Pelican 1943 by FriedClams - 1:48 - Eastern-Rig Dragger

[FriedClams]

Greetings Fellow Modelers,

 

I'm beginning a new scratch build project of a mid-century New England fishing vessel. It's a wood hull, round stern, eastern-rig dragger that was built in the mid 1940's. A “dragger” is a small to medium size fishing trawler used in groundfishing, scallop dredging, etc. This is a style of fishing vessel that has long been on my build list but have hesitated to start because I know it will consume most of my bench time for a couple of years. But now that I've made the mental commitment to build it, I'm anxious to get started. There are two reasons why I decided to build this boat in particular. First, the boat is the right era, size, and configuration with characteristic lines that define the vessel class. Secondly, this boat worked out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the place where I was born and grew up.

 

Pelican - From the Mystic Seaport Plans Catalog

 

Pelican - From the Mystic Seaport Plans Catalog

 

 

Albert E. Condon (1887-1963) - Mystic Seaport Catalog

 

 

Albert E. Condon

 

The Pelican was designed in 1943 by Albert E. Condon. A native of Friendship, Maine, Condon worked from a young age at the many boat and shipyards along the Mid-Coast region where he apprenticed and became an accomplished boatbuilder. Intermingled with his apprenticeship, he pursed a formal education in navel architecture and graduated in 1916 from Boston's Franklin Union. In 1939 he became the superintendent and resident designer for the Peirce & Kilburn yard in Fairhaven, Massachusetts and it was during those years that he produced his most notable designs – three dozen or so eastern-rig draggers. The Fairhaven waterfront is located in the New Bedford Harbor at the mouth of the Acushnet River. It sits across the river from its larger neighbor and together they comprise the Port of New Bedford/Fairhaven.

 

Peirce & Kilburn Shipyard – date unknown

 

 

The Beginnings of a Fleet and the Eastern-Rig

 

During the 1800s New Bedford was the worlds' largest whaling port and at its peak in 1857, boasted some 340 whaleships. When the industry collapsed at the end of the century, it left behind an underutilized waterfront situated within a days sail of one of the most abundant fishing grounds anywhere. In 1900, the city's fishing fleet was small and insignificant, consisting of small sloops and catboats. They worked short trips swordfish spearing, mackerel seining or hand lining for cod and haddock. Because the whaling industry had monopolized the waterfront for so long, the town had little or no tradition in fishing, particularly under sail as did the famous sailing schooner ports like Gloucester and Boston. This may seem like a disadvantage in growing a successful commercial fleet, but it actually drove innovation forward by not being entrenched in old fishing methods. New Bedford was quicker to adopt new trawling methods, equipment and full engine powered boats than did other New England ports.

 

Shortly after 1900, large steam powered British style trawlers began making their appearance in New England. These large vessels introduced new trawling technology to the region, but that technology hadn't been adapted in any significant way for use on smaller craft.

 

Captain Dan Mullins is often credited with being the father of the New Bedford fishing industry and he was very influential in the creation of the eastern-rig dragger, or at least in how it evolved to become what it did. Mullins didn't invent new technology, but rather he refined and combined existing equipment and methods into a new way of fishing. In 1909 he installed a small auxiliary engine on a sloop named the Edna J. Morse and used it dragging for flounder on the sandy bottom off southeastern Massachusetts. He also began experimenting with a small primitive version of the “otter” trawl on this same boat. Typically, a sloop such as this would drag a small “beam” trawl using sail power only. In 1919 Mullins had a 81 foot vessel built that was essentially a “schooner dragger” and was equipped with a small 60 HP engine. Named the Mary, it was the first small vessel to use an otter trawl in conjunction with gallows (or gallous) frames to raise and lower the heavy trawl gear. He also rigged the gallows frames as the towing points instead of using the frames solely as a means to deploy and retrieve the gear. This meant that transferring the burden of the tow lines to a block lined off the mast or having to use an additional boom wasn't necessary. Another first by the Mary was the use of a two headed winch that was a precursor to the large drum winches used from the 1920s onward. Mullins also started using a single gypsy head that was engine-connected to pull back the net onto the vessel rather than doing it by hand. And at some point during Mary's career, he re-rigged her from a schooner rig to a ketch which proved to be less cumbersome while dragging. All these adaptations and re-configurations are considered by many to be the beginnings of the eastern-rig and in time these methods would be widely adopted by other New England ports. Although the big steam trawlers were already working out of ports like Boston, these vessels and their associated gear were extremely expensive to purchase and operate. They were mostly owned by investor partnerships and far beyond the financial reach of the average fisherman. In contrast, Mullins had invested approximately $22,000 in the Mary, and after several refits and configurations, the first two working trips with her landed $7,800 in catch. Dan Mullins and the Mary demonstrated that the captain-owner or small company could earn strong returns on a relatively modest investment.

 

Whaleships and oil casks – 1870 – Old Dartmouth Historical Society

 

Dan Mullins (3rd from left) - mid 1930s - Spinner Publications

 

The Mary left New Bedford in February of 1933 and was lost somewhere east of Georges Bank. She was never seen again and despite an extensive search, neither wreckage nor the crew of eight was found. Captain Mullins was not on board.   From the Lost Fisherman website.

 

From Fishing Schooner to Eastern-rig

 

The eastern-rig is a descendant of the 19th century American fishing schooners. It evolved over time and its design was strongly influenced by not only Dan Mullins, but also by Thomas McManus and others. The “schooner dragger” or “auxiliary fishing schooner” was a vessel that bridged the transition from full-sail schooner to the full-powered eastern-rig. These early 20th century transitional boats began as sail powered craft with an engine assist, and in time flipped to become engine powered craft with sail assist. Taking advantage of the schooner's fast hull, these auxiliary boats were often rigged in full sail for swordfish harpooning and then converted back to engine power for groundfish dragging once the swordfish season was over. As more powerful engines became available and affordable, the dual role of harpooning and dragging with a single hull design became unworkable. The sleek light hull of the schooner could not hold up to the vibration and hull stresses of dragging ever larger trawl gear with powerful engines. Vessels that were intentionally built as auxiliary schooners and not simply converted over from old fishing schooners, held up much better. One can imagine the structural stress on a these relatively small boats when the trawl hung up on protruding ledge or finds a sunken wreck, even when brake-slip was properly set. Deeper, heavier, full bellied hulls, designed to be strong at the expense of speed were needed for this method of fishing. The eastern-rig became its own unique fishing vessel type and was used widely throughout New England and beyond.

 

Auxiliary fishing schooner rigged for swordfishing with harpooning pulpit.

 

The eastern-rig below is setup to drag for scallops as witnessed by the single gallows frame forward. Groundfish dragging requires two frames stationed fore and aft to handle the two warp lines leading out to the trawl, whereas a scallop dredge has only a single line. Also, note the shucking stations on either side of the pilothouse with the overhead lighting reflector shades. Like the schooners and aux schooners before them, the deck arrangement of these boats required the helm to be above or near the rudder. But even after these vessels became fully powered with a tiller system and rudder quadrant, the pilothouse remained aft and is a defining characteristic of the eastern-rig.

 

 

New Bedford was an integral part of a region wide shift to full powered eastern -rig boats, but those old wooden boats that were once an ever-present sight in New England ports, are now almost entirely gone from the fishery. It is estimated that some 500 of these fishing vessels were built and now only a handful remain. There are a few steel side-draggers around, but it's the steel hull boats dragging off the stern that predominate the fishing grounds.

 

 

Because the Pelican was a New Bedford boat, I'll finish with an update on the city's fishing industry. Today there are more than 300 commercial boats in the fleet and another 150 from other ports that regularly land and sell their catch there. The scallop fishery that was gaining in importance during the 1920s and 30s, has grown to become the port's bread and butter. Proximity to the scallop beds on Georges Bank, Nantucket Shoals and the Great South Channel, along with its substantial waterfront infrastructure gave it an edge in the scallop industry over other ports. By the mid 1960s, 95% of all scallops were landed in New Bedford and that dominance continues to this day. So much so, that its daily morning auction sets the price of scallops worldwide. There are still many boats targeting fish species, but it's the value of the scallop landings that has made New Bedford the highest value fishing port in North America for the last consecutive 20 plus years. Dutch Harbor, Alaska is the number one port in terms of volume and far exceeds the total weight of landings in New Bedford, but the value of that catch is less than half. And I do want to mention here that the New England scallop fishery is strongly regulated and sustainable with gear requirements, quota limits, area closures and rotations.  So enjoy your scallop dinner guilt free.

 

U.S. Geological Survey

 

A portion of the fleet is shown in the foreground with Fairhaven on the opposite shore. The hurricane dike stretching across the mouth of the harbor, protects it from high water surge during storms. The port suffered disastrous damage after the hurricanes of 1938 and then again in 1954. Construction of the dike was completed in 1966. Beyond the barrier is Buzzards Bay.

 

Steamship Pier in 2015

 

Freedom Schooner Amistad surrounded by the locals during a visit in 2009

 

 

 

I purchased plans for the Pelican from the Mystic Seaport Research Center. The Albert E. Condon Collection is a small subset of the center's vast library, but still contains some 598 sheets representing 153 designs. Three individual boats were built using these plans, but only the Pelican stayed in New Bedford. The boat is 79' (24m) LOA with a 19' (5.8m) beam. Unfortunately, I have not yet found a single photo of the boat.

 

 

A couple of years ago a scratched a western-rig boat that was also a common sight in New England ports contemporary to the eastern-rig.  It's a Stonington style dragger and a build log link for it can be found below in my signature area if anyone is interested.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in, and I invite you to stop by on your travels around the forum.

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by FriedClams

[Paul Le Wol]

Gary, this is a great start to a very interesting looking project. I am all signed up and ready to follow.

[FlyingFish]

Very interesting introduction - and a perfect choice - looking forward very much to the log, Gary!

[ccoyle]

Gary,

 

This is just the type of craft upon which to work your magic. I will be following along with interest.

[Roger Pellett]

Gary, 

 

Looking forward to this.   Thanks for your interesting history of the boat and the industry.  My wife and I visited New Bedford in October 2019 to attend the NRG Conference there.  We really enjoyed the evening speaker who spoke on the town’s history and the diverse population that settled there because of the whaling industry.  We ate several meals at the restaurant on the pier across from the hotel where my wife made a dent in the lobster population! I was surprised at the large fleet of fishing vessels tied up at the pier.  We midwesterners often read about the decline of the US fishing industry.  It’s encouraging to read that a segment is alive and well.  I would like to go beck there when we have more free time to spend.

 

BTW, the presence of the 75ft “Six Bitter” Coast Guard Patrol vessels would date the picture of the Peirce and Kilburn Shipyard from Prohibition; 1920’s.

 

Roger

 

 

[Keith Black]

 Gary, it's great to see you starting another build log and this has all the earmarks of another enjoyable FriedClams journey. A very informative introduction of history and setting, thank you.    

Edited May 5, 2023 by Keith Black

[Retired guy]

This will be a joy to follow Gary.

 

Regards

Richard

[Jim Lad]

The 'Pelican' is a fine looking little ship, Gary. She'll make a beautiful model.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Lovely little boat Gary. looking forward to it.

[Roger Pellett]

Gary,

 

You mention “shucking stations” in your post above.  Are the scallops shucked as soon as they are caught or like other shellfish; clams, oysters, etc. are they kept alive as long as possible.  If they are shucked when caught it would seem that the vessels would have to have some sort of refrigeration plant aboard.

 

Roger

[FriedClams]

 

Paul, Andy, Chris, Keith, Roger, Richard, John and Keith – thanks for your warm comments and interest in this build – I sincerely appreciate it and it's great to know you'll be watching.   And thanks to all for the likes.

 

On 5/5/2023 at 11:46 AM, Roger Pellett said:

BTW, the presence of the 75ft “Six Bitter” Coast Guard Patrol vessels would date the picture of the Peirce and Kilburn Shipyard from Prohibition; 1920’s.

 

I was hoping someone would be able to identify those Coast Guard boats. Never heard of the “Six Bitter” patrol boats, but after a quick search on the web, I found they have an interesting history.  Would make a great modeling project - hmm.  Thanks Roger.

 

On 5/6/2023 at 2:06 PM, Roger Pellett said:

Are the scallops shucked as soon as they are caught or like other shellfish; clams, oysters, etc. are they kept alive as long as possible.  If they are shucked when caught it would seem that the vessels would have to have some sort of refrigeration plant aboard.

 

They are shucked on board between dredge haul backs. Only the adductor muscle is kept and eaten. This is the muscle the scallop uses to snap shut its shell halves to propel itself and evade predators (and dredge rakes) that other bivalves such as clams and oysters can't. Once shucked, the meats are rinsed and sacked in 40 pound cloth bags. The sacks are immediately taken to the pens below and put on ice. They are allowed to chill on top before they are totally buried in the ice. This is done to avoid ice melt pockets around the sacks.  Because wood can harbor bacteria, the sacks are kept from coming in contact with the pen planks.  Atlantic sea scallops are usually less than 6” in height and oddly, their shell is not scalloped.

 

I can't say how modern F/V chill or refrigerate the shucked meats, but it wouldn't surprise me if ice was still being used.

 

 

 

Speaking of modern scallop boats, check out this 2019 high-tech New Bedford boat.

 

Viking Power F/V

 

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

 

 

[FlyingFish]

Over here the 'frills' and the bright orange livers are sometimes kept - they are great hook and pot baits. Scallops fried quickly in salted butter with chilli ginger and garlic are a favourite meal in my household. Yum.

[pwog]

Gary,

 

 I‘be been away from modeling and forum for a bit (life happening), but I’m so excited that you’re working on another project. Great lead in! I’m onboard. 

[FriedClams]

4 hours ago, FlyingFish said:

Over here the 'frills' and the bright orange livers are sometimes kept - they are great hook and pot baits. Scallops fried quickly in salted butter with chilli ginger and garlic are a favourite meal in my household. Yum

Hey Andy, yes a small percentage of the orange guts are saved here also for those same purposes. I’ve not heard of any culinary uses for them though.  I can eat my weight in seared scallops and my wife has the cooking technique down, but I’m going to tell her about that chili ginger and garlic treatment - sounds delicious.

 

41 minutes ago, pwog said:

I’m onboard. 

It’s always good to have you looking in, Paul.

 

Gary

[Valeriy V]

Gary, congratulations on starting a new project!
  I make myself comfortable among the fans of your talent and will watch the process with interest.
   This is a delicious theme in every sense!  

[goatfarmer11]

I'm looking forward to seeing this project come together.  It should be a great model.

 

[Hubac's Historian]

'Glad to be catching this one from the beginning, Gary!

[TBlack]

Gary,

we used to keep our schooner at D.N.Kelley & Sons in Fairhaven with many of these draggers as our neighbors. Will this model be “weathered”, or as newly launched?

Tom

[FriedClams]

Valeriy, Denis, Marc and Tom - thanks for the nice comments and your interest in this build.  It is so appreciated.

 

On 5/8/2023 at 6:18 PM, TBlack said:

we used to keep our schooner at D.N.Kelley & Sons in Fairhaven with many of these draggers as our neighbors. Will this model be “weathered”, or as newly launched?

Fairhaven is a nice town.  In my high school years, the A&W drive-in on route 6 was a regular stop after a beach day with friends on West Island.

 

Yes, it will definitely have some weathering, but nothing extreme, just some honest reality.  Well, that’s the goal anyway. 

 

Thanks.

 

Gary

 

 

[druxey]

A very interesting preamble! When I was growing up in England, scallops were always served complete with adductor and orange 'tail'. Looking forward to seeing your model develop, Gary.

[KORTES]

Dear Gery , all of your works are outstanding in their highest mastery and are a true delightful the eye. I'm very glad that we will have a chance to witness and see another great model from You. My very best regards.

[FriedClams]

Greetings all,

 

Druxey and Alexander - thanks for your interest in this build and for the nice words!  It's so appreciated, and thanks to all for the likes.

 

 

Plans for this boat came from the Mystic Seaport Research Center. They contain the outboard and inboard profiles, transverse sections, deck and arrangement below, deck framing and the lines. Unfortunately, there is no table of offsets for this boat and even though the catalog lists it - none could be found.  And speaking of the boat plans catalog, it is available to view on the Mystic Seaport website, but it isn't downloadable. Here is the link to a digital pdf version that is.

 

Boat Plans at Mystic Seaport - Digital Edition from OffCenterHarbor.com

 

My copies of the plans are quite nice, but as I began working with them, I found the imprints are a little out of square. It's as if the paper sheets had slipped slightly through the copier rolls, not to great extent, but enough to throw what should be straight lines out of whack. Placing a 4' straight edge along a baseline shows the line hooking up or down - a mild curve rather than a straight line, and perpendicular lines veer out of square a short distance from their intersections. Because I imported these plans into CAD for dimensioning and scale printing, the photo process compounded the problem.

 

After much spot checking and obsessing over the accuracy of the skewed lines, I decided to forgo tracing the keel and body plan and instead opted to generate replacements from scratch. This is something of a fool's errand because the differences wouldn't be evident in the final result, even if I were capable of modeling to that degree of precision, which I'm not.  But I don't want to begin a new project with inaccuracies already built in.  I prefer to create my own inaccuracies and errors, and pepper them throughout the build as I go.

 

I began the process by entering points of intersection on the “half breadths” and “sheer” plans into a “table of offsets” from which to create a new body plan. This was a little time consuming but a straightforward process.

 

First, I created a blank table in a spreadsheet to record all the heights and widths for every hull station. A partial view of that table is shown below.

 

 

The sheet containing the “lines” is roughly 52” wide by 22” in height, and the greater the distance between any two points on the drawing the more unreliable the measure. So, when I measured the heights of section line crossings at individual stations, I took those measurements from the closest reference rather than the baseline. For the heights, that reference is the waterlines.

 

To assist in that process, I created a macro in CAD that places a measuring ruler between two points of my choosing. It defaults to precisely one foot in length if I set only one insertion point, but it will stretch or shorten to redefine what constitutes 1' when I insert two points.  I know the distance between waterlines is one foot, so I set the ruler to span the gap between waterlines at every station where a section line intersects it. In some locations, the default 1' ruler spanned the distance between waterlines precisely, while in other locations it fell short, and I ended up having to define those distances to be 1' by setting the second point.

 

 

 

In the example above, the vertical line is station #2 where the #5 section line (buttock) crosses it between WL #1 and #2.  In the U.S., offset data points are typically stated in feet-inches-eighths, so this height is 11-6-3 and I entered it into the offset table.

 

 

 

 

I repeated this at every location where a section line crosses over a station line. Then I did the same for the half breadths on every station line where there is a waterline crossing.  I also recorded rabbet heights, “bottom of deck at side” and “top of sheer” for every station.

 

I decided to add an extra station between #1 and #2 because I'm concerned about a possible flat spot at that area.  So, I struck a vertical line equidistant between stations 1 and 2 and recorded those heights also.  I did the same for the half breadths.

 

 

 

 

 

I created a body plan grid with a center line, horizontal water lines and vertical section lines.

 

 

Then on to the process of plotting the offset points and connecting the dots with a curve. Below is the added station between #1 and #2 which I cleverly named #1.5.  The green lines show half breadth distances, and the turquoise lines are the heights.

 

 

 

Then I did the same for all the rest.

 

I did have to nudge quite a few of the points around to obtain fair lines, but not nearly as many as I had anticipated. These nudges in most cases represented 1/4” corrections or less (on the full-size boat}, although I did have a point that was off by more than an inch.  And I sloppily made several recording errors, transposed numbers and so on, but those were easy to find.

 

Here's the station curves layered over the original plan sheet. This was before I added the station at 1.5.  The match-up is actually closer than it appears because the original is warped in a way that explains some of the differences, but not all of them.  Still, after checking and re-checking, I feel confident it will look like a boat in the end.  

 

 

This was an interesting and oddly enjoyable exercise although it didn't practically need to be done.  But I'm glad I worked through it just the same.  Next comes the backbone.  Thanks for looking.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by FriedClams

[Roger Pellett]

Lofting, just like the real thing.  Well done!  

 

Roger

[Keith Black]

Someday when I grow up I'd like to be able to what you've done, Gary. This is what separates modelers from us hacks. 

[mtaylor]

3 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Someday when I grow up I'd like to be able to what you've done, Gary. This is what separates modelers from us hacks. 

Keith is 100% right.   Yes, I'm still just a hack.

[FriedClams]

On 5/15/2023 at 2:23 PM, Roger Pellett said:

Lofting, just like the real thing.  Well done!

Thanks, Roger

 

On 5/15/2023 at 3:41 PM, Keith Black said:

Someday when I grow up I'd like to be able to what you've done, Gary. This is what separates modelers from us hacks

 

On 5/15/2023 at 6:57 PM, mtaylor said:

Keith is 100% right.   Yes, I'm still just a hack.

Ok, Keith and Mark - why are you guys yanking my chain?  I’ve been following both of you and your wonderful work for several years now and I haven’t seen any of this hacking you speak of. Your work is top notch.  You both are always kind, helpful and supportive to so many of us here at MSW, and a true credit to the forum.  And certainly not hacks.

 

Gary

 

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by FriedClams

[Keith Black]

 Gary, I've too much respect to yank your chain.

 

I shouldn't have said "This is what separates modelers from us hacks" I should have said, this is what separates the masters from us beginners, my sincerest apologies to anyone that I may have offended.

 

 To me, the definition of a master modeler is one who can loft and then transfer that information into building a hull. I am in awe of modelers with that ability along with the joinery, metal working, carving, rigging, and painting skills all the while maintaining historical accuracy. It leaves me absolutely stunned.  The work becomes more than mere modeling, it becomes artistry, plain and simple. 

 

 When I stand at the bottom of the scaffolding and look up at the Michelangelos of model ship building it's easy for me to dismiss my work.

Any success I've had is owed to being a MSW member and having the opportunity to look over the shoulders of you my fellow members. 

[mtaylor]

Gary, what Keith said goes for me also.  I regard you as one of the masters.

[wefalck]

Had to do quite a bit of travelling recently and only had time to occasionally glance over MSW - so I missed the beginning of this new project.

 

The subject is not really 'my' period and I am not a great fan of scallops either - however, I am looking forward again to a nice exercise in first-class modelling  👍

[FriedClams]

Greetings all and thanks for the kind comments and the "likes".

 

Before moving on to the backbone, the station curves on the body plan need to be completed and developed into station bulkhead form patterns, printed, cut from plywood and finally arranged on a building baseboard.

 

The model will be displayed with the fish hatches open and probably a bunker plate removed to allow a peek into the dimly lit partitioned hold below.  The positioning and spacing of the stations as indicated on the original plans are provided only to define the shape of the hull and of course, do not reference any structural element.  But because I'm using those stations as bulkhead locations, where they land within the fish hold area is of consequence.  As luck would have it, station # 5 intersects the forward hatch and #6 lands on a coaming timber at the aft hatch.  So those stations needed to be removed and three new modified stations added in replacement.  In the drawing below, the vertical red lines are the removed stations #5 and 6.  The blue lines are the replacement stations 4A, 5A and 6A, which as you can see do not interfere with the hatch openings and will provide a landing spot for the hold outer wall planking.

 

 

 

Body plan curves for three new stations were generated from the "lines" drawing in the same way station #1.5 was done in my previous post.

 

 

 

Stations #5 and 6 were removed from the body plan and 4A, 5A and 6A were added.

 

 

The added station forms were hollowed out to the width determined by the hull framing at each cross section.  Deck beams will eventually strengthen these openings and be installed after the form extensions are cut from the hull and the fish hold is planked and partitioned.

 

 

The remainder of the station bulkhead forms were then drawn up.  Each one has a drill hole mark and separation cut line that will allow the forms to be detached from their extensions once the hull is fully planked.  One end of the scroll saw blade will be inserted through the drilled-out hole and used to cut along the separation line.  A Dremel rotary saw will be used to make the final separation.

 

 

I printed the forms on full sheet adhesive labels and affixed them to two 12” x 24” sheets of 1/8” craft plywood taking advantage of the factory cut edge.

 

 

Scroll sawed, filed and sanded.

 

 

Attached to the baseboard.

 

 

Next came the backbone drawings.  The original plans show very detailed dimensioning describing the shape of these timbers, so it was mostly just an exercise of re-plotting this data onto a newly created grid.  Rather than tracing an imported CAD image, I took this extra step because I already knew the original photocopies were slightly skewed and the import process would have only exaggerated the problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's how the backbone will sit on the station forms shown in profile.

 

 

Before I physically cut and assemble the backbone, I'll make a cardboard mock-up and test fit it to the forms.  It would be beyond irritating to say nothing of embarrassing to spend hours carefully making a backbone that doesn't quite fit because I botched the drawing.

 

I look forward to the end of this preliminary work and to begin actually building the model.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary