Sorry for the length between posts. I made some initial mistakes and was embarrassed of what I thought was going to be a failed build. However, some wood filler and sandpaper has gone a long way towards making those mistakes less noticeable. All of this is a new experience for me and by showing what I've done wrong, maybe someone else can learn from mistakes I've made.
I used a spare piece of wood to create a square to help line up the stern post and stem. The three wood frames in the middle help support and shape the hull. Only the outer two will stay in the boat. The middle frame is simply an alignment tool.
The keel batton was the first large piece I had to glue down. As you can see, I am not very tidy with CA glue and probably would have preferred to just use wood glue. Getting glue all over is a recurring mistake I've made in almost every step of this build.
Getting the bottom plank glued to the stern post and stem was more difficult than I thought it'd be. Unlike previous pieces, I had to actually bend the bottom plank in order to get it to touch both sides. Once I figured out how to get it clamped down ok things went a bit smoother.
I didn't take pictures of several steps here because I thought I had destroyed the model and was quite frustrated. There are two lengths of basswood that had to be lined up and bent to touch both stern post and stem, as well as the bottom plank all the way around the boat. There is some room for forgiveness here because the wood is about 1/2 inch taller than it needs to be and must be cut and sanded down to match up to the bottom plank. The mistake came in attempting to clamp the basswood in a secure enough position to ensure everything was touching. CA glue gives almost no time for any adjustments once the wood is touching each other. My claps were too strong and broke through the basswood and glued a portion further back on the stern post. This ruined the shape of the hull and I couldn't separate the pieces once the glue set.
I solved this with the use of wood filler and 400 and 800 grit wet sanding to apply layers built up to the shape the hull should be. All of this will be painted anyway. So as long as I ensure the finish is smooth, it should be almost unnoticeable.
Forward and aft thwarts added (walnut) and fore and aft decks installed. With the decks on, you can't see the crooked hull from where my clamps broke the basswood.
Right now I am busy cutting 44 pieces to add to the inside walls of the boat. My gluing is terrible and I am considering painting the decks instead of sealing with polyurethane. I may just buy some minwax and test it out of some sprue pieces I put glue on to see what effect it has on the finish.