Hi All, greetings from Portugal. First time builder here. I’m newly semi-retired and recently moved from Austin, Texas to Portugal. I’m not a novice woodworker but no longer have the full workshop I had in Texas.
I’ve had a lifelong love of wooden ships and am looking forward to this build.
I decided on Polaris as a modestly priced, beginner level model and have been reading build logs and watching videos and working on understanding methods and techniques. My kit is due to arrive in a couple days and so I’m gathering tools and getting my workspace ready.
I know Polaris is not based on a specific ship but in the interest of historical accuracy, I’m curious about what time frame and similar ships I might study as reference. It seems like the general idea is that she’s first half of 19th century, American design, based on a merchant type outfitted for polar exploration. Accurate so far? The actual USS Polaris was a “screw steamer” so clearly not the basis for this model. (Though reading through the Wikipedia article about her, she seems like she’d be a fascinating project!)
So…. On with my first build!