Another lovely clean, neat and tidy build Mick.  And an interesting vessel with such a history.

Can I make one observation, not to be taken as a criticism, but simply something that would look a bit better.  A taper in a mast takes place over quite a length of the mast and is a very gradual thing.  I would normally taper a mast over around a half to two thirds of its total length.  I bought a battery powered plastic lathe for the job so I have a good deal of control over the process, which a friend of mine also uses for making arrows!

If you don’t have access to a lathe I understand it can be a bit trickier to create such a gentle consistent taper but frequent checking for appropriate diameters at specific points should help greatly.  If you compare yours with the photograph you can see what I mean.

Both masts on the Ben Ain are tapered from lower than half their height and the boom is tapered for well over one third the total length from either end.

My models are usually small enough that a cheap thin long handled artist’s brush will do the job. Nice taper and it is already sealed ready for painting.

Colin

Mick, forgot to mention, great article in the November edition of Model Boats.  That is exactly the thing the magazine needs as much of as it can get.  It is also all the more useful coming from someone relatively new to the hobby so the readers can see just what can be achieved right from starting out, which might just tempt someone to have a go.