R/C Naval Combat

nats is over, everyone had a great time. We were very happy to have two Canadians at this Nationals.

Nats was a BLAST!! The Hospitality from everyone there was Top Notch and the Event was Superb! I had the best battling experience ever with everyone. The Ships were all impressive and everyone was so friendly. We had an excellent stay guys and sadly wish we could have stayed even longer. So many great highlights and moments to take back and remember. Thank God for Videos, DVD, Cameras and Computers to record all the wonderful things. Food was excellent. I had better meals here than I did back home.
On behalf of us Canadians I wish to congratulate on a job well done putting it all together from setup to hosting to looking out for us and for being ever so patient with us as we were getting accustomed the site and recovering from a long journey to get there. Wish I was there to go to all the events with you all.

Again.. A BIG Thank-you to the IRCWCC.

Thanks Rob. Faye shot over 5000 pictures. The Gro Pro were not sure yet. At least between 10-12 videos. We're going to sort through them and make them available on DVD.
Bismarck finally looks like a Nats ship. I hope it's current appearance doesn't scare the locals when I get back home. Speaking of that our Car was just towed to the dealership to find out why it was losing oil. We broke down in Frederiction NB. Paul is already back in Halifax. He arrived yesterday.Good thing is we took the time to gut the car and clean it up and I have all my Combat equipment cleaned and sorted. Hopefully we can get back on the road again tomorrow.

Curt S

NATS was fantastic. I am hoping NATS will be in NY in 2 years time. My wife is interested in coming down and using a small boat. I think a South carolina should be sufficient.

Hope that the car works out and is not too expensive!

Car had the engine block replaced. The Camshaft failed. Lost all of the oil. It took 14 quarts of oil to keep the engine going till we crossed the border. Just made it inside Frederiction and barely got a Hotel room. Faye spent 6 hrs on the phone Monday with dealers and garages and rent a cars. It was not looking good for us. We were able to stay with one of Faye's relatives for a couple of days till the car was fixed.

That's for sure. Think I will fly down next time and have the ship crated and sent ahead of time.

If you are flying, maybe NC would be as cheap as NY!!!!!

Once I break down the costs I think it would show that flying would be the better option for us. I have plenty of unbuilt kits here to have one of them be used as my Nats ship and leave it there instead of crating and shipping it back and forth. It would allow me to attend Nats more often. If I had the life span of Yoda I could go every 18 yrs but I prefer to battle every Nats. Options for ships would be Prince of Wales, Nagato, Dunkerque Konig, VDT, Viribus Unitis, Tirpitz, Graf Spee.
I could build it here ship it and after Nats leave it with the club. The smaller ships would allow me to option of bringing it back and forth, the larger would have to stay.
Batteries and stuff I would leave there.

Why not build a "travel" ship, like a VDT or I-boat. Get a hard side golf club case and put foam in it so you can safely place the ship, radio, batteries and misc tools. Just check it as baggage. Put some flyers in it so when the security guys take a look they know what's up. Kessler does this.

Just out of curiousity, can you fly lead acid batteries? I didn't think you could.
J

guys,
I love the photos from Nats! My mom was sick for over a mouth and couldnt get the time off, i know she would have had fun two, i week away from the family and just she and I!
Nikki

I've never had a problem flying with Gel Cells. Only thing i've had a problem with is the CO2 bottle, almost lost it the first time I flew but I managed to get it through with my carry on since they made me remove it from checked case that had the boat, batteries, charger, and radio in it. Now I ship that and other "support" equipment ahead of time. I've never had any problems with checking the boat itself in a hard golf type case, it gets searched every time but that is not really a big deal. You generally get some superstructure damage and maybe a hole or two in the hull as well but again nothing major in my experiences.

That's good to know, thanks.
I will check with the airlines here in Canada as the rules may be different.
J

Thanks for the tips on that. I will be considering that as well. I do have VDT, Konig and Prinz Eugen(VU) that I could use for Nats. I would really like to get my Yamato there for the Next Nats though. Last time I shipped that I sent the hull seperate from the superstructure. Both arrived intact with no Damage along with my equipment.
Flying and having it shipped as freight may be the best option. I go it goes with me..