Introduction: Ultimate Nerf Demolisher With Integrated Shotgun, Upgraded Motors and More!
This guide will show you how I built/modified my Nerf Demolisher that I call the Devastator. I made a similar instructable in the past where i showed how i integrated an XBZ to convert the rocket launcher into a shotgun. I really wanted to take this blaster to the next level, so I've decided to modify this blaster much more heavily. I will leave the old instructable intact, and may end up reusing some of the original images where relevant. The entire process will be be covered here in this instructable.
Mods include:
Full Rewire, lock removal, rev switch replacement
Motor, flywheel cage and flywheel replacement
XBZ (extreme blastzooka) integration with 4-dart shotgun attachment w/ smart A/R system
Adding additional tactical rail on the rear of the blaster
building a battery stock to house the 2s Lipo battery
custom paint job
In this project, i used several 3d printed pieces. I did not design any of these items, i found them all on thingiverse. If you need things 3d printed and you don't have access to a 3d printer, check your local library. I had all of these pieces printed at my local library for a reasonable price.
Step 1: Items Used
Nerf Demolisher blaster
Air Warriors Extreme Blastzooka
Air Warriors Wizard barrel assembly
Nerf Recon stock
Nerf Recon Light Accessory
Nerf Vortex Nitron Scope
Nerf Maverick priming slide
Nerf Modulus Proximity Barrel
Nebo CSI Edge flashlight
Meishel 2.0 motors x2
new microswitch
16awg stranded wire
xt60 connector set x2
a few inches of 1/2" cpvc pipe
a ¾" to ½" cpvc elbow
a ¾" to ½" cpvc coupler
a ½" cpvc male to female elbow
a four inch section of 1.5" PVC
a 1" pvc end cap
1 push nut (any size)
Tools:
Dremel w/ cutting disk and sanding drum
Soldering Iron w/ solder
various screwdrivers
x-acto knife set with various blades
blue painters tape (get the good stuff, it is worth it)
heat shrink tubing
electrical tape
PVC primer/cement
2 part clear epoxy
bench grinder or belt sander
drill
PVC pipe cutter
Paint:
Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric Dye - Flat black
Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric Dye - Charcoal Gray
Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric Dye - Silver
Duplicolor Metalcast Purple
VHT Wheel Paint - Gloss Clear
Step 2: Open It Up
Open up the blaster by removing all of the screws. Take pictures of the internals for easier reassembly. Once you have documented their locations, remove all of the internal parts and set them aside safely for later.
Step 3: Separate the Shell Pieces (only Required If You Are Painting the Blaster)
If you are not planning on painting your blaster, then you do not need to perform this step.
Each side of the shell comes apart in two pieces, however they are solvent welded together. You must be careful when separating the two pieces, if you try to just pull them apart, you will most likely damage them. I've only taken one of these apart, but mine was stuck together in only one place: at the top, directly in front of the jam door. I managed to get them apart quite easily using an x-acto knive with a flat ended chisel blade. I just pressed the blade into the gap between the two halves and rocked it back and forth until it cut through. This was very simple and did not damage either part of the shell.
Step 4: Open the Blastzooka
To open the Blastzooka, you must pry of the orange ring at the end, just squeeze and pull.Pry of the firing button bezel.Remove all of the screws and open the shell.remove the internals.
Step 5: Prepare the Air Tank
In order for the xbz tank to fit in the missile launcher tube, you will need to remove the orange barrel and the pump section. Cut both of these off using your pipe cutters or a saw. In the first picture, i left a section of orange barrel, but you need to cut it off as close to the white section as possible. The second picture shows how shortly i cut it off, although here it has already been painted black and wrapped in electrical tape, which you will need to do later.
Step 6: Prepare the Plunger Tube
Cut the missile launcher barrel and elbow off of the pump tube, leaving just a small section below the mounting screw. you will need to ream out the small hole so that it is large enough for a section of ½ cpvc pipe to fit through.
Step 7: Build and Attach the Pump Plunger Tube
I originally designed this to use the Demolisher plunger to pump up the Blastzooka tank, however upon completing this, it was apparent that it was not going to work. The Demolisher plunger is approximately four times the surface area of the Blastzooka plunger, which makes it four times harder to pump. It was all I could do to pump it four or five times, and my children couldn't pump it at all. I ended up redesigning it so that it uses the original Blastzooka plunger which has been relocated inside the Demolisher plunger tube.
You should dry fit everything before gluing. start by attaching the the ¾" to ½" elbow to the back of the air tank. you will probably need to sand the back side flat to get it to fit in the shell.attach a ¾" to ½" cpvc coupler to the section of pump tube you cut off of the Blastzooka. Then attach the ½" cpvc elbow. this assembly should slide into the Demolisher pump tube. you may need to sand down a little bit of the elbow in order for it to line up with the hole on top.then cut a small section of ½" cpvc pipe to connect the two pieces.trim the Blastzooka pump tube so that it sits flush with the end of the Demolisher tube
Some of these photos show an a pvc fitting on the end of the pump, these photos are from an old design, please ignore that part. Once i glued it together, i was unable to take it apart for updated photos.
Step 8: Cut Away Shell to Fit Xbz Tank
Because of the increased thickness of the tank, some of the supporting plastic will need to be carved away to allow the assembly to fit.
Step 9: Prepare the XBZ Pump
Cut the Blastzooka plunger to length. cut out a small slot on either side.Cut the end off of the Demolisher plunger, leaving just enough to attach them together. I had to use my Dremel to cut away a few supports. slide the two pieces together. I drilled two small holes at the back of the plunger shaft to line up with the screw holes already on the orange piece and threaded in two of the screws from the Blastzooka shell.It probably wouldn't hurt to glue these together as well.
This will allow you to attach the xbx plunger to the pump handle of the demolisher.
Step 10: Create the Firing Button
I used some leftover bits from old blaster locks and such to make a small button i could use to activate the xbz valve. Drill a small hole in the side of the shell directly above the xbz pushbutton valve, I used a small spring to keep it from rattling. I forgot to take a picture of this before assembly.
Step 11: Build the Shotgun Attachment
This part is dramatically different than my original instructable. This is a four dart shotgun attachment that has air restrictors intact. This way when you fire it, if one dart is looser than the others it will fire first, then the air restrictor will close, causing the air to go through the other barrels. It also means that if you only load up 1, 2 or 3 darts, it will still fire.
You start by removing the barrel section from an air warriors Wizard blaster. You will need to plug the center hole with hot glue.
Next, take your 1 1/4" to 1/2" pvc reducer busing and cut both ends off so it doesn't stick out of the blaster as far. This is optional, but improves the appearance.
Paint the pvc bushing, i used black vinyl dye
Finally, using 2part epoxy or other preferred adhesive, attach the wizard barrel to the pvc bushing, making sure the seal is air tight.
Step 12: Add Rear Tactical Rail.
One of the biggest design flaws of the demolisher is the lack of tactical rail at the rear of the blaster. There is nowhere to effectively attach a scope of any kind except for at the front end of the blaster, which looks stupid.
I cut the rail section from the priming slide from a broken Nerf Maverick blaster. Since the top of the demolisher is not flat, i used some epoxy putty to fill in the bottom side of the rail section so it would sit level on the blaster. Once that was dry, i attached the rail section to the blaster using clear 2 part epoxy. i sandwiched a piece of wax paper between the two halves of the rail and the shell to prevent them from being glued together.
You will notice that my blaster shell has already been painted here, this is because i decided to add the rail later in my build process. I would recommend adding the rail before painting if I were doing it again.
Step 13: Build Your Battery Stock
The demoisher battery tray is not designed in a manor that will allow you to fit a reasonably sized lipo battery pack. To deal with this, i built a battery stock.
Originally, i was using the barrel section from a super soaker lightning storm to hold the battery, but i have since decided to make a giant replica duracel battery instead. Ignore the large orange cylinder in the pictures.
Cut a 4" piece of 1.5" PVC pipe, clean up the cuts.
shave down two small sections at the bottom where it will come into contact with the grooves in the stock. (you could also just remove the grooves if you wanted. I decided to keep them, which helps prevent the battery from turning.
grind down the 1" pvc end cap so that it will fit into the end of your pipe.
cut it off so just the end remains
insert it into the pipe to make sure it fits, then take it back apart
paint your tube black using vinyl dye
paint the end cap silver
once the dye is dry, tape off the bottom section and paint the top part with metallic copper paint, i used krylon fusion.
after it is all dry, place the silver end cap inside the end, i used a rubber mallet because it was a tight fit. once it is done, glue on the push nut to replicate the positive terminal.
drill a few holes in the stock to allow the wiring to run from the rocket basket to the stock attachment point. the hollow section inside should be enough space to hold the xt60 connector when the stock is attached.
I decided to add some pieces from a recon stock. This makes the stock a little longer and just makes it look better in my opinion. I had to use a dremel to cut a few notches in the plastic to get it to fit.
Step 14: Prep Your Blaster for Painting
before you paint your blaster, you need to sand it. The vinyl dye will adhere to the plastic much better if you rough it up a little. I used 150 grit sand paper and a sanding sponge to do this. Make sure to remove all of the factory paint, since the dye will not cover this. This is by far the worst part of the project. I also taped over the battery tray so i wouldn't get paint on the electrical contacts.
Once you are finished sanding, wash it off with soap and water and allow it to dry completely.
Step 15: Paint Your Blaster (black Base Coat)
I opted for a four color paint scheme with silver and metallic purple for the main colors, plus the original dark gray and orange for the smaller detail pieces and accessores. I used duplicolor vinyl dye because it goes on great, is very durable and bonds with the plastic. It can still scratch off, but is much better than standard paint.
The purple metalcast paint requires a shiny silver basecoat or it looks like crap. Since the silver vinyl dye doesn't cover bright colors very well, this had to be done in several stages.
I started by taping off the parts that i didn't want to change, such as the orange barrel and the gray hand grips
Next, i applied a black vinyl dye base coat. start by painting from the inside first, then flip it and paint the outside. this helps make sure you cover all the hard to reach areas such as the seams in inside small openings. the vinyl dye dries to the touch in just a few minutes, so this goes quickly.
Step 16: Paint Your Blaster (silver)
After the black was dry, i applied a few coats of silver vinyl dye. The silver covers over the black very well. It also works well over charcoal gray. Once the silver was was dry, i let it sit 24 hours.
Step 17: Paint Your Blaster (Metallic Purple)
Next comes the metallic purple. This paint is translucent and requires a shiny silver basecoat. I wanted to keep some of pieces silver, some times i wanted only certain sections of a piece to remain silver, this is where i taped those sections off with blue painters tape and trimmed them with an x-acto knife. Take your time and make sure the tape is pressed down firmly along the edges.
Once you are satisfied with your taping, begin painted the purple just like before. start on the back side first, then flip it and paint the front. This paint is not vinyl dye, so therefore it takes much longer to dry. I waited 10 minutes between each coat, i used about 3 coats on the front. Once i was happy with that, i left the pieces sit for 7 days to fully cure.
Step 18: Detail Painting
I wanted to paint in some of the details, such as the nerf logos and demolisher text. I did this with a fine tip silver paint marker. I didn't do the greatest job here and i'm not 100% happy with the way it turned out, but from a few feet away, it looks awesome.
Step 19: Clear Coat
In order to protect your paint job, you should apply a clear coat. I opted for VHT gloss clear automotive wheel paint. It is designed to protect painted car wheels from chipping due to rocks, so it should be fairly durable. Apply several light coats, about 10 minutes apart. Don't touch it for the first few hours, try not to handle it at all if you can help it. Let it sit and cure for 7 days.
Step 20: Replace Motors
remove the factory flywheel cage and set it aside.
I'm using a 3D printed Open Flywheel Project (ofp) 43mm cage, Meishel 2.0 motors and Worker flywheels in this build. the stock demolisher cage and flywheels are of unusual dimensions, they are tall wheels with deep mounted motors. when trying to install the new cage, the motors will bottom out against the shell before the cage drops into place. this will require cutting some small holes in the inner shell of the blaster. Unless you screw up real bad, you will barely notice once it is re-assembled.
Install the new motors into the new cage, screw them down, and press the flywheels on, making sure they are not pressed on so far that they scrape the inside.
Step 21: Cut the Shell for the Motors.
place the cage into the blaster and mark the locations where the motors come in contact with the shell. use a dremel or other cutting device to cut out holes in the inner shell large enough for the motors to fit through. make sure to leave enough room for the wires to fit through as well.
Step 22: Install Your Flywheel Cage
Install the cage back into the blaster and wire it up. Once the outer shell is placed back on, you will not be able to see the holes you cut, except for through the small gap near the side tactical rail. i opted to 3D print a small piece as a filler to cover this up. I did not create this piece, i found it on thingiverse and sent it to my local library to be printed.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3047997
Step 23: Rewire
Replace the stock wiring with heavier guage wire. this will handle the higher votage and current you are providing. Here i'm using 18awg wire. Solder the wires to the approprate terminals on the motors, then route them through the holes in the shell so the wire passes between the two halves of the shell and don't interfere with the magazine.
the black wire will run directly to your xt60 connector for the battery, the red wire will run to the new rev switch, and then from the switch to the battery.
you will need to trim away some of the plastic in order to install the new switch.
these wires end at an xt60 connector that is mounted at the stock attachment point. this way you can plug in your battery stock.
If using a volt meter, connect the black wire to the ground anywhere, i just attachted it at one of the motor terminals. The red wire runs to the jam door NC terminal, and the other wire runs from the common terminal to the positive battery lead. this way the volt meter only turns on when the jam door is open. when it is fully closed, it will turn off.
Step 24: Build Tactical Light
I decided to convert a nerf recon tactical light (completely useless) into a flash light. This was a simple process. Open up the recon light, remove the LED assembly
Remove the tail cap switch from a nebo csi edge flashlight.
use a dremel to remove some of plastic bracing in the shell so that the flashlight will fit in
i used pieces of an old pen to create an insert that will slide in where the original battery went in. this connects the positive wire where the tip of the AA battery would have been. connect the negative wire to the threaded section of the flashlight body and wrap it in electrical tape.
connect the two wires to the terminals on the recon light's battery tray. this light originally ran on a single AA, now it will run on a single AAA battery. i rewired the battery tray so that only one battery is needed.
place it all back together to make sure it fits.
i painted mine with charcoal gray vinyl dye and silver vinyl dye for the accent pieces. since there are slots on either side that are now open, i cut two small pieces of PVC pipe and glued them in place to fill in the holes, they are also painted silver.
Step 25: Prepare Other Accessories
This blaster is looking awesome, so naturally it needs some matching accessories to finish it off.
Since we added that additional rail, now we can mount a scope. I opted for the Vortex Nitron scope, since i like the looks of it the best. The unit is solvent welded together, so i opted so simply tape it up and paint it while still together. I decided to keep the bulk of it the dark gray that it originally was, but i wanted to add some silver and purple to match my theme. just like the other pieces, i started with a black vinyl dye base coat, then silver vinyl dye. then purple metal cast, and finally clear.
I also had a 3d printed dart holder printed up in gray, but decided that it should be silver as well. it will mount on the front rail.
I painted the white section on my barrel extension purple to match the blaster, i finished it off by painting in the nerf logo with a silver paint maker, before clear coating it.
i also painted the yellow bits of recon stock that i attached to my demolisher stock. this gives me a good bit of color all the way around.
Step 26: Re-Assemble
Put everything back together, skipping all unnecessary locks and pieces.
Step 27: Enjoy
Attach you accessories, load up some magazines and enjoy!
Step 28: 3D Printed Accessories
I recently decided to update this blaster with some 3d printed accessories.
I designed a new XBZ actuator lever to make it easier to fire, a tank support ring to keep the tank in place, and with a new custom firing button to add a little visual flare.
i designed a new barrel attachment and shroud to cover the shotgun, as well as a new battery stock. The stock holds a lipo battery with an xt60 connector inside.
all of the pieces were designed by me using the free Tinkercad software.
