Rambling post about me thinking of a sleaper pneumag, looking at frame options

[Spiritchaser]

My First post!

Ok, on the offchance that I am graced with a company bonus cheque this year, I`d love to upgrade my tac-one with a lpr inside pneu-frame.

May or may not happen, but I`m still in the dream phase so I`m going with it, and would love some suggestions for what to look for that I might actually find*.

I`m not even remotely interested in modifying the stock frame. I need the marker to work while I putter with this, and my frame project has to fit around life`s time committments. Yes it`s winter but my tac one seems to process paint just fine at -12 C (maybe not so much at -25 C) and I need to be able to play while this project grinds slowly on, and lets face it, I`ll probably still be working on this in June.

I`m looking for a non vert frame that is still relatively available for a sleaper Pneumag conversion. Aesthetically, I love (really love) the look of the Airwalk frame, particularly with a blade trigger, but finding an anodized black one at a decent price (and price is of concern) would not appear to be likely.

I have very limited access to machine tools. A drill press is possibly on the cards. A dremel I have. Any type of mill is out of the question.

I may be able to borrow a tap set for imperial fasteners, but NPT thread taps are either complicated or expensive since I don`t currently have access to such creatures.

I have a decent (though 15 years stale) understanding of pneumatic design and air logic design etc. That doesn`t translate directly to hands on assembly, but I do love playing with parts, even if I`m not especially good at it. I just don`t have all the skills and tools needed to produce some of them.

Airwalk would appear to be my first choice if I can find a reasonably priced black one. I`ve only been looking a week so patience might be needed here...
The emancipator frame from tuna looks like it might work, and I could actually get one but it`s a 90 degree, and I`d really prefer to avoid those.
I`ve seen some reference to benchmark frames being workable, though I`m not certain what would be needed to make these fit the tac one rail. It`s nothing like as pretty as the airwalk but it`s hard to argue with a 30-40 dollar purchase price. I could literally scrap one learning.

Given these limitations and preferences, any suggestions on frames to look for would be appreciated.

[sQuidvision]

so sleeper is a must? would you be interested in a setup were the LPR hides in the fore grip? Hill did a really nice sleeper EP mag that you could steal some ideas from. If it doesnt need to be sleeper your options open way up.

Dont hold your breath for a steal on an airwalk frame... they go up for sale so rarely that they fetch premium prices typically.

[Spiritchaser]

Actually I had wondered if that might be possible. It`s not my preference, but I`d be ok with that. The key would be having no exposed extra parts and minimal evidence that anything was at all out of the ordinary.

If it turns out that the forgrip option were much cheaper then I`m sure I could handle minor concerns.

[BTAutoMag]

not really cheaper, but easier

[C_losjoker]

another option is using an emag battery pack with lukes battery pack adapter. Hides lpr inside the pack, would be cheaper and could be easier to switch between a pneumag and regular mech.

[sQuidvision]

not really cheaper, but easier

i would say its cheaper only because the frames that are sleeper pnue'd easily are $200+ each VS an inteli for $60ish.

[C_losjoker]

also look at 05/06 ego frames, easy to convert and cheap frames.

[BTAutoMag]

i would say its cheaper only because the frames that are sleeper pnue'd easily are $200+ each VS an inteli for $60ish.

I sometimes forget that not everyone works at a machine shop

[Spider-TW]

so sleeper is a must? would you be interested in a setup were the LPR hides in the fore grip? Hill did a really nice sleeper EP mag that you could steal some ideas from.

The best part of Hill's was that he left the entire rest of the marker classic AGD. You had to look hard to notice something odd in the foregrip. Once you go to custom frames and bodies, people don't really recognize the automag anyway, so you loose their preconceived notions, pneu, EP or not. My EP classic with a micro rock on the front gets one of four reactions, if any; "what's that? (what's an automag?)", "another cocker-mag[?]", "a pneumag", or "an old mag" (missing the LPR all together). I would have to call it an electro-sleeper. If you go with a emag pack LPR, many people will think it is an emag, which is anti-sleeper for a classic valve.

So, do you want a sleeper so that people won't know who was hosing down their bunker, or because they look good?