Possible Event in the SF Bay area 2010

Hi guys long time it has been. I am working on an event that I want to share with you for your input. This may or may not come off. Right now I want opinions on this. There is a gaming convention Labor Day weekend each year. Conquest Santa Clara or Pacific Con. At he Reno Convention in June I was asked by Gabe Vega if WWCC could put on an event like we put on at Maker Fair. Out of the blue. I said I would get back to him which I did a few days later. I could do it but I needed 3 things to happen. First the hotel has to be on line and do it that has to be aggree able to all parties. Second the material. We could not use athe pond that we use at Maker Fair at it is theres. My company I work for I think I have convinced to let me use the materials to construct the pond. Third WWCC members have to approve it. I have the officers cautious approval. Enough of the politic stuff.
This pond will be made out of 12x12x36 inch douglas fir blocks. Blocks weigh about 85lbs, apc. The pond will be 40 feet wide 100 ft long with about 8 to 10 inches of water in it. These blocks will all be tied together. This pond will be in a tennis court with a 20 ft high chain link fence. Fits right between the posts where the net is. This is a corner tennis court. 3 sides are protected by this fence. It also has a 15 ft protecton mat on this fence. Ball bears will not penetrate this. That leaves the spectator side from the other tennis court to cover. This will be done with 9ft tall PVC pipe and we will get a nylon screen mesh for protection. Rolls come 100ft long 8ft high. We will try to have bleachers for the crowd. Not only will this be a spectator area on that side of the fence but a dealer area also. Strike Models has committed if these thing comes of. Seminars will be given also. Now this is a gaming convention. Historical games,fantasy,science fiction are all here. This year over 300 hundred games are being put on. WW 2 Land,naval,air games. D&D,Warhammer,to many more to list. I am putting on R/C Tank Infra-Red combat with the 1/16th scale tanks for the second year.
If I can get this to go for next year I am inviting all to participate. Fast gun,Big Gun,anybody who is willing to come. There is enough down time to have this done between sorties. You will run your own rules. You will use your own insurance. If you want to cross over and construct a different group than your own we will try to accomidate on the insurance. Let us discuss this. If I can not get this done here we are working on plan B. Oh! Did I mention we are with in walking distance of Great America Amusement park. I am just waiting to get into the door to give my presentation to the Marriott Hotel If it is no I just waisted this time putting this up. If yes I will post it as soon as it happens. For now I want you all who are interested to start with the questions and I will try to make time to ansewer all of them.
Thank You
Fire Power Dan

 

Sounds like a real cool way to bring RC to the public. Do you have photos or footage of maker faire. The ponds could be the answer to how to battle in the future at events.

 

Rob Wood is the head of Maker Fair. His tirelees work has made it a rousing success for WWCC and R/C Warship combat as a whole. It is a great tool for exposing the public to what we do. 6,000+ people watched us battle over 2 days,3 battles a day. An estimated 3,000 were turned away.We also did a new event this year with 1/32nd Linburgh P.T. Boats. The public got involved in this one. Sparky L. invented a mouse trap gun that was mounted to the bow of these vessels and fired a ping pong ball. We had 6 children and their parents come out of the crowd and the kids operated the boat while the parents loaded them. A floating circle was put on the other side, Simple object. Put as many balls into this circle in a certain time limit. Worked great. My job was to make sure these vessels all worked for the next sortie. Give you an example. A mom dropped a transmitter in the pond. All in a days work. We gave away WWCC T shirts as prizes. Rob has suggested he would like to invite Fast Gun Ship combat next year to the event. So all you people who read this think about it. The insurance problem is no problem here. Maker Fair carries a very high risk policy for this fair.
As far as videos and pictures. I am not very good at putting things up. If you go to You Tube and do a general search for Maker Fair you will eventually find us. Try also Robotic Ship Combat Maker Fair and the Battle of the Bath Tub.WWCC website also has stuff on it. www.westernwarship.com. Hopefully Carl,Eric and Rob will chime in. This is an event that is established. It happens in May. The event I am working on is not set in stone and may not be. Maker Fair right now is a more viable choice if you want to come. We would love to expose this hobby to all branches of R/C Ship combat. Think about it people. Love for all of you to attend Maker Fair or possibly what WWCC will try to put on Labor Day weekend 2010.

 

I have quite a few photos of the entire pond build, and of battles we had on it. Do you have anything in particular you'd like to see?

Rob

 

I took a quick look through Youtube and put together a playlist of videos about the Maker Faire battles. The first four are very short clips from the 2009 Faire introducing the crowd and starting the battle (Rob announcing), the fifth is a longer cliup from 2009 (Fire Power Dan in the sailor suit). The others are from 2008 and are mostly collections of the various robots seen at the Faire.

 

Thank you Rob and Gascan for chiming in. Guys again we would love all of you to join us. There are two Fast Gun Groups here in California. Come join this Maker Fair event that has been running for two years in May. You will battle and talk about your type of R/C ship combat. You will not be an after thought. You will be a main part of this event. As was said 3,000 people were turned away because the battle arena could only hold so many people. That was 3000+ people deprived of seeing this great sport. Some of them saw only the Run&Gun PT Boat event. The more combat the better. Maker Fair is not till May of next year. It will be here before you know it. We urge you to attend. Please think about this event as I can not say the Labor day event we are planning will come off. Everyone remember is invited. This is not just a California event. It is a for all forms of R/C Ship combat.

Thank You.

 

Building a pond sounds expensive, but maybe water is much cheaper up there than it is here in So. California.

 

It is. I have my company though to fall back on. They are going to donate the blocks to make the frame. The rest of the materials are going through my wife's business.I figure another $300. Alas. This may not come off. I was contacted in June to do this. I have insisted with an audience with the gentleman who runs the convention and the hotel. Everything is in limbo till that happens. If it does not happen soon we pull the plug.

However we will be working on something else if the show I have outlined does not come off. We are in the process of getting together with Rich from South Coast Big Gun. and SCRAPS the Fast gun group in SOCAL. I wish I could have gone to Arizona this year as I was talking with that group to attend. I had so much happen in my life over the last few months it was not to be. If any of you read this I am sorry. You will be invited to come. Fact is everyone who does this will be invited. I will pass info into this post when avaliable.

 

Pacific Con is over. The event is going to be discussed this week. The sticking point is the 4 gate doors that lead into the tennis courts. They are afraid that it might not be good for the fire Marshall to pass it. The hotel is thinking about putting a large gate in. They have a fork lift. We have given the hotel an idea on how to use these tennis courts. Stay tuned.

 

Sadly this event will not take place. I will not go into it but due to communication problems it will not happen at this site.

However. There is something that is a brewing that is coming down the pipe that may interest all of R/C Combat clubs. Stay tuned.

 

Dan
Sorry to hear that this particular event has fallen through. Especially after hearing about all of the effort that you have been putting into it.
But as old "Boney" once said.
This battle has been lost. But there is another that can still be won.
We appreciate all of your hard work. It is a simple matter of re-directing your focus in another direction.
Keep up the good work.
Mikey

 

Ron,

I would like to see any and all pictures of the pond that you are willing to post. Perhaps you can upload them to picasa (allows larger views) so we can look at them anytime. I wanted to attend in Austin but the deal fell through there also.

 

Thank you guys for your kind words. There is something that is being worked on. I am not a part of it yet. It will be beneficial to all. Stay tuned again