sometimes made of a thick plank cut to the sheer on 

 top and bottom and equal in depth to the height of 

 bulwarks from the deck, or from top of the waterway 

 in large ships. As an alternate, the depth of the bul- 

 warks might be formed of laminated, thin lifts sprung 

 to the sheer of the deck; the upper lift being cut to 

 the deck sheer and made of a thick plank in each case. 



The scales used by shipbviilders in making hall- 

 models varied with the size of the vessel. Large ships 

 were modeled on Yt-, ]i-, or %-inch scales. Many of 

 the clipper-ship models that have survived are on 

 i^-inch scale. Fishing schooners and coasting vessels 

 were usually on %- or ^-inch scale. Small craft are 

 commonly on %- or 1-inch scale. Occasionally some 

 odd scale is encountered— ^(e, %, or Vie inch to the foot. 

 A }^-inch scale was commonly considered too small to 

 give sufficient accuracy; a few models on this scale 

 have been found, but they were not practical so far 

 as precision in taking ofT was concerned. Bulwark 

 depths arc often important in determining scale of a 

 model; fishing .schooners as a rule have from 18- to 26- 

 inch bulwarks (moulded depth), those of coasters 

 are from 3 to 4 feet, and of ships, 4 to 6 feet. The 

 depth of the ships' bulwarks is usually to the main 

 sheer; many had "monkey rails" also called "fancy 

 rails," or false hammock rails, above the main sheer, 

 thus higher bulwarks were obtained in fact than the 

 model usually shows. 



The half-model was shaped by eye to suit the judg- 

 ment and artistic skill of its maker. The shipbuilder 

 or his master carpenter, whichever made the model, 

 ho^vever, had to satisfy the skipper of the new vessel 

 as well as the owner that the model represented a 

 vessel of the requisite qualities of seaworthiness, 

 capacity, and speed. The tools used in making the 

 model were various sizes of hollow gouges and chisels, 

 a drawknife and spokeshave, small planes, scrapers, 

 and sandpaper. Hollow- and round-sole planes were 

 required. 



Model-building practices varied somewhat; in the 

 early development of the lift model, before 1815, it 

 appears that models were usually shaped to the 

 "height of breadth line" (that is, to the heights of the 

 greatest beam at each frame). This was usually below 

 the deck, and only the builder knew what to add to 

 obtain the depth of hold and height of bulwarks. 

 Ahcr 1815, models were usually made to the rail line 

 but even as late as the early years of the 20th century 

 schooner models were being made to the deck line, 

 instead of to the rail line. In the 1850's duplicate 

 models were made rather often, one by which to build 



the ship and a more elaborate one to decorate the 

 owner's office. 



Taking off, or "lifting," the lines of the half-model, 

 the first step in the construction of a ship or boat, 

 required first that a large piece of paper on which to 

 draw the model's lines, or, more commonly, that a 

 smooth pine or spruce board, be prepared. The 

 model was laid on the board or paper and its outline 

 traced, the intersections of the top and bottom of each 

 lift with bow and stern profiles were ticked off, and 

 the model was then removed and the lift lines drawn 

 as straight, horizontal lines on the profile drawing. 

 Perpendicular to the lift lines, the builder then laid 

 off lines representing frames at the scale dimension 

 of their spacing. Sometimes he laid the model back 

 on the drawing and transferred these frame spacings 

 to the top of the model by ticking and then, by means 

 of a trysquare, squared these across the top of the 

 model from the back. 



Next, the model was taken apart. The lowest lift 

 was placed topside down on the profile drawing, its 

 back coinciding exactly with its lift line in the profile 

 plan and its ends coinciding exactly with the inter- 

 sections of the lift line with bow and stern, and its 

 outline was carefully traced. Each lift in turn was 

 treated this way, until the top lift was reached. On 

 this the topside outline was required. It was not 

 feasible to attempt to treat this lift as the others were, 

 since the sheer of the top would make tracing the 

 outline inaccurate, at least amidships. Therefore it 

 was usual to measure on the model with a compass the 

 half breadth of each frame line and to transfer these 

 measurements to the profile plan, using as a centerline 

 either a straight line above the profile and parallel 

 to the lifts below, or a lift line with ends projected 

 enough outboard of the bow and stern to allow the 

 ends of the top, or sheer line of the model to be 

 squared down. Some builders applied the upper lift 

 in the usual way and ticked off the top outline with a 

 square and pencU, and sometimes, if the shape of the 

 lift permitted and if it was thin enough, the top lift 

 was pressed flat over each station in turn. 



Now the builder was ready to make the full-size 

 drawing of the hull form; an operation called "loft- 

 ing," or "laying down." A large, smooth floor, the 

 mould loft, was required or, as an alternate, a "scrieve 

 board," or platform was constructed. If there were 

 a large enough floor, the \\hole model profile would 

 be drawn full size by scaling it from the drawing of 

 the model. Usually in old yards if the keel was 

 straight, only the frame shapes and the profiles of the 



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