I was just thinking the other day about paintball brands that I really disliked over the years. and since I fear that if we don't talk about it, the memory will all be forgotten.
5- Red paint. We all know the story- Red paint was banned because it was too easily masked blood. What some players might not know was this was also the pre-chrono days. People would routinely shim the springs to have guns shoot 400+, to have a range advantage over other players. I remember one particular game, where I was the front of the freight train, and was stitched all to holy hell by some very hot guns. I had scars for years. Whenever I think of red paint, I think of those pre-chrono days
4- Iodine Paint. I missed out on the oil paint early 80s, but the late 80s had lots of iodine based paint, and it stained the hell out of your clothes. Not just clothes, but just about everything you shot at ended up getting stained. I ended up wearing all black to hide all those strains. and I remember buying MC hammer black parachute pants. I was such a newb.
3- RP Scherer Supershell/Stingers. I remember in the early 90s, everyone complained that blowbacks were hard on paint, so RP came out with "super shell", which was an extra thick shell that wouldnt break in the gun.... and rarely on players either. It caused horrific welts, so it sucked to use it, or get hit by it. We learned to aim for masks. lol. There was also a rebranded version called Stingers... which for liability reasons, seemed like a poor name.
2- Zap anti-wipe paint. I know cheating is a huge problem in paintball. I reffed a lot in the 90s, and it would just ruin my day to have to do a 3-for-1 penalty. So around 95, Zap came out with an anti-wipe paint. It had a wax fill that just smeared around if you tried to wipe it. Lots of players would scotchguard the jersey, so it would just wipe off anyway, but what sucked was for a tournament, that meant players started the games with all previous hits. I had to carry about with me a clipboard, showing for each player where all his previous hits were, so not to confuse with new hits, and a potential "playing on" penalty, which could be 1-for-1 or 2-for-1. It was just a nightmare.
1- Cal Magnum Metallic. CalMag was never a good paint, but it was the field-paint for many, many fields. It was so bad that players would often put the paint in rock tumblers, or paintbrush spinners to make the paint better. But, we didnt know any better. In the magazines, they started advertising a new CalMag paint. The "metallics"., supposed to be the greatest paint ever to exist. We all begged the local field, so they ordered a pallet. The shell was clear, and the fill was clear, with metallic particles suspended. It looked pretty awesome. But I don't think anyone at CalMag actually tested this paint in a game because when you hit someone, it was basically invisible because of the clear fill. It made it completely impossible to play paintball. The field owner was pissed, and tried to return the pallet to the wholesaler, who was getting flooded with return requests. CalMag went out of business shortly after.
What are some other paints that people hated?
5- Red paint. We all know the story- Red paint was banned because it was too easily masked blood. What some players might not know was this was also the pre-chrono days. People would routinely shim the springs to have guns shoot 400+, to have a range advantage over other players. I remember one particular game, where I was the front of the freight train, and was stitched all to holy hell by some very hot guns. I had scars for years. Whenever I think of red paint, I think of those pre-chrono days
4- Iodine Paint. I missed out on the oil paint early 80s, but the late 80s had lots of iodine based paint, and it stained the hell out of your clothes. Not just clothes, but just about everything you shot at ended up getting stained. I ended up wearing all black to hide all those strains. and I remember buying MC hammer black parachute pants. I was such a newb.
3- RP Scherer Supershell/Stingers. I remember in the early 90s, everyone complained that blowbacks were hard on paint, so RP came out with "super shell", which was an extra thick shell that wouldnt break in the gun.... and rarely on players either. It caused horrific welts, so it sucked to use it, or get hit by it. We learned to aim for masks. lol. There was also a rebranded version called Stingers... which for liability reasons, seemed like a poor name.
2- Zap anti-wipe paint. I know cheating is a huge problem in paintball. I reffed a lot in the 90s, and it would just ruin my day to have to do a 3-for-1 penalty. So around 95, Zap came out with an anti-wipe paint. It had a wax fill that just smeared around if you tried to wipe it. Lots of players would scotchguard the jersey, so it would just wipe off anyway, but what sucked was for a tournament, that meant players started the games with all previous hits. I had to carry about with me a clipboard, showing for each player where all his previous hits were, so not to confuse with new hits, and a potential "playing on" penalty, which could be 1-for-1 or 2-for-1. It was just a nightmare.
1- Cal Magnum Metallic. CalMag was never a good paint, but it was the field-paint for many, many fields. It was so bad that players would often put the paint in rock tumblers, or paintbrush spinners to make the paint better. But, we didnt know any better. In the magazines, they started advertising a new CalMag paint. The "metallics"., supposed to be the greatest paint ever to exist. We all begged the local field, so they ordered a pallet. The shell was clear, and the fill was clear, with metallic particles suspended. It looked pretty awesome. But I don't think anyone at CalMag actually tested this paint in a game because when you hit someone, it was basically invisible because of the clear fill. It made it completely impossible to play paintball. The field owner was pissed, and tried to return the pallet to the wholesaler, who was getting flooded with return requests. CalMag went out of business shortly after.
What are some other paints that people hated?
Comment