glbarlow

Soaking the wood works for me, doesn't have to be hot boiling water or microwave - just soak in a glass of water.

I've planked a lot of hulls, right now I'm working on the 4th ship's boat for the Vanguard model I'm building (link to my Vanguard build log in my signature line show's my work on those boats, its the most recent series of entries).  In a lot of ways building a ships boat is harder than the hull because of the small size. 
 
I start with the top most plank and work my way down.  However, the second plank I install is the garboard plank at the keel.  You're always going to have some fill even with the most perfect planking job.  You want that fill to be on the bottom where it won't be seen.  However you need a neat garboard to get a good clear match to the keel. 
 
With the top plank (below the future cap rail) done and which should require splining and the bottom plank (garboard) done at the keel I start working top down.  Splining and tapering to fit is not that difficult.  Determine by counting how many planks it will take to fill top to bottom at the widest point, the waist of the ship.  Measure the distance top to bottom at the bow between your top and bottom plank  and divide by the total planks at the waist.  Example if it will take 10 5mm planks at the waist to fill and your measurement is 5mm then the plank width at the bow needs to be 2mm.  Its then just learning where to start the trim based on how it overlaps and use a standard Xacto knife and a metal ruler to do the trimming.  Probably have to do the same thing at the stern. The comments about the trim and curve of the garboard above are correct, but I wouldn't stress much about that, its an easy trim and at the bottom of the boat not noticeable, especially after sanding and painting the final result.
 
I'm sure somewhere on this forum is a more detailed explanation of planking (I had a detailed tutorial here once, but it was lost in the great site crash).  But the basics of working top to bottom and trimming so that every plank full width at the waist reaches the bow at a smaller width is the way to go.  The little fill that leaves at the bottom between the last full plank and the garboard won't ever be seen.

Definitely planked and horizontal as shown in the photos above.  Lesson for next model is to do that before running the side planks as they should overlap the stern pieces (as shown above).  At this point you'll have to do the opposite of that, but its not that big a deal with sanding and once the hull is painted.

I've planked a lot of hulls, right now I'm working on the 4th ship's boat for the Vanguard model I'm building (link to my Vanguard build log in my signature line show's my work on those boats, its the most recent series of entries).  In a lot of ways building a ships boat is harder than the hull because of the small size. 
 
I start with the top most plank and work my way down.  However, the second plank I install is the garboard plank at the keel.  You're always going to have some fill even with the most perfect planking job.  You want that fill to be on the bottom where it won't be seen.  However you need a neat garboard to get a good clear match to the keel. 
 
With the top plank (below the future cap rail) done and which should require splining and the bottom plank (garboard) done at the keel I start working top down.  Splining and tapering to fit is not that difficult.  Determine by counting how many planks it will take to fill top to bottom at the widest point, the waist of the ship.  Measure the distance top to bottom at the bow between your top and bottom plank  and divide by the total planks at the waist.  Example if it will take 10 5mm planks at the waist to fill and your measurement is 5mm then the plank width at the bow needs to be 2mm.  Its then just learning where to start the trim based on how it overlaps and use a standard Xacto knife and a metal ruler to do the trimming.  Probably have to do the same thing at the stern. The comments about the trim and curve of the garboard above are correct, but I wouldn't stress much about that, its an easy trim and at the bottom of the boat not noticeable, especially after sanding and painting the final result.
 
I'm sure somewhere on this forum is a more detailed explanation of planking (I had a detailed tutorial here once, but it was lost in the great site crash).  But the basics of working top to bottom and trimming so that every plank full width at the waist reaches the bow at a smaller width is the way to go.  The little fill that leaves at the bottom between the last full plank and the garboard won't ever be seen.

Finished the cutter.  This little dude was a big challenge, everything is so small and hard to hold on to.  I think it was more difficult to make than the barge because of the size.  Only deviation from plans was again diving into my wood stock for a  thinner .5mm strip of boxwood I cut to 2mm wide and used for the wales.  In my opinion the 1mm was too thick on the small boat.
 

 
These close up photos always reveal things I don't see when I'm looking at the model.  I'll have to go back in with my 18/0 spotter brush and get touch up a few things. 
 
Next up is the launch.

Finished the cutter.  This little dude was a big challenge, everything is so small and hard to hold on to.  I think it was more difficult to make than the barge because of the size.  Only deviation from plans was again diving into my wood stock for a  thinner .5mm strip of boxwood I cut to 2mm wide and used for the wales.  In my opinion the 1mm was too thick on the small boat.
 

 
These close up photos always reveal things I don't see when I'm looking at the model.  I'll have to go back in with my 18/0 spotter brush and get touch up a few things. 
 
Next up is the launch.

I finished the barge. It was fun to build a small boat after so much time spent on the Vanguard.  I think it turned out pretty well.  The pillars in the center are where the cutter will eventually sit once mounted on the Vanguard.  They will be completely obscured by the cutter, they are purely functional.
 

 
I have two variations from the plans:
-I used 1x4 instead of 1x2 for the rear benches, just seemed more proportional to me plus I flush mounted them instead of the plans overlap approach.  I likely won't repeat either of these on the smaller boats, but I think it looks good here.
-I used 1x3 (I have lots of wood stock from previous models) on the wales instead of 1x2, the larger black wale is much more impactful on the barge.
 

 
Here its resting (not mounted, don't have the cradles on yet) in its future home aboard the Vanguard.  Aside from the cradles, there are rails and hammock holders yet to be added to the ship.  I did mount the boat tie-down eyelets on the beams before they were added to the ship.
 

 
With the largest boat completed for whatever reason I elected to make the smallest next, the cutter.  Planking this was actually more challenging than the barge, not much room to work.  It looks so tiny compared to the Vanguard.  its still a work in progress, I have several more steps and touch up work before its completed.  
 

 
Visible here, and also on the barge, I added a 1x2 strip on the front of the upper bench area deck to match up the two levels.  Its largely hidden by the bench, but it is a visible and worthwhile addition.  While this is cosmetic the next modification is significant.
 

 
The plywood floor, covered by decking strips works fine in the barge.  It did not in the cutter.  I found after fitting it that only about 1 mm of sideboard was left, not even enough room to mount the benches.  It just wasn't going to work.  I dug into my wood stock and used instead a 1/32" strip as the floor again fitted with decking strips provided with the model (which I didn't use on the Vanguard).  The completed deck is 1mm thick instead of 3mm.  That 2mm made a huge difference on this small boat.  I may have to repeat it on the remaining two boats, I'll see when I get there.
 

 
Ultimately it will rest sitting on top of the barge. Even it seems to dwarf the cutter, I can imagine how small a couple of sailors felt rowing this thing around the Vanguard in real life.
 
That small strip the bow of the barge is sitting on was my practice board for cutting the rowing divots.  I mentioned I was worried about this in my previous post. I found the edge side of my diamond flat file worked just fine.  Just had to go slow and mark the locations and measure the depth carefully.  The practice helped. 
 
This is a good point for another shout-out for Caldercraft Admiralty paints.  I like the colors and it goes on and covers so easy.  I can't imagine using any other paint, though I have to order it from the UK so I order in bulk.  All my work is finished with a water based poly to protect it for the long haul.  The camera flash makes it more shiny than it actually shows.
 
I'll most likely continue with the other two boats before returning to finish up the ship.  But its about time to knock off for the Christmas holidays.

After finishing the headrails it was time for a change of pace.  Here is the start of the barge, largest of the four ship's boats to build.  The supplemental book provided with the model is very helpful and clear on how to build these. 
 
I'm using 3mm x .6mm Ash, the same I used for the deck.  One because I have a large supply from Hobby Mill (sadly no longer in business) and because its easy to work with.  The instructions call for 3mm x .5 strip, but I found no such wood in the kit.  3mm is the right size, anything wider would look out of scale and double planking with .5mm makes the hull plenty strong.  The only thing about using thin wood like this (vs. the usual 1mm) is you can't sand your way out of bad planking to a smooth finish, or at least you have a lot less room to do it.
 

 
Hull strength is something you get to verify when you snap out the supports.  I made this easier by lightly sawing both sides of the support at the base of the "U" I didn't take a photo before removing them but the instructions photo is clear.  Still sanding to do on the inside.
 

 
As I often do, I ignored the instructions.  In this case I didn't glue in the deck support, doing this made planking it outside the boat very easy, quick, and neat. By being able to remove the deck, it will be much easier to add the ribs and thwarts as well as paint the inside. I can do all that then finish by gluing the deck into the finished product.
 

 
It had been so long since I planked the ship I had to re-teach myself how to spline.  I'm thinking this is going to be harder, not easier, the smaller the boat gets, so I'm glad I started with the largest boat first as the instructions suggest.  Kinda fun working on this small scale after so long on the huge ship.  I'm not sure I'll enjoy notching out the rowing slots (the instructions show the photo, but not a good way for doing it) for the eight sides I'll eventually need, I'll have to figure out some way to do this simply and easy to repeat.

It's been a while since I've had an update, and this isn't much of one except to celebrate a small victory, not the big HMS Victory, but a small HMS Vanguard related victory.  I've finally managed to complete the coppering...of the starboard side...
 

 
I was fortunate to have enough plates to finish, earlier in is this log I noted I ripped off 5 rows at the bow to do it over, glad there were enough extra in the kit to allow for mistakes like this.
 
I'm not excited about turning it over to see the bare port side I now have to do, so I procrastinated by completing the rudder.  Interestingly the brass straps provide in the kit do not appear to be designed to fit over a coppered rudder, the folding points for the two 90 degree turns to wrap around either side are 5 mm wide, the width of the wood, but not with two copper plates attached to the sides.  Doesn't matter for me anyway as I always choose to use thick black paper, easier to do and frankly for me it looks better once I glue it on and finish it with water based poly painted lightly on to harden and season it a bit.
 
Ok, off to the port side.  Until this is done I can't get back to the wood working part I like to do.  I have to admit though, as big a pain as it is to do it does look pretty nice on the ship.

After finishing the headrails it was time for a change of pace.  Here is the start of the barge, largest of the four ship's boats to build.  The supplemental book provided with the model is very helpful and clear on how to build these. 
 
I'm using 3mm x .6mm Ash, the same I used for the deck.  One because I have a large supply from Hobby Mill (sadly no longer in business) and because its easy to work with.  The instructions call for 3mm x .5 strip, but I found no such wood in the kit.  3mm is the right size, anything wider would look out of scale and double planking with .5mm makes the hull plenty strong.  The only thing about using thin wood like this (vs. the usual 1mm) is you can't sand your way out of bad planking to a smooth finish, or at least you have a lot less room to do it.
 

 
Hull strength is something you get to verify when you snap out the supports.  I made this easier by lightly sawing both sides of the support at the base of the "U" I didn't take a photo before removing them but the instructions photo is clear.  Still sanding to do on the inside.
 

 
As I often do, I ignored the instructions.  In this case I didn't glue in the deck support, doing this made planking it outside the boat very easy, quick, and neat. By being able to remove the deck, it will be much easier to add the ribs and thwarts as well as paint the inside. I can do all that then finish by gluing the deck into the finished product.
 

 
It had been so long since I planked the ship I had to re-teach myself how to spline.  I'm thinking this is going to be harder, not easier, the smaller the boat gets, so I'm glad I started with the largest boat first as the instructions suggest.  Kinda fun working on this small scale after so long on the huge ship.  I'm not sure I'll enjoy notching out the rowing slots (the instructions show the photo, but not a good way for doing it) for the eight sides I'll eventually need, I'll have to figure out some way to do this simply and easy to repeat.

I always included in-progress photos in my long lost detailed Pegasus build log and noticed I’d done it to a lesser extent in this log before my two-year break.  I thought I’d offer that again for the head rails portion of the Vanguard.  Mostly because while the directions are helpful in showing where things fit, they don’t help much with the actual work.  I’ve included a photo of the tools I used, all of them to one extent or another were used just for the headrails.
 

 
The 6 metal decorative strips required for the headrail assembly have to be bent in multiple directions, for those fitting into the headrail frames, 4 changes of direction are required.  Pliers can’t be used on the soft metal (as I discovered as I threw away the first attempt), it’s a lot of finger strength.  Wrapping the metal in multiple layers of a cotton cloth and lightly using the pilers with the cloth buffer helps for the more difficult turns, but it’s important to keep a flow to the pieces, not sharp bends and turns.  It’s just a series of trial and error until finally a fit of the right length and form to lay curved naturally on the hull, into the channels of the frames, and finally onto the stem.
 

 
What I learned is preparation is everything.  Take the time to make the channels in the headrail frames deep enough for the metal trim – this avoids having to file the metal later. Also make sure the angle and slope of the channels go flow with the metal, so as to not force awkward bends to get a fit.  I again found myself doing a lot of trimming to the small forward frame for this to happen.  Also remember it’s a fragile area and hard to get a grip – I can attest to this by the break shown in the photo of the topside wooden grid – fortunately I can go back and fix it, but I came close to disaster more than once forgetting what I was holding onto while fitting the metal.
 
I don’t have a perfect match on the lowest stem piece.  I could trim it and may yet, but right now I think it looks better as it is than if trimmed down.  This is an example of what else I learned.  I don’t recommend following the order in the instructions.  I fitted both of these pieces properly, if they were by themselves, but when it came to matching them up I couldn’t do it in a satisfactory way (beveling the one piece on the hull or having the piece on the stem mounted lower, but not aligned with the hawse holes).  Had I not already installed the stem piece first I could have adjusted.  As it was, after it was installed it was too late.  I maybe could have torn it all off and likely remade pieces, but just not that big a deal to warrant the work. Wood filler of course would just look sloppy.
 
So my order was stem pieces, hawse hole assembly, cheeks, frames (after ensuring the trim fit in the channel off the model). metal pieces on the frames, main headrail piece, cathead (aligned to main headrail), final metal hull decoration piece aligned to cathead.  This worked for me other than that bottom stem piece as noted above, which I could have solved with more testing and dry-fitting. 
 

 
Other notes:
 
 I chose not to cut into the larger yellow rail in fitting the cathead.  Mine is pretty tall, it would look sloppy to cut that rail down to the hull as I did the two black hull rails above.  So I trimmed the cathead support piece to fit as its shown and ended the metal decoration piece into the yellow rail.  From a normal viewing distance, it looks good to me. 
 
I chose a gentler curve for that same decoration piece, just aesthetics, to me a sharper U shape wasn’t to my liking.  
 
As you can see, to make the main headrail less two dimensional I fitted a metal decorative piece on top – I like the look, ties it altogether for me.
 
A big change I made: I used a 3mm x .5 wood strip to cross over the metal pieces on the frame.  I highly recommend this. I did it for two reasons; the recommended 1mm thick piece looked heavy (see below) and I liked how I could fit the end into the gap between the stem piece and headrail frame and how it curved into place at the top.  Frankly it was just easier and is a nice look.
 
I considered painting those strips French blue, but elected not to. I like the all yellow ochre look (plus despite the photo on the box cover it’s what the directions call for).
 
There is also a decorative metal insignia/decoration that fits on the stem, again I may not add for the ‘too heavy” reason.  I’ll decide later.
 
So what’s this “too heavy” thing? As I’ve noted I’m not adding mast and riggings to this model.  Without all the rigging that goes with the bowsprit to offset, I need to balance the model a bit. 
 
This whole model is a therapeutic exercise for me.  Based on past models I know I have the skills to build and I like sharing information to help others learning the craft, so I hope this helps others a bit.  While I don't worry about changes I make from a historical perspective, I do all I can to make my work crisp.
 
 
 

I always included in-progress photos in my long lost detailed Pegasus build log and noticed I’d done it to a lesser extent in this log before my two-year break.  I thought I’d offer that again for the head rails portion of the Vanguard.  Mostly because while the directions are helpful in showing where things fit, they don’t help much with the actual work.  I’ve included a photo of the tools I used, all of them to one extent or another were used just for the headrails.
 

 
The 6 metal decorative strips required for the headrail assembly have to be bent in multiple directions, for those fitting into the headrail frames, 4 changes of direction are required.  Pliers can’t be used on the soft metal (as I discovered as I threw away the first attempt), it’s a lot of finger strength.  Wrapping the metal in multiple layers of a cotton cloth and lightly using the pilers with the cloth buffer helps for the more difficult turns, but it’s important to keep a flow to the pieces, not sharp bends and turns.  It’s just a series of trial and error until finally a fit of the right length and form to lay curved naturally on the hull, into the channels of the frames, and finally onto the stem.
 

 
What I learned is preparation is everything.  Take the time to make the channels in the headrail frames deep enough for the metal trim – this avoids having to file the metal later. Also make sure the angle and slope of the channels go flow with the metal, so as to not force awkward bends to get a fit.  I again found myself doing a lot of trimming to the small forward frame for this to happen.  Also remember it’s a fragile area and hard to get a grip – I can attest to this by the break shown in the photo of the topside wooden grid – fortunately I can go back and fix it, but I came close to disaster more than once forgetting what I was holding onto while fitting the metal.
 
I don’t have a perfect match on the lowest stem piece.  I could trim it and may yet, but right now I think it looks better as it is than if trimmed down.  This is an example of what else I learned.  I don’t recommend following the order in the instructions.  I fitted both of these pieces properly, if they were by themselves, but when it came to matching them up I couldn’t do it in a satisfactory way (beveling the one piece on the hull or having the piece on the stem mounted lower, but not aligned with the hawse holes).  Had I not already installed the stem piece first I could have adjusted.  As it was, after it was installed it was too late.  I maybe could have torn it all off and likely remade pieces, but just not that big a deal to warrant the work. Wood filler of course would just look sloppy.
 
So my order was stem pieces, hawse hole assembly, cheeks, frames (after ensuring the trim fit in the channel off the model). metal pieces on the frames, main headrail piece, cathead (aligned to main headrail), final metal hull decoration piece aligned to cathead.  This worked for me other than that bottom stem piece as noted above, which I could have solved with more testing and dry-fitting. 
 

 
Other notes:
 
 I chose not to cut into the larger yellow rail in fitting the cathead.  Mine is pretty tall, it would look sloppy to cut that rail down to the hull as I did the two black hull rails above.  So I trimmed the cathead support piece to fit as its shown and ended the metal decoration piece into the yellow rail.  From a normal viewing distance, it looks good to me. 
 
I chose a gentler curve for that same decoration piece, just aesthetics, to me a sharper U shape wasn’t to my liking.  
 
As you can see, to make the main headrail less two dimensional I fitted a metal decorative piece on top – I like the look, ties it altogether for me.
 
A big change I made: I used a 3mm x .5 wood strip to cross over the metal pieces on the frame.  I highly recommend this. I did it for two reasons; the recommended 1mm thick piece looked heavy (see below) and I liked how I could fit the end into the gap between the stem piece and headrail frame and how it curved into place at the top.  Frankly it was just easier and is a nice look.
 
I considered painting those strips French blue, but elected not to. I like the all yellow ochre look (plus despite the photo on the box cover it’s what the directions call for).
 
There is also a decorative metal insignia/decoration that fits on the stem, again I may not add for the ‘too heavy” reason.  I’ll decide later.
 
So what’s this “too heavy” thing? As I’ve noted I’m not adding mast and riggings to this model.  Without all the rigging that goes with the bowsprit to offset, I need to balance the model a bit. 
 
This whole model is a therapeutic exercise for me.  Based on past models I know I have the skills to build and I like sharing information to help others learning the craft, so I hope this helps others a bit.  While I don't worry about changes I make from a historical perspective, I do all I can to make my work crisp.
 
 
 

Hi Glenn,
 
Ah, that little area. I am sure I did the same as you. With hindsight I should have added them as pre-cut parts, but the trouble with small curved parts like that, when pre-cut from thick natural wood is that they have a tendancy to break very easily. With that in mind, using a small length of scrap wood strip may be less of a headache. I usually pre-soak the strip and then manipulate the curve using my finger or pair of pliers. If it's stubbern I use heat (holding the bend over a gas hob)
 
I think Revenge is out, and I am sure Victory will not be too long now - although that is a monster of a model...
 
Nice work on your vanguard, by the way, very neat and very clean.

I've always done my rigging first standing then running and both of those center outwards driven more by the belay point than the line itself. It gets really tight at the end no matter what, I learned to belay lines with tools. My favorite is a 3mm dowel with a large eye needle glued into the end and the end of the eye cut off making a two pronged pitchfork. With that I can guide the lines onto the belay point.

Thanks for the comment ASATbut no room on the shelf for a 3' high model, barely room for a 3 foot long one :-)
 
One thing consistent about building models is often the result doesn't necessarily recognize the large about of work it took to get there.
 
 
 
The four cheeks were not event close to being a fit to the bow, it took a lot of sanding and fitting just as I expected it would.  I guess the kit maker decided you can take curve out but you can't put it in.  Seems though it could have been a little closer.  
 
The top cross piece  for the top grid (not sure what the nautical name is) also took a crazy amount of filing and shaping, almost half its original height, to keep the third and foremost pice of grid to have a reasonable cure and match the eventual headrail trim that will cover it.
 

 
The three grid pieces also weren't long enough to fit (I realize this is all due to the variance we all create as we build our models, not a design fault (well maybe the cheeks....) Fortunately for me, a small strip of 1.5 x 2mm made it a perfect fit and sorta looks like it was supposed to be there.
 
Now for more complexity and trial of patience to get the rest of the headrails to fit properly.  I started the sanding on the bow of the ship as you can see in the photo and I have some more adjustments to make on the lower cheeks, but it was time to quit for the day.  
 

After another brief layoff I finished the cap rails and the forecastle deck furniture. (the cannons are just sitting for the photo, not installed yet).   
 

 
Nothing very complicated to any of it, just a bit tedious building the stacked rails.  The plans were very helpful here with the recommendation of using 2x2mm strips to keep the proper distance between the lower and upper rail.  I used my Byrnes saw to cut a long strip exactly 2x2 (none of the included strips are perfect) then cut that into enough 1 inch strips to fit between every stanchion.  Not the easiest thing to glue together, just requires a bit of patience. 
 

 
There are still hammock holders and rails along midship, I have pre-drilled the holes but won't install them until the very end, otherwise I'd be knocking them off as I worked on other areas.  I may install a piece of angled rail from the back of the top rail to the rail below, but the plans don't call for it and I'm not sure its needed - I'll think about that later.
 

 
Other than those handrails and of course the ships boats I'm essentially finished with the deck.  Now I move on to the headrails, that will involve a lot of sand, fit, adjust, sand, fit, sand .... to make it all come together.  Yay for more to do...
 

Thanks for the comment ASATbut no room on the shelf for a 3' high model, barely room for a 3 foot long one :-)
 
One thing consistent about building models is often the result doesn't necessarily recognize the large about of work it took to get there.
 
 
 
The four cheeks were not event close to being a fit to the bow, it took a lot of sanding and fitting just as I expected it would.  I guess the kit maker decided you can take curve out but you can't put it in.  Seems though it could have been a little closer.  
 
The top cross piece  for the top grid (not sure what the nautical name is) also took a crazy amount of filing and shaping, almost half its original height, to keep the third and foremost pice of grid to have a reasonable cure and match the eventual headrail trim that will cover it.
 

 
The three grid pieces also weren't long enough to fit (I realize this is all due to the variance we all create as we build our models, not a design fault (well maybe the cheeks....) Fortunately for me, a small strip of 1.5 x 2mm made it a perfect fit and sorta looks like it was supposed to be there.
 
Now for more complexity and trial of patience to get the rest of the headrails to fit properly.  I started the sanding on the bow of the ship as you can see in the photo and I have some more adjustments to make on the lower cheeks, but it was time to quit for the day.  
 

After another brief layoff I finished the cap rails and the forecastle deck furniture. (the cannons are just sitting for the photo, not installed yet).   
 

 
Nothing very complicated to any of it, just a bit tedious building the stacked rails.  The plans were very helpful here with the recommendation of using 2x2mm strips to keep the proper distance between the lower and upper rail.  I used my Byrnes saw to cut a long strip exactly 2x2 (none of the included strips are perfect) then cut that into enough 1 inch strips to fit between every stanchion.  Not the easiest thing to glue together, just requires a bit of patience. 
 

 
There are still hammock holders and rails along midship, I have pre-drilled the holes but won't install them until the very end, otherwise I'd be knocking them off as I worked on other areas.  I may install a piece of angled rail from the back of the top rail to the rail below, but the plans don't call for it and I'm not sure its needed - I'll think about that later.
 

 
Other than those handrails and of course the ships boats I'm essentially finished with the deck.  Now I move on to the headrails, that will involve a lot of sand, fit, adjust, sand, fit, sand .... to make it all come together.  Yay for more to do...
 

Thanks Bill, good to know its helping someone.  I feel like I'm writing myself a letter most of the time - but its fun and it is in fact a log.  
 
Truthfully, depending on your interests of course, I much more recommend the Pegasus or even the Granada over the Vanguard.  This thing is sooo big.  I wish I'd made an off-line copy of my Pegasus log, it was much more instructive and detailed.  It got lost in the great crash of this site, not sure why I wasn't keeping it as a soft copy....of course I'm not keeping an off-line copy of this one either :-)
 

 
I realized it might be helpful to include a photo of that first trim piece installed since I talked about doing it.  I included the dry-fitted figurehead as well.
 
I also dry-fitted each of the three cross-trees and did the necessary trimming to fit then painted them off the ship.  I decided not to install them yet to keep from my breaking them.  That's because just as I started to install the large curved head-rail I realized I had to stop work.  I need to do the forecastle cap rails first in order to get the right fit where the head rail joins the hull - so off I go on a new direction. More proof that half of construction (on any level I'm sure) is thinking a few steps ahead.

Continuing to making progress. The Vanguard is now fully decked and the main deck is finished. Next step is the various rails on the forecastle and poop deck plus the cap rails and finishing up the poop deck furniture.
 

 
As you can see in the photos for now I'm not planning to add the masts, so I have stubs cut to finish off the mast holes. These aren't glued in so I can come back some day and add them if I want. Its simply a case of not having a place to put a finished 3 ft long, 3 foot high model. Plus I've been there, done that with my 7 prior models. This one is just about building a '74 on a relaxed pace without the extreme attention to detail and accuracy of models like my Pegasus.
 
I deviated from the plans with the support beam for the poop deck. Like I had to do with the beams where the boats will sit and the finished beam for the forecastle, I cut a notch in the bulwarks the exact right height and width required to match the beam and decking.
 

 
I added a rope to the wheel that wasn't mentioned in the plans. Not sure why, now that the poop deck is installed, it will never be seen again - but I feel better about myself :-)
 

 
I also decided on simple breech rope rigging for the cannon - I've done the full blocks and tackle on my prior models, but it required ordering custom blocks. The ones supplied with the kit are way out of scale for this purpose in my opinion, with as little as the cannon are seen and this 1/72 scale of this model I am content with the simpler approach.
 

 
If I didn't mention it earlier, the decking is 4mm ash supplied by Hobby Mill. I like the its bright natural color, I've used this on my last 4 models and will continue to use it for any future models. The discoloring is more pronounced in the photos than it actually is, this comes from the water based Poly I use to seal and finish all painted surfaces. It also doesn't shine like it appears as a result of the camera's flash.
 
The bulwarks were done with swiss pear, also from Hobby Mill mostly because the 4mm width seemed more to scale - but then it was painted red so this expensive wood's nice color is lost. Still the right choice - the 5mm walnut just looked to big (its used on the gun deck, but that really can't be seen much now).
 
The cabin bulwark matches the color scheme I chose (or made up I guess) but again its lost from view with the poop deck installed.
 

 
Its a really big model, with all the wood, pain and glue now on it, its also getting pretty heavy. I'm glad I modified the hull way back in the beginning to better anchor the mounting screws. If I'd just followed the plans and put them just through the keel the model would have split off the mounting base a long time ago.
 

Turns out I needed only about 25 copper plates to finish - so about $50 and 3 weeks later I've finished the coppering and have plenty of copper for some other project. It's weird that I had enough for the starboard but not enough for the port.  If anything I was more efficient on the port.  Oh well, its done.  The ship is very heavy now.
 
I've finished the upper gun deck - as far as I'm coning to finish it.  I've decided I've built out enough cannon kits in my life so only those gunport that didn't havet lids have cannon mounted, plus a few extra for whatever you might be able to see once the main deck is installed.  The gunports with lids are closed and will remain that way.  I did all the cleaver work of open ports on Pegasus.  Vanguard is enroute with no imminent threat of attack so the ports are closed:-)
 
If you look close at the photos you'll see some plywood spacers between the outer hull and inner bulkhead.  These insure both hulls have some extra support and were helpful in holding things steady when the gunports were cut.
    The cross beams that will remain exposed by the main deck were a bit of a challenge.  There is no "kit" way of mounting them, basically they are force fit between the bulkheads which is fine if you ship is built perfectly, unfortunately mine isn't so I had to sand a few to make them squeeze between the bulkheads.  Gluing, aligning to the plan measurements, and not wrecking the bulkheads took some pre-positioning and dry-fitting to get it all right.       I did two things to help myself.  I did the measurement work to determine where the ship's boats tie downs need to be and drilled those eyelets in before installing the beam.  The cradles are a bit tall, I figured I'd break one in the remaining build process so I'll not install those to later.   I wasn't comfortable with the "squeeze fit" for the beam that supports the forecastle of the main deck.  So using the stock the beams came from I created a new beam that was long enough that I could cut notches (very carefully to get the right depth) into the bulkheads.  I'm now confident this beam will support the weight and any pressure I might apply during the rest of the build.     It also took a bit of sanding on the edges of the beams after installation to ensure the main deck is flush to the deck amidships.  If there is one absolute of modeling it is that dry-fitting is an essential skill as in pre-planning what is easier now that later (which the instructions or plans never offer) like the eyelets for the ship's boat's tie downs.  It's not that it can't be done later, its just that its so much easier to do some things before installation (or before the installation of something else that obstructs the path getting to it).   So now on to the main deck.  My two year break is apparently over.

Thanks for the comment ASATbut no room on the shelf for a 3' high model, barely room for a 3 foot long one :-)
 
One thing consistent about building models is often the result doesn't necessarily recognize the large about of work it took to get there.
 
 
 
The four cheeks were not event close to being a fit to the bow, it took a lot of sanding and fitting just as I expected it would.  I guess the kit maker decided you can take curve out but you can't put it in.  Seems though it could have been a little closer.  
 
The top cross piece  for the top grid (not sure what the nautical name is) also took a crazy amount of filing and shaping, almost half its original height, to keep the third and foremost pice of grid to have a reasonable cure and match the eventual headrail trim that will cover it.
 

 
The three grid pieces also weren't long enough to fit (I realize this is all due to the variance we all create as we build our models, not a design fault (well maybe the cheeks....) Fortunately for me, a small strip of 1.5 x 2mm made it a perfect fit and sorta looks like it was supposed to be there.
 
Now for more complexity and trial of patience to get the rest of the headrails to fit properly.  I started the sanding on the bow of the ship as you can see in the photo and I have some more adjustments to make on the lower cheeks, but it was time to quit for the day.  
 

After another brief layoff I finished the cap rails and the forecastle deck furniture. (the cannons are just sitting for the photo, not installed yet).   
 

 
Nothing very complicated to any of it, just a bit tedious building the stacked rails.  The plans were very helpful here with the recommendation of using 2x2mm strips to keep the proper distance between the lower and upper rail.  I used my Byrnes saw to cut a long strip exactly 2x2 (none of the included strips are perfect) then cut that into enough 1 inch strips to fit between every stanchion.  Not the easiest thing to glue together, just requires a bit of patience. 
 

 
There are still hammock holders and rails along midship, I have pre-drilled the holes but won't install them until the very end, otherwise I'd be knocking them off as I worked on other areas.  I may install a piece of angled rail from the back of the top rail to the rail below, but the plans don't call for it and I'm not sure its needed - I'll think about that later.
 

 
Other than those handrails and of course the ships boats I'm essentially finished with the deck.  Now I move on to the headrails, that will involve a lot of sand, fit, adjust, sand, fit, sand .... to make it all come together.  Yay for more to do...
 

Small victories.  I'm thinking the guy at the Amati kit assembly plant noticed he was out of the right bell for this kit and found one in the next bin over and thought "this one will be ok."
 

 
After the very tricky assembly of the bell assembly - keeping it square involved a precisely cut block using my Byrnes saw and a few metal squares that so faithfully serve me for all deck furniture - I realized the bell was different from the one shown on the plans. So I had to first determine a way to connect it to the assembly, which I did by tying it with .01 thread.  I thought I was good until I then realized the bell was longer than the distance from the yoke to the deck (and no I didn't invert the assembly, the distance is exactly the same either way).  My first thoughts were not kind ones, after I was done with those thoughts I did what we modelers always do - improvise.  
 

 
Simply adding a 2mm strip to the bottom gave the bell the clearance it needed - barely.  It also had the positive affect of providing a more stable base for when I install it (if I installed it now I'd be sure to break it installing the forecastle cap rails, its a very fragile little thing.)
 
All part of the fun.

Thanks Bill, good to know its helping someone.  I feel like I'm writing myself a letter most of the time - but its fun and it is in fact a log.  
 
Truthfully, depending on your interests of course, I much more recommend the Pegasus or even the Granada over the Vanguard.  This thing is sooo big.  I wish I'd made an off-line copy of my Pegasus log, it was much more instructive and detailed.  It got lost in the great crash of this site, not sure why I wasn't keeping it as a soft copy....of course I'm not keeping an off-line copy of this one either :-)
 

 
I realized it might be helpful to include a photo of that first trim piece installed since I talked about doing it.  I included the dry-fitted figurehead as well.
 
I also dry-fitted each of the three cross-trees and did the necessary trimming to fit then painted them off the ship.  I decided not to install them yet to keep from my breaking them.  That's because just as I started to install the large curved head-rail I realized I had to stop work.  I need to do the forecastle cap rails first in order to get the right fit where the head rail joins the hull - so off I go on a new direction. More proof that half of construction (on any level I'm sure) is thinking a few steps ahead.