ship plans

Jamnett - Sounds like you had a Federal Experience. I'm sure there's a good, fairly simple way to get hold of ship plans from the National Archives; modelers do it on a regular basis. Unfortunately I've never done it myself, and have no idea what the trick is. Maybe another Forum member can help with that one.

I have ordered plans from the Smithsonian - though not in quite a few years. Here's the web address:

www.americanhistory.si.edu/csr/shipplan.htm

Unfortunately the ordering process is somewhat cumbersome. You have to start by ordering the relevant catalog (via snailmail), then look up the plans you want and order them (also via snailmail). The good news is that (a) the Smithsonian doesn't sell junk, and (b) it has a fine reputation for good service and reasonable prices.

Another excellent source of plans is Taubman Plans Service. Abe Taubman, for many years a fixture in the ship model world, has recently retired (at age 93) and turned over the running of his business to the folks at Loyalhanna Dockyard. They have updated and improved the firm's website, the address of which is

www.taubmansonline.com

The site is still under construction to some extent; not all the plans are illustrated. There's a set of plans for the Kearsarge on the list - scale 1/8"=1' (same as the Revell kit), price $15.00. In the absence of a picture I don't know just what these plans are. But they might be worth a look. I suspect an e-mail or phone call to the Loyalhanna folks would get a courteous and knowledgeable response.

Hope this helps.

Apparently the National Archives only maintain records such as ship plans and they don't sell them via mail or internet. If I wanted some plans I would have to hire a researcher to handle locating and reproduction. Unless I fly there from the west coast and do it myself. This is the information I have now and it sounds familiar. I must have checked into this a few years ago and forgot about it somewhere along the way. The old gray matter aint' what she used to be. I think the commercial sources like Taubman's and Floating Drydock, plus the Smithsonian will be enough for my needs.

I have been to the National Archives in Philadelphia. My trip occured just after the Philadelphia shipyards closed and relocated their records. I gave the librarian a limited search list based on the micro fische record she had at the time.
They brought out 3 boxes of files for me to rummage through. Photocopiers were crap, and digital cameras were unheard of at that time, so I had to settle for Photographs of photographs. I got some great shots of the Wisconsin and the Newport Bay News for a couple of associates.

I spent probably half the day deciding what boxes I wanted to see, and rummage throught those three boxes. Nine tenths of each box were records and work orders that have to be flipped past, and folders that have to be opened and sifted to find the images or plans you are looking for.
That is what you are paying for at the National archives.