MEDDO

I finished the deadeyes and deadeye strops this week.  And set a new personal record for the most discarded/rejected parts.  Haha.  I can laugh now, but at the time, it was the height of frustration.  I think to get the 8 usable deadeye strops shaped correctly and mounted, I wound up with an additional 15 or so I scrapped.  Admittedly most of that was trying to get the first couple formed.  Once I had a system down for shaping them, things went more smoothly.  I wound up chipping the paint off some of the chain plates, so had to touch that up.  And I wound up rubbing off the finish of the annealed wire I used for making the strops from handling too much, so had to blacken those again . . . which made a bit of a mess on the deadeyes from blackening smudges coming off of my fingers.  So, I had to re-sand some of the deadeyes to remove that.  All in all not the most fun part of the build.  So, I'm happy that buttons up Chapter 9 of Chuck's monograph, and I look forward to getting away from handling metal and back to working with wood for the next parts of the build!
 
Erik

Moving along I've finished the boxing joint and the first parts of the keel.
 
Next I'll add the false keel and the pieces on top of the keel for the rabbet strip.

Continuing work on the stern gallery.

Well that turned out much better than I'd hoped! 
The hardest part of the frames were sawing all the pieces out by hand, but I eventually got it done (with a sore arm!) and the installation went very well. It definetely helped having a disc sander with a tilting table which allowed me to sand the angle at the foot of the frames with great precision. 

Scratch building is chock full of learning experiences. Hopefully you are using PVA glue which is easily debonded with isopropyl alcohol. May I suggest you prepare a test scarph joint with your tissue paper then debond it with PVA. I'm suggesting this because some papers I tried actually created a black mess during the debonding process and ruined the piece. Of course if you are planning to build a perfect, error free model this is not a concern but I buy my alcohol by the gallons. Also test the finish you propose to use to make sure it doesn't make the tissue paper bleed. Finally, I have found that using thicker tissue paper results in a weaker joint. Perforating the tissue paper prior to gluing the mating segment seems to help this. As well make sure to use treenails or brass fastening to reinforce these joints.
 
You're off to a great start!

Hi ☺️
 
 last photos before putting the glass on the model

Thank you for saying...
 
I am trying to set aside time regularly to make a little progress.
 
Continuing with the center line fittings below deck, the WELL was next up.   This is a relatively simple structure.  The four sides are laser cut and etched.  You need to do just a few things before you glue up the four sides.  
 
First...make sure the fore and aft sides sit nicely on the keel.  Once you adjust them as needed,  you can cut the four upright columns to length.   How do you determine the length of these.  The two aft columns are shorter.  These are simply cut to fit under the next deck beam.  No  big deal.   The two columns on the fore side of the well are different and taller.   These two columns are cut so the tops are flush with the TOP of the gun deck beams or carlings.
You will have an opportunity to sand these shorter so dont over sand them initially.

Assembling the well is straight forward after you glue the columns to the port starboard sides of the well ahead of time as shown above.   You can also use some scrap tiny strips of wood to make the toggle handles for the access door.  Then just glue them on.   They are clearly shown on the plans.
 

With the four sides glued up and square...test it on your model.   After any minor tweaks you can glue it position permanently.
 

 
Then the next few gun deck beams, carlings and ledges were taken care of.   Eventually you will get to the beams where the capstan step needs to be built along the center line.  So you will need to stop and assemble the capstan step.   I glued those appropriate deck beams in position so I had a reference point to test fit the step periodically.  The step is also laser cut for you and has a recessed circle in the center.   This will accept the heel of the capstan drum...eventually.
 
The step is bolted to two columns that are set on top of  keel.   These two columns are 1/8" x 1/8" strips just like the other support columns under the beams.   Hopefully you havent forgotten to add any up until now.   They are all shown on the plans.  
 
You must cut the two columns to fit under their respective gun deck beams.   Now you have to determine where along those beams the capstan step will be placed.   You can use the plans of course but it is doubtful it will match your model perfectly.  Mine didnt.   So just understand that the capstan step is slightly higher the lower aft platform and it is level.   Because you know this you can mark the columns for the height of the capstan step with the columns "snug" fit temporarily in position.
 
When I was comfortable that I had the proper height worked out, I was ready to glue it in position.  But first I had to add the simulated bolts on the capstan step.   I used 25 lb black fishing line to simulate these.  And yes the photo shows the step upside down so you can see the hole for the drum.   But rest assured it will be glued in position right-side up!!
 

The capstan step in position...and the carlings added afterwards.
 

And some other views...of the gun deck up to this point with the ledges completed.
 

 


Almost to the other side of the gun deck.  But next up are all of the cabins on the aft lower platform.   Onward and upward as they say!!
 
 
 

After pulling some hair out, and the remainder going gray, haha, I have finished the backstay plates and chain plates . . . on the port side anyway.  I revisited blackening them, using advice here and on the internet.  My test brass strips looked OK, but I couldn't avoid bare brass spots being rubbed off after lightly wiping them down with a dry cloth.  I'm pretty sure I didn't clean the brass well enough beforehand.  After being left frustrated by that, I just went ahead and followed what Chuck had done on his, and painted them black and used a rust brown weathering powder to give them that iron look.  I'm happy with the results.  A trick I learned years ago as a model railroader with brass, is to bake the brass after painting.  Just put the parts under a hot halogen or incandescence light bulb, about an inch away from the bulb, for about five minutes.  This hardens the paint on the metal surface and makes it much more scuff resistant.  The nails themselves I ordered from ModelExpo (being my first ship build I didn't have any extras from prior builds to use).  They are the smallest ones they offer.  They're slightly rounded on the bottom of the heads, so don't appear the sit flush when pushed in.  So I used a larger diameter drill bit than the holes in the brass were drilled with, and counter sunk all the holes in the backstay and chain plates.  I also ran a sharp angled file on the underside of the heads of each nail.  This helped get the nails to snug down flat when pushed in.  After getting the parts mounted and nailed in place, I went ahead and touched up the paint and weathering powder.
 
Of all the processes involved on this build, metal working is probably the one I have the least experience in.  The backstay plates and chain plates have taken a lot longer than I thought they would.  That said, I've learned a lot, even with the error part of Trial and Error being frustrating at times!
 
Erik

The one book I use for starting any research has been Historic Ship Models by zu Mondfeld.    Usually it's just the starting point for a trip down a rabbit hold and ending up on my other books or on a deep web search.  

The mast cap has two openings: a round one for the topmast and a square one for the lower mast head.  There are four eyebolts that extend all the way through the mast cap.  I raided my scrap box for a contrasting color piece of wood.  Both openings were made with a regular drill.  The square opening was then shaped with a chisel and the round one was enlarged with sandpaper wrapped around a dowel.  It will not be installed until much later.

 
Although it also will not be installed for a while, I made the topmast next.  The dimensions of the topmast are determined by the diameter of the lower mast.  The lower end of topmast is 7/10 the diameter of the mast and the upper end is 11/20.  This will be a stub topmast as the actual length of this mast would be 8” on the model.  Its shape is more complicated than the lower mast.  The lowest section (the block) is octagonal, the next section is (the heel) square, followed by another octagonal section.  The upper part of the topmast is round, tapering as it goes to the head.  There are three openings in the mast; the middle one is for the fid (the rectangular peg which prevents the mast from falling between the trestle trees) and the other two are for sheaves.  The kit will contain a template for the topmast.

 
Starting with a ¼” square dowel, I marked out the mast for the various transition points.  Using the 7:10:7 ratio for determining the corners of the octagon, I drew the lines for those two  sections.  The mast taper begins at the end of the upper octagon.  The blue line is the centerline and the red lines are the corners of the octagons.  Just as was done for the main mast, I taped off the square section to protect it from errant chisel cuts.  The pictures shows a completed topmast above a square dowel.  There is extra wood on the top and bottom of the dowel for ease of handling.

 
I used a saw to cut a shallow groove between the octagonal and square areas on the corners of the square section (circled area).  This transition should stay sharp.  The lower octagonal section was shaped with a sanding stick.


The upper octagon and round area were both shaped as octagons, without any taper.


Another piece of tape was used to protect the upper octagon and the upper part of the mast was rounded and tapered. 
After removing the tape, the transition between the octagonal and round sections and between the square and upper octagonal sections were smoothed.
Making the holes for two sheaves and the fid was next.  The upper and lower sheave openings are in the octagonal sections and are 90 degrees to each other and 45 degrees to the fid hole.  The dimensions for the fid opening are one-third the mast diameter high and one-quarter the mast diameter wide, in this case 3” x 2.5”.  The opening was formed from multiple drill holes, squared off with a #11 blade.  The fid was made slightly smaller than the size of the opening and long enough to span the trestle trees.
 
The sheave openings are 8” long and 1.5” wide.  I simulated the sheaves on this model.   These were trickier to drill accurately because they are on angled faces.  Here is how I made them.  The sheave opening was marked on both sides of the mast.  I put the mast in a vise, clamping it in the upper octagonal area, just above the sheave opening.   A small hole was drilled near the top and bottom of the sheave opening but I did not drill completely through the mast.  The mast was repositioned in the vise and the holes on the other side were drilled.  The holes on each side were enlarged to the correct width of the opening.  I did this slowly, working a little bit on one side and then switching to the other side.  The holes eventually met.  Then, using a #11 blade, a shallow groove representing the sheave was formed between the two holes and the “sheave” was painted.   The final step was to cut off the excess wood at the top and bottom of the topmast and apply a finish.


This is how it looked installed. 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That is some great progress there.

Starting chapter 7
 
The first thing I wanted to do, just to get it out of the way...was to get all the gundeck beams made.  I cleaned the char off of all 11 beams now.  Then they were cut to length using the plans as a guide.  I also used the plans to establish where each deck beam is positioned.  For now I will just set them aside and grab them as I need them.   The last thing I wanted was to have to stop what I am doing just to clean char off a beam and cut it to length.  Its a comfort knowing they are all done and ready.
 
The photo below shows all the beams just resting on the deck clamp.
 

This allowed me the opportunity to cut all the templates and see what the planking scheme would look like so I can adjust it now rather than later.   I think its a good plan as is...and I wont make any adjustments, yet.
 

 
With the beams all ready and at hand, I could start making the cabins on the lower platform at the bow.
 
Each bulkhead will be made in two layers.   Both are 1/32" thick and are laser etched with a bunch of reference lines.   Now it would be easy enough to make these from scratch but this does make the building process quicker.  Especially since very little of these will be seen.  Below are the sections for the carpenters cabin on the starboard side.   It shows both sides.  I cleaned the char from the inside edges of the door panels and then glued up each layer.
 
Before I add any details I made sure they fit on the model.  I adjusted them to fit nicely in position and adjusted the heights etc.   This is why it is good to have those deck beams handy.  You need to have the first two beams in position to get the heights correct.
 

 
Once I was sure they fit on the model OK (see the deck layout for details), I started added the hinges and stanchions.

First I added the upright timbers which are either 1/8" x 1/8" strips cut to length or 3/32" x 3/32" strips.  The plans show which.   Then I added the door handles and hinges.   Make sure to add the handles on both sides of the door.   And be careful to put them on the correct side based on which way the doors open.
 
The outside view of both bulkheads completed.
 

The interior of the carpenters cabin detailed.

 
Finally they were glued into position on the model.  I placed the side with the doors first.  Just use your planking of the lower platform to position it straight and against the stanchion on the fcastle bulkhead.  
Then I added the smaller section along the aft edge of the platform.  This will probably need the outside edge to be sanded because I laser cut them longer than needed.   So adjust the side that butts up against the frames.   But remember, there isnt any planking on the inboard side of the frames so it is expected to show a gap.   Just get it as even and consistent as you can.  
 
The carpenters cabin and boatswains cabin completed.
 
Note how the top of the bulkheads against the deck clamp are flush with the top of the deck clamp.    
 

Next up will be the sail room.  But that needs to be built a different way because of the louvered walls for ventilation. 
 
Chuck
 
 
 

Putting in his lunch order. 
 
But seriously….they are same figure and just used for scale.  I actually move him around as I develop the drawings.  Insane how tight the spaces were and low the ceilings were.  
 
I placed him near the tiller on the poop deck also…no railings port and starboard.  Crazy stuff…lucky if the bulwarks are knee high…
 
Just high enough to trip overboard.
 

 

 

@glbarlow Thanks a lot - there have certainly been a lot of challenges to overcome, not certain that I've quite "mastered" any yet though :-).
 
I've been continuing work on the lower deck framing and while not perfect I'm happy with how the cross section is shaping up. I struggled for a little bit trying to determine how to score the mortises (joints?) for the ledges and carlings until I recalled my mantra for this build - go re-read TTFM book 1 and of course there was a nice tip for how to easily make pseudo joints which I attempted to follow. The picture thats follow show how I set the angle for the score on beam and then the finished cut.
 
 

I did my best to get the matching score aligned, but they are slightly off - though it isn't very noticeable until you really start staring at the deck and I think it will be even less noticeable when the upper deck is added (though I will have to be more exact there).


I have to add the center hanging knees and lodging knees before finishing out the deck framing, but here is where I currently stand.

Time to build up the port and starboard sides of the mast head.  I used the mast template to determine the dimensions.  A real mast would have its top cut at an angle to lock it into the mast cap.  This detail is not visible so I shaped it as a simple square.  The full- sized dimensions are 9” square by 11”tall, which is the thickness of the mast cap. 


Iron bands were placed around the mast head at regular intervals.  I used paper dyed with archival ink.  On this photo you can see that I have added bolts to the cheek.  The bolts are made from 24 g copper wire patinated with liver of sulfur. 

 
The wooldings provide extra strength to the mast.  The number and composition varied based on the era.  At this time, they were made of 2.5” tarred rope (all rope dimensions are circumference).  Because I will be using several diameters of line in the build, I made a table consisting of the full-sized circumference, the circumference at  1:48 scale and the diameter at 1:48 scale.  The easiest way to determine the diameter of your rope is to wrap 10-20 windings around a dowel, measure the distance and divide it by the number of windings.  Remember, circumference is πd so the rope diameter is circumference/π.  I used eight wraps for each woolding.  To hide the ends of the wooldings, I tucked them in the gap between the mast and the cheeks. 

Above and below the wooldings are wooden hoops.  I simulated them by cutting strips of paper and wrapping two layers around the mast.  This gave the hoops the appropriate thickness.

 

As I mentioned before, the bit pins will be glued to the “B” spacers.  I measured and marked two feet (½” scale) aft from the aft surface of Frame 4 and nine inches (3/16” scale) inboard from the spacers.  These are the centers of the bit pins.  Small pilot holes were drilled up through the deck.
 
I planked the inner bulwarks, starting at the waterway, using ten-inch-wide planks.  I applied a clear finish at this point.  The top of the bulwarks was sanded flat in preparation for installing the cap rail.  Simply turn the model upside down and sand the bulwark the way you did the base.  This also gives a fresh surface to glue the top rail onto.
 
Templates were made to determine the shape of the rail.  This is how I made these.  Masking tape was run along the upper edge of the hull planking to prevent marking the wood.  The model was turned upside down and, hugging the side of the ship, a line was drawn along the top of the hull.  Don’t forget to mark fore and aft, port and starboard.

The rail is 12” wide with a 1” overhang inboard and outboard.  I drew lines 1” (0.02”) outboard and 11” (0.23”)  inboard of the original line.  The picture shows the templated line and the overhangs.

 
I cut out the templates with a lot of extra paper on either side of them because long, narrow pieces of paper are prone to warping.  They were glued to the 1/32” wood sheet.  I use either Elmer’s glue stick or glue spray that is not water based (3M-45) to help prevent warping.  Both of these adhesives can be removed with isopropanol and scraping.  This is another opportunity to check out your scrap pile for a piece of contrasting color wood.

Cut out the rails and mark the undersurface with the side and orientation before removing the template.  Remove the template and round over the edges.  If you want a contrasting color for the rails, paint or stain them before installing.

Finished the planking up to needing to start ribbing. I've never nibbed a deck into the waterway so I'm going to Rocky Mountain Shipwrights meeting tomorrow. The club is part of Nautical Research and has a meeting on the first Saturday of each month to help and just meet on the third Saturday is the club general meeting. This is a very active club and I'm glad to be a member.

More after the meeting tomorrow

That is some great progress there.

That is some great progress there.

That is some great progress there.

The NRG is an educational organization, dedicated to providing our members with the knowledge to improve the quality of their model ship building.  One of the most common problems model builders have is rigging their model.  Kit instructions are poor.  Often, the materials provided in the kit are improperly sized or the cheapest that the manufacturer could obtain.  We all know that blocks are not square!  I wanted to develop a project whose purpose would be to teach ship modelers how to mast and rig a ship without having to build a complete hull.  This model is a 1:48 scale cross-section at the level of the main mast of a late 18th century British sloop of war, Swallow 1779.  To keep the size of the model manageable and eliminate the need for a building board, the hull is cut off just above the waterline.  For the same reason, only the center portion of the lower yard and the lower part of the topmast are constructed.  Also, because this is a cross-section, certain lines, such as the stays and backstays, are not included.  My emphasis will be on demonstrating techniques to improve your rigging skills.  Skills that can be used on your next project.
 
As this was developed as a teaching aid, certain shortcuts and compromises to historical accuracy were taken.  Wherever possible, I have used measurements provided by the plans and such authorities as Steel and Lees.  I apologize in advance to the master modelers who might criticize my shortcuts.  I have kept the use of power tools to a minimum.  The only thing that is outside the normal collection of hand tools is a serving machine.  The Guild hopes to begin selling this kit in the next few months.
 
The kit contains all the materials required to complete the model.  But I always keep my scrap box nearby for those times when a piece of a contrasting color wood is desirable.  I will mention those times as the build log progresses.  Also, the build log is made up from the best photographs taken from three builds of this model.  A sharp eye will notice some differences in the wood color because of that.
 
The hull is constructed in typical plank on bulkhead style.  There is a notched spine and notched bulkheads.  The laser cut sheet of one-eighth inch basswood ply also contains a template for the top and four types of spacers, A through D. 

The spine and the frames are assembled as seen below.  Frame 1 is installed with the printing facing aft.  This gave me the option of painting the exposed bulkhead after construction was completed.


 
The mast fits in the slanted slot between Frames 3 and 4.  To keep the mast vertical, support spacers are glued on both sides of the spine.  They will be sanded flush to the spine when the hull is faired. 


To prevent the hull from twisting and to strengthen it, spacers are placed between each frame.  The three aft spacers are “B”, the next one is “C” and the two foremost ones are “D”.  They are placed close to the edge of the frame for maximum stability.  The laser char only needs to be removed from the fore and aft sides so that their surfaces are flat.  If too much wood is sanded off, I glue strips of paper onto the edge as a filler to prevent distorting the hull.
 
The hull and deck were faired so there are smooth curves fore to aft.  I used a sanding block for this.  I did not fair the bulwark extensions (the thin strips of wood above the deck) to prevent them from breaking off.  This model has a significant camber to the deck.  Sanding sticks help getting into the corners.  You can see that the mast supports have been sanded down to match the height of the deck.

Next up is planking the hull.
 
 

So the move is completed, I'm working on getting my new workshop together - BOTH Pegasus and Winnie survived the move with no apparent damage ( better result than my last move ).

A little bit of progress this week.  I'm new at metal working, so it took some trial and error to figure out how I am going to make the backstay plates and chain plates.  One of the main issues to getting the ball rolling was figuring out how I was going to make these without the availability of 1/64" x 3/32" brass strip.  It would appear that K & S has discontinued nearly its entire line of brass strip, and I couldn't locate any of the size I needed in my internet search.  Many years ago I had bought a package of various sizes of 6" x 12" brass shim stock (used to shim the plates when molding parts in plastic injection molding machines so that they align correctly) just in case I ever needed sheet brass.  These sheets came in thickness of .001", .0015", .002", .003", .004", .005", .006", .007", .008", .010", .012", and .015".  The .015" thickness is the decimal measurement of 1/64".  So I have my material.  I used a pair of ancient tin snips I have in my toolbox to cut 3/32" wide strips off the sheet.  I then had to flatten the strips since they curled both along the face and the edge.  Next I filed the sharp edges flat.  Then used flat pliers to eliminate the lengthwise cupping caused in cutting the strips off the sheet.  Now that I had my self-made strips ready, I then shaped the backstay plates following Chuck's instructions in his monograph.  Since the strips I created were rough and with blemishes, I polished the finished backstay plates with a fine file after shaping was complete, just because I'm a perfectionist, and that's how I roll!  Yes, I know they'll be painted black.  Haha.
 
Erik

Not a ton of progress this week.  I did finish fashioning and installing the boarding ladders and channels though.  I must say ripping the boards by hand out of sheet stock to make these parts is a bit of a pain in the rear.  lol.  Also, it was tough getting the pattern cut into the scraper to make the boarding ladder profile.  I think my limitation there was my lack of precise small files.  I deliberately made the filed notches in the channels that will house the chainplates narrower than they'll be.  I just wanted to get the notches placed correctly and the angles in, according to the plans.  I'll finish the notches up when I fit and attach the chainplates.
 
And lastly, I'm patting myself on the back.  My third photo below manages to capture the elusive and hard to photograph lower step of the Cheerful's boarding ladder (located on the wale and painted black).  Haha!
 
Erik

Most of us model buidlers know that the covering boards are the pieces of timber that cover the hull-deck joint structure. Chances are you know that they are very complicated things to build. This step of the build simply confirmed that.
Covering boards usually are solid pieces of wood that are penetrated by holes that accommodate the stanchions that must travel through them. For me to produce them like that would have simply been impossible. These will be complicated enough to build as is. Essentially, I will fabricate the inboard side of the covering boards with “teeth” that project between the stanchions, then the outboard edge will be added in a separate step. The seam between the two pieces should be effectively hidden in the alcove formed by the stanchions and the bulwarks planking.
Here I have covered the deck structure adjacent to the stanchions with tape because I was wishing to protect my paint job of the deck structure that would remain visible in an unplanked area of deck. The protection was needed because I knew I would need to fair down the ledges to the level of the sheer in order for the covering boards to fit, and I didn’t want to harm the paint job.
 

In order to start the process, I needed to obtain the shape of the sheer from the plans. These were transferred using tracing paper to 3/64” stock. These shapes were then cut out excessively wide.
 

This results in six overly-wide and overly-long pieces, with generous areas of overlap.
 

Using double-sided tape, an individual piece was tacked down to the level of the deck structure. The forward and aft edges of each stanchion were marked, keeping track of station locations.
 

Now the really slow part began. Under the microscope, I began cutting out notches to make the “teeth” that will extend between each stanchion. Again, each covering board piece was made so that its inboard edge was continuous. The outboard edge of the covering board will be added as a separate piece later on in the build.
 

This piece shows many of the notches at full width, while others are still being widened. The width of each stanchion was relatively standard, but the gaps between the stanchions varied just enough to require extensive trial and error fittings.

But wait, that’s not all. Once all of the notches are wide enough, now they each need to be made deep enough. And none were of exactly of the same depth, due to individual differences in the shapes and angles of the stanchions. This again required many trial and error fittings with the goal of leaving minimal gap between the covering board’s notch and the inboard surface of each stanchion.
 

In the real ship, there is only about a 2 inch gap between the inboard surface of the stanchions and the margin plank of the deck. This is 1/32” in model scale. You can see the anticipated final inner edge of the covering board marked with a continuous pencil line here.
 

Perhaps it is a little more clear in this image. At this point there is a lot of excess wood on the inboard edge of the covering board. Removal of this excess will have to wait until later, as trimming it all off at this time would leave a piece of wood that is impossibly fragile.
 

The process of cutting the notches was accelerated when I realized I could use my table saw and miter to at least start the notches in a more efficient manner.
 

After having cut the notches to proper spacing, width, and depth, it was time to prep and paint the stanchions. Paint would add just enough thickness to each surface of the stanchions to require further tuning of the notches.
 

For primer, I used some old Badger Model-Flex gray, which had thickened considerably. It was diluted with water to a usable thickness, but it still maintained enough body to serve as an effective filler.

Overall this achieved a pretty smooth surface, but some defects were hard to fill completely, even after using primer and model filler.

I can’t remember how long it took to make all of these very bespoke pieces, but keep in mind that my last proper post was back in July…

There is lots of overlap, way more than I really needed, which also slowed the process.

The stanchions and the inboard surfaces of the bulwarks planking are a burgundy color. I slowly added drops of blue Tamiya paint into a small jar of Tamiya red to achieve the desired shade of burgundy. The one small jar may in the end not be enough, because I will also use it to paint the inboard surfaces of the bulwarks planking. It took 3-4 coats to get a good smooth surface.

And as already mentioned, the notches had to be tuned again after painting the stanchions was finished.

So despite my efforts to protect them, I had to scrape and sand away portions of the previously painted deck structure. In fact, re-shaping of the deck beams and ledges was necessary in order to get the covering boards to sit flush with the sheer.

This ledge shows considerable downsloping toward the sheerline to accommodate the shape of the covering board.

So there will need to be repainting of the deck structure that will remain visible, after all.

The deck beams and ledges also required re-fairing of their curve once I had removed enough material to accommodate the covering board.

The covering boards were painted with a medium gray. Excess paint that ended up in the notches had to be sanded away after this was done.

At this point, I used the X-acto blade to begin removing some of the excess wood from the inboard edge of the covering boards. This helped make it easier to tune the pieces to sit against their underlying deck beams and ledges. It was also necessary to shape the undersurface of the covering boards to accommodate the camber of the deck structure. I carefully sanded the undersurface to change the cross section from rectangular to an angular undersurface.

In addition to trimming away wood from the inboard edge, I also carved down the thickness of the remaining excess wood in a way that left an edge that corresponded to the final inboard edge of the covering board. This involved scoring the surface of the piece with the X-Acto, then coming along with a fine chisel and planing away the surface of the piece along the inboard edge. The edge is visible as the bright line in this photo. This will make it much easier to identify the final edge when the last bits of excess are trimmed away, and to create a smooth and fair surface against which the margin plank will rest.
 

Next problem: now that I have this piece that sits fair when I press it down against the deck beams and ledges, how do I do the glue-up in a way that makes sure that I am not left with the kinds of gaps I can see in this picture? I don’t have that many fingers.

I used a 1/16” thick piece of scrap wood to create a curved piece that roughly followed the curve of the rail, then glued it to the tops of the stanchions.

This is a sacrificial piece that will hopefully come off easily when I am done with the next step.
 

Some of the stanchions were a tiny bit shorter than their neighbors. These differences will be hidden by the rail and its supports that will be added later.
 

Using scrap wood, wedges of wood thin enough to fit between the stanchions were created.
 

In preparation for glue-up, the areas of the undersurface of the covering board that will need to be wetted with glue were marked with pencil.
Then the mating surfaces of the deck structure were wetted as well. I put small amounts of glue into the notches of the covering board as well. The board was put in place, and the wedges were used to press them to the surface of the deck structure. Care was taken to make sure that the covering board was pressed in fully against the deck, as well as against the bases of the stanchions, without leaving any gaps.

After suitable drying time, the wedges were removed and the sacrificial piece was easily separated from the tops of the stanchions with the X-Acto.

I never would have been able to hand-paint such a clean appearance if I had simply glued up unpainted pieces of wood.
Now I only have to do this five more times, with the remaining covering board pieces! The joints between the pieces in real life would have had an angled appearance resembling a scarf joint, but I won’t be able to duplicate that here.
Once all the covering boards are installed, the next 2 jobs that would make sense are the beginning of the deck planking and also the bulwarks planking. I don’t know yet which I will do next, because it will probably take me awhile to get the rest of the covering boards in place.