me to improve the performance of the main gun. But the good news is that you can double the performance of the missile launcher!

Difficulty: Easy (but not for a gun that will be used by younger nerfers
What you'll need: A narrow phillipshead screwdriver and electrical tape (or plumbers tape). And, of course, a good arm with which to operate the launcher…
Optional: Drill with a half-inch bit, or a dremel tool with a utility bit.

There are two ways to do this. If you want to increase airflow, you'll need to drill out the grating in the front of the tube. To do this, I would suggest taking the whole gun apart. But if you just want to increase the seal, which provides almost all of the improvement, you hardly have to take anything apart.

Seal Upgrade 

1. Unscrew
You'll only have to take off the grey handle of the missile launcher to get to the little part we care about. I also like to take out the batteries just to prevent the possibility of any electrical accidents, but you don't have to if you don't want.

2. Remove Plunger
Pretty easy and fool-proof. Just pull it straight out.

This is actually what it looks like after the
mod, but it's enough to go by.

3. Seal Improvement
Pull the O-ring off the plunger head and wipe the lubricant off the head. This is so that the electrical tape will stick better, and you won't have to wrangle it around for ten minutes just to get it on there. Anyway, after you wipe it off, you should wrap the head with 1-3 full wraps of electrical tape. After that, pull the O-ring back onto the plunger over the electrical tape .Note: The number of wraps you use will proportionately increase the force of launch, but it will also make it much more difficult to use. It will be much harder to pull the handle out, and slightly harder to push it back in. I put two wraps on, but I'm a strong teenage boy. Mod wisely.

From here on out, you pretty much just reverse what you did in steps 1 and 2. The extra long screw goes on the top right of the handle.

Airflow Improvement

1. Unscrew and Clamshell

Take out all the screws. Short ones go in the topmost sections, and the super-long one goes just to the left of the stock attachment point. The rest are all the same size. And, while not at all necessary, I like to remove the batteries for safety.

Then just pull it apart carefully. There are some wires attaching the two halves at the tip of the handle.

2. Remove launcher

Here all you have to do is pull out the tube and apparatus that actually launches the missile.

3. Drill out grate

Get out your drill/dremel and make the tip look like one large hole instead of looking like a jail window. I won't tell you how best to do this, because it all depends on you and your tool. If you aren't familiar enough with it to know what to do here, you shouldn't be trying this. The final result should look like the hole has never had bars across it, or you might risk damaging your missiles. So yes, you should sand it down.

Put it all back together, screw it tight, and you will have better airflow.

Note: After removing the grate, it is possible to modify it to fire elite darts as well with a coupler system. However, you would slightly restrict the airflow again, and you'd run the risk of completely ruining the launcher if a dart got sucked back inside it. For moderately advanced modders only.


Congratulations! Now your missile launcher will dominate anybody on the field! (Unless of course they've performed this mod too…)

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Mod: MEGA Centurion

Apologies for taking so long with this.

BE FOREWARNED. This is the craziest nerf gun I have ever tried to dissemble and reassemble, let alone modify. I'll give you a clue: if you don't like multitasking, this mod is not for you. The good side of it is that I was able to get a consistent 15-20 foot bonus in range, plus much better accuracy at range.
If you're willing to sacrifice your sanity for these advantages, proceed.

Difficulty: VERY difficult.
What you'll need: A strong person, a long, thin, hopefully magnetized phillipshead screwdriver, electrical tape, a place to keep screws organized.
Suggested: Needle-nose pliers and an insane amount of patience.


1. Remove stuff
You'll want to first of all remove the clip to keep things simpler later on.

The front barrel

Then get your strong person to pull the front barrel piece off. Don't worry, this won't damage the gun or the barrel, and you can put it back on when you're done if you want. Just pull it straight off the front, and you'll be fine. Final, crucial step before you take it apart: make sure it is de-primed. Otherwise it will explode. WILL.


2. Unscrew
There are 24 screws total in four sizes. Get organized, or stop here.
The screws come in short, medium, long, and LONG. The five short ones go on the tac rail and the farthest left spot. The two LONG ones go at the top of the stock and in front of the jam door. The three long ones go here:

The medium ones go everywhere else.

3. Clamshell

Pull the halves apart. The little orange piece in the tac rail probably won't go flying (for once), but it's still good to be careful.

The internals

4. Lock removal

The two locks you should remove are located behind the trigger system shown below.

The trigger system

This is what one of the locks looks like. The other one looks similar.

Trigger and locks removed

First, take out the 2 screws holding the trigger system in. Take that out, then pull out the two locks behind it. It should look like the picture to the right. Then put the trigger system back in. Make sure to slide the end under the catch system. Screw it back in.

5. AR removal/seal upgrade

First you need to take off the white gear and orange "gear shield". Then take out the whole big plunger system. In order to fully remove it, you need to unscrew the return spring, housed above the main plunger tube. After that, you need to unscrew three small screws that hold the narrow front section to the bulky rear half. Simply pull out the pieces shown below (along with the spring that comes with them), and screw the front back on.

Then, take your electric tape and wrap it around the plunger tube to seal off the vents on the side.

One vent sealed, one to go.

Both vents sealed.

6. Extra improvements

If you want to make it easier to clear jams, you can pull out the jam door without affecting performance in the slightest. This is helpful for seeing when you're out of ammo so you don't dry-fire it. Another thing to do to make jams easier to clear would be to sand down the edges of the top of the clip so the darts can actually squish through the gap if you need them to. Additionally, if those green "priming indicators" bug you as much as they do me, you can safely remove the green parts ONLY. ----->

7. Homework

Take apart the clip well and remove the lock that prevents use when the barrel extension is not attached. You're on your own for this one, since I forgot to note down how to do it (and there is NO chance I'm doing it again). But I'm sure you can figure it out! Just remember to remove as little as possible, and keep track of where everything goes. Good luck!

8. Reassemble
Put everything back where you found it. You can use the picture above to try to tell where everything goes, and remember to screw everything in right. If you don't, you'll have to take it all apart again when the internals go kablooie the first time you try to use it. I'm sure you don't want that.
After everything's arranged, make sure that the priming handles are aligned, and put the top half back on. Easier said than done, so be patient.
When that's all through, you can screw it together. If you pulled out the lock in the clip well, you can stop here, leaving the barrel extension off to get slightly better range. Or, if you didn't, or you just like the tacticool "sniper" look of the complete Centurion, you can snap the barrel extension back on.

AND YOU'RE DONE!!!

Give yourself a pat on the back. Better yet, get someone else to give you a pat on the back. After all, you just disassembled, modified, and reassembled the Nerf MEGA Centurion. You deserve it.

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MOD: Nerf DoubleStrike

Finally, the Mod Guide for the Doublestrike!

Really, there's hardly anything you can do to improve the performance of the Doublestrike. You can't remove the air restrictors because of the "Smart AR" system it uses. You can't really upgrade the spring because it's already so tough. And there's no need to upgrade the seal, because it's already about as good as it gets. If you want to get better performance, here's LordDraconical's mod guide:

If you do want to take it apart for some reason, though (like to paint it), here's my input.

Difficulty: Easy
What you'll need: A phillipshead screwdriver.

1. Unscrew
There's seven silver screws to remove. They're all the same size, so you don't need to worry about which screw goes where. Keep them in some sort of bag or container, so you don't lose them.

2. Clamshell
Take the top half off and set it aside. Be careful that the little orange piece on top doesn't fly out.

3. Reassemble

Closeup of the internals

Assuming you have already taken out the internals and done whatever it was you wanted to do in the first place, here is how to put it all back together. Lay the trigger spring over the left metal post, then patiently place the trigger on that metal post so that the upright part of the spring fits into the tiny hole in the top of the trigger. That done, slide the spring over the cocking mechanism, slide the cocking mechanism/plunger into the barrel assembly, and arrange it all back into place. Then take the spring stopper and place it over the posts at the bottom of the handle such that it also fits over the spring.

The "shield"

Finally, place the "shield" piece (shown to the left) back over the pins to hold everything in.  Then place the tiny orange piece back under the tac rail, and lay the other half of the shell back on. And you're done.


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The Mod Kit

Do you find that every time you want to open up a nerf gun, you have to search around for all the necessary supplies? Here's a solution: make your own Mod Kit.

Difficulty: Easy
What you'll need: A shoebox to hold everything.
Suggested: A long, thin screwdriver. A magnet for retrieving screws from hard-to-reach places. A place to hold screws/internals (I use 3 small bowls). Electrical tape or plumber's tape (E-tape is better). Needlenose pliers for pulling things (like locks) out. Something with which to decorate your shoebox so that instead of looking like a shoebox, it looks like a nerf gun Mod Kit.

Screw organization, electrical tape, pliers,
screwdriver, "pole magnet".

The aforementioned "pole magnet" is actually a long, thin, metal pole glued inside the shell of a plastic pen, with a tiny magnet on the tip of the pole. It's long; it's thin; and it's comfortable.

In addition, I keep several different grains of sandpaper in my box, so I can sand for painting prep or to sand down certain pieces, like necessary locks.

I also like to keep all the locks and such that I remove in a jar. I don't know exactly why I do this; I guess I'm just afraid I might someday need to put them back. I pretty much keep everything I remove, because someday someone might want a stock nerf gun for posterity. I keep it all in my shoebox.
But that's just me.

Beyond that, I also keep a ziplock baggie of springs with which to replace/add plunger springs for a power boost.

Make sure to make it your own. Use what you like to use, and don't feel like you have to do anything the same as me. This is just an idea-sparker so you can build your own Mod Kit.

Happy modding!

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UPDATE

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I made a cool box in which to store my Mod Kit.

So yeah.

Mod: Nerf Sidestrike

The long(ish)-awaited Mod Guide for the Nerf Sidestrike. All you need to do to get amazing range from this already great gun is improve the barrel seal and remove the air restrictor.

Difficulty: Easy
What you'll need: A phillipshead screwdriver and electrical tape (or plumber's tape).

Steps:
1. Unscrew
There are 2 screw sizes in this gun - medium and short. Eleven screws total; 8 medium and 3 short. The three short ones go here:            ------------------------------>

It is of note that you'll have to pull the slide back a bit to access one of the medium screws.

2. Clamshell
The gun comes apart into two easy halves. One has all the internals, and the other one doesn't have anything really. Also, keep track of the little orange piece on the tactical rail (it tends to fly out).
The half with the internals will look like this:

3. Remove Internals

First, carefully pull out the trigger system, being sure to not lose the catch spring. Set those aside. Then, pull the plunger tube/barrel system out. That's what you'll be working on.

4. Seal Upgrade

It is important to note that this step will make the gun slightly more difficult to cock.

Pull out the plunger rod. 

On the tip, there is a black O-ring. Take it off and set it aside. Make sure it doesn't get dirty, because that will ruin the seal. Now, take you electrical tape and carefully wrap a section around the area where the O-ring was. If you're using electrical tape, you'll only want to wrap it once. With plumber's tape, you might want to do 2-3 wraps of tape. After that's done, slip the O-ring back on over the tape. Re-insert the plunger into the plunger tube.

5. AR removal

The AR (air restrictor) is designed to restrict airflow, reducing performance. In order to remove it, you'll have to take apart the barrel assembly. That would be the big orange tube near the top of the gun. Take it out, and on each side you'll see a latch holding the front part to the back part. CAREFULLY unlatch those (If you're under the age of ten, I'd suggest that you ask your mom to do this), and take the assembly apart. The only part you want to remove is the actual AR and its spring (see photo).

Once you've done that, you need to make a decision. Are you going to want to fire Streamline darts with this gun? If yes, then you can pull out the dart post piece from the back. Then snap off the long, thin post from its base, and put the base back. From there, you can put the whole barrel assembly back together.

6. Reassemble

Put it all back together. See above picture for arrangement of all the internals.

And voila! You just added about 25 feet to the range of your Nerf Sidestrike!


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