Re: Maryland Massacre - Lessons Learned

["WJ" <WJ-at-vdtogt.nl>]

Thank you for the information!!  I am just wondering if everyone is happy
with the current set of Battlefield rules?!

Also: have any tactics been developed on the battlefield that are worth
noting, or was it more of a slugfest with some circle-around action?

Any tips tricks in the radio control department?

> The Maryland Massacre was the third outing for the Dread T34 (T005).
> Arguably the oldest operational vehicle in that it has most of its
> original systems and structure as fielded during the first battle.  T005
> is still holding its own well against the newer and upgraded units and
> continues to be a formable opponent on the field.  There were very few
> technical issues that detracted from play this time out and I'll go over
> them here.
>
>
> Servo Horn
>
> Due to an unfortunate frontal collision with another vehicle that involved
> the other vehicle driving up the front of the T34 and pushing the marker
> barrel skyward.  The servo horn attached to my elevate servo was stripped.
> After this event it was difficult to get any repeatability with the marker
> elevate due to slippage of the servo horn on the servo.  The Hitec
> HS-705MG 1/4 scale servo was not damaged and I attribute this to its metal
> gears and output shaft.  This event showed me where the failure point in
> my elevate design is and in the future I'll have a supply of replacement
> servo horns on hand.
>
>
> Marker Issues
>
> During the last battle my marker started acting up.  It would not re-cock
> fully after a few rounds were fired off.  This was not a lubrication issue
> because I dumped plenty of lube into the marker with no effect.  It's my
> thought that the marker has some debris in it and requires a teardown to
> clean it out.  This is reinforced in that Joe Summer was having
> difficulties with his GT marker (similar to mine) and he did a world speed
> record field strip and cleanout while at home base during a battle to
> restore operation.  The lesson here is to be able to get to your marker
> easily for cleaning and have the tools available to strip the marker down.
>  I think I'll also make it a practice to clean the marker during the
> lunchtime break.
>
>
> Motor Wedges
>
> For whatever reason I've had a mental block in securing my motor wedges in
> place.  I've always relied on the tension of the motor to keep them from
> moving around.  On the second day I broke down and screwed the wedges in
> to keep them from popping out during battle.
>
>
> Wireless Camera
>
> This year I tried a different wireless camera setup than the one from last
> year. This unit was fully self contained and operated in the 900mhz
> frequency range.  The system failed after the tank moved a few feet and no
> action video was captured.  I am personally done with wireless technology
> and will not be dumping any more money into it.  I think the way to go is
> with an onboard recording solution such as what John Pittellli has done.
>
>
> Chronometer
>
> This year we had a RadarChron brand of chronometer at the battle.  The
> RadarChron is a little device that is placed at the end of the barrel and
> it uses doppler radar technology to measure paintball velocity.  This year
> we enforced a maximum velocity of 280 FPS (f
> eet per second) which is a standard in the paintball world.  The
> chronometer opened a few eyes.  Some tankers were shooting slow and got to
> up their velocity while others were shooting to fast.  An interesting note
> is that the GT brand of markers appear to be factory set at 330fps, way to
> fast for safe game play.
>
>
> Tyng Track System (TTS)
>
> I'll be following up with an illustrated article on the TTS, "The TTS, a
> Years Experience".  For now all I'll say is that the TTS performed
> admirably in the tall grass and underbrush that was prevalent at the
> Maryland Massacre and its still holding together after its third battling
> event.
>
>
>
> Steve Tyng
>
>
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