Unless the boat is quite small it is best to fit in two or three deck beams to connect the sides and support the deck (Fig. 357). These should be of thin stuff (perhaps 3/16" thick and ½" wide), set on edge and very slightly arched, the ends being fitted into gains cut in the sides, and nailed with fine brads. They can also be glued.
The deck should be of thin stuff (perhaps 1/8" planed). Mark carefully on the piece the deck outline and cut it approximately to shape, but well outside of the line. Fasten small blocks of wood to the under side of the deck wherever any attachments for the rigging are to be fastened. Paint the lower side, and when dry bore a row of holes with a very small brad-awl (see Awl) all around the edge, 1/8" inside of the line. Smear the top edge of the hull with thick white lead, or white lead putty, and nail the deck in place with very fine wire brads, perhaps ½" in length. Care must be used not to split the deck or drive the nails through the sides of the hull. Fine brass screws can be used if necessary. The overhanging edge of the deck can be trimmed down carefully with chisel, plane, or knife. The outside of the deck can now be painted.
The rudder can be fixed in a brass tube, the ends of which can be set in lead. The mast can also be stepped in a brass tube, or simply pass through the deck to the bottom, where it can be stepped in a smaller hole, which must be bored with care lest it go through.
When you come to making models of less simple form—those having hollows and reversed curves in their outside form, as the majority of boats do—the difficulty of shaping accurately is much increased and more care is required, but the principle of construction remains the same.
Fig. 362.
Suppose, for example, you are ambitious enough to undertake such forms as those which compete for the America's Cup, for instance, you will find it difficult to carry the process of building by horizontal layers below a certain point (Fig. 362) but the keel and lower part can be added by gluing (or gluing and screwing) a piece of board or plank on edge (or two pieces, if necessary) to the bottom. The lead can, in turn, be fastened to the lower edge of the keel by screws. Models of such yachts are not always the best forms for toy boats, however desirous you may be to reproduce in miniature these famous boats.