Hello! I don’t feel too comfortable giving away my current location, mainly because I’m going to be moving soon anyways due to college. I’m a long time lurker, and I’ve finally decided to introduce myself. I live in the Eastern US, and will likely be attending university either in said region or the Midwest. I’m still a year or two out from having the time or actual ability to participate, but I have had more downtime recently to brainstorm on what ship I want to build & sail. I’ve settled on two options, at two vastly different ends of the spectrum: -A USS New Mexico, because she’d be unique and she’s also just a pretty ship, in my opinion. -A cruiser, such as a Portland or San Francisco, or maybe something from the Cleveland class. I just don’t know. I’ve also entertained the idea of a Strasbourg, as I speak semi-fluent French, but really anything that is Allied is interesting to me. Even WW1 Central Powers ships. Just not WW2 Axis boats, though I don’t have anything against those who sail them. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated, and I hope to be on the ponds sooner than later!
Welcome! I'm in central PA. There are a lot of Battlers in the northeast. Good spot to be if you want to play FastGun.
Fast Gun is hardly cheap. I initially started with a big gun build and I assure you, it is considerably more for a fast gun build. I prefer big gun but the majority of those players are out in Cali so I’m kind of stuck with fast gun or nothing.
That's not accurate at all. Please don't spread false information to new people when you have no actual experience in either big gun or fast gun. Welcome @PushkinPrior . I am located in NJ, there's a bunch in PA/MD/VA/NY/NC/GA. We'd love to get you out on the water. You are in a great spot for this hobby. I am "the french guy" in the northeast. My main large battleship is Jean Bart, I have a Dunkerque, and I also have a Courbet dreadnought, Suffren cruiser, and Mogador destroyer. If you are into french boats, we'll get along just fine
You are one of the French guys... I started this hobby in a Suffren cruiser. Battling a Courbet right now and am building. Jean Bart to go with Will's. The French have the most fun so you're already heading in the right direction!
Pushkin, Welcome to the hobby, I truly hope to see you on the water some day in the near future, If you are ever over Michigan way, we would be happy to help you. We have loaner boats to let you try it out and have some fun with us. As for previous responces, Darkapollo... I am sure means well but i do not believe he has battled or built a ship "yet"(we would love to have you come out and battle with us as well). Beaver and BSGkid117 are both very active Battlers at local, Regional and National events for fast gun IRCWCC style battling. They pretty much know the hobby inside out. Be aware of what info you take to heart and from who it comes, decide what style you want to battle and than find the battlers closest to you and go visit thier shop and bring a good camara(phones work)and Notebook to write down the answers to your questions. We all love to have new people come into the hobby. Good luck and see you on the water.
Welcome. I'm another active IRCWCC battler in the eastern US, currently in northern VA. I started my first boat when I was 14 when there were only one or two detailed warship build articles posted on the internet, now there is a plethora of good info on this site and active captains willing to answer whatever questions you have to make your experience enjoyable. I built one boat in the basement of my fraternity in college. To your question between those ship options, any of them would be fine starting ships. Some of the main factors in selecting a first boat are budget, desire for multiple boats, hull availability, and past experience with building models / RC / electronics. There would be a sizable cost difference between a cruiser and a dreadnought like New Mexico (maybe 200-300 difference, primarily driven by solenoids, guns, and batteries). With that being said, if you feel like you'll want something larger than a cruiser in year 2 or 3, it would be more cost effective to start with the larger boat. For hull availability, New Mexico would be a wooden hull (no fiberglass exist), Cleveland could be fiberglass from BC, I'll have Portland hulls available sometime this year, you could probably find a fiberglass Strasbourg hull. I recommend starting with a fiberglass hull for simplicity, but a few guys have been successful starting with wooden hulls. From an experience perspective, a cruiser and its internal systems are very simple, while battleships get more complex, so probably trend towards cruiser if experience level building is lower. Anyways, I'll echo what Craig (Panzer) said in that meeting up and seeing ships in person is worth about 1000 forum posts, so if you can attend an event this year or are relatively close to one of the active guys then I would recommend checking it out.
Having built quite a few ships, both Big Gun AND Fast Gun, I can assure you that darkapollo's statement is correct. The only part of a Big Gun ship that costs more than a Fast Gun ship is the guns. That said, the cost of a warship in either format is still less than a year of competitive R/C racing, or a year of crashing R/C planes, or most other R/C sports, so whichever one you choose will be a financially responsible decision.
The French may always lose the battle, but we have the most fun doing it. @Kotori87 , I will acquiesce to your experience building both formats in regards to that cost. And I agree with your statement regarding our hobby versus other remote controlled hobbies. In my office hanging on the walls I've got remote controlled short course and crawler trucks ranging from $500 all the way up to $1,000. With any of these specialized hobbies, 10x for model warship combat, A lot of the cost as you spend time in the hobby is driving to events getting hotel rooms and actually having a good time. Sure, it may cost you $800 to build your first cruiser and buy all that support equipment you're going to need to be a self-sufficient battler, but then over time going to events you are going to spend more than that on hotel rooms in your first year. We have ways of keeping costs down for new people building their first boat. most of those ways involve being more hands-on, building things instead of buying them, but that's also a great thing for a new Captain to learn how to do. That way you built it you know how it functions you'll be able to help yourself when the time comes.
I have no experience building any scale models, essentially. I would probably need help even with a fiberglass hull. Are there such things as meets to build boats? As for what to build, I would probably like to upgrade within a year or two from a cruiser if I do start with one. Are there any good allied/WW1 Central Powers ships that could have more units but still be easier to build?
Plus, @Kevin P. , are you constructing the Portland hull for sale, or just for your own use? I would not want to burden you with making another just for me in the latter scenario.
Yes I'll be willing to make Portland hulls for others if they ask, for a reasonable price. Making the plug and mold is the hard part, making another hull is just a few hours of work. Build sessions are common but would depend on your location / proximity to others. Most captains are willing to meet up with a new guy to show them boats and help them out. In the DC area we have meetings every Friday night in Annapolis, MD and occasional weekend day-long build sessions. If you'd like to find out who is nearby wherever you live just ask and I can put you in touch with the closest battler. Common starting ships would include Invincible, Von Der Tann, Nassau, Radetzky (tighter build), Andrea Doria, Courbet (I make those hulls too)
Sounds good! Hopefully later this year I can get out to Annapolis to meet y’all. I’ve also been looking at French cruisers, such as the Algérie, and battleships such as the Bretagne class. How difficult would they be? Thanks!
You are in the right area to build French that is for sure talk to Will if you are interested in a Cruiser, He has some interesting "Ideas" For an amazing Suffern. Steve and Kevin could also put you in contact with some Outstanding thoughts and Ideas for Courbet if that is the route you wish to go. You have access to some of the most active builders in the hobby. Good luck and see you on the water.
Bretagne would be basically the same difficulty level wise as Courbet. They just trade the wing turrets for a single centerline turret. Otherwise identical. They're a little tight, but with some decent planning can be a very fun boat to battle and build. With poor planning, you will run out of space inside the boat very quickly. You are more than welcome to come to my shop for a build session and see what Courbet/Bretagne looks like in real life. Algerie would be an acceptable cruiser, but the french have access to two really great cruisers. La Galissoniere and Suffren. La Galissoniere (Gloire) has triple turrets and being a class 2 can split the units to arm the triples. Suffren has a single propeller and dual rudders, which makes her very maneuverable for a cruiser and she is 3 units so dual stern guns and a single full pump makes her very survivable for a newbie who may make tactical mistakes and take damage they shouldn't normally. Also at 2 guns and 1 pump, with 1 driven propeller, Suffren is relatively cheap to outfit vs dual shaft ships with triples. I am in the pre-production testing phase of rolling out a Suffren cruiser 3d printed rookie kit. If that is something that interests you, PM me and we can work something out.
I have been battling a Provence (bretagne class) for a while now. It's a terrifically fun boat to fight and simple enough to set up. easier with 3D printed guns than with traditional ones but readily doable either way. I don't know if Steven is still set up to cut the wood kits for it or not but he was cutting them until he shut his shop down. If there is interest, I can find out from him what his plans are for the wood kit if any.
