If you successfully loaded the PDF file using Adobe Acrobat Reader®, your screen should look something like this. As you can tell, the drawing will print on an 8½" X 11" sheet of paper. It would be a good idea to print a copy at this time keeping in mind this will not be your scale drawing.
	In order to get a horizontal view of the drawing, press the Rotate View 90° CCW button as indicated by the red arrow on the top graphic. Make sure you maximize your window and place the entire drawing on your screen. To do this, you must press the Fit in Window button as indicated by the red arrow on the bottom graphic. Now you are ready to transfer the drawing to your favorite graphics software.
Most graphics programs are not capable of reading/displaying PDF files. To accomplish the transfer, I used the Windows Clipboard. Placing a copy of your screen into the Windows Clipboard is as simple as pressing your keyboard Print Screen button. After pressing the button one time, a copy of your screen is stored in the clipboard/memory. The next step is to load your favorite graphics program and paste the clipboard to a new image. You should save a copy of this image as a master. I saved mine using the BMP format.
	Now it´s time to begin creating your drawing to scale. I decided to build my fireboat in 1/25th scale, so my hull length will be 50.4". You may decide to build yours in a different scale, but that doesn´t matter. Simply figure out in advance what the length of your hull will be. The calculation is (length of real boat) / (scale) * (12 inches) = (length in inches for model) Example: 105´ / 25 * 12" = 50.4" Next, using the options in your graphics program, cut the hull profile exactly at the bow and stern making sure to include the height of the profile (see example to the left). Paste this cut out into another separate image.
Now that you have the hull as a separate image, simply resize it to the proper dimensions. Using the above example, I resized my image so the width was 50.4". The height resized automatically. Save this image as your master. If you have a printer that will accept paper this large, simply print the graphic. If not, you must follow some more steps.
	My graphics program allowed me to set the size of the cutting tool. I set the tool for 8" X 10" to allow for a white margin on paper. Next, I began cutting individual sections of my master image and printing them on the printer. Since my printer only accepted standard paper, many individual sheets were required to print the entire master.
Using a standard, table top paper cutter, I trimmed the white margins from the sheets and then taped them together using standard, clear tape. This was a little time consuming, but not nearly as much as the printing process itself. Now that you have the procedure mastered, simply repeat the process for any other views you need.

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Copyright © 2003 - 2008 John T. VanderHeiden
Last Updated Wednesday, December 10, 2003 1:38:55 PM