Max Max airsoft shotgun mods

[MFP 2020]

I purchased the "Mad Max & Double Barrel Shotgun" [sic] from defiantvictim and it's great: real metal, real wood, heavy. Of course I couldn't just leave it stock...



I unscrewed and removed the front sight post and sawed off the rear sight. I used steel wool on the barrels and receiver to get the MM1 look (sans engraving).



I hit the grip with a file and sandpaper just to blend the edges a little more, then refinished it with tung oil finish. (Checkering would cost in the neighborhood of $300 so that's not going to happen.)



Finally, I masked and painted the grip cap to simulate the white plastic piece (maybe I'll actually do plastic later). When my MM1 holster arrives, my inner child will be so happy.



There are rubber inserts at the end of the barrels (there's a rubber sheath between the outer barrels and the inner BB barrels), but I don't want to mess with those. While I was playing around with it today, I gassed up one of the shells and loaded it with 4 6mm BBs. PAK! Imagine my surprise when I heard the BBs hit my neighbor's garage door waaayyy across the street. This ain't no toy! (I can always blame it on the neighborhood kids.)

[Max Replica]

Great work. Yours is only the second weathered Mad Max shotgun I've seen, apart from my own (not taking into account the less expensive plastic variations of course).

I look forward to comparing ours side by side since (as you know) I went with the Road Warrior version. I just have a couple more little touches to add to mine before I post some pics (been busy with other things).

I'm so accustomed to using silver paint to weather black plastic that I didn't even think of just using steel wool on the black painted metal parts of my gun. I think I'll give that a shot. The only difference is that my Hudson gun has plastic barrels and the rest is metal. But then again, Max's gun in MM2 is much less weathered, so I can be subtle, especially with the barrels.

I also masked and painted my grip cap but I found that the cap is just too small compared to the one in the movie, so I think I'm going to insert a small plastic piece in between the grip cap and the grip.

Can you talk a bit more about what you did to the grip re: sanding and finishing? I'm not quite clear as to what you changed and it isn't really clear from the pics.

[MFP 2020]

I look forward to comparing ours side by side since (as you know) I went with the Road Warrior version. I just have a couple more little touches to add to mine before I post some pics (been busy with other things).

Did you taper the fore end with a band saw?

Can you talk a bit more about what you did to the grip re: sanding and finishing? I'm not quite clear as to what you changed and it isn't really clear from the pics.

It's pretty subtle. I wanted the contour of the wood (grip stock) to more closely match the contour of the back of the receiver, so I filed down the corners somewhat. It's still not even close, but the wood was surprisingly hard and I wasn't comfortable with taking the whole thing apart to work on the stock. (I didn't want to ding the receiver, but now that I think of it, wasn't I weathering it?) Also, the edges on the raised side parts (that sort of arrow that points to the rear, which is rounder on the movie gun) were pretty sharp, so I knocked those down.

On further inspection, I need to scrub the black metal part behind the fore end (at first I thought it was incorrect—as in there was no such part on the real gun—but I was mistaken). The fit on the movie gun is so tight that the seam isn't noticeable. Back to work!

[Max Replica]

Did you taper the fore end with a band saw?

Not yet. But I've thought about it. The problem is that A. the wood is very hard (as you've noticed) and B. the finish is such that it doesn't take to sanding very well (as you may have noticed). I'm concerned that if I do anything drastic and have to redo some of the finish it will be very hard to get it to match. And I don't really want to bother sanding the entire thing with a power sander and redoing the finish just to get a more tapered fore end.

I might be wrong since I've only done a bit of sanding on this in a test area, but it seems to me that this gun might be a type of MDF or other semi-synthetic wood blend with a kind of fake wood grain finish over it. When I sanded it a little it almost reacted as if it were some kind of heavy sealed-on paint or even adhered decal rather than a simple stain over wood.

It still looks real, and it's still real wood, just maybe not the kind you want to have to do a lot of work on. Maybe yours is different since it's made by a different company. (though possibly made from the same mold, or even by the same factory by the looks of it).

[MFP 2020]

Looks better, although I might have distressed the barrels a little too much. Ah, well.

[MaxFanChuck]

Oh man, that is beautiful! Thanks for the heads up about this thread. Great work. I have been searching for one of these HOPING to find one on sale. I'm going to buy one just really want to make sure I can get a deal. Plus, in the US they seem to be a bit harder to come by. At least at a good sale price.

I'll keep you update if I find one. And I'll use your thread here as a template for mod'ing my shotgun if you don't mind!

Thanks again for this thread!!!!!

[Max Replica]

I'll use your thread here as a template for mod'ing my shotgun if you don't mind!

Just remember that Madmaximages pics are for modding a gun to look like the one from the first movie. The gun from the Road Warrior looks a bit different.

FYI, I should also mention that in looking at my Hudson cap gun version, the receiver is actually plastic as are the barrels. So those parts need to be dry brushed with silver instead of steel wooled. (I had thought only the barrels were plastic). The rest of the Hudson gun is wood and metal though (and there is actually a metal core inside the barrels, which is interesting. I'll post pics of my Road Warrior modified Hudson gun soon in a separate thread and post a link here.

[Rook3]

Tried posting a reply to this the other day, but my allegedly "smart" phone died on me, mid-post.

So, to sum up, I like what you did with your mods! I was torn on the silver of the grip section,
and didn't really want to do it, but seeing your mods have made me reconsider! I have however,
modded the rubber barrel bits already. I actually removed them and carefully cut them back
so they recess inside the barrel ends a bit, maybe 1/8-1/4 inch. I then took a dremmel and
buffed the metal ends of the barrels. When the barrel ends are a brighter metal color, it pulls
the eye away from the rubber bushings in the barrel, making it seem more "real." I also took a black
marker and darkened the ends of the copper airsoft barrels inside the bushings.

Last night I removed the front sight as you did, and plan on removing the rear sight as you have
done already.

I'll have to study the film again and make a final decision on the silver of the grip section or not.

Nice job on yours!

Also, have you fired yours? I have aboyt 6 shells, and out of the lot, only one works. I've
owned the gun for over a year, but I only test fired it the other night for the first time.
WOW! Talk about loud!

Russ

[MFP 2020]

Nice job on yours!

Also, have you fired yours? I have aboyt 6 shells, and out of the lot, only one works. I've
owned the gun for over a year, but I only test fired it the other night for the first time.
WOW! Talk about loud!

Russ

Thanks, and thanks for the tips on the...uh, tips. Mine is an airsoft gun (jwrites' is a cap- or blank-firing model) that came with four shells. I have fired some BBs through it, but mostly I just like to shoot the gas. I assume since yours is loud, you don't have the airsoft? (Then again, loud is relative.)

One other thing: I was going for an MM1 look, without having to be truly faithful to the on-screen model (what I call "screen-possible"). For one thing, it doesn't have scrolling or checkering. I'd have to really scrub down the barrels to get a more faithful look (Max's gun is more bare metal than blued).

[Rook3]

Mine is the airsoft model, same as yours. It's been a while since I've fired ANY of my airsoft guns,
and since I've never fired the shotgun before now, I was suprised at how loud it really was.

I looked into buying the grip checkering tools a couple years ago, but they were expensive, and you
need like 3 or 4 different tools to do the job. I decided I can live with the smooth grips for now.

On a related note, I modded mine just as you did today. I steel wooled the grip frame section,
leaving a little black in the "details" to give it that "been chasing down moto-crazies" look.

I was torn on doing it initially, but I'm sold now. It looks great!

I also replaced my 1/16" thick white grip spacer with a 1/8" thick one. That made me happy
as I was never completely happy with the look of the thinner one. I still need to remove the
rear site on mine, but otherwise it looks pretty decent.





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