Bartley thanks for your comments, a lot of time went into this thread which I hope will be usefull to people who are in the process of sorting out the blunt end from the pointed end!!
As for planking, assuming you are talking about deck planking as opposed to hull planking, there are many differrent techniques and plenty of advice but at the end of the day you are going to have to sit down and work out your own plan of attack and most of it is common sense and logic.
First of all you need to decide what technique you are going to use for the caulking. A common one is to use black paper laid vertically between the planks then sanded back when the deck is finished. Another is using black plasticard and yet another is using black cotton. Finally a method I devised was to lay the planks with a gap which was then filled with a mixture of PVA glue and powder paint. This was then sanded back to the planks when the glue had dried.
Once you have made the decision of how you are going to do the caulking you have to decide on whether you are going to "Joggle" the plank ends or not. "Joggling" is the process of fitting the plank ends into the curved deck edge planks as found at the bow and stern. As I was simply repeating a plank pattern that I had on a pre-printed ply overlay I didn't joggle mine but I have to admit to being led a bit down the garden path by the overlay. Had I done more research at the time I may have decided that joggled planks would have been more authentic but I am reassured by the fact that Irish Steam Coasters were built very much to a budget and the cheapest techniques were used throughout construction.
Anyway your plan of attack is to then fit the edge planks around the deck you are covering and the planking that frames any deck fittings such as winches, derricks etc. This then leaves the area in the middle that has to have the longitudinal planks fitted to it. Always start in the centre and work away from the central plank towards either side. This will ensure that the planks are even port and stbd.
Have a look at my Ben Ain build thread here:
http://www.scale-models.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1711 (Steamer Ben Ain)
to see how I did mine but at the end of the day make your own mind up as to how to tackle your own. The technique of using the PVA glue is not the easiest and I would not recommend it in the way I did the first deck (I was learning as I went along!) For subsequent decks I will be applying the caulking with a syringe along the plank edges to minimise the amount of rubbing down required afterwards.