Hey, folks! This is Carl, with news from the Battle Of The Maker Faire! The Axis and Allies have clashed two times already, in two ferocious 21-minute sorties. Ten ships fought in each battle, and casualties have been heavy. Eight sinks so far! Two battleships, two destroyers, and four transports. The crowds are loving it! I've almost talked myself hoarse answering questions, and a few people are already mute. The next sortie is scheduled for 6:00, in about two hours. For right now though, here are some pictures for you all to enjoy! http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/kotori87/IMG_0603.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/kotori87/IMG_0604.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/kotori87/IMG_0605.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/kotori87/IMG_0606.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/kotori87/IMG_0609.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h237/kotori87/IMG_0602.jpg -Carl
This is the first time in history that a model boat club has had live combat at a show. There were four battles on Saturday and two on Sunday. Easily a thousand people came to watch each one, even though we were in a small corner out of the way. One member was MC/CD for the whole event, and got the crowd worked up and pointed out damaged and sinking ships. The enclosed 30'x60' pond was very small for the 8-10 ships battling, resulting in more chaos, carnage, sinks, and attrition than at a normal battle. This also resulted in a number of ram sinks. Discussions with fast cruiser skippers (40kts = 28sec, 43kts = 26 sec 45kts = 25 sec) it was almost too small to run in because they could go from one side to the other very quickly. The larger ships also had to deal with their larger turning radius, which was a challenge in the smaller pond. This leads me to believe that the high speed fast gun and treaty clubs and the larger scale battlestations and queens own will need a bigger pond to battle in, if they want to have live combat at a show. Fortunately, the Maker Faire organizers reported that we were a huge draw for them, and they have invited us back next year, saying they will work with the NTXBG at the Austin Maker Faire and will try to expand the pond for us. We also learned a lot about the safety issues. It is not possible to give a thousand spectators safety glasses, although we tried. Instead, the pond wore safety glasses that extended four feet above the water level. The thin lexan flexed to absorb the energy of the shots and made a loud thwack that caught the crowds attention when we started testing guns. As the wind picked up on Sunday afternoon we became worried about the supports, which will be strengthened in the future. We found that the four foot shield was almost perfect when one person reported to a first aid station after getting hit on Sunday, although there was no real injury. The shield will be enlarged to 6-8 feet tall in the future. Overall, everyone had a blast. Our youngest member fought in his first battle and scored his first kill (my transport, when I ran without a pump). Ships that fought included Iowa, Wisconsin, Hood (with fire control), Warspite, Baden, Dutch Battle Cruiser, Dunkerque, Scipione Africanus, Pompeo Magno, Luigi Cadorna, Giussano, Z-33, Mehoshi Maru, Ou Maru, and Silverfish. Sunken ships include Wisconsin, Dunkerque, Dutch Battle Cruiser, Silverfish (two times), Z-33 (three times), Mehoshi Maru (four times), Ou Maru (four times). Ships on display, in addition to the ships that fought, included Sovietsky Soyuz, H-39, Rodney, Abdiel, Le Fantasque, Graf Spee, Spahkreuzer, Kitakami, Lexington, Normandie passenger liner, Henry Kaiser, Arizona Maru (formerly Shugu Maru), I-401, a partly built Bismarck, a partly built Nagato, a 1/16 scale PT boat, and three large tug boats. Carl's already written up an analysis of how the transports performed for the Scuttlebutt, and I'm going to try to write up a proper battle/event report, including the action and suggested improvements for other clubs that are interested.
Glad to hear it was a big hit, and even more glad to hear that I'll have somethin to publish next month!
I would like to know how the pond was made. I would like to make a small one myself. Did any of the boat guys make it? Is there a way I could get instructions on how to make one? Thanks
Yeah, I helped build it. What we did was build a 1-foot high plywood wall around the area we wanted. I don't remember the dimensions of the wood, but it was a pretty standard hardware store/lumber yard size. We bracketed the corners to reinforce them, then put several layers of thick plastic sheet in the bottom to hold water. We then screwed down an additional layer of thin wood along the top of the frames, to hold the plastic sheets in place. Then we filled the pond with water. Once the pond was full, we put up the uprights and hung thin lexan sheets between them, as blast shields to protect spectators. I think my brother has a more detailed description of the construction. Is this clear enough, or would you like to see the more detailed version?
I love details Also how much prep was done in the surface before the pond was filled. I was thinking that the weight of the water could have made objects press through the plastic. I am also curious about the dimensions. Thanks
It's definitely an interesting concept and seems relatively cheap. If you built it without the shields, it'd be a heckuva lot cheaper too (although the shields are a must for shows), meaning you could start having battles pretty much anywhere. Ponds are always such a pain to find... How long did it take you to fill it, and what did you use?
http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/rcnavalcombat/FileManager/default.aspx?id=154 The pond was 30 x 60 x 1, with 4' lexan barriers on three sides. We had problems with the wind on the safety shield, and it needed to be taller. It should be at least 8' tall, and you may want to try a screen material. It is strong enough to stop a shot (I have tested it) and will let the wind through, though it may slightly interfere with the view, which was why we initially chose thin lexan. The water was held in with three layers of 6mil plastic liner, though a pool liner would be less likely to leak and a bit longer lasting. We had national flags to mark the Allied and Axis sides. We also had tiki torches to add to the atmosphere during the night battle, and discussed (but did not have) dry icebergs for the mist and navigation hazard. There was a fire hose in the building next to us which was used to fill the pond, and the plan was to pump the water out when done, though the faire's construction crew took care of that after we left. We checked the ground beforehand for screws, wire, and sharp rocks before putting the plastic down, and one of the layers was purely to protect from scratches. The bleacher on the south side was not installed, and the area was instead devoted to tables close enough to talk with passersby as we worked on out ships.
i had been wanting to find a way to make a temporary pond and this sounds great. Thanks for the info. You could always keep the lexan for eye level viewing and then screen above it. That is what they use at the indoor soccer center in town. I wonder if the Austion group would let us do a fast gun battle there...
Jadfer, if you contact the Maker Faire people and the North Texas Battle Group, I am sure you could have a battle there. I am hoping that the Cal-Neva Combat Club gets to participate in next year's Maker Faire. The more skippers and ships are in attendance, the more battles you can put on. The more battles you put on, the more people attend. The more people attend, the more people join the hobby afterwards. The more people join the hobby afterwards, the more skippers and ships are in attendance at the next Maker Faire, and the cycle continues... The WWCC had approximately one battle every 2-3 hours. With both a Fast Gun and a Big Gun club in attendance, you can probably have one battle every hour. And one battle every hour is a whole lot better than "I think the next battle is at 1:00"
