Been there (in different fact circumstances) done that.

Matt, you are way too kind.

and kids, these reasons are why vaccination is important, i may be autistic but i am resilient middle aged ****er.
Ah when i remember all cat scratches and bites, drill bits through fingers, rusty nails through feet, cuts on oil filters, AVGAS or Hydraulic oil in eyes, mouth. and not a single visit to hospital

Well, if you guys can stomach it, this is what paronychia looks like. Started out as the tiniest nick with a knife (like @matija_skobe I’d usually deal with lacerations with a quick clean up and some CA glue, much to the horror of the family) and continued blowing up quicker than a politician on a diet of lies.

Anyway, notwithstanding antibiotics and single malt (thanks for the suggestion @stephen-w-towle) I managed to get some more building done. The thinking time was good to re-evaluate progress and up my game a bit, which can be seen in the remade lower deck cabin aft bulkhead (seen in the ‘finger photo’) above. It’s really much better.

Made the lower cabin bulkheads, which were very delicate and fiddly, and started work on the mast.

I also started decking the deck (if that makes sense) and it looks pretty good. To me, the lines look right and the shape is good. So many of these Orca projects suffer from small dimensional problems that build up in aggregate, leaving something that ‘looks’ like the iconic boat, but is ultimately unsatisfying (like many poorly reseached model kits).

Next up will be making the cabin furniture and planking the hull. Probably not until the weekend...depending on still having ten fingers...

It's always interesting what gets left behind from Hollywood movies. the full-siz Bell X-1 model used in The Right Stuff is out at Planes of Fame in Chino, where it's falling apart. Cheap plywood construction for something needed for six weeks...

The photo really shows that swelling - it IS my pinky finger (left hand) !

Just consider yourself lucky you weren't bit by a cat - which turns out to be the most dangerous non-venomous animal bite out there. Got bit for thinking of my "tame feral" as more tame than feral (wrong!), and then giving it four days where I didn't take it seriously. Finally ended up in the hospital (thank you Veteran's Administration for it being free - that year in hell finally paid off) with 24/7 IV drip antibiotic and a surgeon telling me for three days "I'm not sure we won't have to amputate." The end result is, my right index finger (most important) can be bent fully at the first joint, and 5% at the tip, but it's enough to be able to type and to coordinate index finger/thumb coordination to pick things up. Lucky me!