i am new to this and am trying to decide between the bismarck, andrea doria, des moines and the south dakota any advise on battle experience and different places to obtain parts what motors are better for the money stuff like that thanks so much i do have alot of wood working experience so that wont be a huge problem
Hi Cole, Alot of the answers to your questions depend on which club / rule set you are using. Parts & supplies I'd say check out the dedicated shops (Strike Models & Battlers Connection) first, then check links from the various clubs (MWCI.ORG has a bunch of "commercial" links on their site). Most builders run 6V in their boats, so the motors should be chosen to match. Again, check the sites above. As to which boat... I can only speak to "fast gun" and MWC / IRCC rules, but with that in mind: South Dakota (SoDak) is very popular for it's manueverability (for a big boat) and triple-stern gun setup. Bismarck, as one of the biggest (other than Yamato) Axis boats, carries good firepower and is one of the prettiest boats in the hobby, but isn't a great battler due to poor manueverability. Andrea Doria (A-D) is a good fighting boat, reasonably sized and reasonably manueverable.. a decent "middle of the road" boat all-round. Des Moines is a complete no-no in fast gun. It's long and fast, but has few guns for its size and manuevers like an iceberg. I understand it's fairly popular in big-gun, but I have no knowledge of their stuff, so cannot comment.
I respectfully disagree about the Bismark's maneuverability. Set up right, they will turn very good. Nearly as good as a North Carolina or SoDak.
Hi Cole, I would do lots of research before making a choice. It really depends on so many factors, but the number one factor is this one: What do you envision doing with this ship? Imagine that Santa brings you one this Sunday morning, and it is fully armed and ready for a fight. Where would you go to battle with it? I've been involved in the Big Gun end of this hobby for the past 9 years, and I feel safe in saying - even for Fast Gun - that there is no magic ship that has a corner on fun or effectiveness in the hobby. I know skippers that have a blast with an unarmed freighter, while others swear by battleships - the bigger the better. I would say that the first thing to determine is where you will be battling, and with whom. If there's a club near you, contact the folks there, and ask them for some suggestions. The thing to keep in mind is that an armed combat ship - no matter how maneuverable or perfectly built and engineered - is useless without other skippers to battle with. If the only club near you is a Fast Gun club, then it would make sense to build a Fast Gun ship that would match the ships in use in that club; if it's a Big Gun club, then you would need to build a Big Gun ship. If it's a Treaty club, then build it by Treaty rules, and so in. Cheers. Rob
Bismarck for it's size is quite maneuverable. Just ask any Sodak or NC captain that was chasing mine at 2010 Ircwcc Nats. I woulg go with a shorter ship though as starter like a Sodak that has plenty of firepower but very portable. Anything that can lay across the backseat of a car is good.
