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

[xken]

Jonathan, just stopped by to check out your w order foul build. Keep up the great work! I saw the dialog about machines and if you are pondering purchaseing machines check out Sherline Inc. they are incredible machines with a full line of accessories. I use my lathe for all my wood turning as well as metal.

[JSGerson]

Thanks for dropping by Ken (xKen). Buying a milling machine will remain on my wish list for now. As I have mentioned, all of the woodwork on this build is complete and I won't start the Frigate Constitution until I've completed my Rattlesnake - I don't need any more diversions to its completion, I go slow enough. That gives me time to figure out exactly what I need vs what I want; the two, contrary to popular belief, are not necessarily the same.

 

Jonathan

[JSGerson]

There is no consensus that I could find that states which is the best order to add the yards and booms so I decided to work again from the stern forward, bottom to top, one level at a time. In other words, add the mizzen booms, then the lowest yards working forward. This would be followed by the midlevel yards aft to forward and finally the top masts aft to forward. Whether this is the optimum way to do this or not, I don’t know. We’ll see.

 

Mizzen Boom

 

Thus the first order of business was to rig the mizzen boom. There was more stuff on this piece than I realized. It required 12 blocks; some were double blocks and others required hooks.  Speaking of blocks with hooks, the Mamoli plans show that the Guy Pendant goes to a tied block on the taffrail (the railing above the transom) eyebolt. The MS drawing indicates that the block is hooked to the eyebolt. I couldn’t use Antscherl’s book as a guide because the model he was describing only had a gaff, no boom. However Petersson’s “Rigging Period Ship Models” did show that blocks attached to the hull were hooked. So, I decided to go with the hooked block because I thought that is what was probable used, plus I thought it looked better (what do I know?).

 

Mizzen Boom Parral

 

Another difference between the plans is the boom and gaff parrals. Mamoli just uses a loop of rope while MS shows a single rope with parrals and no ribs. Checking my sources, James Lees’ “The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625 – 1860” confirmed that no parral ribs were used for the boom and gaff but made no mention (that I could find) of using just rope. Maybe no parrals were used on smaller ships, I don’t know, so again I chose to follow MS. Lees stated that these trucks were about 3/8 the width of the boom. Since the boom and gaff were 0.10” and 0.09” at their widest point meant their trucks were 0.075 and 0.034” respectfully. I purchased a small bag of beads from a local bead shop. I got the smallest size they had. The bag was marked “size 11” which meant nothing to me. I measured them when I got home – 0.08”. These guys are tiny and I don’t think I could handle, let alone thread, anything smaller, so that’s what I used. One other thing, real trucks tend to be as wide if not wider than their diameter; these beads are a bit narrower. That raised the next question, what size is the rope used to thread the trucks? The only places where I found which described the parral rope size was Antscherl who used 2” (circumference) line (0.01” mini-rope) for his gaff, and the Smithsonian’s plans which showed 1½“ line (0.007”). Since I have both the kit’s 0.009” rope and Syren’s 0.008” rope, I had a choice, not that anyone could see the difference; I chose Syren, it looks better.

[JSGerson]

Installing the Mizzen Boom

 

The first order of business was rigging the parral. Before installation, the parral line was attached to one of the boom’s jaws with a pseudo eye splice through the pre drilled hole in the jaw, and five beads were threaded on. The boom was positioned and the line was threaded through the hole in the other jaw and tied with a simple knot and glued. Now it was just a matter of hooking everything up and adding the two blocks to the pre drilled holes on the mast cap and a block each to the pre-drilled holes on the deck on either side of the mast. Sounds simple, of course I’m describing all the failed attempts due to dropped and lost hooks, failed block stroppings, wrong length of line used, etc. You know the drill.

[David Lester]

Hi Jonathan,

I saw your comments in another build log, but thought I'd respond in here. I think your observations of Bob Hunt's practicums are valid. The Constitution is my second build using his courses and there are definitely some minor issues with them. There are quite a few typos and from time to time he skips over things I would like more detail on then spends more time I need on others, but these are minor complaints and overall I simply couldn't be enjoying this hobby nearly as much without them.

 

I'm following your build log, as the Mamoli Rattlesnake is my next build. I had decided early on that I wanted to build this model at sometime in the future. I wanted the Mamoli one, mainly because I already had two MS kits and wanted experience with a different manufacturer. And then, I heard that Mamoli was out of business! I watched ebay in the hopes that a Rattlesnake would turn up and in time one did. I didn't buy it as soon as I saw it and when I did decide to buy it later in the day, I was too late and it was gone. Now, not only did I want one but I had to have one. I was not given much encouragement by any suppliers including a retailer not far away from me in Toronto. They told me the chance of finding one was slim, then about two weeks later they called and said they'd located one, so I bought it.

 

I'm not sure when I'll get to building it as I have "miles to go before I sleep..." on my Constitution. I have the practicum for it too, but I'm not sure yet to what extent I will kit bash it. I guess time will tell.

 

Your model is looking beautiful.

 

David 

[DocBlake]

Jonathan:  Beautiful work, as always!

 

David:  When you start your Rattler I may just bring mine out of mothballs and resume work on it!

[JSGerson]

David - I chose the Mamoli kit because the practicum was based on it, although you can use the practicum with MS kit for the most part. I had no idea what MS kit looked like at that time. I finally purchased the MS plans on one of MS's many sales and got it cheap and downloaded their building instructions from their website. 

 

The structure of the two sets of plans are completely different. I like the Mamoli plans because it gives more detail diagrams, but I have to look at multiple diagrams to get a complete picture of what I have to do. The instructions are written on the plans and for me difficult to read - I wear strong  tri-focals using an eye loupe as I am blind as a bat without these optics. Being a newbe, this has been a problem for me especially the rigging. There are numerous places where I could have done things sooner, off the model, and easier had I understood and realized it.

 

The MS plans give a more complete picture but less detailed breakdown diagrams and no sense of order of construction with individual instructions all over the place on the plans and instruction booklet. So I use both now, but as you have surely read on my log, there are differences in the details. Then I have Harold Hahn's plans (which Bob's practicum is based on) and through another builder, the plans for the Smithsonian model. Again some differences in detail in each.

 

If you can, get the wood supplement described in the practicum. I got mine at Hobby Mills before Jeff Hayes retired from the business. Jason Clark's Crown Timberyard has picked up the slack and provides a very nice product. If he doesn't have the list of replacement wood and sizes, I can provide that based on the invoice of what I got.

 

DocBlake - Thanks for the like. I can understand why you put your Rattler aside, that transom can be very frustrating if something goes wrong especially if you don't know what it was that went wrong. When you get the courage to go at it again, I'll be watching.

 

Jonathan

[JSGerson]

Installing the Gaff Boom

 

Installing the gaff was very similar to the mizzen boom however there were a few surprises. The gaff halliard goes from the tip of the gaff through a double block strapped under the mizzen cap, back to a block half way down the gaff, up through the double block again, down to a deck block and ties off to a deck cleat. That double block should have been installed during the assembly of the mizzen mast as it was a real pain to strap it on at this point.

 

Then I discovered that I needed to add cleats to the deck on each side of the mizzen mast for the gaff halliard tie off and the gaff throat halliard tie off (the line that lifts the gaff jaws). It turns out that I had added the cleats when constructing the deck but I placed them forward of the mast instead of aft. Because the deck was constructed to show the deck below, the area where the cleats needed to be was open so partial planks had to cut to fit. I also had to use the Syren cleats because I didn’t have any more kit cleats. I left the misplaced cleats in place.

 

Another item that had to be installed, were the jeers to hold up the mizzen cross jack yard. These should also have been installed when it was easier when the mizzen mast was being assembled; but because I was/am a newbie to rigging, I didn’t know that. I know I will have the same and similar problems on the main and fore masts.

 

At the tip of the gaff is a small eyebolt where the flag halliard block is attached. The Mamoli plans call for a 4mm block, the equivalent of a 10” full scale block. The MS instructions state “The halliards are single lines reeved through very small blocks on the gaff.” It does not indicate a particular block size. The MS instructions seem more reasonable; you don’t need a large block for a flag. I used a Warner Woods 2mm (5”) block stropped with sewing thread. From my research, since the instructions were not very precise, the flag halliard is a continuous loop and is tied off to the most convenient point so I chose the obvious point, the boom. If the flag halliard went to a cleat on the deck there would have to be enough slack rope to accommodate the swing of the boom and gaff. If the halliard were tied off to the boom the two would move in unison and no excess slack would be needed. I suspect the flag halliards are tied off to a small cleat on the boom but near set of plans address such a cleat. I could be totally wrong. For that reason I do not plan to add the flag to the halliard at this point for two reasons. First, somehow adding the flags seems like the final act of a model build and second, I’m not sure how it supposed to be done. For now, I’ll just tie if off to the boom with no flag. 

 

Any thoughts out there?

[Martin W]

Great work, Jon.  As for the question about the flag, I agree that it does seem like the finishing touch to a long build.  I haven't put a flag on either of my builds, don't know why exactly, I just chose to avoid the very dilemma you're facing.  Looking at a few other builds (I just now went back and glanced at the Pickle being built by Peter/Flyer), I would say that the flag halliard belays on cleat down at the bulwark.  Your logic about it belaying on the boom also makes sense, however.

 

Captain's Choice?

 

Martin

[JSGerson]

I queried Peter/Flyer on his Pickle build log about the flag haliard. He replied as as follows:

 

My first approach to this problem was with logic - as you did. You may see the result on Pegasus where I took the flag line through a block on the outer end of the boom and belayed it on a cleat, put into the side of the boom. However for some reason it seems that the usual solution was not logical. I believe it was Jack Aubrey who once stated that there were two ways to do something: The right way and the way the navy does it.

 

In Pickles excellent building manual the rigging of the flag halyard is described in detail. The flag line block should be placed on the outer part of the gaff. However I placed it on an eyebolt in the end of the gaff as mentioned by Marquardt. The halyard now runs through that block with 2 free ends - one holding the flag. Both ends are belayed on the same cleat on the inner bulwark. An identical cleat would be available on the opposite bulwark. This arrangement seems to confirm several illustrations and paintings where the flag line leads from the tip of the gaff somewhere towards the bulwark some distance forward of the taffrail. You would have to rearrange that flag halyard frequently when tacking - but this was probably the navy way.

 

 At this point my haliard is a loop loosely tied to the boom. I will continue my research to see if there are alternative acceptable "Navy" methods. As I previously stated, adding the flags will probably be my steps.

[JSGerson]

Spyglass, commenting on Flyer's Pickle build log (post 260), may have solved my flag haliard problem:

 

The two ended hoist problem is easily solved - you knot the two ends together and belay them as one.

Two type of gaff situation

• Larger vessels in general gaff stays put most of the time. Hoist arrangment can be treated as semi permanent
• Smaller vessels - gaff is raised and lowered often - hoist line gets the way.  All smaller  vessels that I have been on flew hoists from a "crosstree" point on the mast or on a staff on the stern

[Martin W]

A neat solution . . . and that's why this forum is so good.

[KenW]

Great work Jon. 

My understanding is that the staff at the stern was only used when the boat was in port.

Not sure about when the boat was at sea - watching here to follow your research.

Cheers.

[scott larkins]

Jon,

 

Been a while since I dropped in on your build.  I see it is coming along well.  I read a few pages back to catch up and I see you discovered the same fun I had when you came to find out some cleats where not added when they could have been.  Just one of my frustrations with the written instructions of the building company.  Especially in your case where you didn't put in all of the deck to show things underneath it.  I still find it amazing, now that I finished mine, that so many ropes were on a ship and tucked into so many spots.

 

Word of warning to your upcoming rigging. There are going to be cleats on almost, if not all, of your shrouds.  They are tuff to put on and tie on so they are straight.  Plus to very careful of routing those lines.  Don't let them wrap around your previous lines.  There were a few times I had to rethread lines, and I was paying attention.

 

Keep up the good work, your build is amazing.

[JSGerson]

Thanks for the warnings , Scott, I kinda figured there would be surprises waiting for me; I'm learning as I am going. Having never done this before I know there are traps out there waiting to spring at the worst possible moment. Presently I am rigging the the yards off-ship and hope I get most of the stuff on and in the right place.

 

Jon

[scott larkins]

Jon,

 

Also watch to bow sprit and the yards out there.  Again, a ton of ropes.  If you aren't doing sails like I did though there will be a few less for you to deal with.  If you look back at my montage of pics and look at my bow pic you will find out what I am talking about.  But keep it going man, this is looking great.

[JSGerson]

No sails. I'm not that masochistic 8-) 

[JSGerson]

It’s been about two months since I last reported my progress, but if you have been following along with me for a while you will know that in a race with a snail and a turtle, I would lose. Yes, I’m slow. That, plus the fact that I’ve been out of the shipyard doing things that needed to be done and among them, I visited Mom for a week and a half at her condo in Florida As a matter of fact, Mom will be 98 in the first week of June.

 

I did manage to work I on the yards, trying to put as much stuff on them before I install them on the model. I’ve added footropes, blocks, and some halyards to the eight remaining yards.  Because I live with a cat, the yards are stored in the workbench drawer which I can close (cats and string…etc.), so I couldn’t lay out all the lines neatly for a photo.

[JSGerson]

Jeers

 

As I discovered while installing the booms on the Mizzen mast, I could have, should have added more stuff to the masts before I installed them; in this case, the jeers. There is a lashing that goes around the mast just above the mast top to which the jeers are attached. The lashing in turn is supported by a chock on the opposite side of the mast from where the jeer hangs. The Main and Fore mast each have a pair of jeers. There was no instruction as to how many turns of lashing was required but looking closely with a magnifying glass on the Mamoli drawings, it appears the lashing goes twice around the mast. According to Mamoli, the jeer uses 0.80 mm rope. Because the lash goes around twice, I used 0.40 mm rope for the lashing figuring two ropes of 0.40 mm should have the same strength as one rope of 0.80 mm.

[JSGerson]

Another missing detail was how the lashings were fixed in place, that is, how were they tied off? I decided to make an eye loop at one end of the lashing, wrap it around the mast twice and pass the bitter end through the eye loop. I originally wanted to seize the end so that one loop would pass through the other. I found this too difficult to accomplish due to the tight restricted working space. I simple made an overhand knot with a dab of CA glue. Right or wrong it’s done.

[donrobinson]

Very nice work, the rigging is looking great

[JSGerson]

Main Yardarm

 

The first yardarm is now on the model, not fully rigged, but still, on the model. This was accomplished by first making an eye splice at one end of a 0.80 mm leer halyard, looping it around the main yard inside the yard’s center cleats and threading the other end through the eye splice and pulling it taught. The first photo below shows one halyard on the yard and the other halyard lying behind it, waiting to be wrapped onto the yard. The second photo shows both attached.

[JSGerson]

The halyards then pass through the leer block and down towards the deck. There, just above the forecastle deck the halyards terminate at a double block. The double block is rigged with 0.45 mm line to a double block on the deck next to the main mast. The deck double block is connected to a ring which in turn is connected to a deck eye-ring

 

In addition, the yard is secured to the mast with two 0.45 mm rope loops starting on either side of the mast, which allows the yard to slide up and down the mast as well as pivot. I tried getting a clear image of the double blocks, but getting a camera in there was very challenging. BTW, I broke my hand rail by the fore castle ladder, which I will have to re-glue. Not sure if I should wait after more stuff is installed or do it now while I still have clear access to it.

[JSGerson]

Now came the part I’ve been dreading ever since I installed them last year – rigging the blocks under the Main and Foremast fighting tops. If you may remember, I decided to rig crow’s feet because it was shown on the Harold Hahn plans and it looked like an interesting project. Neither Model Shipways nor Mamoli showed it in their plans. As a result of creating the crow’s feet, the blocks which were tied to the edges of the top in the kits’ plans had to be move to the underside of the top platforms. 

[JSGerson]

The new block positions left very little wiggle room for rigging and that was before all of the other factors were considered:

• Getting underneath the fighting tops just to look at the blocks on the underside was difficult
• Actually seeing the rigging holes in the blocks very difficult
• When they could be seen, the blocks were not necessarily angled such that the rigging holes were facing in a direction to optimize rigging
• Confined working space due to interference with other lines
• Use of headset magnifiers and eyeglass clip-ons magnifiers reduced depth of field to zero – I couldn’t tell what was in front or behind of what. I was constantly grabbing for things with my tweezers that weren’t where I thought they were and running into rigging the was blurred so strongly, they were invisible
• Because of the magnifiers, the working distance was reduced and getting one’s face and hand close enough for focal range of the magnifiers was deterred by existing rigging
• If I could hold the rigging line in a pair of tweezers to try to rig the block, I could not brace my hand on anything to steady it
• If I could actually get the line to the block, the block could move at the slightest touch because it was just hanging there without support

It took a lot of concentration, patience, and tenacity sometimes taking anywhere from 5 minutes to two hours just to rig one block.  There are six blocks on either side of the mast for a total of 12 blocks per mast and there are two masts to rig this way. .I had to stop after no more than two hours, successful or not.

 

Surprisingly, if the stars and the planets lined up just so, and if good fortune smiled at me, the rigging line slipped right through the block. However, some of the block rigging was faked by wrapping the line that was supposed to go through the block, around the block tie used to connect it to the fighting top. It’s not what I wanted to do, but it was all I could do. Lucky one would be hard pressed to see my cheats.

 

Just recently, Blue Ensign, a highly regarded builder posting here on ModelShipWorld.com, showed an image of his Pegasus foremast top blocks. I noticed his blocks hung a bit lower than mine which probably makes rigging them much easier. I wish I had known that a year ago.

 

Once the lines passed through the blocks, they were terminated at the pin rail on the forecastle with some GS Hypo fabric glue. Since more lines have to be installed on the main yard, I was afraid they may affect the tensioning on these lines. The fabric glue can be easily removed to re-tension if necessary. Once I feel confident that the lines are properly set, I will add the rope coils to the pin rails. Now I have to do it again for the fore main yard.

[DocBlake]

Great job on the rigging!

[KenW]

Great job! I remember those issues from my last model. Persistence always pays off.

Cheers.

[scott larkins]

Oh I see you have entered the nightmarish and twisted world of the ropes.  Good luck my friend.  Word of advise, as you thread them through the various blocks and holes, make sure you give them a little tug before tying them. It will help to see if you accidently wrapped a rope around another or could find a better way to route them up into the platforms.  Plenty of times I found I had to reroute as things got more cluttered.

[JSGerson]

Well the fore main yard has now been hung. It actually took me less time than the main yard but I was set back first, by breaking off the starboard fore castle stair railing from the waist. Not only was it knocked off, but I somehow lost the upper stanchion which obviously had to be refabricated. Second, by somehow catching the bowsprit yard haul-in block that is attached to the top of the fore stay. It got pull off which meant I had to tie back on. I thought it would be a cinch (pun intended). But like we all know, Murphy rules: it’s never as easy as it looks. The problems were the usual: confined space to work in, not enough fingers, fingers are too big, etc. Here is what she looks like now. Please note there are still a LOT of final tie offs to be done, gun ports to repair, etc.

[KenW]

Your model is looking really good! Excellent work; and of course fortitude.

A quick practical question - Would you recommend holding off on the crows feet until after the lower yards are attached? I was wondering if that would make the rigging of all those blocks under the tops easier.

Thanks.

Edited July 3, 2016 by KenW