Ships Of The American Revolution And Their Models

Seven ships from the Revolutionary War -- American and British -- are fully described in this book by one of the best-known ship modelers in the world.

Mark Lardas explores the origins of American warships, primarily light and medium frigates, built for the Continental Navy during the years 1776–1783. This was the first navy of the United States and much of the fleet was comprised of ships that had been modified from existing vessels, converted into warships to provide a crucial service during the American Revolutionary War. Despite having no real funding, this unique fleet had a surprising amount of success against the might of the Royal Navy, and this title discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each design, and the differences between European and American warships of the time. With a close look at how these ships performed in key battles, as well as the exploits of John Paul Jones – the founding father of the United States Navy – this is a complete, illustrated overview of the ships' service and development until France's entry into the war and the subsequent decline in importance of the Continental Navy.

The vast majority of period ship models are built from kits, usually primarily of wood with some ready-made fittings. Although these commercial offerings have improved significantly in recent years, all of them can be enhanced in accuracy or detail by an experienced modelmaker. This book, by an expert ship modeller, distils lessons gleaned from a lifetime practising the hobby to the highest standards, setting out methods of improving basic kits and gradually developing the skills and confidence to tackle the construction of a model from scratch. Using a variety of kits as the starting point, each chapter demonstrates a technique that can be readily improved or a feature that can be replaced to the advantage of the finished model. Topics include hull planking, representing copper sheathing, many aspects of more accurate masting and rigging, and how to replace kit parts and fittings from scratch. Ultimately, the impact of a period model depends on its accuracy, and the book also provides guidance on plans and references, where to find them and how they are best used. The plank-on-frame model, sometimes with exposed frames in the Navy Board style, has always been considered the crowning achievement of period ship modeling, and this book concludes with coverage of the very latest kits that put fully framed models within the reach of ordinary mortals. Offering advice, expertise and inspiration, Ship Models from the Age of Sail has something for anyone interested in building a period ship model, whatever their level of skill.

The American Revolution conjures a series of iconographic images in the contemporary American imagination. In these imagined scenes, defiant Patriots fight against British Redcoats for freedom and democracy, while a unified citizenry rallies behind them and the American cause. But the lived experience of the Revolution was a more complex matter, filled with uncertainty, fear, and discord. In The American Revolution Reborn, editors Patrick Spero and Michael Zuckerman compile essays from a new generation of multidisciplinary scholars that render the American Revolution as a time of intense ambiguity and frightening contingency. The American Revolution Reborn parts company with the Revolution of our popular imagination and diverges from the work done by historians of the era from the past half-century. In the first section, "Civil Wars," contributors rethink the heroic terms of Revolutionary-era allegiance and refute the idea of patriotic consensus. In the following section, "Wider Horizons," essayists destabilize the historiographical inevitability of America as a nation. The studies gathered in the third section, "New Directions," present new possibilities for scholarship on the American Revolution. And the last section, titled "Legacies," collects essays that deal with the long afterlife of the Revolution and its effects on immigration, geography, and international politics. With an introduction by Spero and a conclusion by Zuckerman, this volume heralds a substantial and revelatory rebirth in the study of the American Revolution. Contributors: Zara Anishanslin, Mark Boonshoft, Denver Brunsman, Katherine Carté Engel, Aaron Spencer Fogleman, Travis Glasson, Edward G. Gray, David C. Hsiung, Ned C. Landsman, Michael A. McDonnell, Kimberly Nath, Bryan Rosenblithe, David S. Shields, Patrick Spero, Matthew Spooner, Aaron Sullivan, Michael Zuckerman.

In the tradition of the preceding volumes - the first of which was published in 1964 - this work synthesizes edited documents, including correspondence, ship logs, muster rolls, orders, and newspaper accounts, that provide a comprehensive understanding of the war at sea in the spring of 1778. The editors organize this wide array of texts chronologically by theater and incorporate French, Italian, and Spanish transcriptions with English translations throughout.

The United States and Europe. Whether you're a beginner or an expert, and whether you have hours to spend on a project or years, you'll find money- and time-saving ideas on every page. Book jacket.

Easy-to-learn techniques, arranged in order of difficulty, range from relatively simple models to complicated square-riggers. Starting with the construction of a half-hull ship model, the book advances to a whole-hull model and replicas of twelve vessels, with separate chapters on rigging, gear and furniture, and tools and materials.