Mounting a paintball gun to an RC?
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My buddy asked me if I could look into a way to mount his paintball gun on an RC truck that could be remotely fired. So right now I'm trying to find 2 options...the cheapest -gets the job done, or the top-of-the-line, which goes above and beyond and is awesome at off-road.
I'm thinking electric would be a good "gets the job done" car, maybe a rustler or something...but would it be capable of carrying a paintball gun and if so, with what motor/esc setup?
It can be electric or nitro, price isn't really an issue (except with the basic no-frills one).
Also, for firing the trigger, i'm thinking of rigging a steering servo onto a bracket that would hold the gun, but could it be separately controlled from the actual steering servo on the car? Or I could mount a second radio system, put the servo in for the gun, and the driver would drive while a 2nd man "steers" the servo to fire the gun...
any help would be appreciated, even wild ideas..thats how people come up with the ideas that work is thinking outside the box!
thanks in advance!
I'm thinking electric would be a good "gets the job done" car, maybe a rustler or something...but would it be capable of carrying a paintball gun and if so, with what motor/esc setup?
It can be electric or nitro, price isn't really an issue (except with the basic no-frills one).
Also, for firing the trigger, i'm thinking of rigging a steering servo onto a bracket that would hold the gun, but could it be separately controlled from the actual steering servo on the car? Or I could mount a second radio system, put the servo in for the gun, and the driver would drive while a 2nd man "steers" the servo to fire the gun...
any help would be appreciated, even wild ideas..thats how people come up with the ideas that work is thinking outside the box!
thanks in advance!
#3
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I doubt a Rustler would be ideal for a project like this. I would look at an E-Maxx or converted MT with a setup that favors bottom end performance to haul the heavy gun around.
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jsut get a three channel radio and then one man can drive and fire, or get a 4/5 channel radio and make the gun tiltable and rotatable?
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Do you remember the videos posted of the tanks with paintball guns from a while back? There was a whole group that did just that sort of thing somewhere in the US.
http://www.rctankcombat.com/
I think it was. Take a look.
I had a turret arm (XY) that I used on one of my own robots, it could take an airsoft gun or a paint sidearm like an ariakon overlord or a zeus but I cannibalized it a few weekends ago to make a new arm. Basically you just need any shoulder assembly that gives you rotation and elevation, the arm I ended up making is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy7gQMZzh-c
and you can still see the remnants of the turret there, basically just take the lower half of the shoulder mechanism and then add the gun with a servo to push the trigger and that's it.
As for the gun I would not try to use anything over a sidearm, a full-size gun like they are using on the tanks (link above) is probably too much for a common vehicle like a rusty.
http://www.rctankcombat.com/
I think it was. Take a look.
I had a turret arm (XY) that I used on one of my own robots, it could take an airsoft gun or a paint sidearm like an ariakon overlord or a zeus but I cannibalized it a few weekends ago to make a new arm. Basically you just need any shoulder assembly that gives you rotation and elevation, the arm I ended up making is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy7gQMZzh-c
and you can still see the remnants of the turret there, basically just take the lower half of the shoulder mechanism and then add the gun with a servo to push the trigger and that's it.
As for the gun I would not try to use anything over a sidearm, a full-size gun like they are using on the tanks (link above) is probably too much for a common vehicle like a rusty.
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haha ive seen these before. on 4th of july, we split into teams and have wars with roman candles. i had the idea to mount a roman candle onto my rc[>:]
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Instead of mounting the whole gun on something, why not take an electro-pnuematic gun pop the guts out, mount them on an arm, and then rig the firing unit directly into a channel on the reciever? For instance i have a Spyder imagine gun, and when I hit the trigger it just pushes a small button on that back of the guard that sends a signal to the firing mechanism to fire a paintball, so I think a et-up like that would be easy to just put a connector on and then plug it in. The gun mount set up will be trickier but if the gun reciver is out of the casing it would be easy to install.
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Is there a sidearm that is electronic like that though? Most of the electronics are full-size guns, at least they were a few years ago when I last shopped for a gun. If he is going to use a full-size gun it needs to be real big like a Baja B5 Buggy or a 1/8 MT at least, nothing like a rusty.
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Thanks everyone, those are all some great ideas. Access, that robot kinda looks like our school robotics club robot...except ours is a little bigger and has a regional championship under its belt 
My buddy hasn't bought a gun yet, so if he wants the sidearm (I was thinking of something like [link=http://www.specialopspaintball.com/shop/product_detail.asp?SKU=101+0001&CAT=106205]this[/link]) i'll have him look at a nice light one that won't make the truck top-heavy. A rustler may not be the best for the job, I agree. Probably some type of monster truck like the E-Maxx or similar.
If he'd rather have a regular gun instead of a sidearm, I think we'll try to build a chassis for the purpose of doing that. there's just a few problems with that...
1. what material?
2. what motor?
3. i've never built a chassis before, so I have somewhat of no clue what i'm doing

My buddy hasn't bought a gun yet, so if he wants the sidearm (I was thinking of something like [link=http://www.specialopspaintball.com/shop/product_detail.asp?SKU=101+0001&CAT=106205]this[/link]) i'll have him look at a nice light one that won't make the truck top-heavy. A rustler may not be the best for the job, I agree. Probably some type of monster truck like the E-Maxx or similar.
If he'd rather have a regular gun instead of a sidearm, I think we'll try to build a chassis for the purpose of doing that. there's just a few problems with that...
1. what material?
2. what motor?
3. i've never built a chassis before, so I have somewhat of no clue what i'm doing

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I would stay away from the delta .68, look at the reviews, there are better guns out there for about the same cost.
http://www.pbreview.com/products/search/q/?q=delta+68
http://www.pbreview.com/products/sea...iakon+overlord
Building your own chassis is really hard especially if you want something that would perform. If it were a full-size I'd just try something like an E-maxx with tighter springs to compensate for the weight and geared down. The guys on the tank site above build their own but those tanks can cost thousands of dollars for starters, and take a good deal of time.
http://www.pbreview.com/products/search/q/?q=delta+68
http://www.pbreview.com/products/sea...iakon+overlord
Building your own chassis is really hard especially if you want something that would perform. If it were a full-size I'd just try something like an E-maxx with tighter springs to compensate for the weight and geared down. The guys on the tank site above build their own but those tanks can cost thousands of dollars for starters, and take a good deal of time.
#13
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Above all else make sure you don't damage someones property or hurt someone. If you do make this contraption use it far away from people, don't want to get sued or end up in trouble with the fuzz.
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Above all else make sure you don't damage someones property or hurt someone. If you do make this contraption use it far away from people, don't want to get sued or end up in trouble with the fuzz.

I threw a little thing together in "paint"...would you be afraid of playing paintball with this??

#15
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Hah that picture is hilarious.
I think if you put enough time and effort into this project you'll be able to come up with something good. Use a nice multichannel radio and control all aspects of the gun.
I think if you put enough time and effort into this project you'll be able to come up with something good. Use a nice multichannel radio and control all aspects of the gun.
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Everything else is pretty simple except controlling the trigger...
if its a mechanical, probably semi-auto gun, i would guess that a servo would work to fire the trigger. But on a multichannel radio, can the steering of the car be controlled seperately from the servo firing the trigger?
if its a mechanical, probably semi-auto gun, i would guess that a servo would work to fire the trigger. But on a multichannel radio, can the steering of the car be controlled seperately from the servo firing the trigger?
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thanks! Looks like i'll probably convince him to go with an E-maxx. I'll keep you guys updated on this.
hmm..wonder if i could paint the truck camo or something...then all of a sudden his friends are playing paintball and shots are coming from "nowhere"
hmm..wonder if i could paint the truck camo or something...then all of a sudden his friends are playing paintball and shots are coming from "nowhere"

#19
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Yeah, definitely paint it camo, or even get some toy military shell or something for it. Do it nicely and it'll be an excellent project.
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The only other issue to consider is where to mount the 20oz canister. Those are pretty heavy, unless you have a carbon tank. I would think that a semi auto would be perfect with a 3-4 channel radio.
I would tend to lean on the electric side as well for the stealth aspect of it....
I would tend to lean on the electric side as well for the stealth aspect of it....
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That's another reason to use a sidearm. Even if I were using a full-size gun I don't think you'd be sticking a 20oz. on it. A 9oz. is all you need, that is typically enough for 2 full hoppers). A sidearm uses a small internal non-reusable tank that you can get at bike shops and such. If you want something reusable you can get adapters for some of them that take mini 2-oz or 4-oz tanks, but be sure to check for an adapter beforehand.
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yeah, a 20 oz. tank would be pretty big for this project...but if he can get one a little smaller, I can probably cut out the back of the body of the truck, mount it down on the back of the gun-mount and cover it with hard plastic to hide it.
do they make metal gun-stands or something like that?? cause if i could mount one of those to the chassis, it would hold the gun more secure than a homemade mount i would think.
do they make metal gun-stands or something like that?? cause if i could mount one of those to the chassis, it would hold the gun more secure than a homemade mount i would think.
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I cant remember exactly where I saw it, but this has been done before. They even have heli mounted PB guns. Its been at least 2 years since I have played PB so I forget where I saw it. Try google, it was in a scenario type tournament I saw it for what its worth. Also, like I said 2 years, but a nice gun like an Ion can be had foe less than 300 dollars or so. Heck, for what hes doing I would just use an E-Spyder. Sorry I cant help more, but its out there if you look, try PBNation, etc.