Review by Ian Wilkins

The book is divided into two sections: part one covers construction techniques, and part two consists of thirty plans for merchant ships of various types and vintages.

Part one covers the construction of ships hulls by carving from solid blocks of wood. The techniques given really do work and can quickly result in very pleasing and accurate hulls. The recommended proceedure revolves around careful marking out and carving using basic tools like planes, chisels and craft knives. Techniques for tricky hull features like bulwarks, hull openings, superstructure islands and so on are also provided.

There are also instructions and suggestions for the fabrication of various of ship's fitting like masts, ventilators, boats, davits, stantions, deck winches, and so on. There is a wealth of useful information contained in this section which, as mentioned above, is applicable across a range of scales and ship types.

Plans are given for a variety of merchant ships dating from the turn of the century to the early sixties. The plans are for waterline models and are very well detailed, enough so for larger scale models. Included here are famous ships like Aquitania, Lusitania, Titanic, and Queen Mary. There are some more unusual ships like the trunk steamer Marionga D Thermiotis, tramp steamer Gretavale, and some beautiful turn of the century Cunard liners like Campania and Carmania. Also included are White Star Line's Baltic and a fair selection of post war vessels.

All found, this book could really be called essential for anyone wishing to scratch build ships for which no kits exist. The addition of the plans makes it especially valuable. Plans for merchant vessels are not so easy to come by and those given in this book are expressly drawn with the modeler in mind.