The ships hull has a high fore castle deck (fo'c'sle), so I transferred the upper half of the rib frames onto 6mm thick plywood, cut them out and sanded them to the required shape. These were then glued in place on the main deck. I calculated the total number of planks required from the main deck level to the fo'c'sle deck level, to give me the correct taper along the length of each plank. I the proceeded to cut and shape each plank as required, gluing them in place with PVA wood adhesive.

Bow of hull showing balsa blocks before sanding to shape 

The fo'c'sle deck screwed temporary in place

The fo'c'sle deck outline was drawn onto a piece of 4mm thick plywood, allowing 2mm for the last plank to run round the edge. It was then cut out and sanded to shape. I have temporary screwed the deck in place to allow me to continue to work on the inside of the hull later. The last plank of the bow was then glued in place, making sure no glue came in to contact with the fo'c'sle deck. This gave the correct shape of the hull and a clean crisp line around the bow. Two balsa wood blocks were cut and glued in place at the front and sanded to the shape of the bow.

The stern of the ship as a large roller installed. The plans are not very clear at this point so I went back to the Swire Pacific Offshore website an fortunately obtained a photograph of one of the ships in dry dock from the stern. This one photo explained how the roller fitted into the stern of the ship.

First I cut out the section of the hull for the roller to fit into. Next from 12mm thick plywood I cut two large disks. These form the mount for the roller. Next I cut two blocks of balsa to form the rest of the stern.  Once the glue had set I could the start to sand the blocks to shape.

Stern section of hull cut away for the stern roller unit

Stern showing the roller in position

The roller is made from five 12mm disks of plywood glued together to form a solid cylinder. Then 1/32" thick plywood was bent around the cylinder to give the correct diameter and smooth finish.

The stern of the ship is complicated and getting the correct angles is difficult. A lot of time and patience is need to get the stern to look correct. I need to keep referring  back to the photo, study it and then work on the model. Building model ships from scratch is a time consuming hobby.

Finally I apply car body filler paste to fill any defects in the hull and sand it to the required shape. This helps to strengthen the hull, and gives a smooth finish ready for the application of the paint.

Underside of the stern