What would be a reasonable price for a MG34 or MG42, and for that price, what should be it's feautures?
I will eventually buy both the MG34 and MG42 as a collector, but I feel there is a need for a sturdy, lightweight version, maybe based on proven AK47 tech.
It should be strong enough to be thrown around, something I would never dare with a 1700$ toy (Europe prices) It also needs to be easily dismantled for storing and transport, accept run-of-the-mill mags without looking completely impossible. Repairs should be modular, cheap and hopefully unnecessary.
It should still look good enough to be a wall hanger, if not 110% true to all meassures. It doesn't to be right, but damn: it has to look right. The MG42 will be the simpler project, I think. More roomy.
Cocking handles should be gleefully noisy, but I don't need to change barrels or adjust sights for windage. Electric blowback would be great, but if so, it should be done with a different motor, perhaps placed in a wooden stock that can be taken apart in two halves, linked to a switch on the gearbox. Never mind sync, I just want a lot of drama. A weight out of balance and the right speed of the motor should do nicely. No ammo drums, just belt feed. Preferably real brass, but plastic from ebay will do. No movement, just rattling as it hangs there.
Reciever and barrel shroud made from one long stiff heavy duty 3-4mm black plastic sheets, cut and initially shaped using heat from an ordinary heat blower used for removing paint. Almost the way the real MG42s were made using stamping, and for the same reasons: strength and economy. That produces a long tube, that, with the insertion of tight fitting (...need the word) little plates glued in place for holding barrel ends and other tings, will be very stiff. It will not be twisted or bent, but is easily changed using a dremel, hack saw, filler and sanding paper.
I imagine to make a paper stencil, put it on the long black plastic sheet of all four sides, do the cutting to shape the far end of the shroud and shape the whole thing around an easily made wooden core, also made from a stencil, that can be taken out in the rear where the stock goes later. The reciever/barrel shroud keeps it shape as it cools of. Also, the wooden core makes the handling for drilling holes, gluing and sanding much simpler. For the metallic surface, I am working with some ideas to use black car bumper primer mixed or dusted while 'wet' with metal powder. I'm sure it'll stick on. But we'll see.
Stock made of laminated plywood (wooden stock) or MDF (black bakelite stock) to make things easier og cheaper, needing much less sanding. And some suggestions on home made tools.
Choice between AK47 pistol grip with 'decoration' or new grip all together ?- I don't know. I would personally go with the AK47-grip, and a little cosmetics. So, no complex cabling or hollowning out of stocks, everything buildt around an (upgradable) AK47 so anyone may fit a gun-quality of their choosing. Nothing technical falling apart. Close fit or very few adjustments. No metal welding tools needed. If you can build and paint a 1/72 airplane model, paint a wall or change a water tap with the help of a friend, you'll be able to assemble a MG42 with only a few f-words.
There was a kit for putting a MG42 (scaled down) on top of a cal.22 rifle around, something like that, but not at us$ 500,-. Come on, seriously. Something far cheaper to clip on a AK47 that you allready have or can easily get, even second hand, in perfect working order.
When you build stuff like this, it takes a try or two (and as for me, with 10 thumbs, more), but on the other hand: It seems foolish to build the jigs for a great Mont Blanc fountain pen, and then make only a single one. So if it is to any benefit to develop a practical solution that can be made accessible and copied easily - following specs from this group and perhaps some of the British guys - it makes a lot of sense.
This is the general idea
This is the scaled down US kit for a .22 long rifle
These are the parts we need to consider
And this is just to keep focus
And so is this. The kit up close. Not entirely hopeless, but absolutely room for improvements.