javajohn

Excellent work Ed! I am really enjoying your descriptions and narrative too.

Hi Ed, I've been away from modeling for a year, but I'm back. I just caught up on your posts. I'm impressed and inspired by your skill. I'm really enjoying reading your progress!

Hi all, I apologize for the very long absence, but the rental home was not well suited for modeling work. I decided just to take a break. It took us a year to find a home in Anacortes; inventory was extremely low. We finally moved in a few months ago. It's not a fixer-upper, but there is a very long list of projects - patio, greenhouse, landscape, garage workshop, gazebo - the list goes on! We are looking at several years before it is all done. But, this is our "forever home" where we plan to live until we can't. Life here is fantastic and we have great neighbors. Indeed, the first project we've started on is a new cedar fence. The previous fence was an eyesore chain link with weird plastic planks. Ugly as can be. Our neighbors were ecstatic when we approached them about replacing it. They suggested a design and we love it. It will truly be a piece of art when it is done. I have a small room now for ship modeling in the basement. One of the issues that I must address is the very loud ductwork. I'll have to wear noise-canceling headphones while working in that room! As for modeling, I hope to get started again soon, once some of the smaller house projects are completed. The Rattlesnake survived the move with just a broken railing. The only other casualty is all of the gunport lids I made are nowhere to be seen. The other big news is that I am retired as of three weeks ago. I was planning on retiring around April or May, but my employer made the decision for me by laying off about 120 people. Getting laid off just before retirement was a blessing in disguise. I feel a burden has lifted and I no longer have to worry about work. I will catch up with all of the other posts. I don't think I've logged in since February so I have a ton of reading to do! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and prosperous New Year!

@Dave_E I certainly will!

@allanyed Thanks Allan! For the hull I mixed Liquitex Unbleached Titanium with a bit of Model Expo White. Washington is indeed beautiful. We can't wait to experience the seasons. Phoenix has two seasons: Hot and Not Hot 🙂 We are moving to the northwest corner of the state in Anacortes. We still need to find a permanent home but will be renting for a while we look. We've spent several weeks in both winter and summer to make sure we were good with both extremes. Our son and daughter-in-law live on a boat in the marina and love the lifestyle.

A quick update - or lack thereof - of progress. I've put all of the modeling tools away since we are getting ready for our move to Washington end of January. I don't expect to start again until mid-February. Our house is on the market and we have to keep things pristine for showing which means the model area has to be kept clean and sharp tools and nasty chemicals put safely away. I figured it was easiest just to pack everything up. We are really excited to start a new adventure in the pacific northwest and be near our kids. My wife has lived in Phoenix her entire life, so it will be a big change for her! I hope everyone has a happy new year!

100% agreement with @Javelin! That's a truly impressive - and inspiring - repair; It shows me that with perseverance and determination we can all fix those seemingly impossible-to-fix problems.

Great tip for a ladder jig! I'm going to steal your idea! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Ditto! It's nice to see another Rattlesnake build!

Thanks for the kind words, @Dave_E! I am getting inspiration from others; I think of it as a team effort!

Thanks everyone for the likes. I decided to paint the boarding ladders, crosstrees and anchor pads black to give a little contrast against the yellow ochre. I think it turned out pretty good.

Quick update - I finished painting the hull. I used unwaxed shellac as a sealer. You can see some places where I didn't quite put on enough - lots of deep lines where the planks meet. The paint bonded well to the shellac. The blue was a bit disappointing - a bit too dark. I used Liquitex ultramarine blue, but it dried much darker than I expected. Most of their paints don't shift colors appreciably when they dry, but this one does. I should have tested first, but I didn't want to add yet a third coat onto the model, so I'm leaving it. It still looks fine in bright light. For the hull color, I used equal mixes of Model-expo's white and Liquitex unbleached titanium. I wanted to see how well the Liquitex works compared to the MSW by itself and it worked very well At the line where the hull tallow color meets the black, I used 1/8"Tamiya masking tape. Over that I used a Scotch brand masking tape for automobile detailing. The Tamiya tape is wonderful - it easily peeled off. The Scotch tape was far too sticky and ended up pulling the paint off the model where I didn't seal it very well. A bit of touch up work fixed the issue. I forgot to paint the window frames, but I'll do that later. Now it's on to finishing the gunports and start working deck details.

@Gustav Ykema Yes, just email them and explain. My kit was missing the filler blocks for the aft and stern. Model-expo replaced them promptly. While I'm writing I should give an update - things are extremely slow and will be for the foreseeable future. There are too many other things going on in our lives that are taking me away from modeling. So, I'm down to maybe a few hours each month. I do spend a few minutes each morning with my coffee on the forum, though. I did start re-painting the hull and will hopefully have it done this weekend and show some pictures. I put my thumb again where it doesn't belong and broke the large grating. Ugh. So, more repairs! I think @Dave_E made a comment on his build log that he tossed the Model-Expo paints. I'm about to do the same! They dry much too quickly which results in blobs of partially set paint on the model and brush. I constantly have to dip the brush in water to keep it from drying out. That's even after thinning. I'm sure the lack of humidity in Phoenix also plays a role!

Nice work, Ed! Your Rattlesnake is really looking good.

Very nice work, Ed! How much work did it take to prepare them for painting? I left them off my model mainly due to the poor quality. I'm not sure I'd be able to make them look good.