For those of you without something awful accounts, I thought I'd share the joy that is ther Nerf Maverick.
In short, the nerf maverick is the single best way to spend $8. I would contend that it is the single best way to spend $16, as well.
So let's start with the basics:
1. What is a Nerf Maverick? It's a revolver, made by nerf. It totally sweet.
http://images.hasbro.com/common/imag...bd_main400.jpg
2. What makes the Nerf Maverick so great? Several things. First, it's a great toy as it is. It shoots these darts pretty far with a pretty good amount of force. I think stock range is about 30 ft... and if you shoot someone point blank, they definately feel it.
The real joy comes from modding them, though. There are two essential mods to be done. One is the "russian roullette" mod. This one is very simple, and will allow you to play safe RR in the privacy of your own home (think RR drinking game :D).
To do this, though, you need to get the barrel to swing out the full way so that it can spin (it is limited to only coming part-way out by default). This requires cutting two small bits of plastic off the gun.
The first bit is here:
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/3974/plas14vt.jpg
And here is the second:
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/6466/plas22vc.jpg
I suggest using a hot knife, it cuts right through the plastic, making this mod very easy.
The second mod is to get more distance out of the gun by removing the limiters. This mod is more complicated and requires taking the gun apart, so here is the complete guide at NERF HQ: http://www.nerfhq.com/article_view.php?p=22516
But wait, what fun is a gun if it's blue and yellow, right?
These are my personal mavericks. I did a base coat of rustolium, then did a coat of black spray paint, and finally splattered some dark bronze paint on there for that "heavily used in combat" look. They looked pretty sweet with just rustolium, and pretty sweet as solid black too. Pretty much, you can't go wrong painting these.
http://www.baughman-eshbach.com/temp/nerf%20008.jpg
And one last tip: I find that the darts are much more fun if you take off the suction cup tip and put a thin coat of "Amazing Goop" or some other dense plastic compound on. They fly much farther and hit with a lot more punch. With all the mods, my gun fires in the range of 55-65ft, and definately hurts enough that you don't want it to go off if you're playing RR :)
http://www.baughman-eshbach.com/temp/nerf%20012.jpg
So, if you want to have some fun for less than $20, head out to your local wal-mart, k-mart, toys 'r us, etc. and pick up a pair of mavericks. I've had mine for about a month and they haven't gotten old yet.
MUCH credit to teh jhey on Something Awful Forums for posting the info about these originally!
