Suvoroff
23-06-2011, 08:06
Hello all; I'm a ship modeler and I'm very much interested in the late Victorian Navy, say, 1880 to 1900. I'm currently building several Apollo class cruisers (helped by pictures I took of a very large-scale model of HMCS Rainbow in a Canadian museum) but I'm looking past that to other projects. While I'm building in 1/1200th scale I try to make these as detailed and accurate as I can, and (as many of you probably know) detailed information on these ships is often hard to get.
I know the NMM will sell ship's plans, but there are problems. They are very expensive, half a world away (Bremerton USA) I don't know really which sheets I need copied, and anyway these plans are not designed for modelers. Often a layman such as myself has a hard time understanding if that square on the deck plan is a skylight, a locker, a hatch or a ventilator.
Large scale models, especially builder's models, are often the best guides. Large-scale photographs of inboard areas are very scarce but can be most useful when they can be found. It's not hard to get good photographs of ship's bows, sides or sterns, but the boat deck! Or overhead views!
The small-scale drawings like in Jane's or Brassey's are usually lacking in detail, if not mere sketches useless for modeling purposes.
What ships I build next will depend on what ships I can get good information on. (That was the deciding factor in the Apollos.) Some ships, like the Royal Sovereigns or Majestics, there are drawings and articles in books which are not hard to find. But what I am especially interested in, where I have insufficient data, is;
Trafalgar and "Admiral" class battleships
Orlando and Edgar class first-class cruisers
Eclipse and Arrogant class second-class cruisers
Barham class third-class cruisers
Any RN torpedo gunboat.
If anyone can help me, I would appreciate it, and if not, well, thanks for taking the time to read this post.
Yours,
James D. Gray
I know the NMM will sell ship's plans, but there are problems. They are very expensive, half a world away (Bremerton USA) I don't know really which sheets I need copied, and anyway these plans are not designed for modelers. Often a layman such as myself has a hard time understanding if that square on the deck plan is a skylight, a locker, a hatch or a ventilator.
Large scale models, especially builder's models, are often the best guides. Large-scale photographs of inboard areas are very scarce but can be most useful when they can be found. It's not hard to get good photographs of ship's bows, sides or sterns, but the boat deck! Or overhead views!
The small-scale drawings like in Jane's or Brassey's are usually lacking in detail, if not mere sketches useless for modeling purposes.
What ships I build next will depend on what ships I can get good information on. (That was the deciding factor in the Apollos.) Some ships, like the Royal Sovereigns or Majestics, there are drawings and articles in books which are not hard to find. But what I am especially interested in, where I have insufficient data, is;
Trafalgar and "Admiral" class battleships
Orlando and Edgar class first-class cruisers
Eclipse and Arrogant class second-class cruisers
Barham class third-class cruisers
Any RN torpedo gunboat.
If anyone can help me, I would appreciate it, and if not, well, thanks for taking the time to read this post.
Yours,
James D. Gray