I can not talk about all BIG GUN clubs but here are ours: Mines Mines are simulated using lengths of string held afloat with small floats. Ships become caught in the string. Mine strings must float and be recoverable. Mines strings are limited to one foot for every ten mines the ship historically carried plus three or more feet (determined by Referee for battlesite) for an anchor. The mine string must be weighted at one end with sufficient weight to anchor it. The nearest float to the anchor must be three feet away from this anchor. There must be one additional float every five feet, spaced evenly between first float and the last float at the unweighted end. The individual deploying the mine is responsible for recovering the mines at the end of battle.
Just last weekend, I had a chance to observe how effective something like this would be. A large battleship sailed across an old fishing line in the pond. The line wrapped around both props and the rudder. The ship was tottally dead in the water and had to be towed to shore.
Our rules here read very much the same, but we have a limit on how heavy the anchor weight is to be. if it's too heavy, it stops a ship dead in the water, even if it's only fouled on a rudder. We didn't like that idea.
The WWCC's old minefield rules used to use the "1 foot every 10 mines" rule, but simplified it to 10 feet on the surface plus 10 feet anchoring length, for all minelaying ships. It just wasn't worth the hassle of making up individual, custom-length strings for every ship with a different capacity. Then several minelayers entered service, and things went downhill fast. Battleships, cruisers, transports, no ship was safe. As often as not, less than half the participants would return to port, because the rest had been caught on mines. After two years of suffering, the club ruled that "minefields are no fun" and banned them completely. After all, this is a game of model warships fighting with bb cannons. Anything that distracts from that, and especially anything that intentionally obstructs that, is not good for the hobby.
Would a admirable class mine sweeper with a v shaper cutter under the bow and paravanes suspended under brass outriggers with a v cutter under each parvane work to clear the mines?
Won't work. I tried something similar, even used razor blades for max sharpness. No joy. The force required to cut the line is greater than the line's water resistance. Having sharp edges hanging under the ship was a hazard as well.
If youre looking for a better mine, check out this thread. There's a one shot version, and a "killer sewing machine" version. http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/Forum/tabid/58/aff/539/aft/407254/afv/topic/afpgj/10/Default.aspx#453453
