Promise ...these will be last pics of the 1954 35' Chris Craft Cruiser / Sport Fisherman Natural light is the best.

Cockpit cabin roof stantions are on. Missed them on the completion. Wife is aboard.

Think I am pretty much done here on my 1954 35' Chris Craft Cruiser. Will add flag and pennant... exhaust etc. But close to the finish line.

Fall is here ..so I have been busy on end of summer clean up etc. Not to many hours in the shipyard. However... I did manage to work on the helm station and cabin door entry. Not completed yet, but worth a peak. I have also added her boot stripe and port holes. I was lucky enough to find a swim grid I could modify to fit her. More bling to put on including nav lights. Enjoy..

Took the Mrs. aboard to have a look while check I out the helm station bulkhead and layout. I added some trim to her. and made an adjustment on the cabin paint. I will figure her helm station layout first before I glue the top half of the cabin to the bottom half. As you can see I will need to putty in below the side windows to make a smooth cabin roof line as it flows back to the cockpit.

Added the cabin top colour. Built bench cushion for rear cockpit and tightened up some trim lines. I just placed the cabin on so you can get an idea of what she will look like.

For those who just can't wait for more updates..... here is the latest. Foredeck cap rails made and varnished, engine cover settes made and varnished (cushions to come), whell house roof beams made and varnished, side cabin walls of wheel house made and varnished, rear bench front made (just sitting for photo), copper paint on bottom (boot stripe later), and on we go. Thanks for following.

Making some progress. ASs you can see I have the cabin made in the style of the Sterling models where the forward windscreen sits on the deck with a couple of keys that protrude to hold it in place. Fits tight.

I redid the transom, the fwd cabin, and side decks.

I was lucky to find that Lee Valley sells mahogany veneer (very thin) So I redid the aft deck and redid the aft cockpit interior walls under the deck and also di the cabin floor.

As you will see I penciled in the lines to simulate planking for the deck. It is subtle, but looks good.

I am just giving her brightwork couple coats a day to build it up.

Just looking at the mahogany interior panels I made to see what is coming.

After having primed the cabins and cut out the windows, I started on working out the flaws, etc. Lots of sand - paint - sand . When I had her very close I cut out window templates with card stock. I then framed the windows with plastic trim the width of the frame itself. I glued them in proud so they stood out half way. I then sanded them smooth to the windows.

I worked on the cabin floor frames and have them in, matching the rake of the rub rails as in the schematics.

I also put the stern Mahogany on with a piece of left over mahogany I had laying around. It was sored for another model fittings and I glued the score and put that facing inboard. It sits a bit proud in that area. I will see how it comes out. If I am not happy I will make my own transom as I have the interior panels as you will see.

To get the windows right and smooth took a lot of meticulous time.

Then back to the hull. As you can see I inserted the porthole frames (the forward two first) then sanded them smooth to the hull. After that I spent hours upon hours trying to get the hull right. By this I really mean the forward bow area. So many curves and bows to it. I want to make it true as possible to the actual bow of this CC.

On the rear transom the upper cap rail actually sits higher in the center. Curves up at the middle. I made that of laminated balsa and sanded it to true.

So now after seeing and fixing so many small flaws, I have the hull where I think it will pass muster. All porthole frames are in. I also put on a small leading edge on the bow.

Hot here, so I am waiting a couple of days to give her another coat of Krylon. Should gloss her up nice. The Krylon can really take up to a month to fully cure. I will paint the antifoul much later as she needs to handled so much still.