IRC and treaty are different enough that you will have to make so many compromises you may as well build 2 ships. Speed, rudder size, armament, scale allowances, are all different. Scale is the same and the weapon hardware is the same but they are different rules. "Standard" layout would be twin stern guns, 1.5 unit sidemount in one of the bow turrets and 1 unit sidemount in the other with 1 pump.
Focus on making the boat functional in one configuration, it can be surprisingly harder than it might seem. There are plenty of IRC events to keep you busy, and being in NC puts you within a day's drive of almost all of the main battle locations. Southeast attack squadron out of Statesboro, GA is the closest club with a lot of events, they typically have 5-7 total per year (2 bigger ones memorial and labor day), The oakboro location should be having 1-2 events per year, there could be more events in TN, and we typically have 2 events in MD (pond is undergoing repair currently). The spring and fall months are typically pretty busy for active battlers, so there will probably be more events available to attend than you will want
After reading the rules I think I'm going to be into IRC more. I like the engineering challenges it presents, especially in regard to pumps. After spending the last few days reading the forums, I realize reliability is the name of the game and see the wisdom many have put forward in this thread. I'm just going to stick to one format for now. I got my Scharnhorst/Gneisenau research book in the mail and read it, just waiting until Monday when the hull should show up. I'm planning on taping the windows and bringing it to the meet-up in NC sometime on the weekend of the 27th. I think I picked the perfect first ship for me considering the strong urge to build something crazy like the Iowa or Yamato. I would rather do that when I know what I'm doing.
Good Plan. Ask many questions, go to many meets to make friends / gather advice, start a build thread, and Godspeed.
I plan to. The propulsion system is the only part of the ship I feel way out of my depth so I'm going to need a lot of help. If the forums are any indication of the quality of people in this community, I'll probably be all right.
