A grating that does run to the bow

Still busy with the grating. On the drawing I did see that it ran through to the bow, and honestly I found that nicer too. Those gaps looked odd to me, even though Piet has them as well and he said they are hardly visible after rigging. In another log I had seen extension strips being used, but I did not think much of that either. So I decided to make a whole new grating. I had enough offcuts of the laser-cut sheet for two attempts.

The first attempt I found still a bit messy, the second I find good enough. You can tell it is not laser-cut, but as an alternative to the gap I think it is fine. The top view with the original pieces laid on top makes clear how much was missing, as far as I am concerned.

Stephan wrote that this is how it becomes my model, with improvements of my own. That is how it feels too.

A weekend of toil

What a job. After a whole weekend of toil this is the provisional result. Everything still dry fitted, and it was a lot of measuring, because all the parts of the head have to join up with each other and with the mouldings at the same time. According to Piet the head is a fit-and-measure job on virtually every model, which is reassuring. Anyway, it is starting to look like something.