Tippmann TPN Tango One paintball marker

I haven't posted a whole lot on paintball on this blog, but yes, I do still have a high interest in paintball and I'd like this blog to reflect this a little bit. One thing I have noticed while looking around for a paintball marker to start off with is that Tippmann now have a new marker advertised on their site. I'm not really sure how new it is, but it is new to me. The marker I spotted is the TPN Tango One, and looks like it's aimed at people who are starting out or have a smaller budget.

At a bit over half the price of an X7 marker from Tippmann, you obviously get just the basics. There's no E-grip trigger, and no cyclone feed system, but it does come with 4 picatinny rails and a foregrip, and can be upgraded to E-grip, as well as being available as the "bravo one" (M16 kit) and "sierra one". In fact, from the research I've done, it looks like most parts from the older Tippmann 98 custom, which it seems Tippmann based this marker on. I'm not too sure what the availability is like in Australia, as I do know the Tippmann A-5 is sold as slightly different model here, the CFM.

Only having gravity feed,  mechanical trigger and less available parts than an A-5 does mean that eventually any new paintball player will need to upgrade if they want to play more than just casual weekend fun, but for half the price and Tippmann quality, the TPN paintball series looks like a pretty good offer.

Yoko Ritona rifle props by Blind Squirrel

Faffing about on the net today looking for ideas for my next potato cannon, I stumbled across an anime called "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann" or Gurren Lagann in short. Anyway, one of the key characters, Yoko Ritona, uses a long range sniper rifle, which I thought I could loosely base my next cannon around. So I did a little more searching for better pictures and my search lead me to a blog called "Blind Squirrel Props".

The owner of the blog does many props for cosplay, but the two posts that caught my eye were the posts on the Yoko Ritona rifles. The first link includes a fairly detailed description with pictures of how it all went together, which is well worth a read, especially if you're interested in making props. the post is titled "Yoko Ritona's Sniper Rifle" The second post is the more refined and painted version, "Yoko Ritona's Sniper Rifle II"

I know it's not directly related to Nerf, Paintball or even potato cannons, but hopefully soon I'll have built a potato/vortex cannon similar to this within the next couple of months, and I do know any prop makers will love the Blind Squirrel blog.

Vapor Atlas 250: more info

Right, I'm back in action again. Acer kindly replaced my faulty hard drive under warranty free of charge, so needless to say I'm happy again. A while ago I spotted something on the Foam From Above blog about a new blaster being produced by Razor, known as the Atlas 250, released under the brand name "Vapor". There still hasn't been much info on this but I decided to do some digging myself.

What I have found, is that it is a pistol type blaster that fires water based gel balls around about 50 feet. I haven't found anything on other blasters in the Vapor line, but I did find a Facebook page, and at the time of posting it only has 50 likes. I would say this will be the best source of info on these blasters at the moment. There is also a video showcasing the blasters in action, the description is concise and to the point:

"The Vapor Atlas 250 is the next evolution play battles. Using a gel pellet that is 98% water, it simply evaporates after hitting your target. So there's no mess and no cleanup. The Vapor Atlas 250 holds up to 50 pellets at a time, so you can longer without reloading and it can shoot up to 50 feet. Check it out."

To me, It looks like a cool blaster that might function fairly well, and fortunately it has a trigger and cocking mechanism, unlike other gel ball blasters like Xploders (BIG plus). But  there doesn't seem to be a big push of advertising or information, nor even other blasters in the line-up like what happened with Max Force blasters. So at this stage, I'm still holding out for more info and I will keep updating this blog as I find out more.

Downtime update

Unfortunately I am still limited to blogging on my iPod touch, which is incredibly frustrating however Acer has informed me that the repairs on my laptop are done, and I should have it back within 48 hours. Then comes the fun task of reinstalling everything, and processing the 8gb of photos that I haven't been able to do, but then, after all that, I'm back in action. I've got a few interesting findings to post so keep watching!

Down but not out

This is an update I unfortunately have to make, I wish I didn't have to but it's bad luck I guess. Last night, my hard drive decided to start giving up so I backed everything up, but after that it became apparent that my laptop is now pretty much useless with the state of the hard drive being that it's reading incredibly slowly and I doubt it wpould last more than a couple of days. Therefore, my blogging is limited to what an iPod touch can do, until my laptop is repaired. Good news is, it's covered by warranty so I hopefully won't be out for too long

Foam From Above: New challenger?

Over the last few days, I've spotted a couple of interesting posts pop up on the Foam From Above blog, something about a new contender in the backyard blaster game. well, all will soon be revealed, as a picture popped up late last night (my time) of a blaster made by Razor. They make scooters, remember?

Image courtesy of Foam From Above

Now, from the looks of this picture, I can see the words "Atlas 250" and "Vapor". I can also see what looks like a tactical rail similar to Nerf's rails. I also see little yellow balls. Oh, and a TRIGGER. So what does the "250" stand for? feet as in the range is 250 feet? probably not, that's a bit hardcore. Maybe it's ammo capacity? What are those yellow balls made of? How does it work? Well, Foam From Above has got this one, so I'll be watching that space!

Nerf Reactor still sells?

I wasn't aware of this until I stumbled across this find for $16.99 AU in Toyworld Capalaba, but apparently you can still occasionally find the 2004 version of the Nerf Reactor pump action ball blaster if you look hard enough, or are lucky as hell. This is the first time I've ever actually seen the Reactor for sale in a store.

It comes with the blaster and 4 foam balls. I didn't pick this pack up since I was already donated a pair of them some time ago. I haven't done a review on one yet, but they are a pretty fun little blaster, and if you apply some potato cannon theory, they can be modded to fire the balls with a sweet *BANG!* (link here). So yeah, they do still exist for sale here in Australia, you just have to have a keen eye to find them! Good luck!