"32 gun Frigate USS ESSEX - Building A Plank-On-Frame Model" - Planset + booklet by Portia Takakjian

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32 gun Frigate USS ESSEX - Building A Plank-On-Frame Model
Planset + booklet

by Portia Takakjian

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Published by Phoenix Publications Inc. in 1985

It is not only a Planset, attached is also a paperback Booklet with appr. 80 pages of modeling techniques and a Building log which is also very interesting.
So this time it is a "Look Inside" of either the Book and the interesting planset

small Synopsis:

On the successful completion of the War of Independence, the American navy was disbanded, and it was not until the late 1790s that a regular naval force was reconstituted. Provoked by the need to protect American merchant shipping from the belligerent European nations and the piratical Barbary powers, Congress decided on a programme of frigate building, which included the 32-gun frigate Essex. Designed by William Hackett, Essex was a typical medium frigate of her time. Working from both US and British sources, the author has reconstructed many previously undetermined details of the ship and in passing has rehabilitated the reputation of the designer as one who was responsible for one of the best balanced of that generation's frigates.

The author Portia Takakjian is well known also with the following publications:
- The 32 gun Ship USS Essex - Anatomy of the Ships series
- Ship Modeling Techniques


Contents:

The Planset:
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The Booklet:
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The Plans:
Detail Sheet with masts, yards, armament etc
Longitudinal Sections - Frames
Inboard Profile
Outboard Profile
Deck Planking
Framin Plan
Spar and Gun deck
Standing and Running Rigging


First Impressions of the Book:

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Mor elook inside photos of the booklet and the plans you can find in the folklowing post
 
I have a few sets of plans and also a corrected set of CAD drawn frames. The frame drawings on the original plans are a bit off.

at one time I was doing a kit of this model
 
Hey Dave!
How far off were Portia's plans? Bob Hunt used her drawingshad to reloft all the frames on "Fubbs", but Mike is building "Fubbs" here with her plans and feels they are fine.
 
you can build directly off her original plans they are not THAT far off. using the frame blank method just give yourself a little extra room to fiddle about and get everything to fit.

the reason I discontinued the kit was because of the framing it was the British method of a double frame and 2 singles and then another double.
American ships were not built that way Portia just liked the looks of it so that is why she used it. I think later in The 32 gun Ship USS Essex - Anatomy of the Ships series she changed the framing to how it was actually built. there was a time some folks were hot to trot on everything has to be perfect down to .005 thousandths of an inch and absolutely historically correct and all that sort of thing. A group poo pooed anything that was not up to their standards. Now it is a little more relaxed and enjoyable.
 
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like I said Portia built a model from the plans she drew so they must be usable.
Back a number of years ago I contacted the magazine Model Ship Builder and asked for permission to reproduce the articles and plans for a kit. The above photos were built from that kit. Model Ship Builder gave me permission to produce 100 kits which I never came close to.
At that time precision drawing and building was all the rage so I redid the frame drawings. The precision fad of model building did not last long as most builders didn't care all that much for the style of building.
This was also a test in laser cutting and trying to produce as close to perfect model parts as possible. The problem was if your going to produce perfect parts the building process has to be perfect zero room for error.

I started with taking each frame and setting them up in a body plan making sure no frame lines touch each other or overlap.

essex hull lines.JPG

once I had the final corrected frame shapes I redrew the frames as you can see the molded dimensions of the frames were on the fat side. This is because Portia's method of building was to build over size. Once the hull is built then she went back and sanded and shaped the hull to its final shape and frame size.

essex3.JPG

essex4.JPG

essex5.JPG

essex6.JPG
 
the bright yellow squares on the deck beams were marked to laser etch the notches for the carlings.

if you think about it an entire ship can be drawn laid out and laser cut. All you really have to do is change the notches in the keel to all double frames and you would have the correct framing for an American ship.

each part is color coded and without the drawings you would have no idea what part went where.


essex parts 1.JPG
 
this model is NOT built in a jig so that makes it slightly more difficult however, with a little CAD magic a jig can be created. Also the CAD drawings have to be used with the original set of plans.

this was an early idea into laser cutting ship kits back in the late 1990s before it became a standard method for kits.
 
another idea behind such a build was model builders did not have the power tools to do all the milling, second many of the builders did not want to spend years on building one model, third many builders wanted that framed model but thought the sheer precision needed to build it was way beyond their abilities. This concept was the zone between the scratch build and the boat in a box type kit it was the first semi-kit.
When the idea was presented at a NRG conference the reviews were mixed. You could not define it as a kit nor scratch building. Some thought it was taking the "model ship building" and turning it into a glue part A to part B until they tried it and found the idea to be in a class of its own.
nothing "just" fit together everything had to be shaped finished and fit.

building frame blanks proved to be a waste of wood and heavy to send 200 feet of framing stock. The next change was to break down the frames and laser cut each part, that was the Oneida kit the first to laser cut frames.

over the past 20 years many kit makers copied the idea and refined it. The ESSEX was the first circa 1995
 
Hi Dave, The Oneida semi ki=t was one of the firs ones I got from you TERRIFIC SET OF PLANS, AND THE INSTRUCTIONS WERE GREAT ON THE LUMBERYARD SITE, the only problem was two fold one I was not expierecend enough for this buid but the MAIN PROBLEM WAS NO JIG, that is when I decided not to get any POF WITHOUT A JIG, could not cut my own lack of tools and craftmanship, by the way all frames are made and installed on the keel but it is an unfinished project in my closet IF YOU EVER DECIDE TO DO A JIG I WILL FInish it, I can take frame off the keel with very little problems, the frames are leaning fore and aft and port to starboard, A GREAT KIT BY THE WAY, JUST DID NOT HAVE THE SKILLS TO BUILD IT. THANKS Don
 
back then Don there was an anti-Hahn movement. The self proclaimed master builders insisted building a ship upside down in a jig was not how real ship were built, thus a model ship should be built like a real ship. Model ship building and actual ship building are totally two different things and finally after a hard fought battle the jig method won out. There are still a few hold outs and refuse to build a model in a jig but they are becoming less and less. The Essex and Oneida followed the trend back then and you right they should have been up graded to the jig method.
 
The reverend Romero redrew her plans and wrote a practicum on her H.M.Y Fubbs which I built about 16 years ago and I also believe Romero wrote a Confereracy practicum as well as his best work of the 6 volume set of Warrior which I also have.
 
I actually have the booklet, but sadly, not the plan set. Does anyone know if the plans are even available anywhere?
I actually have the booklet, but sadly, not the plan set. Does anyone know if the plans are even available anywhere?
I actually have the booklet, but sadly, not the plan set. Does anyone know if the plans are even available anywhere?
Hi DocBlake, If you require a set of plans for ESSEX you can obtain them from LOYALHANNA DOCKYARD & TAUBMAN PLANS SERVICE.
The item number is PTR-035, currant price is 60.00, email: LHDockyard@aol.com Regards JANET
 
I also have this book and no plan set the Essex is on my build list and would have already been built had I gotten the plans with the book. Didit if you have the plans are you willing to sell those I'd much rather have a set that will work then get surprises along the way.
 
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