Airsoft Canada - ICS has come a long way: L85

I've been following ICS products on and off for my entire airsoft history. My first AEG was an ICS MP5. I hadn't initially realized it, but it had a wonky spring from the get go and was shooting a pathetic 200fps. I played about a dozen games before I got to a field with a chrony and figured out why I had to play with so much aggression. Right off the bat the gun was a dud. I bought it in broken condition from the first owner who busted the tappet plate on the first mag. I didn't know what I was getting into, but it had a nice metal body and 8 years ago I was keen on fixer uppers anyways.

ICS is maturing and has been taken some pretty ambitious steps with their latest line of AEGs. Their display was full of aesthetically pleasing (feel and look) and it was hard not to go around and manhandle everything. Instead, I decided to focus on only one new product instead of glossing over everything.

I concentrated on their mechanically most interesting AEG (well I thought so) which was their L85. It offers a very modular design which can be rapidly disassembled.

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505144.jpg

Remove one screw/pin at the top rear and one vertical screw at the bottom rear and the back plate comes out and allows the lower to pivot down and the mechbox to slide rearwards. Seems to me that easy disassembly is a common theme amongst bullpups: P90, AUG, L85...

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505132.jpg

To save messing with connectors or stringly wires, the electricals in the upper and lower are connected by one copper and one brass contact.

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505131.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505129.jpg

First off, this is a very clean way to make electrical connections. I do have some reservations about their material selections though. The lower contact seems to have been made out of brass which has an annoying habit of forming a non conductive oxide layer. The sprung contacts on the left don't jam down very hard so I'm somewhat sceptical that they'll make a very low resistance connection. However, without my spectrometer, I couldn't identify their materials. It's hopeful that ICS has made better material selections than I though. Still it's odd that one might opt for gold plated high contact force Deans connectors and gimp out on a 8g engagement force at connectors somewhere else.

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505133.jpg
gearbox

The gearbox offers a really neat adjustable preload spring guide. Unclip the crosspin that retains the spring guide and you can move the spring guide to one of three preload positions to adjust the FPS of your setup. Two holes in the side, one perpindicular hole for the crosspin to engage. The spine on the spring guide post lines up in a groove in the shell.

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505133.jpg

Push on a rectangular button at the front of the forend and it slides off for easy battery access.

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505139.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505142.jpg
flip up the lide and slide off

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505138.jpg
easily available automotive fuse that fits into slim space

http://www.pbase.com/airsoft_innovat...e/93505143.jpg
capacious battery compartment fits a 9.6v large pack

Overall a very nice feeling AEG. Not as heavy as the STAR version, but the engineering in the ICS L85 is quite creative. I didn't get to open up the gearbox to see the mechanicals, but from the outset this appears to be a very well considered design apart from the electrical connection issue.