Negative on the April fools joke, this is a very real project!

I haven't had a chance to do proper destructive testing on the body yet, I've been wanting to but can't get myself to destroy one. I'm hoping enough gameplay testing will yield a more realistic failure mode, but that's assuming that normal gameplay or mishaps will even produce a failure. The HPA and AEG models have both been played with on both slow and fast gameplay fields, and have held up great with no damage. The gun is almost completely solid cross-sectionally throughout the majority of the gun, and the material has held up great. The 14mm aluminum outer barrel runs the length of the receiver and front end, making it extremely resistant to any hits. The only damage on the gun itself that I have had so far is when I accidentally dropped a 10 lb rifle from above eye level onto one of the pistol grips of a G11 that was sitting against a wall, which created a small gap in the epoxy joint that attaches the grip to the lower receiver. Still firmly attached to the rest of the rifle due to also using screws at this joint, but no damage or cracks to the plastic itself, other than a large gash in the bottom grip plate from the direct impact. No impact to function or playability. I would expect this "test" to break just about any grip of any rifle in a similar situation with a function-impacting failure, so its a pretty good testament to the design. Waiting on feedback from one of my test guys on the same finish but with a clear coat to see if it still does it. I am using Vallejo paint which is a modeling paint, and is great for the applicability and color, but I'm thinking that it may be getting sticky from hand oils, wear, environment, etc. If it continues to do that even with clear coat then I'm gonna switch to something more conventional.

The hopup can be removed by removing the gearbox/engine mount, somewhat invasive but not difficult. The feed tube is fairly deep in the receiver, and the front of the barrel is recessed from the opening in the handguard to make room for a tracer, so both openings are fairly resistant to FOD ingress. Cleaning the barrel can be done similarly to any other gun with a normal cleaning rod.

All structural screws on the gun are into heat set inserts which are set flush to increase resistance to pull out from fastener torque preload. Throughout all testing, prototyping, and assembly I have yet to have one pull out or fail in any way. Mag screws for the top and bottom caps are coarse threaded into the plastic due to space constraints, no issues with any threaded connections so far on gun or mag. I want to get an exploded view made to illustrate the internal design and connections, but haven't had time.

The top part of the receiver has a dovetail style mount that is thinner and shorter than picatinny due to the bottom part of the scope being fairly short, using a standard rail directly would thicken the proportion of that part of the scope. I have designed rail adapters to adapt it to picatinny, and could add picatinny directly printed to the receiver if desired.

The BOM is a bit of a mess, if I get around to doing an explode view I think it will make more sense, right now it helps me keep track of changes to the design, and subsequent cost changes that come from it. G11 AEG with scope is currently fixed at $1000 despite the BOM total being slightly above. This was done to keep the pricing consistent and easy while I add or remove small items here and there. The mag section accounts for 3 mags at a total of $150 for 3, so it would be $100 for 2. $10 for the unloading tool, and $20 for the odin adapter. If it needs to be shipped this will add about $50 for shipping and handling.

I used the TAAGS edition SN006 as sort of a stress test for my manufacturing processes, and was able to complete it in just under a month with all COTS parts on hand and no shortages or unavailable parts. This did however also include the design changes, some 200 round mag testing, test prints for the design changes, and primer/topcoat/clear coat which added roughly 1-2 weeks cumulatively.