Unimax, through their 1/24 Battle
Beam series of RC tanks, were the
first RC tank manufacturer to
introduce IR targets with light and
sound effects to the hobby. Now,
they have taken this concept a step
further with the launch of the
Defenders series of interactive IR
combat modules which can take an
active part in the battle without
the need for extra players to
control them!
Unimax sent along samples of the
first three items released in the
Defenders series, consisting of:
RECEIVED FOR
REVIEW
ANTI-TANK SERIES IR SENSORS 424709
US 57mm M1 ANTI-TANK GUN 424705
GERMAN PAK 40 424706
When triggered the searchlight turns
on, accompanied by a siren sound, the
video shows it being shot by a tank. The
searchlight can be manually traversed
and comes with a sandbag piece you can
place in front of it.
MACHINE GUN
Although you can hear the MG firing, there isn't
any IR emitter on this unit that can inflict any
damage on the tanks. This unit is however is
fitted with an antennae which signals anti-tank
guns on the same team setting to activate at the
same time the IR sensor units are activated.
ANTI-TANK
GUN
.
Here we have both a US Anti-Tank gun and
a German Pak 40. When activated, either
manually, by shooting them, or
remotely via the Anti-Tank sensors, they
begin firing an IR 'shot' every 4
seconds from an IR emitter located in
the barrel. as well, the Anti-Tank guns
can be manually operated by pressing the
'fire' button. in this way an intense
barrage of shots at the rate of one per
second can be achieved. The guns can be
adjusted manually and come with a
separate sandbag piece and a couple of
ammo boxes. Once these guns start
shooting, the only way they will shut
them down is to 'kill' them with 5 hits
on the IR target and how easy that is
for a tank to do is up to your
imagination and placement on the
battlefield.
CONCLUSION
UNIMAX are to be
congratulated for producing these innovative new
products to make IR tank combat even more
exciting and it will be interesting to see what
new products Unimax produce in this unique
Defenders series.
Defenders
series modules can be programmed to join in the
same team structure as the tanks so each team
can command it's own artillery 'barrage' without
having to worry about being hit by friendly
fire. The models themselves are very well
painted and adequately detailed 1/24 scale
models for this type of gaming activity and
overall I feel that Unimax have done a pretty
good job of incorporating the needed lights,
emitters, speakers and switches etc into the
diorama bases without impacting too much on
having a realistic appearance. Each of the
modules requires 3 AA batteries and they operate
on 40Mhz.In the review video I've demonstrated
most of the functions of the Defenders series,
and it's sound effects and now I'll go into
further detail about each item.
