Why no "real" combat?

[Spinnetti]

So in the R/C airplane world, and the R/C ship world, they have real combat, and in the case of aircraft, some real losses. Odd that the airplane guys do real combat, and the tank guys just flash lights? Why not put a thin balsa exoskeleton on the primary armor areas and use the bb guns from the ships? Would be a whole lot more fun - we gonna let the wimpy airplane guys be more manly than the tank guys?

Here's how they do it boat style - had the USS Pensacola years ago.
http://www.google.com/search?q=model+wa ... ox&ie=&oe=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Saxondog]

Their is the 1/6 scale paintball tank battle group, soon to be in a 1/16 scale tank near you. The other reasons are Government gun control and public liabilities of firing a projectile from a scale gun system.

But as you say why not? Many tank builders in the US build airsoft,and modified gun systems, one called Creeping Death did market a Tiger gun system with recoil that fired at a claimed 140fps and were popular. Then the Paintball systems have all been limited to no recoil or very small magazines.

If you would like to discuss gun design I would recommend Thomas J.Murphy on RCU. He did offer a high powered gun system for the airsoft H/L Tanks.

[Saxondog]

Forgot one other thing to mention,I was modeling ships for many years, this Christmas I received the new 1/200 Arizona. I have others as well but did not every take the leap to battling. I have recently been involved in a discussion with some who are very involved in that hobby and seem very sure that it can not be improved upon.

So ended my communication of the hobby. RCU does at times have some rather hard,or fixed point of view. If you have some idea's on gun systems please post your idea's. cheers Saxondog

[wibblywobbly]

Although the exoskeleton idea has some merit, I think that having authentic replica tanks on a scale battlefield is something that appeals to us all as much as actually shooting each other with projectiles. A lot of us put many, many hours into building tanks and perfecting paint, and have no wish to see them covered in paintball residue, or hit with BB's.

The IR systems have limits, my main dislike is the beam scatter whereby multiple tanks can be hit with one shot, friendly fire etc. However, this can be overcome by fitting light sensors lower, or into the hull/turret, or intelligent design of battlefield scenery, or even covering sensors. I have no idea why Tamiya though it was a good idea to make a tank vulnerable by sticking a scale 6ft tower on the top? All my sensor towers are cut as low as possible, or dismantled and hidden in the tank itself.

I did try a Creeping Death turret once, and that BB gun was very impressive, probably too impressive!

Rob G

[Saxondog]

Rob, you have raised a very good point"intelligent battlefield design"and "intelligent sensor placement. And you may recall I spent alot of money with Creeping Death received the last gun system which was junk. I/R is the best system to date, I believe the paintball system would allow tankers to "feel" the challenge of stalking another tank,and see the results of their tactics.

Paintball ammo does require some effort to clean off, but tanks could be built for this purpose? Still their is not a recoiling,pneumatic gun system on the market,and then the other issues mentioned in this thread still apply.

Sax

[Gunshy]

Shudders,
barrel bursts.
From an airsoft perspective.

[Woz]

Washing the paint off the tanks would be a pain but what about all the scenery?

As much time and effort has gone into the scenery on some of the battlefields as the tanks that roam about them. Not sure how people would feel about having their scale villages turned into paintball parks.

[Gunshy]

Paint on the outside of a tank is relatively easy to clean off.
You get paint on yer internals, all inside your airsoft mechanism that's gonna take a couple of hours to dismantle, clean and refit.


It's ironic really because airsofters had tried to move towards laser tag but the ranges are shorter and they don't work well in bright sunlight.
Airsoft, cheap, limited range, highly affected by wind, high impacting projectiles.
Paintball, expensive, messy and high impacting projectiles.
So really with the tanks for simulated munitions "laser tag" is the ideal.

[Gerula]

Fitting the IR LED into the turret and allowing the beam to get out only trough a long and thin barrel would eliminate the "splash" effect, and allow tankers to hit only when actually aiming.

[Saxondog]

Paintball Battle would have to evolve into their own hobby, or just a situation where multiple tanks are built based on their type of battle. I would be happy to commit a tank to a Paintball Tiger and my T/R Tiger. And either way it goes a carpet runner's still just a carpet runner.