Hi were finally back on home soil. We arrived at 5pm today our time. We almost didn't make it back what with the car engine destroyed and our Ferry Reservations being delayed. Thankfully we finally arrived exhausted but in one piece. Faye and I had a wondeful vacation with a lot of adventure throughout. NATS was Great and Fun meeting everyone in attendance and battling with them, sharing stories and exchanging BB fire. It took us a couple of days to get into the swing of Nats but everyone was very patient as were adjusting to our new surroundings. We got to see NY City, NJ,spent time in dowtown Manhattan. I got aboard the USS INTERPID, USS GROWLER, and the CONCORD JET. Met King Kong on the 86th Floor of the Empire State Building. We took the train to Grand Central Station and went to Times Square. Food was great and everyone was very friendly. Bismarck is in rough shape but fully operational. It fought hard at Nats. I missed the Night Battle due to the weather but at the site apparently the rain did not affect it there. I learned a lot and we have over 5000 photos and I think 12 or 16 Go Pro videos of the action to sort through and edit for posting. Looking forward to going again maybe take Yamato or perhaps Missouri. Curt
Wow, what happened to the car? I bet it is good to be home. That must have been a hell of a trip! You made a great wing man and I can't wait to battle again. Can't wait to see the photos.
The Camshaft failed and one thing lead to another in the destruction of the engine. It's great to be back but I wish I could have stayed much longer to battle at the other upcoming events with you guys. We made a great Team Rob. The Team overall was excellent. I had plenty of protection from the team. I am going through the photos to sort and get them in thier titled folders so that they can be posted to make easy access for all to see. The Go Pro Videos need editing before they can be posted. Once it's all done it will be great to see.
Hi Curt: sorry we missed you on the rock, got home tonight around 7pm and had a ball over there. If you see a knee cap i left one on the back side of Gros morne, what a climb - knee went out about 5km from the end. can see why you like it over there WOW. We are coming back in the fall
I will keep an eye out for the Rabbit with the extended leg when it crosses the highway John. Sorry to have missed seeing you guys. Glad to hear you had a great time. Gros Mourne is a beautiful park and very unique. Love to hear more about it . Look forward to getting together in the fall. I should have pics from Nats by then LOL.
Ok so now I have to decide what to do with Bismarck. Leave the Superstructure wrecked and as is and just build the new one for shows and pretty cruises and place the mangled one back on when I want to show how much fun I had. Or should I just repair the original.
I checked out my systems. I had to replace one CO2 bottle that had expired and I had replaced the on/valve on the 2nd bottle. I purchased a 160z bottle for Missouri and Bismarck. My pump switch is working just fine. I thought it burned out but the pump impeller was stuck in the housing from fine grit. I lubricated the pump housing and motor and it worked just fine. So that's pretty good the only system that I had an issue with was 1 mag throttle switch. Everything else worked great. Armor will need replacement but Bismarck should be improved and better forthe Next Nats it attends. I saw the scores on the IRCWCC.ORG site. Bismarck performed very well for it's first NATS. I haven't had a chance to do anything yet but I am planning on Missouris build and from what I saw at Nats I have a good idea how I am going to set Missouri up. For Bismarck can't wait to drive it around with the damaged from Nats course the hull holes will be patched.
My biggest concern was the armor being penetrated. I think that's why one of my cannons in the starboard dual sidemount A turret was firing weakly. I think the gas cap took a hit and was moved slighty enough to weaken the pressure in that cannon. I was very lucky that no other systems were hit or disabled by BBs penetrating the internal armor. Thanks Rob for helping out in getting that fixed. I was very pleased that the curse of my C turret was finally cured. Both Aft cannons worked great and I was surprised how well death Y worked at deterring ships coming at me from behind and those that that didn't ate some steel. I found myself using those aft cannons more than the dual sidemounts. Weird.
Not surprising though. Arguably, the most effective cannons on a ship are the stern sidemounts (or in the Bis's case, the stern aft cannons angled out 15 degrees). Dual front sidemounts are impressive, but more difficult to get on target compared to the stern cannons. If I were to build a Bis, I would use dual cannons in both stern turrets angled out 15 degrees and keep a single sidemount in the front turrets. We saw what triple sterns can do to a ship ... dual sterns angled out would be just as nasty.
If you don't mind giving up a bow sidemount (and leaving on side of your bow without much protection) a dual stern sidemount in a Bismarck would make quick work of anything unfortunate enough to get caught under it. Although on a Bismarck im still a fan of the "standard" gun arrangement.
In IRCWCC, the Bis is a 7 unit ship. So it is possible to have 6 cannons and not leave a quadrant unconvered. Even in the MWC, I would probably stick a rotate on a front turret to switch between sides as needed.
The bow quadrant isn't really worth covering since there are much better gun placement options. The 6.5 unit Bismarck with a 75rd rotating stern sidemount that worked perfectly and had correct down angle would be ideal I think. Unless of course the gun rules change and you can put more than two cannons off a side, in which case the 7 unit bismarck with two single bow sidemounts (one on either side) and a dual stern sidemount(make it a perfect rotate while we're dreaming) and dual sterns of course would be really evil.
But you're still only allowed two cannons per side. Anyway did it come up at the rules meeting to put the Bismarck back at 6.5 units? It really doesn't need to be 7, plus the 75 rnd haymaker is nice.....
I like the way my cannons are laid out... The only difference between the setups is I would have 1 75er instead of two 50's in the back gun if she dropped class. I don't think either way was a Major Change. Or I could split into a death y like Curt had. On his video you can see a lot of shots landing off those guns. Rules meeting was a no go. It was your proposal with no seconds or thirds. Never made the meeting. Other than two existing Bismarks, I didn't see any super ships or a flood of new ones... we were good when we worked as a team
I got my pics back of the battle damage to Bismarck after a week of Nats. Unfortunatly their of the stbd side so I need to get pics of the port side. However hope to post them soon. Monk got my DVDs today so looking forward to seeing how he puts it all together.
I finally found the camera and am getting set to download the photos. I have no idea what I have. What I saw on the first 6 you gave to me was pretty good. There was some nice battling with you and Monk. I am already patched and painted on bis (weeks ago) and have installed new pump motor switch (with sucessful 5 hour test) Lowered pump housing and reworked outlet. Also installed drivetrain in arizona, switched all gun positions, added fourth gun board, changed battery config., lightened boat 4 lbs. and sea tested it twice. I guess I hit the ground running. I have been busy and am planning for two more battles this season.
Nice work there Iceman. I hope to post pics later this weekend here of the battle damage. Got the ship up and running again but need a pump installed. I removed it for Yamato the other day when Yamato's pump bearing crapped out. What kind of gun arrangement do you have for Arizona?
