Rattlesnake by David Lester - FINISHED - Mamoli - Scale 1:64

[Heronguy]

All looking great David!

[DocBlake]

Nice work on the fittings, David.  The Rattler is a beautiful ship.  I love her lines and especially her sharp tumblehome!

[zappto]

Hi, do you plant to place some light lanterns inside the ship?

[David Lester]

Thanks Dave,

Tumblehome is a new nautical term for me, so I had to check it out and I've added it to my vocabulary. You're certainly right about the extreme tumblehome on the Rattlesnake. Now I know why that false deck was so hard to install.

David

[David Lester]

I'm turning my attention to the head rails. I have the Bob Hunt practicum for this model which features a lot of kit bashing. I'm not really doing any kit bashing, but I have to make an exception with the head and cheek rails. The kit comes with cast metal ones which look ridiculous and in addition don't even fit (picture below.) Bob's kit bashing involves working with the Hahn plans which have a significantly different looking stem than that which comes with the kit, so the rails that he outlines don't quite fit the basic model either. So, I'm improvising them and the picture shows my progress so far. They're more or less similar to the ones Bob describes. Since I'm just working with basswood, carving a profile into the face of them is not practical, so I'm using some styrene strips to create a profile. I know it looks rough now, but with a little more sanding and once painted, they shouldn't be too bad.

 

Once these are finished, I'll return my attention to the deck details which I'm taking a break from. I'm having trouble coming up with a satisfactory way to attach the railing tops to the balusters in a secure fashion (they have to withstand a bit of pressure as rigging is belayed to them.) I've tried a few ideas, but am still having trouble spacing them evenly and attaching them securely. So I've been "sleeping on it" and will return to that problem shortly.

 

David

[David Lester]

After much trial and error, I finally wrestled these railings to the ground. The mistake I made was trying to build the railing off the model and then install it. As soon as I built the railing on the model my problems disappeared. I was trying to glue the top ends of the balusters against the underside of the top rail and was having plenty of problems keeping them straight and properly spaced and then how was I going to install it. Butt joints at the rail and against the deck didn't seem secure enough to me given that rigging is belayed to these rails (and remembering the issues I had with the rails on my Constitution.) But if I anchored the balusters to the deck with pieces of brass rod, I wasn't sure of my ability to line up and drill seven holes all in the right place.

So - my solution was this - the instructions call for 1.5 mm wood for the top rail. Instead I used a 1 mm strip and then attached a 1x1 mm strip along each length of the underside. This created a channel for the baluster to fit into, automatically lining them up and giving considerably more gluing surface. I then installed the two end balusters on the deck, drilling them and anchoring them with a piece of brass rod. Then I cut the remaining five balusters to length and with the top rail installed on the two end balusters I could slide the interior ones into place and locate them by eye. They're glued as well, but it's really the end two that provide the integrity for the structure. I'm pretty sure this will hold the belayed rigging without popping loose.

 

Now on to the railing around the bow, which I'll approach in a similar fashion.

 

David

[DocBlake]

Great solution, David!  The rails look great.  I'm ready to add the railings to Independence, and I've decided to build them on the model.  They have an added problem in that they are tapered.  Each baluster must match the others.  I'll take my time and hopefully it will turn out.  Keep up the great work!  BTW:  The headrails look great. also.  A million times better that the metal junk the kit provides.

Edited August 16, 2017 by DocBlake

[JSGerson]

Nice solution.

 

When I use pins, I install the pin into item that needs to be glued to the deck. Then I position the item to its intended location and press the item so that the pin makes an impression on the deck. Then I drill a pin hole into the impression. Now the pin fits into the deck and the item is properly located. It doesn't matter that the pins don't necessarily line up with each other (because they are hidden), but that the resulting pieces are located in their respective positions.

 

Jon

[DocBlake]

I use that same technique, Jon.  For the initial placement I use a very short pin (1mm protruding) in the part to be placed so it can more accurately be situated.  After the hole is drilled l substitute a longer permanent pin for final attachment.  It works well.

[David Lester]

Thanks for the suggestions Jon and Dave! I have since install the bits on the deck and that's essentially what I did, but there were only two to worry about. Lining up the seven in the railing would have been a bit harder. I didn't substitute a very short piece of brass rod for the positioning, David, but I think that's a great idea for increased control.

David

[David Lester]

Good Morning,

A brief update this morning. I've pretty much finished adding all the deck details. The last thing was the gun port covers. I chose to show half of them closed liked the MS version photograph. I ran into a small problem though. I carefully made the covers by adding planking to the base piece for each one. Then I carefully fit each one to its opening and sanded them flush. As it turns out, I fitted them too well and and sanded them too flush, so that it was virtually impossible to distinguish them from the rest of the hull. When I painted them, it looked as though I had simply painted them on. It would have been better if I'd fitted them more loosely and maybe let them sit proud a little bit. I didn't feel like cutting them all out, so I made new thin ones from .5 mm stock and glued them to the surface. Probably not as good as properly fitted ones, but certainly better than what I had and I've decoded they're going to be acceptable.

 

So next will be the channels, railings and rudder.

 

I'll be absent for a couple of weeks though, as we're off to Scotland and England. A visit to Portsmouth is on the agenda and I'll a little worried as it was a visit to Boston that got me fired up about the Constitution. I'm not sure that I'm ready to tackle the Victory, but I'm afraid its impact on me might be beyond my control!

 

David

[David Lester]

Hello All,

Well I'm back from by UK trip and have had some time to work on my Rattlesnake. I've been focusing on the boat. I've had to do a fair bit of improvising here. It's a cast metal one that comes with the kit and I think it's just a generic boat as it bears little resemblance to the one in the plans and in any case the plans are a bit vague on its details. I have Bob Hunt's practicum and while he gives a lot of detail on finishing the boat, the one he starts with is a nice wooden one which I assume must have shipped with this kit at one time. Finishing this metal one like he did the wooden one didn't seem all that practical to me. So I relied mostly on the photo of the MS version of the kit and have copied it as much as possible with the results that you can see below.

 

I didn't make oars for the boats on my Constitution, but decided to give it a go here. I used the Don Robinson method and it worked beautifully - just stick the end of a dowel in a vice and squeeze. Follow it up with a little clean-up and you have a pretty credible looking oar. Thanks for that tip Don!

 

With that little project finished, I started in on the masts and have finished the fore mast. Everything was very straightforward here without need for much comment. I don't anticipate any issues as as I work my way through the rest of the masts and yards.

 

After a very cool and wet summer, we are now having the most glorious weather you can imagine. Temperatures have been in the high 20's with blue skies!

 

David

[DocBlake]

Outstanding, David!  VERY nice work!

[Heronguy]

Nice work David.  Seeing how well your cast metal boat worked out has given me some motivation and enthusiasm to try to make something respectable out of the ones that came with my BNII.

 

I love the colour scheme on your ship by the way.

[David Lester]

Thanks guys!

Doug - I've basically copied the colour scheme of the MS version of the kit which shows black and pale yellow. I have used model paints for everything except the yellow, which, to be honest, is just some left over house paint I had kicking around. My favourite model paint is Model Master but I have to drive to Whitby to find it (about 45 minute drive from home.) I tend to stock up on the basic colours (black, flat black, red, white etc.) when I'm there, but then improvise for everything else, such as I did for the yellow.

David 

[Worldway]

Looking good David.  The boat turned out great.  What a difference a day can make on the weather though.

[David Lester]

Hello Everyone,

I've been making some progress on the rigging stage. I've build the three masts and as well as the bowsprit and have attached much of the rigging to them. I've been working on rigging the yards, but by way of taking a break from that, I mounted the bowsprit and began attaching what rigging I could that doesn't depend on the foremast and its stays being in place. (Still a few loose ends to tie down yet as you can see.)

 

The instructions with the Mamoli kit are especially good with respect to the rigging and I'm really enjoying working with them alone and not referring to my practicum at all. While I found the practicums to be very helpful for my earlier builds, I'm now finding it more fun to tackle this stage on my own.

 

I had earlier expressed some frustration working with those little split rings and the line always tending to find the gap and come free. I had thought that soldering something this small might not be practical, but several of you indicated that that's the way to go. This afternoon I experimented and had great success! They are not too difficult to solder at all and it certainly solves the problem.

 

David

[David Lester]

Good Morning,

I've made some more progress on the rigging. The standing rigging is finished on the bowsprit and foremast (except for ratlines) as well as some running rigging on the bowsprit.

 

I'm using the line that came with the kit for the running rigging. It seems to be quite decent. It's a nice khaki colour and is good to work with. No black line came with the kit - they suggested colouring the khaki line black - but instead I used black line left over from my Constitution build, which is from Blue Jacket if I remember correctly.

 

The kit supplied deadeyes are of acceptable quality, but the blocks are not, (in fact, so bad as to be laughable) so I've replaced them something a little better.

 

Everything is moving along with in a straightforward way with no issues to report.

 

David

 

[DocBlake]

Great job on the rigging so far,David.  First rate!

[bigcreekdad]

awesome build!!

[alde]

She looks great David.

[David Lester]

Hello All,

I quick update. I've been making slow but sure progress on the rigging. It's all going very smoothly, which of course means little to talk about in my update.

 

I had one minor setback. I mounted the fore mast and attached its standing rigging and then proceeded to mount the main mast. It was only at this point I noticed that the fore mast was tilting to starboard. It was a result of the two holes (main deck and forecastle not lining up 100%.) It didn't really show up at all until the main mast was in place and then it seemed to really show up. I slept on it for a day and then decided to free the fore mast of all its standing rigging, remount it and re-rig it. As a result I decided to put the mizzen mast in place before proceeding further to make sure all were true to each other.

 

In the second picture you can see some of the numerous split ring arrangements in the rigging. Taking the advice of some forum members, I started soldering them and it is really the only way to go; otherwise the lines just keep finding the gap. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it isn't too hard to do and it takes just the tiniest sliver of solder to close the gap. I'll touch them up later with a small dab of flat black paint (as well as the edges of the mast top.)

 

So that's it for today. Thanks again for comments and likes.

David

 

   

[DocBlake]

I feel your pain, David.  She's looking good, though!

[donrobinson]

Looking real good David, keep up the good work

[David Lester]

Good Morning Everyone,

Some more progress to report. I've finished the standing rigging and am working my way from bow to stern on the running rigging. This will be a pretty boring report as everything is going smoothly without areal problems and I haven't even been called upon to come up with a fix or work-around for anything!

 

The Mamoli rigging plans are quite good and easy to follow, but one complaint I do have and it's the same complaint I have with the Petersson book is this. They show the starting and ending points of a certain line, but not always the route it takes between the points. And they tend to show each line in isolation, so it's not always clear which lines should pass in front of others etc. So to a degree, I'm just using my best judgement and choosing the straightest most direct route where the line doesn't have to rub against anything along the way and trying to avoid lines crossing one another.

 

David 

[Heronguy]

Very nice David!  I'm encouraged to hear that rigging can go well! Keep up the good work.

[donrobinson]

Hi David, nice progress. I have been staring at your pictures for awhile now debating whether to say anything or not. Please do not take offence or feel the need to go changing things, but what caught my eye are the pendants or braces at the end of your spar. I was told some time ago to distinguish standing rigging from running a good rule of thumb is to think of standing as any rope that does not move or pass through blocks, dead eyes etc. Running rigging is all ropes that do move and run through blocks, dead eyes etc. In saying this any rope used to attach a block, for instance, to a mast, spar etc. would be considered standing rigging and should be black or dark. Again this is just for information purposes only, forgive my ignorance if this is something you already knew.

[David Lester]

Good Morning,

Hi Don, thank you for your comments, I am not offended in the least, in fact I welcome your observation as it triggers for me a conversation that I probably should have had before now. For me, in my limited experience, rigging falls into three categories, not two. The standing rigging, primarily stays and shrouds, and it clearly should be black. The running rigging such as halliards, sheets, lanyards etc which clearly should be natural. But I also find a third category and that's all the rigging that I'm not quite sure if it's standing or running and whether or not it should be black or natural. The kinds of things that fall into this category for me tend to be: the line used to seize blocks to eyebolts, the lanyards on deadeyes - usually it's natural but sometimes it's black like on the Constitution, ratlines - again I've seen both colours - usually black, but it's natural the Victory, footropes, and of course these pendants to which the braces attach. I think there are other things that have made me wonder too, but I can't just bring them to mind off the top of my head.

 

I'm still relatively new to this and have not quite weaned myself off of Bob Hunt's practicums (I'm close, but not quite all the way - there's still hope for me yet) and I have noticed a fair bit of inconsistency in them. For example on the AVS, he shows the use of black line for the footropes, the deadeye lanyards and the pendants for the braces, which is how I modeled it. However, for the Rattlesnake, he shows natural line for all of those things, included those pendants. The kit's instructions don't indicate one way or the other, so again, I just modeled it as per the practicum.

 

In both the AVS and Rattlesnake practicums he shows some blocks seized with black line and some with natural line and I'm not sure why he's done it that way or if one is more correct than the other, and I'm guilty of some inconsistency myself in this department.

 

Again, thanks for your input, Don and I would certainly welcome others' thoughts as well.

Thanks,

David

[DocBlake]

Don:  Your response makes perfect sense.  I think blocks should be stropped in dark line because they probably were (tarred to protect against the elements) and because I think they look better!  How’s that for a historic perspective?!

[David Lester]

Hi All,

I finished my Rattlesnake model yesterday and here are a couple of photos. The rigging went very smoothly without too many red-dos. (Don, you may notice that I changed the pendants for the braces from natural to black.) This is not a very large model, but boy does it ever have a lot of rigging. The little coils that hang on the belaying pins always drive me crazy. They need a drop of glue on the back to hold them, but if you get a bit too much, it bleeds through to the front and looks terrible. Because they don't have the heft that the real lines do, they need a fair bit of fiddling with to hang half decently. Most of my do-overs involved these.

 

I'm taking a break now until the holidays are over, and I'm not sure which of my two projects I'll start on next in the new year. Either my Prince de Neufchatel or my Virginia Privateer restoration - I'm not sure yet. 

 

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!

 

David