Leecedar

Okay! Thanks to Adrieke, who confirmed what I thought regarding the bulkheads for the short stairs. I cut pieces from the plywood frame for some of the precision cut pieces, and was about to start cutting and sanding them to fit for the stairs, when... lo and behold... what did I see? Some little stair frame bulkheads in a plastic container staring back at me! So... an hour wasted, but c'est la vie. Have to go on a work trip today, so I'll resume the project on Monday. Have a good weekend, everybody! Lee

Hi Folks... This is my first project. I sort of fell into it, because I started caring for my elderly father at home, and his hands have become unsteady to the point that the project is now mine. As a result, I am probably doing a project that is WAY over my head, but I'm stubborn to the point that I WILL NOT let it defeat me and have been slowly coming along with the project for the past six months. To date, I have (1) Assembled the hull (Dad mostly did that part) (2) Planked the hull (3) Stained the hull (4) Planked the first, second and third decks (Dad did most of that part with me.) (4) Assembled the circular stairs going between the first and second decks (YIKES! That was frustrating) (5) Did the trim work to finish off the first deck (6) Did all of the trim work to the main section of the second deck (the engine room cage and the painting of the shutters were particularly challenging) (7) Placed the third deck onto the model (8) Re-drilled all of of the holes since my Dad's impatience early on led to slight misalignment between the first, second and third decks. Now, I have a problem, and I'm calling out for help... I want to assemble and install the stairs at the fore and aft that go between the second and third decks, as described and pictured in step 48, but I can't find part #123, the bulkheads. In the parts list, it says that these parts are "pref". The other part that is wood that I "pref" was the itty bitty toothpicks I had to fabricate for the engine room grating. Does that mean I have to just kind of "figure out" what wood to use for these things? Lee Oh... and here are some pics of the project thus far