Beautiful work there, Cedart.  I like the detail along the keel, very nice.  I'd like to see more photos as you go, I may have to try the stapleless method you show here. 

Thanks Mike, adding a 2 pic of the center design.  We constructed it making 4 strips off boat on the bench in two halves. This way, we could bevel each half to fit the slight V length of the keel. Used a table saw with 3 degree angle then increased the angle gradually towards the stern and bow.  This too was an experiment but turned out quite nice. What I like most about it, besides the added design detail, is the ability to set up 4 stips perfectly straight along the keel. The down side is it will take more exact cuts at each end as we fill the bottom section to the ceterline. Before stripping the the rest of the bottom we added a dark border on each side of the 4 center strips, it really helped to highlight the star pattern. I'll post more as we progress.