Hello everyone! This is the Snapper, a 3D printed blaster shell that I designed to closely resemble the look and feel of the Nintendo Zapper. The Zapper is a classic toy blaster that I’ve always loved the look of, and over the years I’ve seen a few modifications people have done to carve away space for Nerf internals inside of existing Zapper shells to make it capable of firing darts. Most recently, Captain Xavier made a video modifying a Zapper using a Panther, but my personal favorite is an instructables post from 2010 from a user named Flashflint that seemingly uses a Secret Strike. I’ve been drawn to the idea of designing a blaster body kit around the internals of an off-the-shelf blaster for many years, and when I saw all of the wonderful X-Shot Micro reshells Domochevsky has come out with, it inspired me to finally make one of my own. And, when I thought of what kind of blaster I would want my reshell to look like, the Zapper was the first blaster that came to mind.

My goal for this kit was to make it simple and inexpensive, so no matter what someone's modding skill set or budget was, they could build their own Snapper. With this in mind, all of the printed parts were designed to be as easy to print and assemble as possible, and the blaster as a whole was designed to not require any additional hardware outside of what can be obtained from the X-Shot Menace.

The file set for the blaster includes two different barrel lengths. The “Long” barrel is the length meant to emulate the Zapper, while the “Short” barrel was made to shorten the airway path from the plunger tube to the dart and potentially increase performance. There are also two different side panel designs included in the file set for the Snapper. One includes the name of the blaster inlaid into the side, while the other does not. Finally, I have included an optional orange tip that can easily be slid on and off of either barrel. This allows for more color combinations for the blaster while keeping a prominent orange tip for public display or use. Hopefully these options help you create a blaster that feels uniquely your own!

Another thing I wanted to try with this project was built in supports for the parts. So, I have included a file set that has easy to remove built in supports that should allow all of the parts of the blaster to be printed without the need for additional support material. Suggested print orientations for these parts can be found in the photos of this post. But, in case you would rather generate your own support using your own settings you know work well for your printer, I have included an additional file set that does not include any built in support.

The assembly instructions for this kit are included as a .pdf on this Printables Page.

Thank you to ValTek Armory for his help with testing the files before release!

The shell isn’t a one-to-one copy of the original Nintendo Zapper, but hopefully it is a close enough imitation for those who are interested. I had a lot of fun designing this blaster, and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have!