scratchbuilding aircraft carriers

Basically it is the process of laying up the hull in horizontal layers.

You cut the bottom piece, according to a plan,. Then you cut the next horizontal section up, and cut the center out of it to begin a hollow space.

You "butter" the bottom of the second piece with glue, and lay it on top of the first piece. You would continue to do this until you reach the weather deck of the ship you are building.

What you have is a stair stepped hull with the correct "plan" view when seen from directly above, or below. The steps are then ground, or sanded off until you have a nice smooth ships hull.

I will see if I can post some diagrams later.

Ok I got the diagrams posted.

You can view them here

http://groups.msn.com/ModelersAndHobbyForum/quicksuggestions.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=94

Notice in the diagrams that the upper outside edge of the boards corresponds to the hull drawings. You want to do this every time or you can run into trouble, especially with ships that "flare" at the gunnwales.

Thank you for your help. The explanations and the diagrams will be very usefull to me.
Tom.