Nice find Len

I've always had a fascination for Liberty ships………They were a life saver for the UK and could be built in record time

Back to your model

I thought they were just about all the construction?…….So any plan would be good enough

Bob Wilson is the man you need!

He'll be here shortly

Bob

Nice find Len,

Deans offer the plans for a Liberty Ship in their plans range.

Liberty ship accommodation was real simple. Here is a perspective drawing by kind permission of The Motor Ship journal.

Bob

There is Liberty Ships in Peacetime by I G Stewart. You could probably find one on http://www.bookfinder.com and it contains plans and lots of photographs, including City of Ely.

They were designed for easy, quick construction and this rubbed off into models of them. They are very easy to build.

Here is a profile, also by courtesy of The Motor Ship.

Bob

Here is the Dromon at Durban about the same time, from two different angles.

Bob

Edited By Bob Wilson on 25/11/2014 19:23:10

Len,

If you look here:

**LINK**

You will find a few pictures of City of Ely.

Bob

Glad to be of assistance. Here is the last Liberty I made, the St. Helena, ex Samloyal. It is not the St. Helena that I sailed in for 11 years, but an earlier one!

It makes a refreshing change for me to see someone else making a merchant ship model. I have virtually given up building them now, because of a widespread lack of interest (by model shipbuilders) in the subject.

Bob

That's what they all say!

Those round things on the bridge wings on the top deck of the perspective drawings are gun platforms!

Bob

PS

This is my St. Helena in which I served for 11 years.    I am in the middle!

Bob

Edited By Bob Wilson on 27/11/2014 20:37:16

Bob

The gun platforms are shown on the perspective drawing of the Liberty ship on the previous page.

The guns above, on my St. Helena were Oerlikons. We had two on the foredeck, two on either side of the accommodation, six machine guns and AS12 missiles in the helicopter. They were never fired in anger, but lots of gunnery practice. The above photograph was not a drill though, we were at Defence Stations in the Total Exclusion Zone, Falklands, 1982. Six hours on duty, six hours off, all the time, and not allowed to take most of the gear off when we slept (if we could sleep that is). We could take off helmet, lifejacket and boots, that was all! We didn't even have proper beds anyway, just sleeping bags!

We were the armed support ship to mine counter measures vessels HMS Brecon and HMS Ledbury. All very interesting, but not exactly my "cup of tea," although they had us on MOD charter for 13 months

32 years on, they have just decided to give us the South Atlantic medal!

Bob

Len,

I have to have a big pen, because I have big hands

Ventilators:

They were turned by hand. Ships of that era were very basic. I have personal experience of them, because one of the big cowl vents at the after end of the boat deck of the cargo ship Richmond Castle (Completed 1944)

touched my emergency aerial when pointing in a certain direction. When this happenned, I used to go along and turn it round myself rather than bother about getting a seaman to do it. I suppose it was about two feet in diameter. It may have had a locking screw, but I really can't remember. It was quite easy to turn. They just led into the engine-room and were to direct the breeze down there. All the engine exhaust gasses went up the funnel!

As well as Liberty ships there were other standard wartime merchant ships such as the "Oceans" "Forts" and "Parks" as well as the T2 class tankers, C1, C2 and C3 cargo ships. My first ship was an old C3 (American built – 1943) horribly uncomfortable as far as accommodation went. The Liberty's were superior, but I never sailed in one!