You left your lock panels way to wide, fix that then redo your moldings. And put the beaver tails on centered on the wrist. Don't worry about where the German lock tail points. I'll only point this out once more....expose more than half of the barrel and ram rod. AND, please refer to originals.
Thanks Mike. I really appreciate your guidance here.
I did get the barrel walls of the forestock lowered to just below mid-way. It does make a big difference. I will be working on the ramrod area next.
The lock panels were really big as you noted. It struck me more today than yesterday. I suppose stepping away from the thing and coming back to it helps give a more objective perspective. I worked on both panels and moldings today and think they look quite a bit better.
The carving behind the lock plate was a real challenge. I did look through photos of historical originals and tried to see if I could do anything similar. The lock shape just threw a monkey wrench into anything I tried. I saw one example that I thought might work and laid it out on the stock. But while carving the molding I felt like I was about to screw it up big time because I didnt like it at all. So, I went with plan 'b' of doing a simple blending in of the lock panel to the wrist. I saw a few examples of this done on originals so I think it should be OK. I will probably add some more bevel to give it more definition.
I did a bit of molding behind the barrel tang because that area seemed so heavy. It helped thin out the wrist nicely. I also added a little molding around the rear entry pipe which allowed me to thin down the belly of the forestock between the trigger guard and the entry pipe, and it did help a lot. Finally after six hours I got frazzled and had to stop for today. Its really enjoyable work but dang it's exhausting.
