The Model Boat

I have been thinking of making a model ship for some time. Years, in fact. I started a model Lightning number of years ago, took it out every once in a while, looked at it and put it away. Last year, however, I got it out and actually made some progress on it. However, I wanted to build something more ambitious, like the Charles W. Morgan or the Bounty, but kits for those are a few hundred dollars, so, if I bought one, I had better do it. I mentioned all of this to brother-in-law, Art, who thought I should abandon the kit idea and build one from scratch. My father had built a model of a sailing sloop entirely from driftwood and it is really beautiful. But, Dad was a craftsman in the true sense of the word. Then I thought, why not build a model of the Sara B. I wanted a model of a boat that had some meaning for me, so that seemed like the perfect answer. I got the lines of Sara B from Skipper Chris who had meticulously taken them right off the boat. I scaled them out as best I could and blew them up to actual size, 1/2 inch to the foot. Sara B is about 38' on deck so that would make a 19" model.

I met with Art and we went over plans and techniques. I was planning on making a solid hull, but Art thought I should do plank on bulkhead, a lot more work, but more fun (Art says). He gave me a piece of walnut from which I can cut the planking.

Here I am with the piece of wood.

Since I wrote this post, but didn't publish it, I joined the Model Shipwrights of Western New York, a group just forming of several people interested in model boat building. I was contacted around October, but didn't get to a meeting until December 2015. The knowledge and expertise of these men is truly astounding. A few images of works in progress and finished boats are below.





Well, I got correctly scaled drawings from Skipper Chris for the size boat I want. I couldn't get my printer to do anything in the way of scaling without a lot of trial and error, mostly error. So, now I have the drawings and the wood. I had better get busy.

It's Been a Whole Year

Well, golly gee! I haven't posted anything to my blog in a year. I know that I have not just been sitting here comotose for that time. I've done a lot of things, but, I haven't written them down. I have posted things to Facebook, but maybe not with the same detail as I would here. It seems that we get so inundated with information these days that it's hard to keep up. The good part of this blog is that I could go back and read what I had done at various times. Hmmm. Do people blog anymore? I think some do at least. So, now the task falls to me to recreate my year and post it here for the joy and edification of my followers, assuming anyone is still following. If you are, dear reader, hang in there and give me a few days to gather some thoughts.