Pic 35:    Headrails. These were utter pigs, in fact one of the hardest, most demanding parts of the whole model. In short lengths like these, brass is incredibly stiff, and my thumbs haven't been quite the same since. In all there are 14 piece of brass, 7 per side, and they have to be fashioned accurately and symmetrically in three dimensions so that they look perfect from all angles. Not easy.

Experiments with 'padded' pliers, to stop the brass from marking, were useless. Eventually I simply used two opposing pairs of pliers, including some ex-dental ones with one convex jaw and one concave jaw. Cut ends were filed to shape and the plier marks removed with wet-and-dry paper. The completed rails were then fixed in place with Superglue.

Minor improvement: The metal 'figure-of-eight' casting shown here takes the anchor rope later. To make it look more realistic, I drilled through the hull within the casting so that not only is there a real hole, but the rope, when fitted, can be inserted and hang more naturally.