Hello from Columbus Ohio, I stumbled across a video on YouTube about this hobby and I was immediately interested. I then proceeded to bury myself researching Model Warship Combat and I'm drowning in all the information, so I've decided to come here and ask some question... a lot of questions. But before I ask anything, I should probably give some background information on myself. I'm a student pilot with 53 flight hours and planning to take my test next week, I enjoy world war 2 history, especially that of aviation and naval combat. Now here is the problem, I don't have much experience with robotics or modeling. I've done some work on fixing computer hardware and airsoft guns (airsoft is a sport in which everyone carries replica firearms that shoot 6mm plastic bbs at each other). Now on with my questions.... 1: How much does all this cost? I'm 17 and getting ready for college, so I'm not exactly over endowed with funds. 2: How much prior experience is required? I've listed my experience with this sort of stuff above, I'm a fast learner, but I don't want to sink a large amount of money into this only to find I don't know how to attach A to B. 3: What kind of club? I really like the idea of Big Gun where all the turrets fire and everything is scaled, but cost might be the determining factor on this one. 4: How close? I located in Columbus, Ohio, but I don't want to drive 5 hours to an event. 5: How much room and equipment? As I said I have very little experience and my tool set is equally poor. I have access to drills, a circular saw, various knives and glues, and a bathtub for testing. Also, I don't have a workshop, but I do have a small empty room in my basement that I could use. 6: Will my age be an issue? 7. Any tips or answers to questions that I should've asked? Oh, and I forgot to mention, I have Scuba Diving experience with an Open Water Diver certificate, I'm not sure if that would be needed, but I wanted to mention it just in case. Thanks in advance for any help, Luke
Welcome aboard! You're in a pretty solid spot for the hobby. Some locals (@rcengr & @froggyfrenchman I'm looking at you) should be along soon probably to tell you of the options local to you, in the meantime, some answers! You don't need much in the (any) robotics or modelling experience. I'm actually terrible at making scale models. Once you wade in you'll discover the basics are fairly basic and easy to learn. Trust me, if you can fly a plane, you can do this. 1) A warship will run between 500 and the sky, depending on how fancy you get. Most of the cost is upfront in building, maintaining typically costs little. I pay more in gas every year to get to battles than I do on the ship I'm using. Most clubs will have loaner ships that you can run/borrow/learn to maintain while you build your own, and many clubs do things like gun building parties to help keep the costs down. 2) You'll be plenty fine (see answer above). 3) I think Treaty battles nearest you. I am not aware of an active BigGun group right up there, though I might be wrong. Battlestations has a few folk in your area as well, but thats not really an established thing yet. @rcengr should know the lay of the land in your area. 4) <5hrs is often considered close in the hobby, which is why so many groups do multiday events. In your case though, I think Treaty battles much closer than that to you. 5) I built a ship on my coffee table, one of our local guys built one in his bathroom I'm told (@Maxspin - why did you build a ship in your bathroom anyways?). 6) Probably not. It varies a bit on how much a club actually cares- some want all minors to be accompanied by an 'adult', but at 17 I wouldn't expect much of an issue. 7) Probably but I've always thought its more fun to go on a voyage of self discovery in that way. Do you have any particular nationality of ships or era that you like? Some guys only like Japanese ships, some only French, some of us only like Imperial German ships, etc. If you like to retrieve boats you'll make lots of friends. Again, welcome aboard, don't be shy about asking more questions!
Thanks for the quick reply and all the answers! I'm interested mostly in the World War 2 era, and I've always liked British warships, although I'm not picky as they are probably in the minority. I'll get in contact with @rcengr soon unless of course he responds here, thanks again for the help!
Welcome to the hobby and this site. It's the perfect place to get started. And you are indeed in a great place. Lots of action in the surrounding area. And fairly close. The next battle will be in Xenia, Ohio on the weekend of Sept 25-27. Both Treaty, and Battlestations will be there. Not a lot of big-gun activity in this region. But Battlestations is basically big-gun but in a bigger scale. The closest group to you is the Buckeye Battle Squadron. They are part of Treaty. In Newark. They have a battle site there. There are also battle sites in Xenia, and Versailles, Ohio. So in this hobby, those are all really close to you. We have build-sessions almost every weekend in the Dayton area. Mikey
Or you can go to school at beautiful Georgia Southern, and come play in my workshop 5 minutes from campus
I'd suggest you take a closer look at the hobby's different... factions for lack of a better term. Big Gun is complex and very tough to break into since the guns aren't readily available (yet). Also a bit more expensive than some of the others. Battlestations is larger-scale Big Gun. So same problems except more of them and more costs. Treaty & Fast Gun (AKA IRC) share components and most build rules. Parts are easily obtainable and lower cost. Sources for parts / kits found in the vendor's section of this site. Obvious which I think you should look to, but make your own decision.
