get a cheap AK drum adn harvest the parts from that

Thanks- I don't know anything about them, are they battery driven? What's the best one to get?

cyma and yes battery driven

So it's confirmed that they use the same guts?

I think the biggest issue with the magazines are the plastic gears- any jam or misfeed and they are likely to strip- two of them are bad in the magazine I have.

Looks like the best price for a new CYMA mag is about $48 at airsoft megastore.

Interesting solution- check out what he did with the mag-

http://www.bingoairsoftworks.com/mat...ne-conversion/

here's the inside of one of the AK mags, don't see why it would not work with a little modding.

http://www.popularairsoft.com/review...-drum-magazine

looks at least a little more robust than what is in there to begin with.

hop up
 

so i'm sure you guys noticed that the hop up on this gun sucks the drop on my bbs is bad at pretty short distances. is there any better hop ups that will fit with little to no modification? or any other remedies like just increasing the fps or changing the barrel? thanks ahead

Mine works pretty good with .25 and .28, nothing that I've had to poke at yet.
What weight are you using?

You could install a new hopup rubber or put in a better nub?

I agree, I run .28 in mine, it shoots long and straight .. stock Hop

I have this one,enjoy it from august 2014. My mg42 has following: 525 fps, ~1200 rpm.
11v battery,high torque motor. And this stuff i have without changing barrell=)
P.s. also i made custom upper gearbox for higher fps than 525 and custom hop-up chamber for good compression. And i use airnozzle from G36 (25 or 26mm).
If someone interest in this way, i can write a normal review for this stuff.
There is no comercial in this post. =)

I am actually interested to see what you did with the hop-up. This is a project I've put on the back-burner but before I did I was not happy with the stock unit.

Back to the broken magazine gear issue- I ended up using the guts of a dual motorized double MP5 magazine. The gears are several times larger than stock. I was hoping to be able to use the sound activated feature but it did not work right (think I need a new sensor). For now it works fine in normal "on" position.
An added bonus is the mag has it's own lipo battery so the entire assault magazine is self contained. Also made a tripod AA mount out of an old movie camera tripod.

I still need to find a rear sight assembly, can't justify spending $80 on e-bay for one though.

I want to show few photos of my own project. Upper gearbox part and hop-up chamber.

Upper gearbox part. There is d16t aluminum alloy, made by cnc machine tool. Front side is thickened by 3mm. The groove for the cylinder is made for bore-up set - 70mm. External dimensions of a detail correspond to the basic sizes.
http://cs623917.vk.me/v623917631/33cda/cHQXGplzHvw.jpg
Upper gearbox part with internal parts
http://cs627531.vk.me/v627531631/19114/BOqpzwrx2YM.jpg

Hop-up chamber. D16T aluminum alloy. There is the ledge for an insert in gearbox, the hop-up chamber is executed so air nozle it was possible to establish less then basic 29mm, i set nozle for G36 (25.5 - 26mm).
In my basic hop-up the part for connection with gearbox is removed, as a result of the first experiments =)
The entrance opening for a platform of giving of bbs ("square platform")is made with the minimum admission by the sizes. As a result it turned out to avoid leak of air in this connection.
http://cs623925.vk.me/v623925946/48f24/U8lcJqeHZAs.jpg
http://cs623925.vk.me/v623925946/48f38/yAtu2QF_sHk.jpg
As it looks in assembled form. There is the first version of upper gearbox.
http://cs622621.vk.me/v622621946/62f12/e3TBboKHZag.jpg

There is a link to my "video" (may 2015) with firing MG42 with stock motor. I changed my M135 spring to M170 in video. I shoot more than 2000 bb during test (considering out of video tests). It was fine work during short turns and long lines of shots, no troubleshoting with upper gearbox part after test and through test. Sorry for non-english video, i want to make a copy with english text.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqCO...tailpage#t=158

I would like to answer any question. If someone want the same stuff to have in own AGM MG42, I can make the offer by rules of this forum.
With best regard, Siegfried
Belarus, Minsk.

That is freaking amazing. 8O

Hello Ken Tsui
Maybe your experience here can help me.
I'm working on an airsoft version of the M56 smartgun.
I will use an AMG MG42 replica to do so.
But my problem is the pistol grip with the motor inside.
It will stick out of it, not cool.

http://imageshack.com/a/img921/899/Hi9Vw5.jpg

My idea was to replace the MG42 gearbox with an A&K M249 one.
Do you think it can fit in?

Hi Cain, I do not have an M249 so I do not know if it will fit, but I can provide some measurements of the MG42 if you think that will help.