Unit 01 is generating its own AT Field??!?

Unit 01 from Evangelion:
You Can (Not) Advance

Like the Spydarm, this will be the final build entry for the Closed Bolt Spyder. 

It's been a long road for this marker. This was my first marker from when started playing in 1996. Retail-wise, I've put over $1500 worth of parts into this Spyder over the years. (No, I didn't spend that much on a Spyder... It's just the approximate retail value of all the various parts I put in, then I stopped keeping count.)

QUICK HISTORY LESSON IN 3.. 2.. 1...

 

This humble Spyder is actually not even a Spyder. It's a 100% clone called a Targa. While this Spyder may look, smell, and taste like a Kingman Spyder... This is a Spyder that was marketed by National Paintball Supply. Spyders, in the car sense, is a word for a convertible. Since NPS couldn't call it a Spyder, they went to another car term that was an alternate for a convertible: Targa. So while this is considered a Spyder clone, it is supplied by the original factories that made Spyders for KingmanUSA. (If you feel like going down a parallel rabbit hole, look up the Spyder SE vs the Speed Master!)

OK, so there... I don't really own a Spyder. Although it's a clone, it shares the same origins as a letgit Spyder. This is why Spyder collectors, such as myself, consider this (and a very select few clones like the Speed Master) as an actual Spyder.  

Quick mock up

So as we come to the end of the road for this (re)build, it really makes me happy to see it evolve from a high pressure Co2 STBB to a low pressure HPA beast to a closed bolt low production run oddity to a refreshed modernized theme build!

Speaking of the theme... My only regret was not matching the primary color better to the plum-y purple better on Unit 01. The blue is closer to Rei's Unit 00 instead. As I get my last accent parts done in orange, it will look closer to the part along side the green hoses for the pneumatics. 

Broken part and a
10 pack of replacements!

In terms of the internals, I've been waiting on making the decision to buy a part from Palmer's Pursuit Shop. I'm glad I didn't since it was the wrong part! I would have replaced the fitting to the brass piece and still had a broken marker. 

On a whim, I looked at the part again since I had a gut feeling that I was wrong. I was. The part was the 10/32" extension fitting that connected the rear block assembly to the ram. Glad I checked... Whew!!

On 5/18, I found a distributor that had a fitting that looked like the part! It looked so close! A few days later I called them and asked them to email me the specs. I took a look at them and checked it over with my digital calipers. SCORE! I immediately made the order on Thursday night, it was shipped on Friday, and I got them Saturday morning.

Waiting for final assembly

Sunday rolls around and I decide to hit the ground running. I get the parts and tools together. The worst part was deciding to roll with my existing Shocktech The Bomb 3-way or change it back to the KAPP 3-way that I got with the kit. Getting all the hoses measured out with a little bit of slack, just in case, helped me make my decisions. I swapped to the KAPP and aired it up and had nothing but super leaks all over the 3-way. The cats were not happy by any means.

Once that was all sorted with a working 3-way, I did one last air-up to check the whole airparth. NO LEAKS! I check the bolt and it cycles - Close, open, close, open. I cock the striker and pull the trigger. Fully timed cycling! 

You can only imagine the smile on my face. 

I immediately grabbed my action cam and the newly designed 10 round tube speed feed. Everything loaded up and I shot a video with 10 Z-Balls. 

SUCCESS!

Only thing after that was to get it all dialed in. I had to bring one of my tanks to the field and get rehydro'd so it made sense to head out there and get both this and the Spydarm tuned in over the chrono. Both are shooting at 280fps all day long!

(Sorry, no shooting videos for those...)