Thanks lads for the very kind words...And yes, the fun is part, now marking out all the gun ports ready for the task of cutting them out!! And I thought the gun ports on my vic were a pain in the butt???

She's looking great Jonny, gun ports look spot on.... .. As for your pics, looks like your file is slightly too large which is forcing people to download to view, if you can then reduce the size a little and you should be fine.....

Regards

Alan

Hi there shipmates...Thought I would make a posting to show that I have not exactly been sitting on my laurels...lol. I have spent literally weeks measuring, re-measuring and measuring again to ensure that all the old girls gun ports were in the right place before cutting them out. Cutting the gun ports out were quite a challenge to say the least!! I found that drilling just one hole and cutting out the gun port in the bamboo strakes with a craft knife almost impossible!! I tried a number of home made cutting tools to do the job but alas they were too time consuming or awkward. I settled with the idea of drilling around a dozen holes around each inner edge of the gun port using a 0.5 mm drill bit, drilling as close to each other as possible then re-drilling the same holes with a larger 1.5 mm drill bit then using a craft knife to finish off. This procedure took me a long time, what with some short planks coming loose to add to the problem!! Anyway, gun ports cut and other little problems put right, I have now begun the second planking today, and having laid the first row, I will let the glue dry a bit then use them as a base to build up on. Just one picture to post here, trying to post it was another pain in the proverbial!! Seen a lot of posts on here lately where I was unable to see the pictures that fellow modellers had posted, so I hope that this picture can be seen. Anyway...Happy building good people...Catch yer later...

Made some more progress over the past few days with the application of the second planking...The second planking so far went on without any problems at all and found the sapele much more easier and pleasant to handle than other similar named materials in the past..again, only one picture, just to show my progress. I shall give the sapele a very gentle rub down with ultra fine sand paper before I tackle the other side of the hull. That's all for now shipmates...Happy building on whatever your present project...

Very nice job with the second planking Jonny, Im no expert but it does look good

Hi Jonny, what a difference it makes when the second planking layer starts to go on, looking great and look forward to seeing more....

And apologies here, I missed your question relating to picture size, just for reference I resize all my pics to 600 x 480 pixels, find I've had no problems with this size....

Hope it helps...

Regards

Alan

Hi Johnny.
Looking realy nice. Look forward to the next instalment. Ian

Hi there shipmates...Thank you for the very nice compliments...Much appreciated, believe me!! I have not been idle since my last posting, I have been busy fiddling about with the second planking on the lower section of the hull, which was a pain in the proverbial at times but I got there, and then I added parts of the stern gallery before heading on to issue 39 where I fitted the bowsprit assembly and keel parts. My next task is to do some tidying up of the second planking ensuring that it is nice and smooth before adding the heavy duty duck tape...er sorry...The masking tape ready for the paint job. Again, just a couple of pictures. Hope all your builds are going well...Catch yer later shipmates...

Lovely work on the planking Jonny looking good

Rgd Martyn