[Michael Mash]

Thanks Friends and thanks Don for the reading material. I enjoyed it.

I have a nice photo of the four ladders that will be used to connect the top of the bulwarks with the main deck.

Then I moved on to the ship’s auxiliary boats. I decided to design/build the steamers first. I was surprised to discover that the auxiliary boats rank among the most difficult phases of this project.
So I tip my hat to you designers that created all the fine sets of auxiliary boats contained in the kits I built in the past.

Hence: only two photos at this point. I decided to attempt a technique I saw used (not often) by several other builders here: Planking the hulls. It seemed promising at first, but the small size of the boats makes it a difficult process. The two prototypes seen here do not pass inspection. Considerably more development work is needed. I may abandon the “planking” technique, and revert to methods used in previous projects.

Regards,
Mike