Thanks, Robin, Tileguy...it has been fun wondering all the possibilities, i.e. What size the Schnabel car(s) would be to haul it? Just how many shays would it take to haul the lumber?...etc.
The school of thought that the design comes from is based on the original meaning of the word "ark". As a box or coffin, it wouldn't have been a cute little boat with smiling hephelumps and woozzles peeking out over the rails. A lecture I had listened to from a maritme engineer explained his studies into how simple and surprizingly sea-worthy the ark would likely have been. A man after my own heart when he pointed out that it could carry the contents of "8 freight trains of 65 cars each". Guess I can start my horsepower ratings for my fleet from there. :thumb:
Doing it in matchsticks gives me rough hewn lumber that would equal 14' 8x8s, beefy but easy enough for two guys to handle. Even with the lack of major detailing, the texture of the finish and the details that are there without embelishing the story as told, is a sight to behold and makes the work pass fairly quickly. 7,500 plus matches will be needed and I've found it much easier to glue them individually rather than apply the glue in a swatch and then place the matches in it.
>>>>"A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above;and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second and third stories shalt thou make it." Genisis 6:16
The door was placed at the second deck, framed out at 14 cubits square, using similar sized scale strip wood as the matches were too short. The window runs along the top, around the length of the ark, using bits of 1x1/3 cubit stripwood, set in to look like the ends of rafters. This represents the coverage of one box of matches and about an hour's work.