I'm thinking ahead slightly to when I start doing the planking, is it worth buying a plank bender, or did you steam the planks, or not bother with either? Also at the moment I'm not clear on where to position the highest planking strip and how that works with part 18 (the smaller planking strip), or will it all make sense when I get there.
Thinking a long way in advance, I live near to where some of these boats are moored and they all have dark red/brown sails, is there anything you can do to the material supplied to make it look more authentic?