After the keel, deck, and bowsprit are in place, it would be well to give her another good coat of paint, and when that is perfectly dry, to varnish her thoroughly with the shellac spoken of before in this book.
This boat is a great improvement on the ordinary dug-out hulls most boys are in the habit of making; for aside from taking less time in making, and sailing more rapidly, it has the advantage of being duplicated; that is, of having a dozen if you wish, made just like it on the same model, while it would be almost impossible to make two alike by the old, laborious method. In forming your model be careful to make it largest at the top, so that it can be removed without trouble from its papier-maché covering.
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THE TOY STEAM-BOAT.
Among the many mechanical toys a boy of ordinary ability can make, the steam-boat is perhaps one of the most satisfactory of them all.
As a scroll-saw takes an important part in its making, some knowledge of one, or friendship with the owner of it, is desirable, if not absolutely necessary, for complete success.
This toy is composed principally of five pieces of board, of different degrees of thickness, which are first cut out as follows:
The first piece, or hull, is eighteen inches long by three and one-half inches wide, with a shape like that indicated by Fig. 1, and made of wood seven-eighths of an inch thick.