RATTLESNAKE 1780 by RiverRat - Mamoli - 1:64 - Massachusetts privateer

[Martin W]

Nice bulkhead, Brian, and you make it look simple!  And your drafting skill might be a wee bit off center (I couldn't tell), but you can still map out a neat design.  Well done.

 

As for the walnut -- I used that on my fo'c'sle rails, thinking I'd stain it, and find that my eye is continually drawn to the HUGE grain that I just couldn't sand out.  You might just try boxwood with stain.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[RiverRat]

Pardon me for be a bit slow to get back to you,,,,

 

Ferit --- Yes, having nice wood to use can be a joy! I hope I can do its qualities justice. I certainly can't claim mastership. Sometimes I try to be meticulous, but there are times I plod along impatiently and make some little mistake and have to decide if I should go to the effort to correct it. I often do (after all, the whole world, at least the MSW community, is WATCHING! and sometimes I might actually give a damn for myself) and I kick myself for not being my meticulous alter ego.

 

JPett! --- I thought of you as I was making the bulkhead! You were "Looking forward to seeing what you do with the poop bulkhead" (pg 3, post#38)...........There it is!

 

I've installed the doorknobs, glued in the bulkhead, and the waist waterways. No extra picture here. Left off the hinges. (Mr Meticulous took a vacation). Will install "cants" at the non-door bulkhead base. With much of this obscured by the short gangways coming off the quarterdeck, and the nearby cannons and rigging, elm pumps, bitts and mainmast......I gave up on the hinges. I had SO much trouble with them...........Sorry....

 

Regards,

Mr. M

 

 

 

 

[JPett]

Ahoy Brian

 

Funny, I wonder if your ears were ringing when I placed the order for replacement wood on my build "lol"

 

Looking forward to the pics.

Edited July 11, 2013 by JPett

[hamilton]

Excellent work on that bulkhead! The effort taken to scratch-build these parts is always worth it - the kit supplied part can't even come close! Looks great!

hamilton

[RiverRat]

"Bringing in the sheaves,

Bringing in the sheaves..........."

 

The Rattlesnake should have 8 single fixed blocks on the bulwarks if I see the drawings correctly. Mamoli's instructions say to make (each side) "...4 slots on the bulwark with a 1.5 mm drill,....". Accchhh!  

 

I was looking into the feasability of my making the blocks and saw in a scratch build someone laminating layers to form the slots, rather than cutting them out. Of course he used actual round sheaves (with pins!), but mine would be simulated.

 

After some digging around, I decided 2 x 6 mm would be a reasonable size for the blocks. (I have a post asking of size in the "Building, Framing,..." section); no reply yet. Is this size OK??

 

Bulwarks are 4.5 mm thick. I made these blocks a little wider to finish the profile after installation. Top and bottom are 2 pieces edge-glued 0.5x3mm cherry strips. 1x3 cherry to make the adjoining ends of the blocks, and 1x2 walnut for the fake sheaves. I left a 1 mm gap in-between. Is this too large? This construction makes about 1x1mm holes. I haven't done much looking into rigging size requirements yet.

 

 

 

I've cut off one block and cut to near the 6mm width. I made mock-up waist and q-deck bulwarks to practice on. The q-deck bulkhead will need extra filler against the inner 0.5mm planking. Thankfully, I haven't capped the q-deck bulwark on the build and I can add something to fill it for support.

 

 

 

I can easily remake these if my dimensions are off; nothing's installed yet (even the practice stuff). I doubt the holes, if too large, would be noticed much as-is.

 

Cheers,

Brian

Edited January 24, 2015 by RiverRat

[trippwj]

Nice!!! Looks sharp, Brian!

[JSGerson]

I am waiting with anticipation to see how you install these fixed blocks onto your model. As you may know I'm following Mr. Hunt's practicum and his method for installing these is totally different but I didn't really like his results. Of course I'm no expert either in historical ships or model making and I would have followed his method blindly, but so far I like your method. I can't wait to see what you do next.

[Ferit]

Looks great your scratch Brian,

Which diameter has the rope passing through?

[RiverRat]

I'd started the blocks a couple days ago. But yesterday, I recieved the ModelShipways Rattlesnake plans as an additional reference (gee, why am I putting in all this extra time and $$ on this.............I might be rigging by now...)

 

The MS plans show no rope sizes. The instructions suggest sizes for all the rigging and tells what the kit provides.

Here's that from stern forward:

 

Main Brace:  0.30mm, kit provides 0.43

Main Sheet:  0.50mm, kit provides 0.76

Fore Sheet:  0.50mm, kit provides 0.76

Main Tack:   0.64mm, kit provides 0.76

 

The Mamoli kit has 0.40mm for all of these. Why do they suggest 1.5mm slots??

 

I was hoping to look up other rigging references to see if there might be other information. I suspect the MS instructions are likely OK.

 

JSG: I'm waiting too! I'd like to make a jig to mark or define the outside and inside cuts, keeping them aligned. I have a couple vague ideas, but haven't worked on that yet. It's a scary thinking how easily this could be botched..........

 

Brian

[Ferit]

A slot 3 times wider than a rope seems inaccurate to me...

Edited July 14, 2013 by ashiponthehorizon

[JPett]

Ahoy Brian

 

Looking forward to seeing how you handle the rigging

 

Its so much easier to follow "lol"

[Martin W]

Yo Brian -- I like the look of those blocks!!!  Those are the sort of touches that make an individual build stand out.

 

As I've been rigging my Ratt, I've found that the size of block that I use most often is the 4mm single.  Now these are blocks that I bought from Lloyd Warner, and each supplier seems to have their own sizes.  I've found that it's imperative to drill the sheave hole a bit bigger, but the reason I like his blocks so well is that they are the only ones that approximate the roundish shape of an actual block from all directions.

 

The rigging line in my Mamoli kit all seemed way too fuzzy and coarse, even after staining and/or waxing.  I've used Lloyd's line before -- it's linen, and is very nice to work with -- but because I'd stumbled across a place in England that has Egyptian cotton line, I decided to use that.  Unfortunately, the guy there who sold it to me, Keith Jewell, seems to be quite ill and is not filling orders.  Keith also had some blocks with working sheaves -- though they were mostly of a larger scale.

 

You might take a peek at my log, since I list the sizes of lines & blocks that I used on the different spars.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[JSGerson]

"I received the ModelShipways Rattlesnake plans as an additional reference (gee, why am I putting in all this extra time and $$ on this.............I might be rigging by now...)"

 

I am contemplating getting a set of the ModelShipway Rattlesnake plans myself. I have not seen what the plans look like. Is there anything in them that it is worth the $50?

[Martin W]

JSGerson -- I held off getting the MS plans for a long time (too long) because Bob Hunt follows Hahn's plans.  But when it came to the rigging, where Bob follows the Mamoli plans, I set off on my own and got the MS plans at the advice of some folks on this site.  I think for the simple framing and planking, Hahn's show plenty.  But the rigging sheet is very informative.

 

Martin

[JSGerson]

Thanks. I'm not ready to start rigging yet so I'll wait for a sale that applies to the plans. $50 is $50!

[Martin W]

I hear ya.  The reason I bought them full price is that I was well underweigh with the rigging and getting more confused by the minute.

[JPett]

Ahoy Mates

 

If I buy anything thats "not on sale" from Model Expo I Google for discount codes

 

Its hit or miss but I only complete the transaction when I "hit".

 

PS: I actually do this anytime I buy anything online, it has saved me some change.

Edited July 16, 2013 by JPett

[RiverRat]

Probably not worth the money in the end. Will have to make up for it by buying cheap scotch the next couple days times instead of the good stuff.

 

I was mostly looking for how the version of the rigging plan might differ, Deeply studying Lee's and Peterssen's books might do as well. Which I'll be doing anyway. The MS plans do name what all the lines are. A plus for Mamoli's is that it runs over several pages, developing the rigging in steps, standing to running, in an orderly fashion. I wouldn't know if it's more or less correct than MS. Although I haven't gotten into them much, I have noted some minor differences already.

 

I was also interested in other details MS might have, especially drawings of the headrails, cheeks, head timbers, etc.  We'll see....

 

Brian

[JPett]

Ahoy Brian

 

I am wondering if there is such a thing. Maybe these ships just had a base set up and everything else was something always in transition, constantly being refined and streamlined to fit the needs of the day. This would explain all the differences. Maybe the rigging plans we are seeing are just what good riggers would have started with. Each favoring certain working concepts.  

Edited July 17, 2013 by JPett

[Martin W]

I think you're right on that point, JPett.  Going through all the different sources on the Ratt, as well as Lees, Peterson, Antscherl, and Steele, I've concluded that there would have been a number of variants on individual lines, such as where they end up and how they get there from their starting point, and what the spars look like -- eg, plenty of ships have stun'sails, but no plans or drawing that I've seen of the Ratt show those at all.

 

And I think that figuring these details out, going through as many sources as are available is part of what makes working on these ships loads of fun.  The heartbreak of learning every day that one's skills are not terribly impressive is countered by being able to see how much went into making and running these babies.

 

As for cheap scotch, I've always said that in certain instances the end fully justifies the means.

 

Cheers (and bottoms up!)

 

Martin

[JPett]

^{Ahoy Martin}

 

^{I think that the fact our Captains were not bound by tradition or a code as the English may have led to some interesting and innovative practices. Internet connections were really slow back then too.}

 

^{I am with Brain on the external sources. Premium, top shelf equals qualitiy buzz. Like my build I am on the rocks.}  

Edited July 17, 2013 by JPett

[src]

Brian, Just getting caught up. Hull looks great. gonna be watching what you do with your blocks.

Sam

PS, Welcome back Alfalfa!

[RiverRat]

Thanks Sam,

 

A short delay on continuing much with the build. My brother passed away earlier this year and I'm tasked with selling a couple of his collections of valuables for the estate, so at the moment, I'm trying to get most of that taken care of.

 

I did get some practice trying to fit one of these fixed blocks into my mock-up bulwarks. Looks like I'd have better luck in the fitting if I have seperate pieces for the inside and outside, rather than fitting the whole thing in one piece. Also made some smaller ones with 0.5 mm openings to try. Details later...........

 

Regards,

Brian

[JPett]

Ahoy Brain

 

My condolences on your loss. I am truly sorry to hear this.

[hamilton]

Hi Brian:

 

I wish I'd seen your sheave block making technique a couple of weeks ago when I was doing this exact same thing on the Blandford!! Your approach (regardless of the questions over scale) is much better than mine (which was simply to drill a couple of holes into a 3mm x 4mm bit of scrap wood....

 

anyway - these will look great when installed

hamilton

[src]

Brain, I am so sorry to hear that. Family first as always, the build will be there waiting for you.

Sam

[Martin W]

Sorry for your loss, Brian.  Hope everything works out smoothly.

 

Best,

 

Martin

[Ferit]

Sorry Brian, my condolences on your loss...

[mtaylor]

Brian,

 

Sorry to hear about your brother.  Hopefully, when the time is right, you'll be able to rejoin us and continue your build. 

[RiverRat]

Thank you all for the condolences. I do appreciate your support and kindness. Should be back to model-mania and frustration shortly

 

Al