Building Little Boats

 or...

Dhow are you?

The bits.

Still painting Frenchmen in Egypt, be reassured.

However, I was reading the excellent 'Napoleon in Egypt' by Paul Strathern and is starting to become clear to me that I would benefit from some watercraft, so wat could be more appropriate or more multi-use than an Arabian Dhow.

I well remember the templates available on the Major-Generals' marvellous website, so off I flew via the Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/20060614041903/http://zeitcom.com/majgen/index.html) and downloaded them.

The lead ship in her class.

In the photo above you can see the deck united with the hull. The smaller pieces are the fore and aft decks that will be raised a little higher then the level of the main deck by means of some shims underneath them.

The decks are heavy card with the planking drawn in black biro and then with the odd plank picked out with a wash of one colour or another. It's surprisingly colourful and effective. I'm kind of regretting using such strongly coloured paper for the hull - a manila folder seems a better option in retrospect.

Next comes the mast, yard, sail and some rudimentary rigging.

I am thinking three or four might be a good number for this flotilla?