Happy Update!

After over a month of frustration, I now have the bow of the Going Merry substantially complete! The pieces fit together pretty well. I'm content with the bow as it is for now. I have one more small piece to fit, but that's a detail rather than a major revision.

I started the mizzen mast last night. I had a few problems but finally got it sized in and added a collar to anchor the mast, much as in sailing ships IRL.

Tonight I'm printing the mizzen sail as a multicolor print (red-and-white stripes). I looked at printing it as a single color, then printing thin strips to be added to the white base, but I don't like what it would do to the texture and if I created strips for the front AND back of the sail, the issue would be worse. I think the three options for the sail will be single-color, multi-color, or single-color followed by some painting. 

I have some fun ideas for putting the jolly roger on the mainsail.

 

For perspective, here's a view of some of the many previous attempts on the bow: