Revisiting the Durango

So awhile back I had this crazy idea to build a Laser Tag gun INTO a Nerf Blaster to have both my favorite shooting games under one roof.  That idea materialized in an ultra-rare Longshot blaster that I called the "M42-I Durango".  It was a neat blaster, but to be honest, I didn't do a very good job of building it.  I'm returning to fix it up and get it shooting really nice, but I figured now that I have this blog, I'd document that progress.

Durango after it's Intial Completion

The project was completed in Fall of 2010.  It was a bit of a rush-job and I eventually paid the price for it.  Still, my goal of using the Longshot's Front Gun to integrate to house the Laser Tag internals worked out quite well.  I also had taken the Red Strike Recon's Tactical Light and turned it into an LED Flashlight as an option to attach to the top rail of the Longshot.  With the AR our and the locks removed, the action on the Longshot was nice and smooth with a good bit of power behind it.  The laser tag internals weren't quite as powerful as I had hoped, but all I really did was recase a simple Laser Challenge Radar Extreme into it.
So there's a lot I can do to this blaster.  As I'm repairing and rebuilding this, I plan on making upgrades to both the laser tag side and the Nerf side.  I want to drop a booster board/increase the output of the IR LED in the laser tag barrel and fix up the buttons and switches.  I many also need to redo the battery pack portion so I can actually access it without having to take apart the whole blaster.  I'm not sure what to improve with the Nerf Side, though I have considered doing an Angel Breech to maximize the power already going through it.

Here's a video on where I'm at so far with this restoration.