Maritime Books

Learn more about the ship models you are building. A compiled and ordered list of the best reference books on the market.

There are a lot more maritime books than there is room on this website. I have painstakingly selected these books to represent the best in each category.

Aside from being well illustrated with photographs, sketches and photographs, many of these books have plans that can be tricky or expensive to obtain elsewhere.

Naturally, not all plans in these books are in themselves complete to finish a master class ship model, but most of these books are a very good start.

Anatomy of the Ship - Conway Maritime Publications

The Anatomy of the Ship series, by Conway Maritime Press, is one of the best series of reference books ever published in my opinion.

*Anatomy of the Ship Series The Naval Cutter Alert, 1777, Conway Maritime Press.*

They have just about every bit of information you'd ever want to know as a model ship builder. Sometimes even a good start if you wanted to build a full-size replica.

If I had to say something bad about them? OK, they are often lean on photographs. But for the most part the plans, isometric views, and cut-away views more than make up for it.

Many of the more popular titles were out of print and fetched ridiculous sums on the second-hand market. Thankfully, many of those books are now back in print, so grab them while you can.