Some of us doing it to save money because for some “mysterious” reason all the furniture, parts and gears is a bit expensive by the time the package arrives to our doorstep. Others are doing it because their current loadout is not perfect or not fully functional (sadly this happens quite often with so called replicas). Modding means that you have some kind of skill/idea which helps you change the function of different objects in order to save money or just correct errors on a given product. 

Paint jobs, home made Ghillie Suit, custom cut inner barrels or springs and all the things you do with your gear to make your game day successful. The strange but great feeling when you made something better……there are things money can’t buy.

I just made a collection for you guys on a couple of things done by the folks I know. This is not a step by step DIY article only a few interesting ideas.

First let’s see Gordon who is my teammate. His Airsoft budget is a bit lower than the usual but we never care about this because he owns all the necessary safety equipment and his AEG is always in perfect shape plus he is skilled player/medic. Like some of us he was suffering because of fogging lenses so he decided to make a mask for himself. After a day of hammering and shaping an aluminum screen he asked his mom to make the cover and strap so he can wear his creation as a mask. You can see the result on the pictures. The mask goes well with that US Military issue ballistic goggles that he got out of a surplus store. Gordon now only smiles when someone is crying about fogging.

There is this other version of the screen mask made by Kakukk. I do not know him personally just bumped into his creation on milsim.hu webpage. Lots of people found this mask very promising so he always keeps a couple extra in his trunk.

The second one is Pepe who thought that his Protec helmet needs a cover matching his camo pattern. There is an HU (Hungary) pattern helmet cover available but it’s too huge for the Protec so he sliced up a camo shirt and glued the pieces to the helmet. The streamers on the back are providing shadow for his neck and cover against stray BBs. We call this one The Predator Mod.

Attila’s old hockey helmet was brought in for you to see how to use stuff from your previous hobbies. The two helmet covers are both came out of a second hand store and I can assure you that they were dirt cheap. First he put the camo cover on the helmet to get rid of the white surface and then he used the green webbing which is great base for leaves and other stuff when you’re hiding in the bushes waiting for an inexperienced player to walk into your trap. I know it would’ve been a lot easier to paint it but where’s the fun in that?

At last but not least check out this great work from Krisztian and his dad (who is a carpenter by the way).

Krisz needed a stock which can hold a 9.6V battery pack but he never wanted to pay the big bucks for it like most of us do when we upgrade our guns. They spent time together to produce this awesome custom work which is now great housing for upgrade battery packs but their duo never stopped here. The family made fore end grip and pistol grip as well. I was amazed by the quality and precision of the parts. Unfortunately I had no idea what’s cooking in their carpenter shop so I have no pictures on the process itself. I am pretty sure that I’ll be there when he makes one kit for my AK.

All the pictures were taken during a weekend practice game and these things (well, except the hockey helmet) are used by guys like you and me every day. Maybe these things don’t look too “tactical” but they are doing a great service for their respective owners. There will be a day when your needs will ask for modding and form that point it’s up to you that you spend money or mod like these guys did. Just to give you an example: I’ve purchased an ESS Land Ops to get rid of fogging but Gordon only used leftover speaker screen plus the patience of his mom. The difference between his and my solution can be translated as 8000 BBs!! You might save some for a new ACM if you cut a few corners like this one.

Only modify your gear if you know what you’re doing and be aware that modding means the end of the warranty so do not cut, drill, glue or paint unless you have a complete idea what’s going to come out at the other end of the project line. Do not blame anyone (but yourself) if you render your gear useless.

If you want to go serious about modding or making gear then just visit diytactical.com and check out their tutorials.

Feel free to share your ideas with us. Happy modding!