I agree that I should have waited to start the carving. Seeing now how careful I have to be to protect it while working on other areas, and how shallow it is anyway drove that home. Most of the reason I started it was so I could get as far as possible while still in class and finish the other areas once I got back home.
The brass inlay was a pain, not sure I will do another, especially not an oval that goes over the sides of the top flat. I think I had about 8 hours in it. I had to make three different brass pieces before one fit the way I wanted and grabbed on to the undercut enough to hold. The problem I was running into was that the top flat would grab and then when I peined the sides in the top would pop loose, and my brass would be too deformed to try again. I ended up clamping the top down and soldering it in and then peining the side flats in until they grabbed.
The barrel is 44" long. I didn't splice the fore end of this one as the original is, and you are right I am not doing a bench copy, just following along as my skills allow.