For a rookie not too good. The trip sterns take a lot of work. Unless you are a car/airplane expert and/or have lots of wood working & electrical skills.
Bob, That ship didn't have trip sterns, he is talking about the pre-dread. JKN, Its a small ship, that isn't allowed by the rules of most clubs I'm guessing except maybe Treaty? Generally, only ships launched between 1905-1946 are allowed. I think it would be a nice looking ship if you had a club that would allow it, and if you were skilled enough to stuff all the equipment inside the small space. --Chase
I thought some clubs allowed building ships that served between 1905 and 1945 regardless of when they were launched. That rule makes a lot more sense to me since many interesting ships that saw action in World War I were built in the 1890s.
CWC-X allows it but that type of ship takes very high skills to be able to install the equipment inside such a small displacement.
Maybe. I'm sure some local clubs like the one I'm in would allow it if you asked. But I really think that the rule should be changed to allow ships that were in service between 1905 & 1946. Would allow some very interesting ships, such as the french armoured cruiser Dupoy de Lome. --Chase
Well some of the kids at school want to build some ships but the ones they want are rather small. So im thinking of making a group that has 1/48 ships. 20mm to 3in = bb. 3.1in to 9.9in = 1/4in ball bearing. 10in and greater 1/2in ball bearing. ships from 1800 to 1950. It would be called the Shelby County Navy. So far at least five besides me want to join.
WARNING: JKN, don't go larger than 1/4" ball bearings for projectiles, because those are about the largest you can safely sling around without breaking safety glasses, etc. A guy in the WWCC once experimented with a 5/16" cannon (that's only 1/16" larger than a 1/4" ball), hoping to upgrade guns historically 18"+ (Yamato) to a larger caliber. he ran a few tests, and the results terrified him so much that he withdrew the proposal, scrapped the cannon, and warned people to never try it again. A 1/2" ball bearing (that's 4/16" larger than a 1/4" ball) is far to big to use safely.
Why would a 1/2" steel ball be different from a 1/4" steel ball? There's several things worth noting. The first thing you'll notice is that while a 1/4" cannon doesn't look too un-scale in most warships, a 1/2" cannon is almost a musket. There are historical muzzle-loading guns that fire smaller bullets than that. Remember, 1/4" is a LOT larger than correct scale for most warships. In fact, our smallest caliber, 0.177", is larger than correct scale for the mighty Yamato-class battleship's 18" guns. Going up to a larger scale helps somewhat, but not enough to justify abandoning the 1/4" standard. The second thing you'll notice is that there are a fair number of Big Gunners around, who like to buy and sell guns. If you stick with standard calibers, not only can you buy guns from other people, but you can sell any guns you make if you're moving on to another project. If you build a 1/2" cannon, nobody else will want to buy it. The third (and most important of all) is safety. All our safety glasses must pass the ANSI Z-87 standardized test. This test consists of shooting a 1/4" steel ball (just like we use) at the safety glasses at 150 feet per second (slightly faster than our cannons). By going up to a much larger caliber, you could potentially exceed the safety ratings of your glasses, even if you pass our own cannon penetration test. If you need four different calibers, then just use the four from the Big Gun armament chart: 0.177", 3/16", 7/32", and 1/4". There're tried and true, and work very well.
