A very solidly built and well cast hull. The only tricky bit is mounting the rudder. The rudder is mounted very far back in the hull in these ships and is a VERY tight fit owing to the shape of the hull and the step down of the deck on this class of ship. A gear or belt drive for the rudder is pretty much a must for this ship. One niggly thing is the hull is not really accurate for the Kilkis as the casting includes the sponson for a 3"gun that was removed in around 1911. No problem if you want to build the ship in its as built configuration. I am blithely ignoring this in my build, since this is built for fun not historical accuracy. You do get a variety of finishing options for this hull. White and Buff with a military foremast, White and buff with a military foremast and cage mainmast, grey with the previous masting or grey with two cage masts. It probably won't be too popular as Pre-Dreads are a bit crippled in some rules but c'est la vie.
Well hopefully my rule proposal for pre-dreds in the MWC is passed. It will allow 3 guns, with a 1/2 unit pump. I'm hoping that with a additional gun, more will get built. Most people liked it, only 1 negative. The difference of course will be no side mounts since its a class 3. He said that the rules as they are, are fine for pre-dreds. My response was, if its so fine, where are they?
A rules change with which I whole heartedly agree. Its not like there is a lack of plans for them, so there must be a problem with the rules. I really wonder why they are that way. Seems very arbitrary. Makes me wonder if there were some killer Radetzkys roaming around or something. *Edited to include a verb in the last sentence.
Anachronous, There'll soon be a Radetsky operating with the North Atlantic Treaty Combat Fleet. Rob Clarke has completed a mold for the hull. Bob
Possibly. Rob's on the members list as 'slow and ugly' (due to his ship model preferences!), so drop him a line. Bob
"Its not like there is a lack of plans for them, so there must be a problem with the rules. I really wonder why they are that way. Seems very arbitrary. Makes me wonder if there were some killer Radetzkys roaming around or something." I imagine it boils down to two things mostly. First, a lack of interest in pre-dreads. Most people simply don't care about them one way or the other. Some people really like them, but I imagine the majority don't care one way or the other. The second is, they should by definition be weaker then the Dreadnought. So, at 3.5 units that's accomplished...but being only class three means they have no sidemounts for ship killing. No sidemounts basically makes them super slow cruisers. In the IRCWCC and Treaty, you can already use a .5 unit pump and 3 1-unit guns if you wish. It's only the MWC to the best of my knowledge which doesnt allow .5 unit pumps. It's a decision on their part I don't understand, but such is life...for the most part it works for them. I guess the bottom line is, there really isn't much reason you SHOULD build a pre-dread, unless you just happen to like them.
