Yesterday Saturday May 23rd was a day to remember. Never has their been a turn out of model warships in 1/72nd scale. Pacific Model Warship at its members turned out with their models. From a Japanese I 400 submarine to the mighty Tirpitz. The world has not seen such a display of model warships. Now all did not fight. There were notables that did. The Admiral Scheer and the Capatini Romoni the most notable. Beautiful day up near Lincoln, CA. Beautiful day to be Axis as I believe the Axis won every sortie.
Every ship shown in this picture provided by Union Scum is armed for combat, except for the Dutch Tromp in the back row. Only two of the ships in the picture did not make it into combat yesterday; the Tromp and DKM Tripitz. The disappointing thing for me about this picture is how small it makes my FN Mogador look (back row, third from the shore). I went up against the Lutzow (sitting next to the Tripitz) and it's 1/4" bearings and took a beating. It was still a blast! A quick summary for yesterday; we had 30 combat ships on the water, two island guns, two target warships, two cargo ships and two target barges. Proof of the fleet that showed up to play can be seen in Union Scum's first picture. It was a big event and I am still worn out. We had members from all over N. California show up and also had one member from Portland make it down to the event. Thanks to Jim for making the drive once again.
I was trying to be nice since I knew you'd be reading the posts. But yes, your ship sink was a thing of beauty! Nice under power spiral circle as the stern slowly slid under, with the bow finally going under after several seconds of "hanging" above surface before it too produced bubbles where the HMS Onslow once was.
Jim Webb took this photo just before all ships made it into the picture. I like this one better, because it does show the HMS Exeter and mast from the USS Pensacola. I've also heard from members that especially like the row of destroyers in the front of the photo. If I was really ambitious I would list the names of all the ships in the picture, but I will leave that for another time.
Even through my ship sunk, I had a great time, it was awesome to see that pocket battleship out there, firing it guns and watching it take almost the entire pond to turn lol. the other really cool think was to watch that sub, I have never seen one on a pond before. Cant wait untill our next event.
I took a picture of the I-201 as it was coming back in, but Jim Webb took another great photo; the DKM Lutzow hunting someone familiar prior to her sink.
So this isn't like Queen's Own, you guys have Big Gun cannons... The Tirpitz is huge! Ye Gods. Respect for you fellas that can build and lift such ships!
Hi Tugboat Some of the participants We still use Queens Own rules as a start. The board of directors are working on modifications. Yes. Those are some big boys. We are a team though. We all help each other. Would be crazy if one person could man handle one of these in the pond by ones self. This club by what you see in models is on its way to build a solid foundation of a dedicated club playing this scale 1/72nd. I will say one thing. I was use to seeing an Iowa or a Bismarck. Playing mostly Destroyer action I had a hard time on my ship identifications. Have to brush up. There was friendly fire out there. Everyone excepted it and did not cry out Hey you B.......d quit shooting at me.
Cid. You also selected a camouflage scheme for the HMS Onslow that matches the axis Z-Boats. Even with a huge British Ensign flying from your mast and I think you'll get friendly fire. I haven't shot you yet, but give me time. See the picture below; I see two Z-Boats. No not really, but in the heat of battle...
It's exactly like Queen's Own. QO has always used "Big Guns" in their ships, but because they are mostly destroyers, turrets will only have one or two 3/16" caliber guns in them. The exception's are the pocket battleships, heavy cruisers and battleships that will often have 1/4" caliber triple rotating turrets in them. I would say that more than half of our active ships have only two, single turret guns in them (similar to Cid's HMS Onslow). This makes it simple for anyone to build and arm a ship. I think this is one reason for the easy time we have had finding new recruits (without having a Maker Faire that brings them in by the thousands). You need to keep in mind, that most of the fleet of ships shown above was built up over just the past three years.
