I have just gotten in touch with my local group and found out when their build meetings are. I am 16, I do have a job (at a toy store, its great ) but I still don't want to spend too much. I just bought a 6 channel radio, my local club is fast gun, as far as I can see. Can anyone recommend a good ship to start out with? I love the Bismarck, I've been studying her (or as the Germans insisted, HIS) history for a long time now, what a great story. However, I realize that with my limited budget a battleship of that size is impractical. I thought about the Prince Eugen, but I've heard mixed things about its steering. I would like to keep my costs down below $400, lower if at all possible. If that means I have to spend hours painstakingly making a wooden hull, thats fine. It wouldn't be the first time I defiantly want a WWII era ship, I am not opposed to an armed transport if you think thats the only option, but its not my first choice. Thanks for your help as always!
If you're doing fast gun go with a cruiser a battle cruiser with its third gun costs that much more. If you're willing to be french they have free plans online, that alone can save $30. What kind of tools do you have? If you have/have access to a workshop building a wood hull isnt a bad idea. Building a wood hull isnt really that cheap but if you have all the tools and stuff already it might be, and it will give you more time to save up for other goodies. Is the local club MWCI or IRCWCC Rules? The Prince Eugen would be a good starter ship for MWCI, not as good in IRCWCC but its still going to be cheaper. Unless your heart is set on it an armed transport for either of those clubs is pretty pointless from a combat perspective. Get someone local to show you how to build the parts yourself, building stuffing tubes and rudders and such is pretty easy. The rudder gears in my rookie cruiser are from a lego set, they are 6 years old and still work just fine. (cheap too, esp if you work at a toy store) Maybe you can buy old spare parts people have, most people that have been doing it a while have a collection of old guns and such, sure it wont be new and shiny but if it works and is cheap go for it. Same with pumps and such, you dont need a super dooper pump in a cruiser, if you take that much damage that you need one you did something stupid and deserve to sink. You can get motors and wire and stuff for pretty cheap. The CO2 tank and reg. will cost you but i dont know anything to do about that. With a cruiser you can also switch batteries so you can get some small,cheap SLAs and have plenty of juice. You dont have to buy it all up front either, give yourself more time to save up and get a little more cash, its worth the investment. Check out some of the build threads and ask if there is an easier/cheaper/better way to do things, listen to what we say and then go do whatever you want. Good luck!
I have a Prinz Eugen Hull I am willing to Part with. I have done the cleaning up of the hull and smoothed out the inside of it. Not much else has been done to her as I have other Projects that have my attention currently. The Hull is a Battlers Connection hull. She will make a great ship and the only reason I am willing to part with her now is because I am building both a Konig and Kasier right now.
Definately, talk to the guys in your club, and see what they have laying around their shop. You'll find that most guys have old stuff that they don't need or stuff for projects in the future or that they have lost interest in. When I first joined the hobby an old Pensacola hull was offered to me, which I'd have probably bought had I not already bought an Invincible kit from Swampy. Heck I have a old Brooklyn hull in my closet right now I'd probably part with to someone local who was interested. Another guy on the water for me to play with is better then that Belleau Wood aircraft carrier I want to build some day. I'm sure most other guys feel the same. Some guys have guns laying around they'd part with, others old pumps or motors. The motors in my Invincible were gifts from the guy who offered me his Pensacola hull. They key to building a ship on the cheap is meeting the guys, going to a few battles, and hitting a few build sessions. If they like you, and they probably will, they'll all be interested in helping get you on the water. When you get experienced, and upgrade your systems, pass those old guns Joe gave you, to that new rookie who is bright eyed, but doesn't have a lot of funds available. I can't stress enough though, go meet the guys from your club and hit up build sessions and battles, and get to know them. That's the best way to learn and the best way to get a boat on the water.
Sean- I'm not trying to be mean by saying this, but you're probably not going to get people to take you seriously by spamming every thread with "do you want to sell that to me". You've got to show a little bit of commitment. People don't want to sell their stuff to someone who may lose interest soon. Order your stuff from BC, and go to build sessions at your local group. They'll help you get your ship done. But people probably aren't going to show a lot of interest in selling their stuff to someone who doesn't have any money right now, and who could easily order the same thing from BC. Just order the stuff when you get the money. Start with a hull kit and plans. Once you get that, come back here and ask what wood you should get. While you wait on money to get the wood, you can start preparing the hull...things like sanding it down, marking out where your waterline will be, marking down where your ribs will go, marking where the shafts and dummy shafts will go. Then you can get some wood and start putting in the decks, and building superstructure. Build in stages as money allows. But you're going to have to build. It's going to take a long time. You have to just accept that that's how it's going to be.
Wow, thanks for all the input! I do have a workshop, it has most everything except a lathe (what I wouldn't give..) and a drill press. I also have a huge stash of electronics, I even already have some stuffing tubes, dog bone joins and props. I am really busy right now (performance) but I hope that after this is all done I will be able to make it to a few build meetings!
Yep, a lathe is nice. I find I use it more than any of the other tools, except for maybe the bandsaw. And I really would like to upgrade my bandsaw with somthing that uses a wider blade.
Wow, the more I read about the Prince Eugen, the more it fascinates me. What a great story! The picture of the wreck are conveniently helpful, it sank upside down leaving the rudder and props right above the water for easy observation I don't yet know much about how the rules of this sport work, but as I understand it there is a point system, and I believe I read that the Prince Eugen is a 3.5? So how does that determine how many guns/pumps she can have? Ragresen, if I do decide to go with the Prince Eugen, I may definitely be interested in your hull, how much would you want for it, just a ball park figure so I can get an idea?
What do you use a lathe for? I don't have one, but it seams to me that a vertical mill would be more usefull, for that mater a drill press seams more usefull. My bandsaw will run a 3/4" wide blade. Pretty much only good for rip cuts in thicker material. The narrow blades seam better for most stuff. Tool that I use most, is probibly a disk sander, or maybe scroll saw.
A drill press would be very helpful. I wish I had a band saw, I have a saber saw but its a little fussy.
Do attend your clubs building sessions. As a neewbie I had started building on my own boats from scratch. I then started showing up to the meetings and inherited two club boats! They are no where near ready to sail, but they are a lot farther along that my humble scratch builds. By the way, the Prince Eugen is located is a restricted area. I understand that only military types are able to go out there and dive on the wreck. So far I have been unable to entice the wife to make a trip out there.
Wow thats incredible! Yes, it is on a reef somewhere near Bikiki Atoll, the were using it for nuclear weapons testing. Apparently although it is upside down divers can still get inside it and have been through most of the ship, although it is dangerous and several have died doing so. Still, it would be amazing to see footage...
I have a mill, drill press, sabersaw also, I just use the lathe alot more than the rest. I find my small bandsaw blade slowly turns to the side, no matter how slowly I go. I use Rick's large bandsaw, and have little to no turning of the blade.
Try these web sites for pics of the Prinz Eugen wreck: http://www.northernatlanticdive.com/prinz_eugen.htm http://www.jonathanbird.net/cgi-bin/search.htm There is another site, but i can not find it right now. It has a photo of the bow. (The bow is 100 ft below the surface.)
The Prinz Eugen is definitely an interesting ship. And it looks darned cool too. I think you'd be happy with it. 3.5 units means that you can mix guns and pumps in any ratio that equals 3.5. I'd imagine most guys go with 3 guns and a half unit pump. Since the PE doesn't have triple turrets, and thus access to triple stern guns, I am not sure what the recommended cannon set up would be...probably dual sterns and a 1 unit bow gun. One of the MWC guys would probably know how guys are setting them up and why. www.prinzeugen.com has some good info on the ship if you're interested.
Wow, thanks for all the great info and pics! I am still confused though, assuming I had three guns, does that mean I can arm three double turrets or literally just three barrels?
Three barrels but you are allowed to have multiple barrels per turret, limited by the number of barrels the real ship had in that turret.
So I can arm three turrets then, since there are four two barreled guns on the Eugen? What do I do about the fourth, just use dummy barrels?
Yes you could arm three of the turrets with a single barrel each if you wanted to. Those three would also each have a dumym barrel and the fourth would have two dummy barrels, but since two of those guns are probably going to be pointing in the same direction if you put them in the same turret and set them up correctly they will hit close to each other which can cause more damage than two single holes.
