Author Topic: Theoben Rapid Mk2 (Read 13934 times))

aluminumfetish · « **Reply #100 on:** February 12, 2020, 09:50:41 PM »

Very impressive ! It's cool to watch the transformation.

Motorhead · « **Reply #101 on:** February 12, 2020, 09:54:16 PM »

Quote from: aluminumfetish on February 12, 2020, 09:50:41 PM

Very impressive ! It's cool to watch the transformation.

LOL ... like watching paint dry

YEMX · « **Reply #102 on:** February 12, 2020, 11:50:37 PM »

Quote from: Motorhead on February 12, 2020, 09:54:16 PM

Quote from: aluminumfetish on February 12, 2020, 09:50:41 PM
Very impressive ! It's cool to watch the transformation.

LOL ... like watching paint dry

For as long as this is taking, I think paint drying might be more entertaining!!

I did a touch more work. I re-drilled the bottom fill hole- correctly this time! Found the fill adapter extension thingy, and checked everything... IT ALL FITS!! With more than enough clearance. The fill nipple isn't too deep, and tomorrow, I'll mate the stock and trigger guard piece. Then I can do some more blending. We're finally getting there!

YEMX · « **Reply #103 on:** February 13, 2020, 12:16:44 PM »

I was having issues with Imgur yesterday, with not being able to get to my image folders. I tried to "backdoor" some new images into one of my folders, and it seems like it worked (since the pics can be seen here). However, today I am able to access my folders, yet these new pics are nowhere to be found. Very strange. Not sure where they are. Anyhoo, I'm just going to re-post them, just in case Imgur decides to delete the ones that were uploaded yesterday.

I'm going to do a bit more sanding and shaping, then I'm going to glue that trigger on today. Everything looks real good so far. I hope I don't muck it up.

YEMX · « **Reply #104 on:** February 13, 2020, 06:44:20 PM »

Not too huge an update. I didn't glue the two pieces together today... I wanted to do some more clean up work before hand.

Here you can see how off I drilled the first hole, you can make out the crescent of the wooden dowel plug I used to fill the hole before re-drilling it:

This will be the inside (side closest to the trigger) of the trigger guard. Shoddy cutting with a band saw made for a rough surface. I sanded down as much as I could, then leveled it out with some JB Weld. I'll sand it smooth tomorrow:

I should have taken a "before" and "after" pic, but this is the clean up I did behind the trigger. Since I decided to do a Theoben type trigger guard, this back area has been bothering me. So I sanded it down and smoothed it out. Needs more work, but it's a good start:

That's about it for today... Other than filling in some other spots, some work around the trigger hole, and sanding down to plastic where I needed to, to prep for gluing the trigger guard to the stock.

YEMX · « **Reply #105 on:** February 14, 2020, 01:47:09 PM »

I did some more work today... Again, I apologize for the poor pics.

You can see that even after filling with the JB Weld, the trigger guard was still not as flat as I had thought (hoped). Also, the JB Weld takes too long to dry, and is harder to sand. I'm switching to some awesome spackling by DAP. Should fit the bill for quick drying time and sturdy enough to smooth the stock out. It's also much easier to sand. Messier for sure, but easier to work with, overall.

The darker spots are low spots:

I'm thinking, I'm probably going to drop the rear stock screw and just go with the front one, behind the bottom fill. If Theoben dropped it when they went to the Mk2 platform, why not- right? Besides, that rear screw ruins the lines of that transition area between the stock and grip. I'll just make sure to inlet for a steel washer, so that the stock screw has something super solid to butt up against. Easy peasy.

I think that spackling will be fine to use as a filler. The JB Weld will be expensive over time, and it's harder to work. I've decided to lay down a very thin, single layer of fiberglass to really lock everything in anyway. So this DAP filler- which is far stronger than any spackling I've used so far, will be sufficient to use to smooth everything out. I just don't want to go to the trouble or expense of using Bondo. More later.

YEMX · « **Reply #106 on:** February 14, 2020, 03:16:32 PM »

Eh, not a huge update. I am DEFINITELY going to drop the rear stock screw. It's perfectly tight with just the one screw. I've "inlet" a metal washer for the stock screw to butt up against, and the JB Weld is currently drying. Once I glue in the trigger guard part, the washer will forever be inside the stock. Anyhoo, I just thought I'd post some pics of the Rapid in this stock. Again... Almost done.

Inlet is far from perfect, but I'm happy with it. The rifle is solidly supported:

It's kinda hard to make out, but the gap between the barrel and stock is pretty uniform...

I'll do some more work tomorrow, after the JB Weld is done drying. Hopefully I can finally glue that trigger guard into place!

Motorhead · « **Reply #107 on:** February 14, 2020, 04:12:46 PM »

Hey LOOK !!! the Paint appears to be ALMOST dry ... lol

YEMX · « **Reply #108 on:** February 14, 2020, 05:09:53 PM »

Quote from: Motorhead on February 14, 2020, 04:12:46 PM

Hey LOOK !!! the Paint appears to be ALMOST dry ... lol

Nearly!! I'm going to order the CF wrap kit and fiberglass on the 1st.

YEMX · « **Reply #109 on:** February 15, 2020, 02:29:02 PM »

The trigger guard is on!

I did a little bit of clean up, shortened and reshaped the trigger guard tang a bit to mimic the Theoben's design, made a wedge so I could evenly clamp the trigger guard down while it's drying, and proceeded to glue it in place. I also plugged up the rear receiver hole, as I won't be using it.

YEMX · « **Reply #110 on:** February 15, 2020, 11:17:15 PM »

Not much of an update...

Trigger guard is on. PC-7 needs time to fully cure. The Stock needs a lot more work... But still- getting there. Not too much longer now.

YEMX · « **Reply #111 on:** February 18, 2020, 03:50:52 PM »

Not too much of an update. Still thinking about what-all I still need to do before wrapping this stock. Ended up going with Bondo all purpose putty for the major leveling and such. Anyhoo, a few pics to update the thread.

I decided to fill in all the cheek piece adjustment stuff- I may not even need a cheek piece. But if I do, I'll just add one after I'm done... I could just make a new one from kydex, using the factory one as a pattern. The one that comes with this former airsoft stock is too flimsy for my tastes anyway...

YEMX · « **Reply #112 on:** February 18, 2020, 10:14:11 PM »

The paint is slowly but surely drying... We're getting there people. Slowly but surely.

I did a little more Bondo work- that trigger area is going to be problematic. I rounded off the trigger guard piece, still needs more blending work though.

YEMX · « **Reply #113 on:** February 19, 2020, 10:50:55 PM »

Safety first!!!

Not much of an update, just some more Bondo work. Getting closer to having this stock ready for CF wrap! Something has been bothering me about the stock- that is, I'm worried that the resin I used to fill in between the ribs of the original stock layout may, over time, separate from the stock. So, to solve this, I'm going to get some 1oz fiberglass cloth and bond it to the air reservoir section of the inlet. This way, the resin will be held in place by the piece of fiberglass, and it'll all be bonded together. I don't want to use the CF to do this, because it would be too thick. The reservoir may not fit anymore. I think, with the 1oz fiberglass, it'll be fine.

Don't mind the Condor... The sides are now filled, level and smooth:

All that's left is the trigger/grip area and the right side cheek piece indents. For whatever reason I just could not get them to fill-in right. Oh well... back at it tomorrow. So very close!!

YEMX · « **Reply #114 on:** February 20, 2020, 05:41:53 PM »

Not too much work done today. I had a LOT of extra JB Weld left over from when I did a bedding job on another stock, so I used it to start patching some areas of this stock.

The JB Weld started to get a little harder to spread, so I just left well enough alone. I'll shape it tomorrow sometime.

YEMX · « **Reply #115 on:** February 29, 2020, 04:02:09 PM »

I haven't forgotten about this project. I just haven't made that much progress on it. Still doing a little shaping here and there. I found some .75 oz fiberglass in a much more affordable amount for my needs- the other option would be to get $56 dollars worth. I just don't need that much. The epoxy I need is also expensive. The .75 oz fiberglass is unfortunately on back order. So I'm just sitting here waiting for it to come in. Just wanted to update.

YEMX · « **Reply #116 on:** March 08, 2020, 04:10:48 PM »

Been doing a little work here and there. It's mostly just minor clean up and smoothing out. The stock is pretty much done at this point. Still waiting on that really thin fiberglass cloth so I can seal the reservoir area, not sure when that'll be in. It's on backorder from the factory. My other option is to buy close to $60 worth of .75 oz cloth, and I don't particularly want to do that. But if this goes on for too much longer, I may have to

After I do the reservoir area, then I'll skin the outside w/CF.

I sanded the outside of the stock with some really coarse sand paper, in addition to scoring it with a knife. I want to make sure the epoxy/CF really grabs hold. Here's a pic of the scoring:

I also cleaned up the air reservoir area, in preparation for the fiberglass layer. I want this section to be less jagged I guess? I don't know how to describe it. Basically I want to make sure that the fiberglass has nice curves to go over, not 90* angles and such. I also sanded the resin sections to give them some tooth, but Epoxy sticks like crazy to resin, so I'm not really worried too much. It's hard to make out in the pic, but I did remove some old ribbing material on the bottom radius so the sides and bottom would blend together better. I touched up a few other spots as well. Nothing crazy. I was NOT happy with the front two corners of the reservoir inlet, but they cleaned up well...

That's pretty much it for now, until I get my hands on that .75 oz fiberglass. I'm at a good stopping point on this stock. If I keep touching it and tweeking it, I just know I'm going to mess it up. I'll update when that fiberglass comes in and I wrap the stock in CF.

YEMX · « **Reply #117 on:** May 09, 2020, 10:32:52 PM »

I finally was able to get some light weight (.75 oz.) fiberglass. It's folded, and not rolled

But it should still suffice for what I'm doing. I'm still waiting on my epoxy, but it should be here pretty soon. Since I'm doing this with fiberglass and epoxy, not the CF kit I was originally planning on, I'll have to attack this a little different. But Soon, this stock will be done, and I can finally finish this rifle and enjoy it!

YEMX · « **Reply #118 on:** May 21, 2020, 01:16:41 PM »

I ordered the Epoxy on May 5th. It's still not here yet. If it doesn't show up today, I'm going to get a refund. I'm not sure where I'll order it from- but it won't be through the same dealer, that's for sure. I've got the section where the air reservoir sits all painted up in epoxy, so I'm no longer worried about the resin possibly separating from the plastic stock. I'm going to paint the wood section (where the receiver goes) in some JB weld epoxy wood sealer. It's a real thin epoxy and soaks into the wood. I don't think it'll affect the fit very much, if at all. I just want to seal the wood well, so I don't have to worry about it again. Anyhoo, I'll update again when I get some epoxy in, so I can get this stock fiberglassed.

YEMX · « **Reply #119 on:** May 26, 2020, 05:32:31 PM »

I've finally got the epoxy in, and I'm running a few test pieces on various substrates (including the same type of plastic the stock is made from) and weights of fiberglass before I dedicate myself to slathering my stock in epoxy and fiberglass.

The stock contour is where I want it, so I really don't want to mess up at this point. But I'll keep y'all posted!

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Theoben Rapid Mk2

Author Topic: Theoben Rapid Mk2 (Read 13934 times))