5
3. Carving the Bulwarks
Make yourself a temporary cradle to secure
the hull while carving. This cradle also will
serve to hold the model for most of the
remaining work. Make the cradle so the
model sits in it with its waterline parallel
to the baseboard and table. The tops of the
cradle should be below the waterline.
Later, when you are ready to paint, attach
a pencil on top of a wooden block and
slide it along the table to mark the loca-
tion of the waterline.
The machine-carved hull has bulwarks
thicker than scale so they won’t break while
inside the kit box. The upper surface is cut
to the underside of the cap rail. After you
carve the outside of the hull, the bulwarks
will be thinner. If more than 1/16" thick it
will be necessary to carve the inside of the
bulwarks. This is the most difficult part so
work slowly as you carve (Figure A-2). After
carving, sand the surfaces smooth. If you
happen to have or want to buy a powered
rotary tool like a Dremel, there are many
cutters available to quickly reduce the bul-
wark thickness.
Note that bulwark brackets go onto the
inboard side of the bulwarks. The brackets
should be 1/32" wide at the top and 5/32"
at the bottom. Together with the bulwark,
the brackets must fit under the cap rail
which is only 3/32" wide. If the brackets
will not fit, sand the inside of the bulwark a
little more at the top. You can then taper
the inside down to the deck without reduc-
ing the thickness at the deck. You won’t
really see that the bottom is thicker than
the top. Of course, you could use a wider
cap rail but don’t get it too wide or the scale
will not look proper. Figure A-3 is a cross
section thru the bulwark.
Note:
As noted earlier, the bulwarks for the
model have been modified from the real
boat design somewhat. On the real boat the
cap rail and bulwark are constructed from
1/4" to 3/8" thick steel plate. At our model
scale these would be paper thin and too
fragile for a wooden model. The real boat
details and the model modifications are
shown on the plans.
Carving the Bulwark Around the Stern -
The bulwark around the stern slopes for-
ward at a rather large angle. However, on
the real boat, the inboard side is plated in
way of the grating platform which covers a
rudder control quadrant. Carve the inside
of the bulwark in this area so the bulwark is
vertical (Figure A-4).
4. Deckhouse Carving
The deckhouse construction will be dis-
cussed in Stage B.
FIG. A-1 MARKING THE HULL
FIG. A-2 CARVING BULWARKS
MARK RABBET LINES
MARK CENTERLINE
3/32"
RABBET
WIDTH
AT RAIL
3/32"
RAIL
3/32"
MARK
STATION
LINES
FIT
TEMPLATES
MARK STATIONS
ON TOP OF RAIL
SUGGEST USING
THIN METAL SHEET
TO PROTECT DECK
WHILE CARVING
SMOOTH
WITH
CHISEL
USE GOUGE
FIRST
WOOD TO BE
CUT AWAY
CAP RAIL
CARVED
BULWARK
BRACKET
FIG. A-3 BULWARK
CROSS-SECTION
FIG. A-4 STERN CARVING INBOARD
CL
CL
CUT VERTICAL
FRONT GRATING
SUPPORT BEAM
THIN BULWARK
DECK
