Article published by 68caliber.com
Old School Marker, New School Performance
By Dale Ford
May 1, 2006, 22:16
With new markers coming out every year, the natural desire of most players is to have the latest and greatest. For this reason, there's always a huge number of used markers for sale. For the budget conscious, this is great news, because so long as he's willing to settle for last year's model, he can have a hot marker at a fraction of the price of new.
For instance: I bought a 2001 GZ Intimidator on eBay for $430. It was one of those 'package' deals, with the marker, and air system and a hopper. The idea was that I could, over time, upgrade the marker to today's performance standards, maximizing performance while minimizing the cash outlay.
The test marker arrived in much better shape than I anticipated. Aside from two minor scratches on the body, the marker and air system were in mint condition. When I opened up the grip frame to assess the condition of the internals, I noted that the trigger had the original coil spring behind it, which was normally one of the first things removed. I tried firing the marker, but found that the coil spring made the trigger pull pure misery. I removed the spring and shot the marker with paint, and found it to be very smooth and accurate. Once I had the regulators set up correctly, the marker shot like nobody's business, albeit slowly since the stock SOB board was effectively capped at 14bps.
The GZ Intimidator was one of the first 'custom' Intimidators, made for Team Ground Zero, which at the time was one of the best teams in the sport. They went on to become NXL Team NYX. The GZ was unique in that the grip frame was a true .45 style, rather than the odd shape that stock Intimidators were using at the time. The GZ is a relatively common version of the Intimidator, and they have a reputation for being one of the better made, more reliable models. When I took the stock marker out to a local field to try it out, I had to explain to several younger players what it was. One of the downfalls of the GZ was that it is cosmetically challenged by the frame, which looks out of place on the marker.
In the following paragraphs I will detail how I upgraded the marker to be used in today's competitive field of play. One of the nice things about the Intimidator is that there's quite a few upgrades available for it, which makes the early model Intimidators ideal for updating for use today.
The Regulators:
Stock the Intimidator comes with the Torpedo, which is a good all-around regulator. The test marker was upgraded with an Air America Messiah, with an Air America Armageddon air system put on a 3? flame drop forward to shorten the setup. In 2001 this was a typical setup, with the train of thought being that it would be easier for a player to tuck in with the compact setup. For use in today's world, I set the marker up to use a low pressure screw-in regulator, in this case a Centerflag Products 420SV. To attach the 420SV to the marker, I used a Custom Products Direct Mount ASA to take advantage of the on/off on the 420SV.
For the inline regulator, I upgraded to a Centerflag Hyperinline, using the High Pressure model, but installing the included low pressure spring to reduce the regulator's output range into the low pressure realm. The marker was originally equipped with an Air America Messiah inline regulator, to complement the Armageddon feeding the marker. One thing I did find out was that the Messiah requires a high pressure input of 700-900 psi. If I tried to run the Armageddon at a lower output into the Messiah, the marker shot down badly and chopped like nobody's business.
The Air America Armageddon was sold to offset some of the costs of the upgrades. A teammate bought it from me for $100, since the hydro date on the air system's bottle had only a year left on it.
The low pressure regulator I left alone, because it proved to be in nearly perfect condition, only needing some grease on the piston oring to get it up to snuff. For those who want to update the LPR, there are several companies offering upgrade LPR's.
The Grip Frame
The biggest change made to the marker involved the grip frame. The original grip frame was a 'true' .45 style frame. The vertical portion of the grip is set towards the back of the marker, which makes for an overly long setup when using a screw in air system. The Alias (2004-2005) generation Intimidators used a grip frame with the vertical portion set more towards the middle of the marker, giving a more balanced setup once a screw in regulator is attached to the ASA. B.L.A.S.T sells a grip frame to ?'05? an earlier model Intimidator, to take advantage of the '05 frame's grip placement.
Critical Paintball also makes a grip frame called the FRM II, which can accommodate the older markers' boards and solenoids. The Critical frame also boasts Critical's popular trigger, which incorporates a magnetic return, rather than depending on the micro switch on the board or a spring to provide a trigger return. Since first shooting an '03 Shocker, and later the G7 platformed Angels, I really prefer to use a magnetic return. Coupled with the Critical trigger, the FRM II's magnetic return offers the best trigger pull you can find on an Intimidator. The Critical frame also has the advantage of being externally adjustable, which helps in getting the trigger set up to your personal tastes.
Yet another advantage of the Critical frame is an advertised weight which is 10% lighter than the standard '05 frame from Bob Long. For those on a budget, being able to use the stock SOB board while you save up for an upgrade board is a good option to have. Since the FRM II can accommodate pre-Alias generation boards and solenoids, it opens up the options available to you the player. If you're okay with using a board for an older model Intimidator such as the WAS and Entropy Boards, then you can save yourself the expense of going to an Alias compatible board. With an MSRP of $199, the FRM II is most often the same price as the '05 frame from Bob Long, but has added features that made it my choice.
To top off the upgrades to the grip frame, I added a pair of Hybrid ?Lady? grips, which not only really look nice on the marker, but had the added effect of offending my wife, which is always an important feature.
The Board
It was very common for players to immediately upgrade their board in their early generation marker to make the marker faster. Wicked Air Sportz (WAS) was one of the more popular brands at the time, and even today they're more than adequate. If you take the time and effort to update the software, you can have all of the enhanced modes that some tournament series require.
For this marker, I chose the Tadao Technologies Infamous M6 board, which is an Alias generation board. It features every conceivable mode of fire available, including NPPL 'true' Semi, Capped Semi, two versions of PSP Ramping, NXL Full Auto, and Millenium Series modes.
The M6 programming is a step up from the M5 programming, adding the ?Gangster? modes which are illegal for use in any reputable tournament series. The Gangster modes allow the player to set up 'Breakout' modes, which a player can use to shoot extra fast during the breakout. However, since these modes of fire are illegal for use in a regulated tournament setting, Will Roberson of Tadao made sure that these modes are very easy for officials to catch. The M6 programming also includes incremental tweaks to the eye and trigger algorithms, which make this the smoothest and fastest Tadao Intimidator board yet. The Infamous M6 board has an MSRP of $140, which puts it squarely in line with pricing on other aftermarket boards such as the Advantage Virtue and Hater Paintball Malicious Intent boards.
Since I chose an Alias-Generation board, I had to modify the wiring to the original marker to make it compatible with the board. I had to buy an eye splitter harness, the power/solenoid harness, and a membrane pad to make sure the board would work with the marker.
I found that the 5 year old GZ's eyes had passed into the great beyond, so I replaced them with WAS eyes from Wicked Air Sportz. The original eye covers decided it was their time to pass on as well, so I replaced them with System X Zorro eye covers bought on eBay for next to nothing.
Bang for the Buck
Once I had the marker set up for use, it shot just like the Alias platform Intimidators, which were the state of the art until the introduction of the '06 Intimidators. Several players commented that the GZ body made for a heavier setup than the later model Alias, A-Bomb, and Ripper bodied Intimidators. The smoothness of the stock gun stayed with the marker after the upgrades, which made it very controllable, even during periods of high rates of fire. The updated regulators had no problems keeping the marker fed with air, despite the demands the Infamous board was putting on the marker.
Financially it worked out like this:
Marker: $430
FRM II Grip Frame: $199
Tadao Infamous M6 Board: $140
Hybrid ?Lady? Grips $25
Centerflag Hyperinline: $59
Custom Products ASA: $25
$878 total
-$100 (sold un-needed air system)
Which gives a total investment of $778 for a marker which will compete favorably with markers costing from $1000 and up. If you already own an early generation Intimidator, then obviously you don't have to factor in the cost of the donor marker. If taken in steps, it's possible to spread out the update to accommodate just about any budget. The Membrane Pad and harnesses add roughly $50 to the price, which can be eliminated by using a board compatible with the older model Intimidators. I was also told that the eyes don't go out very often, so I didn't factor in the cost of replacing them either. These same mods can be applied to any early model Intimidator, which can be often found for a lower price than the GZ I used for this article.
With the right combination of proper buying, patience, and skill, it's possible to take equipment from paintball's history and make it competitive in today's game.
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