I am not sure if a cardboard version of an airsoft landmine will be of any help in holding the fort in a paintball or NERF battle, but it sure looks like a fun addition. Created by the man who make all-things out of cardboard, The Q, the Cardboard Airsoft Landmine is unbelievably simple to make. All you need are cardboard, corrugated paper (AKA ribbed cardboard), and a box of matches. You will also need tools like cutting pliers, long nose pliers, roller, a pair of compasses, box cutter, and a glue gun (with glue stick, of course) to put them together.
When I first saw the headline “How to make Airsoft Landmine from Cardboard,” my interest was immediately piqued. Not only does The Q’s version of cardboard airsoft landmine works, it also looks pretty good too. In case you are wondering, the concept behind it is, to use the matches’ phosphorus and chlorate mix ‘head’ against the emery/flint found on the box to ignite a small explosion, much like you would when striking a match on a coarse surface. To amplify the effect, The Q adds a pinch of phosphorus and chlorate harvested from some donor matches to the area of ignition.
When stepped on, the pair of matches strikes the coarse emery piece, resulting in an ignition which also lights up the loose phosphorus/chlorate bits thus creating an explosion effect that delivers a hail of fire and puffs of smoke. Nice. It is a cheap way to add fun to a game of toy weapon battle, but do not do it on barefoot cos’ you are asking to be burnt. It is worthy to note that the Q’s cardboard airsoft landmine isn’t the first of its kind, but I believe it is the first to be made out entirely of cardboard. Last year, YouTuber MrGear also put together one.
While MrGear’s creation is not so much of a looker, it appears to be more durable as thin lids were used and also, it uses tiny amount of explosive found inside a party popper which creates a more realistic explosion with sound to boot. There wasn’t any fire in MrGear’s version, but it had quite an amount of smoke when activated. If you want, you can follow The Q’s video instruction embedded after the post to make one (or many) yourself.
Image: The Q.
