Hello, Well I was recently on battlers connection and want a: easy first build of a ship, something small and relatively powerful, and an Allied ship. (I would say inexpensive but I am already sure that this is not a cheap hobby One of the best options in the beginner category was the US Des Moines class Heavy Cruiser. I really like the look of the ship and it is an Ally ship. But I looked at the battleship category and found the Italian Andrea Doria which looks nice, is faster, and more powerful. It fits in my budget to and is classified as a beginner build and beginner battling skills. The only downer is it is an Axis ship . My question is what ship would you recommend?
The AD is actually slower, and the Des Moines class is a BFT (Big Floating Target). You should consider a 4 unit battle cruiser with a 24sec/100ft speed or one of the shorter cruisers.
Well I guess if you built an AD to its original WWI guise, maybe. But the one BC sells is definatly an Axis ship, I don't really see how it could be an allied ship.
If you want an Allied ship model that isn't too complex and is fast I recommend a heavy cruiser. After several years in the hobby I built the Spanish CA Canarias, which was a licensed version of the British Kent Class. It and the Kent Class have a high freeboard but therefore have lots of reserve buoyancy which can help you survive until the 5 minute call has expired. I used Canarias in the NABS club in Canada for several years and often teamed up with another cruiser. (We had a couple of Kent Class ships and Lutzows). Two heavy cruisers could defeat a battleship on points using 'run and gun' tactics. In larger battles the key was to use dual stern guns, stay on the fringes of the battle, hit and run and engage solitary damaged or slow ships. A favourite tactic was to cross the bow of a battleship at close range, hit the 'brakes', fire a few salvos at the bow area and take off. The Kent/Canarias doesn't turn as well as a fast battleship like a North Carolina but has equal speed. My Canarias model survived without significant damage on several occasions when a pursuing NC had its bow touching along one side near the stern. (Canarias was never sunk in combat.) Another advantage of the Canarias or its sistership Baleares is that they are neutral and can be used as an Axis or an Allied ship. Being able to fight on either side made battles more interesting as when Canarias and a Lutzow teamed up to sink a QE Class battleship with propulsion problems. I made the Canarias hull mould intermediate in size between the Kent and Canarias classes so the hull could be used for either class. I sold the mold to Strike a few years ago and the hull is still in production. I also sold the moulds for the Canarias' 'art deco' style bridge and trunked funnel but they don't appear to be available. Another suitable Strike product would be the shorter and faster turning Essex/York Class British heavy cruiser. Same armament and speed as the Kent/Canarias but care has to be taken to keep the weight considerably lower. That class lacks the high freeboard and reserve buoyancy of the other two. For an entry level Allied battlecruiser I recommend the old Swampy Invincible hull sold by Strike or the more accurate and slightly larger /more roomy Indefatigable hull developed by Ralph Coles and me and sold by Ralph. He has a few in stock at very good prices. My only problem with the 26 sec. BCs is that they aren't fast. Having a high speed ship can get a rookie out of trouble. By the way, if my old Canarias is still intact I wouldn't mind buying it back.
Another tidbit: heavy cruisers in the IRCWCC are now 23 seconds versus 24. Helps when trying to outrun those better turning battleships.
so slower? not very good for me my strategy (been reading up the Art of War too much) is to stay off to the side early on and only attack smaller or equal ships. Much as I love attacking and blowing ships down below (partly why i like the idea of the hobby) i want to stay out long enough. But it was brought up earlier that the Des Moine is a BFT. At 5 feet for Cruiser type ship with not exactly heavy armanment I reckon the length is much too unnecessary.
Triples stern guns are nothing to sneeze at; Des Moines is not a big slow target. It goes speed 23, significantly faster than AD (as in, don't even THINK of trying to catch me, AD) Like the Kents (which are great ships), the Des Moines also have a reasonable amount of freeboard and is pretty easy to build. Comparing the DM and the AD is like comparing a Porsche 911 and a 4x4. Make one play the other's game and it WILL lose.
oh. i thought it was 23 feet per second. it seemed weird that the bismark would be faster than this (if the bismark were 24 fps vs. 23 fps). If it is pretty easy to build (i was a master of legos and built a balsa plane before) than I think I will go with the Des Moine. Personally it is a beautiful ship IMHO thanks Tugboat. Hope to see you at a battle here in the South someday!
Yes, Mike and I will both be debuting new ships. So the other guys will have a fun time shooting us up Mine actually looks kind of nice for once
try Upstate, SC!! yeah i am a bit of a ways. i do want to come to the Oakboro Park battle (go to a church near there). i guess y'all are apart of the Souteast Attack Squadron?
Oh, Zeke... driving like 5 hrs is pretty typical for boat battling. Mike Mangus drives like 10 hours to come sink us!
Heh. You missed the spectacle of seeing my pump's restrictor blow off, resulting in a 1/2" diameter pump outlet, firing straight up. It looked like a 40 foot fountain in the middle of the lake, and I did not sink even with enough holes to kill an elephant. Quite funny. But I did have a fair number of the usual 'new ship' teething problems.
what ship?? and i still want to build that lake (there are soo many around here especially a lot of small lakes)
Stephen's making funny faces and wondering more about your pump Tuggy, while I'm laughing at the picture of what happened.
Mike Butts was playing cameraman and I believe he got some shots of it I'll email him to see if I can get some to post.
