TECH TIPS PAGE SEVENTEEN
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Creating the 1/4 Scale Building Platform
The last issue outlined some of the preliminary steps in making a scale model birchbark canoe.
Selecting a canoe was discussed including the importance of carefully reducing its dimensions
to accurate scale. A procedure was presented for preparing a ¼-scale "blueprint" of any of the
canoes depicted in the Adney and Chapelle book, "The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America."
This article will deal with how to make a quarter-scale building platform that can be reused
over and over with many different styles and sizes of model canoes. As with all other aspects
of building model canoes, a building platform should be made just as it would be for a full-size
canoe, using the same materials and the same techniques, only scaled down to smaller size.
A full-size building platform consists of wooden planks, about two inches thick, at least a foot
wider than the canoe to be built and several feet longer at each end. It is crowned up to two
inches higher in the middle than at the ends, to help control the amount of rocker in the
finished canoe. A full size platform is typically about 20 feet long and about four feet wide.
Reducing the dimensions for a quarter scale model yields a model platform that is five to six
feet long, about one foot wide and a half-inch or more thick. Suitable pre-cut lumber can be
found in the shelving area of Home Depot and most other building supply stores.
To make my model platform portable, I fastened it to an extra tall sawhorse that I built
especially for the purpose. I screwed down one end of the platform to the sawhorse, then
positioned a 3/8" dowel, widthwise, (more about this later) under the exact center of the
platform before I screwed down the other end. The resulting building platform is slightly
crowned in the middle, which helps to control the amount of rocker in the finished model.
I made the sawhorse extra tall to work either sitting on a stool or standing up.
In a full-size canoe, stakes are pounded into the ground to hold the bark upright while it's
being lashed to the gunwale. With a model, I use 3/8" diameter dowels as "stakes." I drill
slightly larger holes into the building platform and insert the stakes into them to hold the
bark in place.
I buy 3 ft long, 3/8" diameter rods at Home Depot and then cut them up into the various lengths
I need to hold the model in place. The "stakes" at the bow ends are about 8" long and the ones
nearer the center are about 4" long.
If the building bed is flat, the resulting canoe can develop more rocker than is wanted. If
the building bed is crowned in the center, the amount of rocker in the finished canoe will be
reduced by the amount of crown at the center. More crowning equals less rocker, less crowning
equals more rocker. Each canoe requires a separate decision about rocker and crowning. A typical
full-size canoe with moderate rocker would have about 1 1/2" to 2" of crown at the center of the
building bed. At one-quarter scale the measurement becomes 3/8" to 1/2". A 3/8" to 1/2" dowel
inserted widthwise under the center of the building platform serves the purpose perfectly.
Next issue will cover other preliminary steps such as measuring and making scale-size thwarts,
gunwales, ribs, sheathing, pegs and roots for lashings. These preparation steps constitute
about half the total construction time for any canoe. They can be done at your leisure, with
no particular timetable, and stored until you are ready for assembly. It's relaxing and
rewarding to see steady progress as you complete one component after another. If you are
hesitant because you feel you may not know enough to do it right, I will be happy to coach you
through the step-by-step process at no charge.