Jaager

Since Ron has anticipated what I was referring to, I will go ahead and expand
 
Plans and computers
A primary factor is to avoid having the computer or print program perform any "helpful" background adjustments and to counter any artifacts introduced by the process. The product should be set up to print any plans precisely  as intended.
Necessary tools = a printer scanner and a drawing program that can scale, use multiple layers, and process large files.
The bench mark program is PhotoShop and for a one off plan, the cloud rental may be cost effective.  Expensive alternatives are Corel Draw and Corel Painter.
Less expensive is PaintShop Pro. Gimp is free.
A document or canvas size should be a base for any program. It should be as large as can be had without the printer program needing to "adjust" it to match the paper size. I use  8.5 x 11 =  2197 x 1701 pixels   and 8.5 x 14 = 2796 x 1701 pixels..  For Windows  Photo Viewer, be sure to uncheck "fit picture to frame".
It is a given that a scanner will distort its product.  Fortunately, this is a constant for any machine.  What the distortion is must be determined and corrected as the first step in processing a plan in the draw program.  The X Y distortion may be uniform or X may be different from Y.
I did this usng a transparent metric ruler.  Scan it X and Y.  Open the scans in the draw program - the two layers can be both visible and saved as a file.
I prefer .PNG - it is a lossless format and will save an alpha.  A smaller file can be had using .JPG if you are willing to deal with the save fidelity questions.
Print the ruler scan and compare to the original.  Metric is easy to use to to determine the % difference.  In the draw program, adjust a copy of the scan by the % determined - save - print - compare.  Repeat until you get identity. Carve the % scale adjustment in stone and adjust any scan taken into the draw program by this factor as a first step - always.
Scan your keel - or better for getting it flat - the copy on the plans if there is one.
Start with a new canvas in landscape orientation.
open the keel scan as a new layer - probably will need more than one scan unless the model is a miniature.
Adjust -  
Lock these layers.
On a new layer -  type an lower case letter "o" using Ariel Black - print size 4.
On a new layer -  type an lower case letter "o" using Ariel Black - print size 7.
Line up the two layers with holes centered.  Combine the two layers.  This is a pin locator.
Position pin locators along the keel - top and bottom and in places where a hole will not matter.
Combine the pin layers with a copy of the keel layer(s).
Duplicate and flip vertical.
Print out these plans.  
The paper is a bit flimsy -  I coat them with a liberal layer of brushing lacquer -
By using pins and the locators, the mirror images can be aligned on either side of the keel.
I use Best Test rubber cement - a serious coat on both mating surfaces.
 

Since Ron has anticipated what I was referring to, I will go ahead and expand
 
Plans and computers
A primary factor is to avoid having the computer or print program perform any "helpful" background adjustments and to counter any artifacts introduced by the process. The product should be set up to print any plans precisely  as intended.
Necessary tools = a printer scanner and a drawing program that can scale, use multiple layers, and process large files.
The bench mark program is PhotoShop and for a one off plan, the cloud rental may be cost effective.  Expensive alternatives are Corel Draw and Corel Painter.
Less expensive is PaintShop Pro. Gimp is free.
A document or canvas size should be a base for any program. It should be as large as can be had without the printer program needing to "adjust" it to match the paper size. I use  8.5 x 11 =  2197 x 1701 pixels   and 8.5 x 14 = 2796 x 1701 pixels..  For Windows  Photo Viewer, be sure to uncheck "fit picture to frame".
It is a given that a scanner will distort its product.  Fortunately, this is a constant for any machine.  What the distortion is must be determined and corrected as the first step in processing a plan in the draw program.  The X Y distortion may be uniform or X may be different from Y.
I did this usng a transparent metric ruler.  Scan it X and Y.  Open the scans in the draw program - the two layers can be both visible and saved as a file.
I prefer .PNG - it is a lossless format and will save an alpha.  A smaller file can be had using .JPG if you are willing to deal with the save fidelity questions.
Print the ruler scan and compare to the original.  Metric is easy to use to to determine the % difference.  In the draw program, adjust a copy of the scan by the % determined - save - print - compare.  Repeat until you get identity. Carve the % scale adjustment in stone and adjust any scan taken into the draw program by this factor as a first step - always.
Scan your keel - or better for getting it flat - the copy on the plans if there is one.
Start with a new canvas in landscape orientation.
open the keel scan as a new layer - probably will need more than one scan unless the model is a miniature.
Adjust -  
Lock these layers.
On a new layer -  type an lower case letter "o" using Ariel Black - print size 4.
On a new layer -  type an lower case letter "o" using Ariel Black - print size 7.
Line up the two layers with holes centered.  Combine the two layers.  This is a pin locator.
Position pin locators along the keel - top and bottom and in places where a hole will not matter.
Combine the pin layers with a copy of the keel layer(s).
Duplicate and flip vertical.
Print out these plans.  
The paper is a bit flimsy -  I coat them with a liberal layer of brushing lacquer -
By using pins and the locators, the mirror images can be aligned on either side of the keel.
I use Best Test rubber cement - a serious coat on both mating surfaces.
 

Since Ron has anticipated what I was referring to, I will go ahead and expand
 
Plans and computers
A primary factor is to avoid having the computer or print program perform any "helpful" background adjustments and to counter any artifacts introduced by the process. The product should be set up to print any plans precisely  as intended.
Necessary tools = a printer scanner and a drawing program that can scale, use multiple layers, and process large files.
The bench mark program is PhotoShop and for a one off plan, the cloud rental may be cost effective.  Expensive alternatives are Corel Draw and Corel Painter.
Less expensive is PaintShop Pro. Gimp is free.
A document or canvas size should be a base for any program. It should be as large as can be had without the printer program needing to "adjust" it to match the paper size. I use  8.5 x 11 =  2197 x 1701 pixels   and 8.5 x 14 = 2796 x 1701 pixels..  For Windows  Photo Viewer, be sure to uncheck "fit picture to frame".
It is a given that a scanner will distort its product.  Fortunately, this is a constant for any machine.  What the distortion is must be determined and corrected as the first step in processing a plan in the draw program.  The X Y distortion may be uniform or X may be different from Y.
I did this usng a transparent metric ruler.  Scan it X and Y.  Open the scans in the draw program - the two layers can be both visible and saved as a file.
I prefer .PNG - it is a lossless format and will save an alpha.  A smaller file can be had using .JPG if you are willing to deal with the save fidelity questions.
Print the ruler scan and compare to the original.  Metric is easy to use to to determine the % difference.  In the draw program, adjust a copy of the scan by the % determined - save - print - compare.  Repeat until you get identity. Carve the % scale adjustment in stone and adjust any scan taken into the draw program by this factor as a first step - always.
Scan your keel - or better for getting it flat - the copy on the plans if there is one.
Start with a new canvas in landscape orientation.
open the keel scan as a new layer - probably will need more than one scan unless the model is a miniature.
Adjust -  
Lock these layers.
On a new layer -  type an lower case letter "o" using Ariel Black - print size 4.
On a new layer -  type an lower case letter "o" using Ariel Black - print size 7.
Line up the two layers with holes centered.  Combine the two layers.  This is a pin locator.
Position pin locators along the keel - top and bottom and in places where a hole will not matter.
Combine the pin layers with a copy of the keel layer(s).
Duplicate and flip vertical.
Print out these plans.  
The paper is a bit flimsy -  I coat them with a liberal layer of brushing lacquer -
By using pins and the locators, the mirror images can be aligned on either side of the keel.
I use Best Test rubber cement - a serious coat on both mating surfaces.
 

Do you have areas of the keel that will be cut away or not seen on the finished model? Are these areas widely spaced and cover the ends of the keel?

Plastic is a polymer that is formed by catalytic reaction and continues after production - at a slower rate.
Oxygen, UV light, heat can increase the polymerization reaction -making it brittle and stiff and prone to turn to powder.
Wood is a polymer make by specialized cells.  They are no longer active while the wood is still a tree.  There are trees that are hundreds if not thousands of years old,  What does wood in is fungus and insects, not UV or oxygen.  Swelling and shrinking in response to changes in humidity can produce splits.
If brittle wood is a problem, the cause is probably a result of the wood species -  not time. 
The appropriate wood species to use are usually more expensive and do not come in truck load quantities.
Some boutique kit makers use the preferred wood species. Mass market kit assemblers often use wood species that a scratch modeler would never choose.
  You asking the question, this probably means that you may be happier if you second source a wood supply - after some research here as to which species would work better for you.

It is not so much exotic as species that come from trees that do not lend themselves to high volume operations
Most "exotic" species are prized because they have characteristics that we try to avoid - prominent and interesting grain.
In general softwood species do not play nice for us.
The cachet species are Boxwood ( the real Buxus is all but impossible to source - it has been replaced by a S.A. species = Castelo that is treated as though it were the same ) Swiss Pear, Ebony )
The US domestic species that work well are Hard Maple, Black Cherry, Holly, Yellow Poplar, Beech,  most any fruit wood - Apple being my favorite - but these are self harvested.
If you are US based and can mill your own, you could replace the kit material with Hard Maple and Black Cherry milled to the same thickness.  
For bending, Holly if the others resist too much.

It is not so much exotic as species that come from trees that do not lend themselves to high volume operations
Most "exotic" species are prized because they have characteristics that we try to avoid - prominent and interesting grain.
In general softwood species do not play nice for us.
The cachet species are Boxwood ( the real Buxus is all but impossible to source - it has been replaced by a S.A. species = Castelo that is treated as though it were the same ) Swiss Pear, Ebony )
The US domestic species that work well are Hard Maple, Black Cherry, Holly, Yellow Poplar, Beech,  most any fruit wood - Apple being my favorite - but these are self harvested.
If you are US based and can mill your own, you could replace the kit material with Hard Maple and Black Cherry milled to the same thickness.  
For bending, Holly if the others resist too much.

Plastic is a polymer that is formed by catalytic reaction and continues after production - at a slower rate.
Oxygen, UV light, heat can increase the polymerization reaction -making it brittle and stiff and prone to turn to powder.
Wood is a polymer make by specialized cells.  They are no longer active while the wood is still a tree.  There are trees that are hundreds if not thousands of years old,  What does wood in is fungus and insects, not UV or oxygen.  Swelling and shrinking in response to changes in humidity can produce splits.
If brittle wood is a problem, the cause is probably a result of the wood species -  not time. 
The appropriate wood species to use are usually more expensive and do not come in truck load quantities.
Some boutique kit makers use the preferred wood species. Mass market kit assemblers often use wood species that a scratch modeler would never choose.
  You asking the question, this probably means that you may be happier if you second source a wood supply - after some research here as to which species would work better for you.

Plastic is a polymer that is formed by catalytic reaction and continues after production - at a slower rate.
Oxygen, UV light, heat can increase the polymerization reaction -making it brittle and stiff and prone to turn to powder.
Wood is a polymer make by specialized cells.  They are no longer active while the wood is still a tree.  There are trees that are hundreds if not thousands of years old,  What does wood in is fungus and insects, not UV or oxygen.  Swelling and shrinking in response to changes in humidity can produce splits.
If brittle wood is a problem, the cause is probably a result of the wood species -  not time. 
The appropriate wood species to use are usually more expensive and do not come in truck load quantities.
Some boutique kit makers use the preferred wood species. Mass market kit assemblers often use wood species that a scratch modeler would never choose.
  You asking the question, this probably means that you may be happier if you second source a wood supply - after some research here as to which species would work better for you.

To help with your search,  the lines and spar and sail plans for Young America are a part of the folio of plans  done by William H. Webb.  If a library close to where your ancestor lived had the folio or he lived close enough to the Webb Institute, that could explain where he got the plans.  The deck details would have to come from another source.  The ship is 235 feet deck length or  4.9 feet long @ 1:48 just for the hull before the spars were added.  I doubt that any kit manufacturer would have been mad enough to produce a product of this size.  Most seem to have some idealized mantel piece length and adjust their model's scale to fit that length.   A serious amount of lumber would have been needed to produce the hull.
You have both a gem and something of a white elephant.  It also represents and serious expenditure of both time and skill on the part of your forebearer.

Your window of opportunity may be a short one, as they may be going dark again,  but The Smithsonian has made a big deal of the gunboat Philadelphia.
They have 18 sheets of plans.  One that is Chapelle's and 17 that are based on the archeological work done on the actual hull.
The whole K&K is expensive = $170 but you would have the equivalent of the best ANCRE monograph to work from.

To help with your search,  the lines and spar and sail plans for Young America are a part of the folio of plans  done by William H. Webb.  If a library close to where your ancestor lived had the folio or he lived close enough to the Webb Institute, that could explain where he got the plans.  The deck details would have to come from another source.  The ship is 235 feet deck length or  4.9 feet long @ 1:48 just for the hull before the spars were added.  I doubt that any kit manufacturer would have been mad enough to produce a product of this size.  Most seem to have some idealized mantel piece length and adjust their model's scale to fit that length.   A serious amount of lumber would have been needed to produce the hull.
You have both a gem and something of a white elephant.  It also represents and serious expenditure of both time and skill on the part of your forebearer.

Sounds like it is museum scale -1/4":1'.    You sorta haveta live in a mansion to display a model of a ship that was that large at that scale.
Furring strips will not be overkill.  If you use plywood instead of 1/8" hardboard or pegboard,  it gets heavy .  As it is, adding some sort of wheels to the base would make things easier for you.  With pegboard, it can double as a rolling tool holder.

You should certainly keep the model.
A plywood base and a frame made from furring strips. Use steel corner braces and drill for 1/4" flat head bolts. No glue.
Cover the frame with 4/6 mil vapor barrier.  Have some vent holes.  The frame can then be covered with hardboard or peg board.
Use screws and when your domestic situation changes and you are able to display the ship, the container can be easily disassembled
and the the components repurposed..
 

For lnen yarn
Etsy   has sources - mostly Baltic    Coloredworld   LINENGRAPHY   TheRawLinen
the natural grey looks like hemp as it is.  It is a bit fuzzy and adherence to diameter spec could be better,
but it is linen.
 
 

As an armchair experiment:
use double sided tape or rubber cement to fix the metal sheet
to a 1/8- 1/4" piece of pine and run that thru the saw.
A blind cut on a thicker piece of wood would be even safer.
Disadvantage = more than one cut would require removal and
reattachment of the metal to the carrier.. 
advantage = the blade would not cut any wood on a second pass.
or the notch could be there from the beginning.

You should certainly keep the model.
A plywood base and a frame made from furring strips. Use steel corner braces and drill for 1/4" flat head bolts. No glue.
Cover the frame with 4/6 mil vapor barrier.  Have some vent holes.  The frame can then be covered with hardboard or peg board.
Use screws and when your domestic situation changes and you are able to display the ship, the container can be easily disassembled
and the the components repurposed..
 

Your window of opportunity may be a short one, as they may be going dark again,  but The Smithsonian has made a big deal of the gunboat Philadelphia.
They have 18 sheets of plans.  One that is Chapelle's and 17 that are based on the archeological work done on the actual hull.
The whole K&K is expensive = $170 but you would have the equivalent of the best ANCRE monograph to work from.

You should certainly keep the model.
A plywood base and a frame made from furring strips. Use steel corner braces and drill for 1/4" flat head bolts. No glue.
Cover the frame with 4/6 mil vapor barrier.  Have some vent holes.  The frame can then be covered with hardboard or peg board.
Use screws and when your domestic situation changes and you are able to display the ship, the container can be easily disassembled
and the the components repurposed..
 

I forget what is in rubbing alcohol - ethyl - to get it past the federal tax, iso is poison all by itself  -- anyway, I was trying to unbond wood that was joined using Franklin Hide Glue.  A heat gun and 70% ethyl rubbing alcohol did the job - I was too OCD in my glue coverage and the wood was sort of thick - and it took too much heat to get deep into the bonded layer and the Maple was almost charring on the surface, so I had to find another way to do what I was after.  But - a surface bond with a paper pattern has no problem with access - and the heat and 70% ethyl not only broke the bond, the glue formed into little beads that easily rubbed off and the wood grain should not swell as much as using just water.  I did not take notes, but I seem to remember that 91% Iso was not as reactive with the glue protein.  It might do and that would solve any swelling problem.
The paint thinner ethyl alcohol is 95% with a touch of methanol, etc.   Ethanol has an attraction to water that makes it impossible to have 100% if it is exposed to water vapor in the air it is in.  I think the pharmacy alcohol is less expensive than the paint store stuff.
 

Bob,  for removing hide glue, try ethyl alcohol - the rubbing alcohol in pharmacies - not the isopropyl.
Heat and ethanol denatures the protein - changes its shape and no longer bonds.
 

If waxed paper does not work - I have found soy sauce flat-ish  micro dipping bowels in an Asian food market in various sizes that may work.  Not expensive. Works if your community has an East Asian population that is large enough to support a market.

If waxed paper does not work - I have found soy sauce flat-ish  micro dipping bowels in an Asian food market in various sizes that may work.  Not expensive. Works if your community has an East Asian population that is large enough to support a market.

Unless you nick the edge, it should be enough to strop.   A piece of scrap leather and rub it with a bar of compound like FlexCut Gold or someone else's finest grit stropping medium.  The angle does not need to be exact. Too flat and you polish the bevel and not the edge.  But too vertical and it may not get you the edge that you are after.

Unless you nick the edge, it should be enough to strop.   A piece of scrap leather and rub it with a bar of compound like FlexCut Gold or someone else's finest grit stropping medium.  The angle does not need to be exact. Too flat and you polish the bevel and not the edge.  But too vertical and it may not get you the edge that you are after.