Xtra large combatships
Xtra large ships can be made at minimal cost and used for paintball combat including pyrotechnics if desired. Sailing frigates can be easily and cheaply made as well as Ironclads and WWI & WWII battleships. For those of you who own a canoe, trolling motor and paintball guns and mask three quarters of the cost is done. With an additional 100$ of plywood, paint etc you can be your own captain manning and fighting a warship that is cheaper than any RC model you ever made. The standard 12-16 foot canoe in 1/48 scale is inline with most large twentieth century battleships and in 1/12 scale for CW ironclads and sailing ships. I like to have two people sitting in the bottom of the canoe for maximum stability and for direction control and fire control. The top half of the commanders with full protection and masks will stick out for better vision and safety. This design is for safety and control. As the old saying goes " It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt". Unless you act recklessly you will be 100% safe. Simple pyrotechnics can be used with minimal concern for accidents. Your ship can have target plates that if hit will trigger a fuse to a smoke bomb that will go off indicating a critical hit and damage to your boat.
The possibilities are limitless for combat action. I envision a 1/48 scale surface running submarine that is Radio Controlled from your battleship and armed with a paintball gun for it's torpedo. To sink it you would have to use a smaller 5" gun or boffers which can be simulated with the 20$ fully automatic Airsoft guns. Once they hit a target plate the sub is sunk. Since you are using a canoe with a plywood top you can exchange the top to carry any model you want. You may want a Liberty ship to protect. You can develop scenario's for aircraft carriers etc.
You may ask how do you get all this big stuff to a lake. A trailer would be perfect but most people transport their canoes on their car. I made a simple double wide rack that goes on my SUV that will carry both the canoe and the plywood superstructure. Both are light enough that two people can easily lift them down to the ground. But I must say that you will need to"securely" tie them down while traveling at high speed or catastrophic accidents can happen. No loose parts etc.