I open here a thread to collect information I have not found yet or not understood reading this forum . My english is not good enough to browse rapidly the whole forum and to pick up answers .... First question 1 Is it possible to make home made guns ? 3 Does the guns may have elevation ? 2 If the holes are above the water line , what makes the ship capsize ? 3 Ships has a pump to evacuate water ,what for ? 4 what is the surface able to be struck by shells 5 Is there a rule to be observed to equalize the chances to sink or to survive for two differents ships ? Clavier from sunny Britanny ( golfe du Morbihan )
If I recall correctly, you are wanting to do big gun. I'm not a big gunner, but will provide as much info as I can. The big gun guys here I'm sure will correct me where I'm wrong. 1. Yes, many people do make their own guns. I'm not certain how but there must be diagrams on the net somewhere. 2. Big gun ships often have elevating barrels so they can adjust their range. 3. You need to make holes below the waterline too. Most guys put water channel in their boats to force water to the center and prevent capsizing. Most ships sink on an even keel, by the stern. 4. with no pumps you'd sink pretty quickly. Generally the cannons will do enough damage to put someone down, you just need to hit them a few times. 5. well most parts of the ship can be hit. ships have areas which are covered only with thin balsa though for the balls to penetrate. The rest of the ship such as superstructure is not generally penetrable. 6. No. The ships ability to survive is going to be based on many things, most importantly the skill of the captain. Two exactly equal ships with different captains will perform differently.
You got it mostly right crzyhawk 1. Yes. It depends on the tools, friends, and experience you have. Most all clubs I know of now have access to lathes and milling machines. There are plans available from BDE, although the Indiana design which succeeded the JCWhite design is concentric, without individually milled air passages for each barrel. The Arizona gun also has plans online. 2. We prefer the term "depression". Elevation above vertical is prohibited due to safety reasons The important thing is that you can change the range your shots hit water first at, and when close try for a good below waterline salvo. 3. The wake will sometimes wash over holes in the bow. And due to the nature of combat... once you start taking on water... the above waterline holes become submerged... and this overwhelms the boat, sinking it. Just a few hits on the waterline can start the process... and then the dozens of aboves will come into play. 4. The term to serch for is "penetrable area" often also called "windows" or "Frames" in differing rulesets. 5. Damage control if you will is determined by warship/or freighter, and then by tonnage. Typically the larger ships have more pumping capacity... and armed freighters will not get the larger pumping rates available, because although they may have been toting 8 inch guns and torpedoes, they were not built with armor or good compartmentalization. It closely resembles the unit system in the fast gun system in many ways. Good luck! Mike
Bonjour mon amie francophone! Je parle un petit peu de francais (un enfant dans quebec dis je parle comme un boucheron). Poser de questionnes difficile en francais et je essaye de repondre en francais pour tu (c'est tres bon practique pour moi!) Et ton anglais est tron bon, les bateaux est un difficile sujet pour parle dans un autre langue! Brechin
Hiya fuzzy Bonjour mon ami anglophone ( amie is for female [] ...! ) Ton français n'est pas celui d'un bucheron, je t'assure Boucheron is a famous jeweller in Paris , if you go into France with your wife.... never show her his showcase ......[] I have understood most answers but this made some other questions to appear ...[8)] 1 What the hell is the difference betweeen big guns and (small guns) ? the caliber ,the number...? What kind of cannonballs is used, how can they penetrate under water and have strength enough to cause damages 2 Some torpedoes seems tu be used , I havn't seen any thread about have you a link for explaintions ? 3 If you compete in battles how could you be sure that adveraries have enough windows covered by balsa wood to weakened their own boats like yours ...? Thats all folks !
1. There's a big difference between big and small guns. Small gun ships are much simpler; all ships use .177 caliber (BBs) cannons, and have 1/32 inch balsa sides. The number of guns they may have is determined by a units system. Small gun ships are generally faster and have much higher rates of fire then big gun ships. This simplicity makes the boats cheaper and simpler to build, but are also a little less realistic. Big guns ships use 4 calibers of weapons: BBs, 3/16(I think), 7/32, and 1/4 inch. These are used based on the size of the guns the real ship carried, for example a destroyer with 127 mm (5-inch) guns would be allowed to have BB guns, while a battleship with 406 mm (16-inch) guns would be able to have 1/4 inch guns. Ships are allowed to have the same number of guns that the real ship had, so an Iowa class US battleship would be allowed to have 9 1/4" guns (9 406 mm on the real ship). Big guns ships are also allowed to arm secondary guns over 3 inches if they want to (I don't think most people do though) so the Iowa would also be allowed to have 20 BB guns (20 127 mm secondary guns). Big gun ships have different thickness of hulls based on the thickness of armor of the real ships. As we tend to talk about weapons more on this site (and I am a small gun captain) I am not sure of what size allowed for big gun ships is. As for hitting below the water, most of out shots are angled down and we get pretty close so our shots have the energy to make it through the water and still have enough ooomph (for lack of a better technical term!) to punch through the balsa. 2. Torpedoes are generally represented by 1/4 inch ball bearing guns that are fixed to the side. Small gun does not use torpedoes. 3. All boats are supposed to be built to the same rules. The honor system is generally followed. Occasionally, people get caught cheating (I've never seen it only heard about someone who did this) but this is rare. Most guys build and battle with honor and do not need to resort to cheating.
There is also cost. Every gun over 3 inches can be armed in big gun... if you have the space, and if you can afford it. That brings up cost. The cannon systems for big guns are much more expensive. And, there is speed... Big gun ships are slow, very slow compared to MWC or fast gun. Although, there is talk of a 30 knot 30 second rule... Armor (balsa) thickness can be a max of 1/4 inch for big gun boats. It is sometimes a challenge to skin the boat... but the rewards of not putting your fingers through the sides are priceless Luck Mike3
Note to self: don't show wife the lumberjacks jewellery showcase, got it.[] Crzyhawk explained it pretty well, small gun uses one type of gun, (.177 bb's) and big gun uses all sorts of things ranging from bb's to large ball bearings. In small gun the rate of fire is as fast as you can push the button on your radio, in big gun there's a reload time (dependant on the size of the gun). Also in small gun we put the ships in different 'classes' a class 3 ship gets 3 points, a gun is a point, and a pump is a point, so most class 3 ships end up with 2 guns and pump. A class 7 ship would have guns and a pump. Big gun arms pretty much everything. As for people having being honest and having the same amount of windows as you, crzyhawk is right when it comes down to the honour system. In my club, most captains get someone else to look over their hull before they cut the windows, just in case they messed up.
Practically, when you built, how do you measure the surface that represents windows ...? is there a rule ,a percentage ...? has each model a mandatory spécification ? is there also a rule for superstructures, are they removable during the fight ?
For wood hull construction, the rib thickness is selected (typically between 1/8"-3/8") and the ribs are spaced apart to achieve the appropriate penetrable area. The percentage of required penetrable area depends upon the rule set applicable to the format. For example, I believe that fast gun requires that 85% be penetrable while most big gun allows a specific maximum length to be impenetrable at the bow and stern while the ribs are spaced according to the thickness of the ribs. With a fiberglass hull, I believe most people trace out the windows onto the hull in accordance with the requisite spacings prior to drilling and cutting them out (somebody with such experience please correct me if I'm wrong).
Fast gun also has the maximum length at the bow and stern. The bow is allowed to be 2 inches, the stern is allowed to be 1 inch. The total area counting the bow, stern and ribs must be no less then 85%. Also, the penetrable windows must extend no less then 1 inch below the waterline, hull shape and size permitting.
Oh yes I had ! This seemed to be a try to introduce in France such an activity for naval modelists two years ago .... After the webmaster in 2006, I'v been the only forumer to post behind I have seen quite a lot of interesting solutions for guns but It seemes difficult to get these weapons here if you don't build them yourself French modelists are not very keen on destructing their own models so I have decided to wait a little Presently I have bought USS Melvin (blue devil from Lindberg) and I will act to articulate her so that she may fold in two parts ( 90° ) giving the impression of having been hitten by a torpedo . Then a mechanism will set her back to a more natural aspect ....
