No build goes smoothly. The key for me is to try and maintain my patience and not get in a hurry with any particular aspect. Whenever I DO get in a hurry… something like this happens. I decided to use a Dremel attachment to do a little deck sanding and save some time. I clearly wasn’t careful enough, because the bit scraped and dug into the deck. Oops.
The silver lining is – pulling up a couple of planks and making the repairs also gave me the opportunity to resurface and smooth out the entire deck.
One common element of some model kits is that there isn’t much to the parts that are mostly unseen by the viewer. In other words – not a lot of elements that exist below the quarterdecks are included in these plans. So, one has to make a decision as to how many of these elements should be added to the build. My guideline tends to be – what can be seen through either the portholes, cannon ports, or through the deck grates.
Peg’s plans have a solid piece of material toward the bow of the ship that adds extra support to the quarter deck. The Bowsprit itself is inserted into the bow and rests against this material. In a ‘real’ ship, the bowsprit extends into the lower deck and is held into a place by columns that contain rigging bitts. I’ve added these (and a couple other) elements to the lower deck.
Once again – much of this will not likely be seen by viewers, but it adds the accuracy of the ship.
The Lehman Shipyard 