Im new to all of this and have known about it for a few years, but now i have a job that allows me to afford one of these ships for myself. Id love to build something small and saw that some members on here have built destroyers (which are ridiculously small) and I thought it'd be cool as i can fit it in my room without taking space building it either. Any suggestions or help would be awesome, I have vague ideas where to start but thats about it. Quick Edit* I don't want to put guns on it until i find a group, I would just like to have an RC warship i can get used to and take out to my local college and run it around in the lake there.
Welcome aboard. You haven't specified where in Texas, but @jadfer is a good person to start talking to to find out who is most local to you. Really recommend against a destroyer as a first build. If small is a necessity, look into some of the smaller dreadnoughts and pre-dreadnoughts as they're easier rookie builds than a destroyer.
Agreed, a DD is a challenge even for an experienced builder. As far as adding a gun to one later, well that's a bit impractical IMO. A DD is built around it's gun (and CO2 system) so building an "empty" DD and adding the offensive bit later would be very difficult.
in that case, just something small that i can take out every now and then, I know the only group in my area is in Houston, and I'm in San Antonio, so its a bit of a drive for a college student. potentially 1 gun if anything.
Convoy ship sounds like the perfect fit. You can buy a liberty hull or C3, plenty of room and fun to drive around. If you are in college and limited in space/funds, buy the hull and don't try to scratch build one. Then, once you have seen a live battle and talked to a few captains, you can choose the perfect warship for you.
Hey Alfred! Yes we are in Houston and Corpus Christi...a drive no matter where you go. As far as events.. you would have to drive regardless of which type of boat or format you join. Will this be a problem for you once you build a boat? The only events being held right now, in Texas, are at the Seabourne Creek Nature Park in Rosenberg Texas. This is actually a short drive (as far as model boats is concerned) @ 3hrs from downtown San Antonio. You just take I-10 to Sealy then go south on 36 to Rosenberg from there. If you can make it to our events we can show you our ships and let you drive one for the day to see what you think. After you visit us it might be easier to decide what you want to do and/or build. A convoy ship is great for driving around the pond but you would not be able to arm it, AND the only place we use convoy ships is at Nationals. You would most likely be best served with a Cruiser as a destroyer is an advanced build for even veteran captains. There are no known battlers in San Antonio or Austin or anywhere near you. The only active captains are in Corpus Christi, Houston, Abilene, Dallas Metro area, and Longview. We ALL have to drive more than an hour to most battles.. there just isn't enough people. This means the ONLY way to participate in the hobby of R/C Warship Combat will be to drive at least 3 hrs from the San Antonio area. We will be happy to help you out in any way possible but the best way is to come out in July to the event and drive a boat and see how you like it. Send me a private message for more info and we will see what we can do. Thanks Johnny
A few edits.. the only fast gun events in Texas .. are in Rosenberg right now. Big Gun runs out of Kaufman Texas which is a much longer drive for you. In addition Big Gun ships cost more as the cannon cost is much higher. It is hard to estimate how much it would cost to build a Cruiser as the choice of equipment varies. If you build it with a club there are many things they already have that you buy what you need rather than a minimum order elsewhere. Epoxy, small wood pieces, etc. If you build on your own it can be more expensive depending on what you buy. Sometimes you can get a good deal on a used ship but they usually need a TON of work to be viable. Hope this helps you out. Johnny
I would also have to echo the advice against a destroyer for a first build, even the largest of them can give veteran builders a hard time. That being said, a small cruiser doesn't take up too much space, is easy to get in and out of the water, and can fit in a car without any difficulty. There a quite a few different ones that are good combat ships, and it would be easier to build it now, and add guns later, though it is generally recommended to install the guns first, as they can't be moved, they have to go in the scale location. Once the guns are in, everything else has to be made to fit wherever the guns aren't. Not impossible to add guns later, but if they aren't planned for in the beginning, it can cause other problems to crop up later, potentially causing the necessity to move components that are already installed. Do a little research on the club format (big gun or fast gun - there are no treaty clubs anywhere near you) you would like to build for, and there are plenty of guys that can make some good suggestions on a ship that may fit your needs. You can start to narrow it down from there. Try not to let the money scare you too much, you don't need to write a $1000 check off the bat. If you have a bit of disposable income from time to time, you can get it done. It takes a little time to build, so you can kind of pay as you go....
Depending on the local club you might be able to run a loaner ship at events for a while until you can get your own ship built. This helps develop a feel for what you want to battle yourself, and gives you time to learn and understand things before you start the critical stages of construction. I'd also note that @jadfer's list illustrates nicely my view that its more worthwhile to build something with more guns, because the additional cost for a few more guns is marginal compared to the basic cost of the platform. I would definitely 2nd the buyer-beware warning on used ships - ask an experienced captain to check it out before you throw money at it if at all possible.
Ah ok, what i meant with the single gun is it only has one installed, and id put another in a different place later. but I heard about strike models and saw that they had a few "rookie" kits for about 600
on the relm of DD the Kuma class pre refit is still single gun but is about 1 inches wider in beam and about the same in draft than the that Shimakaze I built. would be much simpler to arm that boat than the Shimakaze just do to the fact that it has more buoyancy.(and double the max weight) Still do not recommend building a DD as first ship. yes it is small but it is also small and if you lack the ability to get to a torch and make your own gun the standard guns can be rather hard to fit.
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