Floating Drydock Plans

[Cliffy B]

Hey guys, got some questions for those of you familiar with Floating Drydock's plans. Since they don't have any kind of preview photos of any of their plans I was wondering if anyone could provide me with a peek before I lay down the pesos for them.

I'm looking to get a set for FFG-61 in the "TFW Series" in 1/192 and a set for CV-61 in the "G Series" also in 1/192. Can anyone give me an idea of what I'd be receiving? The descriptions leave a lot to be desired especially when some sets are close to or over $100. A small, low-res preview of each type of plans wouldn't be asking too much would it?

Just some friendly questions, thanks.

[Laurent]

Hi,

be aware that only a few plans are available with the hull lines, most of what they offer are rigging plans with deck views, enough to build a little model at scale 1/400, but not enough to go the 1/96 route.

Quality of the plans: they are copies of official plans, not bad but they ask a lot of maritime/naval architecture knowledge to be exploited. Plus they are captions of ships as conceived, not as built nor as fitted.

Regards,

Laurent

[Cliffy B]

Hmmm...you'd think that with the prices they're asking they could post more than a less then vague description you know? "Everything that a modeler needs" Oh really? EVERYTHING???!!! What exactly does EVERYTHING mean?


I'm looking for some solid plan views of port and starboard, bow and stern, and deck by deck views of the exterior weather decks and hangar decks. Bulkhead drawings of the hangar decks would probably be asking too much right? I'm interested in deck and bulkhead layouts of fixtures, hatches, ladders, fire hoses, etc...

Do any of their plans that you guys know of fit that bill? If not any idea where I can get such plans? Do any other plan companies even exist?

I'm primarily looking for:

CV-62
DD-997 (DD-963 Class will do as well)
FFG-7 Class (Short Hull)
FF-1052 Class
AOE-1 Class

Any help is appreciated as always guys.

[Cliffy B]

*Bump*

Anyone?

[ARH]

I have had plans from them, for my North Carolina BB55, they were basic, a blown up copy of a set of 1/350 drawings.

The only way your going to get most of you info is look for photo,s, or as I did ,traveled from the U/K to the ship and took my own.

[Neptune]

yep, or check the net and occasionally you can find all info you need. I have quite a few plans including frame plans etc. from some internet forums. If you're lucky you might find what you want.

[srcampb]

I've been buying the TFW line of plans for several years.

I think you could build a representative model from them. Here are a few shots of the 1/96 set I have for USS Chenango, CVE-28.

Hope this helps,

[DrPR]

The Floating Drydock plans are a pretty good starting point for building a model at any scale. They typically are a profile view, plan view (deck plans) and basic hull lines. However, the basic plans sets do not show small details.

If you want internal structural details you will probably have to get the plans from the National Archives. Most ship plans are on microfilm. You can order microfilm reels ($65 each last time I checked) or I think I saw that they are now offering scanned images on CD/DVD. Be sure to order the index reel first. There can be two dozen or more reels for a large ship, and most of it is electrical wiring diagrams, plumbing and ventilation plans, hundreds of pages of key lists, furnishing lists, door lists, compartment labeling lists, etc. Usually the hull and superstructure mechanical details are on the first one or two reels. Weapons, propellers and other information useful to the modeller can be spread throughout the entire microfilm set.