Cheaply made bunker thread

[Skoad]

Well, our paintball field at school got demolished.

We need to come up with super cheap, easy to move, collapsable bunkers. We've just started kicking around ideas. Has anyone made their own bunkers that fit the description?

I just made a quick drawing of one of the possible prototypes. Made from 1 inch pvc pipe and a tarp. Brown lines would be some sort of fastener maybe a clip or just rope, Grey line would be a stake in the ground that goes over the top of the "leg" to keep it secured to the ground. Players would be on the "legless" side just so they don't get in the way.

Anyone else have any ideas?

http://web.umr.edu/~sjjgfd/smallbunker.jpg

[Garrum]

Might be a feasable idea. I'm not sure if 1 inch PVC would be strong enough, though. Might need to move up to 2 or 3 inch. Might also want to double the tarp.

However, I haven't priced any PVC in a while, so even 1 inch might be expensive if you buy enough for several bunkers. Look at metal conduit tubing as well. Some people say that it can be gotten cheaper than PVC sometimes.

The tarp will require you to either be able to install grommets after you cut it to size, or sew two peices into a 'bag' that will slide over the frame snugly from the top. You might need a stout sewing machine for that. You could then stuff foam or something similar in between the layers for added strength and resiliance.

Either way, let us know how it turns out.

[Brophog]

From a construction aspect:

I think its a pretty novel idea. Lightweight, portable, yet rugged. Will allow you to change the field around with ease. I'd like to reiterate what the above poster said about the grommets.

From a gameplay aspect:

I've never really liked flat bunkers. If the field is wide, they don't provide adequate coverage. If the field is narrow, the game quickly becomes a more stagnant, paint throwing event.

I'd suggest you use some of these in your field, and supplement with a rounder, boxier kind of bunker for the remainder of the field. Perhaps make some of these a little taller for use as rear standups. You could also use some of these along the perimeter, in a snake like application.

[Lee]

those type of bunkers are already being manufactured by a guy i saw at waynes world last december. sorry, don't remember his company name, though the product looked nice and as well made as pvc and vinyl can get.

[Gabriel]

pallettes make good bunkers.

gabe

[adam shannon]

good idea, however if you can afford it you should double up the tarp and make it go around the pvc pipe so there arent any gaps, like a pillow case. and make the legs like a " Y " at the bottom and fill them with sand or concrete for stability. and 2 inch pipe should work well. just my thoughts, anything you can afford will be a winner, but my suggestions and the others in the thread may make them last longer and play harder.

[845]

When we played in the backyard we used a tarp for one of the bunkers and you could shoot through it. It would really suck to have to play that bunker tight with people hammering on it.

[Bad_Dog]

lol, and umbrellas dont work either...:) My friends convinced me it would be ok, so we tried it... I was hiding behind it (this is when I was a n00b) and I thought someone had bunkered me... nope it was the paintballs going right through it...:p

[Branchvillian]

Do NOT use tarps. 4-5 shots through the heavy dudy tarps put holes in them. I wouldn't recommend spending all that money on something that won't work. Pallets would be the best idea, mostly because they are free.

[FreakBaller12]

use pallets, my new field we just have to finish is using pallets.
Thye are free to get, just ask around or look on the side of the road. Some may need to be filld in in the gaps, not very hard to do. Extra scraps will fill it in, which almost everybody has.

[tony3]

we use plywood bunkers at out private field they look something like this. We got plywood boards and cut them to all different sizes, then we got door hinges and attached them to the board, then got 2x4's and attached them to the other side of the hinge, then we drilled a hole through the bottom of the 2x4 and we put a string stapled to the plywood board and thru the bottom of the 2x4 so the legs wouldn't collapse. Hope that made sense.

[street1356]

one word



SPOOLS!!!!!!!!!!

with barrels on the end of them to cover up those cheap foot shots

[sneakyhacker420]

add legs on the other side to give extra support when someone goes crashing into the bunker from a slide

double up the tarp

use 2" PVC

[NGp8ball]

as long as the tarp isn't pulled tight, it shouldn't rip. leave some slack in it jst incase someone decides to hammer on it. thats a good idea tho, i might try it

[Skoad]

Some of you people don't understand. THEY HAVE TO BE PORTABLE, LIGHTWEIGHT, COLLAPSABLE, ETC.


We have to bring them to the field, set them out, play, pack them up, and bring them back.

Pallets are bad, spools are bad. Our old field we had tires, box springs, railroad ties, etc. But we went out last weekened and it looks like someone bulldozed the whole thing.


Back to discussion... :)

Yes I was kinda worrying about the shooting through the tarp business. We were thinking of getting some paintball netting and use that as the bunker stuff, maybe put a tarp right behind it just so you can't see through it. 1 inch pvc is 2 bucks per 10 foot pole, if you get any bigger than that it jumps to almost 5 bucks.


Goal price is 10 bucks per bunker, give or take. But if you can come up with an awsome bunker for like 30 bucks, by all means post it.

[Grasshopper]

I've been thinking of making some bunkers like that recently because we have some land, but other bunkers are way out of our price range. Also, I'd really like the to be how you want them (light, small, durable, and cheap). If you come up with something that works, I may just give it a try.

[FreakBaller12]

try and find some plastic barrels, they are excellant for bunkers and u could throw ur pvc pipes in there and carry them both ways.

[chizle97]

hey easy, get alot of carpet shards and do the same type of frame thing but just drape carpet over the top. strudy, will hold up and portableor just use carpet the same way you would a tarp.

[pb4jc]

When we made our field cheap we just went to a local lumber yard and asked them if we could have some of their old pallets. We used steel posts and some wire to hold them up. Then tooks plywood scraps to cover up any wholes paintballs could come through. We even stacked 2 on top of each other to make standup bunkers they are fun and cheap and movable.

just my $0.02

[Skoad]

I doubt 20 pallets will fit in my dorm room :)

Carpet, thats a great idea! I'll relay it back to the boys. I only forsee one problem and thats keeping them from getting funky. Not sure how to clean them off after the day is over.

[845]

What if u bought a ton of inflatable tubes and bound them together some how?

[Ivan]

This may be a little off topic, but are you going to UMR? And do they have a paintball club? I may be going there in a couple of years.

[Sir_Brass]

they play paintball at least, that much I DO know.


Skoad, OT, but do you know Naked Prophet? I know he now plays strictly with his phantom, but he and I used to talk pball quite frequently back when I played with my stingrayII (now long gone).

[RRfireblade]

Maybe something like this,could be like 3/8 plywood.It'd be pretty lite,pretty strong,endless shape potential and would come apart and lay flat to take up little room.....

http://www.uploadit.org/rrfireblade/Bunker.bmp

[Skoad]

Haha! yes i do go to UMR. We just formed a paintball club this semester. We just need a place to play. Local indoor place shut down.


Yes Naked Prophet is about 7 or 8 doors down from me. He still plays with his phantom :)

[Pullman]

Hey,

How about going with the PVC thing except you could use them to make proper 3-D frames. You could build rectangular boxes, and double cover those with the strongest tarp you could find. Then you could stand them up or lay them down just like a pillow bunker, and staking them shouldn't be any harder than a pillow bunker. You'd have box kites rather than blow up pillows. They would be a bit tougher to break down, but they would definitely be light and portable. I would think the toughest part would be resisting the urge to slide into them like a pillow.:D

[03vert]

speaking of bunkers, anyone know of a site with field layouts or tells you how to lay out a field? It'd be cool if I knew how to lay out a field like one from the super 7.:D

[Sir_Brass]

Originally posted by Skoad
Haha! yes i do go to UMR. We just formed a paintball club this semester. We just need a place to play. Local indoor place shut down.


Yes Naked Prophet is about 7 or 8 doors down from me. He still plays with his phantom :)

tell him that Brass says "hi", and that it's sheridans over nelson any day :p.

[Miscue]

Originally posted by Skoad
Well, our paintball field at school got demolished.

We need to come up with super cheap, easy to move, collapsable bunkers. We've just started kicking around ideas. Has anyone made their own bunkers that fit the description?

I just made a quick drawing of one of the possible prototypes. Made from 1 inch pvc pipe and a tarp. Brown lines would be some sort of fastener maybe a clip or just rope, Grey line would be a stake in the ground that goes over the top of the "leg" to keep it secured to the ground. Players would be on the "legless" side just so they don't get in the way.

Anyone else have any ideas?

http://web.umr.edu/~sjjgfd/smallbunker.jpg

Ping pong barricades look almost just like that. Except, the legs go in both directions. PVC is flimsy, might want the legs to go both ways.

[nastymag]

you know what would work great instead of tarp...

blankets !

im not kidding... blankets ( you can get diffirent kids .... prices very). we have couple on my field and the cant get shoot thru and you can just take them off to clean them, then just drap them over when your playing.

[the_next_guy_]

use big trash cans, like these http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/119090_4.jpg

they will never break, they can be stacked for storage, and they are about $8 at walmart

[OysterBoy]

Well the design my friends and i ahve (i made ;) ) is like 10.00 / 20.00 CDN per bunker at walmart.

We get one pole, however high we need the bunker, and buy some giant bouncy balls (4.00 CDN at walmart). Then we get a 10 / 15 pound barbell weight, next we buy some heavy duty rope and just tie the balls together, and to the pole and weight. cover with a blanket and you have a nice bunker. I can get some pictures up you dont understand it.

[cockermongol]

Yeah, I'd like to see that.

[OysterBoy]

This is what a basic standup looks like

make sure you fasten it up tight, we had a mishap once when we forgot to tighten it

http://members.rogers.com/cheapopix/bunkers.JPG

also the balls (depending on if the blankets are thick) repel the balls very well heheh i accidentaly gogged myself the one time hahah

[Smoking Nun]

Make Bunkers using inner tubes. Blow them up - use a foot pump, or even rig a fill from your co2 bottles and a regulator (which works fine).

Blow them up and tape or tie them together.

Go here for some pics.

http://www.tyger.us/paintball/photo/sky98/

They were the first air ball bunkers

Nun

[Mag Master 04]

i like the bouncyball idea...but we need to find sumthing else to cover them with...like i dunno what, but that woule be bad arse...and when its time to take it down you can just take them to your lil brother/sisters house

[Bad_Dog]

get alot of carpet shards and do the same type of frame thing but just drape carpet over the top this would work very well, although every once and a while, go hose em down so they dont start to smell... and best of all, just keep an eye out for when buildings are being remodeled... and you can pull huge (like 50ft) pieces of carpet from dumpsters... free

[islandboi]

i like that bouncy ball idea if only i could find a place where no one will mess the fields up

[cscar]

the kind that have no holes or gaps. they also stack together nice and compactly. i have seen them sold for around $5. also, old bakery delivery trays, plastic ones about 2'-3' sqaure. i have seen these used. both lightweight, compactable, solid, easy to clean.

[OysterBoy]

Bump (Cause my idea is kool and I wanna see more :D)

[azza]

How many are in your school/highschool/uni's? paintball club? 'cos if there are quite a few, just get everyone buy an inflatable armchair each. :D The only problem would be finding a way to attach(sp?) them to the ground, as Im sure you dont want the field suddenly moving with every strong gust of wind when you play :p .
I know its not the best solution, but it certainly is a novel way of having a "sup'air" field. plus everyone gets to have a seat on a chair when you're all finished playing too....

Cheers
Azza

[MarkM]

Originally posted by Smoking Nun
Make Bunkers using inner tubes. Blow them up - use a foot pump, or even rig a fill from your co2 bottles and a regulator (which works fine).

Blow them up and tape or tie them together.

Go here for some pics.

http://www.tyger.us/paintball/photo/sky98/

They were the first air ball bunkers

Nun
No they weren't the first airball bunkers they were used because the Sup air stylee field collapsed and that was the quickest thing overnight they could come up with, plus those tubes get very very heavy when you start to move them about, as the second year they reused them and put them into bags, kinda like the post further up with the balls covered by a blanket. The metal frames were also reused but had a material sleeve made up and placed over it so that would work but then those frames would have to be sourced I believe they are just small fencing frames, they don't have any mesh in the middle though and they need sandbags to hold them down as they will spin off when you slide into them.

[Pacifist_Farmer]

While I think the carpet idea has some merit, I'm gonna side with the blanket one

Go over to your local army navy store, you can get wool blankets really cheap, if you want it even tougher you could try canvas tarps, or tents, those things would be a bit heavier but stronger

[Big'n slo]

Woo Hooo!!!!1

Play the Little Mermaid Field!

Only $4.99

http://www.intheswim.com/cat_image/T5735.jpg

[trains are bad]

I played at a scenario where the other team had something similar, but it was just three 3' pieces of 1-1.5" pvc, with a 3' by 8' peice of tarp between the two end ones and spikes on the pipe. So you could stick them into the ground in a v-shape or just straight if you wanted.

[845]

The bouncy ball idea looks good.