Coppering the Hull

After many years of trying different things to protect the underside of wooden ships from the seas and seas life copper plates were found to be the most effective. Given the time period of this model (1868) I too needed to line the underside of the ship with copper.

At first I started with very small (1/4 in x 1/8 in) individual plates, but was having a difficult time getting them to stay stuck on the wood, and on each other. So I scraped that idea and went with an easier tactic. Although not truly to scale, this method of running 1/4 in copper strips down the entire length of the hull has a nice affect, and gets the job done.

So after two days of frustration, sticking things in the wrong place, and accidentally pealing up the strips that I had just put down the job is complete, at least this portion of it. I finished it all off with a light coat of superglue applied with a brush to help keep everything in its place.