Rattlesnake 1782 by Gregory - Scale 1:48 - Plans from ModelShipways & NMM

[Gregory]

Have been working on the skeleton and some mini projects, including the anchors and the cannon, that I will be documenting soon.

Other things to look forward to are the capstan, binnacle and long boat.

Here is the rough bow filler.

 

Smoothed out.

 

Counter and stern filler.  I find it easier to work with layers rather than one big piece.

 

Getting close to a final shape.  Starting to anticipate the run of the planking.  The MS plans have some very detailed planking info, which I find very helpful , but I am calculating my plank dimensions based on the larger scale and what I feel looks good based on some other models.

I will be double planking because I want to finish with some cherry veneer I have.  I'm laying this first plank even with the gun deck so I can get a foundation for setting up the gun ports.

I need to get something going with the bulwarks to make it harder to break off those bulkhead extensions.  I have only broke one so far, but I see it happening again.

Something that made laying that first plank a little easier for me was to use these little pieces to butt up against while the glue set.

I also split the plank up into two pieces instead of using the the typical full length plank, which I have done before, following most kit instructions.

I find the long planks unwieldy, particularly on a longer model like this. I may use more than two pieces at times as the first layer continues.

 

 

[Oldsalt1950]

Looking good Gregory. Those cross pieces on the bulkheads do snap easily. I think I broke a couple more than once.

[Gregory]

Are the bulkheads on the MS kit bass or plywood?

 

I have found my 5/32 plywood to be pretty robust, and those cross pieces seem strong to me..  

 

I broke this one with a little thumb pressure while sanding.

[Cathead]

This looks super interesting, though I'm late to the party. Are you planning on painting the cherry hull & stem, or leaving it natural?

[Gregory]

Thanks for looking in.

I will try to use as little paint as possible, while using various woods and maybe some stain for contrast.

About the only place I plan to use paint will be some black for the smoke stack.

[Gregory]

I put together a gun to help set up the gun port frames.

 

 

In the end, I will adjust the elevation and the position of the carriage for a more centered look,  but I wanted to make sure there are no clearance issues before framing the gun ports.

I'm using some 33mm barrels at this point, which scale to a little over 5 feet.. 

We discussed this in other Rattlesnake logs, and the 6 pounders on the MS and Hahn plans scale to less than 5 feet.  The guns provided in the kit also scale to less than 5 feet.

Research says 6 pounders were at least 6 feet.  I think the MS  guns on the MS plans look a little small,  but scaling them up to 6 feet  look a little big to me, accurate they may be.

 

I'm going to go for a balanced look, and I think the  33mm barrels I have look OK.

 

39mm Scales to 6 feet 3, and they just look big on the model to me.

 

[javajohn]

There is no plywood in the MS kit; it is 100% basswood. I'm looking forward to seeing what woods you choose for your build.

[Gregory]

I hope I can be successful in making it work.  My idea may not turn out to be practical, but I will see.

[glbarlow]

On 7/9/2022 at 7:15 PM, Gregory said:

split the plank up into two pieces

Or three and follow a shift pattern just for fun. 
 

Not sure I’m seeing the photo correctly, I’d recommend you end one plank and start the next as squared ends (bevel the bottom of both for tighter fit) on a bulkhead. Also vary the bulkhead where the next rows meet by two bulkheads. I do this by marking a shift pattern on the bulkheads with a red pencil. Doesn’t have to be elaborate, just a repeated pattern. 
 

You’re off to a great start, enjoy!

[Gregory]

Thanks for looking in.  Your work is one of my main go-to's and sources of inspiration

 

What I have described is the first planking.   Plank I am laying down as a base that I will be applying planks made from veneer as the final planking.

I realize it doesn't hurt to practice good practice, but I will just be using convenient lengths of planks and edge bending where needed. A few small gaps can be tolerated.

The diagonal cut give me more gluing surface at the bulkheads,  I may be adding some additional filler pieces as I proceed.

I will be creating a final planking pattern with inspiration from cheerful and Winchelsea.

It will involve laying out belts, tick marks, butt shifts, and the whole shebang over the first layer.

With the veneer I will be using spilling techniques that require little or no edge bending.

 

Please let me know if you see anything that could use advice or tips  based on your experience.

 

Greg

Edited July 21, 2022 by Gregory

[Gregory]

The gratings are one of those projects that has to be done sooner or later.

 

I used the laser to make some grating strips.  This is 1/16 AYC.  I will probably be using other wood, but haven't settled on that yet.

 

 

Used the Proxxon saw to make some battens from 1/32 sheet.

 

Looks pretty ugly in the initial assembly.

 

Looking better after trimming and sanding

 

This is tentatively where this will go on the deck..  I see I oriented the battens wrong.  I will fix that.

I will probably adjust the size to better fit the plan.  The NMM plans have this feature labeled as a companion, and Campbell shows it as a grating which looks OK to me.

Should have some coamings soon.

[Gregory]

I haven't been idle..

I have a false deck in place.  I used 1/32 bass. Those gaps are not pretty, but will not be apparent later on.

 

Then, more adventures in grating.

 

I was trying different approaches with cherry.  The one on the left  was made with cut grating strips, and battens. You can see I had a problem with alignment, resulting in openings that are not of uniform size.  Also,

the grating strips and the battens were cut from different sheets, and I really didn't notice the huge color difference until it was put together and wiped down with a coat of poly.

 

The build method using battens across a layer of grating strips.

 I then went with interlocking the grating strips cut from the same sheet.

Ended up with this with some coamings added..  Not sure if this will be my final choice of wood, but I hope the building practice will pay off.

 

 

 

[allanyed]

Gregory

 

Your gratings look great, but I wish you had not shown the laser cut pieces.  It is really a great idea but I hate the thought of having to buy one and then learn how to use it!! 😀  Do you know what the kerf of the laser cut itself is?  Is it something easy to set up as well as the depth of the cut?  I am fooling around with a fully framed 1:196 project and making the gratings will be a challenge to make to scale the old fashioned way as done by Lloyd McCaffery.  The cut I need is anywhere from  0.013" to 0.015" and McMaster Carr has blades, but the set up will be a challenge.  

 

Allan
 

[Gregory]

2 hours ago, allanyed said:

Do you know what the kerf of the laser cut itself is? 

I wish I had a good way of determining that.  I think .o13 would be pushing it.  However when cutting out pieces with a laser it is more of an issue  of what is left behind than the size of the cut itself.

Of course, smaller is better, which means less waste.

 

I have this in my stash, which is .6 mm.  That is .0236", so approaching twice what you are looking for.  I think it is intended for 1:72 scale. Which would yield a 1.7" opening.

A little small for my taste at that.  I like 2.5-3" myself.

This is etched, so not made with strips. My laser would be hard pressed to make sharp little squares like that due to the size of the beam  and the resolution of the beam movement.

I really don't think a laser would be a good solution at your scale, unless you are in the market for a production machine costing thousands.

I am thinking about trying out one of these tabletop lasers :  ATOMSTACK Laser Engraver

They claim a kerf of .16mm = 0.00629" , which might do the job for you, even if the machine doesn't match the claim.  The mechanical resolution might be another issue.

 

At best, I still believe  you would be looking at an etched solution and not cutting, mainly because of the thickness of your material.

 

I will let you know how it goes with the Atomstack, if and when I get one.

 

Please feel free to ask any more questions.

 

As always, thanks for looking in and taking interest.

 

Gregory

 

[allanyed]

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation Gregory, it is appreciated.  Another good day, living and learning!!

Allan 

[src]

This looks like a great project. So nice to get in on a build in the early days. This build is on my wish list, probably a kit rather than a scratch though.

Sam

[Gregory]

Thanks for looking in..  I have really enjoyed your Enterprise log.  There are several ModelShipways Rattlesnake builds in progress.  They should be useful if you go that route.

[AnobiumPunctatum]

On 5/15/2022 at 2:55 AM, Gregory said:

I have scanned the framework from the MS plans and am in the process of  upscaling from 1:64 to 1:48.  I use Adobe Photo Shop Elements 2020, and it is a simple matter of resizing the scanned images by a factor of 125%.

Hi Gregory,
 

I read through your log this morning. I am little bit curious about your scale conversion.

1/48 is 133.33% bigger than 1/64. So you are not building the model in scale 1/48, if my calculation is right. It is not a big issue but you have to think on it, if you use information from the NMM drawing. You have to shrink the measurements.

 

I will follow your log.

[Gregory]

You are right sir! I guess I was having a bad math day when I started this..  I am so glad you pointed this out before I had progressed very far..

 

Almost 7% is really not that small at these scales.

 

Now I know why I kept  coming up with small differences between my enlarged plans and the NMM plans..

I was also thinking the MS plans had some errors that they did not have.

 

This will make an important difference when I tackle the carvings, as the NMM drawings are going to to be my main source for that.  

 

I'm going to give this some further thought, and I may just start over..  Doing so will help me overcome some other issues I have discovered as I build..

Edited August 26, 2022 by Gregory

[Dave_E]

I’m feeling you Gregory. I think we all have felt what you felt as you read the post by Christian. We will support you regardless of which way you decide to procede. 👍😊

[Gregory]

Thanks Dave..

 

It's really a blessing in disguise.  I was not that happy with the way some of my efforts were proceeding, so this will be a chance to do some things differently.

 

I'll post more when I have a new framework and talk about some of the problems i encountered..

[Thukydides]

Also feel your pain. It is never fun to have to go back and start over or redo something that didn't turn out the way you wanted. Whether you continue at the 125% scale and attempt to correct the issues or you go back to redo it take a step back to do things right is in my option always the better way to go.

[src]

On 8/23/2022 at 6:42 PM, Gregory said:

I have really enjoyed your Enterprise log.

Thanks Greg, its been a journey.

Re; unseen errors, those are some of the most frustrating things to come up against. At least you found out early in the game.

sam

[javajohn]

Gregory,

 

I too feel your pain on starting over, but on the other hand, you will be a better modeler for the experience, and so will the rest of us as we follow along. I want to do a scratch build someday and it is logs like yours that I will turn to.

[Gregory]

I appreciate all the encouragement.  There was a little initial dismay, but in the end I'm looking forward to doing it right.

 

I have the new backbone and a couple of bulkheads cut out.  Added the rabbeting strip. 

Depleted my stash of the  5/32 plywood I used for ver.1, so I'm going with 3/16 this time.

The overall length is 30 something mm more than my earlier efforts . Not a big difference, but enough to change the look and feel for me..

The resized plans are a near perfect match to the NMM drawings.  Most important, I'm still having fun..

[Dave_E]

Now there’s an attitude to remember when up against a big “oh no”! 👍😀

Edited August 31, 2022 by Dave_E

[glbarlow]

Knowing when, more importantly accepting when to tear it off or start over is what distinguishes great from good enough. 
 

You’re making the right call. We’ll done. 

[mtaylor]

Looks to be an excellent re-start Gregory.  And good on you for re-starting instead of giving up.  I've found that having plans scanned and printed is one thing.  Having them all end up at proper scale for all is sometimes a bit of the headache.

[Gregory]

Not a lot of progress to show, but I spent a lot of time re-doing the stem.  I knocked this out in 1/8 Bass. Just a test to see how the parts go together.

I'm looking to make those scarf joints a little tighter.  Flipping the piece for laser cutting should take care of that.

Edited September 6, 2022 by Gregory

[src]

Gregory, looks good.

I seem to be missing something, I am assuming you are referring to the bottom piece when you say flipping for the laser cutting. if you flip that part wont that just make the alignment issues worse? Your curves will be off.

Sam