Welcome Klarre,
I see that you already have a great welcome committee and I want to also welcome you.
I agree with Brian (as well as the others) that to get out your parts list of woods, dowels, parts, etc. and compare to the parts list. This may seem odd, but two things will happen. You will become very familiar with the boxes contents. You will get a feel of how things are arranged. Then lastly, just check to make sure all is there. Some parts are already made for you and some parts you have to make yourself. I am like you, as I built the plastic kind when I was a child. Humm, now at 56 - just getting back to the pleasure of crafting my own projects again. The one thing (major) about wooden model ships verses the plastic kind, is that the wooden ones, you build instead of putting together.
There is a vast difference. I am sure that you will be excited once you get your ship in and start to work on it.
One thing I highly suggest is what is called a "building board" --- its nothing more than just a flat and true plank or plywood that has some cleats to help hold your frame while you work on it.
It comes in handy to make sure that your frame will not become twisted. If you look around most every ones build log, you will see that we all have some sort of building board to help hold our models. Also for the Bluenose, a Keel CLamper is good to have as the BN is quite light weight.
One last thing. You will naturally want to start a "Build Log" of your progress.
If you go to "SOS Build Log from Kits" and click on that link, you will see at the top left corner another blue tab that says "New Topic". When you click on that tab, then in the SUBJECT line just fill out info as an example "Bluenose II build log by Klarre" Then when you "reply" to your own post, then this is the way to start your build log. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at
donnie@shipsofscale.com