Beef Wellington

Exactly right - that was my finding with the Speedy deck, which is why I eventually decided to plank over it. I thought long and hard about it though, not least because I don't want any newcomers to the forum or less experienced modellers to be put off Vanguard kits. Chris has done a superb job designing and producing these models and I would hate anyone to get the impression that there is anything 'wrong' with the etched decks or any of the other components. Built straight out of the box any Vanguard kit will deliver a superb model. It's just that serial kit bashers will always look for ways to make their own mark on a kit. I've bashed models in the past to make up for deficiencies in design and materials. Not so with Speedy - in a minor way I'm modifying the kit to further enhance the model, not correct it.
 
Derek

I think the problem with any single piece deck no matter how perfectly it is laid out or marked is that the large natural wood grain crosses over the planking boundaries unavoidable advertising that its a single piece.  Personal preference of course, but I find it very hard to unsee once its been noticed.  Laying individual planks, even if less perfectly, seems (again to my eye) a better way to go as the grain and slight imperfections seem to blend and disappear.  Interested to see which way you go.

Thanks Dave, and Glenn,😃 
Post 3
 
Fairing and Second thoughts
 
The bulk of the chamfering is on bulkheads 1 – 3 and 9 – 11 and the infill pieces also need additional fining down to suit. Less fairing is required on bulkhead 4 and 8, and barely any on bulkheads 5,6, and 7. But the sanding needs to create a smooth run across all bulkheads at all levels, using a strip to check, and the process did take me longer than the suggested hour for this work.
 

5156
The whole structure is rock solid now, and fairing on this shaped hull is about as straightforward as it gets.
 
Thinking about decking - A pause for thought
 
The kit provides a very nice etched deck which I initially found appealing, thinking that will save me the bother of doing it myself.

5153
However, I find myself getting less enthused about it, and if I’m going to change my mind I need to do it now before I fit the bulwarks, so I can more easily mark out a decking plan on the base deck.
 
I think the primary issue for me is that it looks a little too neat and navy fashion with a regular three shift butt pattern for what would be a humble and cheaply built fishing boat.
 
Once these thoughts get into your mind it’s hard to dismiss them.
 
Those new to the hobby, and this kit is really directed at that market, will no doubt find its inclusion of great benefit, but it is a kit that also allows us serial interferers plenty of scope to go our own way.🙄
 

5150
With an overall deck length just shy of seventy feet, and a large hatch midships the need for plank butts is very much reduced, as most planks within the area are well within the maximum lengths available for single runs up to the nibbing, both fore and aft.
 
The longest scale planks on the etched deck are 80mm, a tad short of 17’
 
 At this point I don’t actually know how these small boats were decked but I suspect that it was possibly slightly more random, using available timber to the best effect to keep costs down.
 
The builders would presumably still adhere to good practise of not having adjoining butts on the same beam, or adjacent butts too close to each other.
 
There is also a scale aesthetic to be considered so that any pattern doesn’t look unbalanced on the model but I think the model can be reasonably planked with far less butt joints than indicated on the etched deck.
 

5149(2)
Fore and aft of the fish hatch within the bounds of the coamings the maximum uninterrupted plank run is 23’ (110mm) and it is not really necessary to have butts until outside of the hatch coaming line.
 

5155
An important factor is that I do have the makings to deck out the model ( Boxwood strip 0.6mm x 3.4mm as used on the lower deck.)
 
 So, I’ll take time out to review the situation and before I move on see if I can come up with a plan that pleases my eye.
 
 
B.E.
20/05/20
 
 

Just in awe of your work Thomas, and thankyou for showing the details.  These would be amazing at twice the size, what you've achieved at 1:64 is just incredible.  Definite eye-candy, pleasure to watch your continued progress.

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Thanks gents for the continued support and kind words.
 
@ Eamonn - Honestly feel like I bit off more than I can chew here, but the end does seem within reach now which is a good feeling
@ Carl - its a mind game!  The rope tends to stretch a little after installation, so its a constant matter of installing, but not securing, and tying off in an order that doesn't cause a problem by taking away access....feels like playing Jenga.
 
Before I continue with much more rigging I need to get going on a ships boat that I'd like to install.  None are provided in the Snake kit, so I'm high-jacking one of the ship's boats provided in the Diana kit.  I'm therefore keeping the building of these boats in that log (link below) to avoid confusion as it comes from that kit, even though hopefully a finished product will eventually appear here....
 
 

And here is my final version of the jolly boat. It was built pretty much the same way as its pear wood predecessor. The major difference is the choice of wood:  the planking and floor was built out of bass wood to match the color scheme of the Syren, the framing, seats, oar locks, and knees consist of box wood. Unfortunately as Chuck’s Syren shop did no longer sell box wood I had to mill the necessary boxwood strips (1/32”x1/32” and smaller) on my own. Images 1 and 2 show the framing and planking, the construction of the floor and the mounting of the breast hook.  The straight edges of the seats were “premilled”  (img 3) before I cut out the seats with a hack saw.  Curved edges were done with a metal profile (img 4 shows the making of such a profile) or by cutting out the curved part, reducing it in size a little bit and tracing it (img 5). In images 6 and 7 the construction of the gratings and the milling of the needed parts can be seen. Image 8 depicts the making of the oar locks and the boat hook. And the last 2 images show the finished boat with oars, rudder, and boat hook.
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 

Image 2
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 

Image 5
 

Image 6
 

Image 7
 

Image 8
 

Image 9
 

Image 10
 
 

So the next obvious question is how does the figurehead get into the roundhouse?

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

The Mizzen has arisen:
 
I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.
 
Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):
 

 

 
Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:
Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists. Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread. Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):
 

 
Finally, some overall shots...

 
 

Many thanks all for the comments and likes, definitely good to have people along for the journey..
 
Feels like a chapter is coming to a close, finally seem to be closing in on completing the upper deck.  Definitely a multitude of time consuming small tasks.  First off I needed to address the fixed part of the gangway.  This is shown quite clearly in plan view on page 46 of AOTS Diana, however it is not shown in profile.  Given that it appears to contain its own lodging knee, I decided to extend the profile of the deck beam.  This seems to make sense when recognizing that a ladder will eventually be located here.  This highlights one of the inconsistencies in the AOTS book, many diagrams show the non-flush gangboards which I understand were going out of fashion at this point to be replaced by flush gangboards.  Hoping I'm not too far off the mark here.  A strip with a slight profile was added also to the deck beam to sit flush with the false quarterdeck.
 
The base plate to the stove was ripped off and replaced despite my intentions to leave as, hopefully this sits a little more harmoniously.
 

 
Cables have been added and "secured" to the various ring bolts beside the midship gratings.  AOTS describes these as being used for stoppers, but decided to secure with simpler ring ropes as described in Lever.  Stoppers have been modelled as per Lever on the 2 foremost ring bolts, but not yet tied on or attached permanently to allow me to finally decide (or others to refute) the approach taken.
 

 
Even though this area will only ever be glimpsed, time was spent fully building out the area around the foremast with the For jeer and for topsail sheet bitts as they would appear.  The actual bitts on the fo'c'sl will be mounted to the deck, seemed unnecessarily complicated to build these fully.  Couldn't quite figure out what was represented on diagrams for the fore jeer bitts until I saw interior photos of contemporary models in the Roger's Dockyard Model collection - but still no clue what the "swan neck" arrangement is called.  What is very interesting is how crowded this forward area really is, fighting these guns must have been a real challenge.
 

 
Warning:  Here follows some highly indulgent closeups taken on Captain's rounds!  This is the closest I guess I'll get to seeing what this looked like in practice
 

 
And finally...some overall shots with where things stand..
 

Quick update.  Increasingly realizing I'm reaching a point that I need to attach the upper false foc's'l and quarter deck template before more progress can be made, but  a couple of items I need to finalize and figure out first.
 
Main and mizzen backstay stools:
Unfortunately when I made the channels I neglected to make the stools at the same time, In a moment of focus decided to just get these done.  These smaller items were definitely trickier than the channels when scraping the edge profile, other than that, these can be put aside for when I'm ready to install the quarterdeck drift rail.
 

 
Upper deck coamings:
As mentioned previously, I'd like to keep the option to have a few of the gratings be removeable.  First off, appropriately sized gratings were made up, and the coamings then sized accordingly.  I cheated here and used a simple butt joint as I didn't think the more authentic lap joint would really be visible.  These were made of 3x3mm strip and 2x3mm strip with the inside ledge added after with some slightly thinned 1mm strip.  The grating thickness had to be thinned quite a bit to make it them sit flush.  These will also be simulating actual practice and so the edges were rounded off to 1mm above the bottom to butt up against planking.  TFFM was used as a guide here.
 

 
Once the coamings were finished, the fake beams and cross pieces could be made up to the appropriate size.  The ends were sloped to ensure that the end of the face beam would not be visible for viewing angles.
 

 
Adjustments were made to the false deck to accommodate the larger openings and positions tweaked a little.  For the foc's'l, the coaming size does not match the deck cut-out or AOTS exactly due to the limited incremental options for the grating size.  The stove flue needs to sit equidistant between the steam grate and the forward grating which moved forward slightly.  The steam grating needs to be positioned appropriately to allow the belfy to sit on the aft end of the steam grate coaming.
 
The top tackle scuttles have been filled in to ease future planking - the instructions indicate that there should be coamings and gratings here, however, these will be modeled as flush scuppers without a coaming as described in AOTS and shown on contemporary models. Although the surface of the center deck is very slightly curved, it is a close enough approximation to a flat surface that the flat top of the fake frame seem to sit without issue.  Lighting is clearly an issue here, and the interior is a little more visible than the photo's suggest, and probably more so in a well lit room.
 
Of note is the fact that the stove, and especially the condenser, sits a little higher than ideally would be the case, although looking at the AOTS diagrams its still a tight fit there as well.  In retrospect, I would probably not have put wooden battens underneath the bottom plate to lower this by 1mm or so, but not going to risk damage at this point to redo.
 

 
Putting some scrap planking in place give a better sense for the final proportion and the above deck rounded edge.  Think these will be a nice contrast to the much higher coamings of the exposed upper deck below needed to withstand water ingress.
 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...

 

The Mizzen has arisen:
 
I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.
 
Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):
 

 

 
Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:
Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists. Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread. Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):
 

 
Finally, some overall shots...

 
 

So the next obvious question is how does the figurehead get into the roundhouse?

Absolutely wonderful work Jason!

Amazing work on your Diana!!! Really inspiring! Thank you

What are we on about  - I cant remember🙃
 
OC.