JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

[Clone1B]

So after a wonderful sunday game at my semi-local CQB shopping centre I got around to thinking about props and immersion. A pink gas canister and some laptop cases only go so far before you fall back from your adrenaline high and go "Oh yeah we're just plinking plastic at each other...".

To aleviate this I've decided to make a nice active blinky beepy bomb prop for use in airsoft. I've got a basic idea of what I want to do and the parts are on the way but I'm looking for more ideas and suggestions, making a bomb prop is one thing, making it work in an actual airsoft scenario is another.

Currently I have:
An arduino
16x2 LCD display (one of the old text ones)
4x4 keypad (0 - 9, A - D, *, #)
Plenty of LEDs
An 8 digit 7-seg display
Loud beeper
Bright strobe light in a red dome
Die hard trilogy on DVD

What I'm looking for:
A way to integrate it into an airsoft scenario such as arming/disarming methods.
An enclosure suitable for it. Should this be C4 sized like in Counter Strike? Should I put it in a closable briefcase?

Please let me know any suggestions or ideas you've got. I'll keep this thread updated with my worklog and pictures as I progress.

[JCheeseright]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

Enclosure wise you could build all the working parts into a standard electronics enclosure/box Maplin do a good range. Then attaching it to a couple of lengths of drainpipe or whatever for the 'charge'. Thinking about it you could probably put the noise maker in one of the tubes to make it louder and it'd give you a reason to run wires to them!
What would make it extra awesome would be if the keypad actually functioned, so have a switch to arm it and then have to type in a code to disarm, 3 failed attempts and BOOM!

As for scenarios, computer games have got your back yo! classing counter strike DE style game, one team of defenders, one of attackers and 2 bombsites... Or CoD style with the bomb in the middle and a mad rush to get it and plant it somewhere... Or MoH styleee where once a team picks up the bomb the marshals tell them their target.

The possibilities are endless!

[decoy73]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

not to give bad idaers but hows about cardboard box full off bb,s and an air bag ;p

[Clone1B]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

The main thing I'm trying to think of is arming and disarming methods. Since I'll be using an arduino and I can code anything can technically be added to it (and the keypad will definitly work), but I need to balance the disarming method with the feasability of doing it in an airsoft match by people who might not have used the bomb prop before.

The arming/disarming method must:
Be simple enough to explain in one sentence
Preferably not have any detachable parts (They'll either get lost or broken)
Not rely in player honesty (Marshal/player-marshal honesty is fine)
Not be too long (You'll get shot at), or too short (Not enough of a challange/target)

Currently I've got a keypad passcode, and if I can get a backlit LED keypad I may put in LightsOut as well. I was also thinking of having very large "disarming keys" which need to be found and slotted in, but I'll make them easy to find and simple enough to replace.

As far as asthetics, I'm currently going for a Counter-strike C4 like device, with a bright flashy light and a beeper which speeds up when the timers running out. It'll be powered by a standard 8.4v NiMH.

[captain dog]

You can get those aluminium cases 3 for 15 quid in a staples type store. Some kind of solenoid pulling the pin on a timed bfg would be good. Easily done with a relay and a timer. Both cheap. Obviously a battery is needed. Thinking a really small motorbike battery. Rechargeable and adds weight to the case.
Happy to help with the design if needed.

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[Darkmikey22]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

I found a pic as reference to an idea I had not so long ago.

To arm it you could have to 2 (explosive/radioactive etc) cylinders that either the attacking team or both could find (depending on scenario)
Place them into the case, then enter a code to arm it once both cylinders have been placed. You could have it on a timer with a visable count down to add realism and so the defending team have time to disarm

Then to disarm you have four wires, 3 will be hooked up to the buzzer and the forth hooked up to the power supply. so the defending team have to gather intel to which colour wire that needs to be undone.
Then if they get the right wire it will kill power to the time and the buzzer, yet the other 3 wires will set the buzzer off if they pull the wrong wires.

I could go into deeper detail, and how you could work things/other ideas i.e the explosives could be model boat batteries that once both fitted, create the circuit to work the keypad. but thought it was easier just to give a quick rough idea for now

Plus it could be changed to suit what ever scenario.

[bob86]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

i always like the idea of binary agent bomb props, two dyed fluids in bottles, window wiper pump hiden somewhere, when timer runs out, pump activates and mixes the fluid (boom with an alarm?) the idea is to do it before it mixes.
stops ppl from cheating and just disconecting a pyro etc

[captain dog]

Or the binary liquids and use the pyro just for effect? If its a bomb I wanna hear a bang not a buzzer.

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[bob86]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

yeah no reason why you couldnt use an electric pyro, just a bit after the motor to give the liquids a chance to mix....

and if you are doing a 'cut wire to avoid det' why not run all the other wires thru a relay, so any that get cut will set it off.

[captain dog]

A motor on a timer reeling in the wire to trip a claymore perhaps? Hey lookie here. I have a bf claymore for sale. Lol

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[Clone1B]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

I like those briefcases, thats a really nice design.

6 canisters scattered around the place, find 2 to build your bomb, then take your bomb to their bomb site before they take theirs to yours. Still waiting on parts but these ideas area great keep them coming.

Some things I can't do though. While liquid mixing is cool, thats a leak and a disaster waiting to happen. Pyros are cool but detonating them automatically whilst also being both safe to the bomb and the players is very tricky if not impossible. Blank firing might work but thats more of a pop than a boom.
Thunder-B full of confetti maybe?

[captain dog]

Gotta watch peoples ears pal. Lol. Personally a tactical nuke would be great but not really practical.

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[JCheeseright]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

I found a pic as reference to an idea I had not so long ago.

To arm it you could have to 2 (explosive/radioactive etc) cylinders that either the attacking team or both could find (depending on scenario)
Place them into the case, then enter a code to arm it once both cylinders have been placed. You could have it on a timer with a visable count down to add realism and so the defending team have time to disarm

Then to disarm you have four wires, 3 will be hooked up to the buzzer and the forth hooked up to the power supply. so the defending team have to gather intel to which colour wire that needs to be undone.
Then if they get the right wire it will kill power to the time and the buzzer, yet the other 3 wires will set the buzzer off if they pull the wrong wires.

I could go into deeper detail, and how you could work things/other ideas i.e the explosives could be model boat batteries that once both fitted, create the circuit to work the keypad. but thought it was easier just to give a quick rough idea for now

Plus it could be changed to suit what ever scenario.

Those things are absolutely epic, one thing you could do to improve them would be to make the 4 wires replaceable and get the person defusing the bomb to actually cut the correct wire. Should be easy enough to do and adds that little bit of extra realism while still remaining cheap on upkeep as wire costs virtually nothing.

Reference the tubes being batteries; it'd be easier for the battery to be built into the case and just have the tubes make the circuit. Bit of metal at each end which meets up with a sprung connector in it's 'hole' in the box and just have a wire running through the inside of the tube. That way, no tube, no power!

Edit:
Thinking about it, some of the same principles could be applied to the counter-strike style bomb, have some wires going from the keypad/electronics box into the 'charge' and have the defuser either enter the correct code or cut the right wire/combination of wires.

For the 'bang' I think a blank firer is really the only safe way to do it, and even then with it being so close to the person holding it's head I'd be loath to use anything bigger than a .208 primer.

- - - Updated - - -

There's a pretty nicely done one, though it could certainly be improved.

[Clone1B]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

Progress report!

I've finished designing the timer circuits so I can work on miniaturising it and getting it from the breadboard and onto it's own circuit.

The ring of LEDs is a bit of a prototype. I lasercut some acrylic with rectangle LED sized holes but the tolerances on it aren't great so a lot of filing and squeezing was needed. I also need to make one with a hole in the centre thats the right size for an arcade button, I think thats a good place for the disarm/manual override.

One circuit down, 2 to go. Next up: Keypad and LCD display.

[Clone1B]

Re: JC a bomb! - Airsoft bomb prop

Another update!

I've had a crack at the disarming circuitry. At the moment it asks you to input a random string of 20 characters (configurable), even with the best luck and the fastest fingers I can't manage anything faster than 15 seconds. I think this works quite nicely so I'll probably keep it like this in the finished product.

Still planning to allow manual codes too.

Whats next? Getting the screen and keypad integrated with the timer, then adding lights and buzzers. Then a configuration menu and getting it to run off of a battery.