Bob Cleek

My answer to your question, scratch building.  With a kit, you’re locked into the manufacturer’s building method, materials, etc.  When you build from scratch, you can use methods that you find to be easier.  You can also make use of higher quality materials.
 
Roger

Rob, that explains why Glory's name boards appeared to be so well preserved. I remember reading that the "David Crockett" had her figurehead's rifle removed when out to sea and "Thermopylae" had King Leonidas's sword taken out as well. I don't recall entire Figureheads being taken down but I suppose it's possible. There's a tale of the British Clipper "Torrens" losing her lovely lady Figurehead being lost in a dramatic collision with a Steam Ship. Three years later she reappeared thousands of miles away in a rugged island near the Antarctic!

Bob Cleek, Rob & Vladimir
It took the better part of the afternoon, running and pausing the video more times than I can remember. Anyhow, here's my sketch of the name board for McKay's last Clipper "Glory of the Seas."

Bob Cleek, Thank you so much! It's always so thrilling to see actual items from McKay's long lost last Clipper! Seeing the genuine signboard from her, I am struck by the rough hewn simplicity and "woodeness" of her capital letters, although the "R" and "S" seem to be smoother than the "G" which looks the crudest of all. In fact, the "of the" lower case words are far more refined in appearance. Even still, it must have been quite an impression to see this in it's original gold leaf glory. 
Reviewing her 1869 photo, I noticed her "oak leaf" end clusters appear to have been completely gold leafed too. At launch, her Bow signboards were positioned further back, aligning with the graceful termination of the quarterdeck caprail just above. 

Isn't it true that nobody sells anything for more than Micro-Mark?

Thank you Bob. wooow it is there on the wall in 2. minute with all the glory  

Apropos of nothing relevant at this point in the discussion, but in the spirit of "every bit helps," I'll pass on the fact that Glory of the Seas' nameboard is hanging on the wall in  the J. Porter Shaw Library, Fort Mason, San Francisco (SF Maritime Historical Park.)  It is mentioned at 1:57 of the video on the library website:  https://www.kahnfoundation.org/j-porter-shaw-maritime-library/

And just to make life a bit more miserable for the anally constrained obsessives, let's not forget that the measurement of a "foot" was not internationally standardized in the times discussed here. Individual nations and even individual cities had their own "foot" measurement standards and even some trades had their own "foot" measurements.  Where some may have updated their measurement standards or political boundaries may have shifted, there were simultaneously "old feet" and "new feet" in some locations. This is often a cause of confusion today when a contemporary draughts and records list the length of a particular vessel in "feet" and the contemporary model doesn't measure out to scale in the present "Imperial foot" which was only internationally standardized in 1959. I once had a terrible time trying to resolve the published discrepancy in the length of a yacht built as recently as 1939 until I realized the naval architect's drawings were done in the UK to British feet and inches, while the vessel was built to the offsets in British measurement units by a yard in Sweden using Swedish feet and inches!  See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(unit)

And the shape of the bows, and what timber was on hand at the time, which decreased in size as the forests became consumed by a wooden navy's prodigious consumption of timber. When there came to be less large trees, ships came to be built of smaller pieces and hence scarfs and doublings increased. When it came to the point that ships became so large and the timber so small that the number of scarfs in a keel were insufficient to hold a ship's shape for long and her ends began to sag, or "hog," shipbuilding engineers like the famous Seppings began to devise ways to engineer construction to build rigidity into the hulls which was derived from devices like specialized knees and diagonal strapping. For a wonk, reconciling the changes in ship design and construction with the increase in the size of ships and the consequent decrease in the size of available trees is a fascinating study.

And just to make life a bit more miserable for the anally constrained obsessives, let's not forget that the measurement of a "foot" was not internationally standardized in the times discussed here. Individual nations and even individual cities had their own "foot" measurement standards and even some trades had their own "foot" measurements.  Where some may have updated their measurement standards or political boundaries may have shifted, there were simultaneously "old feet" and "new feet" in some locations. This is often a cause of confusion today when a contemporary draughts and records list the length of a particular vessel in "feet" and the contemporary model doesn't measure out to scale in the present "Imperial foot" which was only internationally standardized in 1959. I once had a terrible time trying to resolve the published discrepancy in the length of a yacht built as recently as 1939 until I realized the naval architect's drawings were done in the UK to British feet and inches, while the vessel was built to the offsets in British measurement units by a yard in Sweden using Swedish feet and inches!  See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(unit)

It would be rope *circumference* as a proportion of mast or spar maximum diameter it is referred from.

Marcus,
 
zu Mondfeld's "Standing rigging sizes" table on page 272 and "Running rigging sizes" table on page 308 have an error. This had me scratching my head for a while. They say
 
"The figures given refer to the thickness of the main stay, 0.166% of the diameter of the mainmast at the deck (100%)."
 
The actual number is mast diameter x 0.166,  or 16.6% of the mast diameter.
 
The resulting number is the circumference of the rope, not the diameter. Divide the circumference by Pi (3.14159) to get the diameter of the rope.
 
****
 
Before I figured this out I was getting really strange rope sizes. For example, 0.166% = 0.0016. If a model's mast was 0.375 inch diameter I thought the rope diameter was 0.0016 x 0.375 = 0.0006 inch!  That is about 1/5 the thickness of a sheet of 24# printer paper! That is way too small and obviously incorrect.
 
So I tried 0.375 inch times 16.6% = 0.375 x 0.166 = 0.062 inch, or about 1/16 inch. But 1/16 inch diameter seemed much too large.
 
Then I realized it meant a 1/16 inch circumference, or 0.0625/3.14159 = 0.019894 or 0.02 inch diameter rope for the main stay.
 
All other rigging circumferences are based upon the main stay circumference.
 
****
 
In my schooner rigging spreadsheet I used Lees' formulas for English square rigged ships. But mast diameters are smaller on schooners that on full rigged ships. So reducing the mast diameter for schooners also reduced the size of the ropes used for the rigging.
 
However, the rigging size section of the spreadsheet is not linked to the masting part. There is a separate cell (BH9) for the rigging calculations where you enter the model's mast diameter. So for any ship type just enter the mast diameter and the spreadsheet will use Lees' rules and calculate all the rigging sizes. However, I only include the rigging used on a schooner (and not all of that it turns out - I am learning). But the spreadsheet is not locked so you can modify it however you please.
 
CAUTION: The spreadsheet uses Lees' English unit formulas and some calculations contain English feet to inch conversions, so entering metric values for the mast diameter will result in some meaningless Metlish measurements! If you want metric values enter the mast diameter in inches and then add a column to the calculations to convert the English units to metric units. Or just rewrite the spreadsheet.
Mast spar and rigging calculations.xlsx

It all depends on country, era, etc.

Sorry. I just stumbled over this log right now and wish I'd had the opportunity to comment before you'd gone as far down the road as you have. In the off chance that you weren't aware, I'll offer the following. Your Scud model hull may be of much greater interest as an antique than the comments in the thread indicate. (Re: the Antiques Roadshow rule: "If you hadn't refinished it, I'd estimate auction value at $25,000." "So what's it worth since I had it refinished?" "About $1,500.")
 
While the lead ballast keel indicates the hull was carved for a sailing model, and so the keel profile can't be expected to depict the prototype, in a folk-artsy sort of way, the hull appears to be a pond model of Nathaniel G. Herreshoff's 1903 Bar Harbor 31 class cutter, Scud, which, amazingly, is still sailing today and terrorizing the Med classic racing circuit following a total restoration. See: https://www.magzter.com/stories/Boating-Sailing/Classic-Boat/SCUD-MISSILE
 
Designer: Nathanael Greene Herreshoff Type of Boat: Bar Harbor 31 Class Rig: Gaff Cutter Year Built: 1903 Built By: The Herreshoff Manufacturing Cpmpany, Bristol, Rhode Island, USA LOA m / ft: 18.59m/61' LOD m / ft: 14.93m / 48'10" LWL m / ft: 9.37m / 30' 9" Beam m / ft: 3.18m / 10' 5" Draft m / ft: 2.21m / 7' 3" Yard No: 603 Sail Stats sail area: 1425sq.ft Construction: Double-planked yellow pine, inside planking cypress, and diagonally strapped with bronze and oak frames. HMCo hull: 603  
 
NGH's records on the Bar Harbor 31's and any records on Scud, will be found in the Hart Maritime Collection at MIT, which, happily, has been digitized and is accessible online: https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/hart-nautical-collections-list and https://collections.mitmuseum.org/collection/haffenreffer-herreshoff-collection/
 
Scud in foreground:

 

 

https://classicyachtinfo.com/yachts/scud/
 
 

 



 

 
 
 
More photos and full construction plan: https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1903/herreshoff-bar-harbor-31-3079607/
 
Also extensively covered by WoodenBoat Magazine: http://www.herreshoff.info/Docs/AuxDocs/1982_03_WoodenBoat_045_p68-74_Bray_BH31_Portrait.pdf
 
http://www.herreshoff.info/Docs/AuxDocs/2000_09_WoodenBoat_156_p144_Scud_Save_a_Classic.pdf

I love Cornwall Model Boats too.   I think the Canadian shipping thing is a product of warehousing.   They probably don't stock EVERYTHING in one place and rely on other vendors for stuff they do list.   I ordered a tool the other day from a mom&pop shop in Missouri, and the system they sold was shipped from San Diego.   
 
My local Hobby Shop is an RC emporium, with a few static model options but nothing like what we need in terms of materials or tools.   5000 options for batteries, and exactly one option for x-acto knife - that sort of thing.    The best place to buy hobby lumber is actually my local hardware store, not the hobby shop.  Incidentally, they also tend to carry more useful tools too.  The closest good shop for me would be 4-500 miles away.     So I shop online, and even then I have found that I have increasingly sought out even more niche companies like Syren as opposed to ModelExpo for upgrade parts.   Which is to say, even if my local shop had the very basic of "mainstream" model ship stuff like Model Shipways, I still wouldn't be likely to buy from there.   
 
 
Im sorry to hear.   Id like to check out your website, is there a link?   I tried googling it, but a few options came up and which one might be yours wasn't immediately obvious to me. 
 
There is wisdom here.   Ive definitely found that the more equipped I have become both in tools and in experience the more I am drawn to scratch building.    I enjoy a good kit, but the expense + time in looking for replacements parts + additional expense in buying/making those parts makes kits sometimes a bit more tedious feeling.    I dislike shelling out a few hundred dollars knowing full well that almost half of the wood, fittings, rope etc is more or less useless.    I agree that it is a natural evolution one makes in time, and can see myself headed in that direction.   Though I have kits on the shelf, I don't anticipate pulling one down after my Syren is completed.   My capabilities have grown thanks to the kits I have built, and the experience Ive gained and of course my involvement with MSW.   I feel compelled to take that next step and scratch is it for me.  
 
That said, one of the greatest benefits of having developed an "equipped" shop for scratch building is that now my kids come into my shop and look around and I can literally see their creative inspiration sparking.   Maybe not with models, but when they ask if we can make something, my model projects get swept aside and we make something.  I never thought my little corner of the house would become a place of fun for them, but ship modeling and my tool obsession has left us with this place where literally anything we can think of (within reason of course) can be made.   They may never take up ship modeling as a hobby, but being around the tools and wide variety of techniques and materials is I think giving them something potentially more beneficial.
 
Whats most distressing to me is the state of hobby mills and wood availability.   There are a few options, but I do miss having someone who catered specifically to ship modeling.   
 
Couldn't have said it better myself.   

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  
 
In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 
 
That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.
 
And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 
 
 
 
 

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  
 
In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 
 
That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.
 
And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 
 
 
 
 

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  
 
In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 
 
That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.
 
And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 
 
 
 
 

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  
 
In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 
 
That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.
 
And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 
 
 
 
 

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  
 
In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 
 
That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.
 
And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 
 
 
 
 

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  
 
In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 
 
That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.
 
And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 
 
 
 
 

@Bob Cleek, @allanyed and @DelF
 
Thank you all for de detailed information and I downloaded the spreadsheet from Danny Vadas.
Also downloaded the spreadsheet from the Schooner thread from Dr. P.
 
Furthermore, because I only build Dutch merchant ships from the 17th century I asked the same question on a Dutch model site (www.modelbouwforum.nl). They refered me to books written by Ab Hoving, a member here, and an expert on Dutch ships. I have all his books 
 
I am going to compare the British ship measurements to the Dutch ship measurements and see how much difference there is. 
 
Thanks again. 
Marcus 

Fly tying vises are great. Anything that holds the workpiece will generally improve efficiency and accuracy by orders of magnitude over fingers. (Don't ask me how long it took me to learn this bit of wisdom!  )
 
Many modelers are familiar with the following "holders." I'm posting them for newcomers who may not have encountered them as yet.
 
The jeweler's hand vise:  These come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles. My favorite is one which adjusts by twisting the handle, which screws the handle up a threaded shaft with a cone at its base which forces the jaws together. It has grooved teeth to hold various sizes of wire for drawing through a draw plate and a hole through the shaft and handle which permits holding the end of a wire or thin dowel close at the jaws while letting the long end project from the end of the handle. The handle can be held in a larger soft or protected jaw bench vise to free both hands to work on the workpiece. They're relatively inexpensive.
 

https://www.amazon.com/Woodstock-D4119-Handy-Hand-Held/dp/B005W179JC/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/131-3456601-3915348?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B005W179JC&pd_rd_r=9e8a1884-e3be-4bd1-9a39-ca497790734c&pd_rd_w=URu5u&pd_rd_wg=naP5e&pf_rd_p=fd3ebcd0-c1a2-44cf-aba2-bbf4810b3732&pf_rd_r=88G5XCC3HZV8SXC4JG6E&psc=1&refRID=88G5XCC3HZV8SXC4JG6E
 
Universal work holder: These vises hold irregular-shaped small objects. They have small metal pins that are inserted wherever one desires on the face of the vise to hold the workpiece, either by moving the jaws together to clamp down on the piece, or, as with rings, placing the pins inside the ring and moving the jaws apart to hold the ring from the center. The entire vise "head" can be screwed off the handle and placed in a bench vise with the jaws tightened on the squared edges of the bottom of the vise head. Another inexpensive and very handy tool.
 

https://www.riogrande.com/product/universal-work-holder-with-handle/113089
 
"Third hand" gizmos:  Everybody must have seen, if not owned, the ubiquitous "Third Hand," the black base with ball-joint articulated arms with alligator clips or other usually useless things, like small magnifying glasses, on their ends. The ball joints are loosened and tightened with wing nuts. They are very inexpensive and often sold as catalog "loss leaders" for a few bucks. I have a couple. The first was next to useless because the wing nuts didn't really hold the ball joints tightly. The second, a higher priced one, was no better for the same reason. Not recommended, but your mileage may vary.
 

https://www.amazon.com/Neiko-01902-Adjustable-Magnifying-Alligator/dp/B000P42O3C/ref=asc_df_B000P42O3C/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312096335436&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5246044958869315323&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032113&hvtargid=pla-448870101576&psc=1
 
There's a new wrinkle on the "Third Hand" coming out of the electronics production assembly industry (for holding small printed circuit boards for soldering) which is not particularly inexpensive (starting at around $25 and running up to around $75 for the super-size deluxe model,) but looks very promising. It's called the "QuadHands Magnetic WorkBench" system and comes in a variety of configurations and sizes. It consists of a flat heavy steel plate and bendable "gooseneck" arms with replaceable alligator clips with removable silicone jaw pads at one end (which can be rotated and locked in place) and rare earth "super-magnets" at their bases. The arms can be placed anywhere on the steel base place and bent as desired. I'll probably spring for one when I next have a bunch of small part soldering to do. I haven't seen one in the flesh as yet. If anybody has worked with one, a review would be welcomed. These have been widely copied by our Asian friends. The "real" QuadHands products are Made in the USA. (Additional "arms" of varying lengths may be purchased separately.)
 

https://www.quadhands.com/?rfsn=2886761.5f09cb&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=influencers&utm_campaign=2886761.5f09cb
 
 

Frankly I think using a Oil paint Sepia wash would probably do the same thing from my experience dabbling in Oil Painting.  

I've seen paintings on copper where the dark (bituminous) background and any paint that had it mixed in simply craze into flakes and fall off, gesso ground included.