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Tech index -> Custom Work -> SuperIon impressions

This page is a continuation of my SuperIon creation page. This article related to everything after I built the setup, including performance, impressions, and some revisions I've made.

The first time I fired the maker was after a "regional" I hosted in the backyard ydnafield. We took some videos:
Low-res video (3.5-MB)
High-res video (9.5-MB)
The high-res video is also available on YouTube

The first thing I noticed is that it was pretty heavy. Obviously. The entire setup weighs eight pounds without tanks or hoppers or paint. I'm not complaining though; it was obvious from the start that this would be heavy.
Skipping ahead a few weeks, the weight turned out to be a major issue. The setup weighed a friggen ton and nobody wanted to haul that around for even a short period of time. My solution to this was relocating the two "side" tanks to a backpack-like thing which would be carried on te user's back. I leave the middle tank on the gun because it makes a good counterbalance (seen in the below picture)

Anyway, back to the debut, my second observation was that there's virtually no recoil....at all. Interestingly, you can actually feel the difference in recoil when only two of the three markers fire. Out on the field I've used this for quick troubleshooting. All that heavy mass keeps it from kicking like you might expect. Additionally, the three shots appear to bend and swirl around each other in flight (though it's probably an illusion).

Third observation is also pretty obvious...I've gone through around 380 rounds after emptying the guns' hoppers. I might need to buy a whole new pack to carry paint on the field. Either that or I'll be able to refill the gun once then be out of the game. I can't be much of a back player if I run out of paint and have to beg it from the dudes around me (although I'm sure they would be happy to oblige).
Please note that I didn't end up doing this simply because I can't resist being a front-player, even at the big games. I carry at maximum 7 pods on me as well as a smoke grenade, and try to get as close as possible to the front line so I can do the most damage. This setup, combined with a well-placed smoke grenade has been DEADLY in the past.

Big Game Events of 2006:
Action videos of the SuperIon can be found on the Monster Game 2006 page. The clips of the marker that were captured tend to show a lot of firing around at nothing in particular, so unfortunately a lot of the actual eliminations were missed. In that particular game, we had the red[enemy] team literally cornered in the Village there, and the ones brave enough to make a move up were handled pretty well. I quickly learned that longballing with this thing makes people scatter in every which direction (a little of that is seen in the video). But....if it were me on the business end, I'd scatter too.

I also used the gun at the Tippmann Challenge in September 2006, however the action simply wasn't as good, and none of it was caught on film. I can't spend the entire game with the SuperIon due to the weight, and frankly much of my time on the field was wasted by standing around awaiting action. But...the other event that happened was a lot of technical difficulties. I did almost no preparation of the markers before the game, and it showed.
1. Middle marker hose blew off during re-chronograph. From that point onward I had to use only the side markers.
2. Frame screw (one of two) wiggled out of place during the game, and I lost it since we were out on the field. It left the right marker moving around with every shot.
3. Left marker begun to experience shooting problems and also leaked from one of the internal hoses. I attempted to fix this but wasn't able to do it.
All in all, the whole setup was virtually incapacitated by the end of the game. It became clear that a major overhaul would be needed.

The Great Rebuild: (Spring 2007)
I disassembled the entire setup after half a year of inactivity. This happened in June 2007 and is a time that I refer to as the "great rebuild". I call it that because it took nearly two days of nonstop work to fix the gun up.
Essentially the problem was, amongst other things, the markers' hoses needed to be replaced and the whole setup needed to be repainted. The paint had started to flake off from the chevron mounts, and some of the exoskeleton was showing through as well. Since everything had to be disassembled to handle these two tasks (hoses and external paint) I ended up just rebuilding the entire setup from scratch. This included all new hoses, new o-rings, new eye boards and eye wires, new paint coats for the frame, mounts, exoskeletons, and barrels, and lastly all new wiring for the electronics (this included a new trigger switch wire, and new indicator LEDs for the boards).

After being rebuilt and repainted, the final setup looked like this:

I feel I should mention the choice in color. I originally painted it bright yellow because I wanted the markers to be noticeable, both on and off the field. And it was indeed noticed by many people, however the most common comment I received was that I should paint it green so I could "hide better". I always resisted this because, well simply put, I didn't feel it necessary to "hide". Who am I hiding from? Come get some!
But, as it turned out I really didn't have too many options for the paint color. I wanted to choose a color other than yellow so it'd be new. I couldn't choose red since that was the color of the paint fill that the field uses (yeah I know, it's stupid and dangerous...). On the other hand I wanted to use a bright color. Here's the problem...next time you're at the hardware store, check to see what colors paint they have for plastic things. Chances are they'll have a million shades of white and grey, some black, and a couple others. Ruling out red, yellow, and green....there isn't much else left.
So in the end I selected a nice bright green color and gave that a few coats. It turned out darker than I wanted but I'm okay with it. I used some black to give it a contrasting stripe.

Also please note the addition of a foregrip. I had it lying around from an old Shocker Sport which I easily attached to the marker using a threaded stud. I tried out several different positions for the foregrip handle, but the position in the above pics turned out to be the best. Although if I want I can always change it with a few turns of an allen wrench (perhaps even on the field, if needed). This makes it a lot easier to carry.

I also removed the unused vertical ASA ports and such. At the time of writing this paragraph (late June 07) the Monster Game is one month away...I'm ready for some action!

So....why no action videos from 2007?
As it turns out, I never got the chance to use the marker after the "Great Rebuild" in 2007. The SuperIon was stolen (along with a couple other markers and tanks) shortly after writing the above paragraph from June 2007. After several months I was able to get the equipment back from the police, but by the time I reclaimed everything the Big Games were all done for that year.
So, I'm again looking forward to using it in this year's Big Games, but we'll have to wait until the summer for any new action videos, since I probably won't be using it until June or July.

Rebuild Day 2008:
Since I now had the markers in my possession and ready to be used, I decided I would take them apart to perform general maintenance and prepare them for the Monster Game in July. To this end I actually made a vlog-style video to show this task, which I then posted on YouTube:
Part one: Disassembly
Part two: Reassembly and testing
Interestingly, the rebuild proved to be more or less pointless. The markers hadn't been fired ever since the Great Rebuild from 2007, so they were probably ready to go as they were. I did replace some o-rings and hoses just for the sake of it but I don't think it was necessary.
Regardless, they're now working and ready to go!

Monster Game 2008:
I finally had the chance to use the markers again, and I must say it was a complete success. We took a lot of footage out on the field, and a good percentage of it was of the SuperIon. An action clip video of this can be found on YouTube. Most of that video takes place at a field called the Meatgrinder, which is a netted area adjacent to the deadzone. The Meatgrinder sees constant action since the two team's insertion points are located at either end. In this particular video the action was somewhat thin, but I was still able to destroy several people.

I made one slight change to the markers, that was adding a shoulder strap the relieve myself when carrying the markers around. This turned out to be very helpful, since it removed a lot of weight from my arms. I will admit the weight had been merely shifted to my shoulder instead, however it was better to be sore there than not be able to lift my regular-sized marker when I wasn't using the SuperIon.

Failed Second Demo video: August 2008
I had three full tanks and over a bag of paint ready to be wasted in yet another demonstration. I had originally wanted to demo the markers using three Halos, firing theoretically 3x17-bps. This never happened in all the two years since I built the setup, but I wanted to make a second demo video regardless.
Well, make a long story short, the demonstration didn't go over as good as I wanted. I wanted to get a clip of somebody getting longballed by the markers, and have that person hold the camera to see the paint raining in. We decided to do this, however a few things went wrong. First, it wasn't a longballing clip, rather we stood about 40 feet away.
The second thing that went wrong was the camera getting shot. Twice. We wanted to protect it with a lens but I was being idiotic at the moment and didn't want to bother. It proved to be a horribly stupid move on my part.
Anyway, portions of the video can be found on my YouTube page. I didn't have much actual firing footage to use so I instead decided to present some of the candid audio from the guys at the field. It's a horrible demonstration for the SuperIon, but the audio is pretty amusing.

Tippmann Challenge 2008:
Coming soon, September 08.

Successful Second Demo video:
Coming soon maybe...?

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