John12

Thanks! I will keep that in mind when I start fitting the bulkheads which will hopefully be soon. I haven’t worked on it for a couple of weeks so it will be good to start making progress again. I finally have the rabbit cut. That was a nerve racking experience. Cutting to the depth called for in the instructions doesn’t leave very much left. I couldn’t seem to get a very good picture of it using my phone though.

Thanks for the kind words about the Sultana. I still plan to finish her, but I needed a break from tying rat lines. Thanks Jim. I might pick up the rigging one from them when I get to that stage. Well progress has and probably will continue to be slow. I finally have the keel pieces pinned and glued on. I still need to taper the stem and cut the rabbit. I’ve noticed that the laser cutting leaves a slight bevel on the edge. To get some of the parts to fit flush, I had to sand the edges flat. Does anyone know if the sternpost should be tapered? The plans make it look like it’s the same width all the way to the top.

Welcome everyone to my first build log. This will be my second ship model. My fist ship was the Model Shipways solid hull Sultana kit which is currently in the rigging stage. I bought the Rattlesnake kit probably four or five years ago, but after examining the kit and instructions I felt a little overwhelmed. With only a couple scale car builds for modeling experience I decided to put the Rattlesnake on the shelf for a later date. I was currently in the Navy at the time and while I was bouncing around from place to place, my interest in building a model ship returned. I noticed that the Sultana had a very detailed practicum, so I gave it a shot as a learning experience before I attempted the Rattlesnake. Unfortunately I didn’t start a build log on the Sultana and I wish I had. This forum is full of knowledge and experience and probably could have prevented many of my mistakes. With the absence of a practicum and this being my first POB ship, I’m sure I will have many questions. So to start off I cut out the pieces for the center keel. Lining them up with the plans I noticed the same misalignment that some others have had. It might not have made a difference in the end but I decided to shim the two halves out slightly to split the difference. Now the mast slots at least line up. This weekend the plan is to drill holes for the dowels on the keel, sternpost and stem. Then taper the stem and glue them to the center keel.