I Recently picked up a vintage nerf lot from a local classifieds ad and a little blue blaster was amongst the broken ones. I cannot find ANY informaiton about it - anywhere. I recently sent Hasbro the following via e-mail and upon finding your group, decided to copy paste it here as well...
I'm a Nerf enthusiast and have been collecting for decades. I recently purchased a vintage blaster lot through a local classifieds ad. Despite my vast knowledge and experience, I came across a blaster I've never seen or heard of.
It's basically a small blue handle with a red pump in the base and a barrel peg poking out of the top. I'm certain it was produced with the air tech jet blaster series. The problem is that the only blaster I can find in this series is the air tech jet squadron blaster (it looks like a fighter jet and shoots 4 "sonic jet" airplanes)
I've searched every online resource I could think of including: Nerf wiki Nerfhaven.com http://www.freewebs.com/superorange/ NerfHQ.com the facebook group "Nerf Modders Welcome" I have consulted with expert collectors across the nation as well as internationally.
I've even been lead to pictures of the air tech jet squadron box art. It shows the entire air tech product line - but not this little blue blaster. Even the most dedicated collectors and experts had no idea this blaster existed! They've never seen it, and we've been unable to locate any other blasters of this kind.
I've attached pictures (the air plane normally loads perpendicular to the blaster instead of laying flat but I rotated it for display purposes), but here is a link to my photobucket account with more pictures.
http://s1107.photobucket.com/user/shmmee/library/air%20tech%20jet%20mystery%20blaster
What's known: It's definitely a Hasbro produced "Nerf" blaster. It's broken the pump seems to be disconnected via hose rupture, or o-ring is bad. ;'( Printing on the side reads: "Do not shoot at eyes or face" "TO AVOID INJURY" "Use only jets designed for this product" "Do not modify jets or jet launcher" "[copy write] 2002 HASBRO" "made in china" The number "23521" is stamped into the base of the handle next to the pump collar.
The trigger has a very short travel distance (less than 1/8").
What's assumed: It is a single shot jet launching blaster in the air tech jet line.
Reasons: The barrel stem has the same distinctive ridge along the top side (and only the top side) as the air tech jet squadron blaster.
It was produced in the same year (2002) as the air tech jet squadron blaster
The printing on the side read: Do not modify jets or jet launcher.
The seller mysteriously had 5 jets while the jet squadron blaster only came with 4. Seller didn't know ANYTHING about the origins of this blaster (selling on behalf of son).
The shell (top to pump collar) is roughly 8.5" tall, 4 3/4" wide (shell to tip of barrel peg) with about 1 1/2" of pump stroke.
Questions:
- What is the name of this blaster?
- How many were produced and sold? (how rare is it?)
- Where was it sold? Was it a limited release in a specific region?
- How long was it sold (dates)
- What was the manufacture recommended retail price of this blaster?
- Was is it sold individually or as a special bundle with the squadron blaster?
- Can you give me any idea what's going on internally (blue prints ect) The pump and barrel collars are glued down so I can't open it without risking damaging a very rare & forgotten piece of history.
- Is it spring powered or pneumatic?
- Is there anything else you can tell me about this blaster?"
~All pictures are my own - as are the blasters pictured. Sorry the pictures are links instead of pics. Technology restrictions...