Rattlesnake by JSGerson - FINISHED - Mamoli - 1:64 - Using Robert Hunt’s practicum

[JSGerson]

Bowsprit Horses and Fore Topmast Staysail Netting

 

Continuing to follow David Antscherl, now was the time to create the bowsprit horses, and although not shown on any of my plans, the fore topmast staysail netting. The netting is used to store the topmast staysail and is located on the bowsprit horses between forestay and the foretopmast preventer stay. Mr. Antscherl was very clear that the diagrams in Darcy Lever’s The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor, Lee’s The Masting and Rigging of English Ships 1625-1860, and Peterson’s Rigging of Model Ships¸ were incomplete. They only showed the initial zig-zag construction of the netting and not the final result which was a diamond shaped netting. David went so far as to reproduce this netting for his model; I, being of sound mind and body, elected not to. Instead I bought some tulle in black and off-white at Hobby Lobby. It’s a sheer often stiffened silk, rayon, or nylon net used chiefly for veils. It’s not perfect, but it was all that I could find in my area. Both pieces set me back a grand total 0.30 cents for more material than I will ever use in a lifetime. 

[JSGerson]

Using a piece of 1/64” square boxwood stock, two staves to act as stretchers were formed each with holes to allow the horses to pass through. Once the holes were drilled, the square staves were rounded into rods.

[JSGerson]

Using black 0.30mm Syren rope for the horses, one end of each line was secured to a blacken eyebolt using a pseudo splice. The open ends were then threaded through the stretchers. They would eventually be secured to the eyebolts already on the bowsprit cap. 

[JSGerson]

A pattern of the net was drawn on a piece of paper and the tulle was taped down at approximately 45° to the vertical of the pattern. My initial thought was to cut the tulle so that corners of the diamond pattern would form a zig-zag edge. Then I would wrap thread through the edge diamonds and then secure it to the staves and eventually the horses. As you can see from the close-up image above, the material is not just a simple crisscross of thread.

 

I didn’t have any thread fine enough to come close to the thread in the tulle and what I did have (polyester mono filament thread which came the closest to being thin enough) was very stiff. Trying to hold these tiny parts and manipulate them to conform to what I wanted was like trying to herd a bunch of drunken cats while on crutches…at night. I gave that idea up soon enough.

 

At this point I went to the Nautical Research Guild’s yearly conference, which this year was held at Mystic Seaport, CT. I had a good time. There, I saw an award winning model (forgive me, but I did not record the model or its maker) with the fore topmast staysail netting. He just glued the net in place. If he could do it, so could I.

 

The assembly was taped down and the netting was glued to the stretchers using G-S Hypo Fabric Cement I got from Model Expo. It has the look, feel, and smell of airplane glue, but dries clear and is flexible.

[JSGerson]

The horses were further secured on the model to the forestay with a line coming off 90° from the horse. Here I used black 0.20mm Syren rope. They were attached to the horses with a pseudo splice. Since I didn’t know were along the horse it would secured, I left the splice unglued and the line excess uncut.

[JSGerson]

Finally, the assembly was put in place, lines adjusted, and secured down.

[Martin W]

Great work, and an especially nice detail to add!  Glad you had a good time in Mystic -- I didn't make it this year since an important professional conference was scheduled for the same weekend (yes, I do have to keep working).

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[donrobinson]

that is a real nice detail, great work

[JSGerson]

Jibboom footropes

 

Like the horses described above, the jibboom footropes were made from black 0.30mm rope. There is a nice picture on the MS plans of how the footropes are constructed around the tip of the jibboom, which you may recognize from a previous posting.

[JSGerson]

The footropes, one on each side of the jibboom, terminate at the cap at eyebolts. Starting about 5 feet (~7/8”) from the jibboom tip, knots are placed every two feet (3/8”). 

[JSGerson]

The footropes are supposed to be long enough to hang in an arc. According to Antscherl, the center of the arc is about three feet (~½”) below the jibboom. However, his footropes hang free because his model does not have a Spritsail Topsail Yard. On the Rattlesnake, it does have a Spritsail Topsail Yard which will be suspended in the middle of the jibboom. The plans show the footropes going above the yard. It appears the footropes slide (as opposed to being fastened to the jibboom) over the Spritsail Topsail Yard allowing the footrope to self-adjust as the yard moves along the boom. The footropes were installed with an initial three foot hang. How much they will finally hang down will depend how they drape over the yard once it is installed.

 

Note the last image of the jibboom tip shows how crowded it gets. I had hoped to show the detail in there, but the black rope just sucks up the light so you can’t see too much.

[scott larkins]

Isn't it something else at how many ropes are at the front of the bow sprit?

[JSGerson]

Spritsail Yard

 

Well, I’ve hit another milestone: the installation of the first yard on the model, the Spritsail Yard. If you may remember so long ago last October 2014, both the Spritsail Yard and the Spritsail Topsail Yard were completed and set aside. 

[JSGerson]

Also at that time, although not documented in this build log, the fabrication of the sling that suspends the Spritsail Yard from the bow sprit was initiated.

 

Basically what was done at the time was to serve a length of 0.40mm beige rope supplied from the Mamoli kit with black thread rendering the rope black in color. (No use in using my fine Syren rope if it’s to be covered in served line.) A seized loop was formed at one end, wrapped around the center of the yard and seized again to itself.

 

Coming back to it a year later, I realized that the loop was too bulky and large so it had to be done over. Using the technique demonstrated by Davis Antscherl at the last Nautical Research Guild Convention, I created a split loop which was smaller and a lot less bulky. Again the loop was seized to itself, wrapped over the bowsprit and under the yard and back where it was seized to itself, over the bowsprit again and through the initial loop and back. It was then seized to itself one last time. (No. 426 in the diagram below) Let me tell you that was no mean feat. Trying to thread the sling lines around the existing lines as well as the seizing thread lines without getting lost is enough to make you cross eyed!

[JSGerson]

At this stage, the yard is just hanging in the breeze with no additional lines for stability. That’s the next set once I figure out where all those lines go.

[Burroak]

JS I'm truly amazed with your ship. You started out as a first time wood ship builder and have advanced into a seasoned Shipwright. Well done.

 

Greg

[JSGerson]

QUESTION

I have to fasten double blocks to a stay as shown in the diagram below (red arrows). As indicated, it appears that the blocks just have a simple stropping loop at the top which goes around the stay. That would mean the blocks are held in position and have enough holding power to counteract the forces applied to it by pure friction. I don’t buy it. There has to be some mechanical method to take the load.

• Is this diagram correct? or…
• Is there a special type of knot or splice I should know about?
• Does anyone have an answer?

[KenW]

On my Fair American, I seized the blocks to the stays.  So I didn't use a loop such as used when there is a mouse. 

Hope this helps.

[GuntherMT]

The AVS plans show a loop, but it doesn't go around the stay like that, but rather the loop is just seized to the stay, which is how I did it.

[Martin W]

Hi Jon -- Great work on these tricky little details.  The challenge always seems to lie in getting these lashings & splices to look right for the scale, and at 1:64 it's hard not to let things bulk up.  You're getting it right, though, and congrats on that.

 

As for fastening those double blocks to the stay, you might try the "false splice" that Blue Ensign demonstrates multiple times in his log.  You basically just use a fine needle to pass the strop of the block through the stay and then serve the strop up tight.  It's not at all difficult and it will hold the block in place against the tension.  I think BE shows it around page 30 of his log.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Mirabell61]

Hi JS,

 

love those Little scetches that are illustrating your thoughts when arranging the rigging sequences, it provides better understanding of the function of all those lines...., very nice work !

 

Nils

[Burroak]

I hope your having as much fun building this kit bash as I have had watching you do it. Your doing a great job and thanks for taking us along with you.

 

Greg

[JSGerson]

Rigging the Stay Blocks

 

I received numerous suggestions as to attaching the double block to the stay. Thanks you all for your comments. In the image below, I’ve tried to illustrate as best I could the methods (as I understood them) you have suggested:

[JSGerson]

I did some research as well. I found the following illustration in the 1891 Text-Book of Seamanship, the Equipping And Handling of Vessels Under Sail Or Steam For The Use of The United States Naval Academy By Commodore S. B. Luce, page 50, plate 24. The book is a bit more modern than the 1781 Rattlesnake but I don’t think the basics had changed that much.

[JSGerson]

You will notice in figure 172 how a block is attached to a stay, in this case, with a shackle (or hook?) using a Selvagee (Figure 170). “A Selvagee is made by warping. rope-yarn, spun-yarn, or small stuff, according to the size required, and marling down.” If I substitute the shackle for a stropping loop I have what I’m looking for. The next problem is: how to model it at 1:64 scale? If I tried to do the actual rig as illustrated, the result I believe would be too complex and too bulky. The answer of course is to simulate it. To do that, I chose to use Method 4. One of the stropping bitter ends will be spliced through the stay and seized upon itself while capturing the other bitter end. That should satisfy my need for some sort of mechanical joint as well as make it look somewhat like a Selvagee was used.

 

So much for theory; it didn’t work out that way. I forgot to take into consideration that that area of the main stay was served. Trying to penetrate that served rope with a needle in that confined area is almost impossible, and if perchance I should break the serving thread while trying to pierce the stay, the whole serving could unravel. So in the end, the block was just looped over the stay as originally illustrated in the plans very similar to method 1, which by the way was suggested by the Practicum’s author himself, Robert Hunt.

[JSGerson]

Once the double blocks where installed, the spritsail yard braces and lifts were strung. The braces go from the tips of the yard directly to the pin rail. The lifts, go from the yard tips through a block on the side of the bowsprit cap (previously installed) up through the double block on the forestay and down to and through a sheave in the bitt just forward of the foremast where it’s tied off. At this point none of the lines have been tidied up or finalized. They are still a bit loose.

[rschissler]

Wow, your attention to detail is amazing!

[fish]

All I can say is wow, what an amazing build so far. Makes me really want to buy the wood and practicum.

[scott larkins]

coming along well I see.

[JSGerson]

Status

 

My last log entry was posted a few days before Thanksgiving. Then I left for my annual trip to my Sister home in colonial New England where it not uncommon to see signs on homes stating they were built in the early 1700’s. It’s just outside of Hartford CT but very picturesque. Her house is only 35 years old, but that’s another story. Anyways, I spent the week there so no work was done on the model. Last week I returned home and thought I was all set to start work on the Spritsail Topsail Yard when I decided to check the rigging list provided by my Mamoli kit. And low and behold I discovered that I had forgotten to install the main and fore masts Topgallant stays which are very similar to the topmast backstays. So here it is, the beginning of a new week, the stays were constructed and installed, and now I am preparing to visit Mom in Florida (where else) for a week. She’s 97 and she’s got a bunch of “honey do’s” for me. I don’t know how much I’ll get accomplished this week on the model before I leave.

 

There was one other item that also took a day of my time. About 10 years or so ago, I bought a metal work bench. It had a clean metal work surface, drawers, and a peg board to hang tools and stuff. I added the power and lights. It work great and it would still work great today if I didn’t have so much stuff on it now. It’s gotten so bad that I have to clear a small spot very time in order to do anything. The model has to be on the coffee table because there is no room. Fed up, I finally bought a wooden work bench from Harbor Freight (a China store) for $135 - cheap. It weighs about 100 lbs so it’s solid. The instructions to assemble it were easy to follow, all the holes lined up, and all the hardware fit and worked. I couldn’t have asked for more. The two benches were placed in an L-shaped configuration and the work lamp can swing to either bench. This should make things a bit easier, at least until I started accumulating stuff again.