Jaager

How many teeth per inch on your blade?   Trying to cut a 1/8" sheet of ply with a slitting saw would have too many teeth in contact with the stock = prematurely filled gullets and increased friction.
The ideal is something like 3 teeth in contact with the stock.  That can vary on any single blade depending on how high the blade is raised and thus - the angle of attack.

Alan,
Yes.  I think that it is possible that the acidic  pH could affect natural cellulose based rigging.  By this, I mean linen and cotton.
Titebond II is pH 3 and Titebond III is pH 2.5.  In a wood to wood bond the volume and density of the cellulose should minimize any pH effect.  Rigging line is neither dense nor high in volume.  The lower pH could accelerate the adverse reactions with 02 and UV light over time.  This possible problem is avoided by using pH 7 PVA.   Bookbinders see a need for it to preserve paper, which is also cellulose.   I take their hint to heart.
As for beeswax,  I think it is also acidic and also may have trace amounts of digestive enzymes.  I think Renaissance Wax is a safer option.
Except for PVA itself, I avoid any use of man made / synthetic materials, so I have no idea about the effects of pH on synthetic fibers.  I suspect that like PE, it is possible that the original polymerization reaction that produced these fibers may continue at a low rate over time in the presence of 02 and UV.  The increased cross linking would make it rigid and brittle and subject to being shattered under any stress.
 
 

Before you hang it under weight,  wet it lightly using a cloth soaked with a ~50% solution or lower concentration of bookbinders glue -  neutral pH PVA. 
It will stiffen the line,  is archival quality,  dries clear and if the amount used is not excessive, will not leave an outside coating.
Woodworkers glue - white or yellow PVA is very acidic and the more water resistant the type the lower is its pH.

These should not yellow,  although I will probably go thru a couple of packs to obtain the skill necessary to get the shape right in breaking this thin fragile glass to size.
 

These should not yellow,  although I will probably go thru a couple of packs to obtain the skill necessary to get the shape right in breaking this thin fragile glass to size.
 

These should not yellow,  although I will probably go thru a couple of packs to obtain the skill necessary to get the shape right in breaking this thin fragile glass to size.
 

Let me remind you that wood strips stored in a vertical manner will eventually take on a bend (been there, done that).  They should be stored flat.
Maury

Controlling any yardarm is quite easy.  The yardarm is the very end of a large yard.  It is usually a smaller diameter than the yard it is a part of and there is a right angle surface at the transition.  It allows for a secure attachment for the rigging/blocks that control the angle of the yard. 
I think I have seen drawings of possible temporary jury rigs for a broken mast in rigging books. 

When the time comes that you do the masts and rigging,
the NRJ  reprinted the following, I think Dutch,  19th century book  in at least 19 parts
 
LE COMTE: PRAKTIKALE ZEEVAARTKUNDE PT. 1
EDSON,MERRITT
NAUTICAL RESEARCH JOURNAL
1974
20
170-182  
MASTING RIGGING 19TH DUTCH
 
The CD for volumes 1-40  should cover it.
It may be more germane  than English or US texts.
 
There is also a reprint that may be still available covering ship building close to your subject in its region.

VORLEGE-BLATTER FUR SCHIFF-BAUER   1835                          
KLAWITTER,GUSTAV D                                              
HORST HAMECHER                              
KASSEL                  
1978
SHIP BUILDING     
 
I grabbed what I could of reprints, when available  figuring that the window was a narrow one -  this being well before PDF.
 

I just flashed on this:  there are razor saws that are thin enough and with a large number of teeth and minimal set.  With a carbide cutoff wheel,  a blade might be reshaped into a dagger conformation and do the job.  It would be messy to cut and kinda ugly, but it may do. 
 
example = Zona 35-050 Ultra Thin Razor Saw, 52 TPI.008-Inch Kerf, Blade Length 4-1/2-Inch    It would cost you $12 and some time to find out.

I just flashed on this:  there are razor saws that are thin enough and with a large number of teeth and minimal set.  With a carbide cutoff wheel,  a blade might be reshaped into a dagger conformation and do the job.  It would be messy to cut and kinda ugly, but it may do. 
 
example = Zona 35-050 Ultra Thin Razor Saw, 52 TPI.008-Inch Kerf, Blade Length 4-1/2-Inch    It would cost you $12 and some time to find out.

I just flashed on this:  there are razor saws that are thin enough and with a large number of teeth and minimal set.  With a carbide cutoff wheel,  a blade might be reshaped into a dagger conformation and do the job.  It would be messy to cut and kinda ugly, but it may do. 
 
example = Zona 35-050 Ultra Thin Razor Saw, 52 TPI.008-Inch Kerf, Blade Length 4-1/2-Inch    It would cost you $12 and some time to find out.

I just flashed on this:  there are razor saws that are thin enough and with a large number of teeth and minimal set.  With a carbide cutoff wheel,  a blade might be reshaped into a dagger conformation and do the job.  It would be messy to cut and kinda ugly, but it may do. 
 
example = Zona 35-050 Ultra Thin Razor Saw, 52 TPI.008-Inch Kerf, Blade Length 4-1/2-Inch    It would cost you $12 and some time to find out.

Ed,
Before I left 3DCG and returned to wood, I had Blender on my look into list, being free.  It has polygon and NURBS modelers.  I do not see any purpose in adding a program like CAD into your process.  I suspect that CAD has a steeper learning curve for modeling.  I am betting that any additional precision that CAD offers will be lost when translated into something that Blender uses.   The rendering and lighting will be a whole nuther thing.  I suspect that actual physical modeling may be a faster process, especially if a wood model does not involve the hidden innards. 
 

I use 9x11 sheet sandpaper.  Use the disk as a template for a knife.   Coat the disk and the back of the paper with rubber cement. I use Besttest, but Elmer's should do.  It holds just fine and rubs off the disk with your thumb when a new disk is needed.  The rubber cement precludes using 10X sandpaper.  The 10X has a no-slip coating that is not compatible with rubber cement. The 3X paper is plain paper.  There is a cloth backed that comes in 5" wide rolls from Klingspor.  My local Woodcraft sells it by the foot - I think the 5 1/8" may be part of their stock.  It is a bit more robust than I need.

I thought the space was a requirement.  True, it might have been very small at some point but it was there for ventilation to let moisture out and prevent rot.   

Mark,
I completely agree.  Following the Dutch methods as they evolved shell first to frame first construction shows how the framing style evolved.  The timber ventilation problem could have been somewhat abated by using 1"-2" chocks to produce a space.  I have seen RN plans where the bends had a gap.  But it is not something I would care to replicate in a model.  There is another possible reason that the overlapping floor and first futtock style was abandoned.  In investigating  framing Le Saint Philippe using the Navy Board pattern,  I found that both the floor timbers and the first futtocks would have been impossibly long.  The arc that each described would require that the stock be unrealistically wide.  Oaks do not generally have 15-20 foot diameter trunks.  (The monograph shows a modern framing style using bends.  I suspect she was an experiment.  But, in an attempt to solve a strength problem that did not require a solution, the designer doomed the ship to accelerated fungal rot. The timbers did not just meet at the mid line, there is an alternating table joint.)

Mark,
I completely agree.  Following the Dutch methods as they evolved shell first to frame first construction shows how the framing style evolved.  The timber ventilation problem could have been somewhat abated by using 1"-2" chocks to produce a space.  I have seen RN plans where the bends had a gap.  But it is not something I would care to replicate in a model.  There is another possible reason that the overlapping floor and first futtock style was abandoned.  In investigating  framing Le Saint Philippe using the Navy Board pattern,  I found that both the floor timbers and the first futtocks would have been impossibly long.  The arc that each described would require that the stock be unrealistically wide.  Oaks do not generally have 15-20 foot diameter trunks.  (The monograph shows a modern framing style using bends.  I suspect she was an experiment.  But, in an attempt to solve a strength problem that did not require a solution, the designer doomed the ship to accelerated fungal rot. The timbers did not just meet at the mid line, there is an alternating table joint.)

Good Morning Gentlemen;
 
A model with stylised frames would indeed be a good way of building a framed model in an instance where the true framing pattern is unknown, and would follow on from a long tradition.
 
I would like to make one comment on the Navy Board pattern of framing models, though. Which is that the most common method of construction depicted in such models does actually represent a technique used in full-size practice in the early 1600s, and perhaps earlier, and was not as stylised as many authors have stated. Construction using interlocking timbers is documented archaeologically, and is specifically demanded in some early ship-building contracts. Interlocking floors and first futtocks continued into the early 1700s in some instances. 
 
A frame produced using interlocking timbers is actually very strong structurally, but was discontinued, I believe, for three reasons: firstly, the need to use relatively thick futtocks to maintain contact between adjacent timbers, which became harder to satisfy as timber shortages began to bite (this is already being complained of in the mid 1600s) Secondly, the fact that the relatively large spaces between the timbers (outside the areas of interlocking, which were obviously very strong) provided no protection against cannon-shot penetrating the ships' hulls. Lastly, the close contact between timbers encouraged dampness, which led to the onset of rot.
 
All the best,
 
Mark P

Ummm.....  did not the guys who essentially started all this in the 17th C.  often build models with exposed frames,  with framing that was highly stylized ? 
It all comes down to what is your purpose for a particular build.  It may be satisfying to produce an academic model,  but the museums that would appreciate the effort do not seem to be very interested in models.
A fictional Lexington would be a poor choice in any instance.  An obviously stylized POF effort using a plans documented subject, should not confuse a distant future historian.  I see no problem with duplicating what is known and filling in the blanks with what is probable based on available evidence and adding a bit of art as regards the framing.  The open framing of an actual ship was likely very ugly and irregular.
 
About Davis,  to repeat myself,  I think he represented a building method that was heavily influenced by the methods needed for iron and steel hulls.  The chain of knowledge for all wood construction of master to apprentice was broken about 1860.  The old methods were lost.

Ummm.....  did not the guys who essentially started all this in the 17th C.  often build models with exposed frames,  with framing that was highly stylized ? 
It all comes down to what is your purpose for a particular build.  It may be satisfying to produce an academic model,  but the museums that would appreciate the effort do not seem to be very interested in models.
A fictional Lexington would be a poor choice in any instance.  An obviously stylized POF effort using a plans documented subject, should not confuse a distant future historian.  I see no problem with duplicating what is known and filling in the blanks with what is probable based on available evidence and adding a bit of art as regards the framing.  The open framing of an actual ship was likely very ugly and irregular.
 
About Davis,  to repeat myself,  I think he represented a building method that was heavily influenced by the methods needed for iron and steel hulls.  The chain of knowledge for all wood construction of master to apprentice was broken about 1860.  The old methods were lost.

I use 9x11 sheet sandpaper.  Use the disk as a template for a knife.   Coat the disk and the back of the paper with rubber cement. I use Besttest, but Elmer's should do.  It holds just fine and rubs off the disk with your thumb when a new disk is needed.  The rubber cement precludes using 10X sandpaper.  The 10X has a no-slip coating that is not compatible with rubber cement. The 3X paper is plain paper.  There is a cloth backed that comes in 5" wide rolls from Klingspor.  My local Woodcraft sells it by the foot - I think the 5 1/8" may be part of their stock.  It is a bit more robust than I need.

I use 9x11 sheet sandpaper.  Use the disk as a template for a knife.   Coat the disk and the back of the paper with rubber cement. I use Besttest, but Elmer's should do.  It holds just fine and rubs off the disk with your thumb when a new disk is needed.  The rubber cement precludes using 10X sandpaper.  The 10X has a no-slip coating that is not compatible with rubber cement. The 3X paper is plain paper.  There is a cloth backed that comes in 5" wide rolls from Klingspor.  My local Woodcraft sells it by the foot - I think the 5 1/8" may be part of their stock.  It is a bit more robust than I need.

I have been collecting data for a while.  My attitude towards this is - close enough is good enough -  I will take a sword to this Gordian Knot rather than let usually insignificant detail deter me from undertaking a project.  The material in question is wood.  There are limitations on strength vs load and the dimensions needed to obtain that strength that have not changed.  Unless you are building a cross section model,  it is very difficult to see minor differences in moulded dimensions.
Sided dimensions - in the usual situation where the numbers are not available,  I use tables of scantlings that as close in time as I can get.  
If you have room and space (R&S) - those are the outside limits.  This usually a bend (two frames) and the open area to the next bend.  The scantlings usually give you the sided dimension for a frame. R&S minus 2xframe = space.  Worst comes to worst and you do not have R&S,  the distance between stations is an integral of R&S.  That integral varies with the style of the designer of the vessel.  I have seen that integral go from R&S x 2 to R&S x 8.   (HIC copied what the original draftsman provided and I feel that the original draftsman for USS Falmouth was lazy.  For the plans for that ship, the stations are too widely spaced.)
 
1670  - DEANE'S DOCTRINE OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
18th C.  Yedlinsky's collection   -  Mungo Murray
19th  C.  Richard Meade's Treatise
              American Bureau of Shipping Rules  I have 1870, 1885, 1903
              John Griffiths   Ship-Builder's Manual

I use 9x11 sheet sandpaper.  Use the disk as a template for a knife.   Coat the disk and the back of the paper with rubber cement. I use Besttest, but Elmer's should do.  It holds just fine and rubs off the disk with your thumb when a new disk is needed.  The rubber cement precludes using 10X sandpaper.  The 10X has a no-slip coating that is not compatible with rubber cement. The 3X paper is plain paper.  There is a cloth backed that comes in 5" wide rolls from Klingspor.  My local Woodcraft sells it by the foot - I think the 5 1/8" may be part of their stock.  It is a bit more robust than I need.