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After pondering a fix, I decided to cut the feedneck and flip it 180 degrees!!! This is a walk through of what I did. First a few pictures of what it looked like before.
From the right:
Looking down the barrel:
From the left:
As you can see the hose is quite unsightly. You will need the following items:
Quick Set JB Weld (small tubes)
Toothpicks (~100)
Dremmel or other precision cutting device
Sandpaper if no dremmal is available
Painters Tape
Cardboard
Next convince yourself that you can do this. Most of us don't like cutting into our markers. Thankfully you can get a replacement feedneck from BT for $4.95!!! Find the best line on the feedneck to cut. By this I mean, get a mental line of where on the feeneck you can cut and not cut into the portion that holds it to the marker, or destroy the clamp for the hose.
You want to make your cut as straight as possible. This will aid in putting it back together. Once you have a visual of where you are going to cut, proceed. I used a grinding wheel on my dremmel to make my cuts. I had to change the wheel 3 times because the plastic was melting on the wheel and inhibiting it from cutting. This is my feedneck cut in half along the vertical:
The hard part is done!!!! Now it is just putting it back together. First what I did was slide the rail portion onto the rail where it is supposed to be. Next I would position the second half of the feedneck onto the marker upside down. With the painters tape, securely tape the feedneck back together where you want it to be. I do not have a picture of the taped feedneck on the marker, but here is a picture of my taped together after I applied the first bit of JB Weld:
Notice how I kept from taping the bottom of the feedneck. This is to allow you to apply some epoxy and start putting it back together. If you taped all around the cut, you wouldn't be able to apply epoxy.
I used the 5 minute quick set JB Weld.
It was just enough time to mix, and apply the epoxy before it started getting sticky. Apply epoxy to the side you didn't tape, and allow it to set. This is where you can use the toothpicks to spread the JB Weld. I also taped about 6 toothpicks together and used the taped end to smooth out the JB Weld. This works like a little spatula and is easier to apply the epoxy. Then remove the tape and continue to epoxy the rest of the cut. When you are finished you should get something like this:
Now.... I said cutting it is the hard part, and that is still correct, but the next part is the tricky one. When you turn the feedneck 180 degrees you create a pocket inside the feedneck due to the original shape. I couldn't take a picture of this so here is a sketch:
This pocket is large enough to catch the paintballs and keep them from entering into the marker. What you need to do is mix a little more JB Weld, this will take several times, and fill the pocket with JB weld layer by layer. Here is another sketch to show you what I mean:
It took me about 3 times to fill the pocket and get it smooth enough that a paintball will travel through. One trick that I found is once the JB weld is starting to harden inside the pocket, I would say 2 minutes after it is applied, if you wet your finger you can smooth out the JB Weld and it won't stick to your fingers. You can then move it around a little and create a nice smooth path for the round to travel on. Like I said it took me 3 layers of JB weld to get it perfect. After you build it up, connect it to a hose and to a loaded Q-Pod and see if the rounds will flow smoothly through the feedneck. Keep adjusting until you have no restrictions.
After I knew that the rounds would travel, I still wanted to test it. I connected the feedneck to the marker, inserted the shortened hose, loaded a Q-Pod (NO AIR), and build the bolt then the trigger (NO AIR) for 100 rounds. The paintballs loaded, without fault, for all 100 rounds. This convinced me that I wouldn't get stranded on the field.
Now take your sand paper and smooth out the excess JB weld around the cut that you did in the beginning. When you are satisfied you can then connect it to you gun and get the appropriate length of hose needed to connect to the Q-Pod loader. Here are a couple pictures of mine. I haven't repainted the feedneck so you can see where my cut was:
Right of the marker
Down the barrel
Left of the marker
Overall
I think this cleans up the look a lot and improves on the Q-Loader. You no longer have extra hose on your marker that can get caught on tree limbs, from a distance you can't even tell that there is a feedneck, and you have absolutely no obstructions when looking through your sight!!!
Overall cost of supplies (not taking into account the loader itself) $6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I repaint the marker I am going to attach a little bit of PVC on the rounded end of the Q-Pod and spray the inside of that black. With the feedneck profile significantly lowered, and the pods modded, it should look more like a real M4 with a M203 launcher on the bottom. Stay tuned for that project in the coming months.
