I was thinking about getting the Zvezda Sirius kit, but I would like to find some kind of drawings or plans. Don (he’s a good man) at Taubman/Loyalhanna is looking into it and I’m trying to find something also. I rounded up the usual suspects but they only provided dimensions and brief history. I thought there might be a source for plans. I can’t imagine Zvezda cut their molds based on a painting or two, but I guess anything is possible.
A long time ago I posted a question about the quality of Zvezda’s Sirius and/or Pourquoi Pas and someone replied but I can’t find it. I’d like to hear from anyone who knows a little about either one of these kits. There has been some recent discussion about modeling subjects other than the usual Constitution, Santa Maria, etc., etc. I’ve wanted to do just that and these kits caught my eye.
If anyone out there has some advice about finding plans for the Sirius, it would be appreciated.
I also had a question. Actually if sailing ship questions were dollars I could afford to get Bluejacket’s USS Maine when it comes out next month. Check it out at their web site. Anyway, my question. When a length is given for a ship in reference material, does it usually refer only to the hull? (I mean on sailing ships) I found some variation in dimensions given for certain ship models among different internet hobby shops and I thought it might be due to differences in reference points.
There are several ways to measure the length of a sailing ship. “Length overall” generally means the entire length of the hull (but not the bowsprit or spanker boom). “Length on deck for tonnage” generally means the length from the inside of the rail at the bow to the inside of the rail at the stern. “Length between perpendiculars” means the length excluding the bow and stern overhang. (There’s room for interpretation of just what that means. A good set of plans will generally have the perpendiculars marked.) And “length of keel” means exactly that: the length of the keel, which probably is irrelevant unless you happen to have a set of plans with so much detail that you can see the scarf joint where the stem joins the keel.
A good set of dimensions will specify just which “length” is being discussed. If the dimensions in a particular source don’t specify that, I question the reliability of the source.
Linear dimensions of sailing ships, unfortunately, are a little confusing. But if you really want to get mixed up in a subject that has scarcely any practical application, start trying to figure out what “tonnage” means.
Oh, c’mon, it’s only 598 bucks! You haven’t got that sitting around? [:-D]
Oh cruel and perverse order of the universe – I do have that much sitting around but it’s going to be mailed to the IRS for income tax, owed in part by the overtime I worked to be able to buy more model kits among other things.
So far I haven’t been able to locate any kind of plans or drawings for the Sirius. Found only two images, a photo of a painting taken from at least 10 feet away, and the image on an old Irish postage stamp. I did find a web site with information about Passage West, a little Irish hamlet from which the ship sailed to NYC by steam power alone (it’s claim to fame). The have a “driveshaft” from the Sirius and a little memorial park. I haven’t had a reply to my e-mail to a British maritime museum site. I’m going to try contacting “Paddleducks”, British groupies for paddlewheelers.
I’ve got that Zvezda kit. Here in Europe it’s rather popular. I did a little research on that ship. But nothing special was found. There only few pictures from 19th century (and no plans) - and on each of them the ship looks different. So I’ve decided to convert Sirius into a paddle warship (and I did!).
Jules
Ron
The Sirius kit and the Pourquoi Pas kit molds were first done by Heller a few years back.Also there is a Brig kit that Zvezda has thats also a Heller orginal.So you might try Heller to see if the have any history or plans.
By the way did you get the Mayflower pictures I sent you.
Rod
I got the Mayflower pics. Thanks Rod. It looks great so far. I found some pictures of a built up Steingraeber kit of the Sirius at the Paddleducks web site. It definitely looks different than the Zvezda. The instructions were done in a way that they resemble plans but they are just well illustrated directions. I’m starting to think like Jules, and consider using the Zvezda kit as raw material for something else. I’m thinking about doing what he did, and build a paddle warship. It does bear a slight resemblance to a couple of Civil War ships. The USS Mississippi at about 1/160 scale would be about the closest, if you shorten the hull and practically scratch build everything else. I’m curious Jules, what did you end up building?
Hello Jamnett,
Please contact me: jwz9999@yahoo.com - I will send you some photos.
I did some scratch building and conversion with parts from another Zvezda ship Pourquoi pas (took the stern from that ship to exchange it with fantastic stern of Sirius).
Jamnett, I think you don’t need to do radical scratchbuilding if you desire to convert Sirius into a 1830-1840s paddle ship (there were paddle warships in exact hull shape!).I used as a reference books Historic ship models and also Paddle warships by DK Brown.
Jules
PS Sorry for my English. I mainly use your language for reading not writing/talking.
Ron
After the discussion on the Sirius you kind of peaked my interest.I was at Squadron web site and they have a good price on them so of coarse being the model addict I am
I order one.
Rod
The photos came through. Very clear extreme close-ups. Thanks Jules. Rod, I bought one of these and I can tell you to expect to be cleaning off a lot of flash. The deck furniture, hatch covers, or whatever you call them, will need a little improvement. They are plain slab sided boxes. Some planking is in order, or a little sanding and scribing. The instructions are in several languages including English. There is a suggested paint scheme referencing Model Master colors. Here we have another company that puts their kits in fairly stout boxes, unlike Revell. Unfortunately, except for the bag of thread, the sprues are not bagged. You will probably find a few loose small parts. After removing everything from the box, flip it over and you will see some nice big color photos of it built.
There are several levels of quality in one box. This kit has some very intricate details molded in. I like the fact that they did not mold anything on the deck except “wood grain.” I don’t like that they molded a 3 piece deck when it’s only about 15 inches long. But the thing looks cool. I have never built a sternwheeler, “riverboat”, a Delta Queen, or even a Delta Burke, so this is an interesting new territory for me. As they used to say on Monte Python – and now for something completely different.
For Rod Millard: I was just wondering if your Sirius kit arrived yet? I’m still looking for the elusive plans.
I spent hours searching the web and finally found a forum post by a British gentleman who said he picked up plans he describes as “sparse” from the National Museum of Science & Industry in London back in '61. He wrote that he saw a model of the Sirius at the NMSI at that time. I e-mailed them and got a fairly quick reply stating that my inquiry has been passed along to a curator.
I did find pics of a model of the Sirius built by Donald McNarry posted at the American Marine Model Gallery, www.shipmodel.com. This is a very cool site with lots of photos by several modelers including John Haynes. Mr. McNarry’s build looks a lot like the Steingraeber kit build-up at the Paddleducks site. Both examples resemble the few paintings I could find on the web a lot more than the Zvezda kit does.
This research stuff is hard work for my feeble brain.
Ron
Not yet should be here in the next couple days.Thanks for the info on where to go to get research info.In 2002 at the IPMS Nats. in Virginia Beach a guy had the Heller kit there on display in the sailing ship class. I video tape some shots of it.I’ll go back and look at that too.Thanks
Rod
Attention Rod Millard: I got an e-mail from the NMSI with details on ordering copies of drawings. I was informed that the drawings reference the museum’s model. It’s 1:48 scale. It is possible that some builder’s plans or drawings of the actual ship exist somewhere. View the museum model at www.ingenious.org.uk and enter Sirius in the search. Just below the astronomy stuff there’s a place to click “view all”. Then click on image to enlarge, etc. There’s also an image of a painting of the Great Western there.
The museum model is supposed to be a highly accurate representation of the Sirius. I noticed the McNarry model looks just like the museum model except for a couple of minor details. The artwork I’ve found on the web and the museum model are very, very similar. I going to build it based on the museum drawings and model.
Ron
I got my kit Saturday.Your right about the flash. Needs some serious sanding.My computers been down for a few days because of stupid spyware.But I have it resolved now. I’ll check out those web sites thanks
Rod