Mail order drawings

[dave_t]

I read several favorable reviews of Bob's Aircraft Documentation, a website supplying photos, data and drawings for the modeler. I picked out four drawings of planes that I have been interested in for a while but couldn't find too much about- and sent in my order. Three drawings were priced at $3.00 each and one at $5.00 because it had an extra data sheet. Shipping was $6.00, total $20.00.

 Several days later (fast) I received a 6x9 envelope with my own handwritten address cut out from the order form and taped to the outside of the envelope. Inside were five 11x17 sheets folded in quarters and together as a group. Shipping cost- $0.61. The drawings were basic three views photocopied from magazines. Three of them I had already, one from Model Airplane News. One was a copy of someone's hand drawn sketch, rather dubious quality, and the data sheet was simply a magazine article (informative) accompanying a small 3-view.

 Someday I may post my experiences in the late 1980s with Cleveland Models.

Dave

[lastvautour]

Nothing turns a new modeler off worst than that type of thing. Thanks for the warning.

Lou

[dave_t]

He does offer good (copies of) drawing like the Koku-Fan magazine fold-out series, but you have to know what you're looking for beforehand.

Back in the eighties I saw a display of Cleveland models, attractive built-up balsa frames with tissue covering. My favorites were the detailed static display models. I sent for a catalog which was a long fold-out sheet like a travel map about two feet long completely covered with illustrations and text, a lot of text. It think it had tons of ordering instructions and copyright warnings. You weren't allowed to buy a 1/32 scale drawing and blow it up to 1/24 because they charge more for bigger drawings and would lose out on the extra profit. They literally made me feel like the copyright police were going to beat the door down if I went near a Xerox machine. Finally, I decided to place a test order on one drawing of a Polikarpov for, say, eight dollars. I received the drawing and a fairly nasty "chewing out" from the owner because I missed the part deep in the brochure about the $10.00 minimum order.

[JeffH]

I only placed one order with Bob's Aircraft Documentation, and that was years ago.  My own experience wasn't as negative as Dave's.  One of the drawings was a 3-View GA drawing from an old Aircraft Yearbook, but the other drawings were sourced from various old magazines which I didn't have and included cross sections so were more useful.  The drawings were 11X17" and came in a large envelope so were folded once and not creased.  Since I didn't have the magazines the drawings came from, it saved me the time and expense of tracking them down.  The Ercoupe drawing was particularly useful since I had long been looking for a good drawing of that type. The one I received was from a 1950 issue of Aeromodeller magazine (a publication I had never seen before).

So far, I have only made models of the Martin M130 and Ercoupe (2 of those) from the drawings I ordered; photos of same are in my gallery.  Maybe I'll get to the rest in the fullness of time.

Here's what happened to one of the Ercoupe models:
I usually give away my models, and one of the Ercoupes went to an elderly gentleman from my home town.  He used to own a full scale version way back when and had fond memories of it.  The home he and his wife kept was immaculate, so I figured that model would go straight to the nearest landfill.  Not so!  I was suprised to find out later he displayed the model in a promenent place in their living room and liked to show it to guests.  Last time I was back that way, I was saddened to hear his wife has since passed away.  After that, he relocated to a tiny apartment and thus had to get rid of most of his possesions.  I was told the people helping him move asked what to do with the model airplane, and he replied "I'm keeping that!" and he was able to find space for the Ercoupe model in his apartment.  Anyway, it's worth a warm fuzzy to know that model went to a good home.

Now back on topic--
I see Cleveland Designs has a website.  I've never ordered anything from them though.

Jeff

[dave_t]

Great story. That's the sort of thing that makes the hobby really worthwhile.

[John Bell]

I have a huge collection of drawings, and will send them out, for only my cost. I don't send out bummers, unless that's all that is available. Of course, there are some I don't have, but I can usually dig something up.

John Bell

[Balsabasher]

Much better to stick to our own extensive archives where drawings are freely shared amongst ourselves,anything in my collection is freely available to fellow model builders,some people see a golden opportunity to sell things from the past and cash in on things that they had no part in creating in the first place,if it had not been for the kindness of people here then the subjects that I dreamed about building would not have been possible.
It is also great to help someone find a plan for a certain subject,just recently I found a drawing for the Parnall Hendy Heck that someone wanted,I had forgotton that I even had it ! nobody needs to spend money to obtain plans,save that money to buy decent wood and materials,that is my own advice.
Barry.

[Meandog]

  Hi fellow members, I am a newbie to this site so I am looking forward to some great discussions in the future. I am in New Zealand and enjoy building models of ships & recently a 1/10 scale British Army Field Gun.

I am seeking if available plans for the Nimrod which was use to take Earnest Shackleton to The Antarctic 1906-7  these are the details of the ship.

Nimrod (1866): Built: Dundee, Scotland by Alexander Stephen & Sons. 334tons gross, length overall 148, beam 26.11ft, draught 16ft; sail; schooner, masts 3. Re-rigged. Sail; barquentine

Or similar plans that I could use to build as close as possible to the Nimrod.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

[dave_t]

I found this, not enough to build a model though...

[Meandog]

Thanks for that, it does help to get a bit of a feel to what it looked like below the waterline, I have a few photos that's all I have to go on.

[lastvautour]

We have several sites links in the link section. Purhaps there would be something there.
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/SMF/index.php?topic=359.0

Lou

[Meandog]

Thank you Lou I will have a look.