Jaager

One more point:  a table saw is - any size -  not an optimal choice of tool for ripping stock when simulating what a mill does to produce lumber.  The tool for this is a bandsaw, but it needs to be big enough and powerful enough to handle the job.  With its limited throat depth,  a bandsaw gets beat by a table saw for most cross cutting.  For turning a log into planks, or planks into model size thickness stock, there is no contest in efficiency, ease or safety between  a bandsaw and a table saw.   With table saws  I started with a 6.5 inch  Sears and have a 10 inch Ryobi  as well as a Jarmac 4" and a Dremel 4" ( both essentially junk ) and also a Byrnes table saw which is a superb quality machine and can't be beat for doing which it is meant to do.  
The Byrnes table saw is excellent for the final cut:  model thickness stock into planks of scale width,  or beam thickness, or keel moulded dimension, etc.
For most scales 1:48 or smaller,  these cuts are often thru thin enough stock that the finer toothed blades can do the job,  Deck beams, maybe not so much with a slitting saw.  Anyway,  getting the stock thickness to begin with,   any table saw will likely fight you. . 
A bench top 9" or 10" bandsaw will mostly frustrate you in a ripping function.  For rough scroll cutting, one of these with a 1/8" blade and a Carter Stabilizer will equal a dedicated scroll saw without the chatter.  But the blade is course with significant set - not good for close to the line cutting.  I prefer using a disk sander and sanding drum to finalize a curve shape.

One wants as thin a kerf as can be had, and a smooth a surface.  This points to using a thin slitting blade whose teeth have no set.
The problem comes from the physics of this process.  The blade is removing wood.  If the gullet of each tooth fills with wood when at the top of the stock being cut it cannot remove any more wood.  What is left is friction and heat.  I do not remember the exact number, but it is something like 4-6 teeth in contact with the stock at any one time.  Too many fine teeth,  gullet fill and motor strain and heat and binding.  Too few teeth and there is chatter or some stability problem.  The blade TPI needs to be matched to the stock thickness.  There is a tech PDF here that covers blade choice.
Fence and miter gauge together puts force on the stock from two competing directions.  Twist and torque produces side pressure on the blade.  I foresee a kickback problem that is worse than normal, as well as a binding problem wanting to stop the blade.
A sliding table is the solution to whatever problem is wanting you to use the two together.
Jim's new AL table is the RR choice,  but a thin synthetic floor with pieces riding in the two channels and a fence at both the front and back edge of the floor that is higher than the blade can rise made from scrap will do the job. An addition at the bottom fence to cover the blade as it comes thru is a very, very good idea.

Trees grow out in concentric rings.  The tubes have to be open and continuous from root to growing tip to be able to transport water and salts up and sugar down.  Only an narrow band just under the bark can produce new tubes.  I am thinking that differences in thickness would be due to either the thickness of the wall of the tube or how much polymer fill is between the tubes.  For the to be differences in sapwood and heartwood there has to be
living cells throughout. They can fill in between the tubes, They just cannot add new tubes.  For a lot of the wood we use, the difference in diameter in the
section we have cut out is not that much.  And where it is significantly tapered, planks cut parallel to the pith,  "with the grain" would be toward the roots, no?

I have not looked this up, to verify, however:
up or down as a factor =  the length of the section that we work is a small percentage the whole and is not likely to matter.
Wood is essentially a bundle of tubes.  we are rarely able to work it with the plane of our surface being exactly parallel to the direction of the tubes and be bisecting an individual tube.
I am thinking that with the grain means that the direction that we are cutting hits the wall of the tube such that it is angled up in the direction of our cut.
The force of the cut wants the push the tube down.
Against the grain means that we would be hitting the open end of a tube before we hit its body an the force of the cut  would tend to peal a tube up and away from its neighbors.

One wants as thin a kerf as can be had, and a smooth a surface.  This points to using a thin slitting blade whose teeth have no set.
The problem comes from the physics of this process.  The blade is removing wood.  If the gullet of each tooth fills with wood when at the top of the stock being cut it cannot remove any more wood.  What is left is friction and heat.  I do not remember the exact number, but it is something like 4-6 teeth in contact with the stock at any one time.  Too many fine teeth,  gullet fill and motor strain and heat and binding.  Too few teeth and there is chatter or some stability problem.  The blade TPI needs to be matched to the stock thickness.  There is a tech PDF here that covers blade choice.
Fence and miter gauge together puts force on the stock from two competing directions.  Twist and torque produces side pressure on the blade.  I foresee a kickback problem that is worse than normal, as well as a binding problem wanting to stop the blade.
A sliding table is the solution to whatever problem is wanting you to use the two together.
Jim's new AL table is the RR choice,  but a thin synthetic floor with pieces riding in the two channels and a fence at both the front and back edge of the floor that is higher than the blade can rise made from scrap will do the job. An addition at the bottom fence to cover the blade as it comes thru is a very, very good idea.

Mark me down as being horrified by the concept of cooking wood 
in hot water to dye it.  That sounds like it should be the first step in
turning it into paper and probably seriously denatures it.  To brag
about the process instead of being ashamed is mind staggering.
And that color!  why would anyone want a hull with anything but
decorative elements showing that color?

Mark me down as being horrified by the concept of cooking wood 
in hot water to dye it.  That sounds like it should be the first step in
turning it into paper and probably seriously denatures it.  To brag
about the process instead of being ashamed is mind staggering.
And that color!  why would anyone want a hull with anything but
decorative elements showing that color?

Mark me down as being horrified by the concept of cooking wood 
in hot water to dye it.  That sounds like it should be the first step in
turning it into paper and probably seriously denatures it.  To brag
about the process instead of being ashamed is mind staggering.
And that color!  why would anyone want a hull with anything but
decorative elements showing that color?

If you have a straight edged piece of wood on either side of the face being sanded, the tool is
kept square, straight and an even plane is filed or sanded.
The jig pieces can be fixed with Scotch double sided perm. tape   (Iso alcohol neutralizes the adhesive) or made a single unit using
a small bolt and nut and up side spacer the thickness of the plank.

"a cheap needle file in China, about 20 mm wide and 200 mm long, which I want to use on the sanding device. Still have to figure out how to cut the file to size without ruining my cutting tools"
 
I would try a cut-off wheel  and use the tip that was in Ships in Scale 28/5 (Fall 2017) by Monroe Mechling = use a thin  coat  of 5 min liquid epoxy on both sides of the disk to strengthen it.

I would go with the disk sander. A miter gauge - to keep it either square or at the required angle -and a very light touch.
220 grit on the disk.

I would go with the disk sander. A miter gauge - to keep it either square or at the required angle -and a very light touch.
220 grit on the disk.

If interested in function over cachet - there is an older plastic gauge.
It is $6 @ Peachtree
 
 

A blob of Silly Putty or modelers clay - on a stick - or not - to hold or pick up small stuff?

Giving your question some thought, I don't think any species will
scale the grain,  going down usually at a minimum of a factor of 50.
The species with no obvious grain would work best even with White Oak.
I am thinking that it is the color that you are focusing on.  I am no artist and
I do not know their rules, but I bet there is a scale effect on col;or - I just do not
know what it is.
I scored some Beech from Yukon Lumber last week, and it is a shade darker than
Hard Maple-  My Maple tends to vary a bit in color but Beech is a fudge darker.
I find American Sycamore to be generally awful.  What I have has a busy grain, is brittle, can get fuzzy, and
splits easily.  The only really satisfactory use I have had with it is using it to duplicate a 1 x 1 x 6 inch
Xacto sanding block - round at one end, wedge at the other. 
If the rule on scaling is things get lighter, Hard Maple may work for you,  If you want even lighter,
Soft Maple.  I found Silver Maple to be too soft, too fuzzy for my taste.
If you want aged and weather beaten,  Poplar - 

One question = what was the effect of the heat generated from firing a cannon on a paint layer?
Most colors before the late 19th c. would have been mineral, so able to withstand some heat,
but black was likely carbon based and enough heat would allow it to combine with oxygen.
The binders were also possibly an organic resin, and open to conversion to CO2.

One question = what was the effect of the heat generated from firing a cannon on a paint layer?
Most colors before the late 19th c. would have been mineral, so able to withstand some heat,
but black was likely carbon based and enough heat would allow it to combine with oxygen.
The binders were also possibly an organic resin, and open to conversion to CO2.

Giving your question some thought, I don't think any species will
scale the grain,  going down usually at a minimum of a factor of 50.
The species with no obvious grain would work best even with White Oak.
I am thinking that it is the color that you are focusing on.  I am no artist and
I do not know their rules, but I bet there is a scale effect on col;or - I just do not
know what it is.
I scored some Beech from Yukon Lumber last week, and it is a shade darker than
Hard Maple-  My Maple tends to vary a bit in color but Beech is a fudge darker.
I find American Sycamore to be generally awful.  What I have has a busy grain, is brittle, can get fuzzy, and
splits easily.  The only really satisfactory use I have had with it is using it to duplicate a 1 x 1 x 6 inch
Xacto sanding block - round at one end, wedge at the other. 
If the rule on scaling is things get lighter, Hard Maple may work for you,  If you want even lighter,
Soft Maple.  I found Silver Maple to be too soft, too fuzzy for my taste.
If you want aged and weather beaten,  Poplar - 

Giving your question some thought, I don't think any species will
scale the grain,  going down usually at a minimum of a factor of 50.
The species with no obvious grain would work best even with White Oak.
I am thinking that it is the color that you are focusing on.  I am no artist and
I do not know their rules, but I bet there is a scale effect on col;or - I just do not
know what it is.
I scored some Beech from Yukon Lumber last week, and it is a shade darker than
Hard Maple-  My Maple tends to vary a bit in color but Beech is a fudge darker.
I find American Sycamore to be generally awful.  What I have has a busy grain, is brittle, can get fuzzy, and
splits easily.  The only really satisfactory use I have had with it is using it to duplicate a 1 x 1 x 6 inch
Xacto sanding block - round at one end, wedge at the other. 
If the rule on scaling is things get lighter, Hard Maple may work for you,  If you want even lighter,
Soft Maple.  I found Silver Maple to be too soft, too fuzzy for my taste.
If you want aged and weather beaten,  Poplar - 

Giving your question some thought, I don't think any species will
scale the grain,  going down usually at a minimum of a factor of 50.
The species with no obvious grain would work best even with White Oak.
I am thinking that it is the color that you are focusing on.  I am no artist and
I do not know their rules, but I bet there is a scale effect on col;or - I just do not
know what it is.
I scored some Beech from Yukon Lumber last week, and it is a shade darker than
Hard Maple-  My Maple tends to vary a bit in color but Beech is a fudge darker.
I find American Sycamore to be generally awful.  What I have has a busy grain, is brittle, can get fuzzy, and
splits easily.  The only really satisfactory use I have had with it is using it to duplicate a 1 x 1 x 6 inch
Xacto sanding block - round at one end, wedge at the other. 
If the rule on scaling is things get lighter, Hard Maple may work for you,  If you want even lighter,
Soft Maple.  I found Silver Maple to be too soft, too fuzzy for my taste.
If you want aged and weather beaten,  Poplar - 

Giving your question some thought, I don't think any species will
scale the grain,  going down usually at a minimum of a factor of 50.
The species with no obvious grain would work best even with White Oak.
I am thinking that it is the color that you are focusing on.  I am no artist and
I do not know their rules, but I bet there is a scale effect on col;or - I just do not
know what it is.
I scored some Beech from Yukon Lumber last week, and it is a shade darker than
Hard Maple-  My Maple tends to vary a bit in color but Beech is a fudge darker.
I find American Sycamore to be generally awful.  What I have has a busy grain, is brittle, can get fuzzy, and
splits easily.  The only really satisfactory use I have had with it is using it to duplicate a 1 x 1 x 6 inch
Xacto sanding block - round at one end, wedge at the other. 
If the rule on scaling is things get lighter, Hard Maple may work for you,  If you want even lighter,
Soft Maple.  I found Silver Maple to be too soft, too fuzzy for my taste.
If you want aged and weather beaten,  Poplar - 

Cliff,
You are golden.  A quick search and I found 2 Raleigh
hardwood suppliers - at least 8/4 Cherry and Hard Maple up to 12/4
and one has Beech.  Both have Poplar also.  The open pores can be a
problem, but there is Black Walnut - 
I am thinking that the furniture industry there is gone to Asia, but there may be
hardwood mills a bit west on I 40 around Hickory.  I kinda think that the time, 
petrol, and hassle negates any material cost savings though and it may be green.
There is a custom lumber company in Raleigh.  If you want one of the stars as far as
domestic species, perhaps they can find you some Apple.   But if you intend to use it for
frames, get a lot.

Cliff,
You are golden.  A quick search and I found 2 Raleigh
hardwood suppliers - at least 8/4 Cherry and Hard Maple up to 12/4
and one has Beech.  Both have Poplar also.  The open pores can be a
problem, but there is Black Walnut - 
I am thinking that the furniture industry there is gone to Asia, but there may be
hardwood mills a bit west on I 40 around Hickory.  I kinda think that the time, 
petrol, and hassle negates any material cost savings though and it may be green.
There is a custom lumber company in Raleigh.  If you want one of the stars as far as
domestic species, perhaps they can find you some Apple.   But if you intend to use it for
frames, get a lot.

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.

As for what you stock dimensions should be,  for scratch POF, you need to get works with
the scantlings as close as possible to the age of your project.
If Swan is your subject:
SCANTLINGS OF THE ROYAL NAVY 1719-1805
by Allan Yedlinsky
 
For 19th c. I use Meade, and Rules from ASA.
For 17th c Deans.
 
 
Bob is center target as far as the proper tool for resawing is concerned.
You may get 8/4 on one pass, but likely will take at least two, on a 10" tablesaw.
 
As for getting the saw thickness setting that minimizes the number of passes
thru a sander necessary to get a 220 grit finish with no blade scars, I use
2x4 framing lumber - Home Depot had it at $3.30 each - they cut it into 2 foot sections
for me - my Z can't carry anything much longer.
 
Let us know where you find 8/4 and 12/4 Boxwood - the Pear will be
easier to find at 4/4 too.  Holly is a small tree to begin with.
 
You may wish to investigate what the result will be at 1/4" as far as the size of the model.
I have opted for hulls that are 1/2 the volume of 1/4" scale = 1:60.  The hull of the brig
USS Porpoise  1836 is about right and USS Flying Fish 1838  also.  The hull of the 118 gun
liner Commerce de Marseilles is almost overwhelming though.  I would not want to deal with
the size that the published 1/4" produced.
It is impressive - just how much stock is needed for the framing timbers - lots of BF - and the
yield - at least 50% will end up as sawdust. 
 
Going for a Swan as a first POF,  and asking what you are asking - I recommend that you consider
framing and planking with Black Cherry-  being as how you are a Tarheel, that species should be
a reasonable cost and easy to find.