feild size [Archive] - Automags.Org Online Forums

Polishpickles451

07-03-2002, 07:42 PM

hey great to here that people are doing this. There is a thread about my backyard field in this forum -- http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41504. I have a 3 man speedball field, and i'll go out tomarrow and measure it for you, but i would say 100 feet long, 45 feet wide would be what it is, and is ideal for 3 man. In that space, I have setup 21 bunkers made of plywood.
Plywood is one of the few things in the US which is still dirt cheap whereever you go. I went to home depot and picked up 300 squere feet of plywood for about $50. Very worth it, and it's very easy to work with.
The first time i setup the field, I was thinking about being original, and seting up an interesting feild. Unfortunatly, it didn't work all that well and when it came to tournies, playing on a wierd field doens't help. I then setup my field exactly as the tourney field at our local tourny field, and it worked perfect, and was great practice for winning the next tourney:D
To get plywood bunkers to be sturdy, you should get cement and either dig a hole and cement in a two 2x4 and nail the plywood bunker to it, or, what i did for most bunkers, dig a 'slot' about 8" deep and cement-in a squere 4'x4' board in point first. That was you get a cool cut off diamond bunker which is absolutly great. I had all my bunkers like this except the 50, where i had one cemented four squere 4x4' in a X pattern, and two bunkers on either side of the 50. where i put 'cheese wedge' bunkers against the boundries.
But no matter how well you setup your field, the most important consideration is air supply. If you live near a scuba store then it is not a problem at all. Most scuba places rent tanks for a daily rate. 2 tanks should keep 8-10 people playing for 6 hours! My shop charges $12 per tank per day. Not bad at all -- get your buddies to chip in and split the cost.
If you want to look into buying a scuba tank, acepaintball.com sells standard 80 cubic foot tanks for $130, well below the price of a new paintball n2 tank. If you live in an area where compressed air is not available, and co2 is going to be neccesary, it is much harder. Welding and machine shops can get you a bulk air tank for decent yearly rental prices. The downside is that they are dangerous, very large and heavy, and need to be chained to the wall. If you have no scuba in your area, a bulk tank will be needed for n2 as well. I know my parents would not want this! With n2 available, and scuba too, backyard play is cheap and easy.
I recommend getting a roll of caution tape at a hardware store, it's only $10, and you can mark off your field effectivly and professionally.
You will also need a 'safe area' for players waiting. You certainly don't want them so far as to be outta range, so you should look into some kind of netting. I went to a junkyard and picked up three large trampoline 'nets' (are they nets or what???) and hung them between trees at the edge of the field. Not too hard, and trampoline 'netting' is effective, safe, durable, and see-through.
Finally, big mistake i made the first time i had 20 people over on a hot day was refreshments. I didn't bring out water, and had people crawling to my house tracking in mud and making my mom not talk to me for weeks. Make sure to bring out a cooler with bevreages.
hope this help, and i'll end by saying that a well made backyard field is the best thing in paintball, and it's great to have all the friends over. It's worth every effort.