Air Machinegun Forum
General Air Machinegun Discussion Category => Drozd and Blackbird Discussion => Topic started by: TBK on October 31, 2015, 05:38:59 PM
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Here is a purple one I did about 10 years ago in 2005.
(http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd235/tbkahuna1/BBMG/PA200100.jpg) (http://s226.photobucket.com/user/tbkahuna1/media/BBMG/PA200100.jpg.html)
This is an excerpt from the instructions of OlPistolPacker from way back when.
SO, YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF YOUR DROZD BUMBLE BEE?
If you Drozd, you’re going to LOVE what you can do to change its appearance! How many of us have wanted a black Drozd? Or an olive drab…or a brown, navy blue, green, or whatever color? Red? How many intrepid souls have torn their precious ratta tatter down to the bones for painting, been unhappy with the results, or had to wait two looong weeks before a good grade of so-called epoxy paint was dry enough to assemble and shoot again? ...Then ONLY to discover that even the epoxy paint job nicks and scratches very easily, allowing the bright yellow to show through! How many have saved their bottles and cans, traded in the family car, and mortgaged the house to raise enough to send off for a mysterious super dooper “pressure” dye job?
Take heart, Bumblepeople, the enclosed instructions have saved the day for all of us discontented folks who just can’t be satisfied with our Bees out of the box. Thanks to several who have contributed to the process, we can now share the basic procedure. Many have already transformed their bright yellow toys to their own tastes and custom desires.
SPECIAL NOTE HERE: Your Drozd Bumble Bee comes from European American Armory Corp. with a 90 day limited warranty. If you modify your Drozd in any way, including even dying or painting it, you may void your warranty completely. If you have any concerns at all, it is best to read the warranty thoroughly and wait until after your 90 day warranty period is over before making ANY modifications of your own free will and choice. EAA does not support ANY changes in the stock gun as it comes from the factory and will not even service them if you offer to pay them to do it. They apparently will, however, sell you parts. It is best to contact them for details.
The process of disassembly and reassembly for the dye work can also be a bit daunting so we’ve added some suggestions and illustrations to assist you even in that endeavor in SECTION II. The entire process from yellow to disassembly to dye job to assembly and ready to shoot again shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours of most satisfying effort and a couple of bucks. I personally did my last one in about an hour…total time. (The first time around it took me longer to clean up the wife’s kitchen afterward. I’m ok, she still loves me. She REALLY loves the new Bee.)
The secret is RIT DYE!!!
A great product highly recommended
That’s right, the common, garden variety, fabric dye available at most grocery stores, craft stores like Michael’s, and most certainly at Wal*Mart for under two bucks. It is the same stuff our mothers used to dye bedspreads, curtains, and blue jeans. But, wait! How can it work on impervious plastic polymers? Can’t help you there. I’m not a chemist. All I know is I bought a box of black for $1.49, followed these guidelines, gritted my toothies, closed my eyes, plunged that bright yellow bugger into the soup, and 30 minutes later I had a perfect black dye job with the original finish, sheen and texture, completely black as though molded that way in the beginning…with a really tough hide to it. Many of us have since proven the process to be much, no, VASTLY better than painting with great durability and depth.
Presto! No runs, smudges, gloppy overspray, and ready to romp as soon as it is rinsed, dried, and put back together. It even dyes those impossible to reach places you can’t spray with a can of paint. Please believe me, if I can do it…any of you can. I had dyed and ruined an old T-Shirt years ago and that was the extent of my expertise. My results with this process produced a professional job FIRST TIME out.
Another beauty to this system is the fact that if you happen to scrape your gun deeply enough to expose the yellow, you can simply dye it again…presto! The guns I’ve dyed have had thousands of rounds shot from them and there is no dirty yellow showing anymore and the colors on my dye jobs so far have NOT shown any wear whatsoever.
It is possible to become quite expert with knowledge by going to: www.ritdye.com You can also order any of their colors over the Internet at reasonable cost. Their website is very complete and helpful. It even mentions that some plastics dye well. The material in the Drozd Bumble Bee most certainly does.
Now, RIT is quite clear that if you start with the color yellow you are assured of a good cover color only if you choose from the following: Scarlet, Tangerine, Cocoa Brown, Dark Brown, Dark Green, Cardinal Red, Wine, or Black. (NOTE: Late 2004: Possible changes in polymer composition have been noted. If you do black and find a “hint” of cherry in the final color and want it blacker, get an extra bottle of Rit liquid dye and let it sit overnight in the mix. Most won’t need to but I’ve seen the rare case. You may even want to START with the liquid black.)
There are no guarantees, of course, but you can get very bold with your color choices if you don’t mind a bit of disappointment. Remember that black can cover up a myriad of mistakes if your experimental color doesn’t make you happy. You have to use common sense but the polymer plastic of the Drozd seems to have qualities that allows a good cover to that yellow as bright as it is.
A beautifully blue Drozd meant to be dark green. It would have been had he used…dark green
One fellow figured on green so he bought a box of navy blue. Blue and yellow make green, right? Uh, well the dye color he ended up with wasn’t green at all. It was a smashing dark blue and his gun looks great. (There are several pictures here of different guns so you get an idea.) A buddy wanted an olive drab gun so he experimented using two boxes of colors to get a dark olive/brown drab…a half box of green and a quarter box of brown. It turned out most satisfactory to him.
So, go and get your box of dye powder and let’s get going. For our purposes here, I’m using basic black.
1. Get a suitable container that allows you to move your parts around freely. I used my wife’s turkey roaster. I wouldn’t use Teflon…might dye it. As it is, you may have to scrub the pan with some bleach afterward but the turkey roaster worked okay…just not quite big enough so I dyed the parts in two batches. For later dye jobs, I picked up a large aluminum pan at a thrift store for about a buck that allows me to do all the parts at once.
Using the wife’s turkey roaster
2. Put a couple of cups of hot water into the pan and crank up the heat. Pour in your dye and begin stirring it real good but stir it easy or else you might make an awful mess. This stuff is STRONG. My wife sort of likes the new black spotted curtains, tile, and cabinets. The countertops are unique too. In fact, I blend right in with the pants and shirt I was wearing. Be careful and put down some protective coverings on things you don’t want dyed, wear old clothes, and maybe consider doing it on the burner side of your barbeque outdoors…off the concrete and away from your dog, of course. I like the barbeque burner best. Just be very careful not to splatter or splash. It WILL cause grief.
3. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir it until all the granules are dissolved. It is ok to add more hot water. I found that a total of about two to three quarts was just fine. If your level gets too low you can add a bit more water. Stir it all up then LOWER the temperature down to the LOWEST setting on your stove. This will allow the dye to take well and you can also handle the pan and carefully swoosh the mix around over the parts.
4. Clean all your parts with soap and water to get any oil or dirt residues off. I just used dish soap and elbow grease. It worked well. Rinse them good, but it isn’t necessary to dry them. If you are doing black, don’t forget to dye your stock extensions too. I’ve had four Bumble Bees, personally, and each stock and extension was a slightly different shade of black. I just dyed them too and they are now a perfect color match. Love it.
All the parts now evenly black
5. Take courage now. It’ll work. Just slowly and carefully slip your parts into the mix to avoid splashing and they will immediately begin to dye the color you’re going for. I was scared to death I’d ruin the thing but within five minutes I was seeing an opaque black and grinning my frown away. The navy blue was done in 20 minutes. His buddy did the olive drab in 10 but I think he should have gone longer. I think the longer you let it soak in the dye the deeper the dye penetrates so I actually let mine go for 30 minutes. Whatever! It isn’t an exact science. It was looking very black after only ten minutes so I probably over did the process. Turn the parts using tongs or pliers after each five minutes or less to get an even finish. I like to agitate the dye a bit to wash over the entire set of parts. If you use two boxes of dye you can easily add enough water to cover the parts completely. It is just a good idea to keep things moving to get an even color. To test, just rinse it a bit. If you think it should go longer, no problem. Just put it in the mix again.
6. Remember to keep the heat very low. You don’t want to fry your Drozd on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring and moving it around. It’ll dye into every nook and cranny as though it was originally that color.
7. When you’re satisfied it is about as dyed as you want it, simply pull the parts out, rinse them thoroughly (might take a little elbow grease to get off the dye residues) until no more color comes off your work, dry it, and you’re done. You do need to rinse it well because there are salts in the dyes that can rust steel over time if residues are left. Don’t forget to run water into those internal areas of your stock and shake it around if you dyed it too. Simple. It works!
Several, including myself, have noticed when you go to put the circuit board back in there is a bit of a tight fit as though the heat from the water may have tightened up the fore grip housing a little at the very edges. No problem, be patient and work it carefully into the right position and it will go together just fine. Do not force it. Tilt it a bit and it will slip right in.
THAT’S ALL THERE IS TO IT.
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thanks for the recipe' gonna cut the window and buttons and give it a shot :o
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whats better liquid or powder?
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Either will do the job. There is some art to the dye process. I put enough in the roaster pan to cover the parts. As I recall I used two boxes of purple powder but that was only because I wanted a very dark color as shown in the first picture. The longer you leave it in, the darker it gets. You can save the dye by putting it in a well-sealed container in case you want to do another part or touch up something later.
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i guess using 2 boxes? and enough water to cover the forearm? looks like the stock one is a very deep black hope this will match the rest of the gun :-\
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That will work. I showed the purple one just to give an idea. Black is what you want. You can leave it in until it matches the rest. You could also put all of the parts in the dye so they will match very closely.
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oh ok, looks black to me.. i just want to match the yellow forearm to the rest of the stock blackbird. dident get time to cut the window and buttons today, we been working on a feed mag to handle the 4k board.. got all winter it will happen
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we tried a new motor, think it was from a toyota blend door actuator, it spun so fast that it ground off the plastic pinion gear after about 500 rounds, it was the same pitch just wore it out quick
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Whoops!
Why not use a tied and true Nichibo motor?
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think I may have to, got a gear coming weds see what happens
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So how did it work with the different motor before it failed?
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got the gears weds, but i got 15t ones, invoice said 11t! guess they cant count past 10? pissed. cant find one - hobbyking wont accept my c.c. i'm waiting for a e-mail from the other site they got 2 biz days to answer.. think it was heli rtf site. was hoping for a fri nite shoot since its really nice out here. oh well' started cutting the new grip today and its looking good!
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oh' it was working ok before but the gear is plastic and was showing wear and the new motor did it in. we are trying to feed it as fast as possible without airshots.. right now i would be happy for 30 who knows winters coming soon got time to fiq this out