A Clipper Ship Model. Part 2
The top edges of the bulwarks are black along the waist and white at the forecastle and poop. The lower molding is white. The inside of the bulwarks is white, with brown stripes to represent teakwood paneling. While the paint is drying, one can be making the deck fittings (Fig. 2). Many valuable suggestions for this work will be found in Chapter III. The cabin house (P) is a block of soft wood set into the poop deck. It projects 1/2 in. It should have a molding around the top edge and be white, with doors and windows painted on. The forward deck house (Q) is similar, only larger. The hatches are blocks of wood, with a groove cut around them; the after one (R) has a slide opening, under which is supposedly a ladder leading to the hold. The companionway (T) on the poop is very similar, but is white with painted doors at the after end. The skylight (U) also is a block of wood, with barred windows, recessed and painted, around the sides. The binnacle (Y) is a similar block, paneled. The steering gear (W) is a block of wood set on pin-and-bead legs, right over the rudder trunk. The wheel can be a gear from an old watch, with every other tooth filed away, or can be cut from a thin sheet of celluloid or brass. The bitts (X) are made from 1/8 in. square wood - two uprights set in the deck with a crossbar (bolster) recessed into them and stained brown. The after bitts are set across the inner ends of the bumpkins.
The ladders can be fashioned from 1/16 by 1/32 in. cigar-box wood or cut from celluloid. They lead, one on either side, from the main deck to the forecastle head and poop deck. Two or three steps are enough. The fife rails (Z) around the masts are made from 1/8-in. uprights, with 1/8 by 1/16 in. horizontal pieces. The after ends of the one at the main are supported by pin-and-bead posts, and have three cut-off pins through them on either side, to represent belaying pins. The after ends of the forward fife rails are merely glued to the front of the deck house. On the forecastle a capstan (AA) is fastened to the deck with a long pin. It may be painted green or black. There are three posts for windlass bitts (FF), the larger and forward one 3/8 in. high and the others 3/16 in. high; these extend from the windlass underneath. There can also be a bell (KK) at the front edge. On the top of the deck house, two boats (CC) are glued and lashed to skids (crossbars); and here the galley funnel (MM) is placed. It is painted black. Staples, made by bending over stout pins, are driven in the positions indicated on the deck plan (Fig. 2). The two pairs amidship should be firmly placed. This completes the hull. The next step is to place the spars and rigging as shown in Fig. 4. First, the spars must be made from dowel sticks such as are sold at hardware stores. If you prefer, however, you can make them entirely by hand from any straight-grained hard wood.
Choose straight-grained dowels of suitable size (two 3-ft. lengths of 5/16-in. dowels, one length of 1/4-in., and two of 3/16-in.). The sizes of the spars can be estimated from the scale drawing. The main lowermast is the largest; each succeeding mast is a bit smaller - the fore, then the mizzen, then the topmasts, and so on. Each mast tapers in itself very slightly. The topgallant, royal, and skysail masts can be a single spar, the reduction in size forming a collar at the head of each. The lowermasts are painted entirely white, and the others white at the doublings and mast-heads. In between, they are stained a reddish brown with thin mahogany-colored varnish stain. The tapering bowsprit is a bare 1/4 in. at the heel. The jib boom is 3/16 in. at the heel, tapering to about half, with two collars where the stays come. A hole is bored athwart the bowsprit for a thin wire with a loop at each side, to which are fastened the shrouds. Two vertical holes are bored near the end, and at the underside of each a small glass bead is fastened. These are for the chains that run down to the stem (Fig. 4). The bowsprit end is cut square. The jib boom has a hole bored for each of the four outer (head) stays to pass through. Each lowermast has a fore-and-aft hole to take the trusses of the yards and an athwart hole under this for the futtock shrouds. The fore and main have a nail driven in on the fore side, 3/4 in- from the deck. The mainmast, 3 in. below its head (upper end), has a wire band with a loop pointing aft.
The lower ends of the masts should extend right to the bottom of the hull, if it is
hollow, and have a headless nail driven in to steady them. The upper ends should be cut to
a square tenon for the depths of the caps. The topmasts are cut square at each end and
have a fore-and-aft hole for the halyards 11/8 in. from the head, and an athwart hole for
the futtock shrouds below these. The topgallant (upper) masts are square at the heel, and
have holes for each of the three halyards to the yards. The main lower yard is the
largest; the other yards decrease as they progress forward and aft, and then up until the
mizzen skysail is reached; it is a bare 1/8 in. at the middle. The yards are round and
tapered at the ends to about half their center thickness. The taper does not start until
about halfway out. The lower yards are supported by trusses of copper wire wound tightly
around the center of the yard, then twisted together to form an arm much the shape of a
boat's rowlock, the stem of which goes through the mast and is clinched behind. The other
yards have holes through them on each side of their masts, through which a copper wire is
passed and clinched on the fore side, forming a parrel which can slide up and down the
mast. In the center of each yard is a vertical hole for the halyard, and near the ends of
all is a vertical hole for the lifts and braces. The hole for the mizzenmast goes right
through the after deck house, and 1/8 in. behind this is another hole 1/8 in. in diameter
to take the trysail mast, the upper end of which goes under the top and is held there with
a small nail. The spanker gaff and boom should be thickest about one third from the mast
and should have wire eyes in the end, to slide on the trysail mast. A top, cap,
crosstrees, and another cap are required for each mast; these are shown in Fig. 5.
The material from which these can be made the easiest is celluloid about 1/16 in. thick. Such a piece usually can be found at a notion counter. A cap also is needed on the bowsprit. Channels are necessary to keep the rigging from the ship's side (see Fig. 2). They are strips of wood 21/4 in. long at the fore and main, and 17/8 in. at the mizzen. The lower ones are a full 1/8 in. thick, and the upper ones, 1/16 by 3/16 in. wide. They are glued close under their respective moldings, with the forward ends in line with the masts. For the lower rigging (the shrouds), get, for preference, some No. 18 linen fishing cord about 1/32 in. in diameter and stain it black. Set up one of the lower- masts and topmasts with the top and cap. On the starboard (right) side, in line with the mast, bore a hole in the hull 1/4 in- below the lower channel; jam the end of the cord in this with a round toothpick and a touch of glue.