Hey guys, Weather is getting colder for a lot of us which means building season is here. Hope to see lots of cool progress pictures of CBC entry boats. There was a question/clarification that came up that I felt necessary to share: All parts/supplies/materials used in construction of the ship should be calculated into the expenses. If you had solenoids laying around, they are not a $0 cost. Their original purchase price should be factored in. This is not MSRP, this is what you paid for them. This encourages deals shopping, surplus ebay purchases, etc. You can use "free" items if you legitimately obtained them (legally) for free. If the "deal" price is seriously under MSPR/close to free, you need to express what the deal was. How did you get the item. Why was it priced so cheaply/free if there was a reason. The judges are more likely to accept your deal if you've put something down for the "cost" vs just $0. "Free" is much less likely to fly vs "Local company trashes wooden shipping crates every Thursday and they don't mind picking through the scraps. Spent $7.50 in gas round trip and a bag of gummi worms." That being said, remember that the mission statement of this contest is not just frugality. If there was a percentile breakdown of what I as a judge would look for (and remember, I'm only 1 of 3) it would be as follows: 10%| Final cost 20%| How well did you document your expenses? Did you keep track of literally everything? 6.75oz of gray paint, 1 $.05 acid brush, 2 tubes of E6000, 14 inches of fishing line for gun pins? / How "easy" was your build? How reasonable would it be for a new person to do what you did? (INCLUDING any potential deals/discounts/etc on supplies!) / Did you use tools or equipment beyond what is reasonably expected for a new person? 40%| Does your boat actually work? Does it work well? How did it do in combat? 20%| Is your boat pretty? Does it have extra features? Is it designed/built to be "livable" ie easily reloaded guns etc. Does your boat look like something that would last for 3-5 years or longer? 10%| How good are you at "telling the tale" (aka bullsh*ting) to the judges? (Also remember...I'm a human not a spreadsheet and these percentages are just loose guidelines on how I view this contest. The name of the contest is CHEAP so at the end of the day if there are 3 boats of very similar level in every other category, Final Cost 100% comes out on top.)
hey so how do I account for all the CAD work? the Fusion subscription costs etc should be factored in, right? maybe?
Fusion 360 free edition is totally capable of modeling a hull, so I would say you do not need to tell us what you paid for F360 paid edition. BUT, make sure you let us know that you used F360 + CAD skills per the "Did you use anything a rookie might not have" requirement.
Hey guys, Ircwcc Nationals is rapidly approaching. I have seen some activity from a few cheap boat contestants but it has been mostly quiet. I just want to reiterate, you do not need to build a brand new boat for this challenge. If you have a ship that is already built that is well documented and you think you can provide a reasonably accurate price breakdown, feel free to enter it. What's the worst thing that happens? You win a prize? Talking about prize, I have finally nailed down what the grand prize will be for the chief cheapskate: One full HMS Erin ship kit, with Turnigy FS-i6 radio converted to buttons. Take note, a ship kit does not include internal electronics and components. If you check out the website, you can read the ship kit details page to find out what is included. The judges will be picked Sunday at Nationals, we will inspect the contestant boats over the course of the week and we will decide on a winner at the swap meet. Please bring your cheap boat to the swap meet so that way we can check it out. The rules for entering the contest are on the first page. Remember that your ship needs to have participated in three sanctioned battles. Meaning it is on three score sheets. If there are not at least three contestants, we will postpone the awarding of the grand prize to 2025 to give people some extra time to get involved. Contest rules are here: https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/ircwcc-community-cheap-boat-challenge.447327/ Thanks all.
I'm assuming we're all quiet about our bottom dollar skunk works projects for OPSEC reasons. Project Cheap Frenchman will be commissioned next weekend.
Hey guys, there has been an update with the cheap boat challenge: RCWarshipTech (@SnipeHunter ) has been kind enough to provide some internal electronics for this prize, so I decided to say screw it and I matched his contribution. So now the prize consists of: One full HMS Erin ship kit One Turnigy FS-i6 Radio Converted to Buttons Two Dual Gun Boards One brushed pump control board And one RCWT H bridge throttle control Just a reminder, the boat that you submit for this contest does not need to be a freshly built boat.
