Dupuy de Lome did it; Part Deux

Heeding the remarks at TMP and wanting to make this model as "French" looking as possible I decided to add a pronounced ram bow. In checking online for pictures of the real Dupuy de Lome I have found that she didn't have a normal tumblehome, where the sides of the vessel slant inward from the waterline to the edge of the deck. Essentially she had a normal hull but the upperstructure  was very narrow one deck above the waterline producing a flat space along the middle of the hull. See the drawing below. The hull section in the upper right clearly displays this "step"  Considering the need to have deck space for figured I am unwilling to carve away more superstructure and will have to settle for a model vaguely inspired by the Dupuy de Lome

 

first I had to sand away the unevenness of the hull surface, 

not a hard job 60 grit sandpaper moves it along quickly

 

then I fabricated a wooden frame for the ram, from hard experience I have learned

that this sections of blue board can be both fragile and difficult to repair

 

then I cut a notch on the bow so that the frame would have a larger gluing surface

 

test fitting to be sure everything lines up, 

I may have to cut some tumblehome into the upper deck to make things look right

 

and then with the turrets in place, 

the need for upper deck tumblehome is even more apparent

I can only just imagine what covering this in card will be like!