Kingman Group Spyder AMG LCDThis was on of the best blowbacks in existence up until Kingman released the VS2 a few years ago.
A Spyder uses part of the lower tube forward of the valve as an air reserve. When the gun is fired,...
This was on of the best blowbacks in existence up until Kingman released the VS2 a few years ago.
A Spyder uses part of the lower tube forward of the valve as an air reserve. When the gun is fired, the valve opens for a split second, allowing some of the air to go out. When the valve closes, the reserve has lost some air and is recharged by the air source.
At high rates of fire, some Spyders tend to let out air from the reserve faster than the air source can refill it, leading to some Spyders to uncock at high rates of fire. The AMG addressed this issue.
In a full body Spyder of the old days, the lower tube is has its full length like on the AMG, but a tiny hole is drilled at its front bottom to fit a hose. This hole was tiny and restricted airflow, slowing down the recharge of the air reserve.
In a compact body Spyder that is common these days, the front of the lower tube is cut off to make room for a vertical adaptor (commonly called the Spyder front block or VA). This lost volume of the reserve may be compensated by a low pressure chamber attached to the vertical adaptor, but the adaptor itself has more restrictive air pathways than an empty lower tube portion, so recharge rate to the reserve is somewhat compromised.
The AMG left the lower tube intact like the old full body, maximizing the air reserve volume. In addition, the hole at its front bottom, where the air comes from, is drilled comparably larger than a regular full body, maximizing air flow. To take it one step further, the foregrip (which looks like a magazine clip) is one large expansion chamber, which can work as another reserve. Add all these together and you have one giant air reserve that recharges quickly, greatly reducing the chance of a recock failure.
However, all is not gravy. The larger air source hole forced Kingman to seek a new way to attach the foregrip. The result is a foregrip that is exclusive to the AMG, resulting in the AMG being incompatible to all other foregrips. Worse, the Achille's heel of the AMG is its regulator. This is the old style Kingman regulator that is integrated to the bottom line air source adaptor. At that time, Kingman was not very good at making regulators, so the AMG's regulator was not very good at outputting a nice flow, which led to some AMG's to suffer recocking issues despite its large volume and flow. It didn't matter that the reserve is larger and higher flowing than the other Spyders: as soon as the worst weaknesses were cured, the second worst ones take over.
There were cure to both these problems: after market regulator adaptors allowed users to replace the foregrip with one of their choosing and good quality after market bottom line regulators were also available. However, both are rare to find these days since the AMG is an old gun by today's standard. In any case, using the regulator adaptor will force you to abandon the large reserve of the proprietary foregrip, so it was a solution that forced to to give up some things.
The difference between the AMG LCD and the AMG Classic was the board. The Classic had an LED board while the AMG had an LCD display. It was a good thing to be able to see all your settings at a glance without having to memorize what the lights mean or having to use dip switches to change settings.
On my personal AMG LCD, I have replaced the stock regulator with a female Palmer Stabilizer, and disregarding the recoil of a blowback, I find the gun capable in it otherwise stock form. Add an aftermarket barrel to it (because Kingman also had bad quality barrels back then) and a fast enough hopper to prevent chops and I had a somewhat heavy gun (acceptable weight back in its day) that performed when I needed it to.
One thing worthy of mentioning is its grip frame. This was one of the rare Spyders that used in-line holes for the ASA. This is one of the two early Kingman guns (the other being the Fenix) I know of that was lucky enough to have this. For some reason, Kingman decided to revert back to the annoying offset holes, and did not make another gun with in-line holes again until 2007.
Another interesting point to note about the grip frame is its solenoid. Other Spyder electric guns had the solenoid set up so it moves horizontally. This was one of the culprits for recoil to some extent. The AMG frame has the solenoid set up for vertical movement, reducing that unwanted effect to an extent. This design was exclusive to the AMG, and was not done again until 2007 on the VS2.
Sadly, this grip frame was also exclusive to the AMG, and cannot be made to fit other Spyders without heavy modding.
The Spyder AMG LCD is compatible with conventional Spyder upgrades like valve, main spring, barrel, detents, classic boards, inline ASA's, Spyder e-frame panel grips, feed neck with holes, slim body striker and left side cocking bolt. It is incompatible with other vertical adaptors foregrips, triggers, trigger frames, and valve springs.
Compared to the similarly priced guns of today, I would look for a VS1. The AMG was made during a time when eyes were more expensive. As such, it is a blind gun and will chop without a faster hopper. The VS1 has eyes to prevent that from happening. Of course, if you want to modify this gun to accept eyes for a personal gun project, this is a great Spyder starter since it is a unique enough gun to begin with.
Appearance: I think the gun came in black and blue versions with chrome accents. The look of the foregrip may not be favorable to some while others love it.
Performance: this is definitely one of the better Spyders before the VS2.
Reliability: I still had recocking issues with the stock regulator. After I replaced it with a female Palmer Stabilizer, the problem went away. Subsequent upgrades improved performance. It also has no eyes, so I would watch my firing rate to reduce the chances of chopping unless you have a fast hopper on.
Value: this depends on the price and treatment of the previous owner now, since you are not likely to get a new-in-box one these days. I am going to say a good condition one is worth about $100 currently.
This review has been rated:
Currently 5/5 stars.
Kingman Group Spyder AMG LCDThe Spyder AMG is a great gun. It shoots better then most classic Spyders, IMO, because the grip frame is closer to the foregrip so it's comfortable, it's durable and can take lots of beatings and...
The Spyder AMG is a great gun. It shoots better then most classic Spyders, IMO, because the grip frame is closer to the foregrip so it's comfortable, it's durable and can take lots of beatings and I've given mine a slave drive a couple times. (No offense to the African-American race; I love ya guys!) It has a good upgrade-ability to it if you;re creative. It's a classic to people may find it just a little hard to find one. My only coplaint is that it's a little heavy to me.
This review has been rated:
Currently 4/5 stars.
Kingman Group Spyder AMG LCDWhen I first got back into speedball back in 2002 this was the gun I chose. I was on a team where all of us used Spyders. We mopped up other teams using Timmies and Impulses (hey days at the time)....
Very Reliable, Great Design, Sturdy, No Cheap Feel
Cons:
Feedneck (like all older Spyders)
When I first got back into speedball back in 2002 this was the gun I chose. I was on a team where all of us used Spyders. We mopped up other teams using Timmies and Impulses (hey days at the time). The AMG performed awesome for me. At the chrono I hardly had to adjust anything. It would consistently shoot +/- 5 fps, and even over 3 months of use it still held the same without any adjusting. On the field it fired a constant 10-12 bps (although I did lighten the trigger spring). I used this gun for well over a year until the team disbanded. Definitely well money spent! Spyder needs to come out with an AMG2.
This review has been rated:
Currently 1/5 stars.
Kingman Group Spyder AMG LCDI bought one of these as my first electronic gun and kept upgrading it to match the performance of other more expensive guns. I loved it but upgrades for the foregrip were really rare and hard to...
I bought one of these as my first electronic gun and kept upgrading it to match the performance of other more expensive guns. I loved it but upgrades for the foregrip were really rare and hard to find. It always shot good from the day i bought it.
