To build this project you will need:

• One six-pin RJ-11 connector (the common connectors, at least in Spain, have only four pins -these are not valid).
• 1.5 metres/5 feet of a six-wires flat cable
• A crimping tool, a soldering iron, some solder, a bunch of screwdrivers, and patience.

If you have bought a standard flat cable, the order of the wires inside it will be the following: white, black, red, green, yellow and blue. Incidentally, the blue wire may be grey, and the red one may be pink.

Once you have crimped the cable, you may tin the wires at the other edge. Take into account that you won't need the black one, since it is FIRE2 signal -which is not present in the Trojan Phazer.

The two pieces of the Magnum case are glued, as different to the Trojan ones. Opening the Magnum without harming the case is extremely difficult.

Special care must be taken with the gun barrel of the device, since it can be easily broken. You should also take care in not losing the lens of the gun.

Once you have opened the Magnum case, the first thing is desoldering the wires inside it. You will find two wires attached to the switch of the trigger, three more attached to the board, and one linking the switch to the board. Take all of them out.

Now you have to solder the new cable (the one you have crimped) in this way:

This is a pic of the project finished:

Hints:

• Inside the Magnum board there is a 33mf/16v capacitor, different to the 47mf/25v one present in the Trojan gun. I have re-created two Trojan guns; in one of them I have kept the 33mf capacitor, in the second one I have replaced it with a 47mf capacitor. Both guns work well -I haven't noticed any difference between them. If anybody believes either keeping or replacing the 33mf capacitor may suppose some kind of harm to the computer or the gun, please let me know.
• Testing the board without mounting it inside the case is useless -it won't work. The magnifying lens and the 'camera obscura'-like effect generated by the gun barrel are important for the system to work properly.
• It is quite important for the playability to firmly close the case. Unless the two parts of the case are firmly joint, you will find an annoying gap in the sight when trying to point to targets.
• The sensor (i.e. the photodiode) must be properly aligned with the hole of the gun barrel before closing the case.
• If your Magnum case has been damaged while opening it, you can replace it with the one from a Sinclair gun, the pieces of which are joined by four screws -the pieces are therefore not glued and are easily detachable. Besides, the Sinclair case is more similar to the original Trojan case than the Magnum one.

Thanks to cpcmaníaco for providing a Trojan Phazer and allowing me to open it, and for encouraging me to write this article.

Very special thanks to Supernena Cactus and MiguelSky for supervising this english translation.

Author: j.f.