Ed Ku20

THE YARDARMS There are 12 yardarms that need to be made. Technically two of these are a gaff and a boom for the mizzen spanker sail. But, all of them need to be tapered in some fashion. I had to reconcile some dimensional differences between the Model Shipways plans and the Practicum. I mostly went with the MS dimensions because I am using the dowel sizes that came with the kit. However, the lengths of the various spars seemed to match up pretty well. Here is a list of the 12 yardarms: 1. BOWSPRIT SPRITSAIL YARD 2. BOWSPRIT SPRITSAIL TOPSAIL YARD 3. FORE YARD 4. FORE TOPSAIL YARD 5. FORE TOPGALLANT YARD 6. MAIN YARD 7. MAIN TOPSAIL YARD 8. MAIN TOPGALLANT YARD 9. MIZZEN CROSSJACK YARD 10. MIZZEN TOPSAIL YARD 11. SPANKER GAFF 12. SPANKER BOOM This post will cover the tapering of the yardarms/spars. This was tedious work and took me close to a month, so I’m anxious to get something posted! I still have to cut an octagon shape in the middle of 3 of the yardarms. Also, chocks and sling cleats need to be carved and attached. I’ll cover these steps for my next post. The first thing I did was to create a spreadsheet to organize all the dimensions and sizes for the 12 spars. I took a picture to show you what this looked like. I made a full-scale sketch of the tapered end of each yard before I started. This drawing laid out the taper at various distances from the end of the yardarm. These came from the MS blueprint plans using my digital caliper. I did all of the 1/8” diameter yards first, then the 5/64 and finally 5/32. Most of them are 1/8”. Having just completed the bowsprit, I decided to start with the Spritsail Yard. I used the following technique for all twelve. For the gaff & boom only one end had to be tapered. Preparation Steps a. For the Spritsail Yard, I used a 1/8” dowel; 5-1/2” long; Tapered to 1/16” on each end b. Cut the dowel to the required length & mark the center line c. The middle of each yard needs to be at the full diameter. Cover the center with 1” wide blue masking tape. I marked a line down the center of the blue tape so I could see the CL. d. Make a mark on each side of the centerline that shows where the end of the full diameter ends. Wrap another piece of tape to protect this area from sanding. e. Cover the drill end of the dowel with another thicker layer of the 2” wide tape to protect the dowel while it is locked in the drill chock. This is especially important when it’s time to insert the tapered end in the drill. I had one accident where I snapped the thinned yardarm! Sanding Steps f. I found that when I run the sandpaper evenly across the spinning wood dowel, it all comes out at the same diameter. So, start with the largest diameter taper and sand from the blue tape to the end. When this measurement is achieved, mark the next point on the dowel and sand until you achieve this number from the mark to the end. Move from the center to the end in increasingly narrower sections until the taper is completed. I would constantly stop to clean the sawdust off the sandpaper and check the diameter using the caliper while holding the end of the dowel up to my sketch. g. So, for the Spritsail Yard I used the drill to sand the exposed area all to 7/64 first. Then mark where to stop with 7/64 and sand the next section down to 3/32. Then finish the end down to 1/16” at the tip. h. When done I removed the blue tape from that end and smoothed/blended out this half with 220 grit paper. i. Now flip the yardarm around and repeat the steps on the other side One dowel cut and another wrapped with masking tape and with one side tapered Yardarm in the drill during tapering Tapering finished on this one Here are all the yardarms labelled after sanding As I said, just a couple of more steps to complete the yardarms. Then it will be time to start rigging!! My Chicago Bears might be good this season. I wouldn’t even mind if that interferes with shipbuilding!! Thanks for looking in! Ed

THE BOWSPRIT Work on the Rattlesnake is moving slowly this summer. Slow, but sure, progress is being made! The Bowsprit is made with two wood dowels. The bowsprit piece is thicker at ¼” in diameter. According to the practicum the jib boom is made with a 5/32” dowel. According to Model Shipways it should be 1/8”. I went with 5/32”. They are joined with a cap similar to the lower masts. Another difference is the length of the ¼” bowsprit section. Per the practicum the bowsprit is 5-1/16” long. However, per JSGerson, whom I’ve been following, the correct length is 5-7/8”. According to my measurements, there should be 4” from outside the hole in the bow to the end of the cap (so, including the tenon). On my model, I needed a total length of 5-5/8” to leave 4” outside the bow of the ship. The end that sits on the main deck must be sanded flat. On my ship this caused the bowsprit to have a little too steep of an angle. I added some scrap wood to raise up the base of the bowsprit off the deck. The outer third of the bowsprit piece is tapered to 3/16” diameter at the end. I used my power drill technique to achieve the correct taper. A rectangular tenon was cut on the outside end. This fits into a hole that is cut into the cap. The tenon and the cap must be cut at an angle that is perpendicular to the waterline. The cap is 3/32” thick x 9/16” long x 1/8” wide. I just eyeballed the angle for the tenon from a dry fit position on the ship. I cut it first. Then I transferred the top and bottom marks of the tenon to the cap. Drill a pilot hole in the cap for the bowsprit tenon and then enlarge and square up the hole using mini-files. Here is a picture of the tenon laid over the cap to find & mark the angle Next, I made the jib boom from a 5/32” dowel that is 4-3/4” long. Taper the diameter to 1/16” at the forward end. The practicum said do not round over the end. Now the hole for the jib boom can be made in the mast cap, at the same angle as the bowsprit. The jib boom fits thru the hole so that 1-1/2” extends aft from the back of the cap. The last 1/8” of the jib boom tip is trimmed down to 1/16” to form a lip for rigging. A hole is drilled just behind this lip for the jib stay to pass through. A small saddle made from 1/16" square boxwood is fitted on top of the bowsprit and the jib boom sits in this saddle. The saddle has a concave surface both on top and the bottom where the bottom matches the curvature of the bowsprit and the top matches the curvature of the jib boom. Sorry, I don’t have pictures during the process for each step. Below are pics of the finished step. The next step is to make a pair of “Bee’s and Bee Blocks”. This is a support on either side of the bowsprit just behind the cap. A hole is drilled in each one through which some fore topmast rigging passes. I have some pictures. The pair of Bee’s on the front end of the bowsprit The Bee Blocks under the Bee’s provide support Head on view of the Bees & their blocks The Gammoning Cleats are the last pieces to be made and installed on the bowsprit at this time. Started by dry fitting the bowsprit to determine where the Gammoning Cleats are to be positioned. This was done by wrapping a single line from the gammoning slot straight up and around the bowsprit and through the gammoning slot again. A pencil line was drawn tracing the rigging line on the bowsprit. Six pieces of 1/32” x 3/32” stock were cut to 7/32” long. These were set up in one of my jigs and the curved shape was cut into the end with a round mini-file. The finished pieces are glued around the top half of the bowsprit. Jig for cutting the shape into the Gammoning Cleats. I cleaned them up with a sanding twig afterward The cleats are glued to the bowsprit Bowsprit with gammoning cleats positioned above the gammoning slot in the ship’s stem The various parts and pieces for the bowsprit have been completed The bowsprit is dry fitted on the ship Views of the bowsprit after painting and staining My next step is to make the yardarms. Lots of sanding to taper the yards! I will use the power drill. Thanks for checking in on my progress!! Ed

Assembling the 3 Masts, Stanchions & Netting, Staining & Painting Before assembling the 3 masts with glue, I needed to do a few other tasks. Each of the mast tops has a hand rail and some netting on the squared off aft side of the platform. This would be easier to work on while the top is loose. Stanchions & Netting – I’ve seen various methods for making these, including not making them at all! I decided to make mine using 3 pieces of blackened brass rod for the stanchions. I drilled holes in the aft edge of the rim that goes around each top to hold the rods. The rail is 1/16” x 3/32” stripwood. I used some extra screen material I saved for the netting. Some fine black thread is used to tie it to the rail & stanchions. I think it turned out pretty well. Rail and top with holes pre-drilled and 3 blackened brass rods for stanchions. Dry-fit on the Fore Mast Just a loose test fit for the netting The 3 assemblies are completed and the railings painted black. The rods were chemically blackened. At the same time, I decided how I was going to make the deadeyes for the topmast shrouds. I tried a few different ideas and concluded that 0.014” diameter wire had the best scale for the 1/8” deadeyes. I drilled holes to accommodate the twin wires. Here is a pic at this stage in the process. The tops were brush painted with black acrylic Painting & Staining – Next step, I painted the mast areas between the mast caps and just below the cheeks black. The very top of the mast was also painted black down to the top of the shoulder. I was able to slip the mast cap onto the topmast from the bottom for the mizzen mast. Here is the completed mizzen mast. Assembling & Gluing – In my previous post I mentioned the need to split the Fore & Main mast caps in half to get them to fit around the topmast. I managed to accomplish this with only a moderate amount of pain for the main mast by slicing it with the Exacto knife. But the cap for the foremast fell apart in the process! I had to remake this mast cap. This time I made it 1/128” wider and then used my razor saw of the same thickness to cut it in half. As you can see in the pic below, I still lost a chip of wood. But I didn’t want to remake this a third time. I patched the hole up with wood filler and after painting it’s hardly noticeable! I left the areas to be glued unpainted. I used WeldBond glue to get an extra strong bond. It feels quite secure. Here are the 3 masts after painting and gluing. The unpainted wood was stained with Minwax Natural. I still need to apply a coat or two of polyurethane. It’s been so hot the last few days, I’ve been able to enjoy some ship building time in the cool of my basement hobby room! The next thing I plan to work on is the bowsprit. It is like a horizontal mast! Including a mast cap. Ugh!! Thanks for looking in! Ed

Fore & Main Mast Caps My next task is to prepare the mast caps for the Fore & Main masts. The mast cap holds the lower mast and the topmast together at the mast top. These caps are provided in the MS kit as laser cut pieces. The round hole for the topmast in the kit mast caps are 3/16” diam. My topmast at the spot where the cap holds it is smaller, at 1/8”. It looks like I’m going to have to make the caps from scratch to get the right size. First, I cut the tenon on the top of the lower masts to fit the mast cap. I cut the Foremast tenon at 3/32” wide and left the full 3/16” for the length. I first cut a shallow line on each side with the Exacto knife 3/32” below the top end of the lower mast. Then I cut an even amount off each side until I had a tenon 3/32” wide. Fore mast after cutting in the tenon The fore & main mast caps are exactly the same. The size for the mast cap should be 1/2" x 1/4" x 3/32" deep per my calculations. In order to get the 3/32” height needed I had to use a wider piece of stripwood. Part # 3628; is 3/32” x 5/16” wide. I marked a line and then used the disc sander to reduce it down to ¼”. I cut the piece off with a little extra length so I had something to hold onto when making the two holes. The hard part is to get the two masts to be parallel between the mast cap and the top. I measured and marked the positions of the 1/8” round hole for the Topmast because I thought it would be easier to drill this hole first. Then I drew a rectangle for the tenon, the required distance from the edge of that hole, to get the masts parallel. I started by drilling 2 holes side-by-side inside the rectangle and then used mini-files to square it off. Finally, I cut the excess off the end. The two mast caps. The fore mast cap is done and the main mast is ready for drilling & shaping The mast cap dry fit on top of the Lower Fore Mast section. (In case you're wondering...that’s the mizzen mast on the build board behind it) Please Note: This is not mentioned in the MS instructions, but is in the practicum. I will need to cut the mast caps in half, the long way, to get them on the topmast. Cutting them with any kind of saw would remove wood with the kerf and change their dimensions! I did a test run on a scrap piece with a chisel that did not work! The cut was uneven & ugly. So, I tried using the Exacto knife by slowly deepening the cut. This seems to work. I will try this when its time to assemble everything. Nothing has been glued yet. Mizzen Topmast Since the Mizzen does not have a Topgallant mast, I decided to make the Topmast for the Mizzen next. Then I will make the Topgallant masts together. The mizzen sizes are different from the fore & main topmasts. But otherwise, the technique is the same, except for the ball at the top. The ball will be on the Topgallant masts for the two larger Fore & Main masts. Here are my steps for making the Mizzen Topmast: a. Use a 1/8” dowel that is 4-9/16” long. I cut it an extra 1/2” long for insertion into the drill chuck for sanding into shape. b. Measure 1/32” down and make a mark for the ball at the top. Measure 5/8” down from the top and make another mark, which is the top of the shoulder. Tape off the heel area and at the bottom of the shoulder area. Then taper the section in between from 1/8” to 3/32” in diameter where it meets the square section. From the top of the shoulder, it goes from 3/32” to 1/16" at the top just under the ball. c. Make a square shape at the shoulder a ¼” long. The practicum says to make this square into an octagon, but the MS does not show this. I left it square. This picture shows the tenon cut into the lower mizzen mast, the built-up bottom of the topmast before final sanding and the mast cap that is still under construction. d. The practicum says to shape the top 1/32” into a ball. Although their picture looks more like a round disk. My first attempt to do this resulted in breaking the ball off while thinning the mast below it down to 1/16”! So, I decided to use the same method as I did on the Bluenose. Make a round disk separately and glue it onto the top of the 1/16” point at the top of the mast. This also has the advantage of allowing the mast cap to be slipped onto the mast from the top without having to cut it in half. I started with a 1/8” dowel. A small hole was drilled in the end of the dowel and expanded gradually to 1/16”. I cut off a 3/32” length, with the hole being about half that depth. I thinned the top of the mast until the hole fit snuggly on top. I could have made it into more of a ball shape, but I actually like the way the disk looks. Here is a close-up of the round disk dry fitted onto the topmast. (sorry about the focus) This won’t be glued on until after the mast cap is glued in place e. There is a 3/16” long square section at the heel that needs to fit into the Trestle Trees of the lower mizzen mast. I glued 1/32” thick pieces of stripwood to build up the mast heel. Two sides are 1/32 x 3/32” stock and the other 2 are 1/32 x 1/8” stock. This was to allow for the overlap. This was sanded to fit into the hole formed by the chock and trestletrees Here are the finished pieces for the Mizzen mast. Mizzen Mast Cap – I used something closer to the MS plan measurements. The practicum dimension was way off on the width at 1/16 W x ½ L x 3/32” D. The exact dimensions after final disc sanding: 29/64 L x 17/64 W x 3/32”. Otherwise, the steps were the same as with the Fore & Main. Mizzen Mast Cap dry-fit on the topmast The completed Mizzen Mast dry-fit together Fore & Main Topgallant Masts These two masts are made using 1/8” dowels. The Fore Topgallant is 3-5/8” long and the Main is 3-3/4”. I added an extra ½” to each for insertion into the drill chuck for tapering as with the other masts. Otherwise, it is shaped very similar to the Mizzen Topmast. After the Topgallant masts were sanded to shape, I made the Trestletree & Crosstree assemblies. I learned from making the lower top mast TT’s/CT’s that it is important to be precise on the cuts where the 4 pieces intersect. I had to remake a couple of pieces because they were not square and flat. You can hide imperfections a little easier on the lower mast because it is glued under the mast top. But, I wanted these to be as precise as I could make them because they are exposed right there at the top of the model! I achieved this by cutting all the pieces at the same time. Taping them together with masking tape. Sanding the ends on the disk sander to make them the exact same length. Using a 1/32” thick strip in the chock slot and tape to hold the TT’s together while cutting the grooves. Labelling the parts so they stayed in the position they were made for. Those are just a few of the steps I used to make them as precisely as I could! Still not perfect, but I think they will pass inspection! Here is a pic showing what I described above. I also made the bottom tab on the chock the exact width needed to fit the width of the topmast tenon and the topgallant heel Dry-fit of the assembly Main Topmast, Topgallant & Trestletree pieces are completed The last thing I completed in this step was the two mast caps. I was able to use the kit supplied laser cut mast caps. I even discovered that I could slip these on over the heel of the topgallant. Here are the finished Fore & Main Topmast & Topgallant Masts (still only dry-fit!) I have not glued anything yet. I have to drill holes in the tops for the deadeyes and the stanchions that hold the netting and numerous eyebolts. I will do these now before gluing. I also intend to paint and stain everything. It seems like it’s taken forever to get these masts built. According to my log I started the lower masts on Feb. 19th. Almost 3 months ago! Patience is a virtue! Happy Memorial Day! Ed

LOL!! THAT'LL BE THE DAY!!

Gregory, Here is how the practicum shows the crosstrees/trestletrees. This is a picture of the Fore Mast showing the connection at the top of the Top Mast and the heel of the Topgallant mast. Both are inside of the crosstrees with the chock in between. The more I think about it this arrangement seems pretty straightforward. I never noticed that some ships had 3 crosstrees at the topgallant! I’m kinda leaning toward doing it like the practicum. Mainly because it is a simpler design. But I’m still thinking about it. I really appreciate your feedback and the references to the historical data. Thanks, Ed

I have a question for Team Rattlesnake. I'm working on the Trestletrees for the topgallant masts. The MS plans show the topgallant mast heel positioned in front of the forward trestletree and a chock in front of the TG mast heel. The practicum says to center the chock in the hole and fit both masts inside of the TT's with the single chock in the between them. It seems odd to me to put the topgallant outside of the TT!! What do you think is the correct way?

The Crosstrees & Trestletrees The Crosstrees (CT’s) and Trestletrees (TT’s) hold the Tops to the masts. These pieces must fit the rectangular opening of the top and also are centered and fit the square top section of the lower masts! The trestletrees are heavier and run fore and aft, sitting on top of the mast cheeks. The crosstrees are a bit smaller and run side to side. Making the notches and getting it all square is the hard part! 1. The practicum says to cut all the pieces from 3/32” x 1/16” stripwood. Jon Gerson, whose build log I’ve been following, says this is not correct. The trestletrees should be made from 3/32” x 1/8” stock. And the crosstrees are 3/32” x 1/16”. 2. The practicum says to make the TT’s 1-1/8” long and the CT’s 1-1/2” long. But in reality, the TT’s are as long as your tops and the CT’s are as wide. Since they are essentially custom made, I did them one at a time. I started with the fore mast and cut out the 4 pieces according to my measurements. 3. I started with the TT’s. Notches are to be made so that the inside edges of the notch match the inside edges of the opening fore & aft in the mast top. The notches are 1/16” wide and 1/32” deep. Make an angle on the end that is 1/16” in from each end. 4. The Crosstrees also need to be notched so they match up with the notches in the TT”s. They are closer together. They need to encase the mast and hold everything together. They have a different cut on the bottom. Measure 3/8” in from the end and make a mark. Shave an angle from that mark outwards so that the crosstree is 1/32” thick at the end. Foremast Trestletrees & Crosstrees dry-fitted and 4 pieces of stripwood cut out for the main mast Test fit the assembly on the foremast At this point I’m supposed to make the Chocks. Two per each assembly. They sit in a notch between the trestletrees just like the crosstrees are fitted. One goes between the square section of the mast and the aft part of the rectangular opening. The other one goes in front of the lower mast but behind the hole for the topmast. I realized that I needed to make the Topmast now so I could use the heel to measure where to place the first chock. So, I’m going to show making the Topmasts next. I will continue with steps for the Chocks & Bolsters afterward. The Fore & Main Topmasts 1. The practicum says to use 3/16” dowels for the Topmasts. The MS parts list says to use a 5/32” dowel for the Fore & Main Topmasts. Since the 9” piece of 3/16” supplied in the kit was already used for the Mizzen mast, I went with the 5/32” dowel. The Fore Topmast is 5-3/4” long. The Main Topmast is 6-1/4” long. The Mizzen Topmast is 1/8” x 4-9/16” long. I cut them an extra 1 inch for a new technique (at least for me) that I wanted to try. 2. The top is square, like the lower masts. Mark the top of the dowel with a square to create a 3/32” square. Measure down 11/16” and make a mark. I locked the dowel in the vise and used the mini block plane and a sanding block to make the square top. Dowel secured in the vise and the indispensable mini plane 3/32” squared off section at the top of the Topmast 3. From the bottom of the square to the 9/32” long X 3/32” square mast heel the topmast needs to be tapered to 1/8” round. I had a difficult time hand sanding the tapers on the lower masts. This time I decided to try using a method I’ve read about in other build logs. I taped off the top and bottom of the dowel that needs to be square. Inserted end with the extra 1” into my power drill. I squeezed sandpaper around the dowel and ran the paper up and down with the drill spinning the wood. This worked very well for me. I kept checking the diameter until I had an even 1/8” topmast! Here is the dowel in the drill A little hard to see, but here is the mast after tapering 4. I used another new technique to hold the square top end of the mast in the vise with some flat blocks of wood on the squared off sides. I sanded the heel end down to a 3/32” square. This is the best way I could think of to make sure the squares on both ends of the mast were lined up. This worked well for me too! View of the set-up in the vise. A 3/32” square laid on the bottom keeps the sides parallel when the mast is held above. Pic #2 with the mast locked in place Pic with first two sides flattened with the sanding block in the background 5. The bottom heel of the mast needs to fit into the mast top, between the TT’s, forward of the lower mast. The sides have to be built up to fit this space. I glued pieces of 1/32” stripwood to the bottom square. It was sanded down to smooth off the edges. 6. At the top end, the square needed to be sanded into an octagon shape. I used the MS plans for this area. The space between the topmast and lower mast up to the mast cap needs to be parallel. Now that I have the topmast, I was able to take a measurement for the chock behind the heel. The heels of the topmasts are fit tightly into the trestletrees. Chocks – are taken from 1/32” x 3/32” stripwood and cut in the shape of a “T” with a fat stem using an Exacto knife. There are two per top. Cut a notch for this chock in the trestletrees using the topmast heel as a guide. Keep a snug fit for the bottom of the topmast. Another Chock is glued into notches for the lower mast. All four sides of the mast are locked against the trestle trees and these cross pieces. The TT assemblies can now be glued to their tops Dry fit for the fore & main masts and tops Bolsters – are made from 1/16” square stripwood. The outside top edge of the bolster is sanded with a quarter circle to allow lines to drape over them without damaging them. They sit on top of the trestletrees and tight against the lower mast. I still have some work to do. Like, pre-drill holes for eyebolts, deadeyes and the stanchions for the netting on the tops. Also, the mast caps, which seem like they will be a little tricky to install. Then I plan to paint from the Cheeks to the Mast Caps black. I will complete this same area on the Mizzen mast with the Topgallant masts. The topgallant is the only upper mast for the mizzen. Happy Easter! Ed

Making the Mast Tops The mast tops sit on top of the Cheeks that were glued to the top of the lower masts in my last post. Both the MS plans and Hunt’s practicum call for using 1/16” square strips for the tops. Then you are supposed to remove 1/32” of the thickness from the ends on each of the four sides before lap-gluing them together. I do not own the mini-table saw that is needed to make such a precise dado cut. So, I had to come up with a different plan. The tops for the Fore and Main Mast are exactly the same size. So, I built them at the same time. The Mizzen is slightly smaller. I built it when I was done with the first two. Eventually they will be painted black. a. I’m using all 1/16” width x 1/32” thick stripwood. I had to request more of this size stripwood from Model Expo. After lots of careful measuring and making drawings of the tops, I cut stripwood to length. b. The strips were edge glued together. I used one of my jigs to keep the sections flat and square. The sections were overlapped together to form a square around the center hole. The overlaps provided the required 1/16” thickness. The middle sections that were not overlapped were still 1/32”. c. Then I fitted some more 1/32” pieces to fill the gaps in the 4 middle sections (top & bottom). I used the disc sander to shape the rounded off forward edge and even off the straight sides. On the right is the finished top for the Fore Mast. On the left is the Main top in process. Pic #2 below: both of these tops completed. d. The platform has a 1/16” square edge around, but ON TOP of the completed mast top. It’s a bear to bend the curve around that forward edge! I soaked the square piece of stripwood for 30 minutes and used a curling iron to start the bend. Then I pinned it down on a corkboard using an outline of the top as a guide. I let the wood dry to shape for several hours. I broke one of them, but eventually was able to make 3 decent edge strips. e. Weld Bond was used to glue the edge onto the platform. I clamped it until dry. The outer edge was sanded smooth. f. The fore mast top with the edge around 3 sides. The aft edge was easy to fit and glue a straight strip on. Here is the Mizzen Top under construction g. The next step was to add ribs on the upper side of the tops, that radiate out from the center hole. These are made from 1/16” x 1/32” stripwood. They start out flush with the top of the 1/16” edge and then taper down in height towards the center hole. Each one has to be individually measured and sanded to shape. I made a template from the plans. But it seemed too crowded, so I cut down on the number of ribs. Fore & Main Tops marked up from the template using carbon paper 4776 I worked on them in pairs, adjusting their position to get even spacing The 3 finished mast tops I’m circling back to my previous post. Here is a picture of the lower masts, dry fitted after adding the mast rings and applying 2 coats of poly to seal the rings. Next up, I plan to drill all the holes for any rigging that is attached to the tops now. In addition to adding trestletrees, crosstrees, aft rail stanchions with their netting, futtock shrouds, plates for deadeyes, etc. There’s a lot going on with these mast tops! Stay tuned! Ed

I have the Amiti Keel Klamp. I used it for my Bluenose build. But, I snapped off a couple of the bulkheads during hull planking while using it on the Rattlesnake. I never went back to it after that terrible experience! I've decided to mount mine on the board that I'm making real soon. I'm thinking it will bring the ship closer to the workbench surface. The keel vice really raises the ship up high. Although I agree, the ability to tilt it helps at times. I can always take it off the mounting posts if it doesn't work out. That's a really beautiful looking ship Darivs!! It looks like you are just about finished. Thanks for your advise! Ed

Well, no one has shared any horror stories about putting their model into it's permanent stand for the rigging process. So, I am making the stand for my Rattlesnake now. I appreciate everyone's positive feedback on my progress! Thanks, Ed

RATTLESNAKE – MASTING & RIGGING PROCESS I've reached a MAJOR milestone! After 2 years and 4+ months, I’m finally starting on the masting & rigging of my Rattlesnake! I bought Robert Hunt’s Practicum (Lauck Street Shipyard) on Rigging the Rattlesnake to help me with this challenging aspect of this ship build. Bob wrote this as a stand-alone course that is also part of his kit bash of the 3/16” scale (1:64) Mamoli kit. However, his kit bash is based on Harold Hahn’s plans which is based on a ¼” scale (aka 1/48th ). When he references the Hahn plans it requires a 74% reduction. This should not be a problem for following Hunt’s rigging instructions. But it’s important to know this when he references Hahn’s plans. I’m also following the Rattlesnake build log by Jon Gerson on this site. Jon did an excellent job of logging his 3/16” Mamoli kit using Hunt’s full practicum. I’m not doing the kit bash version, so I ignore these steps. But everything else Jon does is super helpful. He also identifies some errors in Hunt’s course that can save some headaches. Now back to my Model Shipways Rattlesnake build. I do not plan to rig with sails. I want to show the rigging lines unobstructed. The instructions even say that this model kit is intended to be built without sails. According to the manual, most modelers do not install bunt and leech lines, or reef tackle, and their blocks, and most all of the sheets for fore and aft sails are omitted. In port, yards would be lowered on their lifts. See the manual for more details on these items. Making the Lower Masts There are three masts, fore, main and mizzen. The fore and main are built identically and except for mast length are the same dimensions in terms of diameter and mast tops. The mizzen mast does not include a topgallant section so its construction is different. The practicum builds the masts start to finish one at a time. Since the dimensions for the fore & main masts are virtually identical, I’m going to build them together. I’m also making the lower mast for the mizzen now. I may not continue and/or keep up with it though. Partly because I ran out of stripwood for the mizzen mast top. I am waiting for a shipment from Model Shipways to arrive. I cut the fore & main mast from a ¼” dowel. The fore mast needs to extend 7” above the focsl deck. An additional 1 – 9/16” is required on my model for the depth from the focsl deck to the bottom of the hole. The main mast must extend 8-1/2” above the deck. Another 5/8” is required below the deck. The mizzen is made from a 3/16” dowel. My ship requires 1-3/4” below the quarter deck. Above deck is 6-7/8” long. Each of the masts has a square section at the top of the lower mast. Unfortunately, the length of this square area according to the practicum is different than the MS blueprints. I struggled with this for a while and then decided I just had to follow one or the other. I decided to follow the practicum. One of the challenges with the masts is making sure everything is squared up; fore to aft and side-to-side. I placed the mast in a vise and carefully marked the top of the mast with the square pattern required. Then I used my mini-plane to shave the top half to three-quarters down to the mark. The plane cannot be kept level as wood is removed, so the bottom had to be hand sanded. Here is my set-up for this step: Fore & Main Masts squared off from ¼” to 3/16” Cheeks – The cheeks hold the mast tops in place. The practicum says the next step is to cut the corners off a portion of the square section to turn it into an octagon. And then to flatten the area below the square on two sides for the cheeks. But I thought it would be better to make the cheeks first for marking off the area required to be sanded flat. I made a tracing of the cheeks and cut them out from a wide piece of 1/16” thick stripwood. The forward and bottom edges are supposed to be rounded off. The octagon cut and flattened area completed on one mast Test fitting the Cheek on the mast The Cheeks are glued to the mast The masts also need to be tapered slightly from starting halfway up to just under the cheeks. I did this with sandpaper. This is not easy to do by hand since the masts are made from some harder wood than basswood. I stained them with Minwax Natural. I plan to add a coat of poly once I put the mast rings on. Here is a picture of the ship with the 3 masts test fit in place. I’m making the mast tops now. I will post on that when completed. I’ve got a question for you guys. When do you put your ship in its permanent stand? I waited until I was close to completion with Bluenose. I’d like to get it out of this cardboard cradle, but I’m afraid of damage to the keel from the posts during the rigging process. The holes were pre-drilled. What do you guys think??? Thanks, Ed

Thanks John! I enjoy doing it.

Thanks Dave! The ship's longboat is such a prominent feature on the deck of the Rattlesnake, I wanted to do it justice. This little kit didn't cost much and it looks much better than the one that comes with the ship. It was a small project however! It took me 60 calendar days and 120 hours to build. I think it was worth the effort.

Building the Ship’s Longboat (Part 4) Next up was the fitting of the Bow Platform. I found a suitable piece of flat 1” x 1/32” thick basswood and sanded it to fit in between the railings. A support was required at the stem to lift it up flush with the railings. I added another ringbolt to the bow platform and applied a coat of wipe-on poly to protect and seal the wood. It’s really starting to take shape now! RUDDER & TILLER – The rudder comes as a laser cut piece. I sanded it to create a taper away from the hull. There are a few different configurations for making the tiller. I decided to make it with a hole in the end that fits over the top extension on the rudder. This was sanded into shape from a piece of stripwood as shown below. I decided to fake the pintles and gudgeons using some more of the blackened auto detailing tape I used on the anchor stocks. A pair of holes were drilled into the sternpost and the forward edge of the rudder. Steel pins were inserted to mount the rudder. OARS & OARLOCKS – I made 6 oars (plus 1 extra in case I broke one). I used 1/16” x 3/32” stripwood that was cut into 3-1/2” long pieces. The paddle end was marked off at 7/8” long. Initially I clamped all of them together and sanded the handle end down to 1/16” square as one piece. Then hand sanded them individually the rest of the way. They were stain with the standard Golden Oak and then treated with wipe-on-poly. The oarlocks were made using the dark annealed steel wire inserted into holes drilled in the top rails. All oars clamped down for initial sanding In the pic below, the first oar is the spare. This shows what they looked like after the initial sanding. Th other 6 are ready for staining. In the 2nd pic they are drying after the polyurethane was applied The rudder is glued by a pair of steel pins to the boat Here is how the finished Ship’s Longboat looks temporarily mounted on the Rattlesnake. I won’t lash it down permanently until I have to, sometime during the masting & rigging process. Let me know what you think about this Ship’s Longboat project! I’m happy with the way it turned out. After a few miscellaneous things to finish up, I will begin making the masts and then the rigging. As I mentioned, I will be using the Lauck Street Shipyard Masting & Rigging practicum that I purchased what seems like a long time ago!! Thanks everyone, Ed

Building the Ship’s Longboat (Part 3) Now that the ship’s longboat is planked and painted the next steps are focused inside the boat. The first step is to add two more ribs between each of the four ribs used for planking. These eight ribs are attached on the port & starboard sides separately, on either side of the keel. As with the original 4 ribs I laminated a pair of 1/32” x 3/32” pieces of stripwood together to avoid splitting and cracking the wood when bending it to fit the curvature of the hull. Here are some pictures of these steps. Since the pieces are only half as long now, I simply dropped a pair at a time into a jar of water to soak for 5 – 10 minutes I held the pair together and gently bent them with my fingers. They were placed on the marks I made between the original ribs and clamped in place for at least an hour to dry fit them for final gluing. Once dry, I glued the pair together with Gorilla PVA glue and clamped them until set. Then they were re-positioned in the hull with glue applied and clamped in place until set. Once I got rolling, I found I was able to work on them two at a time. BULKHEAD VENEER -- I mentioned earlier that the bow bulkhead was too small to fill the required space between the hull planking. In between waiting for ribs to dry, I measured, cut, sanded and fit pieces of some old 1/32” x 3/8” stripwood (leftover from Bluenose) to add a veneer of wood on the bow. This was needed to fill the gaps at the bow. I also veneered the transom to achieve the same look (although this one is less visible). I cut some fake slits to make it look like narrower planking was used. They were stained with Minwax Golden Oak. They won’t be glued in place until the interior is painted. Here is the boat after the ribs were all attached The interior was first primed. Then I applied two coats of Vallejo Beige acrylic paint #70.917. After painting, I glued the veneers to the bow and transom. Next, I installed floor boards and the seat support planks. These parts were all stained with Golden Oak. Three single seats or Thwarts were installed as well. The Rattlesnake blueprint shows 4 seats, but the instructions for this small boat kit only had 3. According to the plans, at the stern there is a “U” shaped set of seats. However, there are no pictures or drawings. I cut out three pieces and stained them. I added some tabs to help secure the side seats. The stern seats were glued in place. I decided to add a mast block. I glued it to the floor boards under the forward thwart with a half-circle cut-out for the mast. A couple of ringbolts were added to the center floorboard. TOP RAILS – The next step was to make and install the top rails. This turned out to be one of the more challenging steps in the making of this small boat! The instructions call for 1/32” x ¼” stripwood from the kit. Due to the curvature of the hull, the rails must be cut into 3 sections joined together by scarf joints. I started out by turning the boat upside down on some card stock to trace an outline of the top of the hull. I used this as a starting point for cutting the pieces. I made them larger than required. Then a lot of sanding and test fitting was used to get them right. A 1/32” overhang is required on the outboard edge. And the inboard side needed to be wide enough to cover the tops of the ribs. All of this was rather tedious work. Here are some pics. Not perfect, but acceptable. The card stock templates and resulting stripwood rails are ready for gluing to the port side The starboard side after painting the underside with black acrylic. The tops were painted after installation. The starboard top rails and stern rail after gluing in place I do like the way the blue accent stripe turned out between the two black strips! Next is the view from the top with the railing completely installed I’m going to split this post right here and finish it in Part 4….

Building the Ship’s Longboat (Part 2) The next step is planking the hull. This is easier than planking the larger ship primarily because you are using 1/32” x 3/32” basswood. The thinner wood is a little easier to bend. Most of the bending is needed at the bow. It has a bit of a bullnose like the Rattlesnake. I started out by soaking the planks and then used a small curling iron to bend the forward end. This resulted in some splitting of the wood at the first rib. So, I ended up just bending the wet wood with my fingers. After soaking, I laid the plank in its position and clamped it in place until it dried out. This only took about an hour or so with the 1/32” thickness. After that it was stiff and ready to glue. I used PVA Gorilla glue. But, the first step is to plank the transom. This is also done with the 1/32” x 3/32” basswood. However, as other builders have noted, there is a gap at the top of the transom bulkhead. I fixed this by adding a 1/16” x 3/32” board at the top of the transom bulkhead. This filled the space up to the notch in the keel. You can see this addition at the wide part of the transom in the picture below. Then I cut and glued planks over the transom bulkhead The next step is adding the “Sheer Line” boards. These are 1/16” square boards that sit directly under the top rail. It took repeated sessions of soaking and bending to get this pair to bend around the bow. It sits on top of the tabs for the rib forming jig. Here is a picture of it with the WeldBond glue drying. After it was set, I painted it with the same Ultramarine Blue acrylic that I used on the accent stripe on the ship’s hull. Now the planking of the hull begins. The instructions say to lay the strake next up from the sheer line first. Then the garboard strake along the keel is next. I used a 1/32” x 1/8” piece for this. I felt that the wider board covered the space over the 1/16” square boards that were installed next to the keel and then reached the ribs more smoothly. Then I attached the strake next to the garboard. After that I worked up from the sheer line the rest of the way. Below is the first strake next to the sheer line getting installed Laying the last plank on the port side. I accidently snapped that one in half with the back of my hand! I decided that it might be easier to insert this last one in two steps. It was almost like a stealer at the bow. It had to sanded to fit. Below, adding the last couple of strakes on the starboard side Hull planking completed. This picture was taken before any trimming and sanding. After trimming the overlapping planks at the stern and sanding everything smooth, I applied a coat of primer to seal the wood. After studying several builds of small ship’s boats on this website, I decided on a color scheme. I painted the sheer line blue to match the large ship’s bulwarks. The rest of the outer hull will be painted the same ivory/off-white that I used on the ship. To keep the look similar to the Rattlesnake I plan to sandwich the ultramarine blue between black railings and a black trim board under the sheer line board. I painted the hull with several coats of the off-white while it was still in the jig. Between coats more sanding and a little wood filler was used to fix-up the rougher spots! Then I cut the hull out of the jig. I used an Exacto knife and razor saw where the ribs enter the gluing slots just below the sheer line. The top edge is sanded flush with the top of the sheer board. In the process I snapped off the extension of the keel at the stern! I was warned about this, but it happened anyway! The wood grain runs fore to aft in this spot on the keel, so it’s not very strong. I’ll glue it back on later. I cut a couple of 1/64” x 3/64” pieces of stripwood and painted them black. These were glued right up against the blue sheer line. Here is a pic with the trim board added. View of the finished shell of the hull from the bottom at this point in the construction A coat of satin wipe-on poly is applied to protect the paint before I start working on the interior of the boat I will post my progress on the boat’s interior in Part 3. Thanks for looking in! Ed

Building the Ship’s Longboat (Part 1) I read about everyone’s struggles to make the kit provided “bread & butter” style ship’s boat. Early on in my research for building the Rattlesnake, I came across the build log by JSGerson. He purchased a Model Shipways kit for a “Typical Ship’s Boat” that is a Plank-on-Frame construction (aka POF). There are several sizes. I bought the MS0108 at 4-3/4” long. This is the same one that Jon Gerson built for his Rattlesnake. I would like to thank and credit him for posting his log for building this small kit! If I had to build it just from the MS plans, it would have been much harder. I created my own summary of steps from a compilation of various sources, as I am building this kit right now. The kit itself is pretty simple. One sheet of laser cut parts, some stripwood and a sheet of wood for creating a jig to plank the hull. Unfortunately, the photos on the instructions are of such poor quality they are of little to no help. But for $8.99, it’s hard to complain! So, let’s get started. Here is the kit after I took it out of the bag. Ignore the # in the top corner. I bought MS0108 later when I decided MS0107 was too small. All the instructions are the same! 1. ASSEMBLING THE KEEL · Remove the laser cut parts and clean off the laser char. I used Weld Bond to glue the Transom & Bow bulkheads to the Keel. · Draw a centerline from top to bottom on each rib forming jig piece. Use this for aligning on the base board. · Measure & cut 1/16” square stripwood on both sides of the keel. Cut the pieces so you are leaving a space at each of the notches in the keel. The strips must be flush with the inside edge of the keel. · The strips at the bow need to be pre-curved to follow the shape of the bow. After looking at pictures, I decided to error on the side of leaving a generous amount of keel at the bow stem, i.e. I installed the strip further away from the edge of the stem. o Use a strip of cardstock to get the length. Soak the wood and bend to the initial shape with the curling iron. Taking a tip from Mr. Gerson, I found a pre-cut piece of scrap wood with the right curve and pinned the wet strip against it until it dried. Glue the pieces to both sides at the bow. Pre-shaping the 1/16” square stripwood for the stem 2. THE MAIN RIBS USING THE RIB FORMING JIG · I again used cardboard stock to measure the length of stripwood required for the rib to go around the jig. · Everyone has trouble bending the 1/16” square stripwood around the jig. Mr. Gerson said he should have laminated thinner pieces together. Also, the tabs at the slots easily break off if you try to force the wood. I used stick pins to hold the jig down on a cork board over wax paper to protect it from the glue. The tabs were braced with short straight pins. I used the 3/32 x 1/32” stock stripwood provided in this kit to make the ribs. The gaps in the keel are exactly 3/32” wide. Using two strips for each rib forming jig, one was laminated over the other to provide the 1/16” thick ribs. Here are two pics of the first rib glued at the tabbed slot. A 1/16” gap is required at the top of the jig. A 1/16" square piece of wood did the job. Rib #1 was really trying to buckle in the top left corner and needed some extra tough discipline! (Pic #2) · After soaking and bending with a curling iron, I glued the 1st layer only at the ends of the “rib” to the rib former jig slots. This is the only place they are allowed to be glued! The 1/32” thick wood was easier to bend and I had no trouble with breakage. However, it was difficult to get a smooth curve without the wood buckling. It’s a very tight bend for such a short piece of wood! You have to be patient (not my strongest gift!) and use multiple sessions of soaking in water and using the curling iron. Here is one of the ribs after soaking and bending it in the curling iron. If I went too fast the wood split! · Once the glue dries, the next 1/32” layer can be glued over the first one. I learned that the outside layer needs to be considerably longer than the first (a good 5/32”). Once it’s preformed, test fit it and allow it to dry. It requires several pins and shims to hold it in place. After drying, apply a thin layer of Gorilla Glue inside the 2nd layer of stripwood. Do not get any glue on the rib former. Re-pin the wood in position until the glue dries. The two 1/32” thick pieces are now laminated together for rib #3 Finally, the keel assembly and the ribs in their jigs are completed. Each rib will be cut from the jig after planking. 3. MAKING THE HULL BUILDING JIG · A 3” x 6” x 3/16” baseboard is provided in the kit to support the hull during planking. · Start with the baseboard and draw the centerline and crosslines according to the instructions. The instructions are not very clear about the position of the crosslines. They say they are about 1" apart. It seemed to me that their placement is very critical to aligning the ribs with the slots in the keel. I spent a lot of time getting them aligned after I completed the next step. · Cut the provided 1/8” stripwood into 8 equal pieces (about 2” each). These are glued to the bottom of the rib jigs for support. I clamped them with clothespins. I found that the clothespins caused the outside edges of the 1/8” strips to angle downward. However, only after removing the clamps some hours later! I recovered from this by touching the bottom up on the disc sander to flatten and even out the surface. The 1/8” square strips are glued to the bottom of the rib forming jigs Test aligning one of the rib assemblies on the hull building jig · Glue the above assemblies precisely to the baseboard on the centerline and crosslines. Mr. Gerson also glued a couple of 1/8” strips to the baseboard to hold the keel in place at the bow & stern. This seemed like a good idea to me. I just used some scrap wood. Gluing everything down on the hull building jig base At this point, the hull frame is ready for planking. Once I finish the planking, I will provide Part 2! Hope this is helpful to anyone that is considering how to do the ship’s longboat for their Rattlesnake. Thanks for looking in! Ed

The Anchors As I started to work on the kit supplied Britannia metal anchor shank and flukes, I noticed that one of the shanks had a serious crack near the flukes’ end. I sent a request to Model Expo for a replacement around mid-December. I requested an update last week and they said they are waiting for production to make some new ones. So, in the meanwhile, I made both stocks and completed the assembly of the one good anchor. When the replacement arrives, it won’t take much to paint and assemble it. I cleaned up the metal on the good anchor and painted it with Testors flat black enamel. I took measurements from the plans but the actual kit anchor is a little smaller. So, I made the stock a little smaller too. A single piece of stripwood was cut to size. The real anchor is made from 2-pieces that are bolted and strapped together. After shaping the stocks, I made a shallow cut around the longitudinal center to simulate two pieces of wood fastened together. Minwax Dark Walnut stain was applied. I carefully cut the center hole for the end of the shank to get a snug fit. Here is a pic at this stage. I drilled holes in the sides of the wooden stock and inserted pieces of annealed steel wire to simulate bolts. I read about a number of methods for making the four bands around the stocks. I bought some car detailing tape in various super-small millimeter widths for my Bluenose build. The 1.0 MM size seemed just right. My only concern was the tape is blue and the bands are black. I tried covering the tape with permanent black marker. The tape is really smooth and shiny, so I wasn’t sure if it would hold the marker ink. Fortunately, it worked very well! I’m happy with the results. I think I will use this method on the mast bands later. The blue tape and steel wire along with the one assembled anchor The metal shank ring is made from black annealed steel wire with a ¼” O.D. A couple of final pics after applying a couple of coats of wipe-on poly. I started working on the ship’s longboat. After reading the complaints and seeing the kit boat, I decided to buy the Model Expo kit for the “Typical Ship’s Boat”. This is like building a whole separate model! I will share my progress with my next post. Happy New Year! Ed

Hi Tim, Congratulations on the completion of your Bluenose. Excellent craftsmanship. I can't believe that was your first model ship! I especially like your rigging work and the sails. I used the kit supplied sail cloth. Your sails look professionally done! Display it with pride! Best regards, Ed

Head Rails (Part 2) I just completed construction of the “head rails”. That’s the term I’m using to include all of the stuff at the ship’s stem. In “Part 1” I completed 5 steps. Part 2 consists of the steps listed below starting with #6. I started with the Cross Timbers. These turned out to be extremely difficult to make well (as did pretty much everything here). I redid several of them multiple times. Each one needs to be custom fit for its position. There are multiple angles to sand and fit. The disk sander I picked up at Menard’s recently made this work a lot easier! I’m a little disappointed with some of the results, but I hope my mistakes are not too noticeable. Here are the construction steps I followed. 6. Cross Timbers – there are supposed to be five per side. Because of size restrictions on my stem, I decided to only install 4. Some of this is dictated by the need to leave the hole in the stem for the gammoning rope clear. I found that the kit supplied 1/16” thick by ½” wide stripwood was stronger than my store bought 1/16” sheetwood. I cut them from this. Each one has to be custom fit. They run vertically. Four of them start at the inside of the Main Head Rail and curve “in” and “down” to the Upper Wale Cheek Rails. There is a fifth piece that runs from the top of the hawse board to the main head rail. The Middle Rail runs horizontally on the outboard side of the cross timbers from the hawse board to near the top of the stem. As with the rails in part 1, I started by making a cardboard cutout of the shape for each one. This was done by trial & error since there is nothing in the plans to trace from. The drawings they do show are incomplete. I transferred this shape to the 1/16” stripwood, cut it out and used the disk sander & Dremel drum sander to finish it. Where the timber sits underneath the grating it has to be shorter and more curved. Sorry, I don’t have very many pics of this step. The first batch of cross timbers ready for painting and gluing I completed the slats and the last cross timbers at the same time to make sure everything would fit. Here are the last pair of cross timbers and one of the end slats after painting. 7. The "Seats of Ease” – There are two toilet seats glued to a base with holes in it. They have a triangular shape. The base is fit between the slat grating and the hull. I’ve seen build logs showing a three-sided bottom with a seat glued on top. I decided to make mine by cutting a triangular shaped corner from a 3/32” thick piece of stripwood. I drilled a hole in the center of each one to make it look like a toilet! The hole extends through the base. Cardboard cutout to get the fit for the base and slat gratings The “Seats of Ease” are glued to the base. A slot is cutout to fit around the base for the bowsprit The assembly after painting and gluing in place. Note the unpainted crossbeam for the slats 8. Slat Gratings in front of the “Seats of Ease” -- A 1/16” square cross beam is set at 90-degrees to the Head Rails. The area between the beam and the base board is filled with a grating that is split down the middle to accommodate the gammoning rope. I made the grating slats with 1/32” x 1/16” stripwood. Each slat must be fitted individually. Way back at the beginning of my Rattlesnake build I broke off the stem. (See my post #88) I was able to get it back together with advice from some of you! But there is a barely noticeable listing to port in the stem. This reared its ugly head when installing the slats. The port side is shorter than starboard. Therefore, the port side is 1 slat short compared to starboard! Oops! Don’t errors with printing postage stamps, coins or baseball cards make them more valuable? Oh well, too late now!! The 2 center slats are installed with the gap in the middle for the gammoning rope One more slat left to install 9. Middle Rail – runs horizontally on the outboard side of the cross timbers. I made another cardboard cutout to check the size and fit. Once satisfied, I cut them out using 1/16” sheetwood. There needs to be an upward curve as it nears the end of the stem. Some sanding was needed to get the forward end to bend inward. After applying a coat of satin poly, I took pics from all sides of the finished Head Rails. I logged 80 hours and 40+ calendar days on this step. I’m glad to have it completed!! I hope you like the final result. I have a question for all you Rattlesnake builders. The blueprint plans show hand rails that seem to run from end to end on the main head rail. Did you install these? What materials are used? How is it attached to the rails? Here’s wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas! Thanks, Ed

Thanks for looking in Al. Appreciate your interest and kind words.

Hi John, Great to hear that you're back! Hope the move went great and the new shipyard is spacious! Thanks for your kind words. I am really enjoying my Rattlesnake build. It's been challenging. I'm taking it slow and focusing on one step at a time. So far, so good. Can't wait to see your future progress.

Head Rails (Part 1) It seems that pretty much everyone agrees that making the Head Rails is one of the most difficult steps on the Rattlesnake. There isn’t a lot of detailed explanation in the build logs for this topic. Jon Gerson’s log is about the best explanation and has lots of pictures. Gregory gave me a link for the head rails on HMS Winchelsea. It helped to see a similar design. Due to the multiple steps and lengthy process, I’m going to split this topic into several posts. Here is how I did it and what I learned. The Upper Wale Cheeks, Upper Stem Rails, Lower Wale Cheeks & Lower Stem Rails make a curve on two planes. Therefore, they have to be made as 4 separate pieces. I discovered that, even though I made the stem from the kit provided laser cut wood, the dimensions of this area on my ship are smaller than the plan. I had trouble making the fox carving small enough to fit into the space between the stem rails. I had to do some extra sanding to make it fit. Everyone’s ship is a little different! I made each of the 4 pieces below with the same method. Use tracing paper to get the shape off the plans. Transfer that to some cardboard stock. Test fit the cardboard shape on the ship and adjust as needed. Transfer the cardboard outline to a piece of sheetwood. Cut it out using a jewelers saw. Use a sanding drum with the Dremel and my newest purchase, a benchtop disk sander to achieve the final shape. (This sander saves a lot of time!) I ended up using 3/32” thick sheetwood for most of the parts. The 1/16” was too flimsy and the pieces easily broke where the grain went vertical. I only used this for the lower stem rails. I needed something smaller in this space. 1. Upper Wale Cheeks – Started with this. Made from 3/32” sheetwood. These are wide horizontal pieces that sit below the anchor hawse holes. It makes a curve from the hull into the bow stem. 2. Upper Stem Rails – The next piece that extends from the forward edge of the cheek up to the tip of the stem. These pieces need to blend together. Use 1/8” sheetwood. These have a curled scroll at the top. 3. Lower Wale Cheeks – are parallel to, but below the upper cheeks. 4. Lower Stem Rails – a curved piece that flows from the lower cheek and runs along the lower edge of the stem up to the feet of the figurehead. Made this from 1/16” sheetwood. All of the above pieces have a molding cut into their edge/face. I made a groove to match the work I have created on other hull pieces. This time I started by using a ball tip stylus to make an impression in the wood. This impression was deepened with Artesania scrappers, files and sandpaper. Everything was test fit on the ship. I inserted a dowel the diameter of the future bowsprit, and also the figurehead for test fitting. Minor adjustments were necessary with the figurehead. All the pieces were painted with the same yellow ochre as on the hull. Cutting the Head Rail from 3/32” sheetwood Carving the molding cut and some of the tools I used One of many test fits! Note the blue cardboard template for the lower stem rail Painting the port side pieces with yellow ochre 5. Fox Carvings – are positioned on the stem between the upper and lower rails. I used 3/32” sheetwood. They were made using mini-files and sandpaper Transferring the carving from the plans to the sheetwood The 4th & 5th iterations of the Fox carving. Not the most artistic pieces, but not too bad for me! The Indian Figurehead after painting. I applied a coating of spray lacquer for protection Views of the stem after gluing in place This seemed like a good stopping point. I’m finishing up the head rail now. I will post some more soon. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thanks, Ed

Thanks for the link to Chuck's Winnie. I wish that Model Shipways' plans had better drawings of the head rail pieces. Something I could cut out to use for a template. It may take several attempts to get an acceptable result. Looking at Chuck's model makes me feel like a real 3rd rate hack!!! Thank You Gregory!