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Now that we finally have all this new wonderful modern armor to play with we need to come up with an IR system that can adapt to RC helicopters. Since attack helicopters are such a large part of a ground attack force these days wouldn't it be cool if a scale model heli could pop up from cover and tag a tank with a hit just like the big boys do? It would still be quite challenging for the heli pilot to get a good hit so it would not be a complete slaughter but i think it would be a fun idea to pursue.

It would be interesting on how you would incorporate the Gepard with the helicopters especially if the Gepard is in manual mode this would be slaughter for the helicopters

I have 6 battle helis from Horizon that send and receiver IR codes to fight each other. You can assign any heli to teams and even ground targets. When hit, the hell will auto-rotate and slowly descend. It's a neat system, so yes it could be done, but you'll need interaction between vendors if you want a plug and play type.

That said, I use a Mako board on my Ketten to fire the Tamiya code. It's directly hooked to the Notek circuit, so when I trip the light via the Tx, the panzerfaust fires the code. Same idea could be used on a heli. The Ketten doesn't take hits, it's a simple El Mod system, but you wouldn't want a heli taking them anyway.

I've thought about setting up a Stuka or Jug in the past to fight tanks, but the logistics of having enough airspace, etc. always stopped me. My sons and I played a game with our ultra micro Corsairs and Mustangs (don't tell my wife) where we'd strafe each other trying to knock lengths of balsa off our heads (yes, we're idiots), so moving that to a tank was a logical leap. My idea would be to try to cross a field without getting killed, but the advantage would always be the tank.

Helis would be ideal, just hover and hunt, no wide turns and lining up. But they're pretty expensive and hard to fly.

Balsa on your heads? When your wife tells new friends how many kids she has does she include you? LOL

I like the attack heli idea but I do see that it would add some extra hazards to people in the area. AA protection would add new IR battle possibilities too.

Even the dog is a male Lab, so my poor wife is pretty much surrounded by idiots with big ideas. ;)

To be fair, it was three foot lengths of balsa stick and we were wearing either helmets or hardhats. And the UMs run on little brushed pager motors with 150 mAh 1 cells, so they're pretty light, but fast. Biggest threat was probably pulling a muscle from laughing so hard, although the whole idea came up after my son tagged me really bad in the temple. That started the whole, 'what we need is helmets and sticks!'

Any time you think you need helmets and sticks, fun times are ahead.

As I tell me friends don't grow up it;s toooo boring. I'm 53 and still still a kid

yes helicopters are hard to fly ,but would a boost when done safely but its a hobby ... safety is not always garantued ,even good pilots can crash ...
like mark said a gepard would a fearced adversary for any airplanes or chopters

Jeff, you have the force rc combat heli's? I've got a couple of those with the ground targets. Jersey Bob swore they used the same code as Tamiya, but I never got them to take or give a hit to a tamiya
system. Also here's a nice mod to the emitters to give less of a shot gun effect.
http://helifreak.com/showthread.php?...t=force+combat

Yep, those are the ones. Nice mod.

We never tried it with Tamiya, I'll dig them out and give it a shot some time. I bought a bunch of them for Xmas one year, but we didn't use them too much for lack of battle space. I have the indoor space to mess around with a MSR, but with 3 coaxs battling, things get small quick. By the time the winds died down enough in the spring, any RC spare time went to planes or tanks. I think a few are still unopened and I have a pile of spare parts as part of their promo.

"Even the dog is a male Lab, so my poor wife is pretty much surrounded by idiots with big ideas"

I read this aloud and I heard grumblings from my two furry colleagues in the kitchen....

Jerry

How would you deal with an angry neighbor with a shotgun?
rex

Run away, run away!

So this was not exactly one of my hair brained ideas. i see there is actually some interest. That is what i like about the modern tank models. We can incorporate some other elements into the game that weren't really feasible with the WWII tanks. Like Ausf said planes are a little dicey on the battle field and would need a huge amount of space. The heli's could simply patrol the perimeter or only over the playing field limiting the risk factor. just as we stay to the outside of the battle fields with the tanks the heli's would need to stay with in the boundaries. I like the idea and there are definately some heli's very close to scale to our tanks. Hell Iv'e seen airsoft guns on helis on youtube.

Oh and Rivetcounter i love your idea with the Gepards . Makes me want one just to do AA duty. I would love being able to shoot down a heli in the game.

Would be fun, but still pretty dangerous. Even a small heli can do some damage if a gyro or control arm goes then it's a flying machete heading towards someone with their head down target fixated.