I haven't posted in a very long time because:
1. I decided that doing an ENTIRE ship was too overwhelming.  I originally wanted to build a pirate town, narrowed it to a ship, and finally decided on the gun deck of the ship.
2. I revamped all my assets and textures.  I also had no idea about shadow maps until I already had all my assets in UDK.
3. My UDK skills had totally gone down the drain and I had to re-familiarize myself with the engine.
4. I was also trying hand-painted textures, which will take some time to get used to.

Even with all these setbacks, I have produced a result which I am proud of -