Special Projects
Phoenix Rising – The ARES G36c from the ashes
The story of a Rebuild Bargain

PART FIVE – Player Feedback - The Final Installment
The mission is clear, A high end AEG for little cash! - was the mission achieved?

Bamf lets loose with the 'Phoenix'!
You could say I have a little bit of history with Heckler&Koch weapons partly due to my past experiences in the Army as part of the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) and getting the chance to play with some Real Deal H&K Weapons courtesy of the Bundeswehr unit based right next door and latterly on tour in Northern Ireland with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. So my history is scattered with G3’s, H&K 53’s and of course the more famous MP5. It was of course like many that I became smitten with the MP5 and hence my love of most things H&K.

After taking up airsoft, the MP5 was the only gun I would use. All things H&K were beautiful to me. That is, until the G36 was released. I've never been a fan of futuristic looking weapons and the G36 was exactly that to me. An anathema, destroying my perceptions of all that I loved about H&K. I felt betrayed! This clouded perception was reinforced after using a Double Eagle G36C, which was all I imagined a G36 to be...plasticky and creaky, certainly not worth any more of my precious time.

A Cheap G36c - with range!
I pretty much gave up all hope for H&K replicas after the Double Eagle incident, as I felt they'd taken a step in the wrong direction. This was all to change one fine day at SWAT Urban Area 51. I knew JJ had bought a cheap ARES G36c and had some successes with it, but as he'd paid such a minimal amount for it and given my experiences, my assumption was that it would be a pile of tat. How wrong can one be? Within minutes of the game starting, I saw John get a perfect kill at 45 meters plus!! I kid you not, he was right next to me and I was using my Classic Army B&T MP5A4. I stopped firing and turned to see if JJ had changed primary, but there was this "Cheap" G36C, still in his shoulder, putting rounds down!

Afterwards, I asked if I could look over it and asked what magic he'd worked on it. "None at all" was the reply? JJ had simply bought the gun in parts and had reassembled it. There was an issue with an air-seal, but as I'm not technically-minded, this went right over my head! As I stated earlier, I was expecting a lightweight piece of creaky plastic...I'm happy to say that this wasn't the case. Pleasantly surprised, this felt like the "Real-deal" it was solidly built, with a good weight to it. JJ allowed me the opportunity to use it on the range and I was more than impressed. This short dabble with "The Phoenix" had changed my mind completely.

A G36 Convert!
I was now an Ares convert! I was a little sad that a traded AEG of mine became unusable during a game one week and JJ offered to take a look to see if he could fix the problem with it and so I could carry on playing he offered me ‘Phoenix’. I couldn't believe my luck, as I knew JJ had performed some upgrades on it and was happy with its performance. If he was happy, I was ecstatic! The trigger response was crisp and the rate of fire was good, without being too fast. Rounds hit where I was aiming and I felt myself grinning like a Cheshire cat that here I was, with a £60 gun, taking on guys with rifles that cost many multiples of that and getting hits with it!

Re-Tasking
I've now tasked JJ with performing this same feat (or as close as he can) with my Ares UMP . I couldn’t trust it to more knowledgeable AirsoftGun-Tech. Cheers JJ!

I could sum up the ‘Project Phoenix’ G36c as an ‘Excellent bargain and the guy who sold it must be kicking himself (& his brother)’. JJ who sourced and pulled the project together has a wealth of experience and brought his knowledge to bear on what has turned out to be a really great (& cheap) 2nd user AEG, breathing new life into it.

A BIG THANKS to King Arms for some great Upgrade parts!... Thanks Joe for the comments on project ‘Phoenix Rising’....

Catch up with previous posts in this series:
Phoenix Rising Announced
Phoenix Rising PART ONE - Spotting the Bargain
Phoenix Rising PART TWO - The Build
Phoenix Rising PART THREE - Rise of The Phoenix
Phoenix Rising PART FOUR - The Phoenix Strikes

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Checkout the KingArms website for more great upgrade parts from shims, gears, mech boxes, motors and more plus their range of AEG's and accessories

This Article & pictures are copyright 2011 by Yossers Airsoft Odyssey © and John Williams and may not be be copied or reproduced without permission. You may link to this page.