javajohn

It's been a while since my last post, so I thought I'd better give an update. I started making progress on the deck, painted the railings, and drilled the hole for the bowsprit. I discovered the hard way that power tools aren't well suited for making holes in the ship - one slip and a large area can be ruined, so I drilled a small pilot hole and then used files to get the hole to the proper size. I've not planked a tapered deck before, so this will be a challenge for me. The Chappelle plans are washed out and didn't print well, so I'm guessing about how it tapers at the bow. I think I have it figured out based on other build logs and some of the tutorials on the site. I also purchased an Ultimation manual disc sander that you can see in the background of one of the pictures. It works great for squaring up the ends of the planks and allows for very precise and controlled sanding to length. I'll spring for a Byrnes disc sander someday! When I started painting the railings, my thumb was where it should not have been! I broke the railing (twice!). Bowsprit test fit. I don't think I will need to install the bowsprit before planking the forecastle deck, but I will check all that after the gun deck planking is complete. You can also see my silly Lego jig to hold the ship 🙂 It is getting close to the time when I'll need a proper jig (or final stand) to hold the ship up. Here's a picture of the planking so far. I did what the instructions recommend and installed the hatches with supports first and then planked around them. That made it a bit more difficult to get the initial run of the planks to line up. In hindsight, it would have been better to install the first two planks from bow to stern first and then cut out the sections for the hatches, install the hatches, and only then continue with planking around the hatches. That would ensure everything lined up. I decided to plank some of the area past the quarter deck because the decking might be seen from the stairwell on the quarterdeck. I'm not sure about that, but adding the additional planks is trivial.

@Gregory Hmmm... the Campbell plans show no overhang inboard, but the MSW Lankford plan does.

I also concur with Kenneth and Dave. I made the fatal mistake of not thinning the bulwark frames enough, so on the gun deck of my model the cap rail doesn't extend over the inboard side. That of course is not correct, but I will chalk that up to learning experience. There is one section of the plan sheet that clearly shows the cap rail centered on the bulwark.

She's looking good, Ed! You are well on your way to a beautiful model.

I finally had a few hours to spare and finished the gratings. I used the technique that @allanyed mentioned above, and the results are much better than my previous attempt. The new gratings are to scale too, so look much better. I didn't put in the camber on the ledges; I will attempt that on my next model. I have the sliding table for the saw, so I built a jig to fit it. This made the cuts more precise. No worries about yawing! Old vs. New: Gratings 2.0 now with squarer holes! And here is the final set of hatches and gratings. Maple may not have been the best wood to use because the grain really shows up, but it is still much nicer than the burned up cherry that came with the kit! I am very pleased with the results, and I learned a lot making them!

@allanyed thank you for that fascinating information. The techniques you show seems to me will produce much more accurate gratings and are far simpler and less prone to screwups than the techniques I used. I also had the direction backwards. I thought the battens went athwartships; some of my modeling books show pictures that are incorrect. Based on your post, my 1.6" gratings are way too small. I have some 0.04" kerf blades that would scale to 2.6", right in the sweet spot. So, I'm going to remake them using your techniques.

I got more time to work on the gratings. Here's my attempt. This is the largest one, and it turned out pretty good, considering I've never done this before. I broke a few of the tabs while inserting the ledges between the grooves. The grating isn't glued in place yet, as I am still wondering if is too fine for the scale. Should I just go with it, or remake them at 0.03 inches (my other saw blade thickness)? I also need to smooth the edges of the coamings and repaint!

I used my Jim Byrnes saw to create the grating pieces. I have the micrometer accessory for the Byrnes saw which was put to good use adjusting the fence for each cut. I must say the Jim Byrnes saw is just incredible for this type of work. I've never done it before and found it was pretty easy to do. The only real issue I had is the saw blade I bought is probably too fine both in kerf and number of teeth. The blade I used to cut the pieces out is a 3" 280 tooth blade. The maple burned slightly which means I should have used a blade with a lower tooth count. I went ahead and completed them, though, since the burning is very minor. The blades I bought are 0.025" kerf, so this would translate to about 1.6" square holes for the grate at scale. I'm wondering if that is too small? Next step is to cut the 0.025"x0.025" strips that lay in the grooves. That will be a challenge since my stock is 1/16' thick. I need to get that down to 0.025" and don't have a thickness sander.

@Ed Ku20 Thanks for the kind words! I bought some diamond dental burs from Amazon and used a dremel. Here's a link: bur set They are cheap and probably won't last very long, but they work. Basswood is not the best wood for this detail. When I get ready to carve the stern carvings, I'll switch to wood more suitable for carving. I don't remember precisely, but I recall I used some of the leftover wood from the billets used for the bulkheads to create those pieces.

I'm waiting for wood to make the gratings. I received the sawblades. In the meantime, I made the two scuttles. Robert Hunt's Mamoli practicum says they would not be gratings. I didn't put a lip on the coamings that he suggests. I'm not sure anyone will see the larger scuttle when the model is complete since it will be mostly covered by the forecastle deck, but it was good practice for me!

Hi Glenn, I double-checked again and I did receive 1:64 6-pounder cannons. Chuck sells many different sizes. I downloaded and printed the plan sheet from Syren to compare. It states the scale is 3/16" to 1" and the 6-pounder is identical size to what I purchased. John

What a nice model! You've inspired me to keep pushing on with my rattlesnake build.

A little bit of progress this week - I built and painted all of the coamings. However, the gratings that came with the kit are trash and unusable. There is so much burnt resin on them that they can't be cleaned up. So, I decided I'll make my own gratings. I'm waiting on some saw blades from Malco, and I need to get some wood. In the meantime, I'll build the deck supports for the coamings and work on other bits. The instructions for the Rattlesnake and also Bob Hunt's practicum for the Mamoli Rattlesnake have you make the coamings first. Reading on this topic in the forum leads me to the conclusion that the instructions are backwards. You should make the gratings first, then build the coamings around them to ensure the gratings are flush against the coamings. I'll do that on my next model.

I wondered as well; had I followed the order of the instructions, I'd have lots of little shards of wood scattered across my workbench that used to be railings!

I made a bit of progress this week. I finished the windows, hawse bolsters and the forecastle railings. I'll hold off painting anything until the deck is done. It will need quite a bit of touchup anyway from all of my rough handling. It will take a mighty steady hand not to get paint on the windows! When that time comes, I am going to repaint the bulwarks above the quarterdeck, the molding strip and outboard cap black. Everything needs several more coats, too. Next step is to start working on the decks. I had thought about using a better wood than basswood, but I'll probably just stick to what's in the kit. The plans call for a ladder from the quarterdeck down to the gun deck. Based on some testing using a cutout for the stairs, looking down the opening you would be able to see much of the unexposed gundeck. So, I think I will plank some of it near the bottom of the stairs.

That's an excellent repair job, Ed! Mine broke too, but I was more fortunate in that it only cracked at the rabbet line, so I was able to glue it without using pins. Breaking keels and beams seems to be the norm for the rattlesnake!

@Gregory yes, the barrels are 29.75mm. I'm looking forward to your research! I'm going to working on some outer-hull details now - the windows and railings. I've added the pieces of what I think are called hawse bolsters to the bow as well.

She's looking good Ed! Those twists and bends are indeed a bear! Sanding a painting will make all the difference. In my build log, I posted some before-after pictures of the hull sanding.

@Gregory I bought six pounders based on what the kit plans specified. The dimensions are nearly the same as the carriages and cannons that came with the kit. That's why I didn't bother test the fit before I made the gunports. Here's a picture of the two sets - the Syren parts are the lighter color on top. The carriages are almost identical in size, Syrens are a tiny bit larger. The big difference is the size of the trucks - Syren's are noticeably larger, but certainly more realistic. John

In @Dave_E's build, he mentioned his issue with the Syren cannon carriages being too large for the model. Syren's are correct, and others mentioned that the kit's carriages are too small. So, I figured I'd better build a test cannon to see how it fits. I'm glad I bought extra cannon kits! Sure enough, most of the gun ports are too low on my model to center the gun. Fortunately, they all poke through. The photos show the worst one. However, I'm not sure how best to fix the issue. I can think of two things: cut the axle grooves deeper to lower the carriage and turn the canon upside-down (the trunnion is offset from center). John

Hi Dave, I'm glad you were able to reframe the gunports to solve this issue! When I framed the gunports, I used the drawing of the 6-pounder cannon on the kit plans to set the height. It measures 10mm to the center of the barrel. I have not built the Syren carriage yet, but I printed Chuck's plans out and measured the height to the center of the barrel. It comes to 11mm. A difference of 1mm is not too bad. Deepening the grooves like @Keith Black suggested might make it work. On a side note, I wish we Americans would move to the metric system!

Hi Dave, That is one heck of a dilemma. I bought the same carriages, so I thought I'd double check. They are indeed slightly larger than the kit carriages. The size difference is very small, not a difference between 1:64 and 1:48. The trucks are quite a bit larger, adding maybe 1mm to the height. In total, I think it could add 2mm. I honestly don't think raising the gun ports 2mm will look right. On my build, the gun ports would butt up against the cap rail. I'm going to build a cannon as my next project and see if I have the same issue. Hopefully, we can figure out how to solve this. I'd hate to have to build the cannons that came with the kit.

At long last, I finished the hull planking. I took several breaks to work on other projects, but I'm glad I made it to this milestone. I still have one side to sand and there are still finishing touches to be done. I decided to show photos with one side sanded and the other not. I saw a few build logs of users lamenting on how bad their planking looked, but once it is sanded and smoothed, most of those flaws disappear. The un-sanded side: After sanding: A side-by-side comparison at the bow. The curve of the planks is pretty severe. And Stern. I'll do more touchup of the planks as they meet the transom planks. I'm very happy with how it all turned out, considering my skills. I think I'll work on some hull details, such as finishing the windows and start considering the deck planking. I'm thinking about ordering better wood for the decks. The basswood flakes and compresses easily, so there are a lot of dents in the hull that were difficult to sand out. Maybe I'll follow @Dave_E's lead and build me some cannons! Cheers! John

Don't rush, have fun with other projects. That's what keeps us young at heart! John

Hi Ed, Thanks for the compliments! Yes, I think you need to cut the beam back. I am not sure I built mine correctly, but I made the beam end at the inner edge of the bulkhead extension. The waterway extends over the beam, but I am not sure that is correct. I've seen models done either way. I found it difficult to make sense of the plans in this area. The vertical cap on the bulkhead extension does indeed need to be wide enough to cover the edges of the inner and outer planks. You don't need to bend it to get a curve; just put on a strip piece that is wide enough to cover the edges of the planks. Then sand or cut it so it is flush with the planks. Cutting away the beam can be intimidating, but it's wood and you can cover up your mistakes with small pieces, filler and paint. I read somewhere on the site that a ship model is just a bunch of mistakes that have been covered up! John