JSGerson

However, using the 2nd rails to dry-fit the rail supports, I soon found out that the rail supports did not fit properly between the rail and the stem. Then, reading section 8.1.4 in the practicum about installing the “2nd rail from the top” I discovered that Mr. Hunt also ran into this problem. He believed through his investigation, that the MS plans were in error for the shape of the rail supports. I then checked the US Navy plans and there were only very slight differences that I could discern, so both Mr. Hunt and I don’t know where or what error(s) occurred. His solution was to fabricate and install the 2nd rail first, then custom fabricate and fit the rail supports then, work backwards to install the 3rd rails last. Because I only glued the 3rd rail to the starboard side at just one point, it was relatively easily to pry the rail off to continue following the practicum’s solution.
 
Going back over the practicum instructions, I noticed the practicum’s instruction for fabricating and installing the 2nd rail weren’t correct. The first error was to use the MS plan profile (elevation) view of the rail directly from the MS plan. Unfortunately, this is a foreshortened view because the rails are angled from the hull inwards towards the tip of the bow stem as indicated in the plan view. (I had this same foreshortening problem when I constructed the transom) To get the true view, that is the true length of the rails, I scanned the elevation view of the rail into my computer, using PowerPoint, rotated the image to match the angle of the rail in the plan view, then stretched the image till it matched the length shown in the plan view. Only then could I print the image with the proper rail length and make a template.

The practicum stated:
Great, easy straight forward pieces to make…or so I thought. So, I proceeded and made the 2nd rails as instructed, complete with paint and pin stripes,

The next logical step seemed to be installing “3rd rail from the top. First, I used PVA glue to fasten the starboard side rail just to the underside of the cathead only. I left the stem tip end unglued to allow me some wiggle room when adding the rail supports. I anticipated that the rail supports had to be at least fitted with the rail installation. Therefore, the rail supports (port and starboard) were fabricated based on MS plan detail 4A at the same time as the 3rd rail.

BTY, I’m not knocking Mr. Hunt’s practicum. I could not have gotten this far if it weren’t for it. But I have learned that he’s human and he's the first to admit that his way may not be the best which is why in addition to using his practicum as a guide (not my bible), I also check how other builders solve these problems.
 
My second fabrication attempt at the 2nd rails went relatively smoothly; and they were glued into placed. In the first image below, I attempted to show the slight curve in the rails.

The practicum stated:
Great, easy straight forward pieces to make…or so I thought. So, I proceeded and made the 2nd rails as instructed, complete with paint and pin stripes,

The next logical step seemed to be installing “3rd rail from the top. First, I used PVA glue to fasten the starboard side rail just to the underside of the cathead only. I left the stem tip end unglued to allow me some wiggle room when adding the rail supports. I anticipated that the rail supports had to be at least fitted with the rail installation. Therefore, the rail supports (port and starboard) were fabricated based on MS plan detail 4A at the same time as the 3rd rail.

I scanned my Mamoli plan for the Main Mast. Due to the size of the sheet, it took 3 passes. I hope it helps. 
IMG_20230208_0001.pdf

I would have gotten back to you sooner, but my internet connection was cut off since 1:45pm yesterday. Here are some of the diagrams from the MS Constitution plans. I hope these answer most of your questions

I would have gotten back to you sooner, but my internet connection was cut off since 1:45pm yesterday. Here are some of the diagrams from the MS Constitution plans. I hope these answer most of your questions

I would have gotten back to you sooner, but my internet connection was cut off since 1:45pm yesterday. Here are some of the diagrams from the MS Constitution plans. I hope these answer most of your questions

By trial and error, piece by piece I fitted and refitted the parts with some symbolism of hope they would all fit together the way the plans showed them. Finally, when I felt it was a good as I was going to get, the rails were painted black and the pin striping was added. This time I used the 1/64” pin striping tape at the narrow portion of the rails and the 1/32” tape where it widened.

To complete the fabrication of the rails, the two components that made up each of the rails, were glued together. This had to be done on the faith that I fabricated the pieces perfectly so when they were attached together perfectly, they created the rails to perfectly fit on a perfectly formed hull. With my skills, I knew I hadn’t a chance of pulling this off on the first try. I made it sound straight forward, but it was not. I made numerous attempts and tried different methods to reconcile the process.
 
To help me figure out where the rails had to fit, I cut out the five vertical rail supports out of 1/8” stock for each side of the bow. This presented its own set of problems. Although the rail supports were shown to be notched to accept the rails on the plans, I needed to know where the rails would touch the supports on the actual model. I couldn’t ensure that the rails were formed properly to fit into the supports until the supports were notched. And I couldn’t notch the supports until I knew where the rails would finally be in its proper position. What also hindered this process was, I couldn’t do dry fit ups because none of the parts were glued in place for the remaining parts to be dry fitted to. The rails hang out in space and needed to be connected to cantilevered support notches.
 
When I attempted to at least hold the rails in position with my fingers, I found that the compound angles of the cathead cheek knee were not correct (surprise, surprise). To reconcile the compound angles, additional wood had to be added and original wood removed with sanding sticks and files in strategic areas on the cathead knee, to make the rails fit where they were supposed to go. I was sculpting the wood supports liked they were made out of clay. I could get away with this method because everything is to be painted black and no one will be able to see the multitude of pieces that make up the cathead knee. You can see where wood was added and carved off in the second image below.

The practicum calls for ¼” stock or 1/8” layered stock if you didn’t have the ¼” stock. Not having any ¼” stock at my immediate disposal, I glued and clamped two pieces of 1/8” stock, enough to make the two rails. Then as directed by the practicum, rubber cemented the images of the port and starboard rails from their fiddlehead tip to just where it turns upward to meet the cathead for the first rail component. The second component starts from under the cathead to where it overlaps the first to create a diagonal joint. I had to reapply the paper elevation and plan templates to the pieces that came from under the cathead so I could cut the wood in both the X and Y planes. Those parts curve in two directions.
 
These are fragile pieces when they are cut out of the stock which made filing and sanding them to form their required shape, a delicate task.

What the first diagram is try to convey is, as you apply the copper plates to the hull, you start at the stern and work your way forward and upwards overlapping the edges of of the previous aft plate as well as the plate below's top edge.
 
The second instruction is trying to state that because the plates are applied to the hull with no tapering unlike the wooden planks which are tapered. Therefore, sharp curves are going to be created at either or both the stern and bow. In order to minimize those curves a steeler, an extra row for a short length is added. The BlueJacket instruction is telling where a steeler should be placed. At each band, you in effect start a new horizontal uncurved row. The higher band cuts off the curving from the lower band. The diagram below illustrates a coppering method. I hope this helps and not confuse you more.
 
Jon

By trial and error, piece by piece I fitted and refitted the parts with some symbolism of hope they would all fit together the way the plans showed them. Finally, when I felt it was a good as I was going to get, the rails were painted black and the pin striping was added. This time I used the 1/64” pin striping tape at the narrow portion of the rails and the 1/32” tape where it widened.

To complete the fabrication of the rails, the two components that made up each of the rails, were glued together. This had to be done on the faith that I fabricated the pieces perfectly so when they were attached together perfectly, they created the rails to perfectly fit on a perfectly formed hull. With my skills, I knew I hadn’t a chance of pulling this off on the first try. I made it sound straight forward, but it was not. I made numerous attempts and tried different methods to reconcile the process.
 
To help me figure out where the rails had to fit, I cut out the five vertical rail supports out of 1/8” stock for each side of the bow. This presented its own set of problems. Although the rail supports were shown to be notched to accept the rails on the plans, I needed to know where the rails would touch the supports on the actual model. I couldn’t ensure that the rails were formed properly to fit into the supports until the supports were notched. And I couldn’t notch the supports until I knew where the rails would finally be in its proper position. What also hindered this process was, I couldn’t do dry fit ups because none of the parts were glued in place for the remaining parts to be dry fitted to. The rails hang out in space and needed to be connected to cantilevered support notches.
 
When I attempted to at least hold the rails in position with my fingers, I found that the compound angles of the cathead cheek knee were not correct (surprise, surprise). To reconcile the compound angles, additional wood had to be added and original wood removed with sanding sticks and files in strategic areas on the cathead knee, to make the rails fit where they were supposed to go. I was sculpting the wood supports liked they were made out of clay. I could get away with this method because everything is to be painted black and no one will be able to see the multitude of pieces that make up the cathead knee. You can see where wood was added and carved off in the second image below.

The practicum calls for ¼” stock or 1/8” layered stock if you didn’t have the ¼” stock. Not having any ¼” stock at my immediate disposal, I glued and clamped two pieces of 1/8” stock, enough to make the two rails. Then as directed by the practicum, rubber cemented the images of the port and starboard rails from their fiddlehead tip to just where it turns upward to meet the cathead for the first rail component. The second component starts from under the cathead to where it overlaps the first to create a diagonal joint. I had to reapply the paper elevation and plan templates to the pieces that came from under the cathead so I could cut the wood in both the X and Y planes. Those parts curve in two directions.
 
These are fragile pieces when they are cut out of the stock which made filing and sanding them to form their required shape, a delicate task.

If you take a look at my build log starting at post 633, you can read why I did what I did and see the results.

By trial and error, piece by piece I fitted and refitted the parts with some symbolism of hope they would all fit together the way the plans showed them. Finally, when I felt it was a good as I was going to get, the rails were painted black and the pin striping was added. This time I used the 1/64” pin striping tape at the narrow portion of the rails and the 1/32” tape where it widened.

Yeah, I'm a little anal.

I also built the Mamoli Rattlesnake. The sheet plans have English, French, German and Italian translations on them. Some things that are not translated can be translated using Google or equivalent. I can provide you with two documents that may help you:
Mamoli Parts List Translation which I created Reading-Decoding Mamoli Rigging Charts by Bill Edgin I hope these help
Jon
Mamoli List Translations.docx Reading-Decoding Mamoli Rigging Charts.docx

Finally, the trailboards where glued into place. Then the hawsers were painted black and glued into position. Using my normal cordless drill with an 1/8” bit, the two openings in each howser were drill out into the interior of the model so that the future anchor chain and rope can pass through.
 
The final touches were the white star and the braid on the front of the fiddlehead. The braid was made by twisting two strands of brass wire tightly, and then cutting the resulting piece to length. Two holes were drilled into the fiddlehead for each end of the braid to be inserted. Before the insertion, the braid was paint white. I should note that the thickness of my fiddlehead turned out to be thicker than the US Nay plans call for. Had I been aware much earlier on, the stem would have been tapered. But it is what it is.

Finally, the trailboards where glued into place. Then the hawsers were painted black and glued into position. Using my normal cordless drill with an 1/8” bit, the two openings in each howser were drill out into the interior of the model so that the future anchor chain and rope can pass through.
 
The final touches were the white star and the braid on the front of the fiddlehead. The braid was made by twisting two strands of brass wire tightly, and then cutting the resulting piece to length. Two holes were drilled into the fiddlehead for each end of the braid to be inserted. Before the insertion, the braid was paint white. I should note that the thickness of my fiddlehead turned out to be thicker than the US Nay plans call for. Had I been aware much earlier on, the stem would have been tapered. But it is what it is.

Based on kmart’s  idea (post 146), of the white architectural pinstriping tape, it is a lot easier to use than trying to work with very fragile narrow wood strip which must bend to the contour of the rails. 1/64” and 1/32” tape was purchased for the pinstriping of the bow. Only the 1/64” tape was used to pinstripe the trailboard. Additional white paint was used on the scroll work at the tip of the fiddlehead. Lucky, you can’t see all the imperfections that you do see in the magnified images.

I also felt that the practicum’s styrene fiddlehead star was too big, another reason I didn’t follow the practicum for this detail. The star was made on the computer and printed on white paper. I thought about a decal, but the whole circle is only 3/32” in diameter and it had to be applied to a 3/32” diameter dowel. Because the star is white, the end of the dowel would have to be white, and the decal would provide the black markings to render the star image.  Maneuvering a decal that small was going to be a bitch, so I chose to glue the paper to the dowel. It would then be cut off to a final height of about 5/64”.
 
The images below show the brass spiral painted white (still needs a bit of touchup) and the paper white star and black background loosely in position for demonstration purposes.