RC tank community

[Tiger6]

The long and short of it is that very few care about battles. As I had noted on a similar RCU thread recently, at an average club meeting we might get 4 or 5 of us to have a half hearted 'battle' for 15 mins or so (before we loose interest), but the other dozen or so members will just ignore it and carry on doing what they were doing. I could bring a battle ready tank for every member, and I suspect they still wouldn't be interested. Arguing over which system, how to set it up, whether you need FPV, etc is missing the point - if people aren't interested in playing the game in the first place, 'tweaking the rules' won't change their minds. I can't even remember the last time anyone even asked me how to build an IR battle tank.

2 years ago I suggested on here that if enough people expressed an interest, we could approach the organisers of a local show get the space and number of exhibitor passes set aside, and try to make a weekend long event of it - the thread predictably went silent... The show in question is next weekend, and our club has a small exhibit space set aside for us, so this wasn't just a case of 'random forum blowhard making promises he can't keep'.

As I posted on the other forum, my experience over in the US tells me that you need a minimum of 10 players and 2-3 times the space that average UK club has in order to make things interesting (for ref, our 10 man battles in Detroit were conducted in a large sports hall one of the members had access to). Otherwise its too easy to keep track over every one and it just devolves into corner sniping because nobody can move without getting shot.

[Kaczor]

In Poland nobody cares about IR battles. As we still don't have fixed "private" dioramas as our German neigbours, we meet few times in a year in different places, mostly military museums. Our meetings foucuses on showing RC tank hobby to the public. We build small "mobile" dioramas and have fun with realistic driving. But even in 38 million country there is only like dozen active members which show up on events.

Fun fact: until the end of the 90s in Poland, an even smaller group of modelers built RC tanks from scratch (mainly in 1:10 scale). At that time, official competitions were held, somewhat similar to those currently held in Russia. The models were judged by the jury and then overcame the obstacle course. The models were beautiful, but there was little fun in it.

[dgsselkirk]

If Heng long has increased the interest in RC tanks then it makes sense to make the HL battle system the one of choice? This would encourage everyone who had bought a HL tank to join in rather than having to adapt and buy other IR systems that would put people off.

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The problem is Heng Long's system is all round utter crap.

I consider my club CanAm R/C Tank Club to be very fortunate to have an excellent outdoor field and a growing membership. We have our own forum and yes, a lot more action on Facebook...

[General Jumbo01]

Your own forum and Facebook! So lots of words. Are they all as comprehensively damning as yours!

So what does your club do? Is it a show and tell gathering or do you battle for example, and what systems do you focus on. Hiw many active members attend each week? This information could help us all grow new clubs in our areas.

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[jee]

Also Polish and Czech forums And there is RC Tank forum on RC Universe: https://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-tanks-369/

But it's still niche hobby in comparison to RC cars, ships and planes.

Thanks for the link, nice forum and active.

I found both Polish and Czech forums and both are very beautiful countries with nice people, but both languages are absolutely not understandable for a foreigner

[Kaczor]

I found both Polish and Czech forums and both are very beautiful countries with nice people, but both languages are absolutely not understandable for a foreigner

You can use English in our forum. Most of us knows little Eneglish or could use Google Translate

[jee]

I found both Polish and Czech forums and both are very beautiful countries with nice people, but both languages are absolutely not understandable for a foreigner

You can use English in our forum. Most of us knows little Eneglish or could use Google Translate

Then, as I am guests there, I would use google translate (as I do in Russia) only the result are sometimes a bit strange
I will make an account though, just to have a look around

[HERMAN BIX]

"two Tanks" same in any language !!..............just say it any way you can, and others will find a way to understand it
That is one thing that a smallish international hobby community has in common..........desire to achieve.

Rc Tanks are not fast, not as glamorous as Rc planes, not as relatable(for the masses) or accessible as Rc buggies or cars, not as regal as Rc ships and much more niche versions within each small bubble of interest, sure.
But one thing they do have is History .
Replicating the engineering marvels no matter how flawed in design or representing an undesirable political system, they cannot be denied the place in History that they deserve.
The modern tank is an evolution of the basic concept of support to the Infantry, and I have had it stated to me by serving members of the Military that no battle can ever be won without standing on and holding the ground taken.............
No navy
No Airforce
No one, can ever claim to have won the battle, without having set foot on the ground............and the Tank is a direct product of that statement.
The others help, that is in no doubt, but a victory quickly disappears when boots(and tracks) leave the ground.

Im glad that the RC tank community is relatively small..............I feel it keeps the quality and focus of the subject pure , and makes the skill set on display even more worthy of accolades, because those that can-do, and those that cant-watch in silence.
But thats just me

[Jarlath]

Your own forum and Facebook! So lots of words. Are they all as comprehensively damning as yours!

So what does your club do? Is it a show and tell gathering or do you battle for example, and what systems do you focus on. Hiw many active members attend each week? This information could help us all grow new clubs in our areas.

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I'll answer since I type a hell of a lot more words than Dean. LOL.
The club in itself has multiple fields. One is at a Rod & Gun Club, the other is at a City owned Dog Park. There are no membership fees to join, but thankfully we have members who volunteer a bunch of their time and efforts to care and improve the fields.

I'll start with the Reimer Field @ the Rod and Gun Club.
The gun club also hosts a large RC Plane contingent that was existing before we arrived. We have several members who are also members of the gun club (and the RC plane club). We maintain the 20m x 25m battleground (was 15m x 25m until last year). We normally run every other week barring special events and weather. We get anywhere from 6 to a dozen regular attendees throughout the day having battles. Specializes in Tamiya IR battles, but open to all.

Reimer Field - Google Maps.JPG (94.39 KiB) Viewed 898 times

The second field is the ARV Battlegrounds and is at a city owned dog park which also has an RC Plane airfield (again existing prior to tanking). It has been several years and the crew that frequents this location actually are weekly for most summer months (again weather and event limiting). The Viet RC Club there has been just award custodianship of the RC Tank field and the RC Dirt Track after several years of maintaining the grounds for use. Again 6 to a dozen regulars every week. Mainly HL IR battles, but open to all.

ARV Battlefield - Google Maps.JPG (89.29 KiB) Viewed 898 times

Donations and volunteer manpower to maintain the fields for years is the secret to growing, but it will never be an explosion of 100's of new members.
In 5 years I've seen maybe 50 people join our forums, and only half or so post anything, and maybe a dozen are still active members.

If you are looking to find a place, start at a community centre with some lawn. Ask if you can organize a small group to use the grass to play with your RC tanks. Bring awareness/traffic to the community centre. Volunteer at the centre or wherever your field is. Be polite and welcoming to new people. Buy a tank that you will not care if it gets damaged and lend it to new people interested in the tanks (Get rid of super spin!). If not a community centre, find a local RC airplane field or firearms range (again with an area that is out of the way and not downrange, LOL) or hunt club, etc... Maintain the grass and everything else in that area, and leave it neater than when you arrived.

Start with buildings and bridges, etc... that you can place on the grass without damaging/digging up terrain and are easy to store. (Heck Bring a dozen bricks/pieces of wood/doll houses/backpacks/etc... for terrain). See what we do at Aquino in a following image...

Advertise free in classifieds, online marketplaces, facebook neighbourhood groups, etc...
Ask events that celebrate military history, modelling competitons (military especially), etc; if you can display your RC tanks at first, and then possibly one or more years later, ask if you can have a small area to demonstrate our tanks.

The Ontario Regimental Museum in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada holds Aquino tank weekend annually and we now carve out a section that is approaching the size of our Reimer field for a 2 day event with thousands of attendees.

Aquino 2021 field prep

There is no "Instant" growth. It starts with a love of our tanks and a desire and drive to get more people into loving tanks like we do. It will take several years and even then you need newer blood (aka younger people) to take over at some point to keep up the volunteering and effort to maintain, promote, etc...

[dgsselkirk]

Your own forum and Facebook! So lots of words. Are they all as comprehensively damning as yours!

So what does your club do? Is it a show and tell gathering or do you battle for example, and what systems do you focus on. Hiw many active members attend each week? This information could help us all grow new clubs in our areas.

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Sorry if the truth hurts! LOL!