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Around 6 months ago I wrote this article on the UK produced blowforwards, the Legend and the Paintmatic Nemsis.
https://paintballhistory.com/archives/320
I also created these videos on breaking down the Legend (although I refer to it at the Nemesis in the videos).
While researching originally I wasn’t able to find much information besides a few small articles in UK magazines, small web mentions and memories from Doug Brown of PSI Works.
Luckily an update on the Legend came several months back when Pete “Robbo” Robinson posted what he remembered in response to a questions I put up on the the Paintball Trivia facebook group.
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According to “Robbo”, Nicky Chapple was the public face (marketer/partner?) of the Legend and the original machinist was from an airgun background.
Robinson writes:
“The gun was called the legend and the guy who was selling it was Nicky Chapple who got banged up after getting caught smuggling cocaine into the UK. That gun was dead from the start because it never worked.”
Commenting on my original speculation of WDP’s (Who Dares Play) involvement in the Legend, Robbo went on to write, “Ged Green had nothing to do with the gun’s design or manufacture.”
Robbo also mentions that he was loosely involved by trying to help out Chapple with this paintgun:
“At the time they were trying to [get into] production, they were using my factory. I let them have about 500 square feet of my unit to try and rescue the gun but to no avail. The original designer of the gun came from the air-gun community but unfortunately was unable to make the damn thing work consistently.
Nicky Chapple ended up owing a lot of money to a lot of people; he didn’t owe me too much but for some reason felt he had to pay me back before his other creditors and he came round my house to pay me what he owed and doubled the amount he gave me … Would have been great except for one slight technical detail, they were forged notes.”
He did apologise and it was around that time i realised i wasn’t going to get paid. He couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag and so i resisted the obvious temptation of giving him a facial reconstruction and that was the last time i saw him. Our sport seems to attract soo many pricks it’s amazing.
Fun times eh?”
When put the first article together I wasn’t quite sure what separated the names of the two paintguns in question, the Legend and the Nemesis. Now I believe the valve operation/build is the defining factor.
The
two paintguns Mike “Cannon Fodder” Carter had found originally were the earlier style valves. But the seller Mike purchased these from had another example but didn’t want to get rid of it. He planned on converting it to pellets or some other devastating plan. This model looked slightly different.
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Paintball Games International (PGI) had published several articles and pictures showing the Legend, these did not have the fins on the rear asa and lacked the external milling on the reg.
The “Paintmatic Nemesis” article in the November ’92 issue of PGI showed a black blow forward with the later style milling (valve and reg) and what looked like a different valve and body.
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The two paintguns Mike and I received originally were later models with those milling changed but not the 2nd generation valve and body changes. I called the models of the Nemesis at the time but likey they are updated Legends.
Since we received our Legend paintguns I have begged Mike several times to ask the seller to sell us the spares and black model Legend/Nemesis he held onto. Telling Mike I would pay several hundread just for the spares and black paintgun. Well several months ago, Mike messaged me the seller finally decided to sell the spares for only 70 pounds and Mike was wondering if I was still interested. I was!
Well after a month or more of waiting Mike finally received the package, split them between us (so we would each have spares for our Legend/Nemesis paintguns) and mailed my half off.
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The package got stuck in customs and after almost a month of no updates on the USPS website (showing it was in Los Angeles being processed) I figured it was lost. But after giving customs a call they found it and I received it the next day!
I finally received this Black “Nemesis” on Thursday the 27th. Internally it’s missing a sear, preventing it from functioning immediately and externally the wood fore grip, the barrel and some reg parts aren’t in tact. But beside the sear the later style valve is complete!
The Legend I had received 6 months ago uses a similar sear so there is a chance a copy of the Legends sear will work in the Nemesis.
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Looking at the PGI article on the Nemesis the valve is close to the pictured valve but slightly different. This leads me to believe that this was the final evolution of this project and that more than 1 prototype was made by Paintmatic of this later design, “the Nemesis.”
Seeing this paintgun as a single body left feed likely indicate the following:
1. The original two paintguns that Mike and I received were actually Legends and not Nemesis paintguns.
2. The later external milling changes could indicate that Paintmatic made a few Legends before changing the valve and working on the Nemesis.
3. The Nemesis was either only prototyped in left feed or there was only one body made with two different valves, this being the later of the two before production stopped.
I will be posting another article and video soon showing the difference between the two valves.
Thanks to Mike “Cannon Fodder” Carter and Pete “Robbo” Robinson so help with this article.
Written material and pictures copyright Daniel Bacci
– baccipaintball.com and other owners.
Scans from magazines copyright their respective owners 2013.
For permission to repost please ask.
email for any reason at dan@baccipaintball.com
Man these are cool looking. I am always into the weird and different style guns (own a Tippmann C3 and Metadyne Thumper purely for the fact that they shoot differently than anything else ever.) Must somehow find away to get one of these in my collection.