For those of you unfamiliar with the Nelspot, it was the first paintball gun, originally made to mark trees. Since I've gotten into pump and pistol play, I've always wanted a Nelspot. It's a historical fusion of my two favorite styles of play. I had seen
SOLEX's Nelspot on MCB, loved the look, and wanted to replicate it. He did amazing work. If I can get mine half as good as that, I'll be pleased.
I picked up this specimen from Bacci on MCB. Dan has EVERYTHING. He only had back bottle Nelspots, but I wanted the in-grip 12 gram valve. I bought one from another MCB member. I also opted for an upgraded NOS Lapco anti-kink adjustable bolt, fluted hammer, cup seal, and #4P power tube along with a black pump handle (being a lefty, the bolt action is extremely difficult to operate effectively). The pic at the top shows the Nelspot as it arrived.
Lapco internals and stock valve:
With the valve installed:
Date of manufacture: Nov 13, 1987, older than me, (it's a mutt Nelspot, but the date fits with the design variations, so it's close enough):
It was in fair shape, given the age (nearly 23 years old). The paint was chipped, scratched, and rusty in many parts. The insides of both tubes were rusty as well.
I started by using chemical stripper on the body and grip assembly. It worked well on the body, but not so much on the grip.
After stripping:
So far I've only gotten the body sanded (and only partially at that). After 100 grit and some 240 grit this is what I have:
And my home-brew hone (drill in a vice with a dowel rod and steel wool):
Surprisingly cleaned up the insides pretty well. Still some deep pitting from rust, but nothing major. It is very smooth.
I also cleaned up the pump handle screw. It was very rusty and heavily pitted. Chucked it in a drill and too sand paper followed by steel wool to it.
Before:
After:
Updates will come in spurts since I'm back to college. I'll only be home once every so many weekends to do work on it. I'm planning to sand all exposed surfaces to bare metal, polish them, then wax them to protect the shine. Going for a black and silver scheme accented by some dark wood grips which I will custom make.
All pictures taken with my Droid X. Pretty decent camera for a phone, huh?
