Now for some fret-work.
Next, I work on the photo-etched parts. The side railings get cut loose. I take a .005 tip marker and draw little crosses on each flag. Then I take tweezers and twist the flags slightly in random directions.
My method for rounding the awning frame is to use my fingers to press and wrap it around a brush bezel. I look for a brush that has a bezel about the same width as the poop railings, and work the awning frame into a half circle. There is a little half-moon shaped thingy at the center of the rear of the awning frame. This is a yardboom support (for when the yards are lowered all the way) and it needs to be bent vertical.
To glue the side railings to the ship, first I put a couple drops of superglue on the flat part of an old razor-knife blade, and let it spread out a bit. Using tweezers, I hold the railing upright, and run the bottom edge through a shallow part of the glue puddle, and then immediately position the railing on the ship. The railing itself has to be positioned carefully and correctly. It has a very slight uplift at one end, to correspond to the rise in sheer towards the stern. In other words, the swept-up part of the railing goes towards the stern. Position the railings in the middle of the length of the ship's waist, leaving about a 2mm gap at either end.
This is the model with the poop-awning frame, the side railings, and the forecastle railing glued in place. Note that the forecastle railing is misbehaving.
Optional: Using a pin vise and a thin bit, drill a shallow hole in the center of the deck about 3mm ahead of the poop. A flag pole will go here.
A little bit of superglue, and the yards are in place.
A couple strands of superglue-soaked rigging thread, and some rudimentary rigging is in place.
Next up are the oars. First, there is a decision: swept back, as if a stroke has just been completed; or swept forward, as if the rowers are just about to pull. I attach them the same way as the railings: run the edge through a puddle of superglue. Do one side, and then give it a bit to dry. This is perhaps the trickest part, as care needs to be taken not to ruffle the position of the oars. Once one set is on, quickly sit the model down on a level surface and gently encourage the tips of the oars to touch on the surface. Otherwise, they will look silly flailing in the air, since there are no paddles on the end of these. Do the other side.
Beauty shot. Except for the rigging thread, this is the model out-of-the-box.