This is a great idea. its always difficult to judge the use of books as research material until you use them. I have some books I may review swell. I am sure we could do this for other model topics too.

Thanks Plymouth57 for this topic. Its a great help for me as a novice to model ships. I was in search for books that cover these topics. This give me new insight in my search for hobby books.

The nautical terms is not a language I'll be mastering soon. My browser is filled with bookmarks that refers to terms used in the builds.
I am a petrol head or a fish on dry land.

I love to read about ancient lifestyles. Without computers, those peasants were a lot smarter than us, I think.

Regards, Marcel

Sorry for the delay, here's the next 'must have'!

The Period Ship HANDBOOK by Keith Julier
Dimensions: 11 ¾ x 8 ¼ inches
No. of Pages: 205
Photographs: 175 (of which 11 are colour)
Drawings: 133+ (Many of the drawings are repeated for the various ship builds and many drawings counted as one are made up of multiple parts)
Price: I'll have to check on this!
ISBN: 1-85486-081-X

Welcome to my very first ship modeller’s reference book! This is the one I bought to help me with my first wooden ship, the Constructo “Grimsby”. This book follows a completely different outlook to my other two books reviewed previously, they were reference volumes devoted to a single ship providing facts and figures which modellers could use to their best advantage. This book however deals not with a single actual vessel, but with a selection of model kits of various period ships and how to make the most of them. This book was written by a master modeller for modellers!
The Period Ship Handbook is divided into a series of fifteen chapters beginning with three chapters for complete beginners (as I was at that time) followed by eleven further chapters, each one detailing the construction of a commercially available wooden ship kit with a final chapter summarising all the techniques, tips and procedures used throughout the builds.
The contents of the book are as follows:

Page 5: List of Contents
Page 6: List of Colour Plates
Page 7: Introduction
Pages 9-11: Chapter 1: The Tool Box. A (very) brief description of the most basic of tools required for this fantastic hobby; Knives, planes, drills, abrasives, adhesives, paints and varnishes are all described with a couple of surprising ones as well (anyone used Dulux Colour Testers for below the waterline?).
Pages 13-14: Chapter 2: Choosing the Kit. The obvious basics about choosing kits from reputable manufacturers and reading up the reviews in Model Boats magazine and others to gain an insight into what you are getting for your money, difficulty and quality etc.
Page 15: Chapter 3: Making a Start: This is a warning chapter to look before you leap! Reading the instructions fully and thoroughly (sometimes easier said than done with some manufacturers!) and where those instructions are detailed and exact, the dangers of deviating from them (such as running out of materials if they are not cut up in the correct order given by those instructions!) Basically, using common sense!
Pages 17-87 The First Rate “Royal William” 1719 by Euro Model Como (I’m not sure whether this company is still going or not). This is one BIG ship! 45 inches long and “if you have back trouble, requires help when lifting the box”, primarily due to the large number of die-cast metal ornamentation. This is a really beautiful ship, and just as the SOTS marks the evolution of the Elizabethan Galleon into the First Rate, the Royal William is the very next step in that process. She is basically the SOTS without the side stern galleries and with a bow design approaching that of the Victory. Her rigging is far closer to the SOTS however and for that reason alone this chapter would be very useful indeed to anyone building the SOTS. This is a very detailed kit and definitely not one for complete beginners. Building a spiral staircase out of a square block of wood is not for the faint hearted! My Grimsby has two small spiral staircases and they were made up from many small bits, that was difficult enough!) Even the ship’s stove (the fore-runner of the Victory’s Brodie) has to be made up from scratch, I’ll stick with just the chimney on my Vic thanks very much! This chapter introduces many of the little hints and tips with their accompanying drawings which are repeated throughout the book where they apply to the other kits as well.
Pages 89-94: Chapter 5: The Thames Barge “Will Everard”. As you can tell by the number of pages in this chapter, this is a much smaller, far simpler kit which is perfectly suited to beginners. This vessel is built up using the unique Billings method of constructing two halves of the hull on a flat board which are then joined together once completed. This kit makes up into a nice little model and Keith Julier gives it a good review but also warns that you’ll need access to a suitable sewing machine and preferably someone who knows how to use it to get good results on the sails!
Pages 95-100: Chapter 6: The Faroes Yawl F.D.10. This is the second ‘beginners’ kit, once again by Billings and again, employing their two-half-hull method. The Yawl is a smallish fishing boat of about 1930, similar in many respects to the Luggers of my own Westcountry fishermen in days (mostly) gone by, although there are still a few of them about! Two masted with fore and aft sails, the kit builds up into a very nice 1/50 model, 685mm in length. In actual fact these boats were not actually Faroes but English! The fishermen of England were at this time switching over to trawlers and they sold as many of the older Yawls as they could to the Faroes, Icelandic and Norwegian fishermen who regarded them as very sturdy and seaworthy vessels. CMB still has this kit with a very good photo of it on their site.
Pages 101-107: Chapter 7: The American Raider “Hannah” by Artesania Latina. This was the first vessel to be commissioned by Washington’s Continental Army in 1775. Originally a fishing schooner she was converted to carry guns and used to steal stores and supplies from unarmed British merchantmen (so nothing’s changed in 250 years then!). This is an intermediate kit for although it seems a relatively simple build at first glance it “turned out to be quite an absorbing project” (Keith Julier). This is a more conventional build with a false keel and frames assembly and double planking on the hull. The Hannah carries four cannon backed up with six swivel guns aft and another four at the bows, not much it would seem, but a whole lot more than an unarmed merchant had to defend itself with! Keith J. gives the kit a good review and a good choice for adding extra details to after a little research, “good value for money”.
Pages 109-119: Chapter 8: The French Goelette “La Toulonnaise” by Artesania Latina. For those like me who have never heard of a ‘Goelette’, it is a post Napoleonic sixth rate? Warship built in 1823 and armed with eight 18lb carronades and saw extensive service in the Franco-Spanish War. Her type was named after the smallest member of a family of marine birds found in lower Brittany. The kit builds up into a nice looking very streamlined two masted ship which, in her bare wood finish has a lovely cream coloured upper hull and dark wood lower, the foremast is square rigged whilst the rear is fore and aft like a schooner. Quite a bit of rigging on this one though nowhere near that of the Victory or Royal William. Again Keith regards this kit as “not really a first time model” but “the less experienced modeller could still anticipate a creditable result”.
Pages 121-134: Chapter 9: The Brandenburg Frigate “Berlin” 1674 by Corel. Definitely not a beginner’s kit, although apparently the instructions indicate that Corel thought it would be! At 830mm long, think of something resembling Drake’s Golden Hind with a crew speaking in German accents with a Captain speaking Dutch! This 20-ish gun warship has three masts, four deck levels (foc’sl, waist, and split level poop) and the same really intricate rigging as the SOTS of which she was a near contemporary. K.J. regards her as very good value for money and very good quality overall but “probably not the wisest choice for the absolute first timer”. A nice looking ship though.
Pages 135-144: Chapter 10: The Spanish Man-of-War “San Juan Nepomuceno” by Artesania Latina. This is a proud Spanish ’74 which fought with distinction against Nelson at Trafalgar only striking her colours under greatly superior fire from the British fleet and after 400 of her crew of 500 were dead or wounded. Her Commander, Brigadier Don Cosme Damien Churruca still continued to lead what was left of her crew even after he lost a leg earlier in the battle. A real pity she, and he, were fighting for the ‘wrong’ side!
This model is 910mm in length with some really sturdy looking frames and re-enforcing struts especially at the bows. The kit builds up into a very nice model with a typically Spanish open gallery at the stern although the stern and quarter gallery windows appear to be solid metal castings so a lot of extra work would be required to ‘light her up’ or even just to get a real glass effect in those areas. Overall, the kit materials are of good quality with excellent instructions including many photos and the plan drawings are exceptionally well draughted. “A most satisfying model” The only drawback seems to be that no base is provided at all, either to build her on, or to display the finished model. Judging from his remarks, I’d say this kit is intermediate in difficulty.
Pages 145-152: Chapter 11: The American “USS Constellation by Artesania Latina. When it comes to kit instructions, this one appears to be one of the best. Three double-sided sheets of plans alongside two ‘extremely well-printed instruction manuals in four languages employing a graphic symbol system which informs what the piece is and whether it has to be scratch built from the materials supplied or comes as a ready made accessory. The instructions also advise what tools to use for each part and the correct type of glues to employ. Of most use to novice builders is a set of 123 stage-by-stage photos, each cross referenced back to the instruction manuals and parts list. If only all kits were like this! This builds into a big model at 1010mm long! Despite the very detailed instructions, Keith did find that the cutting and lining of the gun ports (which does not crop up until stage 52) would have been easier to do at an earlier stage. The hull is double planked and the curves for the most part are gentle enough that the planks only needed soaking, no steaming was required. Although he doesn’t consider the Constellation to be a complete beginner’s kit, he does regard it as excellent value for money and a very impressive model requiring just “a little experience”.
Much was made at the time about the lack of success of the Royal Navy in fighting against the new Continental Navy of the Americans. Many British frigates were captured after prolonged engagements and this was put down to the American spirit and British inferiority. Nobody bothered to point out however that the Constellation, Constitution and their sisters were an entirely new breed of ship; the 'Super Frigate', half as big again as the previous British ships with twice the crew and almost twice the firepower! The first real match between a British and 'Yankee' warship of equal size was the battle between the USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon. Guess who won that one!
Pages 153-162: Chapter 12: The American Whaling Ship ‘Charles W. Morgan’ by Artesania Latina. The Charles W. Morgan is in the same class as Nelson’s Victory and the Cutty Sark, she is the sole survivor of her type and is also preserved as a national monument. Think of Moby Dick’s ‘Pequod’ and this is what you’ve got, a New Bedford or Nantucket Whaling ship built and launched in July 1841, named after her principal owner Charles Waln Morgan, a Quaker businessman, the CWM cost over $50,000 to build and the profit of her first voyage far exceeded that cost. The ship worked on thirty seven voyages from 1841 to 1921, some of them lasting over four years at sea. She even defied the normal jinxes of the day by taking on the Captain’s wife as the assistant navigator. Finally, one George Parkin Christian was the Second Mate of the CWM, a trustworthy position considering his family’s past – he was the great-grandson of Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny on the Bounty!
This is one of Artesania’s older kits but is still a highly detailed one for all that. The six sheets of plans are based on the Mystic Seaport Museum’s research (the equivalent of the Victory’s Preservation Trust). The wood and materials supplied were all of high quality BUT although plenty of spare planking was supplied, only the required numbers of blocks and deadeyes were included leaving no room for error! The only downer was that the rigging thread, although top quality was all ‘very white’ and needed dying before it could be used. The hull construction is “extremely simple and straightforward” but care was needed to ensure that all frames were at right angles to the false keel, the joints were a bit sloppy in K.J.’s kit and he gives some good advice for the fitting of the false and main decks specific to this model as too are the planking instructions. One very nice part of this kit review was the creation of the stand for the finished model. As with many of the Artesania kits, no stand at all is provided in the kit and Mr Julier came up with a brilliantly simple (and relatively cheap) stand involving a hardwood block and a wooden drawer handle from his local DIY store (it’s on page 158) from the photos of the completed model it really sets the ship off well.
Again this is not a complete beginner’s kit but ‘any reasonable craftsman should, with care and patience, produce a model of considerable interest’ and ‘It is a long time since I have had so much pleasure from a model boat project’. You can’t get a better recommendation than that!
Pages 163-168: Chapter 14: A New Bedford Whaleboat by Amati.
This little kit would make a great companion to the last kit, it is in fact one of the Charles W. Morgan’s own Whaleboats (or Moby Dick’s toothpick if you’ve ever seen the film!). This is a very detailed model complete with all the paraphernalia seen in the film; harpoons of various sizes, water keg and ladle for pouring over the harpoon rope to prevent friction combustion, short half barrels of coiled rope and two different types of oars. Unlike the DeAgostini ship's launches which were built onto a temporary base, this kit is built around a false keel right down the length of the boat which is removed after the clinker planking is complete. This kit is capable of being built into an exhibition standard according to Keith Julier but some experience would be very helpful in getting there. (I think this one would be just the job for Stevie-O, a full crew with Ahab and a huge great model Whale, well at least just the head and mouth anyway!
Pages 177-199: Chapter 15: A Summary of Techniques
This is the absolute goldmine part of the book. As the title suggests, it is basically a repeat of all the tips and advice, together with all the dozens of diagrams which have already appeared throughout the other chapters, but all collected in one section, from hull and deck planking, tapering masts and spars, footropes, blocks and tackle, sequence of rigging the masts, lanyards and belaying pin rack coils (I found this one especially useful on the Grimsby), adhesives, deck fittings (including scratch building pumps etc) , model stands, kit enhancements and finally cannon rigging; it’s all here and easy to take in, even now I am still learning a lot from this list!
Page 210: Conclusion.
Pages 203-205 Index.All in all I couldn’t recommend this book too highly, it’s taught me a hell of a lot (and even reminded me of some things as I’ve been going back over it for this review! This was the first of Keith Julier’s model ship series, I’ve also got his second book; “The Period Ship Kit Builder’s Manual” which, although it contains much already mentioned here, is actually in a completely different format so that will be the next subject from me.

As I’ve said, this thread is for everyone to share so if you have your own favourite ship modelling books please post your reviews whenever you can, the more the merrier!

Robin

Battleship Yamato

Hi All
Another must, sadly out of print but second hand copys are available
With the greatest displacement, biggest guns and heaviest armour, "Yamato" and her sister "Musashi" were the ultimate battleships. Everything about them was gigantic - each main armament turret, for example, had a total revolving weight of over 2500 tones - and they proved formidable opponents to the US Pacific Fleet. The author has assembled a portfolio of drawings, and the photographic section includes some very rare on-board views
regards
Andy

Bonzer buy