January 6

Kel-Tec KSG – Reloaded

Writing blogs in bulk started out as a pretty solid effort with 3 a day seeming to be easy. As I’ve gone on with this, I’ve starting making the mistake of leaving partially finished posts in the drafts. Having unfinished drafts is a slippery slope since before you know it you will wind up with more drafts than the number of shells a Kel-Tec KSG can hold. Well, maybe not quite that ridiculous.

At one time or another everyone has had the thought “Well shotguns are nice and all, but what if we put more shells in it and also made it smaller?” If you haven’t had that thought then I’m afraid you are no friend of mine.

Magazine-fed arms like that tricked up Kalashnikov had capacity, but were still fairly large. Firearms like this have also been the subject of quite a few restrictions so they were hardly accessible. Luckily in 2011, Kel-Tec provided an answer.

The KSG is a bullpup, tube-fed, pump-action shotgun. The KSG’s main party trick is it’s duel-tube functionality. This means that this gun as two magazines that you can select from at the flip of a switch. This is how the standard KSG achieves its whopping 15 shell capacity. That’s 7+7+1 in the chamber for those not counting.

The capacity of the KSG is nice, but I also mentioned the want for something smaller too. Well the KSG provides an overall 26 inch length with an 18.5 inch barrel. A Mossberg 500 with the same barrel length comes in at 36-39 inches depending on model. (Editor’s note: I’m using Mossbergs as a comparison since they are what comes to mind when I think of a traditional pump-action shotgun. There is another reason that will make sense in a future blog.)

So the KSG is smaller than the average shotgun, with above average capacity. “But what if I want something even smaller?” You ask.

Luckily Kel-Tec is ahead of you on this one. The KSG Tactical is 4.5″ inches shorter than the standard model. It also has a smaller 10 shell capacity, not including 1 in the chamber. The Tactical requires a Short Barreled Shotgun tax stamp to own and is much more expensive than the standard model. The KSG Tactical would be right at home on a sling, with buckshot in one tube, and specialist rounds in the other. This model is hardly meant for the average consumer.

So the KSG Tactical is a bit smaller but not exactly accessible. If only there was an option that anyone could buy, but also made the most of the duel-tubes regardless of size. Well, you know how this goes.

Yes please.

Now for the real reason I’m writing this. I saw this advertisement in a magazine at an auto shop and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. So what does this thing of beauty have to offer?

The KSG-25 has, as you might guess, a monstrous 25 round capacity. This is done with a 12+12+1 configuration. Thanks to the bullpup design, the overall size of the gun comes in at 38 inches with a massive 30.5 inch barrel. I can’t even think of something to compare that barrel length to! Best of all, this is still compact! The closest thing I could find from Mossberg was the 500 with a 28 inch barrel and a 47-48 inch length depending on the specific model.

The KSG-25 is about as much gun as you can get before you start getting into cannon territory. Except that it already does. As a 12 gauge you are limited in what you can fire, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t options. 12 gauge shotguns are capable of accepting specialist cartridges and pump-action models do that particularly well. With the KSG-25 you can have 12 shots of your favorite lead for bringing the pain and another 12 shots of beanbags for bringing slightly less pain. Or while you’re burning money you can fill both magazines with Dragon’s Breath shells and recklessly waste money in style. Guns are expensive and ammo isn’t cheap. In the case of the KSG-25, keeping this gun filled would prove particularly expensive. Especially if you decide to take advantage of specialist cartridges.

Overall, the Kel-Tec KSG offers a way to have capacity, versatility, and a compact stature all in one package. The KSG’s variants all have their niche, but all have good potential in their respective areas. The cost compared to a conventional shotgun is very high, but the KSG fills a specific niche with a lot to offer. What more could you ask for?

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January 6

A Rundown of Mamod/MSS Locomotive Burners and Fuels

When it comes to Mamod-style live steam locomotives you are spoiled for choice with aftermarket parts. The sky is the limit for customization but you are often better off starting down low. The burner is one of the defining characteristics of your locomotive. Some fuels are harder than others to find. Some fuels are safer than others. But which one is best for you?

As standard, these locos come with a solid fuel tray that takes hexamine tablets. These are infamously terrible in pretty much every way. They have to be cut in half prior to use, they don’t burn consistently, and they smell bad. People have had problems with this fuel since this design was first released over 40 years ago. On top of the poor performance the solid fuel tablets are expensive. Plus they are harder to find in this country. Changing out from the stock burner is pretty much mandatory if you want to make the most of your locomotive.

The next option would be a methylated spirits burner. In the United States methylated spirits is actually very easy to come by, its just under a different name. Denatured alcohol is the same as methylated spirits except for the name. Denatured alcohol is very easy to get, reasonably cheap, and burns very consistently. Alcohol burners are built to run out of fuel just before the boiler runs out of water, which means that you do not have to worry about accidentally damaging your boiler. But denatured alcohol has its downsides.

Denatured alcohol is the least safe of the possible fuel options. The flames are difficult to see in sunlight, making it hard to tell whether the fire is lit. The burner has to remain upright or fuel will spill from the wicks and tank vent.  Denatured alcohol is also prone to flash fires, meaning you have to be exceptionally careful with it and watch for spills.

Image from dreamsteam.co.uk

The final main option is a ceramic burner. These run on either butane or a 70/30 butane-propane mix. This fuel is fairly easy to get and is about as common as denatured alcohol. The main downside is that this burner is more expensive than the previous option.  Ceramic burners are also much more fragile, so you need to be very careful with them. The final major issue with these burners is that they usually need to be paired with a silver-soldered boiler. It is very easy for these burners to melt the soft solder on a standard boiler. Ceramic burners have their downsides, but they have some good points too.

Ceramic burners generally have much cheaper fuel overall. They also have a much more controlled burn compared to other burners since you can directly control the gas. This allows for much better control over how fast steam builds and a higher potential steam pressure. With the correct upgrades a Mamod or MSS loco can run at 40 psi, as opposed to the standard 10 psi. Finally, ceramic gas burners are much safer than the previous options. If the locomotive is tipped over while running there is no possibility for a fuel spill.

I would be remiss if I did not mention a few of the other possibilities for burners. For starters you can use other fuel in the stock burner tray. Some people have supposedly had good results from using Sterno gel fuel as a substitute. It burns clean and is easier to find than hexamine, but leaves a film in the burner tray. Some people have also made solid fuel out of a combination of dryer lint, candle wax, and some other odds and ends. It works in a pinch but is not clean burning. Your loco will need cleaning after every use.

Finally, there is the possibility of a coal burning engine. This is not available as a kit and much be custom fabricated. This involves building an entirely different type of boiler and quite a lot of custom work. If you really want a coal fired Mamod or MSS, it is possible. If you want to know more about coal fired Mamods, you can read more here.

Overall there are plenty of options for firing a Mamod or MSS locomotive. Personally I use an alcohol burner since fuel and wicks are easily available, but there are options for everyone. A new burner is a great starting point for customizing your engine, but what comes next is a blog for another time.

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January 5

Compounded Steam Oils and Where to Find Them

I expected small scale live steam locomotives to have their trickier points. After all, you are essentially letting a kettle and stove run around in circles until one of them runs empty. But it turns out that is the easy part. The real hard part is getting oil for the thing.

To keep an engine in good working order you need proper lubrication, steam engines are no different. Unlike other engines, steam engines require something called “Compounded” oil. Compounded oil is oil that has been mixed with tallow (aka animal fat). The tallow allows for emulsification with water, but keeps the oil from being negatively effected. This makes compounded oil effective in environments with water or steam.

The problem with compounded oil is that it is hard to get in small quantities in the United State. Most manufacturers only offer it in large drums. The other option in this country is Wilesco oil. This is only available on two websites that I could find, one of which is E bay. The other option I have found is shopanatomical.com. This is primarily a medical science website, but they happen to have some odds and ends for steam engines.

This is where this blog has fallen by the wayside a bit. I was going to do a segment about how ordering internationally comes out a bit cheaper than ordering from a US option, until I realized my mistake. While redoing the math for this blog I realized that I misread the quantity of the Wilesco oil as 50ml rather than 5 oz. To keep this brief, Shop Anatomical does have the best deal for small orders of compounded oil. However, they only have one option.

Shop Anatomical only has one option for oil, and I am not entirely sure about it. The Wilesco oil seems to be a general use oil for small scale live steam engines. I cannot find specifics on the weight of the oil, but 460 weight seems to be a safe bet since that is relatively common. It should be fine for most small scale uses, but this is still worth noting.

In the United States there are only a few options for getting steam oil, but there are options elsewhere. dreamsteam.co.uk is a solid place for getting live steam locomotives and parts internationally. Even with not being as good of a deal because of shipping, they are still a viable option. They offer larger bottles of oil and have multiple weights available. You know exactly what weight and quantity of oil you are looking from the beginning on this website. There is no guessing like with the Wilesco offering. There are plenty of other international websites, but there are few that will ship to the United States.

Getting compounded steam oil can be a massive pain at first, but there are options out there. Luckily that is the hardest thing to find with small scale live steam. Other important consumables like fuel can by much easier to come by. But that is a blog for another time.

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January 5

Afterburners and an Intro to Two-Stage Conversions

If there is one running theme in the Nerf modding community, it is the quest for power. One way or another most blasters can be outfitted to hit like a truck. But individually modding each blaster takes a lot of time, if only there was a way to easily add power to any blaster with a barrel lug. Enter the Afterburner.

Afterburners can be an effective catch-all method of adding power to most blasters. To try to put this simply; you are essentially putting a second blaster on your barrel, and firing every shot twice. Allow me to explain.

The diagram above is an example of a stock flywheel powered blaster coupled to an afterburner. When you fire the dart is pushed through a set of flywheels and brought up to speed. Stock blasters usually hit about 65 feet per second with normal motors and batteries. In this case the Afterburner is a second set of flywheels. The initial power source for the dart can change depending on the model. When the dart gets to the second set of motors, it gets a boost in power.

The power boost you get depends on the initial velocity of the dart relative to what the Afterburner is capable of. If your base power is greater that what the Afterburner can output, you will lose velocity. If the base power of the blaster is less than or equal to the power of the Afterburner, then you will get a boost. In the case of equal power, the output is roughly doubled. (Ex: If both flywheel cages are capable of 70 fps on their own. When put inline they can output 130-145 fps, depending on other conditions)

The spacing of the Afterburner relative to the original power source can also have an effect on performance. Longer barrels allow the dart to slow down before getting boosted, which hurts overall performance. Ideally the initial power source and second flywheel cage are right after each other to prevent the dart from slowing down. But this is harder with removable Afterburners.

Two-Stage conversions and blasters offer better performance in this situation. Two-Stage blasters are like Afterburners in the way they work, but differ in that they are integrated into an individual blaster. Three-Stage blasters have been done but at 3 flywheel cages you start to see diminishing returns of power.

Two-Stage blasters are particularly interesting as Bullpup blasters. With the right integration one can make very powerful, compact, shoulder-able blasters with Bullpups. But that is a blog for another time.

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January 4

Rom Hack – Super Mario 64 Chaos Edition

Some time ago I talked briefly about ROM hacks in a blog talking about emulators. ROM hacks are an incredible creative medium for aspiring developers, as well as a content goldmine for players. With a bit of digging you can find anything from satisfying new stories to meatier challenges for experienced players. What about the people that enjoy banging their head against the wall?

It turns out that this niche is filled in the form of Super Mario 64 Chaos Edition. At some point a few years ago the content creator Kaze Emanuar came up with the Chaos Edition hack. The way it works is simple on paper. The base game is unchanged in terms of map design, but a variety of effects are applied at random. This ranges from graphics, to gravity, to controls. The full list of effects can be found here.

What isn’t simple is how this translates to the game. The effects applied can be more than one at a time, the most I have ever been able to count at once is 6. But I would not be surprised if there could be more at once. This could make for a nice fun time with just moon gravity applied. Or you could be a signpost that can’t turn left running around in corrupted texture hell while Mario sings you a jaunty tune and also coins are now exploding ghosts. Either scenario is not an exaggeration either, Super Mario 64 Chaos Edition can go from 0-100 out of nowhere.

Before writing this I took a few minutes to give Chaos Edition another shot and refresh my memory. Once I had the game up and running everything seemed a bit calmer than I remembered. I was able to get all the way into a level with nothing happening.

Never mind.

Chaos Edition’s true colors started to shine through the moment I let my guard down. The game was in full chaos swing out of nowhere and I was just along for the ride. What are you even supposed to do when the entire map is flipping out?

After a few minutes of pain, I moved over to Bob-omb Battlefield. The situation there was a bit more manageable. The only problem at first was some odd gravity and exploding Goombas.

That calm hardly lasted. Most of my time in the level looked more like this.

This was still more manageable than the previous stage I had tried. Even with the camera in another zip code and sideways, I still nearly managed to beat Footrace with Koopa the Quick.

 

At the end of the race every object in the level came to me all at once. This messed up the spawn of the Power Star and soft-locked the game. At that point my refresher on Super Mario 64 Chaos Edition was over.

 

Super Mario 64 Chaos Edition can be a thrill to play. This ROM hack can be brutal to try to beat a few challenges casually. However, there are people that have collected all 120 stars in the game. That alone is a feat in itself, but there are people that speedrun Super Mario 64 Chaos Edition! This hack is well worth checking out whether you are a casual player looking for a laugh, or a hardened player looking for a challenge. Everything you need to know about getting this hack can be found on Kaze Emanuar’s YouTube Channel.

While you are at his channel, you can also take a look at some other hacks he has come up with. There are a lot of really good Super Mario 64 hacks that are a lot of fun. If you want more chaos, Emanuar has also done a chaos edition for The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. But that is a blog for another time.

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