Type 89, Laylax RIS upgrade problems

Nothing is ever as straight forward as it seems. I finally managed to buy the lovely Laylax Nitro Rail Handguard for my BE Type 89 AEG this month and in true optimistic airsofter fashion I *thought* it would then be a simple job to fix this upgrade to my gun. Oh how wrong I was!

Above: Having to almost completely strip down your Type 89 is one of the first, of several, frustrating steps towards fixing the Lalax rail onto the AEG. Note all the small parts and myriad of screws, any of which could go missing during the process!

I really should have taken the hint when, as I reported on this blog last month, the UK airsoft retailer Fire Support refused to take on this upgrade as it turns out that this 'little job' is actually a bit of a nightmare.

Anyway, I eventually figured out a process whereby I could fix the gubbings together - the scant instructions on the Laylax packaging were in Japanese! - and I actually started the work this weekend. To give you an idea how tricky this 'upgrade' is, and hopefully this will be of a help to any other Type 89 owners thinking about this upgrade, I am making a series of quick and dirty' how to' videos following my work (by the way I say 'upgrade' because this is becoming more of a 'mod' really).

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZ4yFjbtyQ&fs=1&hl=en_GB&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00]

I will publish the full series of these videos on Milgeek when I have completed the work - but I thought I would post this one up just as a cautionary tale about taking on a job when a professional airsoft armoury turns it down! LOL

OH! And PS, top tip - NEVER undertake a job like this which involves tiny black screws in a modern kitchen that has a BLACK laminate floor. I spent quite a long time on my hands and knees trying to recover dropped bits!

Here's a reminder what the upgrade should look like when it's finished (just to keep MY spirits up)!

And finally, here's a nice bit of footage showing the real Type 89 in action - note the inherent problem in changing the fire selector (a problem that was rectified during the Japanese deployment in Iraq by adding the ambidextrous fire selector, as I have with my AEG version)...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpPVbmmJ9zw&fs=1&hl=en_GB&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00]