Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

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Tank
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Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by Tank » Thu Dec 05, 2013 1:22 pm

So, I agonised as to where to put this after Robin's post, but I think here is best because this project has been going on probably (nearly) as long as this forum :shock:

Thursdays I try to get some "workshop time" in and today was no exception. The bits - the Cast if you like (I am sharp today) took a while to assemble. As a couple of you will attest, I am a bit fussy when it comes to materials and I avoid Cr*p like the plague. The velvet had to be a particular type and feel. No rubbish at all.

Then I needed some Melamine faced chipboard and some industrial shrink wrap. Regular household stuff just would not do for this. Plenty of screws and clamps. You can always have too few clamps but never too many in my experience!

Well, a picture paints a thousand words as they say and the following is the equivalent of leaving a hand grenade on the table, with the pin out, Gentlemen, my next trick:

Image

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And finally, I do not take credit for this idea, I saw something similar elsewhere and merely adapted it to this.
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
https://tamesidepistol.club/

RobinC

Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by RobinC » Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:12 pm

I think you've confused them even more now Graham!!!

The case is taking shape nicely, but they are probably wondering why you've used a FWB65 as the model for the case? Love the colour by the way!
We watch with baited breath for the emergence of the thing from the dark side to fill the case.

Robin

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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by pmh » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:22 pm

Of course, it is the Chinese copy of the FWB 65.

Titan seems to ring a bell for some reason.

Kind regards,



Phil
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I now have so many airguns I've had to make a list, which is >>HERE<<
>>North Manchester Target Club<<

zooma
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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by zooma » Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:45 pm

Are you going to make a casket for it out of expanding foam and then give it a funeral on the river Mersey and put it into the water off of the "Daffodil" Mersey Ferry ?

This is a very popular ceremony for our Indian community ( something I have witnessed a few times) as they believe the water flows to and from their home country and so the spirit can eventually find it way home.

I think this is a very good idea and far better than a funeral pile. It is a lot more majestic and the foam will help it float with the tide back to its homeland.

So basically we are going to chuck it into the river - right?
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by Tank » Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:30 pm

zooma wrote:Are you going to make a casket for it out of expanding foam and then give it a funeral on the river Mersey and put it into the water off of the "Daffodil" Mersey Ferry ?
Perzackly Sherlock!


:mrgreen:
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
https://tamesidepistol.club/

RobinC

Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by RobinC » Fri Dec 06, 2013 11:28 am

Well now the secrets out, its a Huanqiu FWB65 clone marketed in the UK for a short period by Titan Developments in Birmingham.

The only tests I've seen from the US said it shot smoother than a FWB, and that it was close enough to take FWB spares?
I'll put more details in the pistol section post so as not to clutter this as the restoration.

So how did the restoration go? Did it take FWB spares?

Robin

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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by zooma » Fri Dec 06, 2013 12:10 pm

RobinC wrote:Well now the secrets out, its a Huanqiu FWB65 clone marketed in the UK for a short period by Titan Developments in Birmingham.

The only tests I've seen from the US said it shot smoother than a FWB, and that it was close enough to take FWB spares?
I'll put more details in the pistol section post so as not to clutter this as the restoration.

So how did the restoration go? Did it take FWB spares?

Robin

We encouraged Graham to only use waterproof parts that would float but this was not always possible - hence the use of two-part boyancy foam. :snooty:

This was decided not long after the restoration started - but I can't think why? :think:

.................but notice how close the angle grinder is to the pistol in the fourth photograph! :whistle:
Last edited by zooma on Sat Dec 07, 2013 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by Tank » Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:29 pm

RobinC wrote: So how did the restoration go? Did it take FWB spares?

Robin
Yes Robin, the parts are readily interchangeable. As you know I had to make some of the seal kit. The real issue has been the rear part of the trigger sled. For whatever reason someone had decided - in some previous re-incarnation - to enlarge the rearmost part of the sled lock. It is not yet to my satisfaction but it won't take much more.
Direct side by side comparison of the individual components with the original Feinwerkbau item is quite interesting and I will put some photographs up shortly to demonstrate this.

My creation of a new foam insert for the pistol did not quite go as planned but this really isn't a problem, you get a LOT of foam in a tin :mrgreen: I have discovered that the thing to is to cut out a part of the "box" to allow part of the pistol to protrude through. Because of the shape the foam wrapped itself around the pistol as it was expanding.
Great idea but needs a bit of refinement.

Bit of a cockup there but now sorted!
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
https://tamesidepistol.club/

RobinC

Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by RobinC » Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:31 am

Thanks Graham
Yes, the sledge rear and pin bodge up was what I spotted as soon as I part stripped it and thought Arrrhhhh, this needs parts replacing! I think that was done by a so called local gunsmith who had no understanding of the concept of the design, its so frustrating when these people get their hands on precision target kit and apply blacksmith standards to them.
I'm sure you'll sort it and we look forward to play with it. Would be nice to wipe some smirks away with it.
Robin

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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by Tank » Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:56 am

Well Robin, really, my apologies for having taken so long with it.
The end solution was to graft most of what was a FWB trigger unit onto it in the end though now that I have my Mill there are a few tweaks that I will be able to do and it should work reliably every time.

The "Blacksmith" bit. <sigh> I am a bit of a part time Blacksmith myself, I find a morning at the Anvil with a two and a half pound rounding hammer very cathartic some days, though my hands don't think so afterwards :D

I think what people need to do is realise their limitations. To all intents and purposes, when reassembled, it appears that the hole in the rearmost block is in the wrong place. What you can't see of course is that this is all swung upwards and forwards on cocking because it is all enclosed on reassembly. A difference of fifteen thou is enough to cause the mechanism to fail and continued usage of the pistol in this state does permanent damage to some components. I know this from experience unfortunately. I have had a couple of guns sent to me where people have continued to use them despite the obvious fact they are not functioning correctly and parts have had to be replaced. In this case, because the mechanism was circumvented by the hole enlargement, it was malfunctioning yet gave the probable impression that it was working correctly, only to cause further damage.

You need the patience of Job to continually assemble and then dis-assemble them to make minor adjustments - with this specimen I had to continually accumulate that patience, and have a quiet hour or two. Some people of course choose to do Jigsaws :mrgreen:
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
https://tamesidepistol.club/

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Titan Globe.

Post by zooma » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:00 am

Anyone that would like to see the Airgun World review of the Titan should try to get a read of the March 1989 copy where the two review page title reads "Match Grade Globe". The pistol is described as the "Titan Globe".

The performance recorded at the time reads as follows:-

Eley Wasp. Velocity 467.2 fps. Muzzle Energy 3.49 ft.lbs. ( a very strange choice of pellet to test in a match pistol).

H & N Match. Velocity 413.2 fps. Muzzle Energy 3.18 ft.lbs.

RWS Meisterkugeln. Velocity 410.6 fps. Muzzle Energy 3.10 ft lbs.

The above figures were shown as an average over five consecutive shots.

The review never suggests that this is no more then a Chinese copy of the Feinwerkbau Model 65 but it does note that it "costs £300 less than it's West German counterpart".

My opinion is that this is a Chinese copy of the Feinwerkbau Model 65 and although it does have some minor detail differences the Titan Globe is such a close copy that most of the FWB parts are fully interchangeable - but of course this could be a pure co-incidence :snooty:
Feinwerkbau P40 Tricolour wanted.........still !
http://www.bobsairguns .com - proud to host the RMTC site since April 2011.

RobinC

Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by RobinC » Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:02 pm

Graham
No need to apolagise, I bought this on a whim and after I saw the bodge on the slide it was packed up in despair and left for almost a year, only when chatting with Bob did I become aware of a man who could return it to life.
Your work is very much appreciated, and what I've seen of other restorations and fine engineering solutions
has been a great credit to you and I particularly like your approach of quality first. The blacksmith comment I dwelled over when I typed it, blacksmiths are craftsmen and a true one would would not attempt precision engineering unless he was also a precision engineer. We have had several examples in this area of so called professional gunsmiths who should know better bodging precision target guns simply because they did not understand them.

I think the pistol missed the boat, by the time it appeared the FWB 65 was out of date and that is surely why FWB were not interested in its purely coincidental similarity, they could have easily sued Titan in the UK if they had wished. The Guns Review test is typical of those done on a target pistol by people with no target standard or real experience, always indicated by their test of velocity and power, and not accuracy, hence the strange choice of pellets. We stock the very expensive Chinese match pellets at my club so perhaps it would prefer those?
The American article is the same and is not target biased. And as the design is so, um, er, similar to the FWB 65, purely coincidentaly of course, we presumably can consider that the weight will be very similar as will be the balance. The grip is similar but not identical but it will be intersting to shoot to see if its significant. Of course the difference (if any) will be in tolerances, barrel quality, and trigger (prawn cracker crisp?). Only a subjective test by experienced target shooters will show how it matches up and it will be interesting to see how close it is, rumour and myth from blind tests in the US suggest that it is at least as good, if not better, but we shall see. I still have my own FWB 65 bought new in '72, and used extensively, its original other than the plastic bits that rotted so will be a good comparision, I've not shot that for many years so it will be interesting.

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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by Tank » Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:51 pm

So, I was taking a break today and checked my email in the workshop. Amazingly there was a note from Robin "how's the Chinky coming along, I miss it"!! :D
I was amazed, because sitting in front of my was the fruit of my morning's work. The pictures will tell the story, interspersed with a bit of commentary :D

Image

Now, bit of marquetry:

Image

Bit of reinforcement on the underside:

Image

Mummified, no going back now Robin:-)

Image

There is half a can of Builders Foam under there, held down with some heavy steel plate.

Image

Best add a bit more, strong stuff that foam:

Image

Hmmm! Must remember to get a bit of board bigger than the hole next time:

Image

So, tune in tomorrow for the reveal :mrgreen:
graham.
I’m going off to go find myself. If I’m not back by the time I return, keep me here.
https://tamesidepistol.club/

RobinC

Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by RobinC » Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:10 am

The suspense is killing me, well? Did it work?
While you're working out how (or if ever!) you can cut the pistol out, how about the ins and outs of the repair and the similarities (purely concidental of course!) and the differences with the 65.

Robin

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Re: Well here it is, the REALLY mysterious East

Post by pmh » Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:27 pm

Actually, that's it. :mrgreen:

Image

As you can see, he's even fitted the handle. :laughing-rolling:

Kind regards,



Phil
M0KPH
I now have so many airguns I've had to make a list, which is >>HERE<<
>>North Manchester Target Club<<

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