The concept is pretty easy. You just scale all of your parts down. I build 1/4 scale mainly because I build in inches, and everything is easier to calculate. If I was building metric I would probably build 1/5 scale for the same reason. Luckily artificial sinew easily splits and so it's easy to make a 1/4 or a 1/5 of a strand for your lashings. To work with the sinew I use a needle. For wooden pegs I use toothpicks.

I've never built anything but that I thought that I could do it better the next time. Building models is every bit as challenging as building the regular sized boats - and sometimes because of the scale it's even more so. So when it comes time to build the real deal, you've already made your mistakes and solved your problems.

Another nice thing about building models is that you use such a small amount of materials that you don't have to worry about expenses. Go first class all the way!