Well done Alan its an achievement getting the hull planked.

Al

Thanks for all your comments. I've started sanding down and it is looking better than I expected. It might take a while as I am finding it very painful, but like they say in the gym "No pain - No gain".

Alan.

Hi Alan.
well done on finishing the planking of the hull.
look forward to seeing your progress Ian

Hello again and thanks for looking in.

I lost my Lightroom catalogue after installing an Adobe update and I'm having issues with Photobucket (looking at other members diaries I'm not the only one!) so it's been a while since my last update.

Finished sanding the hull and it feels smooth as a baby's bum. It turned out looking a lot better than I thought it would and since I'm painting it and have the copper tiles for the hull, the small gaps don't bother me too much at the moment.

Fell out with the Mrs big style as all the sanding was done in the living room and the place is covered in dust.



Could have used members advice and opinions at this stage, but took an executive decision and plodded on regardless.

Fitted the keel.



Started fitting gallery decks and rear panel.



Assemble gallery sides and top. Sand dowel to fit slot in bow and fit bow deck.



At this stage I felt I'd reached a milestone and my confidence was building so I started fitting the middle and bottom wales, plus gallery trim.



Planked the bow deck, added upper wale and moulding strip.



Note technical engineers (Smudge & Keegan) inspecting work.



Got the go-ahead from Smudge so drilled the 1.5mm rope holes and made cutouts for wriggles over gun ports.



Next stage to add the stem reinforcements and start planking the deck.

Now that my technical problems have been sorted it should not be as long till my next update.

Thanks again for looking in.

Alan.

Thats a top notch planking job.great work.Of course you know the cats are plotting to knock Victory off you workbench as we speak!!

Carl

Ha,ha thanks Carl.

I think they are waiting till I fit the masts,then they can do a real 'smashing' job. Funny enough they don't bother with it unless I'm actually working on it. Smudge chewed a couple of ribs earlier on in the build but the planking covered it and he hasn't bothered since.Just to be on the safe side, it is kept on the floor.

Alan.

"Ouch"!

Your moving along with her now Alan and she looks great.

Al

Thank you all for looking in and your kind comments.
I have surprised myself with the way it is turning out. Give me a lump of metal and I can do anything with it but I've always been useless with wood.

Yes Garth, the cats are very inquisitive but I've found if you try and chase them, something gets damaged. If left alone they do not seem to bother with the model itself and that's why they end up in the photos.

Alan.