Hello guys,
I've always like to build models since I was a young kid. My first model ship was an AL Virginia Schooner, which I built when I was in third grade. It wasn't museum quality, but pretty good for such a young kid. I built a very small solid hull USS Constitution when I was in eighth grade, and an AL San Francisco Galleon the following year. The Constitution was pretty easy but the Galleon's plank bending proved to be quite difficult so i came to this board as a lurker to get advice. Last year, I built an AL King of the Mississippi that is 99.9% done, I just need to put on a few extras.
Now, I've started my biggest project, an AL USS Constellation. I was disappointed by the model, especially the fittings, stern, and instructions, so I'm making a custom ship of my own with a square stern as opposed to the rounded one supplied, and mostly custom fittings (although I haven't got there yet). I go off to college in a month so I'm in a bit of a hurry, but so far it's looking better than any of my other ships, thanks to consulting various build logs and planking guides on this site and others. I'll post a build log here sometime.