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! :)