The two blocks for the bow were completed as shown in the picture below. I am quite happy with them as I didn’t believe I could get them symmetrical to each other. But it worked out well and final adjustments were made after the blocks were glued in place. Bulkheads 1 to 3 were smoothed out to let the planking flow into the blocks. In the left picture it seems that the edge of the basswood block does not coincide with the edge of bulkhead 1, but I tested it with a plank and it will work out fine – looks much worse in the picture than it really is.
While building the blocks I was wondering how the bowsprit would be held in place. I did not like the method shown in the kit. To have a better support I glued (and screwed) a piece of old basswood behind bulkhead one. In that piece I drilled a 10 mm hole at the angle of exactly 30° and aligned it by inserting the bowsprit dowel while the glue dried. You can see the piece from the side and the hole from the front. Some material had to be taken away from the bow blocks. During that work I realized that the center keel (part 14) in my kit is not exactly straight: the end (where the figurehead sits) bows slightly to the starboard side, which can be guessed in the left picture.
