Rattlesnake by Delphic Oracle - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[Delphic Oracle]

Welcome to my (second) first big build!

Without much fanfare, we'll just start with the usual kit splash!

Please do forgive the purple hue everywhere, I have some plants growing on a shelf above me.  No, I don't grow THAT :9.

[Delphic Oracle]

A few areas of irregularity in the wood got a bit of excessive laser char, but I look at it all as learning how to fix it (especially since I have my own mistakes to fix, too!).
 

 

The frame where it meets the top of the stern post got hit hardest of all.

[Delphic Oracle]

I proceeded with a razor, razor saw, and file set to extract the bulkheads, get references marked, and other steps I never bothered to learn before.  Had the first oops in short order, of course.

I had checked against pattern up to about halfway when I realized the very all-over-the-place errors and notes I was having to make were not there.  I was aligning their bottoms whereas aligning them to the top of the pattern resulted in a more consistent coming up short.  From looking over build logs, I recalled that it was not uncommon to need to shim and shave, which is far less imposing than the myriad of alterations on every bulkhead I thought would be necessary at first.

[Delphic Oracle]

There she sat for a few weeks, though disassembled and neatly stacked.  I'd put tools on my Christmas lists so I had to wait to see what Santa brung me.

The family did a fine job.  Clamp-on bench vise with swivel head and textured rubber jaws, Magnifier with light, Xacto basic set (not shown: trigger clamps, 1" 2" and 3" c-clamps, smooth-jaw micro clamps, hemostats, and more).  Could not have done better.

Finally getting into a little gluing and a little torquing.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Delphic Oracle

[Delphic Oracle]

To catch up to where I am, I've been practicing the rabbet cut on scraps.

I'll call my first effort "not terrible."


Not that it will matter when it comes time for the angle to have to match where the wood is, in my defense, it does a great job of being the rabbet at the "B" bulkhead (rather than the "D" according to the curve I drew).

[Delphic Oracle]

The fore frame came up notably short at the joint (way too tight bulkhead groove was the first clue), so some shims were added to allow full contact all around.  trigger clamps for pressure, c-clamps to prevent twisting upwards, all secured to a framer's square and held upright on the bench vise.

I gotta use what I got :9.

[kmart]

Hello Delphic,

 I'll grab a front row seat on this one.    Right at the start of your build.

Always liked the looks of USS  Rattlesnake.   Always; eyeing that one when it goes on sale... maybe after I finish the kits already sitting on my shelf.  🙂

  

[Delphic Oracle]

2 hours ago, kmart said:

Hello Delphic,

 I'll grab a front row seat on this one.    Right at the start of your build.

Always liked the looks of USS  Rattlesnake.   Always; eyeing that one when it goes on sale... maybe after I finish the kits already sitting on my shelf.  🙂

  

Big thanks for the support!

She is pleasing to the eye and seems to be a not-overwhelming kit for stepping up to a new level.

Thanks also to the thumbs-ups out there, they are appreciated :9.

[Delphic Oracle]

Wood filler around the joint and repairing the "B" bulkhead.  I seem to have lucked out by only breaking "B" as it is the middle of the 3 forecastle bulkheads and I can inconspicuously install a brace.  I tried to dab a little filler around it, as well.  Alas, it got tacky on me before I made it that far, will do it properly once the brace is added later.

Plus I shouldn't go manipulating (or adding potential reactants to) it while the glue is setting anyways.

Patience!

[Kenneth Powell]

The bulkheads break easily and when you least expect it.

She's looking good, good luck with the rest of them.

 

Kenneth

[Delphic Oracle]

It has been a busy-ish week, so I've only had a bit of time to sand and file around the joint and clear a groove for the midships bulkhead.  The vertical shims were 1/16" filed down a bit to match plan.  When I added the 1/32" in the horizontal gap to dry fit test it "snapped" together and held the pieces together.  Judging by eye, I will probably need a 1/32" shim in the forward wall of the channel for the middle bulkhead.


I am starting to go through the bulkheads one at a time.  Comparing to plan, verifying center, double-checking the reference line, testing symmetry, and other (pre-)fairing type tasks.

[Delphic Oracle]

Nasty weather thwarted my plans to get some card stock paper to copy plans onto (and other tasks down the road).  But, as I've read in many other logs, when fairing is proceeding slowly, use the time to knock down some later tasks!

So apparently I didn't flip over the laser cut sheet that has the tops and transom windows, they got scorched pretty badly.  Once again, just an opportunity to learn another scratch technique.  I figure I'm going to use up a lot of stock wood from this kit on practice attempts.  My next acquisitions are a stand/sit desk (long term I have a bunch of 2x6 I will make into a sturdy, stained, and sealed top) and a rotary tool.  Then I'll start planning out some custom wood acquisitions.

But, anyways, I've given the crosstrees and trestletrees a go.  First attempt (on bottom) quickly taught me to mark and cut them as pairs so they'll run square.  The second one (on top) is much better.

I don't think I would have been happy with just scoring the laser cut piece, anyways.  Notching the planks where they overlap in the corners is going to be quite a feat to try, though.

One big question I have, however, is the rim piece.  In the kit this is also a single laser cut part and lays over the top of the planking.  Is that accurate?  Looking at a few scratch builds I tend to see multiple pieces of wood that appear to be wrapped around the outside and oriented perpendicular to the planks (tall/narrow rather than short/wide, so to speak).  Thoughts and resources welcome.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Delphic Oracle

[DmitriyMarkov]

Hi, Delphic Oracle!  Always glad to see someone building Rattlesnake and nice progress  ! Concerning bulkheads - it's a good idea to dry fit all of them simultaneously - in my kit their fit was awful and more than that - laser-engraved inscriptions on laser-cut details in some cases didn't correspond with true names of bulkheads on drawings. So I had to change places of some bulkheads and only then it came more or less in order and I could reach some proximity to hull lines. But even then I still had to add some shims/  move vertical slots on bulkheads etc. Getting a MS Rattlesnake's hull to shape is not a quick work and a tricky one as well. So I wish you all the best luck with this project  😉   And by the way - perhaps your camera has WB settings? that could help neutralize "Purple Haze" from plant lamps... 

 

Best Regrads

Dmitry

[Gregory]

On 1/13/2020 at 11:10 PM, Delphic Oracle said:

One big question I have, however, is the rim piece.  In the kit this is also a single laser cut part and lays over the top of the planking.  Is that accurate?  Looking at a few scratch builds I tend to see multiple pieces of wood that appear to be wrapped around the outside and oriented perpendicular to the planks (tall/narrow rather than short/wide, so to speak).  Thoughts and resources welcome.

I think you might find this section from the ModelExpo Syren helpful..   https://modelexpo-online.com/assets/images/documents/MS2260-Syren-Instructions-Chapter-17.pdf

The look of the tops would be very similar.

 

 

[Delphic Oracle]

18 hours ago, DmitriyMarkov said:

Hi, Delphic Oracle!  Always glad to see someone building Rattlesnake and nice progress  ! Concerning bulkheads - it's a good idea to dry fit all of them simultaneously - in my kit their fit was awful and more than that - laser-engraved inscriptions on laser-cut details in some cases didn't correspond with true names of bulkheads on drawings. So I had to change places of some bulkheads and only then it came more or less in order and I could reach some proximity to hull lines. But even then I still had to add some shims/  move vertical slots on bulkheads etc. Getting a MS Rattlesnake's hull to shape is not a quick work and a tricky one as well. So I wish you all the best luck with this project  😉   And by the way - perhaps your camera has WB settings? that could help neutralize "Purple Haze" from plant lamps... 

 

Best Regrads

Dmitry

Dmitry, thank you for sharing your experience with this kit.  I have also seen from other build logs this level of attention is needed for the hull and also where I saw many people wisely using the time to knock out high-repetition tasks that happen down the road, as well.

As to camera, I do see that this phone does have a pro camera mode and many features I am familiar with from my experience with production work.  I never even hunted for it since upgrading some time ago.  I have an older but versatile DSLR floating around somewhere, so I may dig it out when the time comes.  Limited depth of field is one thing I notice in a lot of pictures as the builds get bigger and the shots wider.

Thanks also for you words of encouragement and all of you dropping likes as you munch on the popcorn!

[Delphic Oracle]

 

12 hours ago, Gregory said:

I think you might find this section from the ModelExpo Syren helpful..   https://modelexpo-online.com/assets/images/documents/MS2260-Syren-Instructions-Chapter-17.pdf
The look of the tops would be very similar.

 

Thank you very much for that, I think that's much more within my skill (and knowledge) range and a good bit more detailed than what is available out of the box with this kit.

I did take a stab at doing the cross-cut overlapping corners.  I think with a little more work on technique and I'll be up to it, but the basswood is not going to hold its edges at this scale.

I expect that would have some disastrous implications around the time the shrouds come into play.  So I'm definitely growing more comfortable with the idea of variables desired for woods in different parts of the ship :9.

ETA: upon inspection, the tops and transom windows are on a 3-ply board.  Very stiff.  I almost suspected a thin ceramic layer in the middle.   I sanded the safest corner, there are 3 layers, the glue reminds me of liquid nail.  I was already considering a denser wood for the crosses and the rail, maybe something in between seems appropriate for the planking, as well given how much torque these can end up taking.

Edited January 16, 2020 by Delphic Oracle

[DmitriyMarkov]

5 hours ago, Delphic Oracle said:

... but the basswood is not going to hold its edges at this scale.

That's why I chose to use pear and boxwood for every purposes other than hull planking - pear holds edges much better. 

 

5 hours ago, Delphic Oracle said:

ETA: upon inspection, the tops and transom windows are on a 3-ply board.  Very stiff.  I almost suspected a thin ceramic layer in the middle.   I sanded the safest corner, there are 3 layers, the glue reminds me of liquid nail.  I was already considering a denser wood for the crosses and the rail, maybe something in between seems appropriate for the planking, as well given how much torque these can end up taking.

That's something new - in my kit everything is in basswood and there is no plywood at all - seems MS has made changes into complectation of a kit since those days I've purchased it...

 

5 hours ago, Delphic Oracle said:

As to camera, I do see that this phone does have a pro camera mode and many features I am familiar with from my experience with production work.  I never even hunted for it since upgrading some time ago.  I have an older but versatile DSLR floating around somewhere, so I may dig it out when the time comes.  Limited depth of field is one thing I notice in a lot of pictures as the builds get bigger and the shots wider.

Concerning depth of field - for wideshots I also use DSLR time-triggering on the pod, with aperture set to minimum and shutter set to long time,  ( please pardon me acting a Captain Obvious 😉  ) 

[Delphic Oracle]

10 hours ago, DmitriyMarkov said:

That's why I chose to use pear and boxwood for every purposes other than hull planking - pear holds edges much better. 

 

That's something new - in my kit everything is in basswood and there is no plywood at all - seems MS has made changes into complectation of a kit since those days I've purchased it...

Here's a visual reference.

Note all the char

 

but you can see where I sanded the bottom right corner showing top layer, glue, and middle layer.

[DmitriyMarkov]

That's quite different from what is in my kit. Cannot say for sure is it a "bug" or a "feature" though 🙂   Since all these parts are meant to be painted anyway.   

[Delphic Oracle]

Things are on hiatus a moment.  We had a very sudden and tragic loss of a fur baby, Miska (Inuit for "Little Bear").

This is a before/after composite I made for a social media fundraiser on my birthday for Unleashed Pet Rescue where we adopted her from.


Just a week shy of a year after adopting her, she went for an unplanned romp.  We have learned not to chase after her, because then she thinks we are "playing" and we end up on dangerous streets and she's distracted from what's happening around her.  Usually within a half hour, she is on the porch wanting back in.  The odds did not favor her this time, sadly.  Neighbors who heard it and came outside to investigate report that she expired very quickly, she thankfully did not have to suffer.

She was very skittish with me in particular (we suspect abuse in addition to clear neglect).  While many breakthroughs in bonding were made during her time with us, one of the recent vehicles for doing so was the model.  I would be consumed with it a bit and she would take those opportunities to come sniff me or lay down on the bed behind me, watching with keen fascination.  So it is difficult to get into working on it without "the sads" hitting me right now.  I also have to give a much increased amount of attention to the other fur baby since he doesn't have his all-day play buddy, now.

I have picked up some 65lb. paper stock and a new ink cartridge, so once I move through some of this grief, I will be ready to move into the initial stages of fairing.

Edited January 31, 2020 by Delphic Oracle

[Delphic Oracle]

It is not only tragedies that delay me, but the season turning brings on competing attention of my green thumb with yard and garden work.

Nevertheless, I have overcome my procrastination and put the new paper and ink cartridge to work.  Now to start working on steadying my hand after about 20 years since hacking away at plastic starships.

This may be a task that calls for a bottle of single malt.  Or maybe I'm just making excuses to buy a bottle of single malt.

Wish me luck!