new from Liverpool re.info/plans

[ray dillon]

Hi,I`m new to the site,and new to modelling ships.I`ve been making musical instruments for anumber of years,and would like to start making paddlers from scratch;my interest is in those early vessels of the east india companyin particular,merchant and warships,as well as early royal navy paddlers.Q.where is the best place to find plans for these?Q.I`ve seen instructional dvd`s re. planking/copper plating by a company in Oz,has any body seen them?Are they worth obtaining?
I`m now off to Liverpool maritime museum to see if they`ve any plans from Lairds ship builders in their archives....any advice re. the above would be gratefully appreciated,Ray

[Stuart Badger]

Hi ray and welcome to the forum
Your question re plans is a little difficult to answer as the plans from various shipyards are held in many collections throughout the UK. Generally all RN plans will be held by the National Maritime Museum. Their service is excellent - the drawings are wonderful and the prices are extortionant!
The best way is to first choose your vessel then find out who is most likely to hold the archive (a google search will usually reveal this or google National archive and do a search there).

Hope this helps.

All the best

stuart

[ray dillon]

Thanks for the advice;I`ll get searching

[Eddy Matthews]

As Stuart said Ray, the best bet is to find a paddler you'd like to model, and then we can probably advise on where the most likely place to find drawings would be, assuming they exist!....

In the past I've used the following:

National Maritime Museum
Tyne & Wear Archives
Mitchell Library
Liverpool Maritime Museum

But there are numerous others.....

From personal experience I'd only use the National Maritime Museum as a last resort - Their service is superb, but the prices they charge! Woah!! Most of the other plans sources are much more reasonable...

Regards
Eddy

[ray dillon]

Hi, Eddy,,,,Thanks for your email.I`ll get some names of paddler`s I`d like to attempt,and see if there are any plans for the same[I`ve heard model boat magazine is including plans in may`s issue for a paddler],regards,Ray