Glued in the basswood filler to fill in the groove for the 1st set of wales. Then gently sanded to conform to the curve of each bulkhead.
Then glued the 1st strip of the 2 strip wales. I had previously stained this 1st strip black as I like black colored wales. But then decided the walnut wales would look good against the cherry? hull planks. So I lightly sanded the edges (which might be slightly visable) back to walnut. I had to look at the parts list again. Best I can tell, it looks like the decking is Alder and hull is Cherry. Though when I put the wood sheets of the 2 woods next to each other, they look the same to me.
I had taken my time while bending the curve of the wales to match the curve of the hull. They fit perfectly without any force to glue them in place!.

. Now for the truth!! I had bent the 1st layer of the wales and glued them in place. Next I bent the 2nd layer (top layer) of the port side and glued it in place. And finally, I bent the 2nd layer for the starboard side. As I was brushing on the glue I saw the part number of the wale on the OUTSIDE (visible side) of the wale.

. I had bent the wale in the wrong direction. I thought okay, I'll just sand the numbers off as I'll likely lower the height of the wales anyway. Wait! Can't do that as these pieces are cut with curves in them. Each of the hull planks are cut a certain way so they fit together without any trimming. So... I couldn't simply glue this wale on as it was cut to fit in only one direction!! I wetted the entire wale, put it between two flat boards and let it dry. When I removed it, the wale was straight again. Now I have to go through the process to bend it the CORRECT way. Finally I glued the last wale piece on. If fit perfectly. I was lucky I could recover from that mistake.
The first wale is in place. Ready for the first regular hull planks. The hull is planked below this wale first, then directions plank above the wale. Two more wales are placed above this first wale. I wish there was a rabbet on the stem/keel, but there isn't. This makes it a little harder to fit the plank at the stem.

