CO2

I am just learning about this hobby and I am very interested in getting involved. However I have read a few things that people were having problems with their lines freezing up from to much use of CO2 at a given time. Now do you have to use CO2? Why not use Nitrogen. It won't freeze like the CO2 will, or not as fast. I know that it may cost more but CO2 isn't exactly cheep.

Jeremy Brown

 

There are a few reasons CO2 is preferred right now to using compressed air/nitrogen.

First, compressed air systems tend to be bulky compared to CO2 systems. You could fit a compressed air system into the larger ships, but it would be nearly impossible to put one into something smaller.

Along with size comes weight. Again, the compressed air system tends to be heavier than a CO2 system. Only the big ships can handle the extra weight.

Another big factor is getting high pressure air to the battle sites. Industrial sized CO2 bottles are heavy, but hold so much more CO2 than say a scuba tank. One CO2 bottle can fill every ship all day long at a battle, whereas a scuba tank might not last that long.

I played paintball for many many years (paintballers, do you remember Nelson pump pistols? I played with them when they were new ...). Compressed air is the preferred power source for paint markers because the pressure stays steady no matter what tempurature. Compressed air is plentiful at paintballs fields, so filling your tank isn't a problem. And of course, compressed air systems don't freeze up when firing fast.

To bring compressed air into warship combat, a few things will need to happen. Smaller lighter air systems will be needed for the small ships. A reliable mobile source of compressed air will be needed at a battle site. And lastly, a safety campaign to educate captains on compressed air will be needed.

Oh, and for the people that say that compressed air is to dangerous for our hobby ... you are wrong. I've seen compressed air powered paint markers thrown, beat against trees, dropped on the ground, and otherwise taken everything a paintballer can throw at them and never have I seen a single rupture. The compressed air systems are extremely safe and will take a hit from a mere BB.

To close, I plan on using a compressed air system in my Battlestations 1/96 scale ships. The ships are large enough to handle the tank weight and bulk. For air at the battle, I'll bring my own scuba tank and fill station for fills. The advantage of consistant air pressure is too much to pass up.

 

I have seen a Yamato with a HPA tank in it, though that ship has not battled. I think it has potential for battleships, and possibly dreadnoughts, but not for anything smaller. They don't make tanks small enough. My previous ship had an on-shore air compressor for single shot torpedoes, my current ship has no guns, but I would like to include HPA in my next ship.

 

HPA (nitro for paintballers) gives you many more shots per fill but you'd need at least one spare just in case you get too much of an itchy trigger finger.