Fresh Magazine Holders

We've been doing some work with our suppliers and generally developing our range of 18/12 dart box magazine holders. Since we converted them to MOLLE Attachment Bars back in October, we've been expanding the range of available of camouflage fabrics. We've been working with our suppliers to reduce the cost of trim matched variants and have managed to pass those savings onto our clients. There are a number of price drops and changes. We've removed singles as they didn't sell terribly well and aren't a great economy in terms of production. Our Hex and Quad stacks still offer great value for money and exploit the full flexibility of the MOLLE system.

Early stage Woodland DPM holder, the Khaki thread has been upgraded to Olive

Rather than producing multiple listings, we've streamlined them all into one listing and simplified the options. This has allowed us to introduce drop-leg variants across all camouflage fabrics at the click of a button.

The other great news about our 18/12 magazine holders is that they can hold the 15 dart curved 'Worker' magazines that are currently coming out of China. They're good and secure in there and don't occlude any box magazines they might be alongside.

The new listings are available here, subject to our usual 2 week lead time. We're currently closed for a Christmas break (auto-posting bot FTW!) so any orders will be taken as being placed on 5th January. :)

Blastersmiths UK & BlasterTECH announce partnership!

Blastersmiths UK and BlasterTECH today announced a working partnership that they hope will be beneficial to both companies. BlasterTECH is an emergent wiring loom and electrical modification company based in Brisbane, Australia. They have recently started selling wiring looms through their website, BlasterTECH.com.au with the aim of lowering the threshold to entry for the average Nerf modder. Blastersmiths UK already sells an array of un-soldered kits and 3D printed parts so a trading partnership seemed like the natural step forward for the two companies.

The two companies first encountered one another through BritNerf.co.uk, the UK's primary Nerf forum. Mike, from Blastersmiths UK, and Dean, from BlasterTECH, got chatting around electrical modification and the potential of selling modified blasters. Regrettably, the regulatory environments in both the EU and Australia prevent the sale of fully modified blasters on their own at the commercial level but kits and pre-soldered looms can be sold in the EU and Australia respectively. BlasterTECH moved forwards with their wiring looms and accepted the offer of distributor in order to resell 3D printed components and some tactical gear in order to fund future development.

Australian customers can purchase BlasterTECH wiring looms direct from their website (www.blastertech.com.au) with immediate effect and from the 1st November 2014 will be able to access a wider array of Blastersmiths UK products without the risks of international shipping or the wait that comes with lead times for custom made goods. All Blastersmiths UK products listed on BlasterTECH.com.au will be available in stock for immediate dispatch in accordance with BlasterTECH shipping policies.

Looking to the future, the two companies are looking to work closely on further developing kits and looms for the full range of electronic foam dart blasters, including Nerf's Elite Demolisher 2-in-1. There is a great deal of untapped potential in the many electronic blasters out there and the two companies are looking forward to tapping that and bringing new products to the foam dart blaster marketplace.

/pressrelease

So what does this all mean?

In the midst of all the hype about our MABs and such, we're lucky enough to be able to announce our first Australian distributor for our second largest market. No more international shipping risks or waits on lead times, it'll all be there in your back garden without the fuss of international orders. From November 1st, it'll be there for you to buy straight up. From holster and slings to Rapidstrike kits, it'll all be either Blastersmiths UK original stuff or Blastersmiths UK Certified stuff. :)

Better yet, the folks here at BSUK and over at BlasterTECH are teaming up to feed into some pretty exciting new projects for electrical blasters in the coming months.

It's an exciting time for the hobby, keep your eyes open for more stuff as it develops.

In-depth: MOLLE Attachment Bars

We're always striving to find new ways to improve our products here at Blastersmiths UK and our use of the MOLLE system of pouch and holster attachment has always been at the centre of that. The flexibility offered by the system is a cornerstone to our ethos of bespoke gear to every individual player. However, we feel our current Velcro attachment system using interlocking loops of Velcro loop tape is far too limiting and has some serious drawbacks. Instead, we've created a unique fusion of the 3D printed and the sewn.

Introducing our new 3D printed PLA MOLLE Attachment Bar (MAB) designed for use with our webbing equipment. Inspired by MALICE clips, PLCE webbing clips and other extant items, we sought to bring such extant technologies into the Nerf and general foam dart blaster space. The flexibility of the printed PLA plastic allows the bar to be woven between the webbing straps of two compatible items while the small raised ramp locks the items in place in a fashion that will not shift.

MABs have further advantages insofar as they offer rigid support to magazine pouches. By providing a spine to slide the magazine along, aperture fouling becomes less of a problem so there's less faff with your gear and in turn you've more time to be playing the games you love with the kit you've bought.

To release the bars, you simply twist them gently and with a rocking motion, you can ease them free of the webbing for use elsewhere. We will supply 2 variants, the 3 strap version demonstrated above and a 2 strap version that will cost less and lacks a feature we will discuss presently.

With the long, 3 strap MAB variant, simply skipping a row during the weaving process, creates a belt loop that will readily accommodate a 2" (50mm) tactical belt as pictured above. For the first time, we can offer true belt and MOLLE compatibility in a single product. Better yet, a true belt mounted MkIV Pistol holster is viable as proven during combat testing at the 2nd BritNerf Annual General War in September (more on that in another blog post but no more half drops or thigh straps!).

The development of our MOLLE Attachment Bars has also offered us the opportunity to redesign and respecify a few of our key products. All our magazine holders will now be compatible with the system as will our zip dump pouches. The upshot of the MOLLE/Belt compatibility will be a more streamlined website experience which in turn allows us to offer a wider array of colours and camouflage patterns compared to our current black only option.

These bars will be available on the following products from 17th October 2014 via order from our website.

• Zip Dump Pouches
• Magazine Holders (Box and Drum varieties)

Further products will be converted to the new system in short order. Oh and there won't be any price difference, just an enhanced experience for foam dart players everywhere! :)

Burst Fire Module - Features and Development Plans

We've been working pretty hard on this one in the background - it's something people have wanted for a while and something we feel we can provide. A module that allows your fully automatic blaster to select a size of burst but to retain full firing functionality in the event of failure. The first bit is the easy bit. The second, a little harder.

This demonstration video from Foam Data Services shows off the current Revision 2 module as it stands. It has an annoying firing action that we have a fix for, we're just waiting for the new prototype boards to arrive from the manufacturer.

 

As you can see, we've made the interface on the Rapidstrike variant as streamlined as possible. The interface stack is all within ready reach of the user's trigger finger and can be manipulated without removing your hand from the pistol grip. As left handed users ourselves, that's a little annoying but given the handed nature of the internals (due to the clam shell design) it's far more parsimonious to leave the interface on the right hand side. A lefty friendly version is possible but it will involve ribbon cables and our technical team crying.

We'll take you through a quick walk through of some of the nifty features and tricks that make this build really come to life. So you have the module itself, our in house version is currently fitted to our Rapidstrike test development mule in a big ugly black box. As you can probably see, there's a lot less vertical clearance in OldNoob's version, we've already managed to slim down the box and think we can go even further with it! Getting it flush is the aim but we'll take anything we can get. This blaster is a little dusty after combat testing at Green Cloaks Event 2 back in June. The interior has been thoroughly cleaned but the exterior has some left over to a little bit of 'character'.

Note the power switch tucked away in that little recess. That location was chosen to prevent you accidentally turning the module off during play. The volt meter is placed so you can get a decent read on it while holding the blaster and the grilles in the case are there for a 40mm north bridge fan. We've since been able to eliminate the need for a fan (slim line heat sinks and proper power management FTW!) and that's gone a long way to dropping the vertical ceiling of the case. We could readily substitute the grilles and volt meter for logos and text. Given that there are internal LEDs there by necessity, you could easily have light up text and logos on your module.

From this side, we can see the control stack. The first thing you ought to notice is that it's theoretically possible to eliminate the need for a lid all together and that's our ultimate goal. All of those controls are reachable with your trigger finger so you don't need to adjust the position of the blaster to fire in the event you want to change modes. The switch at the bottom of the stack is the select mode switch, it sends a pulse to the micro-controller which tells it to change mode and the LED at the top changes accordingly. In the photo above it's flashing red because the magazine inserted into the blaster is empty. The middle switch is the 'stealth mode' switch which allows you to run the blaster without any lights. This doesn't interfere with the operation of the module at all but of course, you will need to un-stealth in order to determine which mode you're in. Finally, the top LED is an 8mm through hole NeoPixel LED with 24bit colour, combine that with the micro-controller's onboard memory and you can get up to 400 controllable burst sizes with this prototype alone. Of course, you've got to find 400 readily differentiated colours in order to make that happen but hey, it's a possibility.

A view through the grilles begins to give you an idea as to why this isn't a user serviceable item, yet. All that wiring is just the start. Granted, the Reaper that OldNoob displayed in his video is much neater and hasn't been developed on but it's still not the friendliest thing in the world.

Remove the lid and you can see the beating heart of the system. The MOSFET in its TO-220 package are buried under wires on the left while the system's thriving brain, a Digistump Digispark is hidden in the bottom right under the JST plugs for the fan and voltmeter. The electrical tape, while an electrical sin in production builds, is a necessary part of the development process!

Single shot in blue

3 dart burst in green

5 round burst in white

The three images above illustrate the three firing modes and their respective indicator LEDs. These colours were chosen to avoid problems with red/green colour blindness but of course, people would be welcome to alter the code to make things different colours as this will be an Open Source project (more later).

Dart sensing is done via simple IR photo-diode and LED. There is one here in the magazine well and another in the pusher mechanism. They provide a reliable (mostly) way of tracking the state of the blaster. That's a 3D printed insert for the photo-diode in the picture above and there is a mirrored version on the opposite side.

The red light is coming from an LED sitting above the pusher mechanism housing to the right of this picture. It's a standard feature in our RS builds these days and serves to protect your night vision when clearing jams in low light conditions. It's a handy reuse of the extant jam door switch.

So what's for the future? Well, I've already said we've got a fix for the annoying trigger action. The functionality there will allow us to add some new and other interesting on board sensing stuff in the future if we wanted to. Additionally, we're looking to internalise the interface as much as possible. Having a big box on the side isn't the world's best solution and we'd like to fix that. However without losing the collapsible stock, or taking up large amounts of space in the forward battery tray, there aren't a great deal of options.

Once we get to Revision 3, this project will be Open Source. We'll publish the schematics and parts list for public, non-commercial use so hobbyists and modders can make their own, remix it all and support the project with commits.

For the rest of us mere mortals, we'll be looking to crowd source the funding for deployment of a plug in version of the module including necessary regulatory clearance for sale in the EU and North America. That's our biggest sticking point at the moment, EMC test certification is awkward and expensive. More details on that will follow once we've got Revision 3 up, running and Open Source. Aim price point is £65 inc VAT but that may go up or down depending on how the process works out for us.

Both Revision 2 and 3 modules are cross compatible with the Stampede and Vulcan, too. The Rapidstrike is the much more technically challenging build because of the flywheel system and so there's plenty of backwards compatibility right there. We have a Stampede inbound that will get the full BF treatment and there will be photos when that's done.

So there you have it. The early days of the first Open Source hardware for an after market dart blaster product. We'd like to thank Foam Data Services for making this one possible, without them they wouldn't have been able to get this project out of our notebooks and into reality. We'd also like to thank the lovely folks at Trinity Games for providing us with a willing victim (or 80) to test this on at Green Cloaks Event 2. Without all of you, this wouldn't be possible. Onward, to getting this into the hands of our loyal fans!

Green Cloaks 2014 Event 2: The Extraction - After Action Report

After action reports always sound weird but it's something that I feel very strongly about doing. Honest and public appraisal of our products used in possibly the harshest environs they will encounter is vital to keep our product lines moving forward. It's also a chance to say thank you to the people that provide us with the space to do what we do best: show off!

First up, the event went spectacularly. The staff and players really stepped it up this event and its was frankly wonderful to see the progression. I didn't have the horror of migraines bogging me down this time and was able to fit in plenty of combat to test our equipment. From crawling through the bracken and forest floor in order to climb over walls and attack player camps to chasing fleeing players at full tilt as they attempted to warn of an attack, our kit got a full and thorough work through. Possibly the best test of was finally fighting alongside the players in their final push towards a portal into another dimension against hordes of technologically reanimated corpses. All combat experience enhances our design capabilities and this new experience taught me and the team a significant amount.

The environs were somewhat different to the last outing: there was significantly more dust while the weather was much warmer and drier than previous events. With a large metalled road covered in a layer of fine sand and dust, the clouds were pretty thick and things got pretty hazy. It played hell with the weapons and kit alike. This isn't a factor that we had considered in our design portfolio.Something we're certainly considering from here on out!

The Juliet pattern rigs performed sterlingly. With two of them in play under very different styles, it was marvellous to be able to get a true assessment of their capabilities. They both survived the dust and grit without so much as blinking. As always, we saw the 500D Cordura we have built our business model around is a steadfast and dependable fabric and won't be changing any time soon.

The proliferation of slings in the system was obvious and our 2 point quick release sling was almost ubiquitous. The design continues to be solid and I'm very happy with that. There are no plans to change it in the near future.

Things don't always go as planned... Spot the sling though! :D

Our new armour lines also began to make an appearance in the field. The MkI Cuirass saw its first real world action and it remained in one piece and there were no reported complaints of overheating. It would seem the combination of breathable 500D Cordura and 3mm spacer mesh is a winning one that I look forward to deploying to future products. I'm so very happy it worked out: we've been looking for an alternative to Closed Cell Foam we used in the older iterations. The latter configurations is only really suitable for the heavier, less flexible armour systems like the MkI Juliet.

Not joking about the slings!

It wasn't all brilliant, however. The higher level of combat intensity over a sustained period really pushed our standard rail mount design past breaking point. Traditionally, we've used 4 M3 self tapping screws to secure mounts to the rails. The reasoning behind this has always been to allow the rail to break before the person falling on it breaks. That's all fine and dandy until the plastic starts expanding or otherwise starts being variable. Belting around the woods at twilight and dusk, we lost several torches and fore-grips which is an unacceptable failure rate. From this point forward, we will be supplying M3x35 bolts and locking nuts to secure our rail systems to prevent repeated failures. All GC players who feel they want to make the transition can do so free of charge at one of our event stalls. While our current system has sufficied for office warfare and HvZ, having seen what I've seen this weekend and having built up a good bank of connections within the fledgling Sci-Fi LARP community, I think we're going to need to add a lot more weight to this player group in future designs.

So, to the future. We're already preparing for Event 3. We've shifted our work away from holsters and slings to larger armour systems and rail mounts. UKNerfWar.com will continue to carry our holsters and slings at events but without those items plugging up our production queue in advance, we're intending to be able to supply a wider array of armour systems, magazine holders and the like. 3D printed accessories are likely to begin featuring more heavily, too. We've got a large catalogue of products now and it's time we moved away from the simple holster and sling options. :)

If players are reading this and you want stuff guaranteed for Event 3 then please let us know via email. We are developing a fixed point tactical vest system directly from the feedback we have received from you fine folks and are happy to dig in and produce something just for you and your character. It'll be in the £45 bracket and be an off the shelf, battle ready system with enough stuff to carry all the bits and pieces you need to fight in the Green Cloaks universe.

Elsewhere, we're also working on generic fabric identification patches - stuff like '109th Light' and such with Velcro backing so you folks can identify yourselves on the battlefield. It was something I noticed while fighting alongside you folks that sometimes it was difficult to tell friend from foe and on more than one occasion, I nearly shot friendlies. I appreciate there are already some around but having a source on site you can purchase from is probably a good idea. Better yet, our talented folks might sew the loop Velcro tape to your shirt for you in exchange for mead or biscuits. :)

It truly was a fantastic event and you should all be very proud of what you're part of. Enys, Woj, Charley and everyone at Trinity Games, you've created a thriving system that is touching the lives of its players in ways you can't imagine while driving innovation among the makers and creators in this field. Keep doing what you're doing and it's my professional opinion that this system has some serious legs. See you on the fields of the Omega in three weeks time!



Mike Harratt
Managing Director, Blastersmiths UK

All photos (C) Ronnie Hall Photography. Reproduced with kind permission.

MkI Juliet Custom Made Tactical Vest - Now Available

It's been a VERY long time coming but we've finally been able to get the time to finish up our top of the line, biggest ever MOLLE carriage system. Custom made to your measurements, this vest offers unparalleled space for carrying equipment and offers a great deal of padding against oncoming fire making it the ideal phys-rep for LARP medium armour.

Built from our usual 500D black Cordura or a range of camouflage patterns and colours in 1000D, this is piece of kit for a serious player. The Juliet sits at the core of a new armour phys-rep system for LARPers with options for leg, shoulder and other armour to integrate with the core torso rig in the pipeline.

Pre-production view

Its panels are secured with velcro rather than the older MOLLE thread system so it's faster than ever to don and doff your armour. When secured, it offers a snug fit that offers a great deal mobility despite the large coverage. At the bottom it has belt loops that will fit belts up to 2" (50mm) and the vest itself is sold with a BSUK black tactical belt.

When you place an order for one of these, we will be in touch to request your measurements. We'll need neck, chest, waist and body length (from under arm to pelvis bone) We'll then make up your rig to a lead time of 4 weeks as these are large, complex items that will take our team some time to manufacture.

These are available now from our webstore for £80 in black 500D Cordura and £85 for a range of 1000D Cordura colours and camouflage patterns. We can only supply black straps and thread through the website but if you'd like Multicam 500D or 1000D Woodland DPM with matched buckles and the like, get in touch and we can arrange a quote for you.

Foam Dart Integrated Load Bearing System (FD-ILBS)

Image (c) Blastersmiths UK, kindly retouched by Marcus Hoare

This is a complete version of our new, modular modular Foam Dart Integrated Load Bearing System (FD-ILBS) or Phyllis for short.

It is designed as a multi-part system formed of two components and both have plenty of MOLLE space for pouches, panels and the like. This represents a shift in our thinking for tactical vests and rigs. We're looking to lower the barrier to entry to a modular system by breaking it up and allowing people to invest in stages rather than in a large chunk at once.

Essentially, we have 2 large components of the system and we can work through them in turn. The Molle Cuirass in navy blue at the top of the photo and the Battle Belt at the bottom of first photo. These are 2 distinct line items available to purchase separately but they are designed to work together as a single unified vest piece.

MkI Battle Belt - Half of our new FD-ILBS system that includes integrated magazine storage

Battle Belt Reverse

I'll start from the bottom up. At the bottom you have the MkI Battle Belt, a 30" wide piece of Cordura and mesh covered with plenty of MOLLE webbing. This allows ready attachment of dozens of accessories and ready expansion of your rig. Uniquely for our torso equipment, it contains integrated magazine holders. This is a battle ready piece of equipment straight off the shelf. Adding this to your load out not only offers immediate additional pouch and accessory attachment but also magazine space. The one size fits most design is secured at the back using the ladder loc system inhereited from the MkVI tactical chest rig. Off the shelf, it will fit a waist size up to 48" but we can expand that if necessary upon request (just email us when ordering and we'll sort something out). It is secured at the front using side release buckles for ready access, you can quickly don and doff.

The Battle Belt is available from our website (link in the description) in a range of colours and camouflage patterns on a 2 week lead time.

MkI MOLLE Cuirass

For your chest, there is the MkI MOLLE Cuirass. We designed this because people moan about vests being too restrictive. Covering the kidneys warms you up, restricts movement and is a common gripe for many a player. By leaving the abdomen exposed, we sought to fix these issues. Sitting just on your rib line, this vest is designed to be out of the way while providing all the MOLLE space that you would expect from a vest. Even though it is designed bespoke to your measurements, this rig has plenty of adjust-ability to maximise comfort. The ladderlocs securing the under-arm panels to the back plate are inspirited by the South African pattern assault vest so common here in the United Kingdom and they allow for shaping the cuirass to a number of different body shapes. A unisex design is often overlooked in this hobby so we thought we'd accommodate the many female players we encounter at LARP systems across the UK and beyond. As with the battle belt, side release buckles form clasps over the front of the rig for quick doffing and donning. The vest is built from our usual durable Cordura and is lined with mesh for maximum comfort and breath-ability.

These two pieces link using a set of Velcro links to secure through loops present on each piece (pictured right). This locks the two together into an integrated system that is as flexible as any modular system you could ask for. Available in a range of colours and camouflage patterns, we make everything to order in house so if you've a specific requirement, please don't hesitate to get in touch.


Both of these items can be purchased through our website or as a complete system from 30th May 2014. If there are any questions, please drop them in the comments. There was an intention to get a video demonstration of this one but we ran out of time before launch as other, even more exciting items pushed their way through the development pipeline. We will endeavour to get one in short order but for now, rest easy with the photos. :D

Links:
MkI Battle Belt at £25 inc VAT at 20%
MkI MOLLE Cuirass at £35 inc VAT at 20%

-Mike Harratt
Blastersmiths UK

Stryfe Battery Tray Expanders

I hate cutting, drilling and sanding because it gums up the printers, the sewing machines, leaves the minions sputtering and is generally a faff. To that end, a lot of what we do within the company is aimed at reducing the tooling burden a number of mods require. We're currently working on making Rapidpistols relatively painless (once you get past the band saw stage) using the 3D printer and a while back we released a battery tray expander for the Stryfe so we didn't have to dremel the interior of the blaster and create lots of dust that would cause problems in our workshop.

Problem solved. By printing one of these and removing the orange battery braces in the stock Stryfe tray, we're able to wire in a Deans connector and have lots of fun with Litihum Polymer batteries.

The battery in question is a 2S 1000mAh 20C Lithium Polymer battery pack from Hobby King. We elected to swap the stock XT60 connector for a Deans connector because of spacing constraints but that turned out to be unnecessary. There is plenty of internal room once this tray cover is placed.

It comes complete with a matching screw because the stock one was a little too short for our purposes. Granted, it does make the lopsided-ness of the Stryfe worse but it's a worthwhile compromise if you can't be bothered with drilling and cutting all over the place.

These are available on our website for £5 in a variety of colours. Lettering and logos can also be discussed if you contact us via email.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Small zip dump pouches. Originally, their design brief was somewhere to store your keys and such when you're in a fight. We didn't intend them to be quick grab pouches for darts and such, there was a different product in the pipeline for that. However, for one reason or another people prefer the size and shape of the current SZDP and so we converted it fill that niche.

We've had a fair bit of feedback about it and we've made some revisions regards that. The chief change has been the zip. We've moved from the small 15cm closed end zips to full 30cm closed end heavy duty zips which are more durable and now wrap around the edges of the article to allow for a larger opening, easier access. They do come with the slight draw back of not being as weatherproof by virtue of that large aperture.

Prototype of the new format - the fraying in the nylon is perfectly normal and is simply cosmetic

These pouches are the same size as their predecessors and hold a goodly number of darts or 6 dart magazines.

These changes take immediate effect and will cover all orders that have not been dispatched to date.

We are constantly working to improve our product portfolio here at Blastersmiths UK and there are a number of other changes on the way to existing products. Sometimes, they can be as small as this or they can be a complete overhaul of a product like our transition from the MkII/MkIII to the single MkIV. Until something is close to perfect, we won't stop tweaking it.

Next up, large zip dump pouches. :)

Lightweight Shoulder Rig

We usually make these in black and it's a pain to photograph them on actual people because actual people have arms. Annoyingly, it's frowned upon under British law to remove someone's arm for the purposes of taking a photo (or at all, apparently). When a customer recently ordered a Lightweight Shoulder Rig in Multicam, we took the opportunity to take some photos using our fourth employee: Jamie.

Jamie is our multi-use tailors dummy that we use to demonstrate our wares at shows and events. With a 38" chest, he (or she sometimes) also makes a brilliant fitting dummy for our average clientèle. Built from polystyrene covered with black polyester, it's a bit of a pain to see how our stuff works. However, with Multicam, with the different shaded buckles and straps, it's very easy to see how the rig fits together. This particular edition had a pistol holder for right hand draw and a MOLLE panel for holding either a small zip dump pouch or, in this case, an 1812 magazine holder for extra magazine storage (not shown).

The belt loops secure the hard points to your belt using a simple Velcro system. Older models have a Side Release Buckle there but there was too much stand off from the belt and that caused problems in smaller people. Each hard point is connected to the shoulder strap with a simple side release buckle. In future, we plan to sell hard points separately for the ultimate customisable rig.

The rig over all is as lightweight as it suggests. It is designed to explicitly stay out of the way of most motions when you're moving and playing. By being as low profile as possible, it makes for an excellent addition to any other belt system you might have as there is sufficient stand off to allow you to use use current accessories. It also has the added bonus of introducing people to the MOLLE system which is a fantastically flexible system that everyone in the world ever should be using.

Lightweight Shoulder Rigs can be bought from our online store in black for £28 inc UK VAT. Custom colours and fabrics can be commissioned upon request. The Multicam version demonstrated here would cost you nearer £55 inc VAT as it is a speciality item and we can't order the fittings in such bulk as perhaps we would otherwise to bring costs down. If you're interested in a system that isn't in black fabric, drop us an email and we'll get you an invoice sorted out. There is a chance that we'll start stocking them as a listed item in the future but until then, email is the way to go.

NOTE: The authors would like to apologise for the pug ugly Retaliator sitting in the holster in these photos. All of the pretty blasters are out of the office at the moment so we had to make do with that hybrid abomination. :/

MkIV Belt/Half-drop Pistol Holsters

 It's about time we got around to doing these. We've had the prototype sat on our 'belt mounted' washing line since we made it in the field at Green Cloaks Event 1 last June. It's a simple concept: use our Universal Belt system pattern to raise mount a pistol holster on the belt.

Unfortunately for us, all MkIV compatible blasters are a little large for a true belt mounted holster and so this was our compromise. Add a belt loop and a single thigh strap to form a sort of 'half drop' configuration. It still has the advantage of being off the thigh and so won't cause as many fatiguing problems as a true drop leg holster.

For someone who has been using a full drop-leg pistol holster for the last year and a bit, the higher elevation of the pistol grip on these is a weird transition. The extra height makes it more comfortable to remove the upper grab strap when accessing your blaster.

These holsters are about offering more options to folks. Our line of drop-leg holsters is our most successful and we'd like to be able to offer them in as many different configurations as possible. Keep your eyes peeled for a MOLLE mounted cross draw variant soon.

The MkIV belt mounted pistol holster is available from our website for £14 for black and £15 for a wide range of colours and camouflage patterns. That price is inclusive of UK/EU VAT at 20% so US, Australian and other non-EU customers will pay £11.67 and £12.50 respectively. Lead time is 2 weeks and most international destinations will receive their item within 5 days of shipment (assuming Customs don't get in the way!)

Creative Commons Licensing for Blastersmiths UK

We've been a little lax on getting to this, I mentioned in my earlier post that small things like this tend to get put on hold as bigger challenges throw themselves at you. Well, a few disputes have reared their heads in other places over the last couple of weeks so we thought we'd tighten things up our end and sort things out.

We have an open ethos here at Blastersmiths UK and we aim to make a living but also to help the communities we work with grow and develop. We've developed a content licensing policy that reflects that Creative Commons is a fantastic way to implement that, they do the legal leg work for you and you simply put a license to your stuff.

So, what does that mean for you? Well, it means you can use our images, blog posts and website content provided the following conditions are met:

• You don't make any money from them or use them in a service that will generate revenue for yourselves
• You put a (c) Blastersmiths UK mark and then link to a) the original source and b) the license as provided at this link.

The scope of the CC-BY-NC-SA license also means you can remix and use our work in the context of other projects provided you link back in the same way as if you were using the material wholesale. If you've got any questions, give us a shout by clicking 'Contact Us' on the website.

The exceptions to the above are our shield device logo and any image that contains it. Those are (c) Blastersmiths UK All Rights Reserved and only may be used with our explicit permission.  This is to protect our brand identity and is the only compromise to our commitment to openness when it comes to our content.

Of course, all our patterns and designs are All Rights Reserved but that's for commercial reasons and is beyond the scope of this article.

So, get out there, share our images, use them in your own works, share our guides all over the place. Just make sure you comply with the license terms and we'll all be happy!

I'm off back to the production bench,

Mike Harratt
MD, BSUK

Development Pipeline Case Study: Helmet Torch Bracket

In our recent feedback survey, lots of people were asking for insights into how our products become a reality. We post a lot about our development on our Facebook page and the new and innovative products we develop keep the company moving forward. So how do products come to the market?

The idea or the product need:

First of all, we need to identify a need. Sometimes a customer will have done that for us and come to us with a problem "I need something like this" and ask us to solve it. Other times, ideas will arise as we're playing or watching others play. Things will be difficult or awkward or simply botched together. We then look for solutions to that problem. The development isn't always a group thing, sometimes our people will just forge ahead with an idea and only discuss it later with refinements. It allows for individual creativity for the good of the company.

In the case of our example, a clip-on helmet torch bracket, the need came from needing light in a camp area that may be demilitarised at a LARP event. Given that LARP usually runs 24 hour (or a close approximation there of) night lights are important. In this case, a head lamp or similar would be fine but given a number of systems are mil-sim that may not always be possible. Keeping the hands free is critical as it allows other things to be done. All of these criteria provide the backbone of our Design Specification that informs further development.

Drawings and Models:

Most of our stuff  gets sketched out on the back of envelopes or in paper development notebooks. There are half a dozen of these scattered around the office covered in the spidery scrawls of our staff. The example in question actually skipped this stage so there's not a lot to show.

Next come the patterns and 3D models. I'll deal with fabric products separately in another post. For 3D printed parts, we use a variety of CAD programs to develop our software but the final stage is always OpenSCAD. If we don't do all of it in that package, it's certainly useful for unifying disparate STL files from various programs and cleaning them up. It produces excellent quality STLs and our GCode interpreter for the printer absolutely loves it so there's no complaint from this quarter!

First prototypes aren't the prettiest things!

First prototypes:

We export through to GCodes for our development printer (a tricolour RepRap Prusa Mendel) to interpret. The printer will then dutifully out put a file according to our 3D model. Essentially, it's magic. Either way, you get a first prototype out at the end of it. Often they're over bulky, have a number of flaws and aren't fit for purpose. 

Testing is sometimes simple, often not

Assess and review:

We then take the prototype and match it to our design specification. Does it do what it was supposed to do? If so, how well? If not, why not? Does it need to be changed? As you can see from the photo the first prototype of the helmet bracket was a little over-engineered and it needed slimming down.

This stage often includes a degree of real world testing. For a lot of products that involves taking them to BUZAN (our local indoor HvZ group) and throwing them at experienced players for them to break. Products that are 90% complete get this testing and everything eventually goes through it.

Implement changes:

Version 0.2 - ready for testing

We slimmed down the piece and figured out a way of printing it in one piece. In doing so we managed to cut the print time by 60%. Further improvements were made to the GCode to tell the printer to print more densely for increased durability and product lifespan. We also noticed that the clip didn't quite settle on the helmet correctly and, over time, would fatigue and fail. We made a few alterations to the model and threw it at the development printer. We also removed one of the torch holders for the production version as normal people don't need two torches. We got a second prototype and it worked - it passed testing, there were no bugs and it was ready to proceed.

The cycle of test, review, implement, test can be repeated dozens of times for a product. The stock extenders and the MkIII holster are examples of products that took (or are taking) many, many cycles to get right. By contrast, the torch bracket in question only require a 2 step process. It very much varies on the product in question.

Final deployment:

After successful combat testing and some regulatory paperwork, the product is handed to the management team who then price and market the product through the website etc. The joy of our business model is that we can produce something once, pop it on the website for sale forever but not need to keep stock floating around. Provided we have the patterns and the people to make it, we can dig out products that haven't been made for months and months and put them together as though the gap didn't exist.

Final product ready for sale!

Keep an eye out on our website for new products as they develop. The LARP season is starting up again so expect to see lots of development as we move forward. We'll be playing and watching players in an environment very different from our home system so it should give us plenty of new ideas and product needs.

Our response to the March 2014 Feedback survey

First of all, thank you to everyone who took the time to fill in the feedback survey. It's really helped to make us think about what we do and how the real world perceives our work. There was a lot of positive stuff in there and plenty for us to work on.

The responses were annotated on anonymised printout for me to annotate to develop responses to. It stretched to over 11 pages of feedback which is fantastic! Having annotated it, we’ve put together a set of responses to the key themes and most common things raised.

In use photos and videos

Time and again people raised this one and it's fair enough. We're Nerf tactical gear designers doing this full time so photography isn't our strong suite. Sometimes getting photos isn't easy. That said, we've got a few ideas in mind on how to fix that.

Video is probably a while off yet. The feeling we're getting from this and when talking to others it would be the icing on the cake as opposed to a key ingredient of the cake itself. We like cake. Icing we can take or leave. The time and resources involved in video editing and other post-production stuff makes us hesitant to invest at the moment. For now, we're going to have a chat with a couple of our photography friends about touching up our photos and getting some in-action shots.

One of the particularly challenging thing about some of our products is they're very difficult to show on the body. By their definition, they're supposed to be low profile and body shots are just hard. We're in a great community and we know some great people we can go bother about that one and maybe get some hints and tips with it.

We'll be working on more guides and the like for people to demonstrate our products. The MkIV still doesn't have a guide at the time of writing (though it really ought to) so that's first on the priority list for the next couple of days.

General website:

I said above, we're designers and makers so websites are a little difficult. A decent, functioning website that does what we need it to do is a challenge to develop and maintain. The wonderful thing about these surveys is that they spur us to do things we know we should have done a while back. When running a small company, other things can get in your way and there's not always a minion to delegate to. By other people feeding back and telling us to fix things, it gives us a kick in the posterior to fix that nagging problem that's been with us for a while. Expect to start seeing some changes going forward in the next couple of days.

Website photos:
We'll add whatever we can where photos are missing but sometimes we do forget to take them before a new item leaves the shop. Since we can't photograph prototypes, a new photo can't be taken until a new one is made or ordered. That's fine if it's kit the team wants but that's not always the case. Putting a sign up by the door might be a way to remind us to do that. It's one of the little niggles of our business model.

The visual layout looks fine. Agreed, there are areas for improvement, the plain black can be a little daunting and gives the website a bit of a dark overtone. We'll look into brightening that up a little bit shortly. We're sticking with the white on black for the time being.

Alternative currencies and international shipping:
We asked our web guy about an alternative currencies option. He nearly cried. We couldn't work out whether that was because it would be really, really, really hard or if he hadn't got over the trauma of fixing the international shipping bug. Which he did fix and international customers should have no further problems with having to email to order. Of course, custom items will always have to come through a human being but for everything else, there's the website.

Categories and taxa:
We'll get the categories sorted in due course. With the growth of external accessories, the resolution there needs improving. A few of the blaster things need sorting too. We'll see if we can get rid of the unsorted items at the top of the category page, we've been meaning to for a while but haven't gotten around to it just yet. We agree, it's ugly and serves no purpose when there's a full list of stuff below.

Order of products:
We trying to work out how to Strongarm (see what I did there?) the e-commerce software to behaving on that front. We're not quite sure how that works so we'll keep poking it with a stick until it responds to our commands. We'd like our holsters and such to be up front but it currently insists on having products listed in date order. Sorting by price is something we'll look into, too.

Products and development:

I'll take some time to go through a few things in terms of products and the development pipeline in this section. First of all, there is an upcoming blog post on the development pipeline detailing how our products become a reality. It uses our latest innovation: the PASGT helmet mounted torch bracket as an example product as we had the presence of mind to get full photos as we went through the design process.

Lead times:
We appreciate that people want to get their stuff as soon as possible but our 2 week lead time policy isn't going to change any time soon. Iit gives us a nice glow inside to know people are that eager! Priority dispatch aside, 2 weeks gives us enough time to dodge the curve balls that life seems to love throwing at us. Everything from fabric suppliers turning up their toes to staff illness means that sometimes the manufacturing process doesn't go as smoothly as we like. With a 2 week space to make your stuff and get it shipped, we can keep the promises we make. For us, that's a critical part of our mission. We don't want to be that company that takes your money and delivers 3 months late or when we feel like it. If we can't keep our promises, we let you know and if you're not happy with the solution we offer, you get your money back without question. We're getting that message across, we had no problems with customer service feedback!

Drop-leg MOLLE platforms:
We've avoided adding any extra drop-leg stuff to our store for the very simple reason that too much weight on the outside of your legs is going to fatigue you disproportionately. Seating things on your belt is a far better way to preserve energy levels in combat. However, given the volume of requests we're getting for them, we'll put them in the pipeline and let people determine what they want to do with their kit.

Krydex holsters:
We had a couple of requests for Krydex holsters. In short, it won't happen at our end. We lack the manufacturing and machine capability to make them a reality. Further, the size of Nerf blasters and the hardshell of a Krydex holster is going to result in a holster that is bulky and inflexible. Our current holsters are designed to ensure that you don't notice they're there until you need your blaster. That pancaking, as we like to call it, is a design feature, not a bug. Krydex, while nice for small arms like your average Glock or Smith and Wesson won't work for your Strongarm, in our considered opinion.

Sock bandoleers and general sock holders:
We're Humans versus Zombies players ourselves, first and foremost but our system doesn't use socks. It's an unusual situation (usually it's the other way around, socks but no Nerf) so we never had much of an imperative to develop them. However, we are working on a few designs and there will be an in-depth blog post made in the next few days regards a sock bandoleer that's just been commissioned by a client. We'll look into sock loops for other stuff in the interim period, too.

Masterkey Brackets:
Just to clear up the Masterkey brackets, the reason the list is as restricted as it is is because each bracket is designed specifically for the blaster combination in question in order to allow for a best fit.

Large Zip Dump Pouches:
A couple of respondents flagged up the Large Zip Dump Pouch and the open ended zip problem. We'll take a look into fixing that, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to fix, it'll just involve sewing the gusset a little further into the system.

Miscellaneous points:

A few final points to respond to particular people's comments:

• The font we used on our logo was called Prototype, Google it
• Diaries of a Nerf Armourer is the personal blog of Mike, our Managing Director and the mods he works on with a few friends during his spare time. It's not affiliated with company, Mike just happens to be an employee of the company.
• There will be a guide for the Vambraces on what each selection entails - photos too when things get made up.

I think we've addressed most of the core things raised by our respondents. Thanks again to everyone kind enough to feedback to us. It's been a most useful exercise and we hope to continue to strengthen the company based on this and other feedback.

Good night, folks! 

Helmet Mounted Torch Bracket

Sometimes a blaster light isn't enough. Sometimes you're either in a non-combat situation or your blaster won't take a torch. You still need your hands free to do other things so can't use a torch but it's dark and you're on a LARP battlefield or HvZ mission. What then?


Well, I started wearing a helmet a long time ago to mount an action camera for in-game footage so adding a pair of torches to the other side seemed a pretty good idea. I have one of these cheap M88 replica helmets that I bought for £10 from eBay and so I decided to 3D print a bracket to fit a Rolson torch or two. These are the same super-bright torches we use on our rail mounted torch brackets but moved to the helmet position. The bracket is 28mm wide and features a 3D printed clip to secure the array to the helmet.

It's important to mount these torches on your off hand so you can readily turn them on and off. The bracket is sturdy enough to hold itself and the torches to your helmet without any jiggle. I'd also suggest you consider taping over the lens of the torches with red headlight tape to reduce risk to people's night vision. These little Rolsons are tiny but pack a lot of output when the batteries are fresh, having people stumbling around in the dark, dazzled and without night vision isn't the safest thing in the world!

The only problem with the bracket as it stands is that leaves a little halo of torchlight just at the corner of your eye. I can see that being a problem as it will reduce your peripheral vision somewhat. I think raising it up a little might be worthwhile.

Single and double versions of these will be put on the store at some point next week. The single version will cost £8 while the double will cost £12 inc VAT at the UK rate of 20%. I'll also dig out my action camera and rebuild its mount using 3D printing technology. That way there will be plenty of footage of our adventures with the Green Cloaks in a couple of weeks time.

-Mike, Blastersmiths UK

Big Bag o' Blasters

If you're like us, you'll be lugging blasters around the place going to and from wars and often rucksacks and things don't have the impact factor of a big roll of blasters or aren't quite the right size for your blaster. Well, we thought we'd solve that.

Introducing the Big Bag o' Blasters (Big BOB) from Blastersmiths UK. Designed with flexibility and portability in mind, this is the last word in blaster carriage.

Built (and I mean built) from highly durable Cordura fabric, this carriage solution will out last any sports bag or Perpetual Play product you can source. Barring actual military kit bags, you won't find much tougher than this, and we'd warrant none more stylish.

On the inside of Big BOB is a layer of quilted waterproof Nylon fabric stitched with rows of MOLLE compatible webbing. Supplied with the blaster is a series of quick release straps that link to the MOLLE while being able to tighten around any blaster you choose to secure them to. Not only do you have rapid access to your blasters but you have the flexibility to store a vast array of them on a single panel.

At 800mm wide and 1500mm long, the Big BOB is more than able to store multiple Stampedes or Rapidstrikes and associated hardware. The internal MOLLE allows you to store magazine holders and pouches full of darts protected from the outside world by a layer of tough ballistic Nylon, soft and bouncy foam and then water proof Nylon.

On the outside, you've got more MOLLE webbing to store pouches and magazines for quick and ready access. All our current MOLLE compatible lines as well as third party items will sit comfortably on the outside.

Roll up Big BOB and you've got a big lump of Nylon and foam wrapped foamy fire-power. On its own, that's not very portable or terribly secure. In order to close it, a pair of straps (provided) can be looped through the external webbing to form carry handles. Complete with a Velcro sealed comfort panel for your hands, you've got a grab bag you can sling in the boot of the car, ready to deploy at a moment's notice. We've all seen this, right? Well, we thought we'd make one for the Nerfers of the world!

The icing on the cake, however is the pair of D-rings we have sewn to the top of the system. With that one simple change, we added a whole extra dimension to this product line. Big BOB can be hung from a pair of picture hooks on the wall to display your arsenal without the need for big immovable peg boards and the like.

 

Compatible with most MOLLE mountable accessories, including our own magazine holders

Priced at £65 inc UK/EU VAT at 20%, (non-payable for US and other non-EU countries so £54.16 [~USD$90]) this item is a buy once, use forever item. Extra quick release straps will be available in packs of 2, 4, 8, 10 and 20.

Big BOB comes with a stock of quick release straps, a set of carry handles, a small 500D Cordura pouch to store all of the above in - that pouch can be upgraded to a pouch with the same dimensions as our Large Zip Dump Pouch for £5 extra. This system can be ordered now subject to a 3-4 week lead time and is supplied in a range of colours. Other colours and camouflage patterns can be ordered but will need to be ordered as a custom item via email. We will happily ship internationally, transit time is usually a maximum of 5 days barring any customs delays. Big BOB is big so shipping internationally for North America and Australia will be around £18-20.

Little BOB, Big BOB's smaller cousin for SMG Stryfes and other, smaller blasters, will be available in the coming weeks. More details as that happens.