Making a Minimouse
I strongly recommend making a card, modeller's plastic or 1/8in ply model before building the real thing
To build a model, scan, size and print out the panels diagrams accompanying this article so that the lengths of the vertical sides on the drawings match.
Then stick them to the modelling material, cut the panels out and then assemble and glue, using sticky tape, or – like Alan Thorne's groups – by stitching with small cable ties.
And now on to the building the real thing... I've experimented with various ways of defining the panels, but my favourite now is to use coordinates.
Looking at the panels drawings, you'll notice that letters have been used to identify points – each of these letters corresponds to a pair of coordinates in the table. Just as when drawing a graph at school, X denotes a distance in inches and fractions from the bottom left corner along the long edge of the 8 by 4ft ply sheet you're working on.
The second number in each pair is the distance upwards along a line drawn at 90 degrees from the bottom edge – and having got the position, mark it with a soft pencil that can be rubbed out easily.
As with so many things in life, this process is much easier if you do it in the right way, and have the right tools to hand.
As you'll likely be doing this on the floor, I advocate a cushion for your knees and a seriously big T-square for drawing long accurate lines – the type used by builders for working with plasterboard walls is ideal. Stanley's, for example, makes one that retails for about £16.
Because it helps me to see where my mistakes are (most of us make at least a few) and because it's nice to use a short ruler or scale for the small-scale stuff, I always start by marking out my plywood in 10-inch or 12-inch squares using a tape measure, and the T-square.
In order to keep the T-square steady and prevent it from sliding, it can be useful to put a couple of heavy old books behind the ruler on the ply.
Having marked our coordinates drive pins into them, so that you can bend a long flexible piece of material known as a batten around them to produce a curve that we can draw round onto the ply using our soft pencil. A cheapie plastic moulding bought from a DIY supplier does the job perfectly. It's handy, by the way, to have a few weights to hand to hold it in place.
As always in boatbuilding and carpentry generally, check and re-check all the measurements before you go any further - the age-old advice to 'measure twice and cut once' still holds. Look too at the curved lines you create, making sure that parts such as the bottom and decks that should be symmetrical really are so – and that parts such as the sides that should have an identical twin really are identical.
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