Deck Houses. Stanchions.
In addition to a carefully shaped hull, a ship model requires many small parts for the deck and rigging. While the model maker can display his own ingenuity and inventive ability in making these small fittings, there are certain methods, devised by experts, that will serve as a fine starting point for the work. Three questions confront the ship modeler as he begins each small part. What material should be used? What does the particular part look like? And how shall it be made the easiest, quickest, and best way. The answer to the second question, depending as it does on the type, period, and nationality of the ship, generally will be found on the plans detailing the model. If no complete plans are being followed, an idea of the general size and shape often can be obtained from the colored prints of early sailing ships that are on file in most public libraries. As to material and method, the beginner can be guided by the following:
Deck Houses
Deck houses, skylights, and similar parts usually are made from
solid blocks of wood. Of course, in the case of large cabins, they can be built up from
plywood or stiff cardboard (see Fig. 1). If made from a solid block, the sides should be
finished with a file rather than sandpaper as the file will give a smoother surface. If
the roof projects beyond the side walls, make it a separate piece. If the deck is cambered
(crowned), the bottom of the deck house can be made to fit by laying a piece of sandpaper
on the deck and rubbing the block on the sandpaper until it matches the curve of the deck
(Fig. 2). Large deck houses can be built up, the windows being pierced and backed with
cellophane as in Fig. 3. The walls and ends of the deck house can be made of three-ply. By
rabbeting two plies at each end of the front and back pieces, the sidepieces can be set in
to make an almost invisible joint (Fig. 4). Bars can be put across the windows, if
necessary, by boring down from the top and inserting thin wires as in Fig. 6.
To make a circular-topped skylight, cut away the top bar, bore down through the skylight, and thread wire through the holes as suggested in Fig. 5. Then groove the top bar to take the wires and refasten it in place with glue. If, as in many models of early ships, the deck houses are to be fitted with leaded glass windows, these can be simulated by drawing lines with draftman's ink on photographic negatives after the emulsion has been removed. Simply soak the negatives in hot water and rub them to loosen the coating. When they are clear, hang them up to dry. To make the ink take on the smooth surface of the film, rule the lines first with a pin or other sharp point, being careful not to cut all the way through, and then apply the ink.
Stanchions
Taffrails around the stern are somewhat tricky to fit. They can be
made from chair-caning spline, hard rubber, or celluloid, steamed and bent to shape, but
are better when made from thin fiber board cut to shape as in Fig. 7. In either case, lay
it on the poop edge and bore through for the stanchions or posts. The stanchions can be
turned to shape from square brass stock with points above and below to stick into the
upper and lower rails, or they can be turned from wood with a homemade forming tool shaped
as in Fig. 8. On small models, two or three beads threaded on a 1/2-in. pin will give a
realistic effect. For the stanchions of iron-bar railings, several methods can be used,
the best, of course, being the process of actually turning them from brass rod in
imitation of the real thing (see Fig. 13). To do this, however, requires a precision lathe
and a well-made boring jig - two tools that are not found in every model maker's tool
kit. A good imitation of turned brass stanchions, however, can be made by using spring
cotter pins as shown in Fig. 16. Spring cotter pins can be obtained in a large variety of
lengths and diameters so that you should have little difficulty in finding the size best
suited for almost any model. If two rails are wanted, a thin strip of tin may be used to
represent the lower rail. Or, if loops are bent in the legs of the cotter pin with a small
jig used in your vise, a wire instead of a strip can be used in the lower rails. Either
two- or three-rail stanchions can be made in this way. 
Another simple substitute is to drive 1/2-in. pins into the deck and hitch two or more plain threads along them, using clove hitches at the ends and half hitches between (Fig. 9). Another, and perhaps more realistic, method of rigging the rails, is to use two threads, twisting them together between stanchions as in Fig. 12. In either method, a drop of cement put on at the junctions will hold the thread in place and form a ball. To give the effect of navy-type stanchions, you can use No. 20 brads from 3/8 to 5/8 in. long as shown in Fig. 10. File two or three nicks, depending on the number of rails desired, in each brad and set the wires in these, aligning them carefully and soldering. Where firm support at the ends can be obtained, the neatest substitute is to take two small bights of very small wire (30 or 32 gage), bend them over a stiff, small nail or a needle, twist them together, then carry them around another nail or needle, twist them some more, and so on until you have a twisted rod with the necessary number of holes (Fig. 11).