while i have been pondering about subs... i have also been thinking about 1/144 scale stuff (since there are alot more groups closer to me!). I was searching battlers connection for any cool stuff/ship ideas, and i was wondering if there was any good german ships i should buy. i dont want a bismarck, i did see the scharnhorst battlecruiser which i liked, plus i have almost enough money for the hull kit. It looks like it would possibly be a good starter ship because it would not be small and cramped and hard to work on? I was wondering if that would be a good starter thing to buy considering it comes with the hull, resin main,secondary,aa turrets and plans. what do you think? I am still looking at other ships though + cannon costs are not fun....
From a Scharnhorst Captain, he is a nice ship, turns well, decently armed and looks good too. Plenty of internal space as well. J
I live in Va, so the maryland and chesapeake clubs are probably closest, i have not looked at all of the clubs yet.
The CBG is a biggun club. From what I understand, the Scharnhorst would be a good beginner ship in biggun, but biggun is expensive. The Maryland group, MAG, is a fast gun group affiliated with the IRCWCC. Small gun/Fast gun is much cheaper then biggun and the ships are simpler. Scharnhorst isn't as nearly as good of an option. Strike Models offers a Moltke, which is a fairly solid ship in fast gun, which has a little more room then the Von der Tann has.
oh man! im only 15 so i could only skipper an unarmed vessel with them... well time to look at other groups
However, if you run a convoy ship for a season or two, you will learn how to drive your boat and be prepared for the real battles. You will also learn how to build a boat and what it takes to keep your systems working. Many guys will buy a used boat and then not know how to fix the problem. You will also be part of the club and have lots of fun and meet great guys who will help you with advice and hands on help. Take a look at all the vendors selling transports too. Lots of fiberglass hulls to build. I built a Hog Islander class transport for my girlfriend and she gets to partake now So, don't delay...build a transport and run her for participation and experience. Its more fun then you think! good luck, Steve
yes, but once i build (or buy) a ship i woudlnt really have enough money to build another one... perhaps when im an old enough to drive an armed one i will join
Sharnhorst is a good model for fast Gun. Maneuverable, fast, plenty of interior room, nice large turrets, nice appearance, great History. The kit is decent and there are plenty of source references for building it.
Small gun (aka fast gun...the MWC and IRCWCC guys don't like to be called small gun, we Treaty guys don't mind it as we don't fire as fast, thus making small gun a more accurate description overall) restricts ships to the use of BB sized cannons for all ships. Not all guns are armed, ship displacement determines a number of units a ship gets. A unit is 1 50 round gun OR a pump. Sides are all uniform thickness for all ships, no special armor etc. Biggun allows you to arm all guns, and different sized guns get different sized ammo. They get different thickness sizeds based on what the real ship's armor was. Basically it comes down to biggun = more complex and expensive ships, small gun = less complex and cheaper ships. Game play between the two formats is far different. Treaty combat is kind of a hybrid between the two that uses small gun ships but has more of a biggun feel.
Hmmm... it seems like fast gun would be more like stock raceing and big gun is custom... although that means a small ship sinking a bigger one would be more satisfying.... I think i would like to go big gun! by the way, does anyone know where to look at the cheasapeake clubs rules?
wait. should i buy the hull or the hull kit? whats a resin main? or a secondary? i know i would want plans of course... if i didnt buy the full kit i would save money though for electronics and stuff....
Something else to remember is cost. A BC fast gun 1.0 unit cannon costs something like 27.00 each. A Scharnhorst would use 4 of them. That's about 109.00 total for the guns. For biggun, BDE offers some chassis for their ships located here: http://www.bderc.com/products/page4.html A triple gun chassis for 7/32" will cost you 165.00. You'll need three of them. that's 495.00 total, not counting CO2 fittings. This is one reason the biggun guys always try to talk people into building transports as their first ships (gag)...they are just so much cheaper. The downside to that is it's like being invited on a hunting trip then handed a deer suit. Another thing to remember is that a small gun cruiser is only allowed guns that fire in the forward and aft quadrants, which makes it VERY difficult to get below the waterline hits and sink larger ships. A small gun cruiser Also generally only has two guns, so for a little over 50 bucks you can be fully armed and in the battle.
I think i would want to do big gun even with the extra cost. still do you think i should buy the hull kit or only the hull?
That depends on your budget. if I were you though, the answer would be none of the above. I'd be looking at torpedo cruiser options, because you can get them on the water and operational for a lower cost then you can battleships. I'll poke around and see if I can come up with some decent options.
None of the "main" manufacturers offer what I would consider a good rookie torpedo cruiser. You want something around 35 knots in speed to be able to escape the fast battleships that will light you up with 1/4 gunfire. You want torpedo tubes so you have a ship killing punch of your own (and IIRC B G style torp cannons are relatively cheap compared to battleship gun chassis) and you want enough weight and hull volume to not have to build using micro servos, which cost more money. So, IMHO (even though I am an Allied captain) that leaves you with the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mogami class cruiser as just about the ideal ship. Conway's was on crack while evaluating them and gave them 37 knots, so that's what biggun uses, which will make it close to the fastest ship on the water. You'll have a nice torpedo battery to kill battleships with (or die trying!) You have plenty of gun turrets (5) to add cannons to later on if you so wish. Best of all, one of the members of this forum (Bryan up in Canada in the OAF) manufactures Mogami hulls, fiberglass decks and turrets for the Mogami class. If I were you, I'd send him a PM or go look for one of the Mogami threads and post your interest, if that ship would be acceptable. EDIT: In the For Sale section, is a thread called " WTB Mogami Superstruture and Turrets" or something similar that I started. Bryan posted some links of some of his stuff in there, including the hulls, decks and main turrets. You should check it out.
well I would prefer to get the dkm first, I can only pay for one boat, and i would be wanting it quite quickly :l. Once i get a job or something, then i would look into it... i might just buy the hull then electronics and so forth, it would take too long all at once.
