customized tanks equipped with a recoiling barrel and laser system or a hopped up airsoft unit?

Previously, I painted and hopped up the guns on some tanks and sold them some time ago. Has the market changed? What do you think?

I've got a bunch more to clear out.

lol funny guy. Sorry but Creeping death is the only one to offer a recoil/airsoft/laser combo....so far in an rc tank. the united states economy has somewhat slowed try selling overseas. and on a side note yes we will be selling turrets soon. also we are making some major gun options for the near future. these will feature a fully adjustable hop up, fps on with A 12 GRAM bb around 424fps. with a 20 gram 330fps. we've in essence converted a type 3 airsoft box. the future is very bright as far as we can tell for rc tanks Swath.



creepingdeathrc

I dont understand wht they put airsoftguns in the tanks from the start, mostly the barrels are to big compared to scale and I don't want anyone to shoot bb's on my tank, what if paint comes of or some details breaks? I'd say that recoil and laser/IR is the way to go

second on that motion. All mine are modelled to scale with most now having proper size gun tubes, external stowage and correct markings, so would hate to have some clown chipping off paint or knocking off detailing I put on the tank. High powered BBs are OK for a tank straight out of the toy box and left unaltered as a target vehicle..

Laser, IR, gets my vote.

They fire BBs because its a gimmick that sells - whats a tank that doesnt physically shoot something! If your tank loses paint from being hit by a semi-regular BB, then man, I dunno what to say to that one...

The target audience, kids at christmas time etc, don't exactly care about scale barrels or recoil, they want something they can cause pain with

I guess for the IR battle crowd it's the way to go, but some of us just like to prowl around and shoot BB's at scale soldiers, vehicles, and equipment. It takes skill, (and a little luck sometimes) to knock down a 1/18 plastic soldier from 40 feet with a 6mm BB.[8D] I'm not a member of a club, and don't have any IR battle buddies, so for me airsoft is the way to go, at least for the time being.

As an airsoft player, a replica that shoots in the 300fps range with a .20 bb is getting to be a heavy hitter if children are around. That will pack quite a whallop if it hits you, nevermind forcing people around to wear saftey glasses.

I don't want something that shoots that hard shooting at any of my tanks, maybe a paper target...

Swath, yes I think there is a market for what your offering, it clearly shows with creeping deaths success. I don't believe they have cornered the market in any way, go for it!!

Creeping Death - How are you going to fit a version 3 gearbox in a tank? Thats 5 or 6 inches long and close to 8 inches tall.... Then you need to account for some type of adjustable hopup...

I think there is a demand. Some of us just think that "tank are supposed to shoot", and if you're going to have a tank that shoots - it should shoot. Why even bother putting an airsoft in a tank that is going to have a 5 foot effective range. Please don't say, "you'll shoot your eye out" or "these are just toys". It comes down to individual responsibility and accountability, just like owning any other weapon. I don't need Big Brother/Big Govt to place controls on me "for my own good"

It's pretty sad that you can't even get a airsoft VSTank in the US, and some other countries apparently, but you can get a full auto hard hitting airsoft rifle [as well as bb/pellet guns that can kill small animals] just about anywhere here. I'm a cop and we use airsoft rifles/pistols for training and even draft local kids to bring theirs and play bad guys against us in our school buildings, etc and I'll tell you - those full auto MP5s and M14s hurt and have a heck of an accurate range to them. These tanks don't NEED to be so wimpy, but if HL makes them that way to save $$ is another matter.

Anyway, some of us just like driving them around plinking targets, etc. As for damaging your tanks, the biodegradeable BB break apart on impact [watch Shen's YouTube video] and the paintballs are washable... and um, don't shoot your good models!

Mr312... glad to see you on here! Your post sounds promising and I'd love to hear more. What do you mean by "we'll be selling turrets soon"? Do you mean a Creeping Death turret [with recoil/laser/hop up] that you can drop onto an existing HL tank??? [X(] I have two HL Tigers, so when you came out with your versions, as much as I would love to get one, it was hard to justify the expense for a third tank. That would just be incredibly awesome, and probably very profitable for you! There are a ton of HL tanks out there with owners that laugh at the stock airsoft system.

Well said Ern, a little common sense and restraint is all that needs to be said here. Adding a laser module to your tank is about as easy a modification as they come for anyone who really wants to do it. I have a dozen brass cased red laser modules on order, and I plan to install one in all my tanks eventually. The trickiest part will be getting the impact convergence point of the airsoft gun and the laser beam set for a specific range, and even then it will only be approximate because these smoothbore airsoft guns are not the most accurate thing going, but I wonder if anyone has ever tried using a rifled gun tube...?? It would undoubtedly increase the accuracy in a big way.

I like the airsoft. There's nobody near me to do IR battles with so I just like driving around popping off targets.

You're right Ostketten... the 3v laser diodes [$6 on ebay] are just a drop in mod for the HL tanks. I have mine wired up, but haven't installed it in the mantlet yet and it works great. The stock turret machine gun LED in the HL tanks has about 2.5v going to them and it powers the laser diode just fine. I snipped the wires to the MG LED and just soldered the laser in it's place. Now the transmitter MG button controls the laser - much like the Creeping Death version. I hope to get it installed in the next few days and will pass along my convergence point experiences

Hey Ern, just curious.... but is it neccessary to follow any polarity when installing the Laser diode...??

Mine came with wires attached and I just soldered red to red and black to black...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=120256270949

Cool, thanks. Mine just have bare tinned leads as opposed to the little molex plug on yours, but no biggie there. Can't wait to get mine in and install one.[8D]

Hi Swath I think there is a market for both but I would think the I.R. will probably sell better because it is an up and comming market full options on them or upgrades just look at the posts to see what guys want if you come up with something they havnt got they will want it how about a smoking gun seen them on the web but hows it done flash bang recoil then smoke it would look realy good .thats why creeping death are sell there tanks its somthing new as soon as the novelty wears off they will not sell as many ,and there not the only ones with a recoiling BB ive made one and had it posted on here before they did now im instaling a flash in it and if all goes well it will still fire BB and have the dbu/dbc fitted best of both worlds but its taken alot of time .


regards pete

I for one vote for the airsoft. I was all about the CreepingDeath stuff with the laser, recoiling gun tube and suped airsoft. So, hearing that they will be selling turrets for drop in on existing HL tanks is awesome news. What's the timeline? Can't keep holding my breath...turning blue! [>:]

I can understand the modelers' apprehension with breaking up their work. But, I'm into a limited amount of modeling and mostly want functional improvements. So, I'm all about a tank that can break a paintball at 30 ft, though I'd rather not punch holes in my tank (skip that realism ). I figure this has more realism than the current IR systems anyways. Just like in real combat, if you miss, then you miss and it is possible to put a round just over or around an opponent. The IR stuff can be programmed to account for angles and class differences, but they have horrendous fans. I've seen too many tanks that are clearly missing the opponent and yet they still register a hit. Besides, nephews, sons, daughters, nieces, brothers-in-law, etc are all far more impressed by a war machine that actually spits out a projectile than one that could be used as a TV remote! And I'm hoping to get family involved...gets us outside and away from the video games.

Ern...well stated. Personal responsibility is too uncommon these days.

MR313...will that include extending the gun tubes to appropriate lengths? Seems that many users have extended their Bulldog, Tiger and Pershing gun tube lengths to make them more accurate.

If you would like to read up on laser diodes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_diode

thanks
jimmy

we like ir too, but airsoft is our true passion. the timeline for turrets is comming in august. the turrets will also include all of the goodies. it was a fight to get turrets here but I for one love the idea. living in wisconsin we are used to hunting and fishing in our backyards. I guess thats why we lean more towards the shooting aspect of the hobby. getting a type 3 gearbox into a hull/turret even as small as the Panzer 3 ausf l was tricky. first off it invloved modifcations to the turret ring and in the end voiding the ring all together in favor of a rubber to rubber ring/ track assembly. next came the issue of the airsoft motor itself. if you are familar with airsoft the motor sits low on the "handle" part of the gear box. we machined out a custom gear box to relocate the motor. the hop is adjustable through the turret topside well hidden of course. the mag is tubular and is loaded to rear of the model hull encased and hidden. that was one of the hardest parts of the project. the project still has a ways to go but its results are most impressive. for ir we have some interesting ideas to compliment the fine job rctankwars has done. we acquired a plastic injection machine this past spring. so we've been like kids in a candy store as of late. the main goal we have set for ourselves is the vvss sherman. henlong said they were going to do it but then decided to postpone/cut it/ research/delay/who knows? meanwhile for the past 18 months we have been at the grindstone with the vvss sherman. the heck with waiting for china. besides shouldn't a vvss sherman be born and bred USA, we think so!! every week usually on a thursday we have a pardon the expression "think tank" session. and we all want the sherman project as our very own. there are so many projects and ideas bouncing around creepingdeath the future looks great. these are exciting times for rc tankers ir or airsoft.....we love em all!!!

when you say that it was a fight to get the turrets, does that mean that this is a limited production? Or will be able to keep getting turrets to sustain production over time? I can't afford several at once. []

turrets are here to stay!!!!

This thread has evolved unexpectedly and quite frankly I find it exciting! It seems there is a market for both, knock around tanks that are painted up nice that can shoot real ammo and highly detailed ones that shoot lasers.

As most of you know, I'm a big advocate for high powered airsoft in our tanks. My original intent was to build 2 platoons of camera equipped knock around tanks and play capture the flag through the eyes of the wireless cameras. Then my wife found out how much I was spending on my new hobby! As usual for me, I'm a history buff and got into detailing too. That has become very satisfying as well. Since making some new friends and visiting Danville, there's now a need to build some tanks equipped with laser battle systems. And then there's El Mod! Man is that system cool! Much to my dismay it doesn't work with airsoft. []

Keep the posts coming fellas! This has turned out to be an interesting discussion. Pete, how about a link or some pics to your gun?

Ostketten - You mentioned installed rifled barrels for accuracy, one of them many drawbacks of a round projectile is we have to add backspin for it to travel any resonable sort of distance. There is one company that makes rifles airsoft barrels, Tanio Koba. I installed one a while back in an AEG to see if it really made a difference, and to be honest after thousands of rounds fired, I couldn't see any chance in accuracy.

Sweet...two things in Aug to look forward to...possibility of upgrading my turrets and the Star Wars Clone Wars series kick-off.

Hopefully, the pricing will be moderate.

Is there some way of making an airsoft tank...but with a scaled barrel? It really takes away from the looks of a tank to have those oversized barrels.