I am glad that I stumbled across this SOS forum. If anything, it confirmed my suspicions that wooden ship model building is not for the faint-hearted. I have loved ships ever since I can remember but it never crossed my mind to try and build one, however scaled down. But with the kids out of home and a bit more time on my hands - not to mention the complete Hornblower book series under my belt - it seemed a most worthy pass-time to indulge in. Of course I had no idea that there was so much more to this craft than the simple buy, assemble, glue and paint job that I'd assumed it to be. So now, with Mastini's Ship Modelling Simplified in one hand and the start of a collection of ship building tools in the other, and the good advice on this site, naturally, I am ready to step into this world of ship modelling that I find utterly complex and intimidating. Thanks for having me on board 
