Actually, she's getting a pretty foam nose that will be properly shaped. And I have enough time between now and Nats to put in some of the casement gun barrels.
Ah, a GLORIOUS day on the pond... Every single system on Lil Scharnie was functional, and I had a great day, laughing at foolish souls who dared try to send me to the bottom... Several worthies like Mighty Mike Mangus and Battling Brian Koehler got in what looked like great shots with sidemounts on Lil Scharnie, only to find by sorties' end that they had wasted BBs on the numerous casements My worst sortie resulted in 6 belows and 3 aboves. Even then, I was turning the pump off to save power Several sinks were had during the course of the day, Brian once, Christopher K (his son) sank 2 or 3 times, but not for lack of hammering the enemy. And the last sink was due to a clogged pump inlet. Bill Byrnes sank one time that I saw. His ship is really awesome, almost spins in place. Stefan's I-boat sank twice, once due to an uncalled ram by, um, someone, not sure who (suffice to say that Lil Scharnie's ram stern was effective, alas) Mike Butts' new Radetsky sank once or twice, but it was very much working out teething troubles and it looked good and did surprisingly well for a ship that was plumbed lakeside just prior to the battle. I put a number of good-sized BB holes in people, but we found that I was 2 seconds too slow. When Verite is a hair faster than you, something's wrong! Either my old motor, or drag disks too big (they're the same size as the drag props). Might buy a new Speed 400 and put it in. Trusty-dusty old ESC still driving mightily, and the brushless-motor-powered homemade pump worked great. Dinner was El Sombrero and was followed by Mike M, Brian, and I working in my shop. My old lightweight brass reg (which was only making 100psi) was swapped for a new-ish Strike models Fixed reg that makes 140psi. Hooah. Guns will be popping tomorrow! Also, put buttons on my Turnigy 9-ch radio. For the curious, you use 2.2k resistors like in most other transmitters. Guns will be popping faster tomorrow, too Overall, ze furst day would go (lamentably) to ze verdamnt Allies. But tomorrow iss anuzzer day! Heil Fluegel!
I took time to get 2 pics of Lil Scharnie before the battling. I believe some others who came by took some pics of the action... I plan to get some small, light POV cameras to mount on Lil Scharnie for filming at Nats.
The final battle on Sunday saw both of my Axis partners sunk, which left Lil Scharnie facing an Iron Duke, PDN Verite, and an Invincible class battlecruiser. Oh, and Lil Scharnie was moving speed 28 (should have been 26). So lots of dodging and weaving, and more than a few BBs expended on her, but all those casements really soaked up the worst of it (since they're all solid!), and my pump STILL has not had a good workout So Lil Scharnie came through like a champ
As I suspected. The Armored Cruiser is the best you can get! The rules change at MWC which made the Duke of Edinburghs illegal was solely to preserve the Axis advantage in that type of vessel!
What made DoE illegal in MWC? Thanks Nikki, she's a good ship. Very fun to drive and not to expensive.
DoE's are too old. 1904 vintage, though the Warriors are still good. Warriors lost the hull casemates for the 6" guns when they were modified for the 7.5" main deck turrets.
Damn. I think the rule should be 1900, but that's me. Maybe I'll propose a rule change, I don't think that'd be too controversial.
I think Warrior would be worth building. Or if you want one of the hulls in my shop (not Effie), you might find them leaping into your car if you came by.
My DoE hull is on the shelf in the closet. I love the look of the Warrior class though. Don't tempt me with extra hulls...I have a weakness for them.
