If the Doominator holds 8 rounds per turret, we should expect the spacing between the upper and lower pairs of darts in the picture to be a little less than sin(45 deg) = 0.707 times the spacing between the middle two darts. (It's a little less because of parallax.) If there are 6 darts in each cylinder we should expect the spacing between the upper and lower pairs of darts to be a little less than sin(30 deg) = 0.5 times the spacing between the middle two darts.
I've measured the spacing of each set of adjacent darts on the cylinder which is the closest to the camera. Each measurement was taken between the tops of the darts where possible, and otherwise from the bottoms of each dart. All measurements are accurate to +- 1 pixel due to the slight blurring of the edges of the darts.
- Highest to higher middle: 51 pixels
- Middle two: 111 pixels
- Lower middle to lowest: 54 pixels
If we assume that the turrets are rotated such that there is a single dart at the top of the cylinder, then, of course, this would mean that each cylinder holds only 6 darts. This is a plausible assumption; zooming in on the visible part of the back of the uppermost plunger tube reveals what appears to be one dart's worth of air holes, not two.
This image might not be representative of the final design of this blaster. Note the lack of a connection between the upper part of the active cylinder and the body of the blaster where the plunger tube presumably lies. Either the PT leaps forwards during firing or some parts are missing in this picture.
Overall, if I had to call this one, I'd say that each cylinder will hold 6 darts. This is rather disappointing, given that this blaster is a potential (inferior) substitute for the now hard to find Rampage and EAT. The need to switch cylinders every 6 (or 8) shots is enough of an annoyance, not to mention the effective decrease in capacity that results from switching before a cylinder is completely depleted. If this blaster holds 24 rounds, while Rampages come with a 25-round drums, then this fact is just the disappointing icing on the disappointment cake.
Edit: I was unaware of this picture, commented on by Blasterlabs here, which shows the Doominator's top cylinder from an angle which makes the fact that it is hexagonal clear. (Well, this is a little embarrassing.) Credit goes to redditor ironmagnus and the anonymous commenter below for pointing this out to me.
Second edit: Now, it's official. Hasbro has announced that this blaster holds 24 darts.
I concur with 6 shots per cylinder; it appears the cylinders are hexagonal in outer profile with chambers at the vertices.
ReplyDeleteThe gap at the rear of the cylinder has perplexed many, but I would assume this to be a Strongarm derivative, like the Flipfury. The seal head will kick forward on firing and then self-lock under chamber pressure.
I do not in any way consider this a substitute for a Rampage or EAT. It may work out for a short, one-mag game; but once you need to reload, there is zero proper substitute for magfed. Also, there is no stock or stock mount out of the box, so in terms of required modifications it isn't going to do favorably against a pump conversion Retaliator as a recommendation for new pump players. Compounding this is the fact that the Strongarm action is not very robust, and particularly with trying to use it as a primary, anything more than a stock 70FPS spring will be asking for trouble.
Perhaps "substitute" is the wrong word. "Ersatz" would be a better one - but I'd rather not send our readers scurrying for a thesaurus.
DeleteThe gap on the Doominator is much larger than that on the Flipfury and Strongarm, and the protruding part of the AR is visible from the side on those blasters. The internals of these blasters are fairly close to copy/paste and if the Doominator were a direct derivative, then surely we'd see something in that gap. I stand by my suspicion that something odd is going on here - perhaps missing parts in the picture, or perhaps a similar mechanism with some dimensions dramatically different, or perhaps something else.
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/10702217_773339899368392_1431642403404876591_n.jpg?oh=c70bbf5d9f1010a3b30fe77a5c7622fc&oe=5568E2C7
ReplyDeleteDon't forget about this pic... It doesn't show a lot, but I think that perspective makes the dart storage look more hexagonal than octagonal.