Time to get to work. I started cutting and dry fitting all the Bulkheads









As of today this is where i am. I'm starting on the deck now. as i progress i will update.
Thank you for taking the time and checking out my build.

Ruffnite

A very warm welcome to the forum.

Well you gave certainly picked a wonderful kit to build. From some of the other build diaries I have seen this is a really detailed kit and can be turned into one very impressive model.

Not a criticism but was wondering about your bolts through the hull pieces. Not seen this done by anyone using this type of jig. No major issues as far as I can see other than your going to have to remove them well before the planking prevents you doing so.

Looks like your off to a great start and looking forward to your further updates.

Welcome to the forum and a very nice start

Welcome to the forum! I have the same story as you. Built a ton of plastic but this is my first Wood model as well.

The only difference is that it will take you literally 15-20 times longer than any plastic kit you ever built. Ha Ha!

Also, this is no paint by numbers as you'll soon find out. Tons of research and patience is the key here.

My advice would be to treat every step you take almost as it's own model, and while keeping an eye on the prize and always planning ahead, once you start a particular step, just concentrate on that step and don't jump around too much. As an example, right now I'm working on the yards. I estimate just building all of them and not even installing them will take me a good 80 hours if I'm lucky. So I got my plan of attack and that's all I will think about until that step is completed. At least that approach works for me.

It's a friendly group here however so please take advantage of us and ask tons of questions as you go. Between all of our opinions I'm sure you'll get some good ideas.

BEST OF LUCK!

PS - In my post you can find links to a lot of early build pics. They might be helpful to you, especially around the Great Cabin where the instructions are truly lacking.

Thank you so much everyone for the welcomes and well wishes. You know in my 30+ years of being involved with just about every aspect of scale modeling from plastics, RC planes, model railroading the list goes on as I know you all know when making it small is in your blood it’s in your blood. Lol but in any one of those cases when you have a group that not only promotes the hobby but they offer up their knowledge as I’ve see from reading all the forums and your all’s welcome it makes every minute and all the hours that much more of a story in your own life. I’m very pleased thank you.
As far as screwing the keel to the bracket I appreciate the comment ty it takes so long to upload the pictures into photo bucket I did leave out why I went that route. I cut my teeth designed building heavy duty truck and truck equipment we tend to over kill our builds allowing for adjustment. What you didn’t see is I have washers between the brackets and the keel to allow for adjustment as necessary. Again probably over kill but old habits are hard to brake lol. I’m uploading some more pictures tonight and I will include some of the spacers. Also I have discovered very quickly that I do need to treat each step as a separate model all its self ha-ha. Thank you for that advice.
I apologize for the length book I will learn to shorten my descriptions, I’m still very much in that new discovery phase and I get very excited lol. Thank you all again

very good start, it's your model,so build it your way,we are just here to help. if needed.

Ruff mite

No offence intended questioning your bolting of the hull to the brackets - it was just something I had not seen before.

Kind regards

Oh, Forgot to mention I've procured the entire audio version of Patrick O'Brians books. Though I've read them all it's so nice listening to them while i build...YAAAA!!!!!

the lathe with the dremel tool instead of a hand drill

Next i busted out the good ole dremel router part number 231.



also works nicely as a sanding tool