brickhead179

My Feedback: (1)

Where in the world do i find rc warship plans for sale or for free? Im very new to the hobby and i want some plas to get started. But i cant find plans or well detailed plans for anything. I dont care what boat, i just want some plans to build from. Any boat, and year, whatever, Im not going to be picky, if anybody has or knows a place please tell me.

Wreno

This has been answered several times in the archives, but there are several sources. If you will go to one of the major Yahoo Groups (BigGunsModelWarship for Big Gun, IRCWCC for Small/Fast Gun) or some of the individual clubs' sites (like www.ntxbg.org), they have lots of links to both commercial suppliers of plans (and, on NTXBG, other vendors you might need). For free, if you do not mind French ships, there are a source for free, downloadable, plans (the original builder's plans) for several formidable ships. However, you will need to scale them to fit your use, and the frames might need a bit of adjustment if they do not fall where you want.

As a newb, you might want to consider pattern sets. BDERC carries pattern sets for some ships.

There are also a few freebies over on rcnavalcombat.com

Plus, you nearest club may have a collection.

Cheers,

Wreno

HoaRC

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=e...MuhFLQdGh3HgvQ

johnmCA72

It never ceases to amaze me: A combat warship is a $1000+ investment, not even counting time spent. Yet people balk at the idea of spending a dime on plans.

If you can't afford $15-25 for the plans to build a ship, maybe this isn't for you...

JM

HoaRC

but if someone once to try and get started without investing money than free plans would be the way to go..

johnmCA72

Anybody who thinks that they can get into R/C warship combat without investing money is a deluded fool. Better to expect to spend upwards of US$2000 just to get started. If a newbie can get it done for less than that, they should be very happy. Expecting to get anything useful done for <US$1000 is wishful thinking at best, & sets up for major disappointment.

What do they say about boats in general (any scale): It's a hole in the water that you pour money into. Add to that the cost of combat systems (guns, CO2 delivery, pumps, gun rotation/elevation/firing mechanisms, more-expensive radios with more channels), constant repairs, ammo & gas, travel to battles, waterproofing equipment, replacing equipment that's damaged when (not if) waterproofing fails, etc. & you've got a hole that you can pour way more money into than any "normal" boat or ship.

If the prospect of having to make a $15 investment in plans stops somebody from making a mistake, that's a good thing.

JM

HoaRC

Well, you've managed to alienate the reader in the first sentence, but that's ok lol.. you also pay the mark up on guns, CO2 delivery, pumps, gun rotation/elevation/firing mechanisms, etc. as well as shipping. This adds up, especially when you are having to buy a whole can of paint just to paint a little and so on. On the other hand, one may make a combat warship for under $100.. look here!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofWVQbCSRC0

johnmCA72

If you mean that the reader will stop reading further, then I guess that's their problem.

If you mean that somebody will think twice before believing that they can get into combat on the cheap & give up on the idea before wasting what spare money they do have, & a bunch of precious time to boot, then I guess maybe I've done my job.

That's a joke, I hope. For the benefit of those who may not know, what's shown in that clip is not a "combat warship", or even close. Something of that ilk isn't going to get anybody into any real R/C warship combat, for more reasons than I care to list right now. Absolutely NO combat warship club on the planet would allow something like that. Anybody who might be considering getting into R/C warship combat needs to understand that there's a heck of a lot more involved than just strapping an airsoft gun onto a speedboat. If you think that video clip represents anything even remotely close to R/C warship combat, you're very much mistaken.

Let me repeat myself now, alienating readers after they've read this far: Anybody who thinks that they can can get into R/C warship combat without investing money is a deluded fool. Realistic expectations are important. If you expect to invest $1000 to get started, you may still be unhappily surprised. Expect double that (including tools, etc. that you can use for many purposes for a long time), & you're probably closer to reality.

JM

markswihart

HoaRC,
I would take what JM said with a grain of salt, he seams to rant on from time to time and take things a little too far. It was obvious that the link to the $100.00 warship was a joke. BTW have you decided a format that you want to join? there's 1/96 scale (myself and a few others in western MA along with others spread throughout the US) and there's a fast gun club in MA also. As for a sorce of plans (the whole purpose of this thread, free or otherwise) there are many, floating drydock is a good place to start along with bderc.com. there are some free plans @ rcnavalcombat.com also.

johnmCA72

Yes, by all means, take what I say with a grain of salt. After all, I have only been actively involved in R/C warship combat since 1997. I have only built 4 armed combat warships & helped or consulted in the building of dozens of others. I have only built 6 unarmed cargo ships & helped or consulted in the building of 8-10 others. I have only personally participated in about 100 actual R/C warship battles. I have only founded 1 combat club (still very active, & just celebrated its 10th anniversary) & served multiple terms as a commanding officer. There's more, but given how little I've done compared to others who post here, what could I possibly know about anything?

Yes, I tend to rant from time to time. That's mostly because I'd like to see R/C warship combat grow from a minor backwater niche of a declining hobby that's characterized by poor modeling & lame action, into something active & dynamic that's capable of attracting & holding active & dynamic participants who might want to actually do something more than just get by on the cheap. I see a huge potential that's frustrated by a collective mentality that won't do more than cry and moan about how people aren't lining up to join, yet won't make the hard choices that are necessary to make the hobby attractive to a younger, more active audience.

That, & I have a very low tolerance for idiots - especially those who try to steer newbies away from reality or try to blow sunshine up their butts with tales of sub-$100 warships, & probably spent more on lunch last week than they have invested in combat in their whole lives.

"Take things a little too far?" What's "too far"? What's "far enough"? It's easy to sit on your butt & criticize others who are actually trying to make something happen.

Obvious to some, perhaps; less than obvious to others. It wasn't obvious to me. Those who don't know any better might take it seriously & somebody who does know better, & still posts something like that, has a duty to make it clear that it was a joke (if, indeed, it really was). A lot of people seem to have the impression that R/C warship combat is a cheap hobby to get into. Rather than trying to reassure them that it is & string them along, we'd be doing them a favor by letting them know that R/C warship combat probably isn't a good idea for them.

JM

HoaRC

Hi Mr. Marks,

Are you actively involved in the MA combat club? I contacted the 1/96 club and they've invited me to the shop and watch how they build. The only problem for me is that they have battles on a private lake in New York. I wish there was naval combat on the Storrow Lagoon in Charles River - accessible by the MBTA Red Line Train. I wonder how I could get permission from the Charles River Department of Recreation to shoot biodegradable bb's from an rc warship in the storrow lagoon. People always complain about disturbing wildlife, liability insurance, and so on.

All the best,

Jeff

markswihart

you sure you contacted the 1/96 club in MA? you would have talked to me, I think you talked to the 1/144 scale fast gun boys, they battle in NY from time to time. myself and currently 3 others (4 if you include one of their sons) are out in western MA (easthampton area, near springfield) the ponds we use are local (3 are walking distance from my house

HoaRC

Markswihart, do you have a website? the 1/144 scale boys are on netfrc.com and I've been keeping up with their forum for a few months, but not involving myself in any way. Can you pm me your email and pictures if you have any.

All the best

Jeff

VOODOOHYDRO

If you read his post it says FOR SALE or free! I've been into RC boating for awhile now and was thinking of maybe trying my hand at warships but if this is the kind of comments you get for asking a question it's not worth it[]

johnmCA72

Oh, please don't go! PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!!!

I'm sorry, I guess I just lost sight of the fact that the SINGLE MOST VALUABLE commodity in this hobby is a newby with no money, no clue, & no attention span. Heaven forbid we let a single one of those slip away!

JM

capt stanley

  I do remember that on one of these forums on this site there was a gentlmen who posted the complete set of plans on the uss missouri that can be scaled up or down i can't seem to find the link maybe someone has it out there that would be able to help with the link . remember folks the more new people today means more scratch builder tomorrow. scratch builder seems to be less and less of us out here . more scratch buildersmeans more buyers more parts and cheaper parts.

Gundeck

here are some plans of us ships

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2c58ee7e4f7e7dc2312dbd5f2bdc5062ca500659 3eb71ce5c95965eaa7bc68bc

IwanR

Maybe of some help..
Full scale plans for USSmissouri

http://www.ussmissouri.com/discover/the-ship/blueprints

OddballCAF

I've built four RC Warship Combat ships over the years:Bismarck, Prinz Eugen, Invincible, and the Fuso.
By far, the best detailed was the five sheet set for the Bismarck. "Strike Models" has this set on hand, and
I just purchased them this timewith the intent of perhaps recreating one of my old warhorses once again.
I've seen more than my share of "junk" type warships putin the water by modelers. I put a lot ofdetail
into mine, I've got more pride in my warships than to just use a fewsimple blocks of balsa orfoam to
replicate a superstructure.
If one were inclined to build a nicely detailed warship for use either as an combat ship or a standard
non-fighting type scale/semi-scale model,you can't beat this set of Bismarck plans. Hands down it is a better
setby far than those of the other three ships I've built.
I wasextremely pleased with the level of professionalism and service I received from "Strike Models"
as well. Stephen Morgret could not have been more helpful and the warship combat community
is lucky to have someone like himto do business with.

Here's their URL: http://www.strikemodels.com/products/ship-plans/

Regards,
Oddball

Wreno

Voodoohydro, If you will note, the first reply (mine) have several sources, and sources for further sources. Several have posted other sources for plans for sale or free. One I pointed out, BDE RC has been bought out by Strike Models, and the plans are now available there, as noted by still another post from someone. So, the question was answered early on and by several people.

Regardless of how you read JM's post, or how you feel about how he expresses himself, he does have a valid point.

You are going to be investing a great deal of time and money in building a combat warship or transport. If you are not prepared to shell out the $15-$30 for a set of plans ("free" plans often have to be rescaled and reprinted, which can cost the same or more), how are you going to afford the wood and adhesives, which will cost you more than that? Or the motors, gearboxes, etc.? Or even the props? Even if you claim you can build a combat warship for $200 (never seen it done), the plans would only be 10% of the original cost. If he has caused someone to rethink whether they want to dedicate the time and effort it takes to get into the hobby, he may really have been doing them a favor.

While the hobby compares favorably with many in terms of both start-up cost and ongoing cost, it is not exactly "cheap" to get into, either in time or money. it doesn't have to be exorbitant, either. But, if you start with the presumption that it is going to cost you about $1,000 to build a 1/144 scale Big Gun battleship, you will be in the ballpark. If you are talented and have a lot of tools and miscellaneous stock around from other hobbies, perhaps way cheaper. If you do not own some of the basic tools, like a Dremel or a scroll-saw, somewhat more expensive.

That is why the first piece of advice many (including me) give is to find you closest club, attend a meeting and battle or so, and get involved before spending a dime on construction, plans, or anything. Many clubs have club ships that they loan out for battles to people who are actively coming. Especially if they know in advance when you will be there.

It is really a pretty helpful group of people in general, but this is not the primary forum for information on the hobby.

JM was actually one of the ones who helped me get started in the hobby years ago. He has gotten literally dozens of captains on the pond. I do not always agree with him, or how he says things sometimes, but I do pay attention to what he says.

And, you should note that the number of 12-14 year old newbs who think they can build the uber-ship that will devastate all comers, and do it for less than the price of a PS3 controller, is huge in this hobby. Like the multiple threads on torpedos. Sigh.

And Lastly, I will second Oddball's comments on Strike Models. Steve and Keri are tremendous assets to the community, having revived both Swampworks and BDE. And, I believe they include the plans with their fiberglass hull kits. Which, speaking of cost, can be more cost effective than building a wooden hull fro scratch, especially for a newb, when you consider the time, the extra space for equipment inside the hull, and other factors.

Cheers,

Wreno

ProfLooney

I dont blame them asking abt free plans. I am just getting into rc ships and have a lot of experience in the rc plane field but none in the ships. I been looking for plans at first for both paid and free. when I goto a paid site and start asking questions and then get shown what they call plans i decided on my own to look for free ones because I can find the same thing for free by googling compared to what they call plans.

what some of these ppl consider plans is shipyard rough drawings with the station drawing on it. to me those are line drawings sorta like 3 views etc but far far far from what i would consider a set of modelling plans. if I was to draw sets of plans up like that for planes like these guys trying to pass off for ships I would have been laughed out of the design business long time ago.

so after seeing the trash ppl are trying to pass off as ship plans (and they arent really trash some are nice drawings but thats all reference drawings not plans) I am expanding my aircraft design into ships and will be putting out REAL ship designs. it may take me a year to get up to speed on lofting the hulls etc but once i have the hulls the rest will be easy. So far i have the hull for the USS South Dakota BB-49 modeled and ready to design stations from, almost finished with the richelieu, and working on the USS Sullivans DD 537 fletcher class destroyer. then I have table of offsets for a Cleaveland class cruiser/light carrier to work on.

so when ppl ask abt free plans its probably because 85% of the stuff out there for paid is not plans but line drawings and why pay for plans and not get plans.

My 2 cents plus change

Joe

ps the one guy here stating he goes off sometimes because he wants the ship hobby to grow. well instead of ripping newbes wanting to get into it why not rip the model companies out there and tell them to actually design some plans so ppl can easily grab a set of plans and start cutting right away. make plans like they have for the aircraft guys. so you can vent but vent to the proper people not the ppl you needing to help the hobby grow

Deathwish

My Feedback: (6)

How big you want it. If you want like a 1/192 scale check out my forum out on the USS Missouri. http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_64..._1/key_/tm.htm

ProfLooney

I came across it nice thread. I am looking into the 1/96 or 1/72 scale sizes for my fleet

Al Stein

Hey Prof

I'm glad you aren't taking JM's rant too seriously. Coming from a mixed marriage of planes and boats myself I know there are MANY really enthusiastically helpful people on both sides, even if a person wants to know what he's buying and at what price before he buys. In fact, I know you've been one of the helpful guys on the airplane side for a long time.

I'm still interested in warships because I was able to find a bunch of info that seemed to indicate I could start small and do it with a ship that would work for me. (In my case that meant a 1/144 scale light cruiser: a very attractive American design that's the biggest thing that will fit across the back seat of my Honda in one of the two popular scales.) So, about scale when I last looked, organized combateers were using 1/144 and 1/96.

If you take the size of the space you can allow for storing and transporting your model and divide that by the scale used by people you could battle with, you get a maximum size for the original ship you'd campaign... if the answer is 900 feet, you can campaign anything including the battleship Missouri... if it's 600 you can handle patrol boats and utilities and destroyers and cargo ships and everything up to the light cruisers... if it's a hundred feet, all you can have is a PT boat and personally I wouldn't pay KM's $1,000, $2,000 or more for a 24" model boat that has to be able to sink. (Of course I know that with an old airplane habit you must carry things a good bit bigger than that

So, that's info that helped me. If you end up in the back seat of a Honda size range, I'd be glad to share what I can from my VERY limited experience so far!

Twistedteddy

can anybody tell me why that johnm guy is such an *****hole? I think he has one of the warship clubs hes started rammed up his *****. opinions?