R/C Naval Combat

Welcome to the hobby!

The first thing to determine is which club is closest to you: Big Gun, Fast Gun, IRCWCC, MWC, Battlestations, Treaty, et cetera. That will help you determine which rule set to build to in the long run.

The second thing to do is consider your budget and then consider what sort of ship construction plan fits that budget. The smallest ships available will always be the cheapest, but I have yet to see a combat-capable (meaning having at least one functional gun aboard) ship smaller than a Destroyer. The Japanese I-400 sub might be the exception, but that's a different kettle of fish entirely.

If you have any carpentry skills, scratchbuilding is a real possibility for you, and also will let you stretch your budget over a long period of time. If you want to buy a kit, then I strongly recommend you check out Strike Models (http://www.strikemodels.com) or Battler's Connection (http://www.battlersconnection.com) and see what sort of kit you can get for your price range. Take into account shipping and handling! Also take into account that you will not be able to buy a complete ship kit for less than $200 from either manufacturer!

A summary of the rules is difficult to do, but I'll give it a shot:

MWC/Fast Gun: BB cannons only for weapons, all ships must comply to scale waterlines, weights, speeds, and sinkability guidelines as established in the rules (see also: http://www.mwci.org for more information).

WWCC/Big Gun: cannons can shoot .177 caliber BBs up to 1/4" ball bearings depending on the size of the original weapon, all ships must comply to scale waterlines, weights, speeds, and sinkability guidelines as established in the rules (I don't know where they have their rules posted).

Battlestations rules I have not read, but Battlestations builds almost exclusively in 1/96 scale as far as I know, which by comparison to 1/144, is HUGE. If you really want to go the 1/96 route, http://www.scaleshipyards.com has a pretty fantastic catalog of hulls.

Treaty Combat is sort of a mix between Fast Gun and Big Gun rules, but the particulars escape me.

Since you have a small budget, scratchbuilding is a good way to go. Tugboat has a thread called "The Cheapest Point of Entry" where he is doing a step-by-step build of a ship from scratch. You can learn a vast amount from that thread and the pictures he's posting.

Both Strike Models and Battler's Connection have a nice variety of ship hulls and kits available in Class 4 and under that will let you buy a hull for less than $200 as well as some of the fittings for said hull. Take into consideration the complexity of your desired finished product when choosing your hull! I am currently building a Strike Models Iowa-class battleship, and it's 6 feet 2 inches long and is over 9 inches wide. I built a shelf exclusively for the ship before I even took delivery, and I've budgeted a large chunk of the remainder of the year (work and other projects notwithstanding) to build it, detail it, make it look pretty, and then set it up for combat for next year's fun and games. This hobby is very complex, but very fun. Allow yourself time and patience to do this, or the fun will not manifest itself.

Also, check out some of the other build threads that have been posted; they taught me a lot as well, and I'm a rookie, too.

Good Luck!

Welcome!
Miller7D said it all very well.

The only comments I have to add are:

Are your parents behind you in this effort?
I know that in my BIG GUNS club, a person must be at least 18 to sail a ship with operational cannons!
So it would be important to have your dad involved in this with you.
When you build a ship together, it helps with the financing, along with being some wonderful father/son bonding time.

so where are you located, have you found any local groups?

Well iam located in Atlanta, Gerogia and the only club that i can found is the South East Squad.

Welcome to the forum! I hope youll have good time here. Im 14 too. So we are in the same battleship with you

MWC is closest fast gun group, check with http://www.mwci.org/

Anyway, I probably want to build a Brooklyn class cruiser kit from strike models since its for begginners. My uncle (and probably my dad) would probably give me an additional $200 to build the ship. And I already have a radio...

Also, thank you for helping a newb rc naval captain!

Also I think i can't really get someone from the SAS because theres really no one I know near Atlanta that is active

Well I read a article in Port Polar Bear (thx to someone who pmed me) saying that begginers should build cruisers, instead of Battleships. Plus the Arizona might be too advance for me : P since I'm not really a good builder (but my father is a professional carpenter and sometimes builder) Srry if this comment is a little to hard to read, I typed it on my Iphone...

I think a Tennessee might be a better build as it has fewer casemate areas to deal with. But either 1 should be a nice boat to build.

With a a beginning build you may want a boat that has some more beam just so that it is a bit easier to work with. It is also easier to layout items in a battleship rather than a cruiser.

There are 3 or 4 people in thew Atlanta area that are active. Go to the MWC site and join, and have Brian K add you to the region 3 list.