Hacking the Mausser

I've started hacking my own MPSs into MCSs and am enjoying the freedom of creating my own weapons without having to bother anyone else about helping out, but have some questions.

Does anyone know what the skill requirements, in terms of B&E, WS, and ME that are required based on the QL of the item? Also, does anyone know what affect the Carbonum Plating has on the finished QL?

My experience, so far, has been that it seems to require around 3x the QL in skills to do each part, but I know my numbers are skewed, as I had the following happen:

QL 96 MPS + QL 199 Hacking tool = QL 96 MPS Base
QL 96 MPS Base + QL 97 Chem Chamber = QL 96 MCS Base
QL 96 MCS Base + QL 106 Short Com Barrel = QL 96 (Step 2 - I forget the name)
QL 96 Step 2 + QL 100 Carbonum Plating = QL 98 MCS (???)

Just wondering why the 2 QL increase right at the end even though the QLs were *very* similar. I try do keep it close when i can do the enormous cost of the plating (was nearly 300k for the last part - ouch!).

Anyway, any input would be appreciated.

I believe the QL jump is determined by how high your trade skill score is compared to what is needed to combine the part. When I combine low QL Mauseers they usually jump 2 QL per step.

The final step required Mech. Engineering Skill so that why you got the QL jump.