I decided to start an airsoft business on the tiny island of Utila, Honduras - this is the ongoing saga........

Real time update 22FEB23
I was wondering before we opened up the boxes last night, how the hell they fit everything in the boxes in front of me. The answer was, they didn't. There were things missing. Things like my boots, the marshal vests, the whistles, the ghillie suit, ALL of the face and eye pro sets and a few other small things. We unpacked everything, I did an inventory of both what we had and what was missing and was sitting down gathering the tracking numbers for the missing stuff, when my neighbor called out over the fence. This neighbor is one of the island tuk tuk drivers and always handles our deliveries from the main shipper. Bear in mind, it was after 10 pm when he called over the fence. I stopped what I was doing and went outside to see what he wanted, and lo and behold, he had another 6 or 7 small boxes that contained almost everything we were missing. Seems the original shipper went ahead and shipped those boxes instead of shipping them to the second shipper - I did not know this (great communication throughout this whole process). The only things we are missing now is 2 sets of Evicke mesh eye pro, which you all have talked me out of using anyway, and the box of 50 CO2 cartridges which I knew was going to miss the boat due to Amazon changing the delivery date a few days back from the original. Perfect timing for the rest to show up like that! I am happy!
The general unboxing was a mess, but I will try to salvage some of the footage and do a voice over that makes some kind of sense instead of our joking around and basically laughing the whole way through it all.
Next up on the agenda is finish the requirements for the business license, talk to the 4 major land owners here in search of the perfect field, and get the platforms ready (adjust hop ups etc) over the next week or so.
Question for the knowledgeable here - Our Novritsch SSX23 came with an orange tip in front of the threads for the suppressor which actually blocks us from putting the suppressor on the pistol. Will the boiling water, pliers trick work for getting that pesky piece of crap off of there? I don't see any pin holding it in there, so I am thinking it is just glued. Appreciate the knowledge drop from anyone who may have done that before.
That's it for today, we are closer!
Sarge out

Real time update 23FEB23
My wife left for the States yesterday, so I took advantage of today to sleep in and just generally be lazy without my "voice of conscience" bothering me.
A few things were accomplished today in the airsoft realm though. I did get the orange tip of the SSX23, Turns out on this pistol, only a very thin piece of plastic is glued inside the thread housing for the suppressor, so a slight grip with the pliers and a gentle but growing force simply snapped it off flush with the suppressor thread crown, so all good! No mess, no fuss. Done. I also took one of the two longer sections out of the suppressor body, took out the Novritsch foam, and replaced all but two of the pieces with brillo pad. Took a while to get them cut just right to fit, then core out the center holes to ensure no interference with the BB on the way through. I am waiting on a propane 1 lb tank from the mainland that should be here tomorrow, and then I will run practical tests between no
suppressor, the full length with the Novritsch foam, then the shortened version with the Novritsch foam and finally with my adaptation to it. The videos I have seen on youtube are VERY difficult to gauge in sound reduction, so as a matter of practicality, I am going to do a test between them with the distance at which my partner can no longer hear it at all. That will give us solid information in real terms how much the sound is reduced and how much of a difference it does or does not make in the field.
I also have ordered some flat paint to do a proper camo paint job on this pistol. Couldn't find any of that either on island or in the mainland either. Life on a small island - it is great but has it's downside as well.
That's it for today!
Sarge out

Real time update 27FEB23
Well, Everything arrived and it's been sitting down in the apartment since. Today I was able to get the Novritsch SSX23 out for the first time. I am impressed with this platform. I have to forget about how the real weapon feels when it is used and remember that this is a toy used in a game. Once I do that, I am impressed with it. Got the hop up adjusted and this thing zips 0.36 BB's flat as a laser. Of course, we couldn't have it out without shooting each other with it. The lot next door is only 100 feet long, but at that distance, this thing was accurate as all hell and packed a whallup. Left welts. I am putting together a video for our new youtube channel and will post a link here when it's done. Will probably be a few days. I plan on getting the LT M4's out as well, as I have to adjust the hop ups and the sights on all of them.
Tomorrow we are supposed to have a meeting with the island lawyer that needs to do the last step for the business license. 8,000 lps, which is about $320. By far the most expensive part of the license process, in fact, I think it might be the only charge for the license. Lawyers like their money and horn in on everything they can.
Back when I was into airsoft for training purposes (early 1990's), the platforms were all metal and were designed to match weight and most of the operations of the real weapons they were designed after. I am finding out that is not the case nowadays. Again, back to the platform is a toy used to play a game. I couldn't use these for effective live training today. Nowhere near the weight and operation. I could use it for CQB drills at best with weapon placement and tactics for clearing. Other than that, can't think of a whole lot of good it would do. Times change.
I really like the suppressor change that I did on the SSX 23. it is fairly quiet already, but the making the change let's me be a little more quiet than the Novritsch foam even taking out one of the long sections of the suppressor. Smaller, more usable platform while being more quiet - YES! I will post a vid on that as well when the time comes.
Will update tomorrow IF the meeting with the thief, I mean lawyer happens. Other than that, I will work on some videos and let you know when they are posted.
Sarge out

Real time update 28FEB23
Well, the meeting with the lawyer fell through - surprise surprise surprise. After HE set it up for noon, he suddenly decided there was something else he'd rather do and canceled. Just about ready to do what 80% of everyone else does, and just open the business and forget about a license. I have a short fuse with rules made by people who make it impossible for you to follow said rules. Always have.
In the continuation of a bad day, found out the video of the unboxing is totally unusable as I had my wife holding the camera while we were unboxing and there is very little footage that actually shows much of anything at all. Turns out she was as interested as we were at what was in the boxes, and was paying more attention to that than actually videoing anything. If you want something done right, do it yourself fully applies here. I guess I'll just work on the couple of videos I want to do for the channel. The review of the SSX23 and then one also about the silencer. On the SSX23 - I really like it as far as an airsoft platform goes, but I am only getting one and a half mags of bb's per propane fill. I thought it would be a LOT more than that, especially when I see reviews on Youtube touting 10 or 12 mags of bb's before needing to refill. Not sure if what I am experiencing is the truth or not. Folks maybe spreading manure on youtube? I don't know. Anyone else have experience with this?
Put in a message this morning with one of the four major land owners here on the island about using some land, but haven't heard back from him yet. Will continue to put one foot in front of the other on this and just get it done.
My wife picked up the banners in the States today and will bring them back with her.
On the upside, word is getting out about Utila Airsoft and people are starting to talk about it. Hopefully that translates into people that want to play! Time will tell.
I have pricing to do for a retreat we are giving here on the island tonight and early tomorrow, but then am free to work on some videos. That's my focus for today/tomorrow.
Sarge out

Real Time update 01MAR23
Wow, what a day of ups and downs.......
We have the meeting with the lawyer setup again for tomorrow at noon. Hopefully this one happens.
I created a youtube channel AND a facebook group, and then realized I have very few ideas on how to run either one. I will figure it out I am sure. Mainly running into trouble with photo size requirements that none of the pictures I have seem to meet. Oh well, put it on the pile of stuff to figure out.
Made an "introduction" video, mainly for folks here on the island that have no idea what "airsoft" is. Quickly found out, I am not so good in front of a camera - will have to work on that and improve with a quickness! I actually called the SSX23 a "sniper pistol". Damn..... I did no better than the 10 year olds giving reviews that I despise. Yup, eat crow Sarge. Slurp it down and savor it........ I blame the make up department.
All of these things can be fixed and will be. Steps in the right direction at the very least. We will improve as we go and hopefully soon actually have content worth watching.
Had a friend call me and tell me about a parcel of land that he knew of about 1.5 acres. Asked if I wanted to go look at it. "Hell yes!" was the answer and we went to check it out. It was PERFECT! Lot's of trees, minimal underbrush and nice soft dirt to run on. He said he and owner were friends and the guy has been trying to sell if for years without success. It is a lot on the interior of the island, no view, nothing special about it, so not as easy to sell as ocean front with a view. He told me he was sure the guy would let us lease it for $100 per month and play on it. That was the highest of the highs. He called after he got in touch with the guy and told me that the owner has now decided to try to "farm" the 50 or so avacado trees that are on the property, so he doesn't want to let us use it. Yeah. Been sitting for 20 years, NOW he wants to try to farm it. That was the lowest of the lows. One foot in front of the other is the rule of the day. We will get it sorted and right, and tomorrow is another day. If it was easy, EVERYONE would be doing it. Right?
Anyway, wish me luck tomorrow with the lawyer. We are getting close and still have loose ends to tie up in the next two or three weeks. March 27th is coming quickly now.
If anyone is interested in suffering through the intro video on youtube, let me know. I will post a link. At least you can put a face with the posts. I do recommend watching on an empty stomach. You have been warned......
Sarge out

Real Time update 02MAR23
Well, we finally had a meeting with the lawyer. He was 20 minutes late. After the meeting, he tried to up the price from 8000 lps to 12000 lps ($320 to $480). Told him to go get bent and he went back to 8000. He also told us that we need a business bank account. The only problem is, that here, they don't offer such a thing - they only have them on mainland. That means TWO trips to mainland to start a bank account that we can't even use from here. My partner and I are a southern hair away from forgetting the business license all together and just playing and having fun.
Still on the hunt for land. One of the four big land owners that I want to talk to is in Tegucigulpa (capital of Honduras) and won't be back for two weeks. Just gotta keep checking those boxes and moving forward. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
On the upside, I was talking to a visitor to the island at the gym today and he was familiar with playing both paintball and airsoft. He told me that for him and his friends, 4 hours was quite long to play. I explained our system of games and breaks between the scenario changes, and he said he understood that, but he and his friends were used to playing for two hours at a time in his home field(s) in Guatemala. They couldn't run around for 4 hours. I put this to the people of this forum as you obviously play a lot - How would YOUR ideal schedule and session lengths run? As of now, we plan on games of varying difficulty levels and lengths with at least a 20 minute break in between. We figure we can complete 4 to 5 games in a four hour session with the missions growing in "difficulty" as the session goes along. I would appreciate any input or experiences that you all have in this area. We want to make it as good as we can from the get go and your help is appreciated!
That's it for now.
Sarge out