Wow! Nine years and all in boxwood! My little B.C. took two years with regular daily work hours, like a real job. The hull was the easy part. I broke the fore topmast trying to drill just ONE more sheeve hole in the mast after I'd installed it and had it rigged. I had to make and install a whole new one, carefully tying off the rigging (fishing fly tying thread and wire) allowing it to flop to either side, excise the original topmast ungluing it with great difficulty, install a new one( this time with all the sheeve holes pre drilled with about a #78 drill.) and reattach all the lines of rigging. I'd had far too many hours (months) into it by that time to commit modelcide by throwing it against the wall!
I'll have to run down all the references you listed above. That will take a while. I look forward to it.
As for making the hull I made several copies of the afore mentioned "Dapper Tom" Model Shipways plans (a ship which never existed) cut out the top and side plan profiles and glued them to a block of basswood of the necessary dimensions a little oversized to accommodate the waste of the saw kerfs and carving to final shape. And since you will have to reuse the pieces you cut from either side, leave plenty of thickness for that as well.
I glued the top view hull shape copy to the top and the side view to the side of the block. I marked where the masts holes would go on deck before cutting anything, set the correct angles for the masts on my drill press table and drilled the holes for the masts first, holding the block in a machinist's vice and lined up properly for each hole.
I cut the two sides of the top profile off on the band saw being careful to leave each waste piece with plenty of thickness and making the saw cuts well outside the outer perimeters of the hull for later shaping. I then glued the two side pieces I cut off back into place on the right and left sides of the block with some computer printer paper in between, with white glue and clamped it just tightly enough to squeeze out the excess glue, but no tighter. The paper in between allows for ease of separation later. Be sure to align the two side pieces very accurately!
Once the glue is dry at least a day you will now have flat surfaces to cut out the deck sheer, keel, bow and stem, side profiles. You may now release the pieces you glued to either side. Some warm water and/ or rubbing alcohol (not denatured) will facilitate the softening of the glue. A little careful, easy prying in the seam with a thick bladed knife, or a chisel will help. But be careful, softening the glue and paper is the objective. If you put a couple of dowels in the mast holes you should now have what looks like a bathtub toy!
At this small size the eyeball and
method of shaping the hull should be sufficient to get the hull shape you want. You will add the bulwarks and transom pieces separately later. You can use a jeweler's or coping saw if you don't have a band or jig saw.
The rest of the build will leave ample opportunity for cursing, teeth grinding and hair tearing as you progress and for asking yourself whatever possessed you to work at this impossible scale to begin with?!
(The opportunities for breaking critical stuff are manifold!)
Some of the materials include recycled piano key ivory, ebony, mahogany, yellow heart, Tanganika and the afore mentioned fly fishing thread and wire.
I hope these instructions prove to be useful, if I haven't made myself perfectly obscure.
Thanks for the kind appreciation!
Happy modelling. Keep me apprised!
Pete
