Crius

Took me a while to find the video. 6mm paintballs in an airsoft tank. Mato all metal PzIII, black airsoft unit, brand new. Seems to work well, but paintballs can really vary in the amount of force they take to break. Against a hard surface at short range these worked well, but I also bought blue paintballs that didn't perform as well, and were harder to break. I've never had one break inside the airsoft unit, but I've heard that has happened to some guys. Experiment at your own risk.

rb67mustang

Thanks for trying to share the video with us, Crius. Do you have a similar video everyone could watch?

Crius

Doh! Sorry 'bout dat. Try it now.

Crius

This video is old, like at least 7 or 8 years old. I sold that tank so long ago that I can't even remember who I sold it to. I think it went out west, California, maybe. If you want to try them please post video. I found these

https://mcsus.com/products/6mm-airso...g-of-1000-blue

but I've never dealt with them before so can't say how they are as a vendor.

Same with these


Dammit, now I'm gonna have to get some to see if the paintball tech has gotten better in all those years. If anyone else beats me to it I hope you'll post your results, hopefully with video. You know if I get some I'll make video. Bow, which tank to use. I'm thinking maybe the Tauch Panzer. I remember from before that shorter barrels work better with paintball. Never has one break in the PzIII, but that did happen once in the hetzer, but the next shot blew everything clear and it still shot fine. Maybe the HL Sherman. That has a good strong gun and I only paid $140 for the whole tank, including the 6.0 electronics. Hmmm, I think I might have a brand new airsoft unit in stock as well. The most powerful, IME, are the ones cast in black plastic with raised letters on the side that say TAIGEN. That's what was in the PzIII in the video, when those airsoft units first came out.

Should we have a conversation about making airsoft units stronger? Anyone know any good tricks? I took one apart and did a video on how they work, anyone wanna see that one?

rb67mustang

Thanks, Crius, for posting the video, I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just subscribed to your YouTube channel and clicked the Bell and chose ALL. You have some great content.

rb67mustang

[QUOTE=Crius;
Should we have a conversation about making airsoft units stronger? Anyone know any good tricks? I took one apart and did a video on how they work, anyone wanna see that one?[/QUOTE]

OMG, Crius!!! I took an airsoft unit apart when I was upgrading my 1/6 scale 21st Century M5 Stuart. I had to drill some holes in the housing to mount aluminum channel to make a pivoting unit that also allowed recoil. If you take one of them apart, be careful because these's a lot more parts inside than you would imagine. I took photos to aid in putting it back together.
Roger rb67mustang/Rebel 1

Crius

This might be helpful

Max-U52

I did an edit on this but it does not seem to have taken so I'll make a separate post here. The link to Amazon above I think are just regular airsoft BBs. The title says paintball but after looking closely at the item itself I do not believe the white ones are paintball. The blue ones, The first link, Are definitely paintballs. I tried to order some last night but it seems like the order didn't go through. I might try again tonight when I get home from work.

Max-U52

I placed an order for a pack of the blue 6mm paint balls so we'll see what happens and I'll keep you guys posted. Including shipping, the total order was $30 for 1000 paintballs. I think I'm going to try them in the tauchpanzer because that has a pretty strong airsoft unit in it. But I do have one of those cheap little airsoft pistols so I might try them in that first, just to be safe. And of course, there will be video.

Crius

So here we go, 6mm paintballs in a sherman

Tankhobby

I think the recommendation not to put the paintball bbs in an Airsoft was specific to AEGs because of the violent kickback from the spring.

You should paint a tank or anti-tank gun silhouette on the target to make it interesting. Make it a little smaller than scale to simulate a target at a distance.

Max-U52

I think a lot of it was just paranoia. I've never even talked to anyone who said they had a paintball burst inside the unit. Anyway, it's never happened to me so I'm not going to worry about it, and if it ever does happen to me, well, a new airsoft unit is only 12 bucks.

I really like the idea of silhouette targets. I'm thinking about cutting the silhouettes from 40 grit sand paper. That should really help all the paintballs to break properly upon impact.

Martellus

I believe Perry S. had come up with a simple mod that would help with that worry - he had retained the AEG basics and loading system, but replaced the spring plunger with a compact CO2 system actuated by solenoid or servo. Let him fire without the "wind-up" and have a softer handling of the BB I think.

Interesting idea with the sandpaper silhouettes

Max-U52

I have a CO2 system in my 1/6 Hetzer, and I use the small CO2 bottles from sodastream. My local paintball shop will refill one for just two bucks. In that tank I mounted a paintball pistol and used the barrel recoil servo on the IBU2 to pull the trigger on the paintball pistol. Works great, but I imagine trying to fit a system like that in a 1/16 tank would pose some challenges, and you'd probably have to use the small CO2 bottles they use in BB guns. But as I've said before, I've never had a paintball burst in the chamber so I don't really think it's an issue. I'll just keep using the stock airsoft unit and should be OK. You know the rule, If it ain't broke, don't fix it!