Now it is time to clean things up a bit. After reviewing the instructions it looks like the bulwarks do not get any interior planking. Since the backside of the exterior planking is visible it was necessary to go in and sand things. This was not the easiest thing to do since there are fairly small areas between each post and getting sandpaper into the nooks and corners takes a lot of patience and care. It took some time, but eventually I was able to sand the interior side of the planks until they look nice. I also cleaned up the edges of the gun-port openings. The images below show the end result, however, I did not yet clean up all the sawdust, so please excuse the mess.

Thank you for those kind words. It is a lot of fun sharing the progress on this build.

I decided to use some different wood for the gunport framing to help it contrast just a bit with the bulwark planking. I only want to use this wood for a few accents here and there and I think the gunport are a good place - it's the same type of wood I used for the first strake on the Bounty's launch (re-attached that image here).

It doesn't show much when just sanded, but as you can see by the launch, once a poly finish is applied is has a nice subtle contrast with the kit supplied wood. I encourage everyone to save their scrap wood of all sizes, even the little bits, as they come in very handy on future projects.

Once I had the framing in place I went ahead and did some additional sanding to post the port and starboard bulwarks with a finer grit sandpaper both inside and out. Continued with this until I decided it was satisfactory and ready for wipe on poly. I won't apply the poly just yet, but was definitely easier to do as much sanding as possible before moving onto the next step and putting the top rail on.

After a bit more light sanding I went ahead and touched up the bulwark top rail with my typical 50/50 mix of black paint and water. This will do for now and I will give it a good once-over when it comes time to put the poly on to ensure I have it exactly as I want it. In the meantime...on to the rails at midship.

The wood supplied with this kit is fairly stiff and brittle, so it is not going to be very efficient to simply try and force planks around the curves of the hull. Past experience has taught me that taking the time to bend a plank with heat and a touch of water will make life much more enjoyable.

I followed my standard technique to bend the stern plank for this first strake. There is a fairly significant bend as the plank moves from the stern towards midship, so it took several passes with the iron, bending the plank a little bit more each time. After each pass I would test fit the plank to see how it lays with the hull. I really do try to get these as close to fitting as I possibly can before attempting to attach them to the hull. You can see in the first image below how this stern plank follows the hull curve very nicely. Once I was happy with the fit I went ahead and glued it in place. Don't get me wrong, the bend wasn't perfect and never is, but it was really close so when it came time to glue in place it was practically no effort to tweak it into place nice and tight against the bulwark.

There is a small plank that goes midship in this first strake. This piece required just a very slight bend. However, note that I bent the wood prior to cutting it to length. I do this because I find it virtually impossible to bend a plank towards the end of the piece. It can be done, but it is really difficult and can lead to a nasty burn on my finger. Instead, I keep life simple and bend the plank, check for fit, then cut it from the full length piece. Then glue into place.

Finally, the foremost plank for this strake. This was quite a bit more complex as the bend needed to not only follow the bulwark, but it also needed to bend around the bow. I first bent the plank to fit along the bulwark. Once I had that how I wanted it, I then bent the plank to wrap around the bow. Trying to do this in the opposite direction would have been much more difficult. Again, I got the piece to where I naturally rested into place very well before I proceeded to glue it into place.

Also, on this last plank I first trimmed/sanded the front edge that meets with the stem. I then carefully fit it into place and marked where it met the mid-ship plank. I actually cut it a bit larger than my mark and after dry-fitting it a couple more times, sanding the end at mid-ship, I finally had it fitting perfectly.

Lastly, because this strake is followed by a 2x2mm strake it is easier to sand this strake to perfection now. To try after installing the 2x2 strake would require some serious finessing as I would need to fit sandpaper between that strake and the bulwark. I think this will all make more sense once I get this next strake in place.

The port side was nothing other than a repeat of what we just did on the starboard side. One slight difference, I did check very carefully for the alignment of the planks at the bow. Want to be sure that they line up well with the planking on the starboard side otherwise the ship will take on a look of being totally out of balance. Although not perfect, I am happy with how it turned out. Next up...hacking away at some ribs.

Very nicely done and a very steady hand. Superb work.

Mark

My, oh my! That took a lot longer than I imagined. Sorry for the delay in between posts everyone. I needed to get my hands on some additional wood for planking and it turned out to be much more difficult than I imagined. These Covid years are really putting a strain on shipping and logistics. Hopefully we will be through them soon. But as a result, what used to take a few days to get wood for planking now seems to take several weeks...almost two months.

But now here we are. I have the wood I need and can continue with the build. Starting right where we left off I went ahead and began with planking the starboard side of the hull. This is a really straight forward process as long as you remember to always, always, always pre-bend you planks to fit as best as possible before you try gluing them into place. I bent every single piece that went onto this side of the hull and the planks fell into place nicely.

The six strakes on the starboard side are complete but I do need to finish the port opening in the aft area and also sand it down quite a bit to get a nice clean finish. And obviously, the aft portions of the planks need trimming...that is next. Once I have that done I will plank the port side.

Thank you, Chris, for the kind words. Getting close to finishing up the major 'construction' part of this build and getting onto the fun little furnishings.

Here is a view from the bow. I absolutely love the symmetry of a ship from this perspective. Don't know why I do, but I really enjoy seeing things line up like this. It's as though the world is in harmony :)

Still needs a bit of touch-up with the paint and definitely needs a good cleaning. But those two things aside I think it is coming along quite nicely.