Flash Flood "miniaturization"

[Goldfish4209]

My friends and I decided to open up a broken Flash Flood one day. Originally, we just wanted to see the internals, and possibly fix it, but we got hooked on unscrewing random stuff and before we knew it, it was beyond repair. However, we noticed that after we took off the casing and stuff, the water gun actually worked. We did have to pull open the valve manually, but it could shoot. However, we were unable to put the internals back into the case, so we decided to, uh, "miniaturize" it. In other words, we taped the pressure chamber/nozzles on top of the reservoir/pump. I know a picture would help but I don't have any photos right now, so I'll just post a quick MS Paint sketch (below, the attachment). Now the Flash Flood is a lot lighter and definitely more compact. However, I'm also thinking about increasing its power with a PC expansion or something..

In the picture, which isn't very clear, the black stuff is the tape and the intake tube goes around to the other side (the black line leading over the pc).

Actual pics are on the way.

[Drenchenator]

Hum... the diagram explains enough, but I'd still like to see some pictures. This is pretty interesting, a miniature Flash Flood if you will. It was already small (at least in my opinion), but if it's broken you can get some benefits from making it even smaller. I know the Flash Flood has two firing valves; did you remove one to save more space or did you leave both in?

[Ben]

That's interesting. I think in the Nerf world they call this modification "minimizing." Miniaturization works too but it's more typing.

I'm looking forward to the actual pictures of the Flash Flood too.

I remember trying something similar with my Vaporizer back when I first got it. I've attached the result.

Maybe we could make minimizing an entire class of modifications? Making water guns smaller is a good idea sometimes and we should let people know. Mind if I use your pictures in an article Goldfish?

[Goldfish4209]

Yes, we kept both valves on. I think they are both too weak without the other.

I'm not sure how much the minimization helped, but I do know that the gun now shoots (unlike before) and that it is more compact and a bit lighter. Right now there are a few leaking issues, and since the cap is upside down, it makes Orca-ish snorts, but considering the FF didn't work in the first place, I'm not disappointed.

The photos are below. Sorry for the really, really bad quality of the pics, but the camera I used wasn't that great. feel free to use the pictures or the idea.

-had to use attachments because "insert image" doesn't work for these

edit: I only uploaded 5 (maximum) so there's one left unposted, it just shows the nozzles and a front view.

[Silence]

If you want to upload more, you could add them to a different post or host them elsewhere. ImageShack is pretty good and I don't think they require registration.

Our PC expansion article has instructions for expanding the Flash Flood/Arctic Blast's pressure chamber capacity. It's a clean modification, too.

[emperor_james]

That would be cool mounted underneath a bigger gun like a grenade launcher.

[lazerhawk08]

Whats the point in super soaker miniaturzation? I understand miniaturizing a large gun but not smaller or medium sizes.


Does it help in any way?

[Goldfish4209]

The way I see it it's not all about the size, it's more about the shape. If a blaster has a part that gets in the way or feels uncomfortable when holding it, and that part isn't really necessary, just take it off.

in my case w/ the FF, there wasn't a shape problem, but it was a lot lighter.

[Ben]

It depends on what you want to use the water gun for. If you want something smaller so it could be concealed or fit inside something else, minimizing it should help. If you don't like the shape, chopping something off could help. It's a good idea for some applications but not all.

Large guns make more sense to minimize but often there's not that much you can do without compromising the structural stability of the blaster. In the CPS 2700 you can remove the purple nozzle cover for example with now disadvantage. You can cut off the fins that hole it on too. But in the end you can't reduce the size much without compromising the structural strength of the blaster. If that doesn't matter to you then more extreme minimizing would be fine.

[Ben]

I've increased the attachment limit to unlimited. You can attach more if you want Goldfish.

[Goldfish4209]

OK thanks! Here's the last one, you can see that the smaller nozzle sticks out to the side. That's because the PC is mounted on its side...I supposed other orientations would work just as well.

I'm considering doing this with my other FF (I got a twin pack), and that one works, so it'll probably work out better. And this time I'll know when to stop unscrewing.

[Drenchenator]

Good luck with the other one if do go through with it. It looks like it would be difficult to find the right orientation for the parts for everything to work together, though you already have one down; a second wouldn't be hard.