Game in the Brain

• Organized and Meticulous. Admittedly, if you have these two traits (learned them or disciplined yourself to have them) then you can do anything.
• A more experienced Gunsmith and skilled internet research skill. If you have either and both, then you are on your way.
• Imagination. Note that to reduce risk and FUBAR to as low as possible, always research what you are about to do (see previous) and imagine all the fine details that may go wrong. Experience with do other projects helps develop the intuition for finding “Murphies”.

What you Need:

• The Work-desk. This is written for amature guys like me who cannot afford a dedicated workshop, but live in an apartment that can only afford space for a desk and a wall. The previous posts have notes on a workdesk and I recommend going to Unclutterer, LifeHacker, and Flickr for DIY workstations and workshops.
• Tools, Safety and Cleaning materials.
• Reference materials. Always have some reference materials, never go in blindly. If you are going to, be prepared for the consequences and the possibilities.

DIY airsoft is both Complex and Laborious. We reduce Complexity by researching the problem and breaking it down to simpler and simpler steps and processes. We develop systems that are compensate our amateur abilities by using our own problem-solving and resourcefulness to find others who will know the answer.

Labor is reduced by tools, but more importantly by taking careful note the processes and experiments done in spirit of Kaizen or scientific method. That attitude that looks at problems with the appreciation of their size but with the morbid curiosity of how to challenge it. Expectations are the main problem with labor, since failing them creates frustration and triggers factors that make this keen logical exercise burdened with distracting emotions. Particularly irrationalities like Sunk-cost effect, Cognitive Dissonance, Grass is greener, and all other irrationalities when attempting something for one’s benefit when there are economic considerations for the amount of work being done.

Building is a decision making process… and I can go on and on about this.