I may be becoming a 'cheapsoft' fan! Or at least I have decided not to waste a lot of money on AEGs that I am buying to make up uniform loadouts that I may only use occassionally.

Let's face it, one of the great things about airsoft is the dressing up, and I think some people like the dressing up better than the game itself! Anyway, buying a new AEG every time your team decides 'let's go as Cubans' (or whatever the flavour of the month is) can get rather expensive - and I think that this is where the budget Chinese AEGs step in.

 Don't get me wrong, I will still have the odd more expensive AEG - replicas of my favourite guns to accompany loadout impressions of my favourite military units. But, when my wacky mates come up with the hairbrained idea of going to play airsoft as 'Hill Billies' - then I'm definately not spending a lot of cash on a boom stick that I may only use again on the next 'Zombie Night'!

So what's in the offing?

Our current Russian obsession is perhaps one of those passing fancies, though I do firmly believe that no airsoft collection worth it's salt should be without an AK or two.

I already own a very nice little Kalash AK74S (as a back-up to my 'in progress' Russian sniper loadout), but I wanted a more modern Russian infantry loadout that would perhaps allow me to eventually add a grenade launcher. So looking around I soon found that my eye was caught by the rather sleek looking CYMA CM031 AK74.

I rustled up a few review across the internet, and as long as you don't expect a VFC for £100 you should be pleased enough with the CYMA AK. I include a couple of links to reviews below that convinced me to purchase the CM031.

My retailer of choice will be the very nice Dave of Airsoft Skirmish. As usual, a full review and field report will follow (eta for first outing, 6th January 2008).

> ASR (Airsoft Retreat) Review Database - CM031
> Arnie's Airsoft Review - CM031