Page 39: “Sovereign Of The Seas” Part VI – Carvings, Lanterns, Knights, Bitts And Painting
These windows are covered with the diagonally lined celluloid, the same as the lanterns, the panes being cemented to the hull and afterward reinforced with a half-round molding, placed over the edges as shown. The two rows of windows in the quarter galleries are made similarly, and are cemented in place as in Fig. 60. No moldings are necessary for these.
The gunport wreaths previously attached to the rails must now be drilled through their centers. This is a delicate job and utmost care must be taken to avoid splitting the rails or breaking away pieces of the wreaths themselves. Make sure that they are solidly attached and then, using a light hand drill, make a 1/16-in. hole through the exact centers of the wreaths. This done, change to a 1/8-in. drill, or a small reamer, and carefully enlarge the holes to this size. It will help, if you lightly tack a block of soft wood to the deck and against the inner side of the rails before drilling, to ease the strain on the rails from the drill pressure. The tack holes in the deck can be filled afterward with plastic wood, which, when dry, may be touched up with boiled linseed oil to match the color of the decks.
Before beginning to gild and paint your model, the painting scheme of the hull, Fig. 68, should be carefully studied. For finishing, you will need some antique burnishing bronze powder, one tube each of white, black, ultramarine blue, raw sienna and burnt sienna. Japan paints dry quickly to a flat finish and are thinned with turpentine. A 1/2-in. flat camel’s-hair brush should be used on the large flat areas; a medium pointed camel’s-hair brush is suitable both for the gilding and fine paint work. If these materials are not obtainable in your locality, they can be ordered through art-supply stores in larger cities. Antique brown, to represent aged wood, is mixed as follows: Squeeze one part of raw sienna, one part of burnt sienna and one-quarter part of ultramarine blue into a dish and mix. Turpentine is added to produce a fairly thick, but easy-flowing consistency.
