I'll be the first to admit, I don't come up with very many original mods. I've come up with the Dart Tag Permanent Clip Conversion (Dart Tag to Elite Clip Mod) The Stampede SOPMOD and a few minor mods, such as the Maverick Trigger spring and Maverick nozzle spring and some unique and complex wood grip integrations -- but for the most part I simply improve upon and refine existing mods.
With this in mind, first and foremost, credit must go to Solscud007 (as he is known on NERFHaven) for the inspiration on this awesome mod. As far as I know, he engineered the original Stryfe/Roughcut Masterkey. There may be a bunch of these things out there now, but it takes a visionary to pioneer the first prototype. Kudos to Soscud007 for this freaking awesome design.
The original post I first studied for this project was this NerfHaven thread.
This has to be my second favorite mod of all time, with the first being the Stampede SMG pioneered by SG Nerf. While this mod isn't as complex or revolutionary as the SMG, it's still an epic build with an incredibly awesome final result. This is the perfect weapon for the Grenadier class.
After reviewing several mod write-ups and studying some pics I noted a few important aspects of this build:
1) Most Masterkey mods are Slam Fire only and don't allow for singled shots.
This is due to the spring being cut out of the trigger area. In the original mod the spring was removed - I think - to cut the maximum amount of material away from the grip. From what I recall Soscud007 ended up inserting a screw into the trigger to allow Slamfire. I prefer to have the Roughcut primed and ready -- and have my left hand on the Roughcut trigger ready to fire a burst with my left hand, leaving my right hand on the Stryfe -- you can't do that if the Roughcut is slam-fire only. The drawback to leaving the Roughcut trigger in place is that you can't Slamfire with your hand on the main grip - you have to switch to the forward trigger. The Knight Industries original Shotgun Masterkey worked this way, so in the end I left the trigger spring and trigger functionality.
2) Most Masterkey mods aren't compatible with NERF drums.
I can see why this wasn't given consideration in the first variant because it was a prototype - but when everyone else started copying Soscud007's design I was surprised that not many people considered drum compatibility. I thought it wouldn't hurt to allow all drums to fit.
Originally I had planned to leave the Retaliator extension detachable. The problem is that not too much material can be cut away from the top of the Roughcut. Additionally, a portion of the Stryfe lower tactical rail had to be removed to allow the Masterkey integration. The result is that the extension no longer "snapped into place". I tried the Masterkey extension on several other blasters -- the Retaliator, the Longshot, etc - and it would not fit. Since it wouldn't work with other guns and the tac rail on the Stryfe was cut up, I decided to permanently attached the front extension to the Stryfe.
I used a Mil-Spec U.S. Army Rifle sling mount on the Raider stock. This allows the stock and sling to be easily transferred to other compatible NERF blasters like the Retaliator or Rampage.
I was really happy with how the bodywork turned out on the Roughcut grip. I wanted to make sure it looked as if it came from the NERF factory this way. I definitely didn't want to leave a large hole where dirt and debris could enter.
In the end I used 2x Efest IMR batteries for an 7.4v upgrade. Enough to give some additional range and ROF but not violate most organized events.
This was an epic build and overall an awesome NERF mod. I will definitely be making more of these in the future.
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