Chapter 10

A Clipper Ship Model

In speed and beauty, few ships can compare with America's nineteenth century clippers. Their flowing curves and trim rigging made them the most beautiful ships sailing the seas.

It is little wonder then that they are a popular type of model. As a decoration, they embody everything that is desired grace, beauty, and life.

The clipper ship model to be described, although simplified to make the construction easier, is an excellent miniature of the type of ship that carried American shipping to distant ports in the 1850's. Designed to a scale of 1/12 in. equals 1 ft., the completed model is 26 in. long and 161/2 in. high.

The body of the hull (Fig. 1) is constructed of six lifts or layers, each 5/12 in. thick (that being the usual thickness of planed 1/2-in. white pine). To make them, take six pieces of white pine, free from knots, not less than 31/2 by 20 in., and scribe a midship line right around the center of each. Mark one of the outlines A, B, C, D, E, and F on each, and mark at least three of the construction lines on the under side of each lift, say Nos. II, IX, and XII.

Cut these pieces to shape with the fret saw, being very careful never to come inside the lines; it is better to leave about 1/32 in. of wood outside them. Sandpaper off all inequalities. The bottom lift (A) is only 4/12 in. thick; the extra should be planned off before cutting.

To make the model hollow, lifts B, C, D, and E may have their centers cut out. To do this, mark the top of the piece underneath on the bottom of each and with that side up, saw to keep at least 1/4 in. within the line (see Chapter II).

The pieces project at the ends to form the stem and sternpost; these may be cut off and vertical pieces fitted after the hull is shaped. The placing of the keel comes later.

Glue the lifts together most carefully (Fig. 3) so that the midship lines make one straight vertical line, and so that the construction lines coincide exactly. To do this in one operation, start at the bottom, lightly nailing each piece to the next, on the inside. Make sure that no nail heads project.

When this is done, put the whole in clamps or under weights and set aside to dry for at least 12 hours (see Chapter I if you have no clamps).

Next cut the sheer or curve of the deck line. This starts forward between III and IV (Fig. 1) and con- tinues to the stern. The deck should have a slight camber or downward curve from the center line toward the sides.

This is a convenient time to pencil the lines to represent the edges of the deck planks. They are marked about 1/10 in. apart with a very hard, sharp pencil and should run truly fore and aft.

Make the pieces G and H (Figs. 1 and 3) for the forecastle and poop. G is 3/4 in. thick at the bow and 1/4 in. at its after end. The top is considerably wider than F, to allow for the flare at the bow. Piece H has a square cut out of it to take the cabin house; it flares out at the stern. Glue these in place.

From thin cardboard cut 13 templates from the vertical profile body plan (Fig. 1). Fix the hull on its side in the vise, being careful not to bruise it with the jaws. Shave away the lower corners of the lifts until you are down to the upper joints of each. While doing this, keep trying on the templates, noting especially that the curves in some places, as at the lower part amidships and upper part aft, are convex and at the ends concave (hollow).

A chisel, round-bottom plane, flat gouge, spokeshave, and half-round cabinet rasp are all useful in this work, especially the latter, but not all are necessary. Be very careful with the hollow under the stern and the flare at the bow. You will find a very beautiful and absolutely correct hull will emerge.
If the ends have been left on the pieces, be careful with them and have a distinct angle between the end posts and what is supposed to be planking. If you have cut them off, leave the ends flat enough to take the posts a full 1/8 in.

The bulwarks (L, Figs. 1 and 3) come next. Cut rabbets 3/32 in. into the sides of the hull and extending 3/16 in. down from the deck line. Into these fit pieces of white pine 3/32 in. thick and 5/8 in. wide. Glue and lightly nail them to the forecastle, poop, and hull sides. The forward end may need steaming to twist it (see Chapter IX); have them a shade thick and when in position, sandpaper them to meet the rest of the hull.

From a piece of pine 1/8 in. thick, cut a horseshoe shaped piece (I) to lie on the poop, which will continue the inside line of the bulwark. It had better project considerably on the outside and be shaved down to the hull lines after being glued. Make a similar piece (J) for the forecastle, which, inside and out, will have to continue the flare at the bow. These parts must be neatly joined to the bulwark pieces where they meet.

For the keel (K) cut a groove along the bottom of the hull 5/32 in. wide by 1/16 in. deep. Into this glue and nail a strip of pine 5/16 in. deep by the same width. Have it extend beyond the hull sufficiently to come under the stem and sternpost. If these are to be added, they come next; their shape will be seen in the sheer plan (Fig. 1).

The two moldings (Fig. 4) come next. They can be made from wood, but cord, such as fishing line, is easier to handle and just as good. The lower one should be about 1/16 in. in diameter. Starting at the bow, it follows the line of the main deck. Stretch and glue it along, helping to keep it in position with a few pin points. The top molding should be about half as thick and level with the edge of the bulwarks.
For the hawse pipes, bore a 3/16-in. diameter hole, 1/4 in. deep in each bow, 3/4 in. abaft the stem, and 1/4 in. below the lower molding. Point it toward the middle of the forecastle head. It is a round hole, but the angle at which it is bored gives it an oval entrance. Paint it red inside. Carefully bore a 1/4-in. hole for the bowsprit, and then make the figurehead by building it up from gesso or composition wood (see Chapter IV). It should be white and gold, and the scrollwork design should extend back to the hawse pipes.

A handrail (M, Fig. 2) is required around the poop deck. This can be made from a piece of flat rattan cane, a scant 1/16 by 1/8 in. Measure off sufficient to go around, and, at the middle and 3/4-in. intervals, drive 1/4 in. long points (from bank pins) through it. On these drop two or three beads, fastening them with a spot of glue, to make a rail 1/8 in. high. Invert this and drive the pin points into the edge of the bulwarks.

Make and fasten the wooden catheads (N, Fig. 2) 1/8 in. square and 1 in. long and the bumpkins (O), which are ¾ in- long. They should project through the rails.

Now draw the plank lines on the pieces H and G, if it has not been done previously, and give the entire deck a coat of thin varnish.

Give the hull a priming coat of flat white paint and scratch in the water line (see Chapter II). When this is dry, sandpaper down and fill in any inequalities with white lead or thick paint.

Sandpaper again; then give the upper part a coat of black, and the lower a coat of dark green or the color known as "light red,”if you prefer (see Chapter VI). Rub this down and apply another coat, finally rubbing down with pumice stone and water to take off any shine.

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 amid ship 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, ¾ 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 bow sprit.

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 ¼ in- below the lower channel; jam the end of the cord in this with a round toothpick and a touch of glue.

Take the other end of the cord up through the half circle in the top, between the masts, around behind and down through the top again, to another hole in the same side of the hull, in line with the first. Where the cords touch the channels, file or cut a slot the depth of the cord to take them. Pull them reasonably tight and fasten with another toothpick. Do the same on the other side until you have three pairs on either side at the fore and main, and two pairs at the mizzen. With thin cotton, frap (bind) each pair together under the top.

Next come the stays. Fasten one end of a similar cord to one of the pair of eyes at the forward end of the deck by knotting or seizing (binding); pass the other end through the top around behind the lower foremast; carry the cord down to the other eye in the deck, pull tight, and finish off.

The mainstay is carried to staples just forward of the foremast. The mizzenstay comes to the nail in the mainmast instead of to the deck. These are double stays, the two parts of which are frapped (bound) together under the tops.

Now slip the topsail yards onto the topmasts, put the crosstrees in position, and set up the topmast shrouds. They can all be in one piece of cord, thinner than the lower shrouds.

Starting at the "top,”reeve the end through one of the holes in the rim; carry the cord through the crosstrees, between the masts, down through a hole on the other side, through the lowermast, and so on, round and round, until you have three on either side. Then the two ends can be knotted under the top.

The topmasts have a pair of backstays on each side, set up the same as the lower shrouds.

The bowsprit and jib boom can be set up next. Ship the bowsprit in its hole in the bow. Set the two bobstays (chains) up tightly from staples in the stem to the beads under the sprit. Then fasten the shrouds (chains) from the wire eyes at the sides of the sprit to the staples under the catheads. Put on the cap and through it reeve the jib boom with the inner end, cut to a bevel, resting against the stem. Three-eighths inch above the stem lash the two together.

Make a martingale 1 in. long and 1/8 in. in diameter. Rather less than halfway from the lower end, put a wire through it. Cut a groove at the end, and at the top drive a headless pin, the other end of which goes through a hole under the cap into the bowsprit.
 
Now tie a chain under the boom near the end, bring it down to the martingale and up to the boom again, halfway between the first end of the chain and the cap; this should be tight when the martingale extends down at right angles to the boom. Fasten the bight (loop) of another chain to the same place on the martingale and bring the ends back to the ends of the catheads.

All this headgear can be of rope, but looks much better if made of chain. For the bobstays there should be ten or twelve links to the inch, and for the others considerably more. All chains should be painted black (see Chapters IV and VI).

Hitch the center of a light cord to the jib boom where the topmast stay comes through, and fasten the ends to the cathead. Do the same from the boom end. These are the boom guys.

Seize the bight of a cord around the boom at the bobstay, take the other end up through the fore cross trees, behind the mast, down again, through the first hole in the boom, down under the wire in the martingale and back to a staple just forward of the cathead, hauling tight and finishing off. Put a seizing around the two under the cross trees.

A similar stay at the mainmast goes from the nail in the lower foremast around the crosstrees and down to a hole abaft the foretop.

There is only a single stay at the mizzenmast, leading from the masthead to the maintop.

Ship the topmast caps and the topgallant masts in the same manner as the topmasts. Put on the topgallant yards, set up the shrouds (Fig. 5), two on either side; fasten them to the masthead with an overhand knot; and set up the stays, getting them tight. The one at the foremast reeves through a hole in the boom and fastens to the hull on the opposite side to the topmast stay. The lead for the other stays can be seen in the sail plan (Fig. 4).

Put on the royal yards, set up the backstays, and do the same with the skysail yards, backstays, and stays. These latter should be of a grade thinner cord, such as stout linen button thread or bead twist.

Take some stout needles about 11/2 in. long for the fore and mainmast and drive the points in, to lie on the crosstrees under the bights of the rigging (Fig. 5). These face aft at an angle of about 45 deg. from the center line of the model. Seize the backstays to these, drawing them aft to space them evenly. Paint the needles white.

Ratlines (or steps) should be added to the lower and top rigging; No. 24 cotton thread will do for them (see Chapter IV).

The lifts to hold the yards horizontal are of cord. They are passed up through one hole at the yardarm, hitched at the mastheads, and then carried down through the other yardarm, with small knots underneath. Those for the lower yards pass through the holes at the sides of the caps.

The topsail-yard halyards (shown as dotted lines on the foremast only in Fig. 4, but used, of course, on all yards but the lowest one on each mast) come up through a hole in the center of the yard, with a knot beneath; pass through a hole near the masthead, and go down to a double block about 1 in. lower than the top. A single block is made fast to a staple at the side of the deck under the rigging. Thin bead twist is rove through these blocks and fastened off with a toothpick to a hole in the top of the bulwark. At the foremast, the halyard comes to the starboard side; at the main, to the post; and at the mizzen, to the starboard again.

The other halyards are similar, except that two single blocks are sufficient for the topgallant, one for the royal, and none for the skysail. They come down to alternate sides of the deck.

The blocks are made from boxwood or any non splitting wood; holly answers the purpose well (see Chapter III). They should all be about as small as you can make them, say 1/8 in. for the larger blocks and less for the others.

The way to reeve the braces can be seen in Fig. 4. They can be of thin bead twist. Do not use cotton  thread if you can help it.

The general idea of the braces is to swing the yards around on their parrel axes. They should be so arranged that if the yards were hoisted to the mastheads, they would lead slightly downward without touching one another and with as few bends as possible on their way to the deck, where they are belayed.
The lower yards should, if possible, have chain pendants (see Fig. 4). Note that the mizzen yards lead forward to the mainmast, the cross jack (lower mizzen) leading to the wire eye on the main lowermast and down to the fife rail. The main braces start from the ends of the bumpkins.

The inner ends of the spanker gaff hang by a two single-block tackle to the top. The peak halyards start at the end, pass through a double block at the cap, through a single block halfway out on the gaff, through the cap block, and to the handrail. A single line runs from the end, at either side, to the handrail, for the vangs (steadying lines), and another cord supports the outer end of the boom from the same place.

For sheets, the boom has a two-single-block tackle on either side, to staples in the deck. It has topping lifts from the end through single blocks hung from the top. This completes the rigging.

A boat in davits (Fig. 2) goes on either side abaft the main rigging. The davits, which can be fish hooks or stiff twisted wire, are set in holes in the bulwarks (see Chapter IV). The boat on one side should be double-ended (a surf boat), and the other should be square-sterned. They are hung with double-block tackles to small staples in the ends. The ends of the tackles are hitched to one davit about halfway down, brought up under the boat, and hitched to the top of the other davit.

The boats should have seats, and, if you like, oars. They should be white with brown gunwales.

The anchors can be cast from bronze or white metal, or cut and hammered from sheet lead (see Chapter III). The shank should be about 11/2 in. long. The stock is of wood, stained dark brown; the metal part is black. A chain should be fastened in the hawse pipe with a bent pin, and to a ring, which is hung from the end of the cathead. The crown of the anchor is lashed to a staple on the forecastle deck.

A short chain should hang from a staple in the rudder and be fastened to others under the counter (Fig. 4).

Each mast should have a small flat glass bead at the top for trucks; these may be gilded.

The house or company flag at the main has three V-shaped stripes, blue, red, and white, the white being at the outside.

The National Ensign can be the usual one or, more correctly, with only 31 stars.

The base may be a board of any wood about 3/4 by 41/2 by 13 in., on which are glued and nailed two uprights shaped to the underside of the hull, with slots to take the keel. These may be cut from templates IV and X, but should not come so high. They can be quite plain or carved in any motif. Make sure that the ship stands upright in this and rests on a level keel (see Chapter VII).

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