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I did a lot of sanding on the hull and deck, and attached a few more pieces.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Mark, Red and Don for looking in and for your comments, and thanks all for all the "likes"
 
Here are some pictures I took while building the head.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm about two weeks behind in posting pictures. After finishing the decking on the main deck, the bridge deck comes next. I first needed to cut the holes for the main mast and mizzen mast. Here a picture of marking the main mast hole.
 

 
The directions said to use the supplied 4X4 walnut and bend to the correct shape or cut and shape from a larger pieces. I had some cherry wood, and decide it would be easier to cut and shape the beams.
 
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These last pictures show the decking going down.
 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut the cannon holes and the deck drain holes.
 
I leveled the keel to the work table and used a building quick square to mark the side of the holes.
 

 
Drilled holes
 

 
Used a file and a knife to cut the hole to shape.
 

 

 
Inside view
 

Well, I made a mistake. I'm a firm believer in reading the directions very well, and then maybe changing things if I think it might be easier or look better. This mistake is 100% me not reading the directions correctly.
 
Notice in this picture from earlier in the build: Starting at the bow there are three bulkheads that are tall and solid. These are bulkheads 1,2,3. Next are five bulkheads that are short. These are bulkheads 4,5,6,7,8. Next are four taller bulkheads that form the bridge deck. These are bulkheads 9,10,11, 12. The direction clearly state to extend the planking along bulkheads 13,12,11,10,9 and nearly to bulkhead 8. The direction say to refer to the drawing to get the measurements to know how much past bulkhead 9 toward 8 to extend the planking. I stopped at bulkhead 9.
 

 
In order to fix this I made two pieces for each side.
 

 
And attached one where bulkhead 9 was--which is where the planking ends--and one where the planking should have ended.
 

 
I then ran planking up the gap.
 
 

 

 

 
I tried to match the color of each run of planking.
 
Now the side profile matches the drawing.
 

 
I did get lucky. A timber goes on the outside on top of the seam. Here are some pictures of the drawings that show the timber. I used a small file as a pointer to indicate which timber
 

 

 

Thanks, Don, Brain, and Ian, for your commits. Don, before I ordered this kit from MarisStellia, I searched for someone else that had dealt with the company. I guess I didn't do the search correctly because I missed your Trabakul build.
 
I have finished planking but haven't resized all the pictures yet.
 
Here is a picture of the last plank before being glued in.
 

 
I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

I am almost finished with the planking.
 
The aft end needed to be finished and shaped first. I didn't take a picture when I finished planking the aft end, but here is a picture as it sits now.
 
 

 
I started at the aft side rail and worked my way down.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optimization of a knife blade
 
If a straight edge razor is 1 of the sharpest edge, what would be  the equivalent with a knife?
An elongated triangular shape with large sides to have a easy surface to maintain the sharpening angle while sharpening. The straight edge razor has 2 concave sides. I think that by forging the blade like this, it ease the sharpening process giving 2 points to rest the blade flat on the waterstone. No holder is necessary to maintain a stable angle of sharpening.
 
 
 Few years ago, I bought this knife from Lee Valley and I have always thought that it was a very cutting knife. Now I see why. There is secondary bevel on the blade.
 
 
I just looked at lee valley and the closest knife is a japanese knife.
It is a fact they knew something about knives and sharpening.
 
or may be:  http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=67995&cat=1,130,43332,43393&ap=1

equivalent curve on a model ship and a car

Soon I believe, I will be able to begin the last carvings.

Thank you Carl,
 
In the last 2 weeks, I did some research about straight edge razor and sharpening. The single most important thing I learned is that if sharpening is the first step; polishing is the final step to optimize the sharpening one notch over. By opposition to a scraper where the edge is sharpened perpendicular to the blade and the bur is left there .
 
Stones are use to repair, sharpen and set the bevel which create the edge. They come in a variety of materials including diamond,  japanese waterstones, and ceramics. Grain varies from very coarse grain (100 micron), to a fine grain #100 (15 micron) factory edges on knives, to a near mirror polish #8000 waterstone (3 micron) to a mirror polish with diamond paste #60,000 (,5 micron) , 100,000 (,25 micron).
 
 One of the sharpest knives  available is a straight edge razor used by barber. King cutter would be one of the best kind. By example he uses watersones up to 8000 to complete the sharpening  and for the finish,  he uses a leather strop (horse leather is a very good choice), not intended to remove material but rather to accomplish a re-alignment of the indentations of the blade. Both sides of the blade are passed  successively left and right because it is important to have 2 similar sides.
 The strop can also be used for knives with 2  cutting side. Unfortunately the leather strop is not intended for carving knives. The rough sharpening can be done uo to a #8000 watersone, but the finishing is different. Polishing the edge will mean that the surface will slide in an easier way. To achieve a mirror finish we use a wheel made from cotton or felt. To optimize  the finish a green paste like the one from Lee Valley  can increase a mirror finish  up to ,5 micron.
 
Here is an idea for a good combination for hand sharpening;
 Watersones in a pyramid of  #1000, #3000 and #8000 plus a truing stone  to have a perfect flat stone (waterstones are more tender than the standard grey stone we are use to see and also a true surface will give better results). You could go  up to 16,000 but the difference would not be much significant.  And for the finishing a felt wheel + green compound to get a mirror finish.

Hello All, hope things are all good. Since last post not too much has happened. I corrected the stern extensions, thanks Mike and Spyglass, and then went on to planking the lower deck. For the most part a waste of time as it won't be seen but it was a lot of fun and a planking exercise is always a good thing . This was leftover planking from my Mayflower so a bit of a salvage operation as well.
 Next up is the false deck and planking it.
 

 
Take Care

I've made a bit of progress now, I have completed the hull and deck planking and for my first attempt I think it's gone fairly well! I just need to figure out how to finish the plank ends at the bow so they taper nicely into the keel.
 
On both sides I had a small gap of 1-2mm across 4-5 bulkheads, this is how I filled it (a stealer?) and it seems to have worked rather well!
 

 

 

 

 

 
I've done most of the sanding on the hull so I'm now almost ready for painting, although I'm not sure what paint to use, the recommended Billing Boats paints don't have gloss/satin/matt labels but some of the Humbrol equivalent paint colours only seem to be available in gloss such as No. 22 White and the hull colours. So are they supposed to be gloss?
 
Thanks, 
James

Hello all, Thanks for stopping and adding your likes and comments it's always a good thing.
 Since last I have finally finished the lower planking, all went good and I was happy with the results. Then things went a little south on me as I decided to stain her and applied a couple coats of wipe on poly. You can see the results below, after looking at her for sometime I decided it was too dark and sanded it all off. After approx 8-10 hours later the pictures show what I am staying with, yup, a natural finish. This is not the normal way to finish a hull but it does end in a real smooth hull . After sanding with four different grades of sandpaper ( up to 320) I applied one coat of wipe on poly. I applied this with a brush, I know it's wipe on, then sanded in a circular motion with 600 grit until almost dry and starting to ball up then wiped off with a clean rag. I found this method really helps filling the small gaps in and leaves a great finish. This part of the procedure I would repeat again the first part I think is kind of a waste of time    and will not recommend to be used
 
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 Until next time

That black interior looks real good Ian

During the vacation I did some carving on the figurehead...
 

 

 
The tail of the lion curls through the next piece.
 
This is the first version I made long ago, when I still though one should use soft wood for carving
 
 
 
Best,
Michiel

Finally, about a year after our move I managed to get the workshop back in place
 

 
one workbench for ships
 

 
and one, with buildin power outlets for working on parts
 

 
At the moment I'm working on the bow, the first few pieces:
 

 

 

 
Best,
Michiel

Doc,
 
Exquisite. I wish I had your imagination and creativity .  .  .
 
Respectfully,
John

I'm getting ready to plank the hull.  I need to establish the wales first, but before that I needed to plank the counter.  I used 1/32" thick swiss pear, 7/32" wide.  Because I need to establish a waterline for my "two-tone" planking of the hull, I decided I needed a keel clamp.  Rather than buy one, I spent the afternoon today cutting out the parts out of some 1/2" hard maple I had on hand.  I'll assemble it tomorrow.  I have most of the hardware on hand, but you can build this for less than $5 if you have some 1/2' hardwood around.  I'll post photos of the finished keel clamp tomorrow.

Never underestimate the power of wood filler and sanding 

Nothing has been sanded this far. I think I can correct some of my mistakes.

So I pushed forward and continue planking. Tough job!!
I have a lot to learn. I am not super pleased with the result so far. Wood filler will have to help a bit.

So I have attached the bottom panel before I started planking the deck..
 

 

 
Planking from the centerline.. Trying to keep it even from one side to the other.. I am using the Zig Marker to simulate caulking between the planks. It kinda smugged, but I did my best to keep it clean. First try.. rough start.
 

 
Planking completed. Started on the waterways.. 
 
Thanks for viewing!

I visited replicas of Nina and Pinta a few years ago and posted some pics here.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/2311-nina-and-pinta-reproductions-at-grafton-illinois/?hl=nina
 
I'm sure these "replicas" and current models are just guesses as to what they looked like, but these may be of help or interest to your build.
 
Cheers

Good start & love your crew!
 
-Bug