HI! Its me....again. I am looking at getting a boat here real soon. I have been looking around for a good 2.4 ghz 6 channel radio with servos and a receiver, but all the radios I can find are for planes and choppers. Does it matter if the radio is for a plane? Will it still work for a boat? The radio will be used for the S.S. Des Moines. What needs to be done to the radio to get it to work for the boat? The reason I ask, is because I have seen something that said that you have to take the radio apart and rewire some of the stuff and add a knob. Is that the case for all radios? last thing, how much does it cost to run these boats? I have had bad luck in the past with our rc truck It has spent more time at the shop then it has been being used, and was very costly. It still sits in the room, broken They said when we got it, "it was built to take a beating". That was not the case. I don't want to spend all my time and money on a boat if its going to turn out the same. If a part brakes, there is no where I can go to have it fixed. How often do you need to fix anything? How hard is it to find the problem and fix it, and what is the average yearly cost of running it and fixing it? I plan on driving it in the lake and pool a lot. Its going to take a little time before I can fight with it. But when I can, I want to use it a lot
If you get a 2.4 Ghz radio you can use it for air (planes) or surface (cars & boats) it doesnt matter what they designed and market it for. However you arent allowed to use 72Mhz aircraft radios for surface use, you would need to get a 75Mhz radio instead. Go with the 2.4Ghz 5 or 6 channel. You dont have to modify the radio if you dont want to, some people add buttons and dials and things but thats personal choice and you can always do that later How much does it cost to run these boats? ITs pretty cheap, if you arent battleing its the cost of the electicity to charge the batteries. If you are battling its still pretty cheap, you have to pay for CO2,bbs,silkspan and glue to patch. thats pretty much about it thats absoultely required. Depending on how many battles you go to its pretty cheap, most of the cost of battle is associated with getting to and from battle and the food and hotel nights. Of course you'll need spare parts but thats hard to estimate since it depends on quality of parts used and the quality of your craftsman ship as well as how you care for the boat, keeping things oiled, greased, clean, drying things out after they get wet etc. But over all a well built boat has a very low upkeep/maintance cost. For example I just used my older VDT for the first time in a year and really all that neeeded done was lubeing the CO2 Regulator and changing out the air hoses, cost maybe 5 bucks and 2 hours of my time if that. To be fair I try and build well and keep my boats in good working order so I dont have problems, cause not much is worse than going to a battle and things not working. You have to be able to fix/replace pretty much everything in your boat, if you cant or arent willing to this probably isnt the hobby for you. There arent really any hobby shops you can go to and get someone to fix your boat for you. They do spend a lot of time on the bench but once you have a good working boat they can be very reliable, thats realyl dependent on how good a job you do building it. How hard is it to find and fix a problem? How good are you at problem solving? I personally dont think its that hard but im sure there are people that would disagree. You have to build with that in mind, things will break, you need to be able to find them and fix them quickly and easily. Simple as that. They are costly to build but once you get it running its rather cheap.
If you're looking to get started in robotic warship combat, then you shouldn't start looking for a radio until AFTER you have a boat. A radio represents a significant investment, and with the technology advancing so rapidly you may find that the radio you paid top dollar for when you started building your boat is outdated before you even start using it. Best to wait, since prices for current technology drop over time, and new technology gets introduced. To answer your question, though, YES a 2.4ghz aircraft radio WILL work in a ship. 2.4ghz is legal for both air and ground use, so legality isn't an issue like with old 72mhz aircraft radios. There is nothing physical stopping you from using an aircraft radio "as-is", ie without modification. I do this myself, as do a lot of other people. Rewiring, adding a knob, etc. are minor modifications to fit an individual skipper's taste. It may be that the radio he bought has a switch, and he wants a knob instead, or he wants to add firing buttons to the radio instead of using one of the sticks. I even know a few nuts who built their own radios from scratch, because they thought they could do better. They certainly have built a better boat radio, but it isn't in mass-production yet Then again, rumor has it that they are almost ready... Hey, all the more reason to wait To address your maintenance concern, there are trucks that are "built to take a beating," and then there ships that are "built for combat." A combat ship, by its very nature, will spend a fair amount of time in the shop, undergoing maintenance. Don't forget, these ships shoot each other and blast holes in each other, and that damage doesn't fix itself. On the other hand, combat ships are designed with maintenance in mind, and all of the important maintenance, patching holes and fixing superstructure, is very easy and absurdly cheap to do. Unlike a truck, where you must drive to the local hobby store and hope they've got replacement parts in stock, all you need to patch a ship is balsa, silkspan, glue, and paint. I have a truck myself, which I street-bash with friends a lot, and I'd say that the time spent on maintenance is about the same for both. The difference is that patching a boat is more hands-on and fun than replacing busted parts on a truck (ooh, remember that hole? that's the one that sunk me!). And most importantly, battling a combat ship is a lot more rewarding than racing a car. If it weren't, I'd be racing my car instead of helping to recruit new targets... I mean new members
Ok. My main thing was the price of all the stuff I need. I was trying to look and find out what all this stuff is going to cost. Because I would be more then willing to sit there for hours on end, building and fixing. But I dont what to spend hunderds of dollers on fixing the parts. Thats what happend to our rc car. Not only did the car itself cost hunderds, but so did all the repairs we needed to do to it. The place that we need to go if we want to fix it is a far away and they have to order the part, and wait, then go back to pick up the truck, then hope it does not brake again! I woud not mind fixing the boat if I can fix it myself, and from what it sounds, is not all that hard. Bad thing is I also need to get the tools. They dont cost all that much though. Do you think that the S.S. Des Moine would be a good starter boat? Or would the battleship Andrea Doria from Battlers Connection be a good boat to start with? If not, what would be a good starter boat? As you can see, I am ALL NEW to this. P. S. When is all the stuff on the GETTING STARTED page going to come out? Planing on getting a dvd from Port Polar Bear when I get my boat, but I would like to see how hard this is going to be. Because I don't want to make a mistake when building and mess it all up.
It depends on which format you are building to. I'm assuming you're building small gun, so the USS Des Moines would be a good ship (SS is a merchant ship designation for Steam Ship; USS is for United States Ship). For Big gun, I'd imagine the Des Moines isn't a very good choice due to size, speed and small guns. As for the radio, you don't NEED to add an extra channel. Most ships can be completely run on a 4 channel radio; some captains choose to add extra features which require radio mods. Those are the minority of captains. You should be able to use your radio out of the box provided you get a 4 channel or better radio.
Your profile says you're in MO so Im guessing youll be doing small gun with the MWC, In that case the Des Moines is a good starter ship as its one of the larger cruisers so you get a lot more internal space and weight as well as those triple stern guns that can do a decent amount of damage. As for cost you can expect to spend $600-$1000 building the ship not including any tools you also need to get. In a basic boat without some of the more high end electronic systems pretty much anything can be fixed/repaired/replaced for about $20 or less. Don't worry about making mistakes, almost anything can be fixed.
Did a quick check on “The Daisy Mae”. She would be a interesting ship in BIG guns. She is fast enough to be able to out run most of the Battleships on the pond. She is big enough for a newbie to work on. The big draw back is that she would fire 3/16 ball bearing compared to the 1/4 ball bearings that battleships would be throwing at her! Arm her main and secondaries and she would be a good ship to attack unprotected convoys.
I know a guy who runs a Des Moine in Big Gun. I, myself, have a Baltimore sometimes. The ships make excellent convoy escorts, but need some discipline to be effective in that role. The big thing is to not even try to mix it up with a battleship. The same result as in 1:1 scale is to be expected. Where the goal is to keep the bad guys off of your unarmed, cargo-hauling charges, they can be very effective. Tactics for doing so are beyond the scope of this simple message. Toe-to-toe slugging isn't going to be this ship type's strong suit. JM
Do the cannons that BC sells, also have all thats needed to make the guns move? Like the chains and motors? If not where could I find them? How can you change the cannons so they can fire 1/4 bbs?
The guns BC sells are for small gun (MWC Style) battling. They can't be made into big gun. The big guns cost a lot more then BC guns. Someone was selling a trip set for $300 (I think) in the for sale section awhile back.
From what I have seen in my short time in this hobby. BIG guns seem to be made through the club. Some guys have purchased their own milling machines just to build their own cannons!
Small gun uses primarily fixed guns. Also in a small gun environment, a Des Moines is not allowed to have guns that fire to the side...only front and back.
The BC-style guns can be used in Big Gun, and some people use them. What they can't do is fire a larger projectile than the barrel will pass, or rotate very easily. Big Gun generally (depends on specific clubs) allows 3-4 different sizes of projectile, with the 0.177" bb used to simulate 5-6" guns. Not being able to rotate can put you at a disadvantage. Generally, fixed small-caliber guns can be useful as secondary armament. JM
Just in case here are the BIG guns projectile size: Caliber on Real Ship (metric) Caliber on Scale Model 3" to 6.9" (76.0mm to 179mm) 0.177 inches 7" to 10.9" (180mm to 279mm) 3/16 inches 11" to 14.9" (280mm to 379mm) 7/32 inches 15"+ (380mm +) 1/4 inches And of course Torps are simulated with a single shot 1/4 inch cannon. I have just started building my first battleship so it will be a while before I need 1/4 inch cannons.
That's all generally correct, but there may be some variation among clubs. Anybody building or buying a ship should check with their local club to see exactly what's what. For example, I believe there are some clubs that don't use the 0.177" bb, & others that allow something else for torpedos. Check first before spending any money. Way back when, Big Gun cannons weren't always easy to get right away in the size & configuration I needed. I learned the hard way not to wait until I thought I was just about ready to install the guns, to think about ordering them. My shock came one March, when I was about ready to install guns in a new ship, only to find out that maybe some might be available in September! The lesson for me was to find the guns first, then build an appropriate ship for whatever armament I could find. I haven't built anything new in about 3 years, so it may be different now. As with weapon calibers, it never hurts to check! JM
I've heard about people using 1/4 steel rods for torpedoes, as well as clubs that allow torpedo reloads. I've also heard about clubs that limit the number of main guns you can arm and other minor variations. Big gun rules seem more like "guidelines" with lots of local "house rules" so to speak as opposed to the more hard and fast rules of fast gun.
BDE sells rotating big gun cannons for $150-$180, depending on the number of barrels and size of magazine. The BC cannons are made for .177" BBs, and cannot be used to fire larger balls used in many big gun ships. Some big gun ships use .177" caliber shot, and there is nothing against using smaller shot that what you are allowed, so it is possible to use a BC cannon in big gun. It's just not recommended for most instances.
That's actually my plan for my planned HIJMS Chikuma. As I am primarily a small gun captain, I figure I can arm the 8" main battery according to treaty rules, and use her when I want to battle Axis. I want to arm the torpedo launchers with big gun style torpedo cannons, which will be pinned for treaty action. Since most of the stuff I have read on biggun torpedo cruisers seems to indicate that they don't bother with the main battery guns, having a small quantity of fixed small gun weapons there won't be a major disadvantage on my 35 knot CA should I choose to attend a biggun battle. I look at her as a "one ship fits all" scenario so I can show up to any treaty or biggun even with a ship that's going to be legal with only minimum modifications.
How thick is the balsa skin on her hull? In our club here is the rule: Armor Thickness of Ship Maximum Balsa Thickness 0.00" to 6.99" 1/16" 7.00" to 11.9" 3/32" 12.0" and above 1/8" If your ship is skinned for fast guns, do you really want to go up against a ship that has 1/8" balsa on the hull?
1/32 balsa on about 6 inches of armor. I'd rather face 1/8 inch armor with popguns then build a biggun only boat though!
