Yacht America 1851 scale 1:120 , cheap kit

[Martin By Eye]

Dimensions, here we have a mess . Anyhow, dimensions are important for right proportions.
I found an original picture of America made a 15 years after 1851 run (at least was described like that).
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Then after resize, I compared with some plans available in internet. In all comparisons, at plans bowsprit was longer and masts was longer, than in original old picture.
There are also differences between plans, however more or less they looks the same
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Plans differ by bowsprit length and angle, and mast length
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Finally I found picture of Yacht America replica from 1897 , and looks like all plans was made at base of this replica, in this case bowsprit and masts length more-less match the plans
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As reference, pictures of original and replica comparison
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As you see, is hard to choose how in fact this yacht was looking like, finally I choose plans mostly matching with original and replica, this plan I will use to estimate proper dimensions for 1:120 scale model
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BTW I add also plans.zip file with all plans I collected for America, many differences between them, I am sure will be useful in future, and some old pictures also probably useful

photography was inexistant in 1851 , but there are contemporary paintings that show that the 1866 rig is definitely not the original, which was of an extreme simplicity. The flying jib boom broke during her first race so would have been immediately changed and she had many refits during her life.

 

[AllanKP69]

Then I made a water line and started paint hull of black.

When you need to paint a sharp edge you may find the following helpful. Tape along the line to be painted. Brush or spray clear finish along the edge to seal the tape edge to prevent bleed through of the paint that is to follow. For open grained wood like on your model it is not as easy as it is so porous, so you may need a couple coats of the clear. Once it is dry, paint the color, let dry and remove the tape.
Allan

BB65 yacht model -- The hull was planked with a cheap wood, poplar, sanded, then painted as described above.

 

[Namabiiru]

The other way to do it is to spray the base color after masking before spraying the desired color. One coat should be enough unless rour surface is really rough.

 

[remzibi]

..... Tape along the line to be painted......
BB65 yacht model --......

Tape looks like good idea, sure I will try next model, painting at BB65 look very well .
Meanwhile, I added second layer of staining and finally hull looks much better now