pompey2

Thanks for the comment and likes. 
 
So, to continue.
I have opted to go the 'glued paper' route for simulating Caulking.
I sourced some thin(ish) black paper for this.
Here's my process.
I have moved on now to planking the Beakhead, Deck and Bulkhead.
So I cut my planking into approx length strips, painted some black paper with a 50/50 PVA and water mix.
Then stood one edge of the planks onto the paper, weighted them down and left to dry.

Once dry I used a scalpel to cut the plank from the paper.
Here is the deck with the planks rough length.

Then the Bulkhead and all of the lengths sanded to shape .

And then I put in liners to the two external doors.

Next Job is planking the stern lower counter.
First made up a little width bend jig to get the bend repeatable.

And I started laying the planks in place.

I made up the closed ports as I went.
The rough ends still so they need finishing to length and a good sanding across the faces.

 
Onto next post.
 
 
 

At this point I and read Dirk's (Dubz) problems on alignment.
I must say I was very please I did. So a big thanks to Dirk.
I replicated some of his checks, not as well as he did mind you.
Here you see where I had already marked the sweep ports vs. where the tracing put them.

The same tracing confirms things because the gun ports are pretty well aligned.

In some places I had to add extra pieces to the port backing blocks to cover the ports.
I have also done the fairing to the upper works now.

Then revisit the tracing paper and confirm the sweep port positions.
I wont use the rough tracing paper to actually place them.

Finally I used the template supplied in the kit (traced) to mark the proper positions of the ports through cutouts in the template.

Now, that's better.

 
I still have some catching up to post so will continue later.
Thanks for dropping by
 
Nick

Thank you all for the likes and comments, much appreciated.
So here we go with the next few installments.
Using a couple of lengths of kit stock to get the correct gap and then gluing the gun port lintels in place.

Continuing with lintels.

Gunport sills and lintels now in place.

Now I’m struggling to recall what’s happening here, it’s my age you know, my Grandad was the same…… before the end.
Actually I used another batten to place the Quarterdeck gunport sills, seen in place, and before I place the strip that forms the lintels/rail I have run a second baton which is what you see here.
Then I can use that batten to bring the tops of the bulkheads down to a common height by sanding them down to the batten.
Once trimmed the top strip can be glued on which is what you can see on the Port side.

Then onto placing the gunport sides. I traced the plans onto a piece of tracing paper and pinned it to the frames. Then used a pin to mark the positions through.

Quarterdeck done, now doing the same on the main deck.

Gun port sides now done, I made a few adjustments by eye to keep both sides matched. And now I need to take out a bit of bulkhead where it crosses a port.

Then capping strips added along the sides of the Waist.

Once that was on I could add the Hance pieces to the top.

Then another batton, this time used to place the blocks which will back the sweep ports.

Next, getting the false deck to fit cleanly.

And before I put the deck in place, painting the faces adjacent to the lower decking black.

Then glue and pin one side of the false decking.


Once the other side was glued on I moved on to getting the gun port Sills in place. First running a batten right along the side. I also checked things out by using a little height gauge from the deck surface.

Starting adding the sills using the batten to confirm height.

 
I still have a bunch more updates to add, so i will continue tomorrow.
 
Nick

Next onto Framing the Stern. First the two centre frames, carefully clamped to be square and correctly positioned etc.

Then the four outer frames using the lintels as spacers and the first frames as guides.

Then moved on to the Quarter gallery framing and flooring etc. The objective here is to see how many different types of clamp I can get into place at once.    



Then onto the window lintels and sills.

I used cut outs of the windows from the plans to check that they were positioned to allow the windows to be fitted later.

Then framing the ports in the lower counter.

Then some fairing of the outer face. And, using a converted electric toothbrush, fairing the inside faces.

HMS Shannon, who took the Chesapeake, was a Leda class boat, and Unicorn, which also still exists, is a contemporary of Trincomalee  and also a Leda.  It's pretty lame considering some of the garbage that's offered as kits that there's no kit for these three notable vessels of a very notable class.

Just watched a bit on TV about HMS Trincomalee where she is docked in Hartlepool in the UK. If no one has heard of this ship she is a total beauty and well worth doing a google search on. Would love to know if a model to build exists for this ship anywhere.
 
Regards
 
Terry

Loving the work on your bow fillers, very nice
 
Nick

Les,
It would be a bit small but not much.  The catch here is that many times the kit manufacturers use parts that are out of scale due to cost so you'll probably be closer than most of the kit items.  I'd say go for it.

UPDATE :
after thinking a lot about the block fillers 
i have to post a little guide / tips how to build that fillers but firs of all i want to Thank to Matti Pilola ! that help me a lot with thinking and approve that guide  
i saw some tutorial and some comments over the internet , there is a lot of people that making the block fillers by pieces of wood (and not made them as a one piece )
that is the best way i have found , 
the only problem with that is : that they taking the angle of the curve with a plank and marking some card with that plank and after all they cutting the piece of wood as the mark on the card...
that method NEVER be a proper because when you will take the second curve it will never be the same as the first one !!!
and if you can make the same perfect curve as the firs curve , you not need a block fillers  
 
for that i was thinking to make the same curve from above to the end i mean to cut all the pieces on the same line : and for to be more proper its better to take the deck shape ...
in my case i took the shape of the last plywood filler that is supporting the gun ports template ..
i
 now after we have all the pieces ready we will need to mark lines on the bulkhead / keel (the lines that will be between the pieces that we made before )

and now we need to measure the lines ! and note them on list :
after we have that list we need to fit the pieces inside NOW IS THE TRICK !!!  
befor i will give the tip i will explain the problem with what we want ... for example  if we have a corner of 7cm by 5 cm and the piece that we cut before is 10cm by 8cm 
the firs idea is to cut 3cm from the 10 cm to get 7cm as the side of the corner but if it was a square we was doing that without any problem !in our case that we dealing with kind of "triangle" if we will cut it like that 3cm from the side of the 10cm we will lose also from the 8cm because we will touch the corner of the "triangle"....
 
i was thinking a lot what to do...
and thank God at the end i got the idea :
you need to make a ruler 90 degrees like a corner on some plastic paper or something transparent  and mark the measurements that we took from the lines like this :
 
 
than put the 90 degrees that we made on the piece that we need to cut in the same distance from the edge of the piece all over the line than mark the lines in the piece and cut (the best way is with table saw to get  straight line !)

than cut all the pieces as the lines and start sanding them as the shape ... (i was sanding them a bit before gluing them together and also i took about 1 mm more from the sides when i was measuring .. like instead to make the corner 7 cm i mark 71mm for getting space to sanding them without mistakes ...)
 
after all  this is the result for the first sanding : 

now the next stag:
block fillers for the second bulkhead: 
i was marking the lines outside of a strip 1.5 mm to get enough space to sand without mistakes :

after cutting and sanding the second block fillers :
i glue some small pieces of 5mm between the first and the second block fillers to get the exact same space as a bulkhead and i glue the blocks in the same position as they need to be on the ship and i start to sand them , in that method after sanding the blocks together i knew how mach i need to fair the first bulkhead ! 
note : first put the second block filler before sanding and mark the lines of the first bulkhead in the front and the second bulkhead in the back of the block
when you will sand that you need to be flash with the line of the back but leave about 2-3 mm out of the line of the first bulkhead ! you will need it for the next stage!!!
 

after sanding the blocks disconnect the little pieces between them and put it to the first and the second bulkhead check if its looks ok , if you made the sanding to deep don't worry you can move a bit the block filler down on the bulkhead and you will get the less space between the bulkhead to the filler ..
 

now after all we can start fairing the bow section !
but very important !!! when you fair the first bulkhead don't fair it all the way! leave about 1mm without fairing ! in all over the bulkhead also in the sauced bulkhead fair only half way ! with that you will have a guid how to fair the angel without passing losing the shape of the bulkhead , that also will help you to fare both sides identical !!! but if you will fair the bulkhead all the way you maybe will past the line! and you will lose the shape 
here is the final result :
 


 
 
 

Hello friends
tomorrow i wont to work on the bow stage but i saw the the line of the second bulkhead that is going up of the keelson line also something looks a bit weird  with the line of the 
bow forward supports (40 – 42) here is a picture that i took ( dry fit )
please advice
btw the second bulkhead are good fit ! The middle gun deck is 45mm from the bottom as the plans !
 
best regards ,
Michael.
 

I've taken advantage of a bit of nice weather to get her out side for some full on sanding.
 

And Port.
I always leave strakes over length until after the majority of sanding has been done, you can see them here at the Beakhead Bulkhead.
I find that there can be a tendency when sanding to 'drop off' the end edge, that then leaves an unwanted thinned section / radius.
This way you can trim afterwards and keep a consistent surface.
 

Similar on the end of the strakes at the stern.

 

OK that's most of the heavy duty sanding done.
I will do some more finer sanding later.
So back inside.

Here's a bit of a close up.
I added simulated sheaves into the shells.
But the sanding has taken off a bit of the radius so I have dug them out and will redo them later.
I'm pretty pleased with the planking so far and loving the hard maple.
Also happy with the results of the paper caulking, it gives a nice consistent line, especially after sanding.

A shot on the Bow.

Time to get onto tree nailing.
I mulled over the decision a lot earlier on but decided to nail based on the look of Chuck's results.
Here is a bunch of holes being drilled, I stopped short of the area's that will get painted, no point in wasting effort.
Some of these were filled previously to check the look.
I am finding it difficult to pick a filler to use, I only want a very subtle different shade not an obvious black dot.
But what was really weird was my problem was the reverse of what I expected.
I have so far bought three different natural/pine/light wood fillers and tried them out.
But they are all really good matches to the maple.
Two of them to the extend that you cant actually see the 'nails' unless you get really close.
So I need to continue to look and find one a little off shade.
Mind you the filler that is such a good match will have some benefits 

And continuing along (someone switched the lights out!!)

I admit I was not looking forward to drilling thousands of very little holes at all.
But thanks to MSW I read a post about a little drill, actually for manicures.
So I hunted a through a big range on Amazon and picked one that is USB rechargeable, three speed and with a proper collett arrangement (many have just a pinch screw)
It was quite cheap really, about £20.
And I have to say it's a complete joy.
Very light, you hold it like a pen so has loads of control.
Takes my shanked drills, charge hold ages.
I shot through the drilling, a full side was three evenings work, about 4 hours.
Here is the item in question, the charging lead comes out obviously.
 

 
That's me about up to date.
Thanks for stopping by
 
Nick
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Time for an update i think.
Now I'm up to the bottom of the gun ports and doing some trimming around them, leaving a small rebate.

Progressed up and around the ports.
 

I'm matching progress on both sides, here is the Starboard.
I'm up to the Waist and you can see the gaps I've left for the sheaves.
 

And a big closer in.

Port side, started putting in the Sheaves.

And the other sheaves looking forward.

Getting towards the top of the Quarterdeck, cutting around Q-Deck ports, no rebate on these.
Also added some stock to the tops of the rails so that I can sand them back down to match the top most plank.

That's me now planked from main Whale upwards.
Port....

And Starboard.
Some high planks visible but they will get addressed next.

Will continue on next post directly.
Nick
 

Hi John
 
I get your pain with buying extra parts to supplement a kit.
But if you go with the kit blocks there are things you can do quite easily to improve them.
I would very strongly suggest you look at making yourself a barrelling pot that will turn your square edged kit blocks into rounded smooth ones.
It is a very simple thing to make, there are a variety of posts on the site with examples.
Or if you are having trouble I can show you how I made mine.
A small round plastic pot with a good lid, a piece of dowel and some trimmed pieces of sandpaper is all it needs apart from a dremel or similar to run it.
 
Nick

Time for an update i think.
Now I'm up to the bottom of the gun ports and doing some trimming around them, leaving a small rebate.

Progressed up and around the ports.
 

I'm matching progress on both sides, here is the Starboard.
I'm up to the Waist and you can see the gaps I've left for the sheaves.
 

And a big closer in.

Port side, started putting in the Sheaves.

And the other sheaves looking forward.

Getting towards the top of the Quarterdeck, cutting around Q-Deck ports, no rebate on these.
Also added some stock to the tops of the rails so that I can sand them back down to match the top most plank.

That's me now planked from main Whale upwards.
Port....

And Starboard.
Some high planks visible but they will get addressed next.

Will continue on next post directly.
Nick
 

I have now painted the gun port linings with a bunch of thinned coats of red ochre.
And now I've started the hull planking proper.
Another batten put in place to guide the top of the first strake which is the topmost wale strake.
Then the first plank.
I am using some plank clamps I made up.
They are two parts with a notch cut out to push the plank on and up.
One part has a half round at the back to provide a pivot and a normal spring clamp keeps it in place.
The inner faces have sandpaper glued on to give some friction.

For some of the more gentle curves I am using a flexible curve to form the wet plank.

And for the tighter curves, especially when I want to keep them consistent I made a jig.
This one is for the bow curve.

Continuing with the first strake.

Then I tackled the problem of planks needing a partial twist along their length, generally for the stern.
So after a lot of thinking time and rummaging through various boxes in the garage I came up with this.
 A base with a line of holes to accommodate different lengths.
The a piece of plastic pipe placed in an old armour cable cleat, that allows the tube to be rotated and then fixed.
I turned a few bits of dowel to be a snug fit into the pipe and glued them in place.
Then cut a half round out of the protruding pieces of dowel.
This setup now allows me to clamp a plank at one end onto a dowel flat.
Then clamp the other end to the flat of a rotated dowel. Planks soaked, then clamped overnight.

After drying overnight I get a twisted plank.

I also made up another clamp which was the same except it has a slot right through the centre.

That allows a longer plank to have a twist starting part way down.


 
That bring me pretty much up to date now, so thanks for calling in.
 
Nick
 

I've taken advantage of a bit of nice weather to get her out side for some full on sanding.
 

And Port.
I always leave strakes over length until after the majority of sanding has been done, you can see them here at the Beakhead Bulkhead.
I find that there can be a tendency when sanding to 'drop off' the end edge, that then leaves an unwanted thinned section / radius.
This way you can trim afterwards and keep a consistent surface.
 

Similar on the end of the strakes at the stern.

 

OK that's most of the heavy duty sanding done.
I will do some more finer sanding later.
So back inside.

Here's a bit of a close up.
I added simulated sheaves into the shells.
But the sanding has taken off a bit of the radius so I have dug them out and will redo them later.
I'm pretty pleased with the planking so far and loving the hard maple.
Also happy with the results of the paper caulking, it gives a nice consistent line, especially after sanding.

A shot on the Bow.

Time to get onto tree nailing.
I mulled over the decision a lot earlier on but decided to nail based on the look of Chuck's results.
Here is a bunch of holes being drilled, I stopped short of the area's that will get painted, no point in wasting effort.
Some of these were filled previously to check the look.
I am finding it difficult to pick a filler to use, I only want a very subtle different shade not an obvious black dot.
But what was really weird was my problem was the reverse of what I expected.
I have so far bought three different natural/pine/light wood fillers and tried them out.
But they are all really good matches to the maple.
Two of them to the extend that you cant actually see the 'nails' unless you get really close.
So I need to continue to look and find one a little off shade.
Mind you the filler that is such a good match will have some benefits 

And continuing along (someone switched the lights out!!)

I admit I was not looking forward to drilling thousands of very little holes at all.
But thanks to MSW I read a post about a little drill, actually for manicures.
So I hunted a through a big range on Amazon and picked one that is USB rechargeable, three speed and with a proper collett arrangement (many have just a pinch screw)
It was quite cheap really, about £20.
And I have to say it's a complete joy.
Very light, you hold it like a pen so has loads of control.
Takes my shanked drills, charge hold ages.
I shot through the drilling, a full side was three evenings work, about 4 hours.
Here is the item in question, the charging lead comes out obviously.
 

 
That's me about up to date.
Thanks for stopping by
 
Nick
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I've taken advantage of a bit of nice weather to get her out side for some full on sanding.
 

And Port.
I always leave strakes over length until after the majority of sanding has been done, you can see them here at the Beakhead Bulkhead.
I find that there can be a tendency when sanding to 'drop off' the end edge, that then leaves an unwanted thinned section / radius.
This way you can trim afterwards and keep a consistent surface.
 

Similar on the end of the strakes at the stern.

 

OK that's most of the heavy duty sanding done.
I will do some more finer sanding later.
So back inside.

Here's a bit of a close up.
I added simulated sheaves into the shells.
But the sanding has taken off a bit of the radius so I have dug them out and will redo them later.
I'm pretty pleased with the planking so far and loving the hard maple.
Also happy with the results of the paper caulking, it gives a nice consistent line, especially after sanding.

A shot on the Bow.

Time to get onto tree nailing.
I mulled over the decision a lot earlier on but decided to nail based on the look of Chuck's results.
Here is a bunch of holes being drilled, I stopped short of the area's that will get painted, no point in wasting effort.
Some of these were filled previously to check the look.
I am finding it difficult to pick a filler to use, I only want a very subtle different shade not an obvious black dot.
But what was really weird was my problem was the reverse of what I expected.
I have so far bought three different natural/pine/light wood fillers and tried them out.
But they are all really good matches to the maple.
Two of them to the extend that you cant actually see the 'nails' unless you get really close.
So I need to continue to look and find one a little off shade.
Mind you the filler that is such a good match will have some benefits 

And continuing along (someone switched the lights out!!)

I admit I was not looking forward to drilling thousands of very little holes at all.
But thanks to MSW I read a post about a little drill, actually for manicures.
So I hunted a through a big range on Amazon and picked one that is USB rechargeable, three speed and with a proper collett arrangement (many have just a pinch screw)
It was quite cheap really, about £20.
And I have to say it's a complete joy.
Very light, you hold it like a pen so has loads of control.
Takes my shanked drills, charge hold ages.
I shot through the drilling, a full side was three evenings work, about 4 hours.
Here is the item in question, the charging lead comes out obviously.
 

 
That's me about up to date.
Thanks for stopping by
 
Nick
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I've taken advantage of a bit of nice weather to get her out side for some full on sanding.
 

And Port.
I always leave strakes over length until after the majority of sanding has been done, you can see them here at the Beakhead Bulkhead.
I find that there can be a tendency when sanding to 'drop off' the end edge, that then leaves an unwanted thinned section / radius.
This way you can trim afterwards and keep a consistent surface.
 

Similar on the end of the strakes at the stern.

 

OK that's most of the heavy duty sanding done.
I will do some more finer sanding later.
So back inside.

Here's a bit of a close up.
I added simulated sheaves into the shells.
But the sanding has taken off a bit of the radius so I have dug them out and will redo them later.
I'm pretty pleased with the planking so far and loving the hard maple.
Also happy with the results of the paper caulking, it gives a nice consistent line, especially after sanding.

A shot on the Bow.

Time to get onto tree nailing.
I mulled over the decision a lot earlier on but decided to nail based on the look of Chuck's results.
Here is a bunch of holes being drilled, I stopped short of the area's that will get painted, no point in wasting effort.
Some of these were filled previously to check the look.
I am finding it difficult to pick a filler to use, I only want a very subtle different shade not an obvious black dot.
But what was really weird was my problem was the reverse of what I expected.
I have so far bought three different natural/pine/light wood fillers and tried them out.
But they are all really good matches to the maple.
Two of them to the extend that you cant actually see the 'nails' unless you get really close.
So I need to continue to look and find one a little off shade.
Mind you the filler that is such a good match will have some benefits 

And continuing along (someone switched the lights out!!)

I admit I was not looking forward to drilling thousands of very little holes at all.
But thanks to MSW I read a post about a little drill, actually for manicures.
So I hunted a through a big range on Amazon and picked one that is USB rechargeable, three speed and with a proper collett arrangement (many have just a pinch screw)
It was quite cheap really, about £20.
And I have to say it's a complete joy.
Very light, you hold it like a pen so has loads of control.
Takes my shanked drills, charge hold ages.
I shot through the drilling, a full side was three evenings work, about 4 hours.
Here is the item in question, the charging lead comes out obviously.
 

 
That's me about up to date.
Thanks for stopping by
 
Nick
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Time for an update i think.
Now I'm up to the bottom of the gun ports and doing some trimming around them, leaving a small rebate.

Progressed up and around the ports.
 

I'm matching progress on both sides, here is the Starboard.
I'm up to the Waist and you can see the gaps I've left for the sheaves.
 

And a big closer in.

Port side, started putting in the Sheaves.

And the other sheaves looking forward.

Getting towards the top of the Quarterdeck, cutting around Q-Deck ports, no rebate on these.
Also added some stock to the tops of the rails so that I can sand them back down to match the top most plank.

That's me now planked from main Whale upwards.
Port....

And Starboard.
Some high planks visible but they will get addressed next.

Will continue on next post directly.
Nick
 

To continue.
Here we are with the sweep lids now in place.
I can now plank between them.

Planking around the bow.

And the stern.
I am now past the sweep ports.

Here's how they look once done, still need sanding.

And a close up.

Before continuing up onto the channel wales I gave the first set of strakes a rough sanding.
I will do a finer sanding later as a whole.

I'm now up to the gun ports and the last two strakes will be the first layer of the channel wales.
The planks I'm using are a little wider than those in the instructions so I have had to play around with the number of strakes a bit.

I've also done a first batch of tree nailing to confirm pitches and effect.
Here they are, not filled yet.

Next task is to plank around the gun ports, I have some ideas on how to do that.
I will catch up when I have some more progress to show.
 
Nick
 
 
 
 

So to pick up the thread.
A couple of views with the first strake now added.


And one from the bow

Thinking about the seep port lids.
I think I will get a better fit by putting lids in place first and planking up to them.
Leaving gaps and creating lids to fit afterwards seems harder to me.
So to get them all a consistent size I made a batch up from three strips glued together.
I cut them off the strips and here I have them clamped together and I'm bench sanding the side faces to size.

And here they are ready to go.
I will adjust top and bottoms to suit each position as I fit them.

Continuing with planking up towards the sweep lids.

Then as I reach the marked port positions I can cut out using the lid as a guide.

Then trim the height and place the lid.

Continuing planking and placing the sweep lids as I go.

 
 
 
 
 
 

I've taken advantage of a bit of nice weather to get her out side for some full on sanding.
 

And Port.
I always leave strakes over length until after the majority of sanding has been done, you can see them here at the Beakhead Bulkhead.
I find that there can be a tendency when sanding to 'drop off' the end edge, that then leaves an unwanted thinned section / radius.
This way you can trim afterwards and keep a consistent surface.
 

Similar on the end of the strakes at the stern.

 

OK that's most of the heavy duty sanding done.
I will do some more finer sanding later.
So back inside.

Here's a bit of a close up.
I added simulated sheaves into the shells.
But the sanding has taken off a bit of the radius so I have dug them out and will redo them later.
I'm pretty pleased with the planking so far and loving the hard maple.
Also happy with the results of the paper caulking, it gives a nice consistent line, especially after sanding.

A shot on the Bow.

Time to get onto tree nailing.
I mulled over the decision a lot earlier on but decided to nail based on the look of Chuck's results.
Here is a bunch of holes being drilled, I stopped short of the area's that will get painted, no point in wasting effort.
Some of these were filled previously to check the look.
I am finding it difficult to pick a filler to use, I only want a very subtle different shade not an obvious black dot.
But what was really weird was my problem was the reverse of what I expected.
I have so far bought three different natural/pine/light wood fillers and tried them out.
But they are all really good matches to the maple.
Two of them to the extend that you cant actually see the 'nails' unless you get really close.
So I need to continue to look and find one a little off shade.
Mind you the filler that is such a good match will have some benefits 

And continuing along (someone switched the lights out!!)

I admit I was not looking forward to drilling thousands of very little holes at all.
But thanks to MSW I read a post about a little drill, actually for manicures.
So I hunted a through a big range on Amazon and picked one that is USB rechargeable, three speed and with a proper collett arrangement (many have just a pinch screw)
It was quite cheap really, about £20.
And I have to say it's a complete joy.
Very light, you hold it like a pen so has loads of control.
Takes my shanked drills, charge hold ages.
I shot through the drilling, a full side was three evenings work, about 4 hours.
Here is the item in question, the charging lead comes out obviously.
 

 
That's me about up to date.
Thanks for stopping by
 
Nick
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Time for an update i think.
Now I'm up to the bottom of the gun ports and doing some trimming around them, leaving a small rebate.

Progressed up and around the ports.
 

I'm matching progress on both sides, here is the Starboard.
I'm up to the Waist and you can see the gaps I've left for the sheaves.
 

And a big closer in.

Port side, started putting in the Sheaves.

And the other sheaves looking forward.

Getting towards the top of the Quarterdeck, cutting around Q-Deck ports, no rebate on these.
Also added some stock to the tops of the rails so that I can sand them back down to match the top most plank.

That's me now planked from main Whale upwards.
Port....

And Starboard.
Some high planks visible but they will get addressed next.

Will continue on next post directly.
Nick
 

I've taken advantage of a bit of nice weather to get her out side for some full on sanding.
 

And Port.
I always leave strakes over length until after the majority of sanding has been done, you can see them here at the Beakhead Bulkhead.
I find that there can be a tendency when sanding to 'drop off' the end edge, that then leaves an unwanted thinned section / radius.
This way you can trim afterwards and keep a consistent surface.
 

Similar on the end of the strakes at the stern.

 

OK that's most of the heavy duty sanding done.
I will do some more finer sanding later.
So back inside.

Here's a bit of a close up.
I added simulated sheaves into the shells.
But the sanding has taken off a bit of the radius so I have dug them out and will redo them later.
I'm pretty pleased with the planking so far and loving the hard maple.
Also happy with the results of the paper caulking, it gives a nice consistent line, especially after sanding.

A shot on the Bow.

Time to get onto tree nailing.
I mulled over the decision a lot earlier on but decided to nail based on the look of Chuck's results.
Here is a bunch of holes being drilled, I stopped short of the area's that will get painted, no point in wasting effort.
Some of these were filled previously to check the look.
I am finding it difficult to pick a filler to use, I only want a very subtle different shade not an obvious black dot.
But what was really weird was my problem was the reverse of what I expected.
I have so far bought three different natural/pine/light wood fillers and tried them out.
But they are all really good matches to the maple.
Two of them to the extend that you cant actually see the 'nails' unless you get really close.
So I need to continue to look and find one a little off shade.
Mind you the filler that is such a good match will have some benefits 

And continuing along (someone switched the lights out!!)

I admit I was not looking forward to drilling thousands of very little holes at all.
But thanks to MSW I read a post about a little drill, actually for manicures.
So I hunted a through a big range on Amazon and picked one that is USB rechargeable, three speed and with a proper collett arrangement (many have just a pinch screw)
It was quite cheap really, about £20.
And I have to say it's a complete joy.
Very light, you hold it like a pen so has loads of control.
Takes my shanked drills, charge hold ages.
I shot through the drilling, a full side was three evenings work, about 4 hours.
Here is the item in question, the charging lead comes out obviously.
 

 
That's me about up to date.
Thanks for stopping by
 
Nick