Nautical Research Journal 215
6. Ready to start planking.
to create some 60 dimensioned sketches of all the features I would need to model—not scale drawings and not as good as actual plans, perhaps, but easily suffi cient for building the model.
5. Taking measurements.
I typically build in 1:12 (one inch = one foot) scale and doing Isabel in that scale would yield a 42-inch long model, big enough to detail well and of a size that would better help viewers understand what they were seeing when they looked at the actual boat. With only a very few exceptions the model would be fully scratch built. T ere were problems, however. T e lack of drawings for the present confi guration meant I would have to measure the upper works and document them to the point where I could create usable plans for building. T e museum staff , particularly Caitlin Clyne, the museum’s Collections Manager at the time, gave Kurt Van Dahm and me permission to board the vessel and take as much time for that work as we needed. We photographed everything, using a yardstick marked off in one- inch increments to give us dimensions. (Figure 5) It is important, if one uses this method, to shoot as square to the object as possible—that allows one to get accurate dimensions in both directions by using only one yardstick. Aſt er downloading some 200 photos and by ticking off measurements with a pair of dividers on my computer screen, I was able
Before getting started I had to decide what to build. T e restoration put Lady Isabel in cosmetic, but not seaworthy, condition. T e engine and all its controls had been removed and the throttle and shiſt lever were missing. All the tankage and the complete electrical system had been removed, too. T ere are indications that handrails were once present on both the forward deck and the coach roof; those are now gone. Cockpit seat cushions appeared to be fairly new and I would put more period ones (hopefully) on the model. With two exceptions (more “period” cushions and a more representative bottom paint) I would try to replicate the yacht as it stands today. One thing I would defi nitely have to duplicate was the caulked seams on the original; they were on the order of ¼-inch wide and, being slightly depressed, were quite visible. T ey would need to show on the model.
First I enlarged the hull lines and then, using the measurements we had taken, laid out the outline of the deck and pilothouse and the depths of the cockpit areas, allowing for the thicknesses of the materials I would use in those areas. I also cross-checked these, and several more, things against the photographs I had to see if they matched. T ey did and I was set to start building.
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