Concept RS Tactical

If there is one most significant hole in my armory right now, that would have to be a basic, no-frills, rifle version of the RS.

It's not so much that I didn't have such a configuration at any point. In fact, I have had many such RS through my hands. They just "didn't stick". 

Why?

It's not that they aren't useful. What I have figured out is that the cause is...

The damn stock battery box. 

That has to be my most hated feature of the stock RS. Not that a big battery box isn't handy; it opens up a lot of battery options for internal, clean installation without a specific mod to accomodate each. Rather, it is the placement and dimensions of this thing that get on my nerves.

So this is going to be a post about casemodding ideas, more or less. See the old test mule:

The RS is such a nice, original, futuristic assault rifle design... WELL it would be, if not for that tumor growing in the handguards. The corners dig into my support hand. It's the widest point of the gun. Right up front. It just ruins the streamlining and proportions and makes it feel so clunky.

One of the reasons I have favored underslinging something is that without the integration there, the bulk doesn't vanish. When you have an externally stock RS, the handling is just out of line with its functionality, IMO. And I had one hell of a time thinking of how best to remove that bulk, since the battery box is so designed into the gun and the flywheel system has its own space requirements to worry about. "Just cut it off" is NOT an answer.

Finally, the idea of weapons standardization came up within Gators HvZ 501st, between me, CT-0268 (the squadmate who came up with the trigger VFG for the RapidSwarms) and the CO. That spurred things along and soon I was envisioning a "Tactical Model" of the RS to be one of our service rifles. So here goes:

 

 Start with a commercial RS.

I like to use a low-res image to mockup my mods. The pixels give me a nice grid for editing and aligning, and make quick manual changes blend into the overall appearance.

 

 This is what you have after whacking the offending features off the receiver and shrouds. Note that the AFG-style foregrip got nailed as well - because it's too damn low. And too wide. It can't be blended into a rework without looking noobish.

 

And here we've reconstructed a bit along the clean, chamfered, Stampedish lines of the existing receiver, then slapped an accessory rail on there. Starting to look a bit more proportionate.

 

The new sweet curved magwell grip is fabricated to match up with the lines of the shroud mods and rail. A few countersunk flathead screws would go in these parts for structural integrity and to replace some screw bosses which were cut off along with the bulky crap.

 

We're running 180 motors, so the side rail goes away and a cover plate guards the terminals and offers ventilation. The other stock side rail also goes away, since it is too short and too far back for practical use i.e. a light (a shadow would be cast by the barrel), and I dislike Hasbro's placement and aesthetics of these rails on both this and the Stampede.

 

Bodywork is smoothed, and an optional cosmetic flash hider (see: the one in the Oblivion prop build) is installed in place of the useless twist-lock for maximum tacticoolness.

This gun is to serve several purposes: act as a prototype for the physical build to be used by the squad in order to test the ergonomics, and be my next primary to supplement the RapidSwarm. As such, it will run a 3S stick battery located in the stock and most likely be a testbed for the Xtreme PRO 180 motor on flywheels and pusher. Expect a progress post soon.