Bob Cleek

It would seem to me to be a lot more cost effective and save a labor to simply paint with a higher quality paint and forget about additional clear coatings. The more coatings you apply to a model, the more detail you destroy. Your mileage may vary, I suppose.
 

Acrylic paint is easily damaged. Enamel paint is much harder but also can get damaged. I think the only part of the boat you should seriously think protecting is the hull. It will certainly get scratched during the rest of the build or during its life after. I use varnish, either water based or enamel. Water based is easier to use but enamel is overall harder and better - I think I ll go back to enamels for the boats I am currently building. I ve tried the Valejo polyurethane varnish previously, water based, seemed to be ok. Humbrol enamel varnishes are also very good, or at least this has been my experience.
 
Couple of things to consider
 
1. Spray cans can be temperamental and spray inconsistent or thick coats. Be careful
2. Satin finishes need good stirring to evenly distribute the media within. Matt varnishes are more difficult, they need some care to avoid inconsistent results.
3. Basically practice and test your finish on scrap wood, NOT the model! Seriously, you do not want to be sanding the hull down if something goes wrong.
 
I d definitely put something over the hull.

I forgot to mention that you will also need a shipwright's or planker's bevel gauge. This a small, flat gauge for taking up and transferring bevels in boatbuilding and planking. They're about 3" long for full-size boat building and will probably benefit by being somewhat smaller for modeling. Their small size make them suitable for taking up bevels in tight spaces.
 

 
This 3" one is sold by the WoodenBoat (magazine) Store for ten bucks. It's the only "store boughten" one I know of. A 3" Bevel Gauge - Small Boats Magazine (smallboatsmonthly.com) Most "boatyard mechanics" simply make their own from a piece of strip shim brass or even an old hacksaw blade (which has the convenience of a hole already drilled at either end) riveted together.  If you want to get really fancy, you can make one that has two outside faces between which the "blade" swings like a pocket knife, and can be pocketed when not in use without the pointed edges snagging on your shop overalls.

It would seem to me to be a lot more cost effective and save a labor to simply paint with a higher quality paint and forget about additional clear coatings. The more coatings you apply to a model, the more detail you destroy. Your mileage may vary, I suppose.
 

This is another example proving that there is a direct correlation between weight (mass) and accuracy in stationary power tools. This is what often makes  buying used "old 'arn" power tools a wise investment.

This is another example proving that there is a direct correlation between weight (mass) and accuracy in stationary power tools. This is what often makes  buying used "old 'arn" power tools a wise investment.

I forgot to mention that you will also need a shipwright's or planker's bevel gauge. This a small, flat gauge for taking up and transferring bevels in boatbuilding and planking. They're about 3" long for full-size boat building and will probably benefit by being somewhat smaller for modeling. Their small size make them suitable for taking up bevels in tight spaces.
 

 
This 3" one is sold by the WoodenBoat (magazine) Store for ten bucks. It's the only "store boughten" one I know of. A 3" Bevel Gauge - Small Boats Magazine (smallboatsmonthly.com) Most "boatyard mechanics" simply make their own from a piece of strip shim brass or even an old hacksaw blade (which has the convenience of a hole already drilled at either end) riveted together.  If you want to get really fancy, you can make one that has two outside faces between which the "blade" swings like a pocket knife, and can be pocketed when not in use without the pointed edges snagging on your shop overalls.

I suppose that they are technically "guard rails."  In some cases they support the deck above, so I like the terms stanchions and railings.
 
I used a 0.020" circular slotting blade on the Bynes saw with the cutting depth as low as possible.  Even so, there were many "failures" with a slot too deep or too shallow.  
 
The next step was the assembly and installation of the boat deck house and the radio house.  The railings were similar to the bridge deck railings.  However, on the actual ship, the fore-most railings/stanchions were covered with a wood/canvas "bulkhead" to reduce incoming waves/water.  From the pictures it can be seen how those  "bulkheads" (without the canvas) were installed.
 
The engine room skylight was installed next.  The "munitins" were modeled using sheets of etched brass and the "glass" was modeled using a thin layer of clear epoxy applied to the underside of the brass; with Saran wrap on the top to generate smooth finish.   After the epoxy cured, the saran wrap was removed. The circular holes in the skylight are for future ventilators

I forgot to mention that you will also need a shipwright's or planker's bevel gauge. This a small, flat gauge for taking up and transferring bevels in boatbuilding and planking. They're about 3" long for full-size boat building and will probably benefit by being somewhat smaller for modeling. Their small size make them suitable for taking up bevels in tight spaces.
 

 
This 3" one is sold by the WoodenBoat (magazine) Store for ten bucks. It's the only "store boughten" one I know of. A 3" Bevel Gauge - Small Boats Magazine (smallboatsmonthly.com) Most "boatyard mechanics" simply make their own from a piece of strip shim brass or even an old hacksaw blade (which has the convenience of a hole already drilled at either end) riveted together.  If you want to get really fancy, you can make one that has two outside faces between which the "blade" swings like a pocket knife, and can be pocketed when not in use without the pointed edges snagging on your shop overalls.

I think you misunderstand. I was referring to the parallel link type of scroll saw. These tend to have more pivot points and link bearings than the parallel arm type. The Henger is a parallel arm type. The advantage of the parallel arm type is its greater simplicity but this is achieved at the expense of a greater oscillating mass. Parallel arm types tend to need heavy construction (mass) to limit the vibration. The parallel link type have a much lower oscillating mass and hence the vibrations are inherently less but the disadvantage is that wear is more pronounced.
 
 

It has been my impression that Hegner is the ultimate in quality.   You bought a 'no way to loose' model.  Unlike most manufacturers, I doubt that 'planned obsolescence' figures into Hegner's engineering.

I must have ben lucky then, my Hegner saw still runs very smoothly, very little  vibration, even a higher speeds.  
I must try a new one once and see if if there is a difference.
Those saws, albeit pricey seem to be quite popular in Germany and Austria.
Greetings, Rudolf

I would think twice about buying a second hand parallel link saw. The linkage is prone to wear and is pretty costly to replace. With worn linkage it will dance itself off the table, even at moderate speeds. Only consider second hand if you can give it a really good test run.

Hi Juddson,
I have been using  an old Hegner scroll saw for 20 years or so, I had bought used and I am still happy with it.
I has  multiple speeds and thus  gives you a lot of control over your cut. It looks pretty much like the red saw in  Bob Cleeks post. Hegner is still made in Germany
Greetings
Rudolf

What a superb answer!! Thank you so much for all the detail. You’ve answered my questions perfectly. I also wasn’t confident about my rabbets and the diagram you sent helped immensely. I also loved the photo of the stained wooden boat as it was beautifully made and inspirational as well as a terrific example of what we’re trying to achieve with this type of hull. About the spread I understand better now—that it could result in the planks becoming too short. I have already noticed my very first plank dried slightly off centre at one end and spent some time redoing it as I do want a good result.
 
…and finally I do love tools, especially tiny ones and now covet a squirrel pocket plane! Something I didn’t know existed and now feel I need 😂. I did already purchase one recently when I saw in other logs it would be useful. I just combed through to find one that seemed good quality... It hasn’t arrived yet.
 
Thanks again I appreciate the help very much.

Thank you Claire for asking a great question! Thank  you Bob for the super helpful answer!

I don't have the plans available to me, so I can't be positive, but I believe they are referring to the "rolling" bevel of the lapstrake plank "lands." (The plank "lands" are the "faying surfaces" or faces where two adjacent lapped planks touch and, when wet, swell to make the hull watertight. For this reason, they must be very accurately fitted against one another without gaps... in real boat construction, at least.) By "the gain seating nicely" they probably mean that the plank bevels fit perfectly against each other to form their "lands" against each other. The term "gain" is not used in the instructions you quote as I've heard it (properly) used before, but it seems they are using it to refer to the plank lap bevels generally. If so, this wouldn't be the first time model kit instructions exhibited a certain lack of nautical illiteracy.  
 
Properly, a lapstrake plank "gain" is a rabbet of progressive inclining depth cut at the hood end or ends of a run of lapped plank so that the hood edge of the plank overlap is progressively reduced so that it no longer stands proud at the hood end(s.) (Always on a "sharp" bow and sometimes on a transom stern.) On this model, from the pictures I've seen, at least, since it has a transom bow and stern, the gains are omitted at both the bow and stern transoms which may have been an attempt to simplify construction for modeling purposes at the expense of a more elegant, and actually less complicated, construction detail. Perhaps somebody who's built this model and is familiar with the instructions will chime in and give you a more certain answer. Maybe they instruct the builder to just run the plank ends to the transom edges, cut them flush, and fill the voids between the plank lands and the transom edges with putty or something. Laying out the bevels in the transom edges to accommodate the lapped planks without gains would seem to me to be a lot more work and difficulty.
 
Lapstrake planking showing riveted laps and plank lands. Note that only one plank per overlap is beveled.
 

 
Here's a picture of a lapstrake plank with what is properly called a "gain" cut at the hood end (on the right hand edge below) to reduce the plank overlap edges (and on the left hand side is a regular land bevel.) The gains are cut in both plank faces to a maximum depth at the end of the bevel equal to one half the plank thickness so that when the two planks are fastened at the lap with the gains the planks total only the thickness of one plank .
 

 
A couple of photos of correctly planked sharp-bowed lapstrake planked boats. Note how the gains (which are relatively short in one instance and long in the other) cause the lap edges to progressively reduce to nothing at the hood ends in the stem rabbet. It's a subtle, but essential, detail in sharp-bowed clinker-built boats.
 

 

 
Now, this YouTube video on lapstrake planking is probably going to cause you to glaze over, or become completely intimidated, but to the degree you can wrap your head around it you will find planking your model much less difficult. There are many shortcuts between building a full-sized boat and a model and putty and sandpaper can cover a multitude of fitting errors, but to the extent these can be minimized, your model will benefit. See: Ep 18 - Planking (part 2): Bevels + Gains - Bing video
 
Yes, that's exactly what it means. If your plank land bevels aren't accurate, the planks are going to have that much more width to the total overlap and they are going to spread amidships. This means also that as the overall length of the curve segment of the hull is thereby lengthened, the presumably correctly shaped laser-cut kit planks are going to be too short to span the entire length of the boat (unless they left you some extra length at either end to cut flush to the transom faces.)
 
Building a lapstrake planked model at 1:12 scale well demands good accuracy in cutting all the bevels. Moreover, errors in shape and bevel of parts tend to be cumulative and only more bedeviling as the build progresses. One maxim in modeling, as in real boatbuilding, is that it is always better to rip it apart and do it over again correctly than it is to try to ignore measurement and fitting errors. In the case of a kit build, it should be no problem to go to the hobby or craft store and buy a piece of thin sheet stock and cut a new plank that will fit correctly and well worth the investment in time. If parts aren't fitting, and particularly so with planking, you have to ascertain the cause of the problem, be it errors in lofting or in fitting the parts that have been done before. When working in smaller scales, it is possible to slap on a lot of putty, spackle, or plastic wood and sand a hull fair and when it's painted up well, nobody will be the wiser, but at 1:12, particularly with a "clinker-built" (lapstrake) hull, such errors are much harder to cover up.
 
For planing beveled lands and for many other modeling tasks, you will find a small plane of great value. If you are really flush and want to treat yoursef, you can buy the top-of-the-line Lie Nielsen #101 bronze violin maker's plane, which is their version of the old Stanley #101 "modelmaker's plane" for $125.00 (Lie-Nielsen No. 101 Bronze Violin Maker's Plane (highlandwoodworking.com)

 
Or you can buy an original cast iron Stanley #101 on eBay if you can find one for not too much money. (They are now collectables but can be had for $20.00 to or $30.00.) There are also decent copies of the cast iron Stanley #101 made by Kunz for around $29.00: Amazon.com: KUNZ POCKET PLANE COMPACT BLOCK PLANE WOOD CARVING WORKING No.101 by Kunz : Tools & Home Improvement
 

 
and even a Kunz copy of the otherwise super-rare old Stanley #100 "Squirrel tail pocket plane" that is the #101 with a handle which permits pushing the plane with the palm of hand for $26.00. (I have no idea why it costs less than the "tail-less" model! I love mine.) (Amazon.com: ROBERT LARSON 580-2200 Kunz Pocket Plane Raised Handle : Everything Else)
 
 

 
 
If not that, the current Stanley sheet metal framed model #12-101 "trimming plane" can be had retail on Amazon for $12.00 and on eBay for $5.00. (stanley 12-101 plane - Bing - Shopping and Vintage STANLEY 12-101 Trimming Plane New Old Stock - Original Package | eBay)'
 

 
This all may be more than you ever wanted to know about planking or planing, but, if so, perhaps it may be of interest to some other novices who come across it.
 
Have fun with your build!
 
 
 
 

Bob has provided all the information you needed - and more! Good advice.

I don't have the plans available to me, so I can't be positive, but I believe they are referring to the "rolling" bevel of the lapstrake plank "lands." (The plank "lands" are the "faying surfaces" or faces where two adjacent lapped planks touch and, when wet, swell to make the hull watertight. For this reason, they must be very accurately fitted against one another without gaps... in real boat construction, at least.) By "the gain seating nicely" they probably mean that the plank bevels fit perfectly against each other to form their "lands" against each other. The term "gain" is not used in the instructions you quote as I've heard it (properly) used before, but it seems they are using it to refer to the plank lap bevels generally. If so, this wouldn't be the first time model kit instructions exhibited a certain lack of nautical illiteracy.  
 
Properly, a lapstrake plank "gain" is a rabbet of progressive inclining depth cut at the hood end or ends of a run of lapped plank so that the hood edge of the plank overlap is progressively reduced so that it no longer stands proud at the hood end(s.) (Always on a "sharp" bow and sometimes on a transom stern.) On this model, from the pictures I've seen, at least, since it has a transom bow and stern, the gains are omitted at both the bow and stern transoms which may have been an attempt to simplify construction for modeling purposes at the expense of a more elegant, and actually less complicated, construction detail. Perhaps somebody who's built this model and is familiar with the instructions will chime in and give you a more certain answer. Maybe they instruct the builder to just run the plank ends to the transom edges, cut them flush, and fill the voids between the plank lands and the transom edges with putty or something. Laying out the bevels in the transom edges to accommodate the lapped planks without gains would seem to me to be a lot more work and difficulty.
 
Lapstrake planking showing riveted laps and plank lands. Note that only one plank per overlap is beveled.
 

 
Here's a picture of a lapstrake plank with what is properly called a "gain" cut at the hood end (on the right hand edge below) to reduce the plank overlap edges (and on the left hand side is a regular land bevel.) The gains are cut in both plank faces to a maximum depth at the end of the bevel equal to one half the plank thickness so that when the two planks are fastened at the lap with the gains the planks total only the thickness of one plank .
 

 
A couple of photos of correctly planked sharp-bowed lapstrake planked boats. Note how the gains (which are relatively short in one instance and long in the other) cause the lap edges to progressively reduce to nothing at the hood ends in the stem rabbet. It's a subtle, but essential, detail in sharp-bowed clinker-built boats.
 

 

 
Now, this YouTube video on lapstrake planking is probably going to cause you to glaze over, or become completely intimidated, but to the degree you can wrap your head around it you will find planking your model much less difficult. There are many shortcuts between building a full-sized boat and a model and putty and sandpaper can cover a multitude of fitting errors, but to the extent these can be minimized, your model will benefit. See: Ep 18 - Planking (part 2): Bevels + Gains - Bing video
 
Yes, that's exactly what it means. If your plank land bevels aren't accurate, the planks are going to have that much more width to the total overlap and they are going to spread amidships. This means also that as the overall length of the curve segment of the hull is thereby lengthened, the presumably correctly shaped laser-cut kit planks are going to be too short to span the entire length of the boat (unless they left you some extra length at either end to cut flush to the transom faces.)
 
Building a lapstrake planked model at 1:12 scale well demands good accuracy in cutting all the bevels. Moreover, errors in shape and bevel of parts tend to be cumulative and only more bedeviling as the build progresses. One maxim in modeling, as in real boatbuilding, is that it is always better to rip it apart and do it over again correctly than it is to try to ignore measurement and fitting errors. In the case of a kit build, it should be no problem to go to the hobby or craft store and buy a piece of thin sheet stock and cut a new plank that will fit correctly and well worth the investment in time. If parts aren't fitting, and particularly so with planking, you have to ascertain the cause of the problem, be it errors in lofting or in fitting the parts that have been done before. When working in smaller scales, it is possible to slap on a lot of putty, spackle, or plastic wood and sand a hull fair and when it's painted up well, nobody will be the wiser, but at 1:12, particularly with a "clinker-built" (lapstrake) hull, such errors are much harder to cover up.
 
For planing beveled lands and for many other modeling tasks, you will find a small plane of great value. If you are really flush and want to treat yoursef, you can buy the top-of-the-line Lie Nielsen #101 bronze violin maker's plane, which is their version of the old Stanley #101 "modelmaker's plane" for $125.00 (Lie-Nielsen No. 101 Bronze Violin Maker's Plane (highlandwoodworking.com)

 
Or you can buy an original cast iron Stanley #101 on eBay if you can find one for not too much money. (They are now collectables but can be had for $20.00 to or $30.00.) There are also decent copies of the cast iron Stanley #101 made by Kunz for around $29.00: Amazon.com: KUNZ POCKET PLANE COMPACT BLOCK PLANE WOOD CARVING WORKING No.101 by Kunz : Tools & Home Improvement
 

 
and even a Kunz copy of the otherwise super-rare old Stanley #100 "Squirrel tail pocket plane" that is the #101 with a handle which permits pushing the plane with the palm of hand for $26.00. (I have no idea why it costs less than the "tail-less" model! I love mine.) (Amazon.com: ROBERT LARSON 580-2200 Kunz Pocket Plane Raised Handle : Everything Else)
 
 

 
 
If not that, the current Stanley sheet metal framed model #12-101 "trimming plane" can be had retail on Amazon for $12.00 and on eBay for $5.00. (stanley 12-101 plane - Bing - Shopping and Vintage STANLEY 12-101 Trimming Plane New Old Stock - Original Package | eBay)'
 

 
This all may be more than you ever wanted to know about planking or planing, but, if so, perhaps it may be of interest to some other novices who come across it.
 
Have fun with your build!
 
 
 
 

I don't have the plans available to me, so I can't be positive, but I believe they are referring to the "rolling" bevel of the lapstrake plank "lands." (The plank "lands" are the "faying surfaces" or faces where two adjacent lapped planks touch and, when wet, swell to make the hull watertight. For this reason, they must be very accurately fitted against one another without gaps... in real boat construction, at least.) By "the gain seating nicely" they probably mean that the plank bevels fit perfectly against each other to form their "lands" against each other. The term "gain" is not used in the instructions you quote as I've heard it (properly) used before, but it seems they are using it to refer to the plank lap bevels generally. If so, this wouldn't be the first time model kit instructions exhibited a certain lack of nautical illiteracy.  
 
Properly, a lapstrake plank "gain" is a rabbet of progressive inclining depth cut at the hood end or ends of a run of lapped plank so that the hood edge of the plank overlap is progressively reduced so that it no longer stands proud at the hood end(s.) (Always on a "sharp" bow and sometimes on a transom stern.) On this model, from the pictures I've seen, at least, since it has a transom bow and stern, the gains are omitted at both the bow and stern transoms which may have been an attempt to simplify construction for modeling purposes at the expense of a more elegant, and actually less complicated, construction detail. Perhaps somebody who's built this model and is familiar with the instructions will chime in and give you a more certain answer. Maybe they instruct the builder to just run the plank ends to the transom edges, cut them flush, and fill the voids between the plank lands and the transom edges with putty or something. Laying out the bevels in the transom edges to accommodate the lapped planks without gains would seem to me to be a lot more work and difficulty.
 
Lapstrake planking showing riveted laps and plank lands. Note that only one plank per overlap is beveled.
 

 
Here's a picture of a lapstrake plank with what is properly called a "gain" cut at the hood end (on the right hand edge below) to reduce the plank overlap edges (and on the left hand side is a regular land bevel.) The gains are cut in both plank faces to a maximum depth at the end of the bevel equal to one half the plank thickness so that when the two planks are fastened at the lap with the gains the planks total only the thickness of one plank .
 

 
A couple of photos of correctly planked sharp-bowed lapstrake planked boats. Note how the gains (which are relatively short in one instance and long in the other) cause the lap edges to progressively reduce to nothing at the hood ends in the stem rabbet. It's a subtle, but essential, detail in sharp-bowed clinker-built boats.
 

 

 
Now, this YouTube video on lapstrake planking is probably going to cause you to glaze over, or become completely intimidated, but to the degree you can wrap your head around it you will find planking your model much less difficult. There are many shortcuts between building a full-sized boat and a model and putty and sandpaper can cover a multitude of fitting errors, but to the extent these can be minimized, your model will benefit. See: Ep 18 - Planking (part 2): Bevels + Gains - Bing video
 
Yes, that's exactly what it means. If your plank land bevels aren't accurate, the planks are going to have that much more width to the total overlap and they are going to spread amidships. This means also that as the overall length of the curve segment of the hull is thereby lengthened, the presumably correctly shaped laser-cut kit planks are going to be too short to span the entire length of the boat (unless they left you some extra length at either end to cut flush to the transom faces.)
 
Building a lapstrake planked model at 1:12 scale well demands good accuracy in cutting all the bevels. Moreover, errors in shape and bevel of parts tend to be cumulative and only more bedeviling as the build progresses. One maxim in modeling, as in real boatbuilding, is that it is always better to rip it apart and do it over again correctly than it is to try to ignore measurement and fitting errors. In the case of a kit build, it should be no problem to go to the hobby or craft store and buy a piece of thin sheet stock and cut a new plank that will fit correctly and well worth the investment in time. If parts aren't fitting, and particularly so with planking, you have to ascertain the cause of the problem, be it errors in lofting or in fitting the parts that have been done before. When working in smaller scales, it is possible to slap on a lot of putty, spackle, or plastic wood and sand a hull fair and when it's painted up well, nobody will be the wiser, but at 1:12, particularly with a "clinker-built" (lapstrake) hull, such errors are much harder to cover up.
 
For planing beveled lands and for many other modeling tasks, you will find a small plane of great value. If you are really flush and want to treat yoursef, you can buy the top-of-the-line Lie Nielsen #101 bronze violin maker's plane, which is their version of the old Stanley #101 "modelmaker's plane" for $125.00 (Lie-Nielsen No. 101 Bronze Violin Maker's Plane (highlandwoodworking.com)

 
Or you can buy an original cast iron Stanley #101 on eBay if you can find one for not too much money. (They are now collectables but can be had for $20.00 to or $30.00.) There are also decent copies of the cast iron Stanley #101 made by Kunz for around $29.00: Amazon.com: KUNZ POCKET PLANE COMPACT BLOCK PLANE WOOD CARVING WORKING No.101 by Kunz : Tools & Home Improvement
 

 
and even a Kunz copy of the otherwise super-rare old Stanley #100 "Squirrel tail pocket plane" that is the #101 with a handle which permits pushing the plane with the palm of hand for $26.00. (I have no idea why it costs less than the "tail-less" model! I love mine.) (Amazon.com: ROBERT LARSON 580-2200 Kunz Pocket Plane Raised Handle : Everything Else)
 
 

 
 
If not that, the current Stanley sheet metal framed model #12-101 "trimming plane" can be had retail on Amazon for $12.00 and on eBay for $5.00. (stanley 12-101 plane - Bing - Shopping and Vintage STANLEY 12-101 Trimming Plane New Old Stock - Original Package | eBay)'
 

 
This all may be more than you ever wanted to know about planking or planing, but, if so, perhaps it may be of interest to some other novices who come across it.
 
Have fun with your build!
 
 
 
 

Nicely done and in record time! Now on to the next one... a scratch-build? Something from one of John Gardner's small craft building books? It's just my opinion, I think there is an overabundance of large Seventeenth and Eighteenth century ships of the line models and a dearth of simple small working craft models in this world. The small craft models look a lot better on a home bookshelf, as well. You will build better models in the future as your skills develop, as have we all to one degree or another, but this one will always have a special place in your heart, I'm sure.

The Seventh Day - 
[actual build finish date,  10 April 2023]
 
Finishing - 
With the assembly essentially complete, the final finishing began.  The seats and rub rail plank were each given a coat of varnish.  The waterline was scribed and masked.  The hull below the water line was painted with two coats of Artesania Latina, Hull Green (No. 51).  The hull above the water line was painted with two coats of Artesania Latina, Off White (No. 02).  The top 1/8" of the hull along the wale was left unfinished to allow for attaching the rub rail.  The oar locks were primed and then painted with Artesania Latina, Gold (No. 61), my best simulation of brass.  This finishing and previous pre-finishing encompass steps 81 - 82 and the painting instructions.
 
Rub Rails -
Steps 62 - 64.  The front end of the rub rail planks had been rounded off before finishing.  Both rails were clamped together while rounding so that the final shape would be symmetrical on both sides of the boat.  In dry fitting, the rails were not fitting well at the bow.  The plank seemed too thick to fit correctly at the stem.   I sanded each rail to taper the front 1-1/2" of the rail from a thickness of 1/16" to a thickness of 1/32" at the rounded tip.  This taper made the rail fit nicely and follow the curve of the bow easily.  The rail was glued with PVA and clamped in place.  The rail was cut flush at the transom and then beveled 45 degrees.  The bevel was touched up with stain and varnish.
 
Towing Eye -
Steps 65 - 66.  DO NOT drill a 1/16" hole for the towing eye as per the instructions!  Measure the actual size of the towing eye provided in the kit.  In my case, the eye shaft was .8mm (~1.32").  Because I initially followed the directions, I drilled too large of a hole and had to relocate my towing eye from the stem to the breasthook (Oops).
 
Oars -
Steps 71 - 74.  The oar handles were cut, and I used a small triangle file to make the initial cut for the handle and then shaped the hand with a sanding board.  I wrapped fine-grit sandpaper around the oar handle and then sanded a matching curve on the inside of each oar blade.  The oar blade was attached with PVA.  Once cured, the oar handle was sanded with a flat taper from the top of the blade until it blended with the blade end, tapered to a thickness of about 1/32".  The blade edges were similarly tapered.  The blade corners were rounded, and the blade shoulders were rounded and tapered to meet the bladed edges.  This was all done with medium and fine sanding boards.  The oar blades were stained with the same Oak stain as the interior.  A band of Hull Green is at the top of the blade, and the handle is finished in the same Off-White as the hull.  
 
Scratch additions: The oars were wrapped with #10 Hemp cord for about 18" at scale.  Oar stops were crafted from #6 white nylon washers.  The washers had a with of about 1/16", which was trimmed and sanded to 1/32" and then glued to the oar at the top of the wrapping.
 
Completing the Model -
Steps 70, 83 - 85.  DO NOT drill a 1/16" hole for the oar locks as per the instructions (I learned my lesson with the towing eye and measured first)!  The oar lock shaft measured 1mm x 3mm.  I drilled a 3mm hole with a 1mm bit, and they fit perfectly.  They were secured with a drop of CA on the shaft.  The towing eye was also secured into its alternate location with a drop of CA.  Coiling the painter was the most aggravating aspect of this build!  It looked simple, coil, glue, done.  Not even close.  After endless attempts, I decided it was time for "professional help" and consulted the Model Ship World forums (yes, that is where I should have started).  I quickly found this thread, Making rope coils - Masting, rigging and sails, with ALL the answers.  I could now get a good coil and move on to the challenge of a tiny anchor bend knot to secure it to the towing eye.  The still sticky PVA-soaked coil was placed on the seat with no worries that it would stay put.
 
Display Stand -
Initially, I didn't plan on making the display stand as included in the kit, but after completing the boat, it looked too forlorn resting on its side like so many similar boats I had seen resting on the shore of beaches around the world.  I decided to build the basic stand, included in the kit to serve until I could determine what I really wanted to do (remember wood working is another hobby).
 
Steps 75 -80.  I had already removed the forms from the base, so I just sanded away the residue glue and flipped to the "good" side.  Since I intend that this is a temporary stand, I dispensed with adding a bevel.  I measured and drilled the holes for the dowels, cut and sanded the dowels, and voila, a stand.  However, this only supported the stern; if you moved the stand, the bow would come off the base.  I decided on a good location for two more dowels at the bow.  For the bow dowels, I placed them 1/4" apart, drilled, cut, and sanded two more dowels, and again, voila, a more stable and serviceable stand.
 
With the boat finished, thus ended the seventh day ...
 

 

 

 
 
 

Chain-rails and smoke-stack stays
 
Due to several business and private travels over the past month not such much progress has been made …
 
In the meantime, I had received some special material for simulating the various small chains, namely for the railing and the stays for the smoke-stack. The material is black-oxidised Konstantan™-wire of 0.06 mm and 0.07 mm diameter. Konstantan™ is a CuNi-alloy that is characterised by a very constant specific resistance over a wide temperature range and low temperature extension coefficient. However, I am not interested in these properties, but it is the thinnest black wire I could get and its breaking strength is somewhat higher than that of pure copper.
 
The idea is to twist together two strands of wire so that the pitch is approximately that of the length of chain-link. Two strands of this twisted wire then are twisted together in the opposite direction. To the naked eye and with my +3 loupe this looks quite convincingly like a somewhat twisted chain. That is a close as I can get in this scale. 

Chain-rail on folding stanchions (from WAAP, 1900).
 
There is a photograph that shows details of the railing on the deck-house quite clearly and there is an instruction book for draughtsmen (WAAP, 1900) that has a drawing of the folding chain-railing as used by the Imperial German Navy. There is a scale bar that allows to calculate the various dimensions and the height tallies with the railings in the lithographs of the WESPE-Class. According to this the stanchions are around 85 cm heigh which translates to 5.3 mm in 1:160 scale. The chain-links are 60 mm (0.4 mm) long with a wire-diameter of 8 mm (0.05 mm).
 
Chain-rail around the deck-house on a WESPE-Class boat (LAVERRENZ, 1900).
 
Years ago, I had drawn my own stanchions and etched them from 0.2 mm brass-sheet. The idea was to solder two together in order to arrive at the correct thickness, without problems with under-etching in my primitive set-up. However, when I recently saw the commercially produced etched stanchions by SÄMANN-Ätztechnik in Germany, I realised that my home-made one could not compete quality-wise. However, their two-chain ones in 1:150 were too high (even at that scale). The three-chain ones, on the other hand, where of the correct height when using the lower ring to simulate the hinge for folding down. With the laser-cutter I also cut some small plates to simulate the foot-plates.

 
The holes for the stanchions were enlarged at the top with a round burr, so that half of the lower ring would be embedded. It would have been nice to have also photoetched parts for the foot-plates, which would have looked much crisper …

 
The chain-stays for the smoke-stacks caused me some head-scratching, in particular the connections to the stack and to the deck. The chain was done as for the railings, but with the 0.07 mm wire. Making and fitting shackles of less than 1 mm in length was physically impossible. So, I resorted to some dark grey thread. Not ideal, but there are just some physical limits that are impossible to overcome.

 
In order to not damage completed work, I am working from the centre of the ship outwards. For this reason, I also had to put on first the inner stays of the smoke-stack and then the railings.
 
As always, close-up photographs are rather discouraging, but the rails look quite reasonable at normal viewing distance (me thinks).

 
A problem is the springiness of the wire, so the double-twisted wire is more forgiving than the simple wire. It is not so easy to shape a nice catena that properly sags downwards, with the upper and lower chain in one plane. Luckily, deviations are only noticeable, when looking straight down. I still have to work on the stays …
 
 
To be continued ....

As a kind of tool-junkie I have actually all those tools ...
 
Their usefulness for the individual builder depends a bit on the space you have available. As you noted above, one needs a solid datum surface on which the model sits and enough space on this datum surface to move the gauge around. This is something not everyone may have on the building board.
 
I used my height gauge, however, to mark out water-lines for painting ...
 
On the question of accuracy to which the shipwrights worked, I am not sure that this is a good question to ask. I don't think they worked to specific (measured) tolerances. In most cases ships and boats were constructed within a sort of framework, be it a shed or a scaffolding errected for the purpose. A line was stretched at height above the future keel and distances were measured/marked from this with plumbs and squares. This ensured the overall dimensions and the symmetry of the hull. The shipwrights sort of worked inwards from this frame. Hence, they were not concerned by cumulative errors in individual parts, as everything was made to fit into this enveloppe.
 
I gather from this strategy derives the use of spirit levels by modellers.

I think you are basically asking how to paint, because once basic painting is mastered, spray painting is just another way of putting the paint on the piece you want to paint. Total mastery of painting is a broad subject well beyond the scope of a single response on an internet forum. I'll just offer some general advice I've found helpful. No doubt others will chime in to disagree and then you'll be more confused than ever before!  
 
You have to learn to walk before you can run. Spray painting requires a command of basic painting techniques to do well. None of the common challenges and problems encountered spray painting can be overcome without a basic understanding of coatings and their applications. The most important thing to master with spray painting is control over the amount of paint you are applying to the surface. Too much paint will result in runs, sags, and "curtains," which will ruin the job, require wiping off the uncured coating with solvent and re-prepping the surface or waiting until the paint is fully cured and then resanding to perfect fairness.
 
First, I would not advise that any serious modeler use rattle can spray paint for much of anything, except perhaps a sanding basecoat. The quality of the nozzles on rattle can paints, while remarkably good considering the manufacturing tolerances required, aren't good enough for the finish perfection scale modeling requires and are primarily designed for spraying large areas, not small ones. Besides, if you need just a small amount of paint, you're stuck buying the whole rattle can which, like as not, will "die on the shelf" before you get around to using it again. They are also an expensive way to buy paint. If you are interested in spraying paint, the sooner you acquire an airbrush and learn to operate it, the better. It's not rocket science and the cost of a basic quality airbrush and small compressor will be quickly amortized in paint cost savings. If you can't afford an air brush, then learn to paint with a quality bristle brush. An experienced painter can achieve the same results with either application method. (The airbrush is more forgiving in covering large surfaces, but others may have found otherwise.)
 
It is essential to learn how to properly "condition" your paint to achieve perfect finishes. This is done with thinners, "retarders" (that slow drying and so permit brush strokes to "lay down"), and "accellerators" (which speed drying to prevent runs or "curtains.") There are also additives that will achieve the finish desired from high gloss to dead flat and anywhere in between. The consistency of the coating is a major determinative of the quality of the job. Learning to condition paint is a process of acquiring "hands on experience." If you know someone who knows how to paint, getting some one-on-one instruction would be helpful.)
 
Learn how to work with the medium you choose, be it solvent/oil-based paint or water-based acrylics. Learn to use sealers (shellac, etc.), sanding base coats, and finish or "top" coats. Learn how to mix colors from a basic pallet. (Study the "color wheel.") There are hundreds of pre-mixed colors available in tiny bottles with high prices. Use these if you wish, but realize that tubed paste artists oils or acrylics are the basic building blocks of all those pre-mixed colors and if you "roll your own" you will save a lot of money and rarely find yourself running from hobby shop to hobby shop (often far and few between) or waiting days for the arrival of an internet purchase to find more of that particular color you just ran out of which may or may not be still available.
 
Remember that painting anything is 90% preparation and 10% application. Especially in modeling, surfaces should be perfectly smooth (or textured as required) and perfectly clean before the paint is applied. And if you use brushes, learn how to clean and care for them so they don't become "dust applicators" that ruin what otherwise would have been a perfect job. Cleanliness is essential. Store masking tape in zip lock bags and never lay a roll of masking tape down on its side. The side of the tape roll will pick up every bit of dust it contacts and ruin the tape for producing the perfect razor-sharp lines sought in modeling. (Buy quality 3M "fine line" tape or Tamiya masking tape. These tapes will produce the sharp lines required for modeling. Household "painter's tape" is not suitable.) Use a "tack cloth" to remove sanding dust from a piece before painting it. Store your tack cloth in a zip lock plastic bag, too. Try to paint in a dust-free area. While often easier said than done, painting on a dusty  workbench where you've just sanded the piece in a room with dust hanging in the air is not advisable. 
 
Unless you are completely familiar with the coating material you are using, (meaning you used it recently,) always, always, always test your materials and surfaces before committing to painting the workpiece. Paint can thicken or even lose its ability to "dry" while sitting on your shelf. (The modern synthetic coatings can be quite finicky in this respect.) Colors will often appear different when "dry" than when applied. Sometimes coatings are incompatible and disasters will result when they come in contact with each other. By making a test strip using the same surface, including undercoats, to be painted and the paint you want to apply to it, you can determine what the results will be. Failure to do so can result in a hull that is coated with a dirty, fingerprinted, sticky mess that refuses to dry and must be laboriously stripped off down to bare wood before another attempt can be made.