My dad and I saw the meet at Xenia today and we both knew we wanted to get in on this and build ourselves a boat. He's an engineer, i'm currently in school to become one and we have plenty of equipment, but we would love to know any pointers about how to start out and maybe what to build. We were thinking about making one of the 1/96 scale ships and going with something pretty big like a Kongo or a North Carolina. Any guides, tips, or other info would be appreciated, like where to find parts, how to build it, and what to use. Especially schematics.
Welcome! I'd love to see a big IJN BB on the water! I have the DD Shimakaze that is about 80% complete and one of RCENGR's Takao hull kits that is about 25% complete, both in 1/96 Battlestations! format. The best IJN ship plans you can buy today come from Japan, a small company called Miyukikai: http://www2.odn.ne.jp/miyukikai/index.htm I have several of their plan sets, and they are perfect for modelers, and include hull stations. For a while, Pacific Front Hobbies used to sell these plans under the brand name 'Myco', but after Pacific Front was bought out a few years ago they stopped selling the Miyukikai/Myco plans. To my knowledge no one in the US sells these plans today. Send Muyikikai an email (their email address is on the website) and purchase directly from them. Even with overseas shipping factored in their prices are usually quite reasonable.
Kongo is kinda fat and not much difference in length/width/height than a Fuso or a ise love the pagoda designs but the are rather complicated to build but look great on the water.
Btw, the MidwestNavalCombatClub has a yahoo group. You and your dad should join that so you are kept up to date on battles and build sessions.
Thanks for the link, but aren't those schematics in 1/200 scale? Also as much as I want to do the Kongo I think we're gonna do the North Carolina because it just seems a bit more straightforward and I kinda like how it's a mini Iowa (the truck is just a bit too small for a 9.2' monster) . We'll totally be joining the yahoo group, but I would love to know if there are any other sites besides strike model to get schematics and bits from for the build. Also any nice guides for beginners.
If you want to do a North Carolina, check out http://www.floatingdrydock.com/TFW2.htm, they have it in 1/96. Probably one of the best quality plansets you can get.
Yes, they are 1/200 scale. You would have to get them resized to 1/96 at a local blueprint shop. You will find that most overseas sources for plans don't offer 1/96 scale and will need resized. Profile Morskie is an exception, they offer plans in multiple scales, including 1/144 and 1/96.
As far as guides for building, check out the many build threads on this website in the "Warship Builds" section. Many are great tutorials for building. I'll try to come back later and post links to my favorite build threads. As far as links to vendors, including links to plans, check out Tugboat's thread: https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/herr-von-tugboats-haus-of-linkz-ja.442672/ Both this website and the guys in our local club are excellent sources of information and advice on building. I will second Chase's recommendation of The Floating Drydock for NC plans. IMHO, The Floating Drydock is the best source for plans for US Navy ships, period.
I'm wondering about a little idea I came up with. Instead of building your ship with ribs, could you simply make the ribs like plates and cut your ship up into compartments? you could drill holes for any cables or other equipment that needs to go from compartment to compartment and hook up your pump to a hose that splits off with one for each compartment. The idea would be that if one area gets the armor shredded and it fills, then it wouldn't sink the ship. I've been looking through the battlestations rules for anything that would outlaw this, but I haven't found anything. also, do 1/96 plans for a battleship like the north carolina usualy cost $60 with shipping?
so I've been wondering, what events are treaty 1/144 and which are battlestations 1/96. It seems as though there aren't many if any 1/96, me and my dad would love clarification so we don't build a ship that never has a battle.
Welcome to this site, the MNCC, and Battlestations. Looks like you are getting the help you need to get a boat started. I plan to attend a build session tomorrow evening at Phil's shop in Huber Heights, Ohio. I think most folks show up between 6-8 pm, and stay a couple/few hours. If you all can drop in we can chat up your build, and start planning. Mikey
In the warship builds section, the very first thread. On the ways Bearn CV is a great read on building a ship from scratch. Pretty much covers all of the important stuff. M
Basically all MNCC battle events are both Treaty, and Battlestations. Both formats are invited to participate. Taking turns battling sorties. We generally almost always have more Treaty boats in attendance. But it is also common for folks to have boats in both formats. And depending on who is planning to attend, the folks sometimes decide to not bring certain boats depending on who is attending, and what they are running. So if you are planning to attend a battle, and you only have Battlestations boats, then the folks that play in both formats will make sure that they bring along their Battlestations boats as well. M
I'm unable to attend the build session this week but maybe you can stop by and look at the 96 Hood. if you do a North Carolina, you need to be prepared for how big the ship is.
