I was looking at the rules on the MWCI website, and I got confused about the way cannon can be set up on a ship. It looks like you can only have one 1/2 unit cannon: Cannon units may not be subdivided into smaller cannon units (a 1 unit cannon may not be made into two 1/2 unit cannons). A ship may mount only a single 1/2 unit cannon in its offensive armament. In Ship Classes 3 and above, any legal 1/2 units must be used as a cannon with 75 bbs in the magazine. So does this mean a 3 unit cruiser can't have dual sterns? (unless they were both 1 unit cannon, leaving only one forward cannon OR a pump) Also, can you mount a rotate cannon on the bow of a cruiser? 6. Bow and stern firing cannons on all classes of ships cannot be angled more than 15 degrees either side of the longitudinal centerline of the model. Or does this mean you can mount a rotate cannon, that can only rotate 30 degrees?
That would be a "Pivoting" Cannon. That would be allowed as long as the cannon stays within the 30 degree segment.
Yes, you can have dual sterns. 3 units = 1 unit pump and 2 unit guns. So you can you use those units as 2 stern guns.
How much would a one unit cannon cost, total? Do the prices for the cannon kits at BC include solenoids and the equipment needed to fire the cannon, or is it just the cannon and magazine?
BC has a one unit gun for around $30. The solenoids are $50 or so each. You'll need some wire, Dean's connectors, switches... A gun is about $90 each. I don't think they sell solenoids with the gun kits. I think it is popit valves. If you need help with your shoping list of stuff to buy just let us know what kind of ship you are getting. We'll make sure you get all the right parts.
The cannon kits come with the cannon, hoses, fittings, and poppet valves to fire the guns, solenoids are extra.(magazine is part of the cannon) If you buy just the cannon they are $28.50 for a 1 unit straight cannon, with the stainless steel barrel being an extra $8.50. If you want to use solenoids then their cost depends on what type you use, the KIPs are $51 from BC, the clippards are $20 and you can get them directly from clippard or their local distributor. (they both have advantages and disadvantages) And then either you need to set up a servo with switches to fire the guns or buy team delta control boards(~$22) or something like that to fire the solenoids. Generally a cannon/solenoid system comes out somewhere in the $75-$125 range, its a pretty big range but there are a lot of options and different ways to do things, a cannon/poppet system will be cheaper but does have some drawbacks.
Thanks! How does the poppet system work? I can imagine the solenoids use current from the switch, but are the poppet valves controlled by a servo?
Yup, poppet valves are just push button pneumatic valves, you push the button with a cam on the servo and it opens the valve, gas flows to the guns and the gun shoots. Pretty simple.
I was looking at the other forums here, and noticed something about a 700 foot length threshold that allows you to use different gun setups. I couldn't find anything about it in the rules though. Could anybody clarify this for me? Thanks again for all the help you guys have given me!
