With the handrails and posts installed, its a good time to make and install the wood rail caps, both for the rails at the wheel house level and along the bulwarks around the perimeter of the vessel. The kit comes with a pine that is grooved in the back side to fit over the bulwarks. However, the bulwarks curve and here in lies the conundrum. You can make a steam bosx to bend the pine rail cap (messy), soak the rail cap in hot water for as long as necessary to allow it to bend freely, then clamp it in the desired position until dries, or you can do, as I did, make entirely new caps to measure and shape.
I feel this gives a far better looking cap with less fuss muss, and eliminates the tacky plywood pit on the stern cap.
I used bass wood to make my caps because it was on hand. You could use any soft wood equally well. Cut the strip of wood down to th ethcikness of the finished rail cap. Set it down on top of the bulwark, or railing, and using a pencil, mark a line on the underside of the wood follwing the bulwark as a guide. Turn the wood over to reveal your pencil line. Draw two other lines, one on either side of the guide line you just made. These are your cut lines to cut out the rail cap from your wood. When you have cut the cap out, use a fine cut off wheel in a Dremel type tool, and cut a slot along the center line of the rail cap (the guide line you originally made). be careful not to go all the way through the rail cap. This slot is what the bulwark is going to fit into when you are finished here.
With the slot cut, test fit the cap on the bulwark. Adjust as necessary. the bulwark should fit into the slot you have just routed out. When you are happy with the fit. mix up some 5 or 15 minute epoxy and drizzle same into the slot in the wood. Place the wood over the bulwark ensuring the bulwark fits into the slot again and place a small weight on top of the cap until the epoxy sets. Since you won't be able get the entire cap made out of one peice of wood, you can go a ahead and make the next peice while the first is setting up.
Finish sand the wood rail cap and give it a rounded top to soften its edges a bit.
When finished, I used a furniture stain to colour my caps.
For the hand rail posts, do the same up to the slot. Instead, place the cap against the posts and transfer the location of the tops of the posts to the cap. Drill through the cap at the post locations with a 0.032" drill . Offer uou the cap to the posts and ensure each post upper pin fis into the holes you just drilled. If they do, Cyano the cap to the posts and stain after sanding.
John