Bob Cleek

What the other guys said.  Don't waste your money on those "rigging tools." I can't imagine what they could be useful for either.
 
Particularly given your unsteady hands (a challenge many older modelers must overcome), you would do well to study, practice, master, and use surgeons' suture instrument knot tying techniques. YouTube has many instructional videos on the subject, most published by medical schools and surgical instrument companies for the medical profession. The use of surgical instruments and surgical technique will make model ship rigging much easier. If you can tie knots like a micro-surgeon, tying knots in rigging on a ship model becomes a piece of cake compared to trying to stich up aortic valves inside of a chest cavity! 
 
As for instruments essential to knot tying, the basics are:
 
A number of fairly good pairs of tweezers. There are a lot of cheap ones out there. Spend the money for at least a couple of not-so-cheap ones. Don't limit your selection to those short, stubby tweezers used by watchmakers and ladies plucking their eyebrows. For rigging tasks, long tweezers are far more useful and often essential for reaching hard-to-reach places. Get a few tweezers in the 6" to 12" long range. 
 
A selection of surgical forceps, hemostats, and needle holders, all of which are more or less the same thing for modeling purposes. As with tweezers, make sure you have some long-handled ones so you can reach "into" the rigging as you work. 
 
One or more "ear polypuses," buy the longer ones first and then expand your collection. The "ear polypus" is a unique forceps which permits you to reach into very confined spaces to grab line and tie knots. Surgeons use it to remove foreign objects inside patients' ear canals.
 
Ear polypus: Just the jaws on the tip open and close when the finger holes move:
 

 
There has recently come on the market a polypus that has a cutting scissor jaw on the end instread of a forceps jaw. I don't know how well these work, but they may be useful for cutting excess line in tight places after tying. I've never had any problem cutting rigging line in tight spaces with a sharp scalpel, though.
 
Dental and surgical instruments are some of the most valuable model-making tools, particularly for rigging. Some of these tools are offered for sale online by modeling and hobby supply houses such as MicroMark. Beware! The "hobby market" prices for inferior quality versions of these tools are generally far higher than medical instrument supply houses ask for the "medical quality" versions the medical professionals actually use. You will find an extensive range of dental and surgical instruments for sale on Amazon and, particularly, on eBay. The latter has a lot of listings for Indian and Pakistani-made instruments which aren't the highest quality but are certainly serviceable for modeling.  There are also many online retailers selling used surgical and dental instruments at perhaps the lowest price points for these often very well-made instruments. Many will correctly say that "you can't have too many clamps," and the hobby tool marketers offer a wide range of clamps for that reason, but keep in mind that you can often buy used hemostats and needle holders in lots on eBay for close to the same price as fancy clamps and have a much more versatile clamping and holding tool that is better suited for the shaky hands of old pharts like us!
 
 
 
 

Well, never was there ever a ship with a completely shiny coppered bottom, so I suppose your choice to have it shine is a stylistic one.  I've polished more than my share of brass over the years. Here's a review of options from the really tough jobs to the easy ones. I wrote this before I saw BenD's post. If he says Brasso alone did that job for him, I'd definitely say, go for it! The "rub" is the rub, though. If your plating won't stand up to the rubbing that polishing requires, some of these products which work chemically rather than mechanically with an abrasive may be helpful.
 
The first caveat is that I have no idea what you used to glue the plates down, so I can't say for sure that they won't come falling off if you just dip the whole hull in a de-oxidizing solution. That would be a relatively easy fix, put perhaps wreak havoc with the hull structure itself if it's plank on frame or bulkhead rather than solid wood. These suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt (which I think will also work) and always, always test these methods out on a sample piece before using them on the hull itself. 
 
All of these methods employ chemicals which breakdown the copper oxide tarnish. They work chemically and hard, rough rubbing should not be necessary. Repeated applications will be helpful in removing stubborn tarnish as there is some degree of "neutralizing" as each does its work. Take your choice, in order of ascending effectiveness:
 
1. Mix five parts water, one part vinegar, and add salt until the salt stops dissolving in the mix. Apply to the copper surface with a soft cloth to clean off the copper oxide, then rinse well. A soft toothbrush or cotton swab can be used on uneven surfaces. This is the cheapest, and probably mildest solution, but also the least effective.
 
2. Use Simple Green all-purpose cleaner. It's a great cleaner and will also remove copper oxidation.  It's a mild liquid "soap" with a pleasant aroma commonly available anywhere cleaning supplies are sold. It contains a mild amount of citric acid. It's not particularly aggressive, but repeated applications will remove copper oxidation. See: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Simple-Green-All-Purpose-Cleaner-Concentrate-Spray-Bottle-Original-32-fl-oz/22301219?wl13=1755&selectedSellerId=0&http://clickserve.dartsearch.net/link/click?lid=92700060762254883&ds_s_kwgid=58700006715445296&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000003583668&ds_a_cid=654818135&ds_a_caid=13956209185&ds_a_agid=126452889113&ds_a_lid=pla-1392082700544&ds_a_cid=116919406&ds_a_caid=361575031&ds_a_agid=120066732282
 
3. Use Barkeeper's Friend copper cleaner available online or from many stores. It's sold for polishing kitchen pots and pans. It comes in two forms, powdered and as a cream. Pick your own poison. I find the two equally acceptable. Follow the instructions on the container. Apply to the copper surface with a soft cloth to clean off the copper oxide, then rinse. As with any of the acidic cleaners, the longer it stays on and wet, the longer it works. You won't get far expecting instant results with acidic cleaners. Give them time to work. Barkeeper's Friend recommends waiting a full minute before rubbing it off, as I recall. A soft toothbrush or cotton swab can be used on uneven surfaces. This product is not as aggressive as a stronger solution of citric or oxalic acid and probably contains some other "magic ingredients" that their advertisements will tell you make their product better than the rest. See: Amazon.com: Bar Keepers Friend Powder Cleanser (2 x 12 oz) Multipurpose Cleaner, Stain & Rust Remover for Bathroom, Kitchen & Outdoor Use on Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Brass, Tile, Ceramic, Porcelain & More : Health & Household and Amazon.com: Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser Liquid (26 oz - English/Spanish) - Multipurpose Cleaner & Rust Stain Remover for Stainless Steel, Porcelain, Ceramic Tile, Copper, Brass, and More (2) : Health & Household
 
4.  Use CLR Cleaner ("Calcium, Lime, and Rust") as directed on the bottle. This product is sold primarily for removing rust and calcium deposits built up on plumbing fixtures. It is available in most hardware stores. It is a harsh chemical product that contains citric, gluconic, lactic, glycolic, and sulfamic acid. Don't ask me what all these acids are for, but this stuff is definitely the thermonuclear option! Use as directed on the bottle. It can be diluted with water for a less aggressive effect. You may want to experiment with varying strengths to see which works best. As with the rest, a soft cloth, toothbrush, or cotton swab should serve to apply the stuff. See: Amazon.com: CLR PRO CL4PROEA Calcium, Lime and Rust Remover, 28 oz Bottle : Health & Household
 
5. Mix a solution of citric or oxalic acid (available in paint and hardware stores as "wood bleach) and water following the instructions on the container. Apply to the copper surface with a soft cloth to clean off the copper oxide and rinse off. A soft toothbrush or cotton swabs can be used on uneven surfaces. Wear surgical gloves when handling this mild acidic solution for extended periods of time. It won't harm bare skin, but prolonged exposure will cause delayed burns of the sensitive tissues under your fingernails, causing indescribable agony for an interminable couple of days following overexposure. (Don't ask me how I know this!) See: Buy the Savogran 10501 Wood Bleach, Concentrated ~ 12 ounces | Hardware World and Amazon.com: Pure Original Ingredients Citric Acid (1 lb) Eco-Friendly Packaging, Natural, Food Safe : Health & Household
 
After removal of the oxidation, you may wish to polish the copper to a higher shine. You may wish to try any copper polish for the job before using "the hard stuff" above. In fact, if the oxidation is slight, you may accomplish the finish you want using a copper polish alone. However, I may will run into some difficulty in trying to do so, though, because most polishes contain mild very abrasives and work by abrading the surface and your surface is decidedly not smooth. Their polishes' effectiveness will depend upon the surface's ability to withstand rubbing. Any copper polish is fine. Brasso (a cream,) Flitz (a paste or cream,) and Nevr-dull (an impregnated cotton wadding and USN bosuns' favorite) are all proven winners and folks each have their own preferences. See: Amazon.com: Brasso Metal Polish, 8 oz Bottle for Brass, Copper, Stainless Steel, Chrome, Aluminum, Pewter & Bronze, 8 oz (Pack of 3) : Health & Household, Amazon.com: Flitz Multi-Purpose Polish and Cleaner Paste for Metal, Plastic, Fiberglass, Aluminum, Jewelry, Sterling Silver: Great for Headlight Restoration + Rust Remover, Made in the USA 1.76 Ounce (Pack of 1) : Health & Household, and Amazon.com: Nevr Dull NEVER DULL POLISH 5OZ : Health & Household.
 
(Full disclosure: I don't own any Amazon stock. I just use their links to identify the stuff. All of these products should be available in any hardware store or even many supermarkets.  )
 
After you've polished your coppered bottom (making sure there's no polish residue remaining on the surface... perhaps easier said than done,) it will immediately begin to tarnish again, so coat it with a real clear gloss lacquer (and not a varnish which can yellow.) This is not a job for weak "eco-friendly" coatings. It's worth risking cancer for. (Just kidding... use only in a well-ventilated area... and all that.)  Apply in multiple light coats, rather than thick coats. It's sold in spray cans if you want to make your life easier. You must thoroughly coat the surface with the lacquer, though. Even the slightest uncovered area will continue to tarnish and look terrible against the contrasting bright shiny polished copper. In fairness, I have to add that I've seen a lot of professionally lacquered brightly shined copper and brass items over the years and it seems that after a certain number of years, depending upon the local environment, they tend to develop tarnished black "spots," sometimes called "the pox," beneath the lacquer. This is probably a function of oxygen permeating the coating in some fashion. Manufacturers always lacquer coat their bright work because that keeps it looking "just polished" on the shop shelves and that can be many years, but, eventually, sooner or later, "the pox" strikes and there's no cure but to strip the lacquer from the piece entirely and keep it "bare" and polished regularly. This actually looks better than the factory lacquer because the detail doesn't polish as well and is thereby highlighted, but you have to keep up with the polishing. In the case of a rough-surfaced delicate miniature coppering job, you will probably never be able to strip it and refinish it short of destroying it. This will be your one shot at it.
 
I must say that trying to polish a rough-textured surface like you've got there may prove to be an exercise in futility. You will have to polish it all, including every nook and cranny. Alternately, you may achieve a rather nice antiqued effect if the polishing isn't uniform, with darker, tarnished areas in the edges of the plates accenting them visually. 
 
Do remember to experiment and test your choice of methods before you hit the model itself. This is the sort of thing that is really easy to end up looking a lot worse than better if it goes sideways. 
 
I get it that you like "shiny," but you will not go wrong if you allow your copper to tarnish naturally to a "used penny" color. That's how it looks in real life after it's been in the air for a while. Exposed for longer and it will become green like the Statue of Liberty.
 

 
 
Excellent forum post on painting faux coppered bottoms: 
 
 
 
 

The truth of the matter is that there isn't a mini-table saw selling anywhere for around a hundred bucks that is suitable for the purposes you intend to use one for. This is because the two essentials in any small table saw are accuracy and torque. Each requires manufacturing costs directionally proportional to the degree of accuracy and the amount of torque the machine can produce. The $100 Chinese mini-table saws generally run 12 VDC high speed / low torque motors running around 5,000 RPM. A high speed motor is fine for lightweight work or for abrasive work. (e.g.: a ceramic cutting disk on a Dremel mototool for cutting brass tubing.) For cutting, torque, the twisting power of the motor shaft, is required. Less expensive powered tools trade speed for torque. In some applications, this is acceptable, but not where the motor lacks the torque to meet the demand of the job and "stalls out" or overheats. Simply put, high torque motors cost more to produce, which puts them outside the range of the $100 Chinese Amazon Specials.
 
Similarly, accuracy in any powered tool depends upon mass. The weight of a powered tool is generally the quickest way to judge its quality. In micro-table saws we're not talking forklift grade weight, but the principle still applies. "Fit and finish" is also critical to accuracy.  Saw fences that are adjusted with stamped metal wing nuts are a sure sign that the machine isn't going be capable of the accuracy one requires to do decent modeling work. Stamped metal parts instead of CNC-machined parts are another indicator of low quality and undependable accuracy tolerances.
 
If all you have to spend is a hundred bucks, I agree with Allen and Roger: you'd be better off tuning up your full-sized table saw with a finishing blade and dance with the girl you brought. Of course, a decent specialty table saw blade can cost you more than $100 these days, as well.  
 
It is worth noting that MicroMark and Proxxon, retailers of modeling tools and supplies, each also offer respectable micro-table saws. While they are in the same price range as the Byrnes table saw, the Byrnes machine is a much better built machine, more technologically advanced, and generally considered a better value for the money.
 
If I were you, which I'm not, I'd save my money until I could afford to buy a Byrnes Model Machines table saw. Byrnes Model Machines - Thickness Sander (Yeah, I know it says "thickness sander," but that's actually the saw page.) They are presently on vacation but are supposed to return the end of this month. The price of their saw isn't listed at the moment, I guess because they aren't shipping any until they return from vacation. One will probably run you six to eight hundred bucks, depending upon the cost of shipping and the options you elect to have on it. I know this is a lot of money for anybody, but for anyone who wants to even just cut their own strip wood for modeling, this saw will pay for itself in surprisingly short order. It will also hold its value and you will be able to readily sell it if you ever wish to do so. (Which, if the lack of eBay listings are any indication, isn't likely to happen.) I don't own stock in the Byrnes Model Machines company, but I hold Jim Byrnes and his products in high regard. The Byrnes "Jim Saw" is universally recognized as the finest micro-saw of its kind ever made and is an especially excellent machine that will afford you pride and joy of ownership and use for generations to come. It's worth skipping a few dinners out, shots at the local bar after work, or even a few hours of overtime on the job to acquire one! 
 
While it's advice that's ignored as often as it's offered, when you need a tool, buy the best tool you can afford. The most expensive tool is the one you have to buy more than once!
 
 

Sure, that's even going one better than doing it with the block attached to the mast or top. You don't have to approximate the entire length of the line, standing part and fall, but only the length you will need to belay the fall to the belaying pin or cleat when the standing part is set up to wherever it's going. The remainder of the fall is most easily made up in a coil and glued to the pin or cleat in such a way that it conceals the cut end of the fall and appears to be all one piece of the fall. It is important to make coils of the proper length of the fall, though and these will vary depending on how far the block is from the pin or cleat. You don't want a skinny little coil on a pin running to the mast top when it would take a lot more line in real life. Doing it in two pieces, fall and coil, reduces the amount of line you have to coil up at the block before you install the mast. These little temporary coils can start adding up pretty quickly sometimes. You'll want to devise some way of binding up the temporary coils on the mast. Some use masking tape. There is an instrument that orthodontists use to stretch and attach little quarter inch diameter rubber bands on orthodontic braces which I've always thought would be just the ticket for binding little coils like that, but I've never gotten around to getting one. What I've found works are common women's hair "bobby pins." They can be spread open with one hand to slide onto a coil being held in the other hand... if you don't mind your model looking like it's setting "spit curls" while you work on it. 
 
Here you go. I found that too. I'd have to play with one to be sure it would work easily for rope coils, but just maybe. Remember, "He who dies with the most tools wins!"
 
See: https://www.amazon.com/Separating-Placing-Orthodontic-Elastic-Bracket/dp/B09FQ4HL8V/ref=sr_1_8?adgrpid=1343603773294172&hvadid=83975306774136&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=43893&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=p&hvtargid=kwd-83975580350394%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=28288_11087873&keywords=orthodontic+tool+for+rubber+bands&qid=1689559059&sr=8-8
 
And: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184121749659?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D251791%26meid%3Dbff28b2953c247259b8a64230c3a2239%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D292128222729%26itm%3D184121749659%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bAndUBSourceDemotionWithUltimatelyBoughtOfCoviewV1%26brand%3DOrmco&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A184121749659bff28b2953c247259b8a64230c3a2239|enc%3AAQAIAAABUPzGgyhK8D4QCApcBuWVQe1qsoN395NgJVWTF7eo2rfipPwdfCio0EI4F5H%2Bx0wtS8%2Fu%2Fr%2FRUxEZ1KxNtbAGuwQqNawa9Mz45LW45pYy0nuj71JF2aXsWVmm8A5Xr7t2iE8FTSY2j9w%2BVkQX95XY0T9rK6EzA9ZeC%2FHU7Nm7b3ARSOfzyH5wHBuCoLkOv2XL8qnMgdLOY9NTgiKiXpC2M6cXsFc3RuqCK5taBkW1e%2BiJLZxicfL3UKRodQUV%2B52sjBkM1liMwuhVn7laHbfbj938y3JipYdCbmp5qsvnkRz%2BKoSNEVB9T6j%2FHyW8T3o%2BEyn3TMJR9vG%2Ftd0YZ4FWo9eCjcx1touazjee%2BUlNPzGgH4zgbLTOsUmqbtcaga5q7yBppCr1RBM28mc1jxYKQlxCCRjCS27mWu%2BsRAqHHc4%2FHq9BO%2FU9k%2FYKlp33Hv5doQ%3D%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675
 
 

Here you go: 
It's from the "More" drop-down menu at the top of the forum homepage under "ropemaking."

The "pole solution" is not impractical at all. It is the standard rigging method for any flag flown from a masthead for a very good reason: mast head flags are "set flying" on poles (properly called "pig sticks") because the pole raises the flag high enough to avoid its fouling on the mast and its attendant rigging. 
 
The above drawing correctly shows the house flag flown from a "pig stick" (staff) at the main masthead although the stick is much shorter than in actual practice and the hoisting attachment point is incorrect as described hereafter. The pig stick is rigged with a halyard (not shown in the drawing) fastened with a clove hitch to the middle of the pig stick with its fall extending down to the deck and then, in a continuous loop, the fall is again fastened to the bottom of the pig stick to serve as a downhaul in "messenger line" fashion. The halyard can be run through a block, as the drawing above would suggest, or through holes or over a sheave in the mast cap, as Underhill's drawing depicts. In this manner the stick can be two-blocked at the highest point on the mast, generally the truck, and held vertical by the downhaul (the looped halyard fall) at the bottom of the stick.
 
The flag is often attached to the pigstick with separate rotating rings around the pig stick or by some other arrangement such as a secondary staff that rotates around the primary pig stick to permits the flag to rotate 360 degrees around the pigstick without wrapping on the stick. Note, however, that the above drawing incorrectly depicts the attachment of the foot of the flag's hoist as below the two-blocked halyard's attachment point on the stick. This arrangement would cause the flag to foul and chafe on the halyard block and wrap about the halyard block as the direction of its flying rotated. Properly, the foot of the flag's hoist is be fastened on the pig stick at a point above the halyard block and the truck, so that the flag flies in "free air" without fouling on anything. So, in a correct depiction, the pig stick would be significantly longer to permit the flag to fly free above the truck.
 
Below: pig stick with wire secondary "staff" to permit flag to rotate without fouling (and exploded parts photo.)
 

 
Below: pig sticks with wooden secondary "staffs"
 

 
Pictures of pig sticks set aloft on a modern and a traditional masthead:
 

 

"Tow" is "short and coarse fibers of little value separated from the longer and more valuable fibers through hackling in the manufacture of rope. Tow is occasionally used in the manufacture of inferior qualities of rope." (International Maritime Dictionary, rene de Kerchove, 2nd Edition, Van Nostrand and Reinhold Co. 1961, Litton Educational Publishing]
 
"Tow" is also the short bits of fiber that break off of natural fiber rope, particularly hemp and sisal ("Manila") rope. On a large square-rigger, a lot of tow would find its way to the deck and collect in wet piles and muck things up. Hence the bosun's call, "Sweepers, man your brooms. Clean sweep down fore and aft." Another general meaning of "tow" is simply "worn out rope."
 
"Tow" was sometimes collected and saved for use in canvas pockets for padding of various sorts in rigging and so on, and for caulking material when mixed with tar to make oakum. Worn out or rotten line was often recycled into oakum as well. Quality oakum, however, was made not from lengths of worn-out line or "tow," but from new, long hemp strands. The highest quality new hemp line or oakum is made from the strong fibers from center of the stalks of the cannabis plant, which are whitish in color. (Oakum used by plumbers to caulk iron pipe joints is usually made from tarred jute or burlap.)
 
"Fibers and flyings" are what fill the air in a textile mill or rope walk and if you've ever been in a running textile mill, you will know that there is a huge cloud of fibers, little bits and pieces of broken fiber and dust, and "flyings" which are longer thin threads thrown off in the milling or spinning process, which must be continually cleaned up as they pose a large fire hazard. "Flyings" from the mills and ropewalks were used to make high quality oakum. 
 
Oakum is made by taking long fibers soaked in thick pine tar and simply twisting and rolling them into "ropes." The caulker has to prepare the oakum by unraveling lengths of the loosely twisted fiber from the loose ball (or "bale") of oakum and rolling the pine tar-soaked strands back and forth between the palm of his hand and the top of his thigh. (If you see a guy in the boatyard with his pants covered with tar on the front of his upper leg, he's a caulker! )
 
So, "The white ocham to be from flying & not from ground toes or decaid White ropes." means, "The white oakum specified here is to be made from mill flyings of the top-quality virgin white fiber of the plant and not from ground up tow or recycled rotten white hemp rope."
 
Quality oakum will result in a longer-lasting caulking job. Using old, weak fiber from worn out, rotten, or "decaid" rope will rot and decay in short order. The Admiralty wanted to use "the good stuff" because they didn't want to have to recaulk in short order because the stuff used was rotten to begin with.
 
Caulking mallet, caulking irons, and untarred "bale" of white hemp for making up oakum. See: Oakum - Wikipedia
 

Not to worry. There doesn't appear to be any skullduggery afoot. In fact, the 53,000 acre oak forest (to be exact) is located entirely on the reservation of Naval Support Activity Crane, which is about 110 square miles in size, the third largest naval base in the world and entirely under the ownership, management, and control of the U.S. Navy which acquired the land and built the base in 1941. There's no indication that the Navy decided it needed 53,000 acres to keep one ship in repair. Rather, when they realized they were having a hard time sourcing White Oak and realized they already had a whole forest of it at NSA Crane, they decided to establish the entire forest as a naval tree farm reservation, harvesting from it on an as-needed basis.
 
See: The "Wooden Walls" of USS Constitution - USS Constitution Museum:
 
"At Naval Support Activity Crane, near Bloomington, Indiana, the U.S. Navy maintains "Constitution Grove," where a forest of white oaks are grown for the sole purpose of restoring and refitting the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned vessel still sailing (the UK's HMS Victory is older than the Constitution, but remains in drydock).
NSA Crane is the third largest naval base in the world, and Constitution Grove is not only protected for the white oak trees, but also the biological diversity an oak forest provides, including the wildlife that live there. Three Navy civilian foresters help maintain the wood and ensure that no tree removed from the ecosystem will have an adverse effect on the grove's biodiversity."
 
See also:  Why the US Navy Manages Its Own Private Forest | Military.com
 
From what I have read, Brett Franklin is the owner of Tri-State Lumber, LLC, a logging company that won the most recent bid for the Navy contract to harvest the Navy's white oak for the Constitution's repairs. Neither Franklin nor Tri-State Lumber, LLC, own the Navy's White Oak Reservation.
 
See: Ironsides of Indiana Oak - Indiana Connection:
 
Fortuitously for the venerable vessel, the Navy has in its back pocket 53,000 acres of prime forestland growing all the white oak timber the Constitution should ever need. That novel natural nursery is the Crane naval support center in the Hoosier hills and hollows of mostly northern Martin County.
 
“To be a part of something that was touched — literally — by those who founded the country is pretty cool,” said Trent Osmon, the forester at Crane who manages the white oak trees. “I feel great knowing we’ll be supporting something that’s so important to the Navy and, in a larger sense, the country.”
 
Situated midway between Indianapolis and Evansville, Naval Support Activity (NSA) Crane specializes in developing advanced electronic systems. But beyond the large Navy and civilian workforce employed at Crane, few Hoosiers are probably aware of the exclusive and proud role Indiana has played for the past quarter century in keeping Old Ironsides, designated “America’s Ship of State,” shipshape. “I have run into very few people outside of Crane who have any clue what Crane does for the ship,” Osmon noted. “Other than the folks directly in Boston, or perhaps their superiors, it is not widely known [even in the Navy].”
 
The timber for the restoration was harvested at Crane last February and March. Crane foresters oversaw the felling of 35 mature white oaks set aside for the historic ship. The trees, 110-120 years old and about 40 inches in diameter, were then moved to a covered storage area at Crane, fumigated and covered in plastic.
 
Tri-State Timber, LLC., based in Spencer, cut the trees for Crane. Brett Franklin, an owner of the family company, said knowing the job was for the Constitution made it a bid they wanted to win.“  We just thought it was a proud moment to be a part of history,” he said. “It’s patriotic; everybody wanted to get involved.”
 
When work begins on the ship, Tri-State will also begin hauling the logs as needed to Boston for the milling and shaping to replace deteriorated hull planking and supporting structures called “knees.”
 
Speaking of knees, the relatively recently established NSA Crane isn't the first or only U.S. Navy oak forest resource. Historically, one of the first things the fledgling United States Government did was to snap up all the Southern Live Oak it could for shipbuilding. In 1825, President John Quincy Adams created the Naval Live Oak Reservation program which acquired a virtual monopoly on all the Live Oak forests in the nation. The first such reservation was on Pensacola Bay. White Oak (Quercus Alba) has long straight trunks. Live Oak (quercus virginiana) grows outward with thick curved branches. White Oak was valued for planking, keels, and other straight beams. Live Oak was prized as the highest strength "compass timbers," meaning curved stock from which frames, futtocks, and knees are cut. Constitution's knees and frames are Live Oak, while her keel and planking are White Oak. When the Navy started building iron ships, they had little need for their Live Oak Reservations and in the early 1900's sold or repurposed them for other government use. The Deer Point Naval Live Oaks Reservation in Gulf Breeze, Florida, founded in 1828 as the nation's first naval tree farm, is now preserved as part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida and Mississippi. While no longer under the auspices of the Navy, the National Park Service provides Live Oak from the former Deer Point Naval Live Oaks Reservation and other NPS lands for the replacement of Live Oak parts on Constitution on an as-needed basis. 
 
See: Naval Live Oaks Reservation - Wikipedia and The Live Oak Tree: A Naval Icon - Gulf Islands National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
 
 

I second Druxey's suggestion. There's never any certainty with any of this, so experiments off the model are recommended, as always. Natural cordage shrinks when it gets wet because the moisture causes the natural fibers to swell which tightens the lay. The line becomes slack after being wet because the moisture causes the rope to tighten and stretch. Afterwards, it stays stretched until re-wetted.
 
You should test a section of your laid up rigging line to see if simply applying the shellac before trying to first soak the line in hot water will alone shrink it sufficiently. The shellac soaking into the twisted line may be tighten the line sufficiently on its own and, if so, when the alcohol evaporates, whether the shellac will have sealed your rigging from further moisture and will have cemented the twisted fibers tightly together and sealed out further moisture being absorbed.
 
If that doesn't cause the line to shrink sufficiently, I'd test it with an application of boiling hot water and see if that shrinks the cordage tighter. If so, I'd put the model somewhere the humidity was low for a day or three and then apply a generous amount of boiling hot water and let it soak into the rigging. Cotton should shrink in hot water, even if the cotton has been "pre-shrunk." Your twisting up the rope should cause it to tighten in any event because as the cotton fibers soak up the water, they will expand and your twist will tighten as the fibers become larger. Let the water dry (a hair dryer should speed things up if you are careful) and then apply thinned clear ("white") shellac (most canned shellac can be applied right out of the can.) The shellac should soak into the rigging and "set" the cordage, also sealing it so it will not absorb moisture in the future. The shellac should not change the color any nor should it be visible when dry. 
 
When attempting to shrink rigging, and particularly standing rigging, work on each side alternately rather than both sides simultaneously. This will permit one side's taking up before the other and should prevent a sudden over-shortening on both sides that could cause the rigging to over-tighten and pull loose or break if too tight.
 
And again, experiment with these techniques before you attack the model's finished work with any of them. We're just making it up as we go and free advice on the internet is often worth less than what you pay for it. Let us know how it works!

Mahogany should work, but keep in mind that most of your frames will likely have to be built up of pieces with their grain orientation going the right way and not simply cut whole from a single piece of sheet stock. Since frames are curved, it's usually impossible to cut a frame from a single piece of wood without grain run-out at some point. This will create very fragile spots in single-thickness frames, the degree of weakness depending upon the grain structure of the wood species used. With the amount of grain run-out you usually get cutting from sheet stock, you'll find yourself busting frames right and left when you try to fair frame faces or even just handle the hull when working on it. Cutting frames from sheet stock can also produce an inordinate amount of waste off-cuts. It's best to make frames of at least doubled pieces so that one half of the doubled frame can bridge the butted ends of the other half so as to reinforce the butts necessary to keep the grain running where it needs to be.
 
I'm not sure that "it's more work to derive waterlines from plans." If you have the shapes of the frames on a "body plan," you've got the waterlines right there in front of you. At each frame you have the distance from the centerline to the inside or outside of the planking (depending upon how the lines were drawn) and you know the distance between the frames. Those points off the centerline and a batten will give you all the waterlines you want, wherever you want. A "bread and butter" hull is a lot easier and faster to make, particularly in larger sizes. Just sayin'.
 
Unless you expect to be spilling a lot of solvent fuel in the bilges, there's no reason to coat the inside of the hull with resin. In the case of a "bread and butter" built hull, there's no reason to sheath the exterior of the hull with glass fabric and resin, either. A good sealer and paint will do just fine to keep the water out. As a practical matter, unless you intend to build an overly thick resin and glass cloth (or mat) sheathing, you aren't going to realize much, if any increase in structural strength adding resin and fabric sheathing to your hull. Sheathing and fairing a good sized hull with resin and cloth is a substantial job with more than a few pitfalls possible along the way.
 
All and all, just my opinions in response to your questions. It's your boat, so do as you please. I'm sure with sufficient care, it will turn out fine however you proceed. Good luck with it!

The trick with coils, etc. is to make them off the model and then glue them down on the model when they are finished. By running the bitter end of a line beneath the pre-made coil, it can be made to appear to be part of the separately attached coil.
 
In very small scales, for uniform coils, such as on pin rails, some will drive a couple of nails or pins a sufficient distance apart and wrap a suitable length of line around the pins to form the coil. For faking mooring lines, a similar approach is used.
 
What I generally do is to take a piece of scrap styrofoam packing sheet stock (always a good idea to keep a few pieces around) and I wrap it in kitchen plastic wrap. (If I want a number of uniform sized coils or fakes, draw a pattern and place the pattern on the piece of styrofoam beneath the plastic wrap.) The plastic wrap will make it easier to remove the finished shaped line from the block when it's dry. Following the pattern seen through the plastic wrap (or not if you don't use a pattern,) I use sewing pins pushed into the styrofoam block to hold the line in place as I want it to look when attached to the model. You can put pins on either side of the line or through the line, however best suits the occasion. 
 
After the line is pinned to the block, take a paintbrush and saturate the line with clear ("white") shellac. ("Orange" or "amber" shellac, which is also available, has an amber color and will work the same as "clear" shellac, but for most modeling applications, you don't want the color.) The shellac, right out of the can, is the consistency of water and will soak right into the fabric of the line. Only one application is required. Just a touch with a loaded small brush and the line will soak up the shellac. Let it soak in well but don't overdo it.  Now, let the shellac dry. As the shellac dries, the saturated line will gradually stiffen and you will be able to shape the line further as you may wish, using tweezers or the pins, whatever works for you. (Fingers aren't such a good idea because the shellacked lines will readily stick to your fingers and you may end up with a "tar baby" of string on your fingers.) If, after the shellac hardens, you want to further adjust the coil or fake, you need only apply some alcohol and shellac will soften again until the added alcohol evaporates. When the shellac is completely dry, which will be within a matter of minutes because its alcohol solvent evaporates very quickly, your line will appear as it did before, since the shellac becomes invisible, but it will be stiff and "cemented" into the position you shaped it to. (Blow on to speed up the process, if you want.) You can then remove the pins and carefully peel the line off the plastic wrap, which shouldn't stick too much to the line. and you can then attach the finished coil or fake to the model with glue or a bit more shellac..
 
This technique can also be used to secure the ends of rigging thread from unraveling and to shape catenaries in things like footropes, or to stiffen rows of reef points so they hang naturally against a sail. Somewhere along the way, many folks have come to use PVA adhesive for similar purposes, but I became familiar with using shellac in the days before PVA became popular and never found watered down PVA to be much use for anything as an alternative to shellac, mainly because I found shellac easier to handle, it has better adhesive properties, and the drying speed of its alcohol solvent is far greater than that of water. Shellac is a perfect sealer for model work. Its archival properties are well-proven, it is readily cleaned up  alcohol, and is is completely safe for man or beast in all respects. I buy white ("clear") shellac (de-waxed if I can get it) by the quart and denatured alcohol by the gallon can (from which I decant it into plastic squirt bottles,) at any paint or hardware store. It's relatively inexpensive, has a relatively infinite shelf-life and a myriad of uses in modeling. It is also completely compatible with all other oil or acrylic coatings which might be applied over it.
 

Since you are experiencing difficulty, yes, there is an easier way to tie in "reef points" on a sail. Real reef points have a "figure-eight knot" tied into the line on either side of the sail. The figure-eight knot will not jam and is easily untied, no matter how much tension has been placed on the knot.
 
Figure-eight knot, also called by some a "stopper knot:"
 

 
At all common modeling scales, a simple overhand knot is sufficient to portray a reef secured to a sail.
 
Simple overhand knot:

 
The easier way to tie overhand knots in scale rigging cordage is to employ the surgical suturing technique known as an "instrument tie." This requires the use of a surgical instrument called a "needle holder" or the equivalent, which could be some sort of tweezers or the like. A long needle holder works best for modeling, since its length permits access inboard of the stays and other hard to reach places. Another handy instrument to have is a long tweezers or a second needle holder. These instruments take the place of fingers, which are much too large (and perhaps short) for the delicate tasks at hand, be it sewing up a wound or tying scale rigging knots,
 
A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is better than that, so I've attached three videos of various flavors produced for the purpose of instructing medical students in performing a basic instrument tie.  Get yourself a needle holder or three. They are handy for all sorts of modeling tasks. (eBay is full of dirt cheap ones or ask a friend who works in a hospital to obtain one for you.) Watch the videos and practice until you get the hang of it (which should take one or two tries... it's very simple.) Once you have the basics down, you can then apply the instrument tie technique to a wider range of applications than just simple overhand and surgeons' knots.
 
As for tying in reef points, the simple overhand knot is tied first, then the reefing line is sewn through the sail with a needle, making sure that you've left yourself enough length to accomplish the following exercise. Approaching the single end of the reefing line from the knotless side, the bitter end of the reefing line is held in the non-dominant hand while a turn (or two if you prefer to use a "surgeon's knot" for the purpose... which is explained in the videos) is thrown around the needle holder. (This is sometimes more easily accomplished by grasping the line with the needle holder and twisting the needle holder to wrap the line around it, which is why you need to leave yourself some surplus line at the beginning.) Then, instead of grasping the other end of the reefing line as in the case of suturing knots shown in the videos, you grasp the standing part of the reefing line with the point of your needle holder (the same way as if making an overhand instrument tie) with the needle holder clamped on the reefing point as close as possible to the point on the standing part where it comes out of the sail.  Then, with the needle holder clamped to the standing part of the reefing line as close as possible to the sail, using your fingers, a tweezer, or another needle holder, carefully slide the line wrapped around the needle holder down the jaws of the closed needle holder and over the standing part of the reefing line to form the overhand knot and then carefully coax the bitter end through and pull it tight. Easier done than written, but you should be able to figure it out once you have the principle of the instrument tie down. (This is similar to the method described by VitusBering above, but the point of the needle holder replaces the needle he uses in his method. The "needle method" works fine, so long as you have the room to get your fingers where they need to be.)
 
Needless to say, all knots should be secured after they've been tied with a dab of shellac, thinned PVA, or CA. Myself, I prefer shellac because if the knot needs to be untied for further adjustment, the shellac can be softened, and the knot untied by simply applying alcohol to the dried shellac. I don't like thinned PVA because it takes a while to dry, can get messy, and is hard to reverse if need be. I avoid CA adhesive wherever possible because it's just nasty stuff, expensive, and hard to clean up if it goes where you don't want it. Another thing I like about shellac is its adhesive properties. When modeling reefing points, they will inevitably stand straight out or up or everywhere other than in a plumb fashion hangling down against the sail like the prototype. I use shellac, which is very viscous, to saturate the reefing line. As the alcohol in which the shellac is dissolved evaporates, the line will become increasingly stiff and sticky, but still pliable. (This is a very quick process, since the alcohol evaporates very quickly.) When it becomes pliable and sticky, the reefing line can be pushed against the sail and it will stick where you want it, making it very easy to achieve realistic looking reef points with all your reef lines hanging straight down and parallel to one another.
 
There are many YouTube videos on surgical instrument knot tying and much to learn by watching them. Learning use surgical instruments to tie knots will significantly speed up your rigging tasks and reduce the level of frustration that rigging often otherwise occasions.
 
Learn how to Tie a Surgical Knot with an Instrument - Bing video
 
Instrument Surgeon's Knot Tying - Bing video
 
How to make a square knot and a surgeons knot - instrument tie - Bing video

Just some opinionated general observations to add to the good advice above, offered for what it's worth. Others' mileage may vary:
 
Since the internet and especially the Covid pandemic, we've begun living in the age of mail order. That has opened up much wider and more easily accessible sourcing options than we ever had before. However, the catch, particularly for those living outside of major metropolitan centers where a few "brick and mortal" shops struggle to survive, is that the costs of shipping and handling are added to online purchases and these added costs have risen exponentially in recent times. That fact has to be factored into the equation. "Amazon Prime" and "free shipping and handling" are significant considerations in making online purchases these days. 
 
You can rely on any of this forum's sponsors for the best of whatever they sell. They've all been thoroughly vetted and their customer service is top notch. You won't go wrong looking to them for specialized ship modeling products and their prices are very reasonable. If I needed an airbrush, I wouldn't consider looking any further than USA Airbrush Supply or for after-market blocks any further than Syren Ship Models. This is a no-brainer for me.
 
If the online outfit advertises itself as a "hobby" anything, you are often better off going directly to an online supplier of professional supplies of the same type and see if you can do better. A "hobby shop" can get away selling lower quality tools and supplies at a higher price to a broader spectrum of customers, while a professional supply house will soon die on the vine if the professional customers aren't satisfied with product quality and service. Approach hobby outfits like Model Expo and Micro-Mark with caution. These two online retailers have an excellent selection of products for the modeler, but in many instances they are priced significantly higher than other sources catering to professional clients in allied fields. (It's a good idea to get on their mailing lists, though, because they often offer great discounts on clearance items.) This is particularly true with respect to tools. For example, Micro-Mark sells a pair of crudely scaled six-inch proportional dividers made by Tacro for $140.00, but you can find models of the finest rack-and-pinion adjustable, Verniier decimally-scaled ten-inch proportional dividers ever made, used and in good shape, for half that price or a higher-quality set of seven-inch dividers than the Tacro six-inchers for as little as $25 on eBay. The same goes for surgical and dental instruments. The "hobby shops" sell poor-quality tweezers, forceps, scissors, hemostats, scalpels and blades, and so on at higher prices than the mid-range quality stuff the medical and dental supply houses are offering on eBay or Amazon.
 
There is a wealth of model-building tools and materials that can be found in higher quality and lower prices from professional jewelers' supply houses. This is where to look for pliers, cutting tools, files, tweezers, rotary tools and burrs, soldering supplies, and such. A couple of the most popular are Rio Grande (https://www.riogrande.com/) and Otto Frei. (https://www.ottofrei.com/ ) Cheaper files can be had from hobby supply houses, but, for example, cheap files are a waste of money. The same goes for pliers and cutters. When buying tools, the cheapest quickly becomes the most expensive when you have to buy another to replace it.  
 
Medical and dental supply houses are also a great source for ship modeling tools, although many of these companies sell "to the trade only" or in large lots to institutional purchasers. eBay is a good place to find used medical instruments useful in ship modeling, but caution has to be exercised because there are a lot of Asian manufacturers unloading poor-quality instruments on eBay. The upside of this is that they are often so inexpensive that taking a chance is worth the gamble. Carnegie Surgical Co. sells a range of professional quality ear polypuses, a type of forceps for working in very confined spaces that I consider to be an invaluable rigging instrument) ranging in price from around $100 to $250. Micro-Mark sells a 12" ear polypus for fifty bucks. eBay, on the other hand, has tons of different versions ranging from ten to twenty-five bucks (and up) that are quite acceptable for modeling use because we aren't going to be using them deep inside a patient's ear canal. The same applies to tweezers. If you're looking for an 8" or 12" pair of tweezers to reach inside the shrouds on your square-rigger, eBay is the place to buy them.
 
As a footnote, there was once a time when you could get lots of used medical and dental instruments from friendly medical professionals. Forty years ago, I worked in a large state institution that had a big dental clinic and I was friends with the chief dentist there who was an avid HO train modeler. He kept me supplied with all sorts of worn-out instruments: probes, dental chisels, drill burrs, forceps, pliers, and the like. (I still have an oddly shaped pair of pliers designed to extract molars which comes in handy now and again.) Sadly, a combination of the trend to disposable instruments which are more cost effective because autoclave sterilizing and sterile repackaging labor is no longer needed and heightened "biohazard" prevention protocols now mandate the controlled disposal of used instruments. Few doctors and dentists consider it appropriate to deviate from the biohazard disposal protocols and save a "goody box" of used instruments for their modeling friends. If you are lucky enough to find one who will still provide you with some, go for it!  
 
Finally a word about paint.  Ship modeling very rarely requires exact color matches. What we do need is quality paint with good archival qualities and a high content of good pigment ground finely that will produce good opacity. Most all the pre-mixed modeling paints marketed as such will meet these requirements... at a very high price. Bottled modeling paints are very convenient if one needs to get an exact color match and for this reason they are the favorites of armor, aircraft, and railroad modelers who need the exact shade of field gray used by the Wehrmacht in early 1943 or the exact shade of boxcar blue Conrail paints its boxcars. Ship modelers don't have the problem of that level of color accuracy and I don't think we have to pay five bucks an ounce and another five bucks in shipping and handling for a bottle of generic black, white, or bottom paint brown (which is the same as "boxcar red.") So I'd urge anybody who doesn't want to go broke collecting a couple of hundred one ounce bottles of modeling paint to display on their shop shelf while the paint dries hard in the bottles to learn to mix, condition and use quality tubed artists' oils or acrylics. Tubed colors have a shelf-life measured in decades, come in as many pre-mixed colors as anybody could possibly want, and, if one learns to mix their own colors, can provide any color in the rainbow out of five or seven tubes. (Black, white, red, blue, yellow, and for convenience maybe a brown, and a green.) There are many YouTube videos on how to use artists' tubed colors in both oil and acrylic for brush and airbrush application in miniature work which are well worth a ship modeler's time to watch. (Many are by the guys who paint fantasy gaming figures and miniature soldiers.) There is also an excellent instructional chapter on mixing your own colors for painting ship models in volume two of Ship Modeler's Shop Notes which can be purchased from the NRG. Tubed colors, as well as varnishes, thinners, and flattening (matte) additives and coatings are available on line from artists' supply houses, or locally from arts and crafts stores much easier than modeling paint is locally available at local hobby shops if you can even find one anymore. Painting and finishing ship models seems to be an aspect of the craft which is often given short shrift yet it is one of the most important factors in the final appearance of a model. There's a lot more to it than just applying paint straight out of the bottle. Once the relatively simple skill of mixing your own paint is mastered, you're free from all the limitations and inconveniences of sourcing pre-mixed modeling paint and can enjoy the benefit of saving lots of money over the course of a modeling career. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I've read that it's a good tone wood for lutherie, but not widely used for that because of its lack of reliable availability. It's considered a good wood for fine carving. 
 
It seems some woodworkers like it: https://www.woodworkingtalk.com/threads/ode-to-avocado-wood.230319/

When you get the craves... call your sponsor!  

I'm not sure if by this is indicated that your are carving the workpiece while holding it in your hand. If so, it is far better to secure the workpiece solidly and then use both hands to control the carving tool. Two hands are better than one and the Kevlar gloves aren't as necessary. Maybe this is a no-brainer, but I've seen guys trying to do small carving when holding the piece in their hand and in that instance, yes, Kevlar gloves are highly advisable! Two hands on the cutting tool also makes for far more steady and precise cuts. A jeweler's vise of some sort which can be held firmly in a larger vise to hold small parts securely should be part of any modeler's tool kit. Fortunately, they are inexpensive, so buy the best professional model you can find. Cheap Chinese knock-offs abound!
 

 
This style of jeweler's vise is also very good for pulling wire through a draw plate. The serrations on the jaws are sized to hold various gauges of wire.
 

 
The head of these jewelers' peg clamps screws off so it can be mounted in a bench vise instead of being held in the hand. It will hold all sorts of shaped pieces by moving the pegs around as needed.
 

 
This Stanley portable bench vise is probably the best of its type on the market. It can be moved so the workpiece is presented at any angle.
 

A half liter Gflex kit should be more than sufficient for a single coat on that model, but perhaps not for two. To be on the safe side, I'd get a liter, although, if you run out, there's no problem applying more to what you didn't have enough to cover, although coats are best connected within a couple of days to ensure a molecular, rather than a simply mechanical bond between the two. (This is especially true of CPES epoxy sealer. Read Smith's instructions.)  The catalyst and resin have very long shelf lives, so you can always put any leftovers to good use. Mix it in small batches and use a flat surface to mix it.  I use a shallow tray lined with tinfoil. When the job is done, I simply discard the tinfoil. Beware of exothermic reactions. These cause a batch of epoxy to "cook off" when the heat generated from the chemical reaction of the mass of mixed catalyst and resin begins to accelerate the curing process and the process runs out of control, getting hotter and hotter until it starts flaming. A flat mixing container spreads out the surface area of the epoxy mixture and permits it to dissipate heat. Fill a paper cup full of the stuff and you can have problems.
 
You can mix some additives together without any problems and not others, but those you can are relatively obvious, like a thickener with a color additive. Always refer to the WEST System instruction manuals which are online. They will provide instructions on everything you could ever want to know about WEST products: Epoxy Instruction Manuals - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy Check to see if there are any contraindications to mixing the additives you are intending to use together. I'd be inclined to apply the two you mention separately, the fairing additive first, and then the barrier coat. Barrier coat goes on fairly smooth and is hard to sand. Fairing additive sands like butter, but if applied in a "peanut butter" consistency, it won't be smooth and will require sanding to fair it. Mixing the two isn't likely to produce a "waterproof easily sanded" surface. I'd be more inclined to expect you'd get a harder-to-sand surface that wasn't waterproof. But, again, check the manuals.
 
I'm not completely familiar with the installation procedures for your kortz nozzle, but I would say it would be best to fair and coat your hull before installing the nozzle because 1. epoxying and sanding is a messy business and working around the nozzle would be a huge pain, if possible at all, and 2) the fairing and coating process will add thickness to the surface of the hull and yield the final dimensions to which the nozzle will have to be fitted.
 
Good luck with it!  And again, consult the WEST System manuals on line! Don't guess. Using epoxy coatings can be mastered by anyone who knows how to follow "cookbook" instructions, but if one ignores the instructions, it can quickly turn you into a "mad scientist" with an out-of-control experiment.
 
I'll also add that you should probably "start small" and get the feel of the stuff as you go along. Mix a small single "pump" batch and apply it on a piece of scrap wood and let it cure, Sand that and apply your barrier coat and see how that works out on the test piece. Don't use your hull to learn on. When you are comfortable, mix no more epoxy than you can use before it starts to cure too much. You can always mix more as you need it, but if you mix a big batch and it "cooks off" before you're done working with it, that epoxy is wasted and the stuff isn't cheap, as you know.
 
 

Adding to Eberhard and Dr.PR's comments, this discussion reminds me of something my late boatbuilding mentor, a older fellow who'd been one of the last to have gone through a traditional trade apprenticeship and had run a boatyard of his own for perhaps fifty years, said to me on the subject: "A house framing carpenter cuts to the nearest quarter inch, a finish carpenter cuts to the nearest thirty-second of an inch, and a boat builder cuts to the nearest boat." His point was that it isn't the measurements that matter, but rather the fit of the piece to the ones next to it, so forget about the dimensions on the plans and pay attention to what you are fitting together.
 
Any sort of ship or boat plans, at least until the advent of CAD, are never absolutely accurate. What they are, really, is simply "scaled plans for drawing full scale plans." You can't draw a scale line fine enough, even at 1:48. Back in the day, they'd draw the lines of a 150' ship on a six or seven foot long piece of drafting vellum and the scale lines drawn would still be so wide if blown up to full scale that you couldn't take accurate measurements from the plans. While at modeling scales, the problem isn't as great, how often do we see plans drawn to 1:48, even? The rule in full size engineering is always that measurements are never to be taken from the drawings, but rather must be taken from the notation of the distance on the drawing. In modeling, we can cheat somewhat, but only if we "build to the boat" and not to the plans. What the pre-CAD draftsmen did was to take up a "table of offsets" from the drawings with dividers and read the distances from scales, knowing that no matter how carefully they placed their divider points on the center of the line, the table of offsets would never be perfectly accurate. Indeed, if the offsets for a 150' ship were accurate to within an inch or two, they were quite good. 
 
The purpose of the table of offsets was to enable the loftsman to loft the patterns for the ship full size. The loftsman takes the table of offsets and the lines drawings and uses these to draw the vessel full size on the lofting floor. When doing so, the loftsman uses battens to spring fair curves, using the offsets as a guide, but the offset points are rarely all on the fair curve sprung with the batten. (There are many tricks to the loftsman's trade. In "fairing the lines" from the draftsman's offsets, the loftsman uses the "diagonals" to test the accuracy of the lofting, for example. Further discussion of this is beyond the scope of this post, but for those interested, Lofting, by Alan Vaitses is highly recommended.) The loftsman trusts the batten, not the draftsman's offset measurements to develop the full size patterns for the shape-defining parts of the ship. Only once in a while, when there are a number of identical vessels to be built, will you get lucky and find that a loftsman has generated a corrected table of offsets from the full size lofting that are "tighter than a gnat's ***." In this case, there will usually be a notation on the table of offsets like "Corrected offsets." or "Offsets as lofted." Otherwise, the offsets will have to be "faired" on the loft floor.
 
The loftsman's full size patterns were usually only those essential to get the vessel "in frame." From there, the "wood butchers" "built to the ship," not to the plans. They'd set up a few basic frames, sometimes as few as as a midship frame at the widest beam and a couple forward and aft of that, plus a stem and transom. Then they'd tack battens sprung across the faces of these frames and the resulting "basket" defined the shape of all the frames in between. In such fashion, a fair hull would be constructed. This is sort of the way planked models used to be built, although once in a while, an author would draw up a full set of frames and publish them for modelers to use, as we see in the old modeling books by Davis and his contemporaries.
 
Today, CAD makes it possible, in theory, at least, to generate far more accurate drawings and it seems modelers are seduced by CAD and then find themselves sucked into believing they have to become micro-machinists using extremely accurate (and expensive) machines with DRO, or even CNC, to turn out parts accurate to .0005 if they want to build a good model, even from a kit, but this isn't so. "If it looks right, it is right." was the old time ship builder's maxim and it serves the modeler as well in miniature as it did the old timers working in full size. The old timers didn't have to worry about cutting each side perfectly square and to exact size when making a box. They just cut half of the sides a bit large and when the box was built, they planed the overhangs on the edges to fit, yielding a perfectly jointed cube. I'm not knocking CNC, for it certainly has it's place. (We wouldn't have IKEA knock-down furniture without it!) For building one-off models, though, the old fashioned measuring tools are more than sufficient and often much less expensive, not to mention a joy to own and even collect. Our goal is to create a compelling impression of reality in miniature. That doesn't always mean NASA-level tolerances in our measurements. (Even at that, John Glenn orbited the earth in a rocket ship designed with slide rules!) Sometimes, even slight deviations from exact scaling, such a a smidgen smaller rigging lines, can actually produce a more compelling impression of reality than perfectly sized ones, and that's when modeling becomes an art and not just a craft. So as the man says, "Don't sweat the small stuff."
 

What you are asking about are called "bolsters." (See diagram below.) They are simply pieces of wood fastened to the side of the mast which keep the strop from sliding down the mast. You should fashion them from wood and glue them to the mast where you want them, but then drill two or three small holes through the bolster and into the mast and glue small wooden pegs (made with a draw plate) into the holes and sand the top of the peg flush with the face of the bolster, or, alternately, glue a brass pin in the drilled hole, set slightly deeper than the face of the bolster, and fill the top of the hole with a bit of putty and sand fair with the face of the bolster. The pins are necessary to make sure the bolster will be able to stand the load when the rigging is under tension.  Glue alone may not be sufficiently strong to do so. The strops are made up separate from the mast "on the bench" and then installed by sliding them over the top of the mast and down onto the bolster when the mast is rigged. This will require your planning the sequence of setting up the standing rigging so you can get the shrouds and stays over the mast in the correct order. It's generally easiest to rig as much of a mast or spar "on the bench" before installing it on the model, because it is far more difficult to do the work if one has to do so when the mast is erected.
 
 


 
 
Your kit may have provided the eye-bolts you have pictured on the mast about. The pictured eye-bolts are are grossly over-sized and out of scale. If your kit's eye-bolts are out of scale, as is often the case with kit parts, I would urge you to replace them with eye-bolts that are properly scaled. The ones pictured are at least two or three times as large as they ought to be. They also lack mast bands. (See diagrams, lower left, above.) In real life, these eyes would be part of a metal band set around the mast, not eye-bolts simply screwed into the mast. The mast band is a much stronger fitting. Mast bands can be simulated in modeling by gluing a thin strip of black paper around the mast, then drilling holes through the paper band and into the mast and gluing the eyes into those holes.
 
This video on making your own eye-bolts may be helpful to you.