Now this is getting REALLY interesting,do we agree that the tiller enters the rudder outside the hull?The one thing that throws me is the height of the gilded head on the rudder which would be higher than the tiller as shown in the portrait.Here is a list of my mods so far to give you something to mull over;
1/Rear two sections filled with epoxy and microballoons below the waterline.This enabled me to reprofile the rear of the hull to a proper round tuck.
2/Hull is planked in hard maple below the main wales.All planking above wales is boxwood.I have done the main wales in walnut.I agree with you Sandy and Mike,mahogany does look right on models the grain is far too large.I was tempted to use ebony for the black sections but upon research I deemed it far too much hassle to work with.I have obtained some more boxwood strips to plank the decks.As you may have gathered the only paint used will black and gold apart from the George crosses inside the gunport lids.All planking is 4mm wide
3/I have altered the shear of the wales as I deemed them wrong as represented,not correct shipbuilding practice to have have a main wale chopped through completely removing its strength.I know this is shown on the payne engraving but on a high res image of the portrait you can see the upper main wale just clip the bottom of the last gunports.
There are more mods in the planning
Regards Nigel