Unlike most hobbies, ship model making requires few expensive tools. Almost every household, no matter how small, harbors the beginnings of a fine model maker`s tool kit. The rest can be made, improvised and bought as the work progresses.
Most important of all tools to the maker of ship models is his knife. It may be anything from an inexpensive pocketknife to a high grade wood carver`s tool. Price and handle style are unimportant as long as its blade is sharp and strong and comfortable in your hand.
Now that you have the tools, you are ready to get started. When you have obtained the plans for your ship model, your first job will be to construct the hull.
If your model is to be a replica of the original, its hull, above all things, must be carefully shaped according to the accurate hull lines given in the drawings. To do this in the quickest and easiest way, you must follow some standard method of procedure.
Simplest of all standard methods of model hull construction is the "bread and butter method of lifts. This particular method gets its name from the fact that lifts of wood, cut approximately to the various horizontal sections of the hull, are placed one on top of the other and glued together. When first assembled, the side of a glued up "bread and butter hull resembles a series of narrow steps.
Once the "bread and butter lifts of your hull have been assembled, you are ready for the roughing and final shaping. However, do not pass over the cutting of your lifts lightly. The more accurate you are in cutting them to the exact lines of your plans, the easier it will be to get the finished effect that is necessary if your model hull is to look real.
Of course, it all depends on how much time you want to spend making your model sailboats as to how much detail you add.
You can get down to the smallest detail if you have the patience to do so. You can leave your model as a non working piece of art or go all the way and make it a fully functioning model sailboat, complete with rigging and pulleys. It is your model sailboat and you should enjoy making it.
After you have finished construction on the model sailboat, you will want to decorate and finish it. In applying the decorations and finishing touches to a model, the craftsman should be guided by the type, nationality and period of the ship. If your plans do not give the exact coloring, look up a historical description of the vessel.
To obtain a weathered effect on the sails, they can be dipped in coffee or tea or they can be painted or sprayed with a thin stain or lacquer. On models of very old ships, some model makers feel that it gives the rigging a touch of realism to slit the mainsail and neatly "repair the damage with a needle and thread. Such forms of decoration must be subtle, however, or they will ruin the entire effect of the model.
