INTEL
At the North Texas Battle Group, we keep our ears to the ground and our binoculars and rangefinders constantly trained on the horizon. Here's some of the INTEL we've gathered about what some of the other Big Gun clubs are doing.
Please note that this does not disclose everything we know; we don't want to tip our hand - we may have to sink these guys some day!
http://www.biggun.orgThis is a general "clearing house" for all things Big Gun.
Althought they are far away, they seem to be very active & enthusiastic. Australian Battle Group serves as a sort of "umbrella" organization for all of the regional Big Gun clubs down under. They've had to get an exemption from laws that consider CO2-powered model cannons to be in the same category as firearms, which are tightly regulated. It's hard to imagine that the Australian governement would be any easier to deal with than any other, so this is really quite an achievement!
Not a club per se - all these guys are members of true clubs. But this does provide hard proof of a worldwide Axis conspiracy!
11-May-2003: The axis have apparently changed their codes, making the page appear to be about photography. The allies are dilligently poring over the latest ULTRA intercepts, trying to decode it & figure out what the axis are up to.
Bay area, as in San Francisco. Nice page, & they're active in the BG e-mail list distribution. Spun off from Western Warships, some of their members belong to W.W. as well. C. O. Stan Lopes builds an excellent aluminum cannister gun - sadly, they're not available in any kind of quantities outside of the club but we were able to trade for a couple. These guys build their ships with exceptional craftsmanship.
Recent word is that the Bay Area Battle Group is re-merging back into Western Warships Combat Club. The BABG web site is no longer active as of 13-February-2002.
This is the original site dedicated to Big Gun warship combat, operated by Randy Kehr, who is a member of the South Coast Battle Group. Randy is very knowledgeable and willing to help. This site is quite extensive, and has lots of good technical articles.
Updated and refreshed, with a whole new look, in December, 1999!
http://www.biggunclub.comThis is another general-purpose Big Gun site. One of the features of this site is the organization of a Big Gun "NATs", to be held at a time and place to be determined. This URL links to a page with two graphical links - the upper one has to do with the proposed "NATs" & the lower one goes to the Western Warship Combat Club (see below).
This is a personal page, put up by couple of Midwest Battle Group members. Construction photos of several ships.
14-May-2002 - club renamed to Mid Atlantic Battle Group. See below
http://www.users.bigpond.com/axb/index.htmFormerly known as Southern Highlands Wolfpack.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cbg_big_gun/Note new URL as of 07-November-2006. Serving the Baltimore & DC area.
http://www.sinkem.org/George Paine's personal page. Not available as of 11-May-2003.
Another sub-group of the Australian Battle Group. This one's located in Queensland, in the Norteastern part of the country (what would be Southeastern, if they weren't down under!).
Not found as of 27-April-2002.
I can't read any Danish, but they say my site design is "flot"! Someday, I hope to find out what that means! (Sven: "Ole! Did yew see da girl dat Gunnar vent home from da dance wit last night?" Ole: "Ha! Ha! Ya, sure - she vas da flottest one dere! Ha Ha!")
A Queen's Own group in Argentina, with some very nice looking ships.
http://www.ibss.one.net.au/Part of the Australian Battlegroup, located in Brisbane.
Not found as of 27-April-2002.
A club forming in the Jacksonville, Florida area. As of 13-October-1999, this link returns a 404 error - not found.
(24-March-2003) There is a big gun group forming in the Detroit, MI area. We will be having battles on weekends that alternate with the Midwest Battle Group. Please contact Carl Zoller at zol_man@hotmail.com for further info.
http://mabg.orgFormerly Blacksburg Battle Group, operating in Virginia, Maryland, & North Carolina. Looks like they've got something good going on! Note new URL as of 02-February-2005.
New URL as of 15-September,-2000. This is the largest Big Gun club - so large, in fact, that they're having trouble finding enough radio frequencies & enough room to run all their ships! That's the kind of problems to have! We've got the closest relationship with MBG of any of the other clubs, and plan to pay them a visit one of these days. Lots of very nice people there, always willing to help. Several of their members have bent over backwards to help us get started. With their large membership, and years of experience, they can help with just about anything. Very well organized - they've even set themselves up as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation.
Though it says "official", this one's not as detailed or up-to-date as the other MBG page. Error 403 - Access Denied - as of 13-October-1999.
http://www.jdknetts.springrose.com/OBFSpin-off club from the Midwest Battle Group, located in the Toledo area. Combination of veterans & rookies.
Launched November, 2006, this site serves as a "clearinghouse" for R/C warship combat of all formats, flavors, & locales. Lots of information is available, including individual clubs' pages, forums, photos, tips, a unified calendar, & lots more.
This is a personal page, rather than a club page (I think he's with MBG). He's keeping a log of his progress building a Kirov-class cruiser.
Second-largest Big Gun club, located in California. Note the new URL, as of 02-January-2002.
Canadian Big Gun club (this page comes up "not found" as of mid-August, 1998).
Now known as Canberra Battle Squadron.
Nice, long constuction season!
Web site not found as of 27-April-2002.
From the Big Gun e-mail relay, 25-April-2002:
A unit of the Australian Battle Group centered around the state of Victoria.
Note the new URL as of 07-July-2005.
WWCC is the largest and oldest combat club in Northern Cal. They are also one of the oldest big gun clubs in the world being founded in 1980.
They do not fully arm capital ships. Between 15.1K standard or design tons and 50.1K standard or design tons they max out their BBs and Heavy cruisers at 6 main guns. Over 50K they allow up to 8. They allow single shot torpedoes on all ships over 20 tons and repeating shot torpedoes on ships under 20K tons. There are some other differences as well.
WWCC used have a 1/72nd contingent and associated events with the club but have dropped that several years ago.
WWCC is anticipating a 30 plus membership role in 2002 based on recent requests to join and minimum losses of existing members. They also have some folks who belong to both WWCC and SCBG.
http://www.battlestations.org
1/96 scale, otherwise looks mostly similar to Big Gun but with some exceptions that look more like IRCWCC or MWC. Members spread all over the country, plus Austria, Canada, and New Zealand.
http://web.mit.edu/jumper/www/BSNE/BSNE.htm
1/96 scale, associated with Battle Stations, above.
Original "small gun" club main page. Note the updated URL as of 14-September-2002.
http://www.modelwarshipcombat.com/As of December, 1998, spin-off from the IRCWCC. Format is similar to IRCWCC.
http://www.battlestations.org/clubs/nzbg/index.htmBig Gun club in 1:96 scale. Hmmmm, let's see now: They've got 1:96, 1:72, & 1:144 scales all going on down under!
New page as of 30-October-2006.
Mostly a 1/72 scale club. Very nice ships! Note the new URL as of 07-September-2002.
Not really a club - it's hard to tell exactly what format Rick builds/sails/battles under (he mentions wanting to build a 1/96 DD). His stuff looks pretty finely-detailed. Lots of great pictures (the main page takes awhile to finish loading, though) & links to every club you've ever heard of (& some you probably haven't).
New (early 2003) organization, with much similarity to WWCC. Supports ships in scales 1:72, 1:96, & 1:144. Same armament sizes & hull thicknesses as Big Gun, reduced main armament for larger ships, with an interesting option to substitute 2-for-1 secondary guns for main guns in some classes.
1:72 scale R/C model warship builders based in Australia, but with members in several countries. Not a fighting club, but a large group with some fine looking ships!
(Note the new link URL) Our local "little gun" cousins. They've had a club since early 1998, so they're just a little ahead of us in terms of organization - they've even changed their name once already! We paid a visit to a battle in Oklahoma City in May, & had a great time. At least one of our members fights in this format with them, as well. We've offered to conduct some joint battles & other operations, such as exhibitions around town, to stimulate interest that can benefit both groups. Some of their members have been around quite a long time, in the IRCWCC circles - including the legendary D. W. Fluegel, who has relocated to the area.