MBerg

I might be on to something. Laying the plank at a greater angle looks like it will fit better. I can't confirm this right now because the current assembly is all banded, clamped and drying. I noticed the port side bottom plank doesn't come as far out on the aft-most form as it does on the starboard side. I think I will leave the port side for now, and switch gears to the starboard side. If that side fits better, then maybe I can figure out a slight modification to the port side that will help. 🤞

Sage advice! I am most definitely not rushing it at this point. Putting in lots of thought before I move ahead. I've triple confirmed that this is the plank labelled garboard. As an experiment I checked the fitting if I was to swap the ones labeled 'garboard' and 'second'. It seems like the second plank would fit farm better now, but the garboard would fit even worse next. I'm 98% sure this is the right plank on the right side. I had a bit of fun tonight. Before going ahead with planking, I thought of debonding the aft transom knee and shifting it to make tight contact with the keel plank now, instead of later. I hadn't decided yet, but I did notice the bow transom kept lifting out of the holder partially. As per instructions, I wet the planks and clamped them down again to help maintain the overall shape. I guess after the pressure of my messing around with the garboard earlier, aft transom knee not being glued on, and some bad angles on the aft transom not sitting fully flush with the bottom planks, the whole thing popped right off the planks! An opportunity has presented itself! After staring at it for a minute and noticing the bad angle on the transom, I slid it out the side, cleaned off the old glue, sanded the angle a bit better, and decided it was a perfect time to add a filler to bridge the gap between the knee and keel plank. I glued a small strip I had laying around onto the knee and slid it back in then glued the whole thing back together. Ignore all the frayed bits of wood - you can clearly see the gap, the strip of wood is in the center and runs from the end of the transom to the far end of the knee. It's slightly visible from this angle, but mostly in the shadows since it's a bit thinner than the knee - you can see it best at the tip on the right side. The quality of the close up pictures seems to be far worse on my phone after a camera update a while back. Similar to when gluing the planks on the first time, I stuck a block underneath to support it while it dries. I'm glad this happened. This fix will vastly improve the strength of this whole section while I continue working on planking. I knew this needed to be addressed, but I didn't realize how bad the angle of the transom was. I suspect it bent while gluing the first time causing it to come apart slightly on the inner side. Once the planking is finished I will use filler around the knee and remaining gap between the keel plank and transom.

It very well may, and is worth a shot. I couldn't try a few other bending methods. Thanks for the suggestion. @SiriusVoyager interesting idea about modifying the bow transom a bit. I did think of flattening that one joint between the top plane and the garboard plank plane. Something like that may help. I did realize the instructions say to refine the bottom plank bevels to match the forms before adding the garboard, but taking off more material sounds counter productive at this point and even so, wouldn't solve the problem. I do use hot water, not boiling but I soak for five minutes or so in the hottest tap water, it's worked fine until now. It wouldn't hurt to try something a bit more aggressive before trying to bend on the forms. Since I already tried bending on them, I should have the general shape. I may have to give the sauce pan idea a try. Thank you both.

I've been checking a lot of build logs this week and trying to get some detailed pictures of the planking on the bow end. Unfortunately, most build logs seem to fly through the planking before posting pictures and don't have many step-by-step photos. The first thing I'm noticing and has been bugging me since I needed to pinch the bottom planks together is that they don't go all the way to the edges of the flat spot on the transom. There are three more planks, and exactly three more flat planes/angles for those planks to attach. I know there's an overlap on the bevel, but I'm a little confused about how the garboard will cover that flat space, fill the void on the top and overlap the bottom plank. Ignore the twist in the planks. I though I screwed that up when looking at the picture afterwards, but the transom isn't fully seated in this pic. I get super confused at this point since when I took the bottom boards off, I marked the sheets they came from as "Port" and "Starboard". When I take the garboard planks off, the laser etching is on the wrong side. I scour through more build logs trying to make sense of it. Maybe the sheets don't follow the same side? Maybe the etch lines are on the wrong side? I come to the conclusion that I shouldn't have marked each sheet and the bottom planks are on opposite sheets. From now on I'll just follow the bevel etching to determine which side they should go on. All the while I'm thinking through this, I keep checking the garboard planks by dry bending them slightly. No matter which way I put them on, they don't seem like they're going to sit right. It appears like I'm going to end up with a huge gap at the aft end since they taper away from the bottom plank. I push my concerns aside - Once I finish prepping them I can wet bend and see where we stand. I finish beveling and get some rabbet practice in with a chisel blade: I thought I had a picture of it from the side. This didn't go too great, it ended up more wavy than sloping. The chisel just kept wanting to bite deeper at some spots. One attempt and I was sold. Scraping, filing and sanding is the way to go. Finishing the gains, I soak one plank and wet bend it over the hull. I add loads of clamps to keep it at the correct overlap while working my way aft. Not surprised, there's a gap at the transom. I spend some time forcing, reclamping, rebending. It looks good, then I notice the middle section overlaps way more than it should, and whenever I try to hold it all in the right place, the whole plank twists and bows to keep the correct overlaps which lifts it right off the bottom planks and creates huge gaps. After messing with this for a bit, and starting from the aft working towards the bow, I realize the bow end kind of sits where it looks like it should on the bow transom. Maybe my earlier concern had some merit, but I'm not sold this is the problem yet. To give myself an idea, I overlap the middle to where its supposed to be and let the fore and aft ends lay naturally without forcing anything. Big gaps on both ends. Now I need to spend some time thinking, and double checking everything. Did I do something wrong? Is there an issue with the kit? Is the bad laser cut on the forms causing an issue? Am I just supposed to force this all together and clamp everything down hoping the glue hold well enough? Up until now, I've been avoiding posting not to use what little time I have, but now I need to take a step back. Hopefully this is something simple. If anyone is familiar with this kit, I'd appreciate some input. Whether on if you came across a similar issue, or noticed planks were etched on the wrong side, did the bottom planks cover the whole top of the bow transom?

Log #3 I've been working away as time allows, which I can't say is much at the moment. I was planning on posted a log after planking, but I'm running into issues, and will need to work through them or figure out whats going on before I continue. Bottom planks and the keel plank were worked at the same time. Wet bending them similar to how it was done on the dory. This worked okay, but made it difficult to over-bend to help keep things flat on the forms. When bending the keel plank, I added spacers underneath to help it over form. After gluing the bottom planks, I noticed quite a twist between the bow transom and the first form. I found it a little odd that this happened since everything should be sitting fairly flat. Now that I'm thinking about it, the bow ends of both bottom planks needed to be pinched together to touch. Something might be slightly off with these planks... or the forms. When gluing the keel plank, I used clamps to remove the twist. I also applied some water to assist. This worked quite well. I remembered that the notch for the keel plank on the aft transom seemed slightly short, and I figured the knee wouldn't be sitting flush against the keel plank. Other build logs confirmed the same issue. Also, the aft transom was bending down with the clamping pressure which made it drift even further away. I wedged a block while gluing to encourage it not to drop too far. Once planking is done, I'll either remove the knee and lower it or close the gap in with some filler or scrap. Likely the latter. When Assembling the transom, I had a mind to leave the knee off and apply it flush with the transom and keep plank after gluing those together. I feel like I should have done that. The best scenario would be to have it sit at the right spot off the bat - being able to glue it to the keel plank now would help support the transom to resist the weight of bands and clamping. Almost 2 weeks passed until I really started tackling the garboard planks.

Looking great, really starting to come together. I need some sort of lighter duty clamps like that. Clothes pins are super helpful, but a little to small for some things. Need a nice medium.

Thanks Dan, I'll definitely be following yours along as I progress. It will be kind of neat to follow a current build log at the same time. So far I haven't looked at the full pram instructions, have just referred to the large drawings. I don't think they're helping me build any differently, but they're definitely quickening up the time when something needs clarified. I'm less so needing to use build logs to search through for small answers. I'm starting to really understand the appeal of scratch builds as well. I wish I had a nice way to bevel based on specific angles instead of using the etch lines because the drawings show the different degrees of each bevel along the transom edges. Log #2 Not enough progress for a full log I would say, but there are some things to mention and I'm fully ready to start planking so I figure it's a good 'break' in the steps having the next log start there. Due to my limited workspace and the need for the vice, I ended up clamping it to a table that we don't care about. It's not ideal, but is only about 10 feet from where I'm working so not terrible. Hole drilled in the bow transom/knee, and beveled. One thing that screwed me up a bit was the transom etch lines were fairly deep so I had to be careful. At times, it was hard to tell if I had gone past the line or not since it was still visible even when sanding it off at surface level (3rd picture down). Bevel lines still visible after sanding beyond them. I struggled with the aft transom a bit. I think the grain on the lower portion was throwing me off. It did not look straight when I glued it to the upper portion. I ended up taking it apart and re-gluing it, but again, It didn't look right. I ended up checking each side with calipers and only saw a difference of around 0.2 - 0.3 mm if I remember correctly. I could do this all day, I don't think I'm going to get better than that. Glued the transom knee and started beveling. I realized I couldn't quite get the right bevel because the knee was sitting a little too high on the transom. Unfortunately the glue had cured by the time I noticed. I contemplated whether or not it needed fixing, or if I could just fill the gap that will be there between the knee and keel plank when I get that far. And then @druxey's voice from my dory build popped into my head "if you aren't happy with something now, you won't be happy with it later!". Okay fine, I'll re-glue it, at least I get more de-bonding experience. After taking it off, I noticed the edge where it meets the transom was at a very slight angle. I re-sanded it flat and re-attached. I guess one of my lines on the transom was slightly off and it ended up crooked (I think it was slightly crooked the first time too) so I removed it for a second time! Since I had already beveled the top, I used the table to line up the bevel on the transom to the angle on the knee. This time it looked much better. Not perfect, but again - I could do this all day. I did think about leaving it off until after planking and then gluing it flat to the transom and keel board at the same time, but figured I better stick with the correct order. Now onto the build board. First I cut the forms out, but looks like I had the same laser cut issue that I had on the dory. The cuts don't line up on each side of the tab. Both forms has the same issue. Most logs comment on some intervention to improve or stabilize the build board. There are issues to overcome and some 'making it work' to do, but nothing too big and having a build board is far more useful than not having one! The transom holder slots are too loose, the form slots are way to tight. I filed down the slots, lightly sanded the forms, used tape to hold the aft transom, used some paper to tighten up the bow transom and got it all in working order without too much effort. Of course I got so focused on making everything fit solidly, I ended up gluing the bow holder in backwards. Best to fix that or may end up with a funny looking boat. The odd cuts on the bottom of the form leaves a weird gap, but it's consistent between both. I don't think it will be large enough to cause any issues. I just don't know if they're sitting at the right height, or if they should be a bit lower. Here's the board with seated transoms, ready for planking. I started messing around when I was taking pictures of the bow transom because I was amazed at how much detail it was picking up - like a digital magnifying glass (it turns on macro mode or something). Eventually it refocused right through the hole! I was amazed - the next picture is looking straight through it! 😅 Alright, that's enough screwing around. I'm excited for the hull to take shape as I begin planking, as well as nervous about it... I wonder if that ever goes away. Thanks for following. Matt

On to my second build, and the second in the progressive Shipwright series by David Antscherl. I spent some time looking into this one a bit more first, and I find it particularly exciting. First, I have a designated spot to display it, and secondly, it's based on a boat with prints. As mentioned in my previous build, this hobby has given me the drive to build a full-sized boat. I bought the plans which will help in building the model, but is also something I think would be nice to build with my daughter when she's older. Having both a full sized and a scale model of the same boat makes this build all the more interesting! (Even if it's the better part of a decade before I start). I'm not too deep into the build, and I don't expect either my work or personal schedule to lighten up much until after September so progress won't be quick. On a positive note, I seem to be done with medical tests and appointments for the foreseeable future and have successfully navigated the slow recovery from my most recent procedure. Of course I hurt my neck and back on the weekend working in the yard which has been ruining my sleep. I seem to be having a rough few months. Log #1 The full plans designed by Simon Watts were only $30 (USD) and have already helped quickly clarify things 2 or 3 times before barely getting started. I have them up on a room divider close to my workstation. Three of the drawings were E sized and so far those are the only ones I've printed. After cleaning up the transom parts I needed a sturdy way to bevel the edges. I find the bevel guide a great idea and a very helpful addition to the kit. I used the build board from the dory, and some rubber cement to attach a piece of sandpaper to it. The biggest thing to note here was the incorrect instructions that specified to face the etch marks away when beveling the lower aft transom. However, pictures and other build logs (as well as the full sized drawings) determined this was wrong. This worked very well for the bow and lower aft transom; however, I was getting a rolling bevel on the upper aft transom so I switched to a sturdier block. This was possibly due to it's larger size and I also noticed a slight curve in the build board I was using to sand. Center-lines are marked and knees are glued. Another thing that the drawings helped clarify was the orientation of the transom knees. I also needed verification that the lower aft transom knee was going on the right piece since it appears shorter and doesn't appear to reach the top of that piece in the instruction pictures. The next time I get back to it, the glue will be dried, I will drill out the transom hole, bevel all the edges and complete the aft transom by attaching both pieces. Then it's just a matter of assembling the building board and planking will be right around the corner. The only thing confusing me tonight was the note on making two angled razor saw cuts in the lower transom. It's kind of just glossed over, but after looking at it about three times I think they're trying to tell me to make it the same angle as the bevel. The sole purpose being to separate the side bevels from the center tab. This makes far more sense than some of my first thoughts. I'll double check some other logs or comments here before going ahead with that to be sure. Thanks for looking, Matt

Hoping aboard. Looking good so far, and great safe on the transom! I also noted the instructions were misleading and had I just followed the words would have made the same mistake. I've just started my pram so will be right behind you. However, knowing my pace from the dory, you'll be done well before I.

Oh wow, that looks like a nice resource. Thank you. Can't get much for three dollars anymore. Boat plans sounds like a good deal!

Thank you for all the comments!

Yes, just the kit basswood. I used mixwax dark walnut, one of their regular oil based stains. I realized the combo kit I had from ME with the dory, pram and smack came with some satin clear coat. So I put a couple coats of that on top to seal it. I didn't really have anything else, and tung oil is the only thing I've used before.

Completed Pics and final word Interesting how different the base stain looks when putting it on something dark. Finally, I enjoyed this build and wouldn't hesitate to suggest this kit as someone entering the hobby. I've decided to go onto the pram next and bought the plans for the real boat as well. Building this dory has inspired me to not only continue this hobby, but also think about one day building a real boat. In some years when my daughter is older, I think the life sized version of the pram would be a great project for us. Thank you all for the comments, the encouragement, the help and for following along. I'm looking forward to starting the pram and will be opening a build log soon. I'm still struggling a bit with my health issues, but I'm hoping to be over the worst. Matt

Log #12 - Complete The dory was completed quite a few days ago. It's taken many days to get the base completed as long stretches go before I'm able to get back to it to apply another coat of stain or clear coat. I assembled it tonight and will update my final log. I'll made a second post with the end result immediately after. Unfortunately, the steps I took since the previous posts aren't fresh in my mind anymore, but I'll do my best to remember. I started painting both the thwarts, gunwales and hull at the same time, alternating back and forth. The tip to use tape to hold down the smaller parts worked great. I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I used a print out and placed the correct thwarts in their correct locations accounding to the drawing as to not mix them up. Other than that, painting is painting. I don't think there's a whole lot I can say about it. I did, however, decide to paint the thwarts green to match the top of the transom and the gunwales. This was inspired by a thread on here regarding dory reference photos. (I'll see if I can come back and link it for those interested) I initially thought I would wet bend the gunwales, but after some thought and playing with them I realized that would be a little difficult to get them better than they are, and they're also quite thin so easily 'formed' while dry if taking it one step at a time. As per the instructions, I glued the first section, allowed it to cure some, then glued more, and continued my way aftwards (is that a word?). I made some comments on types of glue earlier. This is a step where yellow glue is preferred over white glue (maybe even CA, if you're crazy). Reason being is the cure time is reduced and the strength is increased. This reduces a lot of worries over it coming loose when conforming it with the boat as you go along. I did scuff up the paint to ensure there would be the best fit. I'm not knowledgeable here so I sanded, scraped with a sharp knife and made some random pin pricks to make sure the wood had ample contact with bare wood. I made a slight error by scuffing up part of the inwale in one spot that the gunwale initially wasn't going to fully cover, but just shifting the gunwale 1/64th or so while fitting it hid that blemish nicely. Note: I feel some incredibly thin tape to mask this off would have been beneficial. As I got closer, I started trimming the aft end. The side cutters/flush cutters that came with the toolkit worked very well for this. I ended up even using them to make a little notch where they meet the cleat. I wouldn't particularly suggest this as I almost screwed up by cutting with the grain. The wood split beyond where I was cutting and had it not held together well or split further I would've lost a check of it. From here, I went with the instructions suggestion of making some wood filler for where the gunwales meet at the bow (re: previous post). This worked okay, and would've worked better had I used more. I thought I put enough in, but I suppose it may have shrunk (or I thought wrong). It ended up painting on some primer, that I feel I should have thinned a bit more as it went on quite thick and gave that area a bit of a plasticy look. I also meant to very carefully apply it only to the filler, but I lost concentration for 0.05 milliseconds and got some of the gunwale so I did my best to even it out. The paint was struggling a bit to cover the primer so it took a few coats, but looked decent enough in the end. From the side I did, however, notice that it dipped down a bit (re: not enough filler). I also used a piece of painters tape to protect the stem. Making the thole pins was a little tedious, but not too bad. Parking out a piece of tape the correct length and rolling the knife across to score and break/cut them worked well. A few times I pushed a little too hard and the piece flew off into oblivion, but they give you enough material for many extras. Turning the square strip into a round dowel wasn't my favorite task, but it worked well enough. I just held it in one hand, sandpaper in the other and spun it around. Some sort of drill used as lathe would probably be nicer. I actually made these first, but then decided to add the beckets first before fitting these thinking they would get in the way and I'd be snapping them off. I'm glad a did because the beckets were a pain. First off, I saw many logs replacing the kit thread from something smaller. That was not my plan, I figured it could be scales as some thick 1.5" manila rope or something. The thread was tight, but I used the kit supplied drill bits to ream out the holes a little bit. I got the transom becket in without too much issue and started working on the bow/strake holes. The first one went in okay, but trying to get it through the second one that's threaded from the inside was the worst. Some notes on that: The thread is 1.5mm if I remember right. The largest bit supplied in the toolkit is 1.4mm 🫠 The thread is nylon (I believe) and I didn't realize it at the time, but I far prefer other materials (natural). I spent about 1.5 hours over 3 different sessions fighting with this thread. I found it difficult to get a clean cut. In the end, I got frustrated enough at the bow that I ended up yanking it out and dug some 0.8mm cotton thread out of a different kit. This was a dream to work with by comparison, and obviously the smaller size allowed it to fit easier through the holes. It wasn't quite the color I wanted for it, but it was close enough and after finishing, I completely forgot about it. The transom thread was cut off and replaced as well. Once I got the new thread in. I glued the knots with some diluted white glue and let it dry while I applied the thole pins. I just need to fit the thwarts and I'm done. As I'm putting them in, something is wrong. The thwart on the fourth frame isn't sitting right. I thought maybe I mixed up the #2 and #4.... Impossible, I had that genius idea of taping them to the drawing in their correct locations! It did fit well in the #2 spot, but so did the #2 thwart.... No thwarts fit will in #4. Then I realized what happened. Somehow I ended up beveling and finishing it upside down. When I flip it over, the frame slots line up. The paint job underneath was not as clean as the other side so I sanded it down and put another coat of paint. I sort of beveled it back in the other direction and dabbed some paint on. It fit in nicely and other than this record, nobody will ever know. Fixed:

I'm in Canada, but I fear the shipping from here to Europe would make whatever you found not worth it. Willing to try though.

Thank you for the comment, and encouragement. And I also hope you're getting a nice lake breeze during the brutal week! I ended up finding some primer in a different kit and tried that - it worked, though I now understand the comment someone made in a different log about 'primer can make wood look like plastic'. Good to know about LePage, I'll put some on my buy list. I was just at Home Depot last weekend and picked up some Varathane wood filler, then later realized it says "will not harden to a sandable surface" Opps... I did not expect that much variation in the wood, that's quite crazy. I thought they had maybe cut a sheet out of balsa. All part of the learning experience! As for my log, apologies for the delay. I really meant to have this done before, or at the latest on fathers day, but hit a couple snags. One being the kit thread for beckets, and the other being a silly issue I caused with the #4 thwart. The main reason for my timeline goal was on Monday I knew I had to start my prep for a medical procedure on Tuesday. Then daughters birthday on Wednesday and was expecting to start a new build on Thursday. In any case, there were some unexpected results during the procedure, and recovery has gone far from planned. I've just recently started improving and feel well enough to spend time at the computer. Luckily I did manage to get the dory in a finished state, but I decided to stain the display board. With a lack of a readily available space for that and moreso due to the complications above, haven't gotten around to it. That said, I hope to get it stained and assembled over the next couple of days, and post the log. I've bounced back and forth a lot between the Model Shipways Pram and the OcCre Polaris as my next. As of now, I'm leaning toward the pram.

She's just about finished. I won't post a proper log, but I'm experimenting a bit and don't want to make a terrible mess. After fitting the gunwales, they suggest using filler to close the gap. I've done my best to make some form of filler from sawdust, white glue and water which seems to be a popular option. I have a question though. What's the best way to paint this? Should I be 'sealing' it with something or just let it dry, lightly sand and paint it? I also wonder if I should sand the painted wood beside it to help it blend better? Though not sanding that wood may be extremely tricky unless taped off well. Here's a pic of what I've got going on right now.

Appreciate it! I just went through the first couple of pages and I really like what you did with the hull as well. I probably wouldn't have noticed that odd bulge in 'standard' kit, but now the damage is done and I may need to do something similar! No bother asking questions about it now, but you may randomly get a dm from me in a couple years for advice Look forward to future updates here and will check out the two Terror builds. Matt

Looking good. I'll be following this one, need to catch up. It'll be a while before I have the skills to start, but I just recently got this kit.

Log #11 The frames needed a bit more trimming before getting the gunwales on. After gluing them, I still felt they could've gone lower in some spots. It was very surprising how high the one corner sits since they sit at an angle. In any case, on they went, and were sanded flush. I then started working on the breast hook realizing how small it really was. I had a similar scenario as other build logs where the tip of the breast hook almost needed to be completely sanded off to fit. Instead of doing this, I decided to make a little notch in the gunwales. They're slightly offset to begin with so this gave it a more symmetrical, finished look. Multiple test fits and shaping required before a good fit. In the end, it fit so well I almost felt like there was no need for glue! The frame irons went on next. This part I found frustrating since I first followed the instructions and tediously made multiple at the suggested size. Other build logs and my experience showed that suggestion is far too large. I ended up making a second batch, which was again, too large. In the end, I tried my best to slice off little strips from the existing oversized ones. This was difficult to get perfect and some ended up being slightly different size, but we're talking 32nds or 64ths so it's not the end of the world. I doubt they had perfect manufacturing processes in 1800 😉 Next, the transom required some smoothing and shaping. I tried with a chisel blade first, but quickly realized how terrible this was going to turn out so I ended up sanding it down. A small piece of painters tape on the transom protected it while shaping the cleat. As for the semi circle on the top (I forget the name of) - I started with a file, but it was a little too large so I rolled a piece of sand paper around a small sculpting tool which worked well. Again, as others pointed out, the thwart on frame #1 needed significant shaping. I alternated between a small rectangular file in the slot and course sandpaper on the ends, eventually working it down to size. I found that when test fitting, if it rocked back and forth, it was the slot that needed more sanding or beveling(it was resting on the frame); however, when it wouldn't rock much, the ends needed to be taken in (it was resting on the hull). The #5 thwart needed some reducing as well, but not much. The rest were basically just beveled and ended up sitting very nicely on the risers. Finally, I was ready for the first coat of paint. This was my first real attempt at painting a model, or wood, or anything really, and I feel it went fairly well. I thinned it probably around 20%; or 1:5, whatever metric is used for paint thinning. This was very much eyeballed so 20% is a best guess. I'll likely grab a dropper for more control, but I basically just scooped up a bit of water in a bottle cap and poured a small amount on. The next log will likely finish out this build. I just applied the first coat on the cap rails, and the second coat of the interior hull. The second coat was a little tedious and I used a large flat brush to get most of it, then a far smaller round brush to get under the gunwales, sides of frames, especially around the risers, as well as little nooks and crannies. It took far longer than I expected and I kept seeing more tiny little spots that needed touching up, but overall I enjoyed the level of attention to detail and care that it took. Believe it or not, this little dory isn't my lifetime dream build; however, it's grown on me and I'm very happy to be spending time on it. Being that the thwarts and oars are already complete, I gave myself a view of what the finished build may look like.

Log #10 Bands and gunwales. Progress is definitely going slower than I'd like, with more rain recorded this spring than in 50 years the outdoors is growing like a jungle, septic issues, work meetings, family duties, etc. I was hoping to have more in each log, but I think I can finish up where I am now and move along to painting pretty soon. Note: As I progress, I'm using the kit supplied yellow glue and am learning something. When you have to sand 'through' a dried glue joint, it's a lot harder to sand through yellow glue than it is white glue (I suspect). Although the hold seems far stronger, cure time when using finger clamps is far shorter, and I have zero concern over anything coming apart. Any sort of sanding, cleaning up or debonding required, is more difficult. That said, I feel the best would be to swap back and forth between yellow and white depending on the future work required for that piece. The bands went on fairly simply. I took extra time, whether necessary or not, to soak the bands for a minute, clipped them in place and had them dry before gluing. I set them a little higher than I feel I should have which required more sanding. The end result worked out. This 50 or 100 pack of mini cloths pins of Amazon have been incredibly helpful. Bands glued. As for the gunwales. The instructions said to bend them before gluing. Since earlier instructions purposely taught the skill of wet bending and drying in place, that's the route I went after first testing the flexibility of the 1/16" x 1/16" piece. I cut/sanded to fit the stem and left the aft end extra long. This meant that the bend wouldn't be perfect, but they would be 80% there when dry. Initially I thought I cut a couple frames too low. Boy, was I wrong, the gunwales were sitting way higher than I expected. This is good, far easier to remove than add. I worked my way down the frames, repeated test fittings to ensure I didn't take too much off. When test fitting, I used a straight edge to check the level between the gunwale and strike/band. Once I determined the rough height, I used a 1/8" strip to help gauge in between test fittings. My goal was to leave the gunwale a bit high so it can be sanded level as per instructions. That's about where I am now, the starboard side is ready for gluing. The port side will go a bit quicker since I've gotten the process down and know the general height that frames should be cut. Once the gunwales on are, I believe it's just the breast hook before painting both the hull and cap rails. Looking ahead. Since the rails are laser cut, I do intent to dry fit, and potentially wet bend them before everything is painted to make sure they go on nicely when ready. ( I don't think this would work well after painting) The closer I get to painting, the more I'm thinking about all the dust that has accumulated. I've tried blowing it, I've tried wiping it with a micro fiber cloth. I'm not sure what you people typically do to clean before and in between paint coats, but I pulled my tack cloth out of my old bow making kit (again, that's 'bow and arrow' bow, not 'bow' bow). This seemed to work well enough for getting the majority of dust off. (tack cloth not to scale).

This is bang on. I would add, you're young so you may not have fully realized your tendencies. I would say most people get excited about something and dive in only for that interest, excitement and motivation to wain after weeks or months. You don't know yet if this will be something you're truly passionate about. I would suggest going a bit easier on your patience and bank account and starting with a true 'beginner' ship to first determine if this is something you will keep your interest in. However, if you're fine with the idea of an 80 percent chance to have a half finished project tucked into a corner or on the shelf then dive right into the Terror, the 20 percent chance that you'll journey on is worth the risk, in that case! Either way, good luck and welcome!

I cleaned up the cleats and tops of the frames. Something I've noticed is the inconsistency of the wood. Some sheets being far more transparent, softer (sanding parts takes seconds where other parts take minutes), flimsier, lighter color, etc. I found this difference between the starboard and port side plank sheets. I first tried to chisel out the side cleats and I needed so much pressure I was scared to go right though everything so I carefully carved it out. By the time I went to chisel the top of the frame, the chisel blade unexpectedly cut through it like butter. Luckily I wasn't too low and it only took off a tiny bit of the char at the very top of the sheer. Lesson learned, test the wood strength before assuming it was the same as the other. Just setting the blade on the frames and giving it a few light taps was all that was needed. I managed to get the seat risers on before dinner. When I mentioned gunwales earlier, I meant the bands. This evening I started working on them, and after being a little clumsier than normal, almost breaking one when sanding, getting close to going through the sheer with the chisel blade (mentioned above) and then going through the instructions trying to determine how far forward the bands should sit and the correct orientation, I realized I may have had one more glass of wine than acceptable for model making so I decided to keep it safe and walk away. 🍻 It seems @JacquesCousteau positioned the bands just shy of the false stem (thank you for pointing that out in your log), and some reference photos show either that or partway up the false stem so I'll do similar. Here's where we leave it tonight.

I know this is a few months old, but I'm just fitting my seat risers. As I was waiting for them to wet bend I fit the thwarts in and found the exact same thing. On frame #1 it sat way higher than the mark. I'm assuming it has something to do with the design that needs fixing. In any case, I scoured a few build logs to see if anyone mentioned it and only came across yours. Hope this may help others down the line as well. I will be doing the same as you. riser is set on the designated mark, so I'll be sanding down the thwart. The thwart as is, appear to be too high when compared to the others. Edit: Fantastic job by the way - your model looks great!

Log #9 I tend to get a little obsessive at times, and I felt this with the false stem. I spent far more time on it than I expected; however, in the end I feel it paid off. I did not trim it before fixing it, which offered a lot of flexibility while shaping it. The downside was more shaping, and sanding through the extra glue from the larger piece. I'm happy with the result here: In the picture above, I had already glued on the side cleats. These went on easily - I was in the scratch build mindset and had a bit of a brain lapse trying to figure out which piece of strip wood I needed to use for these, then (after a couple minutes and even checking some other build logs to no avail) realized there's still plenty of parts on the laser cut sheets and there they were. 🤦‍♂️ Pics are a little out of order as the next ones are right after I cut the frames back (before the false stem). Then we have a couple pics of where it sits as of now. Side cleats needing trimmed, false stem finished, and painted under the seat riser location. I hope to get the seat risers on (or at least bent) tonight, as well as trimming and working on the gunwales. Thanks for looking Matt