.30 Condor back on the menu!!

[YEMX]

Well, the bedding job turned out infinitely better than my last attempt...  But it's not perfect.  I'll need to do a skim coat to correct some flaws.  Also, I did NOT anticipate the JB Weld and the painters tape to stick together so well- much to my chagrin.  I used painters tape to cover up all the gaps and grooves in the raw extrusion, it was easier than filling with clay.  I also wanted a c-hair of space between the frame and stock. 

Anyhoo, now I have to get the tape off the JB Weld before I do a skim coat.  Also, for whatever reason, I didn't take the bedding job all the way out the the end of the stock-  I am really not sure what I was thinking      But it worked out in the end, since I have to do a follow-up layer.  THIS TIME I will do a layer of Johnson's Paste Wax, AND spray some mold release. 

*sigh* Okay- I admit, there's another reason why I need to do a skim coat.   I ended up cracking the stock slightly, around the grip area on both sides    It's absolutely salvageable- it's really not that bad.  But it will require a follow-up coat to fix.  Stupidly, I neglected to put mold release on the extrusion, thinking the painters tape would easily come off the JB Weld    Of course, I also forgot to tape off the outside of the stock on the first go around too.  I won't forget those two crucial steps this time around...  Here's to a successful second attempt! 

Here you can see the profile of the inlet when I started out- all right angles:


A little hard to make out, since everything needs to be cleaned up and smoothed out, but you should be able to make out the curve of the AF frame, instead of all the right angles:


I know it looks bad now, but after clean up, some more blending and a few coats of primer, it'll look good!  I hope! 

[YEMX]

Okay- I did it correctly this time!!    I did my best to blend the area where the new and old bedding meet.  I also took the JB Weld all the way to the end of the stock (muzzle end).  Again- I have no IDEA what I was thinking yesterday, not going to the end of the stock in the first place    I got a shot of the cracks- and after cleaning it up and looking at it a second time, I can't decide if the fill port side is a crack, or just a flaw in the bedding?  Doesn't matter.  It's getting fixed.  Not many pics during the process, I didn't want to screw up my groove.  Here's to hoping for a good tomorrow!!



This side (feed port) is definitely cracked- I superglued the crack back together earlier, then later decided to do a skim coat to fix it.  Or at least try to make the area a bit stronger.  Hopefully it works


This side (fill nipple side) is questionable- but it too got a skim coat.  From this angle, it looks like a crack for sure- but looking at it from other angles, it simply looks like imperfection.


I did a better job masking the extrusion, and then went over the masked extrusion with paste wax, and just before mixing the JB Weld, I sprayed a layer of mold release.  I HOPE that in the next go around, the extrusion will release much more easily with no tape sticking to the JB Weld...  *crosses fingers*

[YEMX]

No pictures until tomorrow...  The skim coat looks amazing!  The combination of was and release agent worked, as the vast majority of the tape released!!  I'm happy!  No further cracks or damage to the stock!  *sigh of relief*

I did find that I missed some damage from yesterday- the trigger guard was cracked   As I was carefully spreading it out I was thinking to myself "How am I going to get a superglue tip down there?!  The crack is way too-"  aaaaaaaand the trigger guard snapped off    Solves that problem, huh?  So I glued the trigger guard back on, hence no pictures of the inlet/bedding job. 

I'm just happy the extrusion came out w/o too much effort.  There was minor clean up, and the fit on the Condor is AMAZING!  I'm happy.  Almost done!!!

[YEMX]

I really wish companies did their logos smaller...     I mentioned that I need a tank cover because the tank is cold in the winter...  So I ordered one.  Got it today.  A couple of points:

-  Why would anyone want a zipper on their face?  Or rather, why would anyone want the zipper showing?  The logo is "upside down".
-  Maybe slightly better zipper retention, but we'll see how long it lasts...  The velcro doesn't seem very strong, and the contact patch is kinda small.
-  Although this tank cover fits, maybe don't advertise that your tank cover will fit over a 80 cu in tank if it JUST fits on a 62 cu in tank (unless of course I'm dating myself in thinking the larger tanks are longer, not so much fatter- chime in if I'm wrong about this assumption).

Other than those small complaints, I'm totally satisfied-  it feels amazing on my face, I did have to cut a small hole in the back for the butt-plate, but that was expected.  It fits snug and won't rotate on me, and has just the right amount of squish.  Color isn't too much of a match for my gun, but I can re-spray the gun if I want to.  I'm not really worried about it right now, since I knew the color when I ordered it (they didn't have OD green available when I ordered). 



I'll post pics of the inlet/bedding tomorrow, when the trigger guard is done drying. 

[YEMX]

Okay, the JB Weld repair on the trigger guard is set up enough to unclamp it.  I took some pictures...  The bedding job is much better!!  I'm satisfied.  I don't even much care about the residual painters tape.  I'm not going to touch it anymore.  The outside is a different story though... Needs a lot more work.  Getting there!!















It doesn't LOOK very good, but I'm also bad at taking pictures, and I'm sure the lighting is not doing the stock justice.  I do have to do some more clean up and filling in a couple spots for sure.  I've also decided that I'm going to add some material to the trigger guard to change the shape a little and hopefully add some strength to it.  I think (after I do some test strips) that I'm only going to fiberglass the trigger guard area.  Then just bondo over the whole thing to blend everything together.  Then I can do the final finish work before paint...  Almost. Fraking.  Done.

[bear air]

That stock is really coming together Tom. It will look great once you put the final touches on it.

[YEMX]

That stock is really coming together Tom. It will look great once you put the final touches on it.

Thank you sir!!  I sure hope so!  I'm really trying not to rush it right now- I've made more progress in the past 2 weeks than I have in over 2 months!  I surely don't want to mess it up now!

Small update, no pics until tomorrow.  I made and glued in a piece to reinforce the rear of the trigger guard area.  I'll do the front tomorrow.  The space in the trigger guard really is too big, and I'm worried that it might break again in the future.  So before I fiberglass, I want to make sure there's significantly more meat in that area.  Plus I was never really satisfied with the overall shape of the trigger guard and surrounding area.  Speaking of fiberglass, I've decided that I'm just going to fiberglass the trigger guard area and then use Bondo filler to blend everything together.  I really just want to finish and paint this stock so I can finally get it on the gun and leave it there!  I want to move onto the fun stuff already!! 

[bear air]

Slow and steady wins the race friend.

[YEMX]

Slow and steady wins the race friend.

Believe me, I know!  Having to wait for epoxy to dry is excruciating! 

[YEMX]

Not too much of an update.  I started blending the back piece that I glued in yesterday, and added the front piece today.  Here's a pic so far:



I really didn't like how open the trigger area was- it was a ginormous gaping hole with a trigger and safety floating around in it.  The angles felt wrong the more I looked at it.  It just didn't look right.  I wanted to close up the space a bit while adding strength to the trigger guard.  I'll get it all blended in and leveled out before sealing in the trigger guard area with fiberglass.

[YEMX]

Okay, some more work done on the stock.  Now waiting for PC-7 to dry.  I'm thinking I'm just going to use epoxy instead of polyester resin...  I'm really leaning towards that.  There's a lot of dissimilar materials around the trigger guard, and I don't want to chance the polyester not bonding to it...  Epoxy will pretty much stick to everything though... 

The trigger now clears the trigger guard- I had to shave some back though, I was off on my sizing before.  The safety does clear the trigger guard- Just barely! 

Safety on:


Safety off- Yes it fully disengages:


Did some fillets, because fiberglass doesn't like going around 90* corners:




Did a little more clean up around the cut outs:




Made the power wheel cut-out too big to the front... I'm not fixing it though 






That's it for now...  I'll get some more work done tomorrow.  I'll wait until Thursday to do the fiberglass...  Again- I'm just fiberglassing the trigger guard area- I'm more worried about that area breaking again, than any other part of the stock...

[YEMX]

Well, fiberglassing was an epic failure.  I'll have to sand down and re-do it later with proper materials.  The fiberglass I have is too thick, as is the epoxy I have.  I need lower viscosity stuff.  I should be able to sand everything down soon, Oh well...  At least I know what DOESN'T work, right? 

[YEMX]

Okay, the fiberglassing was not an EPIC failure.  Just kind of a failure    After clean up, I had enough fiberglass adhesion in the areas of most concern to allay my fears of a weak trigger guard.  Add to that, the added material and I feel confident enough to move on.  I've added bondo, and will be smoothing it out shortly.  I'll soon be throwing on some primer.  I'll post more later.

[YEMX]

Quick shot of the stock as one color.  It still needs A LOT of work... 

Maybe.  I'm not sure yet.  Perhaps I'll just give it another couple of coats of primer, and wet sand it, then paint it.  Not sure yet.  I'm going to paint it camo, so maybe I'll bury the imperfections in the black paint of the camo pattern...   

[YEMX]

Getting closer.  I've filled some gaps, and tried smoothing out some areas.  But I'm not going to do anymore filling/sanding.  This is it.  It's good enough.  I'll sand the primer w/some super fine sandpaper and that's it.  I did add the "spacer" for the front of the frame and blended it in before priming. 

I'm going to do a "GAP Camo" pattern.  Basically it's just a "woodland" pattern that uses black, OD green and tan.  The colors are as close as I can get w/Rustoleum Camo paints.  It's not going to be an exact match- they use Ceracoat.  I've decided I'm not going to go that route.  I've masked off most of the inlet, but the wood area will get a coat of primer and black paint.  When I PAINT paint the stock, I'll mask off the entire inlet area.  But that'll be tomorrow.













More tomorrow.  I think I have enough tape to make stencils of the camo blobs I'll need for painting.  I'll see tonight.  If I have enough, I'll make the stencils tonight for tomorrow's paint job.

[YEMX]

PAINT!!! 

Okay- finally got to painting.  Here's some in progress pics:







The reveal will be tomorrow.  Then I'll re-mask the inlet area and spray the matte clear. 

[mackeral5]

That looks awesome.  I really like how you have figured out the operations that fit with your equipment and expertise to make a stock any way you want it.  Very nice.  Definitely makes the Airforce guns look more like a "gun" than something a storm trooper would carry.

[YEMX]

That looks awesome.  I really like how you have figured out the operations that fit with your equipment and expertise to make a stock any way you want it.  Very nice.  Definitely makes the Airforce guns look more like a "gun" than something a storm trooper would carry.

Thank you!!  My inner perfectionist keeps seeing all the flaws in this stock.  But when I get my Texan, I'm going to make another stock, and I now have mental notes to go off of.  The next stock will be better!! 



Well, of COURSE I don't have any clear coat!    So that will have to wait until later today.  But the camo pattern is done!  Done enough to handle, remove the stencils and take some pics.  I couldn't wait until later today to do it.  I'm happy with the color combination, not so happy with the pattern.  The stencils are hand drawn.  I was a little too conservative on the size of the blobs.  However, I think this is my new favorite pattern/color combination.  Super simple to do! 















I definitely should have used bigger blobs... Here's a shot of what it's SUPPOSED to look like:



Oh well.  Next time!! 

I'm going to wrap the LDC in some camo tape wrap stuff...  McNett I think?  That way the hard lines get broken up a bit.  I'll get the stock onto my Condor after the clear coat gets done.  I'm also gonna hit the scope with some paint as well.  I'll take pictures of the whole thing then.  'Til then y'all!

[bear air]

That stock turned out really nice Tom, the camo pattern looks great too. Your like me when it comes to aesthetics. I'm awfully critical of my work but the more hands on experience I get the better my little projects and alterations look. Keep up the great work. I'm anxious to hear and see how this thing shoots for you.

[YEMX]

That stock turned out really nice Tom, the camo pattern looks great too. Your like me when it comes to aesthetics. I'm awfully critical of my work but the more hands on experience I get the better my little projects and alterations look. Keep up the great work. I'm anxious to hear and see how this thing shoots for you.

Much appreciated.  Yes- for whatever reason, I'm extremely hard on myself.

The gun shoots VERY well...  I sighted it in at 25 yards, and it was getting very tight groups when I did my part.  I'm getting right around 70 fpe with the 44 grain pellets.  I want to stretch it out to 100 yards, and work on my DOPE card so I can get to laying waste to woodchucks and such with impunity!!! 

For the Texan stock build (I'll start a separate thread for it), I'm going to copy a Manners T5A stock profile.  Make the "inlet" for the tank much tighter, so the tank is resting on the stock.  I'm going to try to keep the same overall profile of the T5A though.  I'm kind of excited!  I made MANY mistakes with this stock, and I'll probably make many more w/the Texan version.  But they'll be DIFFERENT mistakes