Custom WE Glock 17

A few weeks ago I built a TM G34 race pistol. In the past couple of weeks I managed to acquire enough parts to build a WE G17 counterpart which is more practical for skirmishing. It started life as a cheap WE G17 however, I have now fitted parts to it (and admittedly butchered it a little bit) to create what I feel is quite a good looking pistol.

Firstly, I got my hands on one of the RA-TECH G17 barrels with the "Smile... Wait for the flash" engraving. Fitted this and all thanks go to RA-TECH for making such a beautiful and easy accessory. The barrel is a "drop in" upgrade and required no fuss to fit. Because the barrel is made of solid brass all scrapes and scratches can be simply polished out. The barrel itself is a much tighter fit which means you have to unscrew the barrel to remove it. This is a slight pain however, the barrel leaves so little space between the slide, I can justify the hassle. I ended up fitting a PDI 6.01mm tight bore barrel and used a maple leaf monster hop rubber. I am still not sold by the maple leaf rubber however, it is proving to be good enough for skirmishing and engaging targets inside of 20m which is perfect for CQB at ZED Adventures: The Mall. When considering the cost, I am not too disheartened by the performance, Maple leaf made many promises on these prototypes and as far as I can tell... They haven't delivered. On the counter side to this, I sourced these maple leaf hop rubbers for £1.50 (~$3) including shipping which is cheaper than a replacement TM hop rubber and about 1/10th the price of a nineball hop rubber (which I used to swear by). With the hop set correctly, I have managed 20-25m engagements with ease. At the moment I am looking at modifying a TM hop unit to fit the barrel as the WE hop units are brittle and I have broken one already!

The next step was to fit a matching spring guide. I ended up installing the same Action smooth bearing spring guide as I used in the G34. In terms of performance, this was surprisingly effective. The kick is noticeably harder but with absolutely no hanging when the slide is travelling. After this, a SAI guns modify trigger was fitted. This is by far one of my favourite upgrades due to the look and the feel. The trigger pull is adjustable and the trigger safety is much more functional than the stock trigger safety. My only issue came when fitting this trigger. I ended up having to buy a DOA TM G17 to fit the trigger housing so that I could fit the new trigger. Not a cheap solution but it worked perfectly. I used a 5KU golden magwell flare which was again a drop in piece of kit. The flare is very secure but does need a little bit of bending to fit snug against the body with no gaps. A guarder extended take down lever was installed however this was somewhat stiff and troublesome due to the difference in dimensions of the WE G17 and the TM G17. After a little bit of fiddling it was fitted and I had to move the takedown lever up and down for a couple of hours to wear it in until it was smooth enough. I ended up fitting the guns modify extended slide release as well however the rubber has fallen off which takes a little of the aesthetics away from the pistol! I found that Ebairsoft sell a pair of tritium night sights for the TM G17 which fit well on the WE slide. I had to use some weak adhesive to keep the foresight in place wobble free as it appears the front mount for the WE foresight is thinner than the same spot on the TM slide. These sights have an operational life of 14 years however, the sights are about 1/3 the price of the competing brand which leads to me believe they may not last as long.

Finally, Action internals were fitted however, I wanted guns modify internals but couldn't acquire them due to a lack of availability. I fitted Tritium night sights to the slide and some grip tape to aid in gripping the slide when racking and reloading. My final plans will be to fit a set of Guns Modify internals and the Guns Modify SAI slide (when they release it). I will still keep the RA-TECH barrel but drop the new slide on top of that. Money allowing, I will get an RMR countersunk into the slide.

The base G17 was provided my Mad Badger Airsoft. The barrel was kindly provided by Milspec Solutions whilst the internals were provided by a combination of ehobby asia and WGCshop.

JC's Custom Tokyo Marui SOPMOD Lipo Batteries

Recently I bought a Tokyo Marui Recoil Shock HK416 from Airsoft World as they are on sale and I've been looking for a recoil shock AEG for a a couple of years. The finer details of the HK will be included in a separate review as my focus in on the batteries themselves. After receiving the HK, I was quite bereaved to have to spend nearly £100 on buying and having delivered a pair of SOPMOD batteries. These are usually quite heavy NiMH 8.4V 1300mAH batteries that slot into the stock in a way that is unique to the SOPMOD and HK416 recoil shock series. If you are eager enough and have the time, you can comb the forums to find the modified 9.6V 1300mAH for around £30 each plus postage. If you need two batteries for an airsoft day, you've nearly paid the same are a mid-range GBB pistol! The main issue with the 9.6V batteries comes from the extra voltage. Certain retailers and technicians will tell you that the higher voltage battery will damage the recoil mechanism and the motor. Personally, with a £550 rifle... I'm not going to take the risk.

Photo taken from Eagle6 webstore

I spent a while looking for battery alternatives for the HK416. There were several options involving re-wiring the stock tube or paying for an adapter. Both options didn't appeal to me as the battery solution TM have developed is very efficient and clever, ideally I was looking to keep the same system. Baton Gunsmith produce lipo adapters which allows the lipo to sit in the stock whilst the adapter plugs into the stock tube. Unfortunately this design only allows for a small 2 cell lipo so you'd still need to spend a fair amount of money on enough batteries to last you a full game day. Some tutorials on the forums have modified the Baton adapter so that you can plug in two batteries in parallel however, this isn't an off the shelf solution and it doesn't look pretty. The final option is butchering a SOPMOD battery and re-fitting with lipo cells.

After having a chat with a friend at my local site, I found out that he had been trying this idea and was now on his generation 2 of his version of the lipo quick change battery. The resulting battery was a 7.4V 1300mAH lipo which worked as a quick change and was supported well enough so that they could be transported in a kit bag without worrying too much about damage. The battery itself is lighter than the original when balances the gun a little better as the NiMHs can make the gun stock heavy. The batteries work on the same principle and the NiMH versions, you open the stock, slide in the battery until you feel and hear a click.

The balance port is on the right hand cell and requires a balance lead extension to charge. The charging adapter is also needed to charge the battery due to the Tokyo Marui quick change design. An alternative would be to buy a smart balance charger that charger solely from the balance leads, this would elevate the need for a quick change charging adapter. The balance port is still accessible enough to use a cell monitor when the battery is not in the stock.

Each battery drops in with no issues and is finished a lot better than some of the examples you might see on the forums. The batteries will usually last about 4 hours (so half a day) of use before needing to be recharged. With the upcoming of the BTC Spectre FET for next gen AEGs, you could probably run the battery right down to the limit as the MOSFET would protect the battery and the motor. When the Spectre FET is released, a 11.1V lipo may be attempted.

Overall, I am very pleased with this product. It is somewhat a one off custom job but given the availability and demand JC will be doing them in larger quantities. The batteries themselves work brilliantly and have seen me through nearly 2 months of games with no issues what so ever. The batteries themselves are finished very neatly and provide a very elegant solution for a clever yet exclusive system invented by Tokyo Marui. I'd strongly recommend any interested SOPMOD or HK416 owners enquire with JC about the batteries as they don't require any modification to the gun and work like a dream. I will leave his contact details at the end.

John Currie
Email: jcurrie1979@gmail.com
JC is also a Marshal at ZED adventures "The Mall" so you can contact him on a Sunday Open day.

OhShiBoom Shock: Impact BFG Review

Until very recently the BFG market has been dominated by the Dynatec brand of BFGs. They are a great novelty and a sometimes a very useful tool in skirmishes. BFGs generally come in two types; Impact and Timed. SWAT have been making efforts to produce great BFGs however, with this quality comes a price. The OhShiBoom Shock is an impact grenade which has recently hit the market at a price and quality that I needed to see for myself!

The OhShiBoom Shock can be bought directly through OhShiBoom or through other retailers such as SOCOM Tactical. They retail for £65 which is about £20 cheaper than the RRP for SWAT BFGx's and nearly £30 cheaper than the VTG timed grenade. The grenade itself weighs in around 460g which is noticeably lighter than the VTG or BFGx. There were no specific details for the BFGx so it was hard for a comparison based on specs.

The OhShiBoom is packaged very well and comes in a cardboard tube that is foam lined and a very snug fit. Arguably, the packaging is far more snug than the SWAT designs which could be seen as a pro given the grenade is well cushioned and wont jump about in the packaging in transit. The grenade comes with a pin (as you'd expect) and a very easy to read instruction manual. The manual is a bit of a novelty for me because it reads almost as if they were instructing you as a friend as opposed to either and idiot or a formal customer. The manual is very informative and doesn't waste any time, within the first page you will work out all the does and don'ts with this BFG. I should say now (even being a man), I strongly recommend you read the manual BEFORE you play with the grenade. It is very easy to use once you know how however, brute force and ignorance can damage the firing mechanism!

The OhShiBoom Shock has three noticeable parts to the grenade: The pin, the main body and the lower body. The pin does what all pins in grenades do however, the novel design splits the body into two and has the lower body (which houses the blank) made of hardened polished steel and the main body (which houses the firing mechanism) made of anodised black aluminium. The main body as you can see from the photos the main body has a thin silver part and a black knurled thick part. The silver thin part is the impact sensitive detonator, when it is released the firing pin is read to fire at the drop of a hat (so to speak).

The design itself is very appealing and OhShiBoom had the forethought to knurl the main body so the grenade is secure in your hand. The anodised black finish doesnt wear of easily and even after 25 blanks, I still haven't put a scratch on it! Replacing the blank only requires unscrewing the lower body from the main body. The placement for the 9mm blank is counter sunk which allows the entire unit to sit very close and tightly.

In terms of performance, I haven't been able to do a metric comparison against the BFGx and the OhShiBoom. Instead I have been testing the grenade as much as possible and commenting on stuff like noise output, sensitivity and convenience. I've now had the OhShiBoom for 3 weeks and used them in 5 games however, the games have been limited to Zed Adventures: The Mall due to time and accessibility. In future, I would like to try on woodland but impacts are notorious for poor performance on soft ground.

Testing the OhShiBoom at The Mall showed some really promising performance. They were quite evidently louder using 9mm than the BFGx on 9mm. The increase in noise wasn't deafening but was definitely more notable. The grenades themselves were adequately sensitive with detonations being trigged as low as boot height (about 6" off the ground) onto marble. In carpeted rooms, the detonation needed a slightly larger drop height. The grenade could also be skimmed across the floor kind of like curling but with the intention of hitting a wall or a curb for detonation. I did find that the impact of the drop did affect the consistency of the detonation. On the shorter drops, they would sometimes mis-fire or fail to fire completely given an ankle height drop or less.

The priming of the grenade is very easy, at the beginning of the day, use a coin to press the pin back into the body then push the silver and black part of the main body together and secure them with the pin. After this, you can simply re-prime the grenade off the spent blank. Its very easy and with a little practice you can get it reloaded (pin, blank and all) in about 30 seconds. At one point after a little practice, I was able to clear 3 consecutive rooms with the same grenade in the space of 2 minutes, reloading as I moved to the next door way! Although it's not possible at the moment, I am hoping to produce some game play footage of the OhShiBoom in action!

At the moment, the OhShiBoom has no accessories. However, last time talk I talked to the guys they had a good set of ideas for extras (i.e. paint jobs, different calibre bottoms and preloaded bottoms). Once OhShiBoom get these out on the market, they'll have a really useful and really appealing design to just about everyone! Different colours will definitely attract a spectrum of people whilst the preloaded bottoms would allow operators to reload in a matter of seconds. The different calibre bottoms would open their BFG to sites that may not allow 9mm blanks.

Over all, for the cost I am very impressed. The OhShiBoom Shock is a new and pleasing design that is lightweight. Usually the lightweight design would be a con due to the impact detonation however, this didn't seem to cause problems in regards to performance. The OhShiBoom Shock was capable of detonation from ankle height as well an extremely quick and easy re-prime. Its a very convenient BFG at a competitive price that might make other manufacturers rethink their RRP when they realise the OhShiBoom is a serious contender in the market!

The only problems I have found with the OhShiBoom are related to the nature of impact grenades and the pin for the grenade. The impact is still not sensitive enough to go off on soft surfaces (as one might expect from an impact) which makes it solely suitable for CQB or FIBUA but not woodland. I also found about about 30-35 uses, the pin started to degrade slightly which made the pin pull very difficult at times. My suggestion would be a better quality split pin but theres nothing that can be done about the nature of impacts short of making them unstable in the operators hand!

Salient Arms International Glock 34 Project

A friend of mine from Hong Kong was kind enough to buy me a SAI Airsoft Surgeon Glock 34 slide whilst he was home for Easter. This was the perfect excuse to start a new project. I wanted to create a race pistol along the same style as Chris Costa's G34/G17. The top slide was pretty much a complete unit, almost a drop in kit from what I've heard from Knuckles. I wanted to fit a red dot on the top slide which would work one of three ways. Either I was going to get a Silverback red dot adapter then find the appropriate red dot or I was going to get the NineBall direct rail mount or finally, I was going to drill two holes in the top of the slide and do a direct mount in front of the rear sights.

The first and last option were not so appealing as I have worked with silverback red dot mounts and it is a nightmare trying to find the right red dot to use! As of yet (through 3 other projects), I have yet to find a red dot that fits on the adapter. The drilling option was not appealing as I didn't want to damage the slide and getting it wrong could potentially be a £300 mistake! I went for the direct mount in the end which was not the cheapest option (about £60 compared to the £20 silverback mount) and not the lightest option. I also invested in some AABB tritium sights which are about £40 in comparison to the £90 NineBall sights. On first glance, they are very good. They work as they should do however, I have now owned 3 pairs of them and its obvious they are not made to the same quality control standards that NineBall maintain. But, when saving £50 and a pair of sights that will work all the same in the dark, I'm not hugely fussed. The front sight was a pain to install on the SAI slide, I had to sand down the base by about 1mm to be able to get it to fit in the slot.

When looking at parts, I invested in the Action copper recoil rod which matched the "gold" copper coating on the SAI barrel. I also invested in a Hi-cappa 5.1 TK twist barrel, I haven't used one yet as I've always been stuck in my ways with PDI however, this was an excuse to do something different. The mandatory NineBall Air chamber purple hop up rubber was bought as well to be fitted. When looking at the weight of the rail mount and optic, I thought it would be wise to invest in some light weight parts. I ended up getting the AIP lightweight blowback housing and the light weight hop unit. Unfortunately neither came with an installation guide... But the hop up unit is literally a drop in unit, you just need the dial and hop bar to complete the hop unit. The light weight blowback housing was also pretty much drop in, it just needs the nozzle and valve parts. The unit already comes with a piston head and 2 sizes of o-rings to produce different FPS and blowback. As of yet, I haven't got the blowback housing to work well inside the SAI slide... but it's early days as I only started work on Sunday morning (writing this on Monday morning).

Interestingly, Guns Modify produce an SAI adjustable trigger! I bought one in black and gold to match the pistol and installed it with surprising ease! The trigger pull needs to be adjusted before installation which means a lot of assembly and disassembly to get the trigger pull perfect. The trigger itself is nice with a strong spring behind the trigger safety so you can't accidentally squeeze the trigger. I will probably be modding body slightly as the trigger safety is not as secure as I would like. I had also bought and installed the AIP and Guns Modify extended slide catch and take down bar, both of which were easy to install and make the operation far easier! The final part missing is the magazine release. I wanted an AIP extended magazine release however, I am struggling to find the TM version in stock at the moment.

I have invested in the AIP steel trigger set but after a few reviews, I will more than likely fit the Guns Modify zero trigger later on. The steel kit is pretty much a drop in as well with just a matter of pulling out all the old trigger parts and replacing them with the new ones. All the modification needed comes from the wear of the action. 

The next steps for this kit will be to sort out the nozzle and the action. At the moment, the nozzle jams which is a massive pain. I haven't had the time to look at why but I'd imagine the nozzle return spring is getting stuck in the body. I might have to balance the recoil spring with the hammer spring as they're from two different kits which means they are probably not of matching power. Once all that is sorted and the G34 cycles as it should, I will be sending the lower off for stippling. There is a company near me called Tactical Textures who have a very interesting portfolio and their Facebook page boasts some very good work! The final step will be to think about magazines and mag wells. I am undecided between +2 magazine bases or the CNC aluminium plates. I also do not know whether I will fit the 5KU gold mag well flare or keep it straight.

I did find a big flaw the the NineBall direct mount (which is a shame for £60 of metal), the screw the provided me was substandard. I ended up having to get a flat cut into the screw as the allen head was so small and the metal was so soft I managed to burr the head on my first installation! The AABB sights were a minor pain to install however, I'd imagine that wasn't solely the sights fault. After dealing with RA-TECH for two years, I am more than confident that the CNC SAI slide probably has front sight holes that are 1mm or so too small.

If you want to see more photos of the project, check out instagram through @Airsoft_Addicted and twitter through AirsoftAddicted. A friend of mine also started up a facebook group to share our custom gun work so join and enjoy! The final product of this project is looking to be completed in July so keep an eye out. Between now and then, I will be reviewing the TM HK416D recoil shock and a few upgrade parts for the Kriss Vector.

ASCU V2 fitted to an APS ASR-110

I was up until 1am last night working on installing the ASCU V2 to the APS ASR-110 (2012 version). I should say before I get started that the 2012 version definitely DOES NOT have a MOSFET fitted despite what the retailers will tell you. All the other specs seem to be accurate. The ASR-110 uses one of the new hybrid gearboxes which seems to be pretty good, I found one structural weakness related to the E B but to be honest I could take or leave EBB... The only EBB systems that have impressed me have been the ARES G36 and TM recoil rifles...

APS ASR in Black (also comes in DE)

Before installing the MOSFET I had a quick look through the instructions and checked the gearbox. I found (the hard way) that my selector plate was metal. I have never seen a metal selector plate in a stock AEG and I am sure this is a QC error from APS. Anyway, a friend sourced me a new plastic selector plate that I sanded down to size. I would strongly advise NOT cutting it with snips like the manual suggests... This is purely because the cheap rigid selector plates will shatter and you'll have cost yourself £10 or so...

So, to remove the gearbox I had to separate the upper and lower ,then remove two body pins. The one next to the trigger and at the rear. The stock tube has a large screw inside it which unscrews and releases the rear of the gear box. I then unscrewed the motor plate, removed the motor and unscrewed the pistol grip. Finally all I had to do was remove the magazine catch. Once this was done the gearbox still wouldn't lift. It appears as is APS have installed a functional bolt catch that stops the gearbox from lifting out. All you need to do it get a pin pin punch and knock the pin out and pull the bolt catch out.

Once I had pulled the gearbox out, I removed the main spring to reduce the tension in the gearbox. Now I had a very typical version 2 gearbox sat in front of me. I proceeded by unscrewing the spring loaded bolt catch that is attached to the gearbox - it covers one of the gearbox screws. I would like to mention tone careful with this part as the spring can launch out. It happened to me but thankfully my mechanics bowl "caught" it. I undid all the gearbox screws then used a thin screw driver to open the gearbox. Force of habit for me is to open the gearbox is such a way I could use the screw driver to hold down the anti-reversal latch (ARL).

At this point I would like to take the time to express my hate for the ARL. It's a horrible component in the gearbox and responses for many rage quits in my products... In fact... The ARL was responsible for the decision to sell my last G36.

Once I opened the gearbox I removed all the gears making sure to note on a piece of paper how many shims were in each gear both at the top and bottom. I did later re-shim the gearbox but its somewhat irrelevant as the gearbox was well shimmed and arguably I wasted my time trying to improve it. I removed the trigger and piston components. I then unscrewed the old selector plate and installed the new trigger sensor unit. This is where the first modification came in. The screw that holds the trigger mech in place is too long for the sensor unit. It protrudes out and would later interfere with the selector plate. I ended up cutting 2mm off with snips which worked.

I then ran the data cable from the sensor unit out the gearbox. This is the easiest bit to get wrong. If you don't fit the data cable correctly then the body pin will cut the data cable either disabling the ASCU or messing up your full auto capabilities. I fitted the motor cables to length so that when the pistol grip was fitted, it would fit perfectly with no slack. This required some fitted of the motor and pistol grip to check length. I ended up using a weak adhesive to glue down the cables just to make sure. We're talking about a threadlock style adhesive applied with the tip of a tooth pick. You want to be careful as glue in the gearbox can ruin your kit!

Once the wires were laid, the gearbox was reassembled and the gears were held in place using rare earth magnets. I'd recommend using magnets, it will make your life a lot easier! The gearbox was fitted back into the body and the body pins were fitted. I'd strongly recommend at this point using an allen key to clear the holes just in case the cables are in the way. This will help prevent cutting the wires! The stock tube was replaced with the nut and screw and it was tightened. I spent a lot of time on this making sure the power wires weren't cut from the rotation of the nut.

That was me pretty much done! The entire process took about an hour. I am no experienced gearbox tech but I am sure this could be done in half the time. A lot of care needs to be taken with the data cables. Mess that part up and you have ruined your MOSFET and potentially more!

I did in fact manage to snip one of the data cables and now my gearbox is locked to semi-auto which is a pain. A new data cable has arrived but due to studies, I haven't had the time to work on my gearbox or my blog :( I would strongly recommend a MOSFET trigger system, the trigger response of my gun has been hugely improved and it protects my gun against my insistent use of LiPos.

My next project is looking to be a TM next gen. HK416D which be tricked out with a spectre drop in FET from BTC, a Noveske outter barrel, a flare function tracer and a TK twist barrel.

Plans until March

Being the President of RUAS, I have to plan ahead (something that was new to me until I took up the role in 2011). I usually look on the forums to see whats happening. Sadly, I don't have the money or the time to be everywhere but this is what I have noted down until mid March!

Club Related:
24th January - Give it A Go sign up, F&O The Mall Night game
3rd February - Give it A Go Skirmish @ F&O The Mall
9th February - British Airsoft Show
10th February - Youtube Film makers Skirmish
10th February - Club Skirmish @ F&O Thunder Ranch
24th February - UCAP The Wing (still in planning stages)
9th-11th March - Gunman Inter-University Competition

Skirmishes yet to be planned:
UCAP Virus
UCAP Bunker
CQB Tactical
Xsite Outpost

For the Youtube Film makers event, Aryan and myself have several interesting things planned, won't say too much about it right now but with the help of some friends it will look epic!

My airsoft calendar looks a lot busier than this as I am involved in a few private games and skirmishes that won't necessarily be club related.

The British Airsoft Show is something I'm looking forward to! A few of my favourite retails will be there and I should hopefully be there with the contour to record the day!

If you are in the area and have the time to come play, we are a friendly bunch and always welcome more players!

Started a blog

So I've finally got around to setting up a blog space so I can have a less restricted review format for my Airsoft antics. If you haven't read of my stuff before, I would encourage you to visit Airsoft-Squared - I have done nearly 20 reviews and most of them have been featured on the front page of the website. I haven't really done a formal introduction before so I'll start it here.

RUAS's Miltary Team at The Mall's Z-Day

I have been airsofting for about 8 years, I played my first airsoft game in 2005 thanks to an old friend who had been doing the sport and thought I might like it. I played on an off for about 4 years however, the VCRA(2006) made it very difficult and at the time I didn't know anyone who was very helpful with UKARA. I eventually got into regular airsoft in 2009 just before I started uni. At the time I was borrowing a temperamental CA M16 VN and when I got my UKARA membership I went out and bought an M14. From that point onwards my airsoft habits became very much religious! I am now in my 4th year (Masters year) at University and I am the President of the Reading University Airsoft Club (RUAS). We are a reasonably small club that has been running for about 5 years. In recent years we've built up a good relationship and reputation with several sites, our more recent success at CQB Tactical where we had some very nice compliments about our sportsmanship and our overall playing style.

This blog space is going to act as an avenue for me to record down airsoft projects and also review products. I cycle through my kit incredibly quickly, arguable far quicker than anyone I know. To take full advantage of this, I am aiming to review a piece of kit over 3 months. This often means I wont be the first to review a product but I can guarantee it will be the most fair and factual review that I can produce. In the last 2 years I have been getting more and more interested in Airsoft DIY Projects, I know several friends who are very good with their mods and very creative so I am intended on publishing whatever we / they create!

Reviews to be coming are as follows:

Site reviews:

The Essex Range

CQB Tactical

UCAP VIRUS (when the new site is opened)

Products to be reviewed:

Madbull Gemtech Flare Function Tracer

APS ASR-110

KRISS VECTOR

Projects to publish:

WE SCAR GBBR Project

• Angry Gun recoil rod
• Angry Gun Stock tube adapter
• RA-TECH full CNC steel BCU
• Tango Down polymer magazine shells
• ACM UBR Magpul clone stock

TM Custom Sig 226 project

APS ASR-110 improvements and mods

• Madbull ultimate hop w/ LED Tracer
• ASCU V2 MOSFET system

KRISS Vector

• NPAS installation
• Tracer units

Element PEQ-2 & XM flashlight

Tachyon OPS NV HD camera

Contour HD 1080p

I will also be moving over reviews from Airsoft Squared and putting them here

I am a student, I study full time and this is a lot of extra work. Please be patient!