Радиобақылаудағы кемелер шайқасы: Модельдердің теңіздегі дуэлі

Club Combat between RC model warships

Model warship combat is an international club activity, in which participants construct radio controlled scale models of actual warships, most commonly those built by various nations prior to 1946, such as the Des Moines, , or the German battleship Bismarck. The models are armed with pneumatic cannons, and fight against one another on ponds and lakes. Model warship combat is sometimes considered to be a form of Naval Wargaming, but can also be considered a water based version of Robot Combat, since much of the internal systems and concepts are the same as radio control electronics, and in some cases possess similar pneumatic systems. The sport is predominantly divided into 'Big Gun' and 'Fast Gun' (or 'Small Gun') clubs. Both 'Big Gun' and 'Fast Gun' formats host annual national/international inter club events. There is one major 'Fast Gun' club, the International Radio Control Warship Combat Club (IRCWCC). As of January 2015, the other major club, Model Warship Combat, Incorporated (MWCI) has been dissolved, and its members are being incorporated into IRCWCC. IRCWCC hosts a yearly week long national event, called "Nats", where the fleets, divided up by historical alliances, (Allied and Axis), wage war against each other. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the week, wins that year's Nationals. 'Big Gun' clubs have the annual event known as North American Big Gun Open (NABGO). The Australian Battle Group (AUSBG) has two annual National Battles, held in January and June.

Radio controlled warship combat was invented by a small group of men living in Texas (USA) in the late 1970s. The founding members are Stan Watkins, D. W. Fluegel, and Jeff Poindexter. These men "toyed" with the idea of using radio controlled ships and equipping them with some kind of cannon so that they could then engage in combat, eventually developing the sport. In 1977, Stan Watkins created the "Mark I" cannon using a variety of plumbing parts. In this early system, freon was used as a propelling agent, resulting in engagements with little if any damage. After some time and further improvements, the group was able to "sink" an opponent in combat by shooting steel balls through balsa wood hulls. Organized groups formed very quickly after this achievement, with the formation of the IRCWCC, Big Gun groups, and the NASWCA in 1982. The Mark I cannon was made out of a set of valves, a hose, and a freon tank. Iron pipe fittings were affixed to the freon 22 tank, which provided the pressure that powered the gun. Small water valves were used to fill the tank, and to supply pressure to an O ring spool valve. When the gun was not in the fire position, the O ring separated the pressure source from the magazine hose; however, when the radio control unit was activated the servo moved the spool valve into position, allowing freon to flow from the pressurized tank to the magazine hose. As the magazine was pressurized, BBs flowed into the restrictor tube until the pressure built high enough to force the BBs through the restrictor and out of the barrel. The exit velocity of the BBs was high enough to punch holes in the model ship’s 1/32 inch balsa wood skin. However, this linear magazine and barrel assembly was too bulky to be fit to a small model ship’s gun turret. To improve scale appearance, a brass elbow fitting was added to reduce the above deck size of the gun. This enabled the magazine to exit the deck vertically, with the BBs running into the base leg of the elbow before entering the restrictor. This led to the development of the new Mk II breach/barrel assembly. The first Mk II was installed on Stan Watkins' model of the USS Arizona (l/144 scale). The BBs (about 100) were loaded into a clear hose which, when pressurised, would feed the BBs into a smaller clear plastic tubing behind the barrel brass tubing. The pressure would build until the force pushed the BBs through the restrictor tubing and out the barrel. The force of this design had adequate power to penetrate the 1/32 balsa hull skin. The design of the restrictor caused a number of BBs to “spurt” out each time the pressure was great enough, however to have sufficient pressure to get more than one spurt, the warship combatant had to rapidly close the spool valve after the start of the spurt. This was made possible as the freon feed hoses were very thin, and had low flow. After several decades of technological advances, the hobby has improved dramatically in both reliability and playability. Many different groups having formed, fighting scale model warships ranging from the reasonably rare 1:48 scale to the most common 1:144 scale, with several different and regional variations on the rules used.

Straight magazine — Steel ball ammunition is housed in a relatively straight length of rigid or flexible tubing and can be gravity or force fed into the cannon breech. Coil magazine Ammunition is housed in tubing as with the straight magazine configuration; however, the magazine tubing is tightly coiled, sometimes around the cannon riser and/or valve so as to reduce the longitudinal volume required for the cannon. Ammunition can be gravity or force fed into the cannon breech. Canister magazine In a canister magazine configuration, ammunition is housed within a cylindrical chamber integrated into the cannon body. Ammunition is typically gravity fed into the cannon breech.

While some early vessels were built in 1/150 scale, scales have become standardized with the most common construction scale of 1:144, although 1:96, 1:72 and 1:48 scale modeling groups also do exist. The majority of hulls are constructed from either fiberglass (with penetration windows cut into it), or scratch built with wood ribs. The exteriors of the ship's hulls are sheeted balsa wood, which allows the relatively low velocity cannon projectiles to penetrate them. The penetration is intended to let in water, with the model sinking if the onboard bilge pumps cannot compensate for the rate at which water enters the hull. Damage Control is accomplished via a centrifugal bilge pump capable pumping a regulated volume of water out of the hull. The volume allowed is based on the prototype vessel's displacement. Typically, the flow rate varies from 30 gallons per hour (GPH) for the smallest ships to 90GPH for the largest ships. Big Gun clubs are largely descended from the now defunct "North American Warship Combat Association" (NASWCA) dating back to late 1981/early 1982.

Principally known as Fast Gun by its members due to few restrictions on rate of fire, this format is sometimes also identified as Small Gun because of its exclusive use of .177" (BB) caliber guns. About 80% of active clubs are of the fast gun variety, in which all ships are built in 1/144 scale and use .177" caliber guns, which in most cases are installed in fixed mounts but may rotate depending upon ship class. Additionally, all ships are fitted with a standardized 1/32" thick balsa wood 'Armor' to yield an easily penetrable hull. Damage control is accomplished through the use of centrifugal bilge pumps fitted with either a 1/8" or 1/16" diameter flow restrictor. Clubs that follow this format include the International Radio Controlled Warship Combat Club (IRCWCC) and Model Warship Combat, Incorporated (MWCI). A subset or adaptation of small gun is known as Treaty Combat. Treaty Combat, abbreviated simply as Treaty, incorporates uniform caliber weapons, armor, and combat units in a way similar to that defined in IRCWCC or MWCI rules; however, speeds and pump capacities are limited based upon the prototype vessel and displacement, respectively. Thus, Treaty Combat incorporates some of the reduced cost aspects of the Fast Gun format with some of the scaled characteristics of Big Gun.