Not all copies are of good quality though as many have been attacked with water damage or rodent/insect damage, but there is usually enough information on them still to knock out a fairly decent rendering. Most of the drawings do not have masting or sail plans, this is where Jim Lees's book, Masting and Rigging of English ships of war comes in handy. If you don't have a copy then Conway are the publishers and the ISBN is 0 85177 136 X. 'Tain't cheap, but then knowledge never is once one leaves school, but it should be on the top of every scratchies "required reading" list. From Jim's book one can work out the size and lengths of masts and consequently, work out rigging sizes and block sizes.
The learning curve with scratching is about the same with kits except that there are no pre cut parts or fittings and one has to do one's own research and buy one's material. One usually does one's own research when building a kit anyway as I have heard there are some that aren't all that accurate.
As far as researching obscure vessels goes. I once did extensive research into the first practical steam boat, the Charlotte Dundas, which although well known, is a difficult devil to track down. I ended up following leads as far afield as Australia and composed quite a thick dossier on the vessel, but no plans I afraid. There were at least three paintings of her and each were different. The engines, or a facsimile of them reside in the London Science Museum plus I wrote to the Patents Office for copies of Symington's patent. I also tried there to see if a Captain Shenk or Schank who apparently designed the hull had indeed lodged a patent, as the hull is of unusual design for the period. I drew a blank.
I had lunch one day with the assistant curator of the Science Museum's Water Transport section, Joe Room and told him of my problems and showed him my research. he told me that I had far more info than the Museum had on this important vessel and that I could consider myself a world authority on her. This swelled my head somewhat but I didn't make a start on the vessel as I felt that I didn't still have enough info to work to. A quarter of a century later the ship still has to be started as I was hoping that time would produce some more concrete info.
Joe said that I could have made her then as there was no one about to say boo to me if I got something wrong a bit and I could shove the paperwork under their noses should someone draw argument.
What I am saying my friend in my usual round about sort of way is that if you feel you have all there is to be had then go for it. If some grey haired old fellow crawls from wherever they lurk, get him to prove his evidence. Folk are usually full of wind with little substance to back them up so go for it mate, after all, you would have had some really great fun making it although there may be some wee inaccuracies to chew the cud over when you finally exhibit it. Nobody really cares or will think any the less of you if there are any inaccuracies anyway.
I have watched people at shows when they view the show tables. They will
usually wander up and down the table to see all then return to the ones they
like. Accuracy has nothing to do with it as they will look to see how you did
this and that rather than looking for inaccuracies. The majority of folk spend
just ninety seconds at a model and never quite appreciate the three or so years
of hard slog that got it there.
{Mike Taylor}
A number of readily available books have usable plans:
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American Small Sailing Craft Howard I. Chappelle | Over a hundred different American work boats, all under 50' long. |
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Architectura Navalis Mercatoria Fredrik Henrik af Chapman | Hulls of 18th century vessels. |
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The American Fishing Schooners 1825-1935 Howard I Chappell | In addition to plans, nearly half the book is drawings of details. |
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