Shop Note

It was easy – I actually plated the hull!

Here's how...

The hull itself is built bread-and-butter. It was finished smooth, and then sanded and primed. This was repeated until I was satisfied that the hull represented metal (rather than wood).

Figure from: SHIP ERECTION Bulletin 349 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Harrisburg, 1942

There are a variety of plating schemes in use. I was lucky - the original hull was plated "in and out" - alternate strake plates were applied to the frames, leaving bands of plating (see figure). These were the "in strakes". The gap was then covered by the "out strakes" – another band of plating that overlapped the ins on the edges: These were then riveted (this is 1919 - welding didn't appear until the acetylene torch became available during WW II).

I don't know if you can still get it, but there used to be something called "gummed brown paper tape" - a very thin strip of brown paper covered on one side with a water-activated glue...it was used for wrapping packages for the post office.

I used this to create the individual out strakes by cutting the strip to width, sponging water onto both the hull and the glue, and then sticking the strip on to the (wet) hull. The glue dries slowly, giving time to slide the strip around on the wet hull until it's in place. If the glue dried and it wasn't right, more water would soften the glue and it could be remove and another strip applied.

When all the strips were on, another coat of primer sealed the paper, and also helped bond the paper more tightly to the hull. The plated hull could then be painted the finish colors.

Hope this is clear.
{John O. Kopf}

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