We finally get to add some structural support to my best friend - the stern posts (not sure of their official name but they are the little beggars that I kept breaking off accidentally).

The direction have you adding the stern planking in a very simple manner, just cut and glue. However, there is a significant curve to the stern area and I decided to bend my planks before I attached them. I used my standard procedure with the travel iron and a bit of patience - you can view my earlier posts on how I do this.

Once I had the plank bent in a way that they naturally fit the stern I then went to attach the first (lower) plank. However, this plank needs a bit of trimming before it can be attached. The instruction do not mention this and instead show that you should just glue the plank into position, but I don't think this possible. At least, not doable and end up with a decent result. Instead, I placed the plank in place on the stern and marked it with a pencil so I knew how to shape the bottom part of the plank. The image below shows the small curve I carved into the plank. This took several minutes as I slowly shaped and tried the piece against the stern multiple times. Once I had it how I wanted it I went ahead and sanded a slight bezel to the bottom of the plank. This will help ensure the outward facing side of the plank sits nice and tight to the deck beam.

Once I had the first plank in place, the other three attached fairly easily. None of these needed any trimming - at least not at this point. When I finally had all the planks in place and the glue had set I came back and sanded the outward edges to match the hull and ribs. The instructions also call for shaping the top plank into a nice curve. However, I am not sure how much of a curve and decided to leave it be for now. Once I get to a point in the instructions where I need to attache a pice in this area I am hoping it will provide some guidance on the curve at the top. This will also help ensure that I have a nice tight fit between the curve on the top plank and the piece that will attach to it.

Next up is the pieces to start forming the railing. Pay careful attention when you are removing these and gluing pieces together. Be sure you are connecting pieces in the correct sequence and facing the right direction. If you get this wrong, your railing will go really bad when it comes time to start putting in the rail posts.

Once I had the pieces for the starboard side assembled I went ahead and hit them with a bit of black primer...did a bit of touching up in the areas I wasn't quite happy with, and finished up with a bit more primer.

Things were looking good, but when it came time to put this on the ship, as I was working my way down the port side the top of the ribs take a slight dip. It was at this point, as I needed to slightly bend the bottom of the railing, that the pieces separated. I had let this dry overnight, so it was not a case of trying to do it too soon. So I decided to continue on and would attache the rest of the rail while making sure I had a nice tight gap where the two pieces came apart.

The separation of pieces occurred again toward the stern. It was at this point that I decided, for the port side I would simply glue these in place piece by piece instead of as one very long piece that insists on falling apart. Attached are some images of the port side. Wish me luck on the starboard side.

Then it was time to work on the rest of the center strakes of planking on the weather deck. Again, take your time and when cutting for around the belaying posts and other opening be sure to get it as nearly perfect as you can...it you be happy you did. It is not uncommon to waste a piece or two here and there...I know I do. On the port plank that wrapped the balling post mid-ship and also needed to be notched for the belaying posts near the stern I had spent a good 15-20 minutes getting things just right. Wouldn't you know, on the final test fit I noticed something that I hadn't noticed before and that I had created a gap between the plank and the belaying post at mid-ship. 14-20 minutes of careful, tedious effort down the drain. I put that piece aside and tried again with a new plank. This time getting it just right.

Towards the bow there is a belaying post of sorts (I believe the rigging for the bowsprit will tied down here). This one slips through a hole in the deck and the legs go all the way to the lower deck. The instruction call for glueing this in place, but I have chosen to only dry-fit it for now. I wan't to be able to remove it to allow me better access for sanding the bow area of the deck once the planking is complete. There is also one other reason I did not yet glue it in place, a reason I will expound upon in a near future post.

Okay, as promised, the secondary reason I did not glue the foremost belaying post in place - I had actually missed a step in Month 10. Yep...I sure did. Thankfully, I noticed it as I was installing the center planking and prior to glueing the belaying post in place. Had I glued that in place, things would not have been impossible, but they sure would have been much more difficult as that post would have prevented clear access to the bow. And I needed clear access to the bow because I had missed the step where we were to install the bow planking.

I can recover from this mistake fairly well, but it would have been soooooo much easier had I installed the inboard bow planks when the instructions instructed me to do so. At that point the lower parts of the bulwarks were not in place, and the deck planks were not in place, so installing the bow planks would have been rather easy and straight-forward. Even trimming them to the proper shape would have been very easy as this could have been done once the pieces were on the ship, similar to how we did the stern inboard planking.

Oh well...gotta move forward. Since I had started the planking it was not necessary for me to complete the entire bow area planking. And to ensure I could sand things fairly well on the bow planks I needed to get at least a rough sanding of the planks done - just enough to ensure all the planks were even and there were no ridges from plank to plank.

There was also an issue with one of the ribs toward the bow. In the image below you can see where I highlighted in magenta the one rib that is a bit misshapen and actually protrudes toward the inside of the bulwark cap. There needs to be at least a 1.5mm space between the inboard face of the rib and the inboard face of the bulwark cap to ensure the planking is completely beneath the bulwark cap. So I needed to do a bit of work in this area.

I used a new blade to begin cutting away the bad part of the rib until I had it 1.5mm from the face of the bulwark. After a bit of cleaning up it was time to but the planks and install them. Please note, the bow has a serious curve to it and you will need to bend your planks prior to glueing them in place or they will break. I used my standard process for plank bending and took my time shaping the planks as needed. Also, since I wanted a full plank on the upper course of bow planks I decided to trim back the lower plank 1.5mm. The instructions actually call for a full width plank at the very from of the bow, so trimming the 1.5mm makes up for the fact that I have already installed deck planking that is 1.5mm in thickness. In the end, the starboard bow planking turned out well and I just need to touch up the paint on the bulwark a bit.

I am not sure why the instruction do not have us take the lower plank all the way to the centerline, but I am not going to question it at this point. It is bad enough that I completely forgot this step so I am just going with what the instructions say and trust they know what they are doing. They did in fact design a wonderful model, so they know quite a bit more than I do. Now, onto the port side of the bow planking and then I can return to finishing up planking the main deck.

Before applying the poly I wanted to be sure I had things as good as they would get. So I dry-fit the winch, adjusting the cutouts in the deck ever so slightly, until I had the winch sitting nice and flat on the deck. I think it looks good. Will remove it again for now. I may not permanently attach it for a while as I wait to see what else needs to be done to the bow area of the deck. The winch slides in fairly easily, so I will just be diligent and check periodically. Once I am at a spot where I think it must be in place to move forward, I will glue it.

Thank you Chris! Getting towards the end on this build and starting to get excited about how it will look.

Next were the bulwark posts for the midship area. There are only four of these per side, so not quite as intense as the previous posts. I followed the same process in regards to sanding to fit, staining, and installing. However, for these there will be no planking from what I can tell. However, there will be a top-rail, so it was crucial that the tops of these posts align.

To achieve this, I went ahead and assembled the top-rail per the instructions a bit further on in Month 11. It was a simple matter of glueing two pieces together and ensuring they were in straight to each other. I then installed all four posts with a tiny bit of wood glue. Before the glue had a chance to set, I used the top-rail as a guide and made sure that the post lined up across the top from stern to bow. At the same time, I checked to ensure that I did not recess the posts too far into the lower bulwarks. From what I could tell, the top of the top-rail should be flush with the top of the top-rail on the stern posts.

Once I had everything in place I went ahead and stored the top-rail in a safe place so I can easily access it when it is time to glue it in place.

Next were the little posts at the bow. There are only 6 of these per side, but they require a lot of slow and careful work as they are really small and need some carving.

To get the concave cut into each top area I used a half-round needle file and just took it nice and slow. As with the other posts, if you get too aggressive you will end up over doing it.

Once all the posts were to my liking I went ahead and stained them and finally, glued them in place.

That's it for the bulwark posts. Admittedly, it did get a bit tedious at one point (when I got sloppy and ruined a piece) and I should have taken a break. I typically do take breaks when I find myself thinking more about production and less about quality. Thinking production typically ends up with me messing something up and regretting the decision. Thinking quality has never let me down. Pretty certain I am not alone in this and don't know why I fall into this mode every so often. At least this time around the result of a production mind-set was just a small error.

The second plank in the first bulwark strake required a fairly significant bend so it would rest nicely against the lower bulwark plate. I used my standard method to bend the plank - pinch of water and a travel iron. This particular bend took three separate repeating processes of wet the wood, apply heat, bend - each refrain adding a bit more bend to the plank.

Once the plank fit against the lower bulwark plank and followed the curve nicely, I went ahead and put it in place temporarily so I could mark the openings per the instructions. To do this, with the plank in place, I used a sharp knife and created a very slight notch on the plank where it met the bulwark post. I did this on both sides of the opening, being sure to mark the inside edge.

I then removed the plank and marked a very faint line 3mm from the top of the plank. This should end up being mid-plank as these are 6mm planks. I then, very carefully, but away the notch for each opening. I dry-fit the piece to ensure it was what I wanted, trimmed the mid-ship edge so it was about 5mm longer than I needed, and then glued the piece in place.

I then followed up with roughing the planking on the next two strakes. The longer planks toward mid-ship all required a little bit of bending to ensure they rested nicely. Believe me, it is better to take the time to bend them than to try and force them into place. The former makes life easier while the later is sure to cause you some serious frustration.

The camera does not lie! While I was reviewing the photos for my previous post I noticed a gap in my planking (circled in green below). This is because I did not give enough bend to my plank and I should have been more carefully when dry-fitting the piece.

However, glad I noticed it now so I can fix it. I won't take it off, but will instead use a dab of 50/50 glue and water along with some sawdust to make a fine wood putty that I can apply to the gap. Once that dries and is sanded, no one but me and you will know. And I trust you won't tell anyone.