REALITY CHECK

Chinese Still Looking For Inspiration, Airsofters Go Nuts Asked For Suggestions

First important thing to announce is the fact that the Fenghuang FAL will be based on King Arms model - considering that they'd have to whittle the whole FAL front anew if they cloned the (hideous) CA SA58OSW and the STAR L1A1 is "off" due to being sized a wee bit differently ('cause it's a fucking incher), it's a good thing - while the L1A1 was used by four countries, Belgian FALs were used all over the fucking Africa by various "wild geese" mercenaries, not mentioning half of South America running around with it.

Second thing is the fact that the Chinese airsoft manufacturers are out of ideas again. And that says a really bad thing about their marketing departments - that they don't exist, and if they do, they're doing a piss-poor job. They can do a lot of things, some of them obvious, some not quite so, and the last (sic!) thing they should do is asking the airsofters an open-ended question. Why? Because some morons start spouting long lists of obscure guns they happened to see at Maxim Popenker's site (a pretty good guide to guns in itself - SecurityArms may have more models covered, but with not as much info), that turn a market survey into an endless wank fest. Did someone - ANYONE! - ask for the Chinese Winchester to be made? No. And what happened? People snapped up the first batch in less than 24 hours. If the Chinese ran out of ideas, I have three suggestions for them that should work:
a) copy something that is no longer made.
b) copy something that is already made and "debug" it by fixing its most common problems.
c) create something from scratch before others even think of it.
WE-Tech went the first way with their upcoming Browning HP - in addition, making it full-metal and reliable on propane (or so I suspect). And example of product made in the second way is the HFC M190 - they took a pretty mediocre gas pistol, slapped a rail on it, made it shoot reliably on propane and, as it proved over extended time, turned it into one of the most reliable guns on the market. The third one is pretty rare outside of Japan, but it happens - see the ARES Tavor for instance (or, way less spectacularly, the JLS Beretta Rx4). The next important thing is availability of source - that means, if there's any chance of getting your hands on the product to be copied or any blueprints, dimensions, technical drawings or the like of a real-steel weapon you plan to turn into an airsoft gun. The second case requires some imagination before investment - ie. a basic layout of the planned gun to check if you can fit standard airsoft parts (gearbox, battery, hop-up) inside - ie. if you can build the PPSh41 around a M14 gearbox.
And the last (and arguably most important) thing is the market viability - or, the answer to a simple question "Will it sell?". That one takes some time, as you have to trawl through various forums and discussion groups "testing the water": reading opinions, popular wishes, rumors, and stuff, and stuff. For instance, the market for World War 2 replicas features only German and US weapons, and not all of them, while Soviet and British ones (two major factions, for God's sake!) are completely overlooked. There's no PPSh. No Enfield rifle. One horridly overpriced, badly designed Mosin. One Sten that's out for, like, two weeks or so. And at least a good couple thousands of people around the world that would love to lay their hands on an airsoft replica of any of the four guns mentioned above. The "Enemy At The Gates" crowd. The "Call of Duty" crowd. Brits. Russians. Reenactors looking for inexpensive guns that look the part (Denix Tommygun costs over $200 here. And don't get me started on MGC model guns). If it's out, and it works, they'll buy it.