Battle Coming Up in San Francisco Bay Area
08-06-2006, 07:39 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Daly City, CA
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Battle Coming Up in San Francisco Bay Area
If anybody is interested in watching a Big Gun RC warship battle, and meeting people who build and battle Big Gun warships in the San Francisco Bay area, Western Warship Combat Club (WWCC) is holding a day of battling Axis vs Allies next Sunday, August 13th 2006, in San Jose. Come to the pond early (10:00 AM or so) to meet the club members and ask questions. Directions and a map are available on our website at [link=http://www.westernwarshipcombat.com]www.westernwarshipcombat.com[/link]. WWCC builds and battles 1:144 scale warships whose keels were laid down (or at least designed to be laid down) between 1900 and 1946. That means WWI and WWII ships, mostly.
Big Gun (sometimes called slow gun) combat differs from Fast Gun (sometimes called Small Gun) in a few important ways:
Speed. Big Gun ship speeds are in proportion to one another, according to the scale speed of the actual ship the model is meant to represent. Big Gun speeds are quite a bit slower than Fast Gun speeds.
Armament. Big Gun ammo varies in diameter, from bb-size for 3" and 5" guns, up to 1/4" for the battleship main guns. The idea is to simulate the difference in calibers of the original ships. The mounts for the larger calibers are almost always in rotating turrets. Fast Gun ammo is a single size (bb), and guns are fixed in place. Finally, Big Gun rules require that the guns be fired at intervals that are scale intervals of the original guns. Real naval guns require a period of time to reload and fire, and the amount of time required to reload is proportional to the size of the gun, for the most part. So, after firing your main guns on a battleship, for example, you must wait 8 seconds before firing those guns again. The intervals range from 30 seconds between torpedo launches, 8 seconds for big battleship calibers, 6 seconds for intermediate calibers, down to 4 seconds for bb-sized 3" and 5" guns.
Armor. Big Gun ships are skinned with balsa, just as Fast Gun ships are, but where Fast Gun skin is all 1/32", no matter whether a destroyer or battleship, Big Gun skin ships' skins vary in thickness according to the armor thickness of the original. So, while a merchant ship can have only 1/16" skin, a battleship may have up to 1/8" skin, depending upon the original ship's armor thickness. Smaller warships have 3/32" thick skins, as a rule.
Whether Big Gun, Fast Gun, Queen's Own (1:72 scale) or some other type of RC warship combat, the fun factor is the same! If you come to our battle on Sunday, ask for Rob Wood, and I will fix you up with safety glasses (if you don't have them already).
Rob Wood
DKM Bismarck (under construction)
Le Fantasque (French destroyer)
DKM Lutzow (German heavy cruiser)
USS Cimarron (US Navy fleet oiler)
LST (US Navy Landing Ship/tank)
Big Gun (sometimes called slow gun) combat differs from Fast Gun (sometimes called Small Gun) in a few important ways:
Speed. Big Gun ship speeds are in proportion to one another, according to the scale speed of the actual ship the model is meant to represent. Big Gun speeds are quite a bit slower than Fast Gun speeds.
Armament. Big Gun ammo varies in diameter, from bb-size for 3" and 5" guns, up to 1/4" for the battleship main guns. The idea is to simulate the difference in calibers of the original ships. The mounts for the larger calibers are almost always in rotating turrets. Fast Gun ammo is a single size (bb), and guns are fixed in place. Finally, Big Gun rules require that the guns be fired at intervals that are scale intervals of the original guns. Real naval guns require a period of time to reload and fire, and the amount of time required to reload is proportional to the size of the gun, for the most part. So, after firing your main guns on a battleship, for example, you must wait 8 seconds before firing those guns again. The intervals range from 30 seconds between torpedo launches, 8 seconds for big battleship calibers, 6 seconds for intermediate calibers, down to 4 seconds for bb-sized 3" and 5" guns.
Armor. Big Gun ships are skinned with balsa, just as Fast Gun ships are, but where Fast Gun skin is all 1/32", no matter whether a destroyer or battleship, Big Gun skin ships' skins vary in thickness according to the armor thickness of the original. So, while a merchant ship can have only 1/16" skin, a battleship may have up to 1/8" skin, depending upon the original ship's armor thickness. Smaller warships have 3/32" thick skins, as a rule.
Whether Big Gun, Fast Gun, Queen's Own (1:72 scale) or some other type of RC warship combat, the fun factor is the same! If you come to our battle on Sunday, ask for Rob Wood, and I will fix you up with safety glasses (if you don't have them already).
We welcome all who wish to attend! Hope to see you there.
Rob Wood
DKM Bismarck (under construction)
Le Fantasque (French destroyer)
DKM Lutzow (German heavy cruiser)
USS Cimarron (US Navy fleet oiler)
LST (US Navy Landing Ship/tank)
08-06-2006, 10:37 PM
#3
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Daly City, CA
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Battle Coming Up in San Francisco Bay Area
There's a wise guy in every crowd. 
Thanks for the heads up, Wreno. Yes, it's definitely the Month of August, and I'm definitely losing all sense of time (along with many of my brain cells). We've been getting some great crowds at our events this year, and as the safety officer for the club, it's taking more of my time to do crowd management, but it's worth it. New people usually like to watch a few battles before jumping in, although we've been letting visitors skipper transports to get them hoooked...er, interested.
Rob
DKM Bismarck (under construction)
Le Fantasque (French destroyer)
DKM Lutzow (German heavy cruiser)
USS Cimarron (US Navy fleet oiler)
LST (US Navy Landing Ship/tank)
Thanks for the heads up, Wreno. Yes, it's definitely the Month of August, and I'm definitely losing all sense of time (along with many of my brain cells). We've been getting some great crowds at our events this year, and as the safety officer for the club, it's taking more of my time to do crowd management, but it's worth it. New people usually like to watch a few battles before jumping in, although we've been letting visitors skipper transports to get them hoooked...er, interested.
Rob
DKM Bismarck (under construction)
Le Fantasque (French destroyer)
DKM Lutzow (German heavy cruiser)
USS Cimarron (US Navy fleet oiler)
LST (US Navy Landing Ship/tank)
09-12-2006, 02:53 PM
#4
RE: Battle Coming Up in San Francisco Bay Area
Hey stiletto,mopartybob here,I just got into the boating scene and am really interested in coming out watching youz guyz battle it out [:-],are these type ships off the shelf with mods to keep them within club guidelines or home built secret weapons? are the firing mechanisms home built or ? when do you guys schedule your battles and where ? I live in south san francisco so let me know was-sup...thanks
09-14-2006, 11:00 PM
#5
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Daly City, CA
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Battle Coming Up in San Francisco Bay Area
Hey Bob,
We have a battle coming up this Sunday, actually. You can get all the answers to your questions on our website at [link=http://www.westernwarshipcombat.com]www.westernwarshipcombat.com[/link]
We battle at Penitencia Creek, and our schedule of events is in the main menu of our site. battles start around noon, but if you get there earlier, you can poke around in the pit area, and see what makes these boats tick.
You can't buy boats ready for combat "off the shelf," exactly, meaning that you can't go to Radio Shack or something lke that and buy them. You can, from time to time, buy them from club members, though. The boats are models of WWI and WWII warships, all in the same scale (1:144). Generally, that means battleships are around 6 feet long, destroyers are around 3', and cruisers are in between. These boats are generally built of wood, with balsa "skins" on the hulls. These skins allow the steel balls we shoot to penetrate, while the rest of the boat can be "bullet proof." The guns can be bought from a couple of suppliers, and we really don't have secret weapons, exactly, although some guys are always trying to improve upon exiwsting designs.
Come check us out!
Rob
We have a battle coming up this Sunday, actually. You can get all the answers to your questions on our website at [link=http://www.westernwarshipcombat.com]www.westernwarshipcombat.com[/link]
We battle at Penitencia Creek, and our schedule of events is in the main menu of our site. battles start around noon, but if you get there earlier, you can poke around in the pit area, and see what makes these boats tick.
You can't buy boats ready for combat "off the shelf," exactly, meaning that you can't go to Radio Shack or something lke that and buy them. You can, from time to time, buy them from club members, though. The boats are models of WWI and WWII warships, all in the same scale (1:144). Generally, that means battleships are around 6 feet long, destroyers are around 3', and cruisers are in between. These boats are generally built of wood, with balsa "skins" on the hulls. These skins allow the steel balls we shoot to penetrate, while the rest of the boat can be "bullet proof." The guns can be bought from a couple of suppliers, and we really don't have secret weapons, exactly, although some guys are always trying to improve upon exiwsting designs.
Come check us out!
Rob
