Erik W

Thanks for the likes and the encouraging comments.  I finished more of the deck planking this week.  I did my first scarph joints on the deck.  The remaining planking will be more time consuming since it involves cutting the planks out of wood sheet.  One note on planking color.  Since I have 2 different batches of 3/16" wide wood for the main planking I used, which are both different from 7/32" wide planking I used, which is different again from the wood sheet, I decided to deliberately mix up the planks of different shades from the beginning.  The plank color would vary anyway, and this kept it varied throughout the deck, rather than having bands of different shades as I transitioned from the planking stock to sheet stock.  The photos were taken after a quick first sanding.
 
Erik
 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post.  I'm taking my time planking the deck.  Like everything on this build, it's more complicated and challenging than I had initially thought it would be.  Haha.  I've managed to get eight more rows of planks down since my last post.  I only did a rough sanding, which is why it still looks a bit crude.  I'll do a final sanding once the entire deck is planked.  Even though I have tick marks on the deck and the planks drawn in, it still takes some effort to get the planks a uniform width, and the run of each plank to flow smoothly when viewed down the length of the hull.   At any rate, for a first deck planking job, I'm happy with the results so far. 
 
Erik
 

Glenn,
 
Thanks for the feedback.  I used photos of Chuck's deck as my main reference, so in person the deck has the same flowing curves as his.  I located the separation between the two planking belts in the same places as he did, and the scarph joints are located in the same spots (using the deck fittings and gun ports as reference in where to locate).  Also, I used Mike's (Stuntflyer) overhead photos for reference. The curve is understated in my photos compared to how it looks in person for some reason. 
 
Also, the main reason I drew in all the planking was as a double check of my tick marks.  I'm glad I did since by doing so I caught a couple of places I had misaligned them.
 
Erik

I thought drawing in the tick marks and drawing the placement of the hook scarph joints wouldn't take too long.  Well, after about 12 hours over the last week, I'm finally happy with the way everything looks on the deck, and I'm ready to proceed with the deck planking.  Getting the drawn-in planking to look and flow the way I wanted it took so many adjustments and needed to be redone so many times I actually had to go out and buy more erasers!  The last redo was actually after these photos were taken.  I moved the rear of the aft scarph joints back a bit after viewing the photos, in order to have the taper of the outer 4 planks better match the inner 6 planks aft of the skylight.  I also tweaked a couple of other areas after viewing these photos.  Since I've never planked a deck before, my goal was to spend as much time as necessary to get the planking drawn in on the deck.  Sort of the planking version of adding training wheels to a kids bike, or having bumpers in the gutters when kids bowl at a bowling alley.  I'm trying to minimize my chances of screwing the deck planking up since it will be a very visible part of the build.  The saying, proper planning prevents poor performance, comes to mind.  One note when looking at the photos - since the plank lines were drawn in straight lines between the tick marks, it doesn't flow as smoothly visually as the actual curved planks will.
 
Erik

Here's my latest progress.  I have the five center deck planks installed.  These were straight forward since they're not edge bent or tapered, but they took time none the less.  As always, the process is going slow and test fitting, then sanding a bit, then test fitting, then sanding a bit, and repeating over and over again until a tight fit is achieved.  I'm looking forward to planking the rest of the deck . . . but I'm also looking forward to having all the planking finished and behind me!  I did a first sanding after getting these planks down.  So if they look rough, that's why.  I'll do the final sanding when the planking is finished.
 
Erik

Thanks for all the 'likes" folks.  I spent the last week building the companionway, so I'm now finished with the deck fittings that will be placed along the center line before planking the deck.  For the companionway I used pencil to darken the board seams.  I also slightly beveled the edges of where the companionway lid and doors are hinged.  I applied several layers of much thinned red paint that allowed the board seams to show through.  After painting was complete, I used a pin wash made of black oil paint thinned with Turpenoid that I applied to the hinged joints in the lid and doors, as well as around the bottom and side edges of the doors.  Annnnnnd  . . . . you can't really see any of all that effort in the photos.  Super frustrating!  I must've taken 30 photos of the finished companionway, with different background colors, and lighting and lighting angles, trying to show the board seams showing through the semi-opaque red paint.  What you see is the best I could come up with.  The funny thing is the board seams are so pronounced when viewing in person that I had seriously considered painting one more coat of red over the whole thing, particularly on the lid (which you don't see any seams at all in these photos).  And I was worried the black wash was too pronounced.  None of which you can see in the photos.  Can you tell I'm still annoyed?  Haha.
 
At any rate, the next step is gluing all these deck fitting on to the deck.  Some other Cheerful build logs have good advice on getting these aligned correctly.  After that, it's on to deck planking.
 
Erik

Mike,
 
My plan is once I fasten the skylight in place and begin the planking around it, I'll make the final call at that point.  Obviously, if I chose to, repainting the corners will only take a few seconds.
 
Erik

Over the last week I finished the larger grating, the small coaming for the galley stack, and built the skylight mini kit.  I got the idea to paint the inside of the skylight black, as well as the framing underneath the skylight below the false deck.  Once complete, I didn't like the completely blacked out interior though.  It made the skylight look like the glass panels were painted gloss black rather than being clear, since there was absolutely nothing visible inside.  So . . . I painted the interior of the skylight wood color and will put a small planked section low down in the framing underneath the skylight.  It's a subtle thing that no one will consciously notice when viewing the ship, but by having something visible inside the skylight area it hints at an interior, rather than a completely black void.  Live and learn.  Also, I test fit planking around the skylight and didn't like the look of the 90 degree red corners at deck level after rounding off the coaming corners, so I carefully scraped the red paint off.  It looks a little funny now, but will look sharp and clean when the decking is complete.
 
Erik

As always, thanks for the 'likes'.  Those always help keep me motivated.  Over the last week I've been working on the gratings.  The small ventilation scuttle grating towards the stern was straight forward and quick.  The other two larger gratings have taken some time.  Chuck's grating mini-kits make the gratings themselves easy to reproduce.  The coamings though were a bit finicky.  There are several surfaces to pay close attention to in each lap joint to get a tight fit.  As always, taking my time was what was needed.  Chuck's instructions for making a right-angle jig out of 3/64" thick sheet (the thickness of the deck planking) was brilliant.  It sure made rounding off the corners of the coaming easy while leaving the 90 corners at deck plank level looking crisp and 3/64" thick.  I darkened the lap joints and the joint between the coaming and grating with a pencil.  I'm still working on the larger coaming.  And though you can't tell from the photos, all three gratings have the camber that results from using the Syren min-kit.  The last photo has the gratings just set in place on the deck for the sake of the photo.
 
Erik

Thanks for the kind words and input guys.  I appreciate the feedback! 
 
Erik
 
Erik

Thanks Mike!  It's been nice to look through your recent builds.  I've enjoyed your Winny, and now the Speedwell.  Also, your on-hold Hayling Hoy is interesting.  The fully framed builds are definitely graduate level modeling!
 
Erik

Thanks for the likes and nice words guys.  And it's always nice to get an 'Outstanding' from Chuck!  I installed the false deck this weekend.  I used a piece of 24" x 8" x 1/16" basswood.  I cut it in half lengthwise and taped the two halves together.  I cut the false deck template out of the plans.  I then cut all the square deck furniture locators out of the paper plan.  I used clear tape to tape this onto the Cheerful (The plan is wavy in my two photos below.  It was reattached after the fact for these photos).  The clear tape made it easy to locate the center line running through the cutouts.  I then followed Chuck's instructions in the Monograph and used masking tape around the edges to get the actual size of the false deck.  I removed this carefully and taped the false deck plan to the two basswood sheet halves, again using the clear taped sections of the deck furniture cut outs to locate the center line.  Once that was done, I carefully removed the clear tape one section at a time and used the cutout borders to draw their locations on the wood false deck.  Reapplying the tape to that square when finished and moving on to the next opening.  Once the false deck was cut out of the basswood sheets, I faired the edges to get a good fit.  I also wound up adding a thin basswood strip to the stern section of the deck.  There had been a bigger gap than I wanted there.  I installed each half of the false deck using the visible center of the middle of the five plies of the piece of plywood running lengthwise on the center line as the true center line.  Lastly I enlarged the hole in the deck for the mast to it's actual size.  I had left it slightly under size when attaching the decks halves, and trued it up afterwords to make sure it was precisely placed where it should be.
 
Erik

I finished adding the fancy molding to my Cheerful.  I planned ahead with the lower molding and didn't glue the portion that will be removed for the addition of the top boarding ladder step.  I spent a few evenings thinning and fairing the inboard bulwarks.  Yes, this was a messy pain in the butt.  There was a bit of a learning curve to sand/fair the inside of a curve vs. fairing the hull planking.  The bulwarks framing/gun ports measure in at a hair under 1/16" of an inch thick, which is what Chuck recommended in his monograph.  I also faired the bulkhead tops so the false deck will sit flat on them.  Lastly, I added the keel plates.  I still haven't touched up the paint on the hull exterior, so the build still looks a bit rough at this point.  I've decided I'll do that after the deck planking is finished.
 
Erik

Hey Steve,  Thanks!  I like your Pinnacle and Dory builds.
 
Erik

Phil and Glenn, Now I don't feel so bad.  Haha.  I always seem to find my way back to projects I set aside for a while.  I try not to have too many things half done at once though! 
 
Eric, Thanks for the nice words!  I'll try to post updates regularly.  The interaction with forum members helps keep me involved. 
 
One nice thing with picking Cheerful up again this late in the game is there are many other excellent builds to reference as I progress with mine.  The plethora of photos are invaluable as visual aids.
 
Erik

After a short, er . . . 6 ½ year break, I’ve resumed work on my Cheerful.  I imagine few of you actually remember my build.  It was sort of unexpected to be bitten by the wooden ship building bug again.  In August I was on a vacation in the Netherlands visiting the Museum Kaap Skil maritime museum in Oudeschild on Texel Island, off the north coast.  They have a huge 60 foot long diorama of the Texel Roads as it appeared around 1660.  It looks to be about 1/100 scale.  There are 160 ships/boats represented in the diorama!  Seen here: https://kaapskil.nl/en/discover/expositions/ship-in-sight-the-roads-of-texel-and-the-world/ That led me back to Modelshipworld.  And here I am.
 
I feel a bit like Rip Van Winkle waking up from a long sleep.  This website itself has changed.  Yellow Cedar is a new wood of choice. Wood suppliers have changed.  No more Crown Timberyard, but it looks like a good replacement with Modeler’s Sawmill.  Chuck is a few projects further along after the Cheerful (the laser cut fully framed Speedwell is a fascinating project, by the way).  There are still a lot of the same faces here, but the skill level on current projects has kicked up a few notches.  So, my hat is off to you folks.
 
It’s been an interesting few years for me.  We had this global pandemic thing.  After 14 years at the local government, I changed jobs a few times.  I was a bicycle tour guide in Boulder for 7 months (a great way of keeping in shape as a 53 year old).  Was the accountant for Left Hand Brewing here in Colorado.  And finally settled into being an accountant for the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
 
Though not working on Cheerful, I’ve still been active modeling from time to time.  One thing I seem to gravitate towards is building things in smaller scales than the norm, and detailing them to a level of the larger scale (which is why Cheerful is unusual for me, I’d be more comfortable building something 1/96 to 1/144 scale! Haha).  A few of my latest projects - A resin tugboat featured on this website: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/22995-ytl-45-taiwanese-navy-tugboat-by-erik-w-finished-1350-scale/    For my model railroad, an N scale (1/160) 3d printed boxcar that I scratch built full underframe details: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55256.msg758608#msg758608   and finished here:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55365.msg760492#msg760492   A 1/72 scale WWII F6F Hellcat on a carrier deck with super detailed engine and cockpit:  https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/f6f-5-hellcat-wwii-usn-fighter-plane-1-72-scale.10858/   And probably my favorite, a 1/72 scale M1A2 Abrams tank with over 400 individual pieces of styrene and wire add by me to customize the tank.  Scroll down to see the scratch built stowage items:  https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/m1a2-sepv2-w-crows-ii-lp-1-72-scale-kitbash.10777/
 
Well, I’ve prattled on enough.  Where I had left off was having finished the hull planking.  The next step is supposed to be tree nailing.  I’ve put a lot of thought into that and I’ve decided to skip it.  It’s not because it’s time consuming and tedious as much as it’s a process that you can’t pull out and redo.  Most things on the build can be pried loose if you’re unhappy with them.  That, and I’d rather jump right back into cutting wood.  That’ll help maintain my motivation to keep making progress.  There are a few really good Cheerful builds out there where the builders have skipped tree nailing, Mike (stuntflyer), Glenn (glbarlow), and Ian (Seventynet).  You all have some outstanding other builds as well by the way.  Something to really aspire to for us newbies.  Ian, I particularly like your Hayling Hoy.  Never thought I’d desire to build a fully framed model before, but now . . .
 
So, where I am now is I’ve done what I’d call an almost-final sanding of the lower hull.  There were a few spots that needed attention.  I’ll do an absolute final sanding and paint touch up later.  That’s why the planking and hull still looks a bit rough.  I’ve also been adding the fancy molding.  It took a little trial and error to get my brass scraper made the way I wanted it.  I’ve added the molding to the stern, and port side.  Feels good to be building again!!
 
If you’re new to viewing this build, it’s good to have you along.  And if you’ve followed along before, welcome back!  Without further ado, here are some proof of progress photos.  It's hard to get the lighting right to show the contour of the fancy molding, but you get an idea from the last photo.
 
Erik
 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post.  I'm taking my time planking the deck.  Like everything on this build, it's more complicated and challenging than I had initially thought it would be.  Haha.  I've managed to get eight more rows of planks down since my last post.  I only did a rough sanding, which is why it still looks a bit crude.  I'll do a final sanding once the entire deck is planked.  Even though I have tick marks on the deck and the planks drawn in, it still takes some effort to get the planks a uniform width, and the run of each plank to flow smoothly when viewed down the length of the hull.   At any rate, for a first deck planking job, I'm happy with the results so far. 
 
Erik
 

Here's my latest progress.  I have the five center deck planks installed.  These were straight forward since they're not edge bent or tapered, but they took time none the less.  As always, the process is going slow and test fitting, then sanding a bit, then test fitting, then sanding a bit, and repeating over and over again until a tight fit is achieved.  I'm looking forward to planking the rest of the deck . . . but I'm also looking forward to having all the planking finished and behind me!  I did a first sanding after getting these planks down.  So if they look rough, that's why.  I'll do the final sanding when the planking is finished.
 
Erik

Made and installed the main and mizzen mast steps. I simplified them as they won't be seen.

One thing was desperately needed to be added... a coin for good luck.
I have an 1896 Queen Victoria 5 cent Canadian silver coin. About 15.35 mm diameter.  It is quite battered up and worth about $12 max. on a good day.

I drilled out the bottom of the main mast step with a 5/8 spade bit, inserted the coin face up, and installed it in place permanently.

Am I ready to start the deck beams?
I think so.
Have to remove the masts first and put them back in storage.
 
 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post.  I'm taking my time planking the deck.  Like everything on this build, it's more complicated and challenging than I had initially thought it would be.  Haha.  I've managed to get eight more rows of planks down since my last post.  I only did a rough sanding, which is why it still looks a bit crude.  I'll do a final sanding once the entire deck is planked.  Even though I have tick marks on the deck and the planks drawn in, it still takes some effort to get the planks a uniform width, and the run of each plank to flow smoothly when viewed down the length of the hull.   At any rate, for a first deck planking job, I'm happy with the results so far. 
 
Erik
 

Step by Step...
 

1. Laser cut cedar brickwork.   Lightly sand the char.  But not so much that you remove the etched mortar lines.   Just a little.  Especially on the edges of the pieces.   Many have bricks etched on both sides.
apply wipe on poly when finished...this is important to seal the wood a bit.
 

2. Yes its bright!!   But this is just the initial steps.  I used a red promarker, you can see which color to add the base coat of red to all faces of the brickwork.  Also note the two pieces that make up the sides have been glued together.  Make sure you have the holes and pieces facing the correct direction.
 

3.  Glue the sides to the back wall.  Keep nice right angles.   Also add the front piece.   This is left a bit long and you will have to trim it to fit.  DO NOT glue to the base.  This will be done much later in the project.   Much, much later.
 

4.  Using weathering powder add some red/brown colors and dark browns to suit.   It depends on how weathered you want to go with the fire hearth.  You will see this at the end.   Spray all the pieces lightly with some matte spray fixative when you are done.
 

5.  This is where the magic happens.   You could use white weathering powder but that would also pigment the bricks.  You dont really want that.   So instead use regular white flour.   Brush it on and push it into the mortar lines which are made pretty deep for you.   Dont go for a perfect even coverage here.  Experiment a little.  Push it in the cracks with your finger....pack it in there.  Then brush it off the brick faces with a light touch.  Experiment for the look you really want...use some additional weathering powders if you want to add soot and ash.   Make it a used hearth or a relatively new one!!!  Also note the frame on the base was painted black.  Dont spray with fixative.  The normal humidity in the air will fix the flour in position on its own.  It may take a day or so depending on the weather.  
 



6.  1/32" brass wire/rod (not included) were blackened and added as shown above.
 

 
7.  The hood...laser cut from 1/64" thick boxwood.   Glue the shorter back piece on the base first.  It should be a at a perfect right angle vertically and centered.

8.  Add the two sides.  You will need to bevel the bottom to sit flush on the base.
 

9.  Add the front piece...which is taller than the back piece.  Note how the front hangs over the the front of the base just a bit.  That is done on purpose.  It is correct.

10.  Finally add the top and front pieces.   apply filler to all the cracks and sand smooth for painting.   Also build the stack the same way and prepare for painting.
 

11. Hinges are laser board.   Construct them in the sequence shown above...left to right.   First add the bottom half of all the hinges.  Then the hinge pins are glued along the top edge.  Use 24 gauge black wire for that.  To finish that up,  set the top half of the hinges above the wire.  An eyebolt is also added in the center.  You can see that in the photos below of the finished fire hearth.  There are two of them shown...
 
A beat up used and weathered fire hearth....and a shiny almost new hearth.   Have fun with it and weather to your preferred tastes.  LOL
 



NOTE....the hearth is NOT glued to the base yet.  And the stack is NOT glued to the hood yet.  It is best to keep them separate for now. 
 
 
 

Chapter 9, Forecastle deck, is Complete
 
A big event for me, 9 of the 12 chapters are now complete with over two years gone by since I began. Chapter 9 is devoted to the forecastle deck and all the details that set it apart. My last post, a single photo, showed a lot of the deck complete, I’ll back up a bit to show how I got there. It’s a long post so hopefully it’s worth the read.


Like the outboard planks the center line follows the “every plank a project” with each plank unique widths and cuts. The center three planks are the interior width of the bitts divided by three (as the template shows). The planks meeting the bitt posts on either side are also a custom width. The forecastle bitts line up with the base installed below on the main deck making them seem one. This is a cool, but unfortunately barely visible detail. Someone suggested mini wireless camera under there, that might be fun.
 
I’d done complex cut-outs to fit around the main deck hatches, nonetheless these take time and patience to get a precise fit. Since the main deck I’ve acquired this very thin, small razor saw with micro-teeth that made the cross cut cleaner than with the #11 blade still used for length wise cuts.


While the mast ring provided is certainly fine I just can’t seem to remove enough char to make it work for me. So like I did for Cheerful I made my own.  They’re kinda fun to make, using a square of boxwood heavily glued to a wooden dowel and turned on the mill. The outside and inside diameter is measured and cut to form a ring, then I use some router cutters and totally wing it to create the design. I freed it from the post carefully with acetone, painted the inside Matte Black, added two coats of WOP and it’s done. Fun.

I’ve since made another for the mizzen. I had to force myself to keep this one simpler.

The catheads were made up and added. The challenge is to get the right angles, which hopefully I did. The bigger challenge is having installed one then installing the second the exact same - lots of test fitting on both separate and together before either was glued in. I’m glad I cut the rail before doing the planking. I like the extra detail of the cat beam running under the deck planking. (They are the same, the photo is slightly angled and tilted).


I posted earlier I’d gone a different direction with the belfry using a flat rope pull to the front shaped from a small bit of blackened brass and heavily weathering the roof to simulate lead. It and the forecastle rails were added, these are laser cut to fit either port or starboard, so being careful with that and a little sanding to match up to my version of the beam and they’re on. Glue and clamp in two stages, inside then outside, easier to maintain alignment. (again a little warp on the photo not the model, I need to learn to hold my iPhone straighter).
 

I noticed, and not sure how I’d missed, in the single photo I posted earlier the hatches weren’t done properly. I had two choices, leave them as they were or replace them. Who am I kidding, once I noticed it I had one choice. I was able to remove and replace them without damaging the coaming, a few coats of WOP later…
 
The spanshackle cleats are not glued in. I’m not sure I like what I made with flattened 22 gauge wire so I may come back to those later.

Up next the forecastle rails and timber heads. First I tested the fit of the rails to my bow. It’s quite remarkable (as in how did I happen to manage that…) how well they fit. As with the cap rail the key was pulling out the Chapter 9 templates long long ago when the bow was being constructed around chapter 2-3. The tape is there because the little timber heads kept flipping out of my fingers into an area it’s’ now difficult to access.

Then I got to spend lots of time with sanding sticks and a #11 blade shaping 24 little timber heads. Time consuming but well worth the time for the final look. Can’t wait for the Q-deck timber heads, lots more of them. A fun, and lengthy, process was slowly sanding and shaping the cat block to follow the curve and width of the rail plus adding the additional two cleats and support posts. A good time was had by all. They have detail that is lost in the photo due to the black paint.

First starboard then port to complete the fitting, painting, and installing the rails. These rails are extremely delicate. I broke both of them at one point or another. Fortunately they were clean breaks and I was able to repair them, after light sanding and painting the breaks aren’t visible. Once again where’s the fun if I don’t have to fix something I broke.
 
With that, some photos of the completed forecastle: 





I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out. The AYC planking, boxwood fittings, black painted railing, and RED bulwarks and breasthook really look distinctive and pretty cool I think. This is really the first element that is totally finished. A nice sense of accomplishment, and an early concern about what will I do when the whole model is finished, oh no.

The chapter 10 parts are laid out and the planking ripped and ready for work on the Q-deck. Thanks as always for stopping by with your comments and likes, hope you made it to the end of this long post.
 

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post.  I'm taking my time planking the deck.  Like everything on this build, it's more complicated and challenging than I had initially thought it would be.  Haha.  I've managed to get eight more rows of planks down since my last post.  I only did a rough sanding, which is why it still looks a bit crude.  I'll do a final sanding once the entire deck is planked.  Even though I have tick marks on the deck and the planks drawn in, it still takes some effort to get the planks a uniform width, and the run of each plank to flow smoothly when viewed down the length of the hull.   At any rate, for a first deck planking job, I'm happy with the results so far. 
 
Erik
 

Thanks for all the 'likes" folks.  I spent the last week building the companionway, so I'm now finished with the deck fittings that will be placed along the center line before planking the deck.  For the companionway I used pencil to darken the board seams.  I also slightly beveled the edges of where the companionway lid and doors are hinged.  I applied several layers of much thinned red paint that allowed the board seams to show through.  After painting was complete, I used a pin wash made of black oil paint thinned with Turpenoid that I applied to the hinged joints in the lid and doors, as well as around the bottom and side edges of the doors.  Annnnnnd  . . . . you can't really see any of all that effort in the photos.  Super frustrating!  I must've taken 30 photos of the finished companionway, with different background colors, and lighting and lighting angles, trying to show the board seams showing through the semi-opaque red paint.  What you see is the best I could come up with.  The funny thing is the board seams are so pronounced when viewing in person that I had seriously considered painting one more coat of red over the whole thing, particularly on the lid (which you don't see any seams at all in these photos).  And I was worried the black wash was too pronounced.  None of which you can see in the photos.  Can you tell I'm still annoyed?  Haha.
 
At any rate, the next step is gluing all these deck fitting on to the deck.  Some other Cheerful build logs have good advice on getting these aligned correctly.  After that, it's on to deck planking.
 
Erik

I feel like I reached a bit of a milestone on my build today, so I have included a ton of photos in celebration! While being a perfectionist, things frequently don't turn out quite as well as I'd like, but I'm happy with the build so far.  And it's turning out pretty well considering it's my first major wooden ship build, after my Model Shipways longboat project many years ago.  Though there is still quite a ways to go on the project, with the exterior painting complete, there is a certain finished look now.  I really like the lines of the Cheerful.  I spent the week painting the cap rail, repainting the wales, and spending much time doing the final sanding of the hull and tweaking the finish (after viewing these photos, I cleaned up where the black paint meets the wood in the stern area).  Now on to Chapter 7 of Chuck's monograph, and adding the deck fittings, and planking the deck.
 
I have a couple of questions for you folks.  I used Wipe-On Poly back on my longboat build.  Applying it to the hull, and then applying any paint to those areas that needed it afterwards.  On my Cheerful, I applied WOP above the wales way back when those were planked, but have since sanded it off as I cleaned up that planking in preparation to add the fancy molding.  I never applied WOP anywhere else on the model.  Now, as you can see, the hull has painted areas amongst the bare wood.  I'm thinking I might not apply WOP at all.  The hull has made it nearly 7 years with temperature and humidity fluctuations without any noticeable signs of aging.  My questions then are, is it really necessary to apply some kind of protective coating to the wood?  Has anyone here not applied WOP, or similar finish to their build?  And if you did apply WOP to a model with areas that you already painted, how did you go about applying the WOP (apply it carefully around the painted sections, apply it to the painted areas also, etc)?  Thanks!
 
Erik