Hey gang, I'm looking at building the USS Astoria CA-34 , New Orleans class heavy cruiser. I have a set of drawings for her in 144th scale. what's your opinion for this class of ship for a beginner , other than having to completely scratch build the boat, which I'm fine with. its a 3 unit ship. so 2 guns and a pump. for fast gun clubs. I've been reading tactics and such trying to figure out gun placement. I was originally thinking duels in the aft. but thinking about it. perhaps one for and aft would make her a a bit more aggressive an fun on the water. any ideas comments are encouraged thanks Jason
Cruisers or WW1 Battlecruisers are the generally recommended starter boats. This recent thread has some discussion on the matter. LINK
Jason, welcome to the hobby! Where are you located? In general the New Orleans is a fine ship to start in.
Hrm, yes, some cruisers can work with our ponds, but there is a good chance one of our locations next year will be much tighter and a cruiser would fare.. poorly.
We have an NC that turns on itself, a Richelieu that wont see the pond next year probably, a couple Bismarcks that are rarely out, well, one has never been out, a Nagato on the way. Everything else active above 3 units that I can think of offhand is ww1 or ww1 refit for later service. If we were using our primary ponds from prior years, yeah, there'd be room, but we very likely will not be next year, and one of our intended replacements is much tighter.
Nick, just by looking at your info and your reply are you in the Washington area? I was ready to go see my first day of battling when the cork got pulled on the Tacoma ponds and I got to meet Phill for the first time to pick up some stuff from Stephen. Still haven't met Stephen and I still owe him some money? That I know, how much..not. Jason, that is a good pick at least from my standpoint maybe not the ponds. One on my list.
Until we find a suitable location it is looking like my pond will be our primary battle location. Its small and ships that dont turn well will suffer greatly. If you have seen the ring of death matches its not that bad, but there isn't room to really run away. In the interest of you having fun in that environment, if you really want a cruiser build a Lil'Sharnie or a Suffren or go for a class 4 ship. The other cruisers are fun in a big pond where they can swoop in for a few shots and then run away before anyone can react. A class 4 offers a lot more room to grow as a captain though as they are a lot more versatile having side mounted cannons.
Yes I am. I'm in Federal Way. I do recall that we redirected someone over the phone down to Phil's. Did you have an opportunity to talk shop and ships with him? You can email stephen at stephen _at_ strikemodels _dot_ com (you can cc keri for good measure if youre concerned) and figure out what you need to square up.
Yes I did. I was calling Stephen regularly on questions I had and then finally gave his ear a rest. I figure I will square up in cash with him when I see him or I get funds to order something else from strike and lump it in with that. Nice to know someone else in the pnw.
guys I also have plans for the HMS tiger in 1/44 scale. a bit bigger than the astoria. but it has room to grow with 4.5 units whats a good layout for guns on the Tiger. I figure a big ship like her will need the full 1 unit pump. so that gives me 3.5 battle units. 1.5 on the rear gun, and two side mounts? thanks Jason
