RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Well that sucks. I can't make that date... Do you have a website that you keep your schedules on? I'll see if I can't make one of your battles this year.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Hi i would like to introduce myself, My name is Lance Medley. I plan to start building the HMS Hood to Big Gun rules later this summer. I dont have any clubs neerby however, and that is what this topic is all about. I just thought i should introduce myself to the rest of the captains in the rockies. I live in Mountain Home, ID (50 m east of Boise). My first question: who is Big Gun here and who is Fast Gun Thnx, -LG-
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Hi there, good to meet you! I believe everyone except the WCC guys in the San Francisco bay area are fast gun. We (Nevada Combat Ships) are fast gun, centered in Reno NV, there is a fast gun group in Denver, CO, and an IRCWCC fast gun group in the Washington State area that I know of. You are probably every close to the other ID fellas who are building for fast gun. Have you thought about the fast gun side of things, would make building a bit easier with the group of us around you being able to help out with construction and whatnot. You're more than welcome to come down either for the build session next weekend or the battle.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Ok cool. I prefer the Big Gun style, but sometimes you just gotta go with the crowd. (especially if it's small and several hundred miles apart... lol). So can you make a ship that is easily convertable between fast gun and big gun? What would i have to do in order to do that? Would i just need different cannons so i could change them out? Other then guns, what are the major differences between fast gun and big gun? -Lance-
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Gun count, Ammo Size, Armor thickness, and Speed, those are the major differences. You can build a ship that is compatible with big-gun and fast-gun, expecially if you went with a cruiser, because you could arm the front cannons with a nice set of rotating turrets, and put the fast-gun cannons in the rear, and just disable the forward turret when fighting fast-gun. But if you were going to do that, it would be better to just do fast gun and forget about big-gun. The expense of that extra turret might not be worth it. I know that when we actually get enough ships on the water to have a battle in ID/UT we'll probably have both formats fighting each other, and I'm A-OK with that. We'll just have to try it to see how unequal they are (and really, which one is more sinkable) James
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Oh dear... well scrap that idea. I think maybe i'll just have to build two ships, one big gun one fast gun. well then, i best better get started building then. Big gun ships fighting fast gun ships... that would be interesting.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Unfortunately, the two styles of play almost make it impossible to build a single ship taht is easilly convertable from one format to another. Big Gun ships move more slowly and typically have smaller rudders. They also have much smaller motors and much less pumping capacity. On the other hand, they do tend to take a lot less damage. (Or a lot all at once, followed by an almost immediate sink). Fast gun ships move much quicker, needing larger props, rudders, and drive systems. Fast gun ships spend a large amount of their weight and space with batteries to drive those larger motors. The BB cannons for fast gun ships are much more compact than many big gun weapons. Also, unless you have some behemoth, there simply isn't enough weight to go around to arm a fast gun ship with big gun cannons, and there isn't really space in a big gun ship for the large power needs of a fast gun ship. You might be able to get away with building one hull, but having two completely seperate internal systems that are semi-modular. However, some compromises would have to be made for both formats. If you're really into big gun format, you might just want to concentrate on that. ***Alert! Author's bias ahead!*** However, I found that big gun ships were more complex, especially to a first time builder without support from local experienced battlers and were much more frustrating to get running. On the other hand, with folks in UT and ID (not to mention yours truly here in Reno) a fast gun ship would benefit greatly from local experience. A good starter ship, like a 3 battle unit cruiser, isn't really all that daunting a task given time and some outside help/advice along the way. But, like I said, if big guns is what you want to do, by all means, boats is boats! Just make sure you get in touch with the big guns folks for their help as well. Let me know if you are able to come down for any of our events here in Reno. With a week's notice, we can battle/build on any thursday or friday afternoon.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians I think that before i should decide that big gun is cooler then fast gun i should at least go to a few battles!!! What is your schedual (sorry i cant spell)? I am going on a trip all of June, so do you have anything in July? Even if i could come its all at mercy to my dad... who probably wont want to go all the way to reno for a battle but what the heck i'll ask him anyways. I think that before i decide that big gun is cooler then fast gun, i should at least go to a few battles. What is your battle schedule? I am going on a trip all of June. What do you have in July? Even if i could go its all at mercy to dad, who probebly doesnt want to go all the way to reno for a battle but what the heck ill ask him anyways! LG Medley
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians I do have a guest room more than big enough for a couple people to crash in to save some cash on a room at least.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Cool thanks, but as i said i am leaving on vacation tomarrow (YES!!!) so i wont be able to talk to you guys for a month or so
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Hey James, are you still on the forums, and do you actually live in SLC? I'm just getting started and live not 30 min from downtown. I would love to talk to you sometime about the hobbie and what's involved. Thanks!
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians I guess i should add that I do a build session every month in Reno on the last Thursday of the month (except November obviously!) with Brats, burgers, soda, brews for the adult crowd, etc. I have everything you might want or need in a workshop. I'll also do a build session on November 7th, which is a sunday, if people are interested.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Man, I was getting all excited, thinking it'd be fun to go to your build session, until I realized it was a 7 hour drive One day though, one day! I've started my ship, and have a bunch of ribs cut out of paper. I'm in the process of gluing, but the bits I was using on my Dremel broke and I'm going to have to wait a bit to replace them, stupid cheap bits
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians For cutting out things like ribs you definately want to invest in a scrollsaw or skillsaw, A relatively cheap one will work just fine, I think you can get one for about $30 at Lowe's or the Home Despot. You'll just tear up wheels and bits doing all that cutting with a dremel, it wasn't really designed with cutting large complex shapes in mind.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians I'm noticing this too, as I'm cutting out the sub-decks, I'm just not getting the precision that I do with my Father-in-Laws scroll saw. I hate borrowing tools.
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Scroll saw acquired, though it was more expensive than $30. And I tell you what, it is my new favorite power tool! Ship building is still stuck in the rib stages for me, but the scroll saw has made cutting ribs much faster. I just have to not break them every 10 minutes, and I will be golden
RE: Rocky Mountain Captians Hey right on! Slow progress is still progress, and you've got all winter to work before the water becomes liquid again, at least around here!
Heh, 3 years later So that ship ended up being thrown out by accident and I kind of lost the spirit for a while to continue to work on the hobby. But now, I'm back and better than ever! On that note, I'm still ship less. I do have access to a laser engraver and was debating about acquiring a set of plans from someone I could use to cut a ship from. However, I won't be able to use the engraver until August, so I guess for now I'll troll the forums and try to get an A out of those summer college classes. I don't know my ship history very well, and to be honest I'm more interested in construction and deconstruction than the history or type of ship. I'm thinking of pursuing some sort of cruiser due to the advice given on these forums to avoid small ships. Thoughts? James, I'm still working out a time my friend and I could come take a look at your projects, but he might not be able to make it. It would be fun if we ended up with a group here that was large enough for some ship battles .
I agree with you - I'm a bit more interested in how a ship looks/perfroms than in it's history - though I did pick up a Utah hull solely for the name. Since you're here, and Greg is a great resource, I'd look at either his Mackensen or Litorio hulls. You'd have to ask him again what the exact price is, but since there's no need to re-ship them, it would be very cheap. Greg and I keep circling around how the heck we're going to do guns - hopefully actually having mock battles this summer will get that moving a bit faster - even if we have to slap in some fastgun cannons until we get some thing worked out.
