Painting the hull and advise on NOT following the instructions!
Finally we had some warmer weather today so hopefully it didn't cost too much to heat up the back of the garage! I've painted the hull with epoxy resin, then applied an under coat and several coats of paint. I found that the matt paint showed up some blemishes so I have filled them again. Unfortunately the colour of the filler is showing through very slightly, so I will have to apply yet another coat of Humbrol Matt white!
I followed the build instructions to the letter but I personally don't think it is a good idea to plank the deck at such an early stage. This is because of the difficulty in applying the masking tape on the planked deck especially through the 2mm slots at the top of the hull planking (gunnel). Given my time again, I would leave the deck planking until after the hull has been painted. My only thought is the sheet of decking is very thin and whether the kit creators thought that the planking was required at the beginning of the build to give the structure more rigidity - who knows!
Hopefully we will get another mild day so that I can apply another coat of matt white.