I'm planning to build a diorama featuring my 1:48-scale Granado 1742 and need some reference material on shipyards from that period.

Are there any resources on this topic? Does anyone know of any books or other materials?

Best regards,

Albin

Hi Albin

I'm not sure on specific resources but if you search on Deptford and Woolwich Royal Dockyards there is plenty of books and information available on these dockyards

Mark

There are a lot of paintings on the RMG showing ships under construction so that might be a place to look.

The book on shipbuilding of 1737 by Blaise Ollivier has a lot of information of dockyard layout and practice. It is not a cheap book, but if you are seriously interested in shipbuilding practice of the time, it is a first-hand account. (He was actually spying for the French at the time!) Here is one result:

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/18th-CENTURY-SHIPBUILDING-Remarks-Navies-English/30473274911/bd

Make sure it's the English translation, unless you happen to speak French well!

I haven’t carried out a particularly thorough search, but in the few minutes I spent on it, I managed to find a number publications that contain descriptions of dockyards, along with a fairly large number of reproductions of contemporary illustrations, plans and models. Some of these works devote separate chapters to this subject:

— Brian Lavery, Nelson’s Navy. The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793–1815 (1990),

— Brian Lavery, Wooden Warship Construction. A History in Ship Models (2017),

— Brian Lavery, Building the Wooden Walls. The Design and Construction of the 74-Gun Ship Valiant (1991),

— J. D. Davies, Pepys’s Navy. Ships, Men & Warfare 1649–1689 (2008).

Thank you.

Have you looked at the Buckler's Hard Shipyard Trust site

https://bhshipyardtrust.org.uk

There's some information there about this shipyard / town that evolved over a long period from the early 1700s onwards. It's where Agamemnon and Indefatigable were built- and where they're doing a great deal of active research into understanding the history of the site.

I think Chris Watton has an association with them in regards to the forthcoming Agamemnon kit.

It will be really nice if you can share some more picture of your Granado.

I'm still working on the diorama; nothing is finished yet—it's all just a rough draft. I'm still missing about 40 figures. The figures are being shipped from the U.S. to Vienna and have been stuck at customs for 10 days; they still need to be painted, too.

I also designed a background as a test; I just glued it on for the video so there would be a background.

There’s still a lot missing, but I’m showing it to you anyway.

And the movement isn't quite right yet either—it's too fast and too jerky, but it'll get there...

On 8/4/2026 at 8:18 AM, Waldemar said:

I haven’t carried out a particularly thorough search, but in the few minutes I spent on it, I managed to find a number publications that contain descriptions of dockyards, along with a fairly large number of reproductions of contemporary illustrations, plans and models. Some of these works devote separate chapters to this subject:

— Brian Lavery, Nelson’s Navy. The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793–1815 (1990),

— Brian Lavery, Wooden Warship Construction. A History in Ship Models (2017),

— Brian Lavery, Building the Wooden Walls. The Design and Construction of the 74-Gun Ship Valiant (1991),

— J. D. Davies, Pepys’s Navy. Ships, Men & Warfare 1649–1689 (2008).

Thanks. I already have most of the books anyway; I'll have to go through them carefully again...

4 hours ago, AnobiumPunctatum said:

It will be really nice if you can share some more picture of your Granado.

Sure, but it's far from finished—though I can show it to you in the meantime...

14 hours ago, Mowzer said:

Have you looked at the Buckler's Hard Shipyard Trust site

https://bhshipyardtrust.org.uk

There's some information there about this shipyard / town that evolved over a long period from the early 1700s onwards. It's where Agamemnon and Indefatigable were built- and where they're doing a great deal of active research into understanding the history of the site.

I think Chris Watton has an association with them in regards to the forthcoming Agamemnon kit.

Thank you for the info

Three new photos of my shipyard, which is currently under construction. Right now, I'm experimenting with the AI-generated background.

Lovely work Albin! That is a great diorama!

JJ

Really nice build.

Sometimes is less more. In my opinion the wonderful details of your build are going lost with this background.