You are so correct in your observations on the IR battles. Basically the RC tank world is shackled to an IR battle system developed in the 70's and has not advanced since then. I don't know why local clubs don't develop their OWN rules/standards since there is no way that someone in Australia is going to have regular tank battles in the US or Europe.
The IR system developing here at RCTA has a wide variety of options that for best use will require a break from the boring old system and ideas. First and foremost the religious adherence to the "Tamiya" standard needs to be rejected in favour of realising that things have progressed 30 years.
Unfortunately I haven't got the time to expand on here but basically clubs need to devise their own rule sets. For example, rather than using just the 3 weight classes, battle tanks should all be given a score/number rating and two teams made each having the same Total Score. Taking a classic case. your Tamiya user will forever complain that Heng Long tanks do not slow down once hit. Fair enough, so you give your Tamiya tank a lower score than your Heng Long tank. So you make a Tamiya tank worth 20 points and your Heng Long tank worth 25 points. Then say you want to make up two equal teams of 100 points each. You can then have on one side 5 Tamiyas versus ONLY 4 Heng Long.
With such a points system in place you can then make use of Bergepanzers, fixed heavy guns, and so on. By giving each item a score you then can have "equal" teams. This also introduces a bit of strategy into game play as you can decide how and what elements to make up your team.
The IR range issue..... AS I said the leading companies are using a 30 year old design. Tanks should be fitted with systems that reliably operate in excess of 10 metres. There is a particular mushroom out on the market that barley makes for a range of 5 metres.
Finally, and a shameless plug. Getting behind and supporting new systems would also help. The RCTA IR battle system has an option to send wireless info back to a display screen.
Once the bind to the old systems is broken it is possible to send ID info into the IR codes - In such a way it is possible for everyone to know who shot who and this info sent back to a central location.
Later on I'll get onto your questions about tank kits. Basically there are a lot of options out there however, for any of the real good stuff you need to spend a lot of time in the building and be able to craft/devise your own parts.
Cheers
Kevin GStatistics: Posted by Phyrephish — Wed Dec 04, 2013 7:25 am
]]>