WaterWar.net

Ah, the problem with living in a goldmine is that no one else in here cares about the gold.

I'd like to compare finds with someone who thrifts as often as I do. I attribute my success to persistent failures.

soakinader wrote:I win.

No Nader, We Won.

:O You got a CPS 2000 MK1 AND the playmat I used to have as a kid???? Aw man!

I remember reading somewhere that these things were sold in massive quantities, making Buzz Bee Toys a large profit. Should I get this little guy? Is it worth anything?

So it's been a while, and I've checked out a few thrift stores with little success.
I found this CPS 1500:

Yeap, that's totally fake. I already have one sort of/exactly like this, except it's actually grey, not yellow.

Then I went to Talize yesterday. The first thing I found was this:

A WW Lightning for 5.99. I ignored it and searched the rest of the crowded shelves.

And that's when I found this, buried under some other toys:

A freaking CPS 1700 for 5.99. In working condition. For 6$. Yep.
The Lightning was in good working order as well, and any sort of CPS technology for 6 bucks is a good deal. So I bought them both!

I tested both guns today and they perform well. The 1700 has a loose pump seal but that's easy to fix, must have done it ten times by now. It also has pretty bad lamination, the shots on 10X were really rough and flattened instead of a smooth beam. It's got plenty of kick though, I don't know who donated this but it's one of the nicer CPS 1700's I have found.

This thread never ceases to amaze me. How much was the mk1? Oh, and I want that lightning!!!! CPS 1700 was my jam back in the day. I got it for my birthday one year. Do you plan on cleaning out the laminator?

See this thread: http://www.waterwar.net/site_wwn/board/topic6631.html

I plan on doing maintenance on the Lightning and CPS 1700, but I would also really like to find some new superglue (thin, clear) to smooth out these peeling stickers. All my miracle glue dried up...and I have no faith in dollar store/walmart glue.

In other news, I visited a Salvation Army in Vancouver today and found two Predator PR 1500 paintball guns for 20$ apiece. I've seen and bought plenty of the small PR-1000 spring-powered guns, they are nice and powerful. I had actually heard of the PR-1500 and I thought it would be super-cool to nerfmod.
http://www.solware.co.uk/toy-guns/toy-p ... 00-lrg.jpg
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Predator-PaintB ... B00AGE7ELI
Back in the good ol' days, I would have bought one with the intent of hoppering it for a semi-auto dart blaster. Although, I had a Sceptor paintball gun (er, spongeball) that I never modded... I had so many cool mod ideas I never got to try. Oh well... I like fixing/restoring things more I guess. Well, at least it's easier.

ANYWAYS, has anyone ever modded one of these guns? I've never even seen real pictures of one. Also, I've never had any success on Canadian Nerfers/Nerfhaven as far as the buy/sell, but if there is a market out there somewhere for these uber-rare guns I would like to know.

Today I found an AP Sphinx, for 5$.
(Picture)
When I first picked it up, I couldn't get it to work. Pulling the trigger did nothing. Pumping was quite difficult. I couldn't quite figure out what was wrong, the nozzle at the front was lined up but nothing would come out. I almost didn't buy it. And then I rotated the nozzle 60 degrees... click. Pulled the trigger... Boosh!
That always drives me crazy. You never know whether the water comes out of the top or the bottom of a nozzle selector, until you pull the trigger.

That's hilarious. How many times do people leave their guns pressurized and then sell them or give them away? Unreal. How is the AP version vs the HP version? I've never used or even seen a Sphinx.

lol when I got that HORRIBLE CPS 2100 it was FULLY pressurized and I soaked my room by accident when I got it lol

Thrifted soakers are often fully pressurized. I almost soaked a woman and her kids while testing if one of the Renegades worked, and I did soak myself testing some offbrand thing without being aware of which direction the nozzle was pointed in. Moral of the story, always test an unfamiliar soaker with the nozzle pointed at the wall, lol.

Well, I got some new water blasters recently, but I needn't worry about these being left pressurized. Do non-working models count?

How did you... Why did you...???
o.O

soakinader wrote:How did you... Why did you...???
o.O

How? - knowing who to ask
Why? - 'cos these are cool

Were these prototypes or returns or what? I forgot how cool the Warlock actually looks. Would be nice to see something that looks like that with a PC. It would probably turn out like a Defender.

marauder wrote:Were these prototypes or returns or what? I forgot how cool the Warlock actually looks. Would be nice to see something that looks like that with a PC. It would probably turn out like a Defender.

These are hand-samples - not prototypes in that they already have their final styling and planned colour scheme (and most are non-functional), but they serve to confirm how a new model actual feels (size-wise), but are much heavier than actual production units (much, MUCH thicker plastic mold. They end up used also when showing off a new product to retail buyers to get their interest before actually spending more money on doing a full production run. If a design is not picked up, it's better to have not wasted the effort on making actual product. Granted, all the hand samples in the picture above did make it into production. Once one has access to actual production samples, these hand samples lose their value except to crazy obsessed water blaster fanatics like me. One day, I hope to figure out how to set up a museum dedicated to water weaponry and water fights... one day..

isoaker wrote:If a design is not picked up, it's better to have not wasted the effort on making actual product.

So, what you're saying is that there are models out there that we don't even know about because they never made it into production?

marauder wrote:

isoaker wrote:If a design is not picked up, it's better to have not wasted the effort on making actual product.

So, what you're saying is that there are models out there that we don't even know about because they never made it into production?

In short, yes, but that really shouldn't be surprising. From what I do know, the number of models that made it to the hand-sample stage that ended up being dropped are very few. By the time a company is investing in making these things, they are very interested in seeing the product developed and creating these helps show their commitment. I should also note that hand samples only show off the design, not performance of a particular model. It's what's inside that counts from our community's perspective, but of course, what's on the outside limits what can actually fit inside so the two are not completely unrelated.

That reminds me; I should weigh a couple of these things since, while I know they are heavier than production pieces, I can't quite tell by how much.

Is there any way of finding out what the blasters that didn't make it looked like?