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Santa Maria1:48 (Pavel Nikitin)

Put on the next 3 planks. Ready for the next and last wale. There is a small wale (part# 25) above this last wale and towards the stern. I slightly sanded off the part numbers on the inside of the planks. The inside of the hull planks are visible through the spaces in the bulwarks.
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I airbrushed the inside of the hull planks before gluing them on.
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Installed the last wale, except for the tiny wale at the stern above this wale.
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Next are the shorter hull planks at the bow and stern. As the inside of these planks can also be seen through the spaces in the bulwark, I airbushed them.

Airbushed a coat of Pavels paint 'patina' to the inside surfaces.
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Then sanded this down...
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Next I airbrushed a couple coats of Pavels "oak' stain and lightly sanded them. They are ready to be installed.
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Began to glue on the upper bow planks. Found something I don't understand.

One has to glue several small wood pieces together to form the bow 'filler'. There's two 'notches' cut into the filler. The bottom notch is for the 1st wale. The top notch I don't know what it is for??
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Three planks go in this bow area. Parts #29, #30 and #31. I formed planks #29 and #30 and set them in place. Not glued. I can't install plank #31 as it will fall into the notch.
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Okay... I watched videos on all builds I could find, including Pavels video and I rechecked the kit instructions. I can't find any reference to what this notch is for or why/when it is filled All the videos show planking below this top wale. Nothing above it. I can't find any purpose. And I can't install plank #31 into this notch as it will sit deeper. No one mentions this. I have to be missing something??

I have looked at the installation of the forecastle deck and found no reason for the notch. My plan is to cut a basswood piece (it varys from 7mm to 10mm in width), fill the notch and sand it smooth, then glue plank #31 over the basswood. Any ideas anyone?
 
Continued adding hull planks uip the sides above the main deck. I've been using CA on the planks. I've always used PVA before but have found using CA on a small area of the plank and holding in place for a few seconds worked much better for me. I don't need to figure out how to hold in place with a clamp. Will likely use this method from now on. I CA glue a small section, then hold the loose part of the plank away from the bulkheads with a stick or something similar. Then I use a small wire that I can bend to reach the area, put a drop of CA on the wire and apply it to the bulkhead, one bulkhead at a time. I put CA on several bulkheads then remove my stick and hold the plank in place. Has been working great for me.
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All hul planks are attached to the ship.
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I painted/stained one side of the hull. Used Pavels paint set which is alcohol and dyes. Pavel used darker dyes than I did.

Black Pearl anyone ROTF 1st coat is Patina. Mostly to fill the grooves between planks with black. And lightly on the plank faces. Most of this is lightly sanded off with the sponge backed sandpaper in the paint kit. I also used my sanding pads from amazon, cut into small pieces. Sanding Pads
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Sanded the Patina off.
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Then airbrushed a coat of Rosewood
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Again, lightly sanded, trying to stay away from the wales as much as possible to keep them dark. Then a final coat of oak dye. I lightly sanded the Oak with steel wool to give it a little sheen. If you use steel wool, I would suggest you spend a litte more and buy the steel wool without oil. Regular steel wool contains oil and colors wood, not in a good way. I use these: It's a small package and larger package

I'm calling this side finished. There are several vertical large timbers bolted to the outside of the hull that will be attached later. I'll stain these darker than the hull, but probably not as dark as the wales.
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The unpainted sise.
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I'll airbrush the keel, stem and stern/rudder dark later.
 
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