Your doing a great job!!

Bob, great suggestion for building sanding blocks. Especially helpful for the sides.
DNCHVS, thank you . I enjoy the build and all it's challenges.
I spread the dry wall compound, 2 costs so far. I used the wet sponge technic to smooth out the drywall.
The hull sides require a high build. About 50 coats of mud, or so it seems. I might switch to high build compound.
I'm not crazy about using bondo. I might try a mixture of white glue and saw dust
I'll think about it

Mike, I suggest- don't switch to an unknown now-if you switch to bondo or sawdust and glue-it will not let the resin soak into the spackle. It might separate in the future-if you cant fair it with thin coats of spackle then glass it and fair it with micro balloons (for Epoxy) or Bondo (for polyester/glass) The only reason you can getaway with drywall compound is because in thin coats resin soakes in and makes it waterproof-if its too thick-the resin won't do its thing and it will separate or blister-trust me water will get in between the layers.

Bondo or putty is better to fair the bare wood hull (bondo sticks to wood very well) and polyester or epoxy resin will stick to the bondo on the hull

My preference is Bondo- mix golfball size batches and trowel it on with a wide plastic squeegee that conforms to the curves (if doing small applications with an old plastic gift card) when it gets like rubber-carve it to shape with a sureform AKA cheese grater (blade only) after it hardens rough sand with 60-80 to knock the ridges down then sand normal. reapply as required to fill valleys and voids. Prime then redlead. wetsand, prime and paint.

The problem is the drywall compound-I know Pat T has great luck with it but if its too thick it wont transform into "bondo" when the resin hits it.

I would consider sanding off the spackle and doing some auto style bodywork. (I think if you checked you'll find that Pat only uses it for very minor flaws)

Gentlemen, Thank you for your advise. All fillers have their advantages and dis advantages. Bondo and Spackle are not water friendly.
Both material will require careful waterproofing . Yesterday I sanded the sides. To my surprise, it came out not bad. some low spots, but close.
To no one's surprise, spackle sands easy and is easy to shape. I sanded the hull at a 45 deg angles. I sanded most of it off.
Made a ton of dust. Glad I sanded outside and I'm glad I did not experiment with a different filler.
If your keeping track, I put on 3 layers of spackle before sanding. So far one coat after sanding. I hope to sand later today.
I know Dumas says you can start building the cabin at this point, but I'm not. I'll wait until the deck is in to be sure of a better fit.
Besides, I consider it bad luck to rush these things

I've put on and taken off more spackle . Sanded at 45 deg angles ,close, but i'm still not there yet.
I'm getting tired of this.
The important thing to remember is, it's easier to get the shape with the wood and spackle
then it is with fiberglass.
Anyway So it looks like I've done something,, the cabin side trim was glued on. A quick complaint about Dumas.
The plywood has a front and back side. Both cabin sides were stamped ( crunched) the same side. So i have two left sides.
Dumas , you gotta love them

Hull sides are just about there. Got to spread and sand until it's right. Much easier to correct mistakes at this stage.
Bob is probably right about using Bondo. It would have filled the area much faster. Although it does not sand as easily as spackle.

I had to do something while waiting for the mud to dry. A closer look at the cabin sides shows a wicked bend on both sides.
I'll get it straight, just wait. Also which figurine do you like,, This Guy or That Guy

I am sounding like a broken record, and todays pictures look like yesterdays pictures.
I'm thinking of changing the name of this boat to "LUMPY". I just can't seem to get a fair curve near the bow.
Do production boats have "waves" in the fiberglass ?
I need another beer

No sense complaining about Dumas plywood. I am not willing to cut new cabin sides.
The edges of the plywood requires a lot of sanding to look decent. The way I am going to
clean up the edges is with coffee stirrers. They are a bit wider than the plywood and I'm OK with it.
I can sand the stirrers flush with the plywood easy enough.
I have do something waiting for the spackle to dry

On & Off rain, not a good day to sand. Taking Bob's advise, I glued 320 grit to a curved piece of foam.
lets see if I get better results. I have to do something every day, last night I fiberglassed the transom.
One piece of 3/4 oz cloth set into PT40 resin.
This morning I worked on the inside. Spread some resin to the inside bow area.
I tied the hull bottom to frames 5 &6. This is where the prop shafts will go thru the hull.
Tied the side to the hull bottom between frames 3&4
Tied the sheer with the hull sides between frames 6&7 and 6&5
coated the inside of the transom
Remember I added Ice cream sticks to straighten out the frames,
well the one on frame 7 will be in my way, so I cut it out
I'll do more glassing inside. Another day
In my rush to get things done, I forgot to cut limber holes in frame 7. I drilled them today and will make them larger when the epoxy dries.
Going away for the weekend , see you next week.

I know Bob has a lot of good ideas and one he suggested to me was to run some CA glue along the edges of the plywood to keep it together as you work with it. It might have been the best advice I’ve gotten. It has made model building so much more enjoyable. I was building the Dumas Little Shelly Foss and was running into the same issues with the old stamping. It was just splintering and that solved that issue.

Thanks Chauncy, funny you should say that. I used Titebond to seal the edges of the keel, but did not think to use on everything else.

May2 -using Bob's idea, I sanded with the larger sanding block. The green one , works much better. I'm getting closer each time.
I have to keep reminding myself, it's easier to sand the spackle than the fiberglass. That front forward third of the hull side has been difficult to get fair.
Speaking of fiberglass, I been do just that inside the hull. Sheer to hull , hull to bottom. bottom to ribs. And that crazy area in the transom.
Fiberglass cloth and PT 40 resin in most places, just resin in other places. At some point, everything will get coated.
Cabin walls, I have added stiffeners in an effort to straighten then out. The "green" side bends in, the "red" side bends out.
I also pre painted coffee stirrers black. I'm using them them to trim the windows.

I have looked at a LOT of Trojan builds. Also looked at the real boats. I look at these builds and see a flat deck, flat cabin top, flat canopy.
Yet the kit contains curved roof beams and a crown in the center of the deck. Did everyone build it wrong ?
Those hidden pockets in the transom started to bother me. I cut drain holes. I should have made those holes before the transom went on