I love the archives, especially in person, where I get to see and handle those original documents.Jerry!!! I knew someone would answer my plea to be stopped!Thank you! I guess I'll have to build the Royal Caroline at some point.
BTW - I'm about to be bitten by the scratch building bug - just between you and me and our shipmates - The Admiral recently gave me a bonus and I am about to pull the trigger on Blue Jacket's Kearsarge kit. That led me to look for plans. That led me to the National Archives which led me to the discovery of of the Civil War Kearsarge AND the predreadnought Kearsarge BB-5 with plans in 1/8 and 1/4 inch scales at the National Archives!!!! ALSO - when I was on the French plans website about a year ago I saw plans for a USS Missouri sidewheel frigateAlso asked National Archives for those plans AND for the predreadnought USS Missouri BB-11!!! See, I was thinking to build the USS Susquehanna from scratch based on the plan set I bought of McCardle's model - But since Missouri is my adopted home state - you guessed it - 1/96 scale sidewheeler and predreadhought USS Missouri models!!!!
Yes. Lost my mind
Blessings.
Chuck
I think building a ship that has some meaning to you is always a good choice; a relative served on it; ancestors came over on it; or just named for a place meaningful to you. I chose Constellation because I spent years working in Baltimore harbor, right next to her, and she was a part of my regular scenery. Pride of Baltimore I helped build, and later crewed on. As a Hornblower fan I wanted to build HMS Lydia, (a fictional boat) but had no clue what plan to base her on, so I went with Macedonian as I had access to drawings, and she served in both with Britain and the US Navy. I basically wanted a British frigate.
I had planned to build another boat I worked on; Gazela Primeiro, but I've bitten off more than I can probably chew with the three I have already.If Missouri touches your heart in some way, certainly, go for it!
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