HMS Fubbs

[stuglo]

Has anyone a set of HMS Fubbs (Royal yacht) for sale?

[Roger Pellett]

The Romano book on building Fubbs is (or has been) on sale on eBay for $185.  Like a lot of stuff on eBay there is no explanation of what’s included; drawings?  You’re just expected to pay your money and see what shows up.

[stuglo]

1 hour ago, Roger Pellett said:

The Romano book on building Fubbs is (or has been) on sale on eBay for $185.  Like a lot of stuff on eBay there is no explanation of what’s included; drawings?  You’re just expected to pay your money and see what shows up.

I have the book- it is lacking full plans, breadth, profile, frame etc.

[Roger Pellett]

The late highly skilled ship modeler Portia Trajkesman built a model of Fubbs and wrote something about it, maybe an AOTS book.  I probably butchered the spelling of her last name and wish that I could be more specific. Maybe other old timers will remember better.

 

Roger

[Bob Cleek]

3 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I probably butchered the spelling of her last name and wish that I could be more specific. Maybe other old timers will remember better.

It's Portia Takakjian, "Tah-kok-gee-in." 

 

Her AOTS book was on Essex. HMS Fubbs may have been one of the three builds addressed in her Ship Modeling Techniques book. I fortunately found a great deal on a used copy that's coming in the mail. I've had my eye out for this title at a reasonable price for some time.

 

AOTS: The 32 Gun Frigate Essex   https://www.amazon.com/32-Gun-Frigate-Essex-Anatomy-Ship/dp/0851775411

     (Hardcover: 3 used from $154.84 - 1 new from 97.75)

     (Paperback: 3 used from $565.99 - 1 new from $919.00)

 

Ship Modeling Techniques   https://www.amazon.com/Modeling-Techniques-Portia-Takakjian-1990-04-06/dp/B01HCADDZ4

     (Paperback: "3 Used from $183.87 - 2 new from $768.57"

 

I really don't know what's with Amazon's book pricing. Perhaps they need to revise their algorithms. It seems like some sort of digital "monkey see - monkey do" issue is operative. Somebody sees a price on line and asks more for theirs, and that gets repeated over and over again and the prices just keep getting inflated automatically like Bitcoins. I can't imagine why anybody would pay $919.00 for a new paperback copy of an AOTS book when a lot of 27 new hardcover copies were just remaindered for $150.00 at an online auction. I can't imagine anybody's paying the kind of prices that some of the books on Amazon are listed for. it's certain that poor Portia, who died too young, never saw the kind of money her two books are bringing these days. She was working on an AOTS volume on the 32 gun frigate Raleigh at the time of her death. She was a fascinating maritime historian and ship modeler about whom not a lot seems to have been written.  A classically trained illustrator, her "day job" was as an academic scientific illustrator, her maritime interests were an avocation and she only modeled ships later in her life. Her papers were left to the G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport.  What I found particularly fascinating was that while raising two boys as a single mom, she managed to build what her Mystic Seaport biography calls " one of the best, privately held, period shipbuilding and naval architecture book collections in the USA." Wouldn't we all give our eye teeth for something like that!

 

 

Here's her bio from the Mystic Seaport website: https://research.mysticseaport.org/coll/coll289/

 

Biography of Portia Takakjian

Shortly after Portia Takakjian’s death on February 17, 1992, Scottie Dayton, friend and associate, commented in the May/June issue of Seaways as follows: “On 17 February noted ship modeler, researcher and author, Portia Takakjian lost her battle with emphysema. True to her nature, Portia was busy helping others right to the end. She was an extraordinary lady, as anyone who knew her will tell you. Her capacity for caring and giving was boundless.

She was born in Los Angles in 1930, but spent most of her time in the villages of Tarrytown and Piermont on the Hudson River just above New York City. After completing high school she worked as a fashion model for the Ford Agency while attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and later the Art Students League.

Portia’s art career originally focused on illustrating children’s books. Her reputation in this field earned a listing in Gale’s “Authors and Illustrators”, while some of her work became part of the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota. Besides illustrating books, Takakjian rose to the level of senior illustrator and draftsperson at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.

Her interest in ship modeling surfaced while raising sons Kyle and Erik. Takakjian understood how vital a quality reference library was and set about establishing one of the best, privately held, period shipbuilding and naval architecture book collections in the USA. As her knowledge and skills increased, her studio also evolved into a first-class model shop.

When the Hudson River Museum invited Portia to exhibit her models, the interest in how they were constructed led to teaching a weekly class in her workshop. She realized early on that there was little published material to help the beginner, so she began imparting what she’d learned by writing magazine articles.

Portia had much to be proud of, but the publication of the “32-Gun Frigate Essex” by Conway Maritime Press was a crowning achievement. “Essex” was the first title ever produced on an early American vessel for their esteemed Anatomy of the Ship series. Conway’s editors were so impressed with the quality of her plans and the accuracy of her modeling that they permitted her to choose the vessel and deadline for another title. Portia selected the 32-gun frigate Raleigh (1778). Her obsession to finish Raleigh “before it finishes me” drove her over each physical obstacle.

Portia left behind an impressive legacy in her models and writings, but more importantly, she touched and forever enriched the lives of those she met.”

[Roger Pellett]

Thanks for posting this Bob.  I met her at a NRG Conference back in the 1980’s.  Either Newport News, or Alexandria, VA.  Just a passing hello.  As I said, I remember her as a well known and published ship modeler back in the day but that’s all.  I am fairly sure, however, that the wrote something on Fubbs.

[druxey]

There was a Romero version of Fubbs, but a later ship of the 1720's. The original Royal yacht was from 1682. The 1726 version was a rebuild.

[uss frolick]

Romero based his book on Portia’s plans. I knew him. He could sketch and build and carve, but he could not draft. Similarly his Warrior was based on Hahn’s Alfred plans.

 

Portia was a true artist 😍!