More work on the upper part

Now that the upper deck planking is complete, another set of pre-cut bulwarks have been installed.  The bulwarks have also been lined on the inside in the same material used to line the outside.

The plywood covering the transom is now in place too.  All the metal work at the stern will, in some way, be attached to this part of the ship.  This makes correct positioning very important.

Upper deck complete

The upper deck is now complete and being varnished.   Carriages on the lower deck have been covered to reduce risk of spoiling them while painting.

When happy with the results,  the lower deck will be sealed off with paper and masking tape and work on the exterior of the ship will continue.

Upper deck planking

Work on planking is now in progress.  I am following the same pattern used on the lower deck (every 3).  Caulking is emulated by pre-lining the edges of each plank with a permanent marker and gluing each 9cm plank with PVA glue.

Decking in-situ is requires some more patience, but should not prove to be a hurdle I cannot overcome.

Some re-work was required as the planking on the front and back parts of the deck, separated by  the large hole in the middle of the deck, did not match perfectly.  Better re-do it now than repent forever.

Upper deck fitting

The upper deck is now installed in place.  Since I left its installation to this stage, it had to be split in two before fitting.

Deck planking will eventually cover all this.

Gun deck cannons

I have decided to use the cannons supplied with the kit, but  with some modifications.

I enlarged the bore of the carriage mounted cannons so that they resemble the other dummy cannons more.

I also painted the carriages, added carriage rigging (which was not part of the original model kit) and blackened all the brass work.

All carriages were glued in place before fitting the upper deck.    Cannons were fitted temporarily to make sure all is aligned before gluing everything in place.

Cannons will be fitted permanenlty later to minimize risk of damage.  I also plan to paint and install gun ports before cannons are glued in place.

Other gratings and fittings were installed too. 

Bow section

While waiting for some parts required for cannon carriage rigging I started some work on the bow.   I only plan to do some initial wood-work as more advanced stages should be carried out with the upper deck in place to ensure alignment is correct.

The upper deck cannot be fitted for now, as this requires the cannon carriages to be in place.

Back to work ....

Some time last year I put this project on hold.  Now, more than a year and a baby later, I started working on this model again.

I also set up a permanent working space which makes working in half hour spurts feasible.