Ralph Coles and I considered making a mold for those ships. They'd be a tad shorter than my HMS Gorgon Class 1 monitor hulls but about 1/3 less beam and displacement. The extra 1 lb. or 25% (whichever is greater) rule would give a maximum allowed IRCWCC/MWC wt. of just over 4 lbs. That means shoehorning the gear into a very tight space and building very light. The hull would have to be deepened at least 1/2" to gain the extra displacement and maintain scale freeboard. In IRCWCC or MWC they'd probably be given 1.5 units like the Gorgon Class, if considered a similar type to the monitors (which they were). Otherwise they'd fall in the 1.0 unit Gunboat/Other category. Bob
I made a guess as 2.5 since the Swedish Coastal defense ship Servige at 399 ft in MWC is rated as a 3.5 unit with 4, 11 guns at 6900 tons.
Well Bob whip me up one, I got Ralph's Nelson, and she looks great, she takes a terrible beating in fast gun combat, but actually survives pretty well, as long as the water channeling is done right, and you don't forget to turn the pump on. I sank twice, and both times for some reason in the excitement of being beat on, I turned the pump off. Mikey D in ohio is buying her, so I need to get back with him, and get it shipped in the next week or too. Being a rookie, so far I'm not too good with side mounts, and she was my first ship. Roma is the second, at least I can run with her, LOL.
I just received a set of plans for the Sverige, and the VU. Just trying to decide which one of the 3 to make. Somthing a little lighter than a Roma to carry around. At Nats one fellow had a Westfalen, and it looked like it was quite fun to play with even being slow.
I know Dave Seibel, I sink his ships occasionally. And he sinks mine His experimental Vainamoinen has never seen combat, although I'd love to fight it. It can turn around inside a toilet-bowl. I will ask about his little "vitamin" and see if I can get the plans. Let me know if you are interested.
The problem with the Westfallen(and others like it) is that everyone just avoids it. They don't take much dammage, but they don't do much either.
Actually it depends on how you use some of the class 4 dreadnoughts. It can't slug it out but they can be sneaky buggers that come and put a beating on someone if they are already hurt.
DJRanier, The Westfalen is one of Ralph's earliest hulls and VU one of his latest. He wants to make a better Westfalen hull but hasn't been able to find a good set of plans. Re the Sverige, the 2 x 15" gun WWI Erebus/Terror and WWII Abercrombie/Roberts Class monitors were 2,000 to 3,000 tons heavier and about the same size but rate only 2.0 units. Midshipman, I know what you mean about the Class 4 dreadnoughts. When I built the Espana (which can battle Axis or Allied) there was only one other Class 4 dreadnought - Ralph's prototype Westfalen - in the NABS fleet. Espana's opponents soon decided to stay clear of her and Westfalen was sold after a few battles. That left me with the slowest battleship, constantly chasing the others and rarely catching them. After 2 years of that I sold Espana and built faster models. A bunch of Westfalens, South Carolinas or Espanas aren't to be trifled with if their tactics are good (i.e. screening faster team mates in restricted waters so the faster opponents have to come close). There was a 'famous' IRCWCC NATS battle in which that tactic worked very well and made the "piglets" (South Carolinas) quite popular. As you said, they're also great for finishing off badly damaged models. Bob
Bob Can you make me one of Ralph's VU, in MWC its a 4 unit if I rem right. If not I will try to scratch build one, but so far mine never come out to well, why I went to Australia for my last 4 hulls. I did try Ralph first but he said that he would not get home till after Nov he thought. The Australian fellow is making a VU hull also, his newest mould, but the prices are high, and then with the additional shipping, its pretty expensive. I think the VU should be Ok, I just want somthing a little smaller than my Roma, since it does not fit in my Escape too well, and with 40+ boats at Nats, its such a target rich environment, the slower boats were doing just as well, and taking alot less damage. In MWC the Sverige is a 3.5 unit, but does not have the casemates, so I think it will take alot of damage. But then again it is pretty small, so it will be hard to hit. Dave
Yes I would like a set of plans for the Finnish boat, looking at his pictures, it looks like he had to deepen the hull quite a bit, those big guns look like they weigh quite a bit, since scale draft would only be 1 1/4 inches.
Oh the Vanamoinen's got a lot more than 1 1/4 inches draft. He probably added nearly the full 1 inch allowed in WWCC rules, with each rib redrawn by hand. I will ask at the next battle, earlier if possible, and see if I can get the original plans.
RE: Sverige We had a fellow battle one for a long time (Foster's old one if I remember right) in the local battles. It was a very good ship in the small pond we used to play in as it is extremely hard to hit and turns almost in its own length. Mike Aono battled it, but he's vanished. Anyone heard from him in a while? Anyway, it was a tough nut to crack when it was working well, but if something went wrong it almost always sank with light damage. My Hindenburg put it down with only 4-5 hits, but it was great fun to play against. I think it would be a good ship to battle if you're careful with it.
heres 1 unusual ship http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/FileManager/Storage/633522794128906250.png and could it be made? 1 gun no pump ?
And just how much penetrable area wouldn't it have? BTW in our rules, that thing would be allowed 24knots! Thats if it was propelled at all.
Sverige Very difficult boat (Foster always made it look easy). Not a ship killer, but often used in the discussion of small ships and their effectiveness. He shots had the nick-name "Fosters-fangs" as there was always an equal spacing of the duels into an enemy hull (very easy to pick out among all the damage). He helped put down the VV one year and it looked like mosquito bites all over the bow. []
You mean those thingies on the back are machine guns, not super-powered rocket thrusters that make it capable of 50 knots? awwww.... []
