BattleDay

[Davjacva]

Back in 2003, we built a battlefield at the AAF museum in Danville, Va. which had a lot of detail, including a couple of towns, a train that ran 3/4 around the 85' x 65' field, and a running river. We'd have battles there about 3-6 times a year and this past weekend was the last event as the museum owners are selling off the entire contents of the museum. These photos are from back in 2014. The event started on Friday and went through the weekend. There would be about 35 participants, and the main events had them divided into two teams along with with trucks with trailers that had working ramps in order to recover KO'd tanks. There were trains with tank turrets that would participate also. The battles would last 45 mins to an hour.

[tifosi12]

Awesome and pitty that it closed.

How were the battles decided? I don't see the IR receptors on the tanks. So just by referees or people to accept defeat?

I love the towns and the low camera angles, looks good although some stuff is anachronistic.

I thought if I ever have a pool, I'll build out one corner with a scale submarine pen. :)

[Fishb0y]

That is really awesome! Too bad they're closing.

[Davjacva]

Awesome and pitty that it closed.

How were the battles decided? I don't see the IR receptors on the tanks. So just by referees or people to accept defeat?

I love the towns and the low camera angles, looks good although some stuff is anachronistic.

I thought if I ever have a pool, I'll build out one corner with a scale submarine pen. :)

When the opponent's vehicles are totally KO'd. The IR receivers are those round things in the commander's cupola. The building/ field were set up to be generic Europe. It started out very well, but then 'other' people started donating doofy stuff like the castle and a dollhouse that wasn't to scale (we made it the brothel). At first it was pretty anal getting stuff on. I did six farmhouses down by the bridge myself. There's incredible video from a few people, some even during night battles. Those started out with absolutely no lighting, then we started giving background lighting as some people were crashing into a lot of stuff. Battles during the day ran from simple one side against the other side to very complex battles with CO's, XO's, platoon leaders, and recovery/ maintenance sections. Each team got so many recoveries, and the leadership had certain jobs that only they could do, so if you're CO was killed, everyone had to move up the chain in order to keep going. If the XO was killed, no maintenance/ recovery happened until someone came into the slot. This all had to be communicated and acted on while under fire. It would stress people out to the point sometimes where we'd have to cancel some of the ending battles. The battlefield was 65' x 85'. The IR system could shoot 99', but you could only hit another vehicle 360-deg's within 10ft. Outside of that you had to hit one of the cardinal points of the reciever (one of 90-degs) this was further complicated if the receiver was not plane, but angled. More the angle, harder to hit. Another thing, was that the emission time was 1000ms, so you're shot would last a full second which you could manipulate. More stuff but you get the idea.

[Davjacva]

That is really awesome! Too bad they're closing.

Yeah, but this is about the 10th time they had an offer. They started almost at the beginning with bailing out. It was slow at first with about 16 participants, but then got up to about 30-35 continuously. There only remained about 5-8 people who started with it, and everyone else would change out every year and a half. If you missed two years, you hardly knew anyone when you got back. It was not cheap, and there's no cheap vehicles or systems here. If there were, it would have all the upgrades that a high-end system cost. No beating it. Somedays there'd be $100K in tanks there easy. When this all started, RC tanks was a microcosm of the size of RC subs. Kind of weird to me.
So Steve, how's your Type IX going?

[Fishb0y]

It's all tore apart right now. I have new pistons, electronics, and new poly covers for the dry hull. I need to replace the motors next to get it running mechanically. I've been busy at work, but I hope to do some work this weekend. I can only hope to have half the details on mine as you do on yours!

[tifosi12]

Thanks Davjacva for all your comments. I loved the one about the doll house the most. :)

A friend of mine bought an all metal R/C tank, yup that cost him quite a bundle. These things are sophisticated. I wish the RC submarine hobby would develop like the RC tank hobby did. <sigh>

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thanks Davjacva for all your comments. I loved the one about the doll house the most. :)

A friend of mine bought an all metal R/C tank, yup that cost him quite a bundle. These things are sophisticated. I wish the RC submarine hobby would develop like the RC tank hobby did. <sigh>

Me too. Wasn't for a lack of trying though...

Now, in hindsight, I believe the formula for running a successful business is to engage in a service or product that is as far dissociated from your interests (hobby) as possible i.e., don't confuse-mix business with pleasure.

D&E Miniatures was a money-making business from the start, and remained so as long as we built displays of subjects Ellie and I had little interest in -- catering to the wants of the customer. However, our business broke even and at times lost money when I foolishly steered our activities towards r/c submarine products -- catering to those things that pleased me.

I suspect that the much more successful r/c tank manufacturers based their production and sales efforts on the recommendations of executives who are BA graduates; people who put market analysis and balance sheet numbers ahead of any personal preferences of type product they market.

David

[Ken_NJ]

Skip evolved his love of a hobby into a business and after a while he got burned out from it. Being the only one running the business was a big burden on himself.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Skip evolved his love of a hobby into a business and after a while he got burned out from it. Being the only one running the business was a big burden on himself.

But, during the decades his star burned bright, he introduced this side of the planet to a commercially available angle-keeper; reliable shaft and pushrod seals; two rather flimsy, but affordable r/c submarine kits; and a wealth of good, solid information published in many and varied publications. His participation in seminars and Q&A's were a source of inspiration and learning.

I can think of no single man on this continent that has done so much to advance the state of the art than that hard charging, that first-class gearhead, author, and driver, Skip Asay.

[Ken_NJ]

Very very true, well said.

I knew he was into submarines early on when our club was formed in the late 70's. We first met at the Jersey Shore Boat Show at Asbury Park Convention Hall. I wish I pursued that portion of the hobby back then instead of much later. Would have had a great mentor, although I know another great mentor in the present. Elbow, elbow.

Another thing I missed early on was scuba diving. My first big scratch build project was the SS Miss Belmar, originally built in the 70's, which I got the plans for from a gent named Bob Nash. Sometime in the maybe 90's he was into scuba diving. Didn't click for me then, although he tried. Sometime after 2000 I got certified and went out on his party boat converted into a dive boat. I was hooked. Although have not been diving for a number of years, but would love to return to it.

[Albacore 569]

What scale are those tanks & vehicles i the phots at? Guessing 1/16 or 1/24? You contributed greatly to the RC sub hobby too David. (You and Ellie). And still are!

I see those tank & think of the interesting and exciting scenes in the 'French town' around the bank in Kellys Heroes. The Sherman & those three doctored up T-34s to look like Tiger 1's... lol

Thank God the Tiger was so expensive and heavy and complex to produce, It weakness was only it couldn't be produced in such great numbers.

Thank you, David & Ellie, too.

Steve

[Davjacva]

[QUOTE=Albacore 569;n175765]What scale are those tanks & vehicles i the phots at? Guessing 1/16 or 1/24? You contributed greatly to the RC sub hobby too David. (You and Ellie). And still are!

I see those tank & think of the interesting and exciting scenes in the 'French town' around the bank in Kellys Heroes. The Sherman & those three doctored up T-34s to look like Tiger 1's... lol

Thank God the Tiger was so expensive and heavy and complex to produce, It weakness was only it couldn't be produced in such great numbers.

Thank you, David & Ellie, too.

Steve


Steve,
the tanks and everything else are 1/16 scale. Early on, we had cameras in some of the tanks, and we would watch them on a tv while facing away from the field and try to navigate just with the camera. Everything looked 1/1 on tv, so that was rewarding.
Jake

[Davjacva]

This is a shot from the initial work on the battlefield. I was Valentine Day's weekend 2003. Here you can see all the railroad ties had to be drilled and staked into place. The fill-dirt had to be cleaned up, and it was a never-ending process, as there were rocks and all kinds of crap in it. Then it had to be tilled out. This view is looking West and it's the long-length (85') of the field. In the foreground, the lake is being constructed. The river is also being laid, and once it was completed, the calculations for the lake went right out the window as it over-filled when the river pump was shut off. This place was not heated or cooled, and it was hot as hell in the middle of summer and an icebox in the middle of winter.

[Davjacva]

This is 3 months later...and a ton of work for the initial battleday in May, 2003. The other side wasn't completed yet, so it was only the one side of the river and a little bit over. 16 people showed up, and that was the average for the first year. Then in mid-2004 it got to about 37 and stayed there continuously. People quit and new people would fill the ranks.