Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Maryland, are all roomy 5.5 unit 26 second battleships. All have 1 rudder, but a fairly good beam.length ratio. The US has some of thebest cruisers in fst gun. Brooklyn, Cleveland, Northampton, are all class 3 (get 2 guns and a pump) and 23 seconds, so they can run away from anything with a sidemount. The Alaska is very pretty and faster than the 26 second slugging ships, but has very little firepower for its size. Some questions you might want to ask yourself are "How much R/C experience do I have?" If you have little to none, the comparitive simplicity of a cruiser may get you on the water faster and cause less headache. "How much do I want to spend" If you have a budget in mind of $500, the only realy choice is a cruiser. If you have $600-800 you may be able to get into a class 4 ship, an Alaska or South Carolina. At 800-900 you would be able to get into a class 5 slugger. If you already have a radio take $200 off these totals. "How much space do I have to work in?" Not everyone has a complete bay of a garage as a workshop. The less space you have, the smaller a ship you can accomidate. Sorry to leave with more questions, but I don't want to send someone up a creek that might get them frustrated and out of the hobby.
Reasonable being not too hard to build, not to thin, not to hard captain. But aren't these ships difficult to build? And captain?
Well, both my father, grandfather, and uncle are skilled carpenters, and I'm picking up on it. Considering this, I'd say (we) have moderate experience, because I do not know about building. With some persuasion I can build a battleship with some time. But the advice worries me. Most battleships are advised to a veteran with 2 or more boats and 2 seasons. Nevertheless, I will not have my interest extinguished.
I think the most important thing to consider, is building something that you want to build. There are enough people on here that can help you through any problem you might have.
Most "large" battleships are advised to more experienced builders(6-8units). I had two rookies build this 5.5. class and they did terrific with them. They were effective on the water, they didn't get sunk a lot and they had enough boat under them to have fun. Some of the smaller builds are more difficult to build and battle and you almost immediately start on the bigger ship when you are done with the small one. Don't build giants and you will be ok. Also remember if something goes wrong, you still have other things to help you out like hull volume and other guns in a class 5.5 In a cruiser, one thing goes wrong and you are done. (ballast shift, gun problem, not a good co2 fill, pump failure) The best advice is to find a captain close to you if at all possible and have him help build with you. If not, keep asking us questions.
Infact, I do have a few in Michigan. What do you thing about the Arizona? Whenever I think of "Classic American Battleship", she comes to mind. I'm worried about price and plans.
Arizona hull, cnc cut deck, plans, and superstructure parts $328 from Strike Models. http://www.strikemodels.com/products/ships/uss-arizona/ A well shaped deck is sooo nice. Theirs will fit just about perfect too. If I didn't have a Queen Elizabeth class hull I would go for something like this. Das Bütts
I also don't think much of the Arizona... Not totally finished yet, but here is a link to my building it over the last year from the Strike kit. It's all been very very easy and fun to do so far. http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/Forum/...fault.aspx
I wouldn't look at Oklahoma as a first ship. The Arizona is only slightly longer, which gives it more speed. There's simply no good reason to build a Nevada class ship over a Pennsylvania class ship. That said, I'd recommend a cruiser, perhaps the Cleveland class Oklahoma City would be a good choice...
The availability of the Arizona hull in fibreglass may also weigh in to your decision process. I happen to like the Oklahoma and Nevada better, but then I prefer them in their as built configurations rather than the WW2 variants. I would note that my preference is purely aesthetic. The combat characteristics of the later two are better.
If you're pretty good with fiberglass, you can cut a slice out of the middle of a Strike Arizona hull and fill in one set of casemates aft for a post 1930 OK/NV. Being from NV, I looked in to it. Plenty of weight, good amount of firepower, lots of hull volume. Downsides: slow, single rudder, 2 shafts. Will be out turned by most 28 second ships out there battling, and won't be able to run away from faster ships if you need to. Of course that might not matter. Build what you'd like to, hone your skills, get the ship reliable and you might be surprised what you can do with "disadvantaged" ships. Of course the USS OK City (cleveland class) is available as a kit from Battler's Connection as well.
