isali

I am working on the rattlesnake and have found your photos incredibly helpful. Thank you for putting them back.

The deadwood you made and filled looks great, what method did you use to fill? I've tried sawdust with watered down glue but it doesn't get into the crevices .

Thanks Guys, I am leaning in the direction of cuting the Rabbet so I have theflexibility to add planks later, either for the right look or in case I build something that looks better covered I have been going through the scratch built frame models trying to find some good images and good logs at the begining of the process. Any recomendations are appreciated.

I am getting ready to start rattlesnake, I Dave at the lumberyard sent me the most incredible wood package imaginable so the questions begin. I am taking photos to hopefully start a log soon. Anyway, I am marking the rabbet when it occurred to me that if I make this open frame at least to the wales, do I need a rabbet? Maybe I will do more of a cutaway look than pure admiralty, ie planking at the bow and stern for a few inches then left open. Any thoughts and any logs to look at are welcome Thanks Ira

I am thinking about building the rattlesnake from scratch. As a first project, I am now thinking of something with fewer frames. My goal is to make an admiralty type model, or partial admiralty Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks Ira.

I just finished a case of almost the same size. after lots of back and forth, I went with a mirror in the back and 1/4 plexiglass - from a glass company not Home Depot, glass companies tend to get sheet cast vs continuous cast, I used 1/2 brass angle 1/16 th thick, which was easier to work with than I thought. It's still pretty heavy though, If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

I just went through this, I looked at a lot of websites the ship and non ship.most of the pictures were from Google Images in various searches. In the end I followed my instinct about what looks good. you can always change it later if you come up with something better. The actual plaques fairly inexpensive, around five dollars or so engraved.what are the several experiments I did was mounting a plaque on some leather fabric from Joann's fabrics. It was a great look but didn't go with this ship model.

Thanks for all the answers, I incorporated a lot of this great advice, and some from members of our local club in Philly, A great group of people. For those new to building a case, I found the following, and made the following errors: - There are some great download books out there, some sell for $ 10.00 or so and are worth it. - working with brass was easier than I thought, I tried a plumbers torch but found it was too big, a micro torch was perfect. - I used low temp solder (430 degree melt) vs high temp, - If you have several melt point solders, use the higher melt temp first so if you go back to add to that joint ie. adding the vertical legs to the top frame, you don't melt away the first joint, - base the sizes around the largest, heaviest size, I used mirror in the back and plexiglass everywhere else. - get plexiglass from a glass dealer, they use sheet molded vs Home Depot uses continuous roll - glass is heavy - some frames did,t have the brass soldered, the strength was in the melting / glueing of the plexiglass, and it seemed fine. - measuring, add to the length both the width of the side pieces ( or visa versa) AND the width of the frame pieces!! - Joann fabrics has great covers for the base, I used a velvet which gives a great look. - practice with spray adhesive and corners , especially how to cut the cloth corners so there isn't a bump in the overlap. I used the wallpaper method of one cut for the overlap leaving matching sides. Lots of online tutorials on sewing sites for corners. - a nice brass. Plaque is pretty inexpensive, and better that what comes in the kit, especially if you want more info on it, or a second plaque for the side or back with your name, date, etc, If I can answer any specific questions, let me know. It took me about two months to learn, lots of trial and error, and please recall that that everyone has different methods, which work, even if they are in conflict with other methods,. Ira.

I've used /experimented with ammonia in very small quantities <5%, the wood began to look. Older and distressed, which mostly sanded out but I stopped experimenting, I didn't. Ned the extra flexibility most of the time. When I did, I found two things that really helped , 1- i do significant bends in two or three soakings, ie, soak, bend in a jig, 1/2 or 1/3, or a reasonable amount for that piece of wood, let it dry then soak again, repeat, etc, I try to prop the wood in the corner of the water container to help hold the bend as it soaks each successive time. 2- if you aren't, spilling the planks take a look at the tutorials nin this section, they. Are really great (a big thanks to the writers) . Using a paper template, you get some wired and counterintuitive shapes but when bent they fit like a glove. I'm not an experpert but this works for me. Ira.

I;ll take a look,, ' THanks

I had the same issue, no instruction s. IT took forever but I am winding down and thinking about a display case I used a bunch of sources, initially I used my pride of Baltimore practicum but then really began to learn the ropes and by the end I was using the drawing that can with the kit. One of the best books it'd lennarth Petersen (I don't recall which one). It's just drawings, almost no text. If you like I can walk coz through all I learned and how I would do it now, which may be helpful. Ira

I am at the point of making the coils to hang fro the Belaying pins on Jefferson Davis (1853) On an earlier post in March of this year , Jay, Modler12 had some excellent advice on making the flat coils for the deck. My problem is with the belaying pin coils, I have tried making them flats (as shown in Jays post) and on the edge of a block of wood at a 90 degree angle. BOth ways they come out too stiff and fake looking. I am using white elmers glue, diluted 50%. ANy thoughts are welcome. Ira

I'll probably do the same, hacksaw with a mitre box then fine tune each angle to fit Ira

Thanks, I am trying to figure out the best way to cut the brass. An yes, the top should rest on top of the vertical pieces of glass, Ira

Thanks for all the discussion. The question was not about using one line or two for the peak and the same for the throat. In visiting the talks ships in Philadelphia today, it seems the one line for the peak (vs two) is more prevalent It looks like ships do it both ways but there seem to be more using a single line, revving through the blocks then back down to the deck ( through a whip or other block set up) Ira