JSGerson

I created the second bulkhead at this stage ahead of the practicum. With no template to work from (neither the kit nor Mr. Hahn plans addresses it) I used the first bulkhead as a rough start and though trial and error created the second bulkhead.

CHAPTER 5 –Deck Details

The Bulkheads

There are two bulkheads that need to be installed. The kit provided one of them, a cast piece of metal which I won’t use. I will be scratch building both of them. I found this a quite pleasurable task.

Either using the Hahn’s plan (or the cast metal piece if you wish) a preliminary template was made out of card stock.

WARNING

The Practicum instructs (Chapter 5, page 1, §5.1.1, 1^st¶) you cut the bulkhead out of 1/16” x ¾” boxwood. I checked my wood package invoice list from HobbyMills and that size was NOT included in my wood package.

I contacted Jeff Hayes by email explaining the situation and offered to buy the missing piece of wood.  He replied:

“I’m really surprised that with all of the packages that have been sold by myself and the previous 2 suppliers that Bob used that no one has mentioned this?  Thanks for bringing it to my attention!”

 

He then went on to state:

“Reading that 2nd reference it looks as though you may need something wider than ¾”, so I just wrote it up as 1”.

 

Then I discovered another reference to 1/16” x ¾” boxwood (Chapter 5, page 21, §5.3.1, Capstan. After a few more emails, Jeff replied:

“… I’m going to pull out my Rattlesnake kit and look at the 2nd bulkhead to see the height to determine the width of the sheet.  I may just go ahead and send you 2 pieces, one 1/16 x ¾ and the other 1/16 x 1” to cover the 2nd bulkhead.”

 

Jeff went above and beyond the call of duty; not only did he send me the two 24” pieces of wood but I received them via express mail within a matter of days, no charge. I had more than enough wood. Thank you again Jeff, it was a pleasure to do business with you.

Jeff was right; I did need the wider piece of wood. The bulkhead was made and fitted as per the practicum. And like the practicum, mine was not perfectly symmetrical, but nobody will notice. If you are building the Rattlesnake to Bob Hunt’s practicum verify you have the proper wood in your package.

Based on your comment, I went looking for the HMS Fubbs model images and could not find any by Mr. Hunt, even on his website. I did find other modeler's parquet floors for this ship. They were a juuusst a bit more elaborate than my simple checker board, but for a first time project, it was satisfying and fun.

Ignorance is bliss. I didn't know it was suppose to be difficult, so I did it!

As anyone can see, this planking job leaves a bit to be desired, but there it is. If I were to do it again hopefully it would be better.

Tree Nails

The tree nails are lined up along the bulkheads, two treenails per width of the plank. At the butt joints the tree nails are staggered. 

End of Chapter 4

After four courses I decided to also work my way down from the wales to ensure I met the wales properly. Here is where my inexperience began to show. I could already see that some of the planks where going need being split but when and how eluded me. As I stated before reading how to do it and actually doing it is not the same thing. I plodded on.  When a holly plank crossed the waterline it was cut at the waterline and continued as boxwood which is slightly darker wood.

Lower Planking

The first thing that was done was to mark the water line 1/8” below the wales at bulkhead #6 using a homemade surface gauge which nothing more than a vertical post with a horizontal pencil firm attached 90º to the post. Leveling the model as best I could, a line was scribe around the hull. I knew it was level if my end point matched my starting point and I was 1/8” below the wales on each side of the hull. Then I marked the scribe line with dashes using a sharpie pen.

The planking started at the keel using .045” x 3/16” holly planks. Holly is a very light colored wood. The butt joints are at the bulkheads.

The Wales

The practicum explains: The wales are to be made from ebony, it my case black stained walnut. Two rows of planking make up the wales. The first row is attached now and second row later.

“The wales are somewhat different than what we normally see on most ships. There is a definite plank thickness difference in the top wale plank and hull planking. However, the bottom wale plank is flush with the top row of the lower planking. Normally the plank beneath the wales is called the diminishing plank and is slightly thinner than the wales. But on Rattlesnake, the wales are slightly tapered so as to form a smooth flow into the lower planking, no step down as normally seen.”

The first plank of the wale is glued from the stern to the fourth bulkhead from the stern on top of the basswood wale that was installed earlier in Chapter 2

This was continued to the stem.

Once the stempost was installed, the false keel was stained black, fitted, and glued on.

The sternpost is tapered for thickness and along it length. Again using a photo from the practicum.

You will notice that the keel is slightly longer than necessary. This is so the stem post can be fitted. You will also notice that the stem still has a notch. This is where the false keel will fit in. However before that is installed, the stempost needs to be.

First a square opening in the counter is made. This photo is from the practicum as I didn’t one of my own.

The practicum indicates that the keel is normally made of more than one piece of wood, but for simplicity one piece will be used. However where the joint would have been a bit of sleight of hand is performed. A lap joint is cut into the wood for show. Shhh…Don’t tell anyone and they will never know the difference!  Although the practicum did not call for it I added pins along the keel to help mechanically attach it to the hull.

CHAPTER 4 –Planking the Lower Hull

As I have indicated before, this is my first real planking project and I’m taking a BIG bite from the apple. The practicum kitbash is following Harold Hahn’s model albeit in a smaller scale. Because the model uses very little if any paint (except black stain in lieu of ebony wood), the hull water line is created with different woods to complicate the planking process. Reading how to plank a hull and actually doing it are two completely different experiences. So due to my lack of the latter - experience, my results are far from perfect.

The Stem, Keel and Sternpost

Here is where the stem which was the first item created is finally attached to the hull.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I know we all make them, and I know because I don't have much of a ship building experience I'm going to make some more. It just, do I have to make them all?

Once all the treenails were installed into the deck, clipped, and the deck sanded down smooth, a coat of poly-wipe was applied over the whole deck.

End of Chapter 3

The practicum tells you not to glue the margin plank until the very end. This way, you can remove that plank, to make the plank notches. The planks themselves are glued in. Finally at the end the margin plank is glued down.

The trick is to, as the practicum puts it:  “You want to have exactly 3 rows of planking left to install between the last row and the margin plank you have just cut. The aft end of the next row of planking you install will nib into the margin plank at the aft end about 1/4" from the end.”

Mine was close but not exact…as usual.

Tree Nails

The deck planks have a single 026” treenail across its width and are installed as before on the beam lines into #69 drill bit holes. Bamboo nails are made using a draw plate and “glued” in using poly-wipe.

Now the practicum instructs that you fine tune the cut shape using a compass to scribe the 3/16” line along the inner edge as shown in this image from the practicum. 

It is time to construct the 2^nd half of the margin plank. The plank will continue from the 1^st half all the way back to the parquet floor. A template is made as before but ¼” wide and cut the stock wood.

As the planking approaches the margin plank, a notch is created starting from the 5^th plank from the center. The plank is then trimmed to fit. After five rows on each side of the centerline, you are instructed to stop once again. The first image below is from the practicum.

The margin plank is cut out and installed. The image below is from the practicum as I don’t have picture of my model at this stage.

The template was cut 3/16” from the outer edge and transferred to the wood stock.

A template is made of one half of the bow decking from the centerline of the beam to the center of the foremast in preparation of the 1^st half of the margin plank. As the deck planking approaches the bow, the planks will cut into the margin plank.

Deck Planking

After establishing and marking the center line of the model, I noted where the deck beams would be using the Hahn deck plan. This was pointed out in the practicum because Mr. Hunt didn’t and pointed out the error of his ways. The deck beams are where the planking butt up against each other and they are not consistent.

Starting at the parquet floor and along the centerline, centered side to side, the planks are cut to length as indicated in the practicum, coated on the edges with artist charcoal, and glued down. You will notice that there are four staggered rows each side of the center line and then it repeats.  Just remember to open up the mast holes before they are total covered. At this point the practicum instructs you to stop and work on the bow.

Then the whole floor was simply dropped in place and glued down.

Once everything was glued solid, the excess strips were cut off leaving the floor piece in a checkerboard pattern. Because stained walnut was used, a number of tiles had to be touched up after sanding to smooth out the tiles.