Given they were made in …what…2019…?
None of them have had a lick of oil since then…
Including the ones , brand new, in gbu boxes…
Surprised they haven’t rusted shut!
Agreed… for what it is, not bad. 
Soooooo many memories flooding back here guys, really enjoying this thread more than anyone would realise!
Yup, they are old technology and built prior to the standards that we expect today, but were very solid units in their day compared with most other products available at the time. 
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Good to be adding to @DocBob nostalgia!
I did test fire the gearbox on the bench yesterday, it now has a good punch of air coming out.
Hopefully get some time to see how it goes lobbing gels out that long barrel in the next day or two.
Oh fk now we get love letters haha wait till you see what I write on my box 
I did not say that 
I hit 9.9 down my quarter, split times were fkn good until I set my self on fire, there’s a glow on the horizon. I had phone calls are you burning yea it’s just me everythings fine haha funny as kick the tyres and light the fires
Haha I have written some interesting love letters inside gearboxes for a few people that say they don’t mess with gearboxes… but I knows they do!
Because they tend to ask why… and then I know haha!
I can’t repeat what’s in mine PG13+ rated
There a fella I know, I should do his gearbox up for him. Ah maybe not it might cry
I always “left my mark” on every single Hot Rod/Classic that I built somewhere inconspicuous, with messages depending upon whether they were personal thank you’s for great customers, or WARNING’s for those annoying people who would continuously fiddle around with shit and ruin all the work that I put into getting them to run smoothly and reliably. 
Well… @BME your ZB.26 is ready!
When I first got it, it struggles to feed, and when it did I don’t think it broke one gel in my famous styrofoam! It was comically low fps did provide some enjoyment at least!
Some interesting finds and tweaks on the blaster.
Parts used… 8mm slim bushes
Cylinder head o-ring
Piston, piston head and o-ring
Asg M115 spring. (Similar of SHS m100)
Slim bushes for ease of shimming, as there was very little room, and the stock bearings are the style known to fail with m100 springs.
Nozzle was cleaned and used a thinner slicker oil, stock was very thick and sticky. Worth noting the nozzle seals was not bad. Lucky because there are no nozzles for this thing!
Cylinder head oring sealed but had a piece hanging, so replaced to calm my OCD.
Nothing wrong with stock piston really, but it did have aoe correcting size head, which couldn’t be replaced, so new piston with an alloy head.
Removing aoe correction to embrace more volume is more beneficial to this thing so that’s the route I went. Extra mass of alloy head will help the long barrel issue too. And having a bearing in the piston will keep the spring tension similar… more on that coming!
As for the volume, removing 55mm of inner barrel, cleaning it as best I could, and super strength epoxy was squeezed into the tpiece crack, which I may have caused on removing it from the blaster despite being stressfullyl careful about it,the resign BME applied at least kept it in one piece and the crack was only barely visible, but enough I had to leave it better than I found it.
I did add an ldt slim hopup from AKgelblaster, which is set to poke out the outer barrel just enough so removing the muzzle leaves room to adjust. But keeps with the classic beastly aesthetic!
Now the asg m115 spring. They are longer than most springs by a decent amount, though are normally similar to an SHS m100 in terms of fps attainable.
I noticed wear the spring seats on the retainer is a good 5-10mm rearward of almost any gearbox.
So there would be less spring tension over the entire travel. This would cause the piston to accelerate slower, and have less pressure at the end of the stroke.
Now the goal on a under volume blaster should always be to accelerate the gel fast, and a piston assembly with mass to carry the pressure all the way.
Having the longer asg m115 spring will help. This is why I keep a variety of parts!
End result. It feeds, and does it mash styrofoam?
You bet!
There will be a video soon, and it won’t be a short one. Fun was had and it is always cool to work on something different.
Big Thanks to @BME for your patience, I took way longer with it than I hoped to, and really took it on at a stupid time, and then had a week struggling with the flu where I couldn’t even get the energy to get near it.
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Cool bananna’s!!
When Mosfets Fail, Old Tech Prevails…!! (TM BME from here on in!!)
Glad you enjoyed working on it…its certainly something different!! Definite blast from the past!
@Docbob will certainly chime in, but i seem to remember that they had to get rid of their ZB26’s pretty much as soon as they got them, over in WA.
Which denied them of the opportunity, to tinker around, and see whats its capable of.
Here’s the answer.
Concerning the blaster itself …is would seem the final verdict is, its definitely a flawed product.
The key weak spot is the flimsy and weak T piece…once it breaks, its game over…no replacements avail. Average performance OOTB…and not ever able to reach stellar heights. $300 is all i’d ever want to pay for one…the people who payed $700 got ripped.
Still, big thanks to @RokSolid for realising the potential, and putting all the unanswered questions to rest. Not a stellar performer, not a stellar feeder…but a historical item and of interest to period collectors.
It wont get a lot of use from me, not quite game to give it an extended workout.!! But, will sit as a interesting display piece.
Look forward to getting it back.!! And, checking out the vid…
Care to pull a spectre apart next.?.?
Thanks again for making the time to tame the beast…
I know you were sick with the flu/ busy working/ AKgelblastering etc etc…
Thanks again.!
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haha you just don’t stop, barely finishes one, here’s your next one haha. Sorry I couldn’t help but laugh.
Lucky you don’t engage me Beemer, nope shops shut today and that one get’s the 9"
It’s good though makes for entertaining reading for sure, good on you fellows, love it. 
Don’t worry…
we’re just 2 addicts…passing the pipe…!!
want a hit.???
Hey you wan’t to lay off that shit, I’ve seen many go down with that crap 
Who would have thought, black plastic could be so addictive…!!!
Maybe they ban it in NSW, for a reason…!
You should of seen the Sat night fire I had, well I invited Greta but she never fkn turned up! So I threw a tyre on and said how DARE YOU!
I had to send out smoke signals to the rest of the Indians anyway. Oh right fire at my place, lets go
I’m kinda curious why there’s a gel blaster version of this instead of the more well-known Bren gun.
I ain’t complaining tho, it’s nice to have gel versions of semi obscure guns
Yeah you hit the nail on the head about never getting the opportunity to develop the mods on the ZB26 any further due to the Bans. 
I at least got mine brand new out of the box and through the Chrono at 170-200 FPS, then immediately tore it apart and did the usual air seals and tweaks to get it to 250+ FPS, but never got the chance to dive deeper into realising its full potential. 
Never had any problems with the T-piece, but can see how the solid fixed mount could be a potential issue, but nothing that a bit of CA Glue or Epoxy couldn’t fix. 
The biggest issue was those weird arse Cylinder Head/Nozzle designs, which I was looking to order and test out those different model aftermarket Alloy versions that I posted previously to see if they were able to be adapted to fit, but the Bans beat me to it. 
I still love my slow old Kerchunk Kerchunk mechanical LMG’s, so it was never the goal to jam up that LOOOOOONG barrel with a high ROF, simply only to raise the FPS to around the 280-300 mark if possible to give the old classic a bit of punch to match its menacing looks and sounds.
I really did believe that a steady 270/280 FPS could be easily attained with the right combination of parts and time spent in the finer details, as the quality is there in the manufacturing and has a design that still lends itself to further performance modifications being available, and @RokSolid has just proven this with his magic touch!
Would have loved to have been able to spend more time on the ZB26 to showcase what I could have achieved with it, especially because at the time they were known for being pretty average performers OOTB.
DAMN YOU… now I gotta go and pick the bloody thing up again after all this talk! 
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This is because the ZB26 is known historically for being the Czech design that was stolen by the Germans in WW2 and copied by MANY countries to produce their own versions of ZB26 based on their “advanced for its time” design and engineering.
The Bren Gun was the British copy of the Czech ZB26, the Japanese copies were the Type 97 and Type 99 models, the Spanish produced the Fusil ametrallador Oviedo and the Germans developed their MG30T and MG26T, all directly from the ZB26 design/engineering that was captured after invading Czechoslovakia and taking over the Brno factories where the lehký kulomet ZB24/26/30/33 LMG’s were being manufactured.
This led to the Germans continuing their production, restamping them with Nazi markings and integrating them into their own armory supplies to their Troops throughout the War, which is where other Countries captured these weapons and copied their designs to be re-engineered into their own versions of these LMG’s.
So in answer to your question, the ZB26 is regaded as being the “Forefather” of where so many other countries copied its design to produce later model versions such as the Bren Gun, and all the others I have mentioned, that are much more famous and recognised than the original Czech ZB26 design that they were based off.
It’s the OG of the more well known LMG’s that people more commonly know by name and design, BUT without the ZB26, NONE of those other “famous” LMG’s would have ever existed!
(PS: yeah, I’m a bit of a ZB26 fanboi! )
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