Rattlesnake by Ed Ku20 - Model Shipways - 1:64

[Ed Ku20]

THE BOWSPRIT

Work on the Rattlesnake is moving slowly this summer.  Slow, but sure, progress is being made!

 

The Bowsprit is made with two wood dowels.  The bowsprit piece is thicker at ¼” in diameter.  According to the practicum the jib boom is made with a 5/32” dowel.  According to Model Shipways it should be 1/8”.  I went with 5/32”.  They are joined with a cap similar to the lower masts. 

 

Another difference is the length of the ¼” bowsprit section.  Per the practicum the bowsprit is 5-1/16” long.  However, per JSGerson, whom I’ve been following, the correct length is 5-7/8”.  According to my measurements, there should be 4” from outside the hole in the bow to the end of the cap (so, including the tenon).  On my model, I needed a total length of 5-5/8” to leave 4” outside the bow of the ship.

 

The end that sits on the main deck must be sanded flat.  On my ship this caused the bowsprit to have a little too steep of an angle.  I added some scrap wood to raise up the base of the bowsprit off the deck. 

 

The outer third of the bowsprit piece is tapered to 3/16” diameter at the end.  I used my power drill technique to achieve the correct taper.  A rectangular tenon was cut on the outside end.  This fits into a hole that is cut into the cap.  The tenon and the cap must be cut at an angle that is perpendicular to the waterline.  The cap is 3/32” thick x 9/16” long x 1/8” wide.  I just eyeballed the angle for the tenon from a dry fit position on the ship.  I cut it first.  Then I transferred the top and bottom marks of the tenon to the cap.  Drill a pilot hole in the cap for the bowsprit tenon and then enlarge and square up the hole using mini-files.

 

Here is a picture of the tenon laid over the cap to find & mark the angle

 

Next, I made the jib boom from a 5/32” dowel that is 4-3/4” long.  Taper the diameter to 1/16” at the forward end.  The practicum said do not round over the end.  Now the hole for the jib boom can be made in the mast cap, at the same angle as the bowsprit.  The jib boom fits thru the hole so that 1-1/2” extends aft from the back of the cap.  The last 1/8” of the jib boom tip is trimmed down to 1/16” to form a lip for rigging.  A hole is drilled just behind this lip for the jib stay to pass through.

 

A small saddle made from 1/16" square boxwood is fitted on top of the bowsprit and the jib boom sits in this saddle. The saddle has a concave surface both on top and the bottom where the bottom matches the curvature of the bowsprit and the top matches the curvature of the jib boom.  Sorry, I don’t have pictures during the process for each step.  Below are pics of the finished step.

 

The next step is to make a pair of “Bee’s and Bee Blocks”.  This is a support on either side of the bowsprit just behind the cap.  A hole is drilled in each one through which some fore topmast rigging passes.  I have some pictures.

 

The pair of Bee’s on the front end of the bowsprit

 

The Bee Blocks under the Bee’s provide support

 

Head on view of the Bees & their blocks

 

The Gammoning Cleats are the last pieces to be made and installed on the bowsprit at this time.  Started by dry fitting the bowsprit to determine where the Gammoning Cleats are to be positioned.  This was done by wrapping a single line from the gammoning slot straight up and around the bowsprit and through the gammoning slot again. A pencil line was drawn tracing the rigging line on the bowsprit. Six pieces of 1/32” x 3/32” stock were cut to 7/32” long.  These were set up in one of my jigs and the curved shape was cut into the end with a round mini-file.  The finished pieces are glued around the top half of the bowsprit.

 

Jig for cutting the shape into the Gammoning Cleats.  I cleaned them up with a sanding twig afterward

 

The cleats are glued to the bowsprit

 

Bowsprit with gammoning cleats positioned above the gammoning slot in the ship’s stem

 

The various parts and pieces for the bowsprit have been completed

 

The bowsprit is dry fitted on the ship

 

Views of the bowsprit after painting and staining

 

My next step is to make the yardarms.  Lots of sanding to taper the yards!  I will use the power drill.

 

Thanks for checking in on my progress!!

Ed

[Ed Ku20]

THE YARDARMS

There are 12 yardarms that need to be made.  Technically two of these are a gaff and a boom for the mizzen spanker sail.  But, all of them need to be tapered in some fashion.  I had to reconcile some dimensional differences between the Model Shipways plans and the Practicum.  I mostly went with the MS dimensions because I am using the dowel sizes that came with the kit.  However, the lengths of the various spars seemed to match up pretty well.

 

Here is a list of the 12 yardarms:

1.       BOWSPRIT SPRITSAIL YARD

2.       BOWSPRIT SPRITSAIL TOPSAIL YARD

3.       FORE YARD

4.       FORE TOPSAIL YARD

5.       FORE TOPGALLANT YARD

6.       MAIN YARD

7.       MAIN TOPSAIL YARD

8.       MAIN TOPGALLANT YARD

9.       MIZZEN CROSSJACK YARD

10.   MIZZEN TOPSAIL YARD

11.   SPANKER GAFF

12.   SPANKER BOOM

 

This post will cover the tapering of the yardarms/spars.  This was tedious work and took me close to a month, so I’m anxious to get something posted!  I still have to cut an octagon shape in the middle of 3 of the yardarms.  Also, chocks and sling cleats need to be carved and attached.  I’ll cover these steps for my next post.

 

The first thing I did was to create a spreadsheet to organize all the dimensions and sizes for the 12 spars.  I took a picture to show you what this looked like. I made a full-scale sketch of the tapered end of each yard before I started.  This drawing laid out the taper at various distances from the end of the yardarm.  These came from the MS blueprint plans using my digital caliper.  I did all of the 1/8” diameter yards first, then the 5/64 and finally 5/32.  Most of them are 1/8”.

 

 

Having just completed the bowsprit, I decided to start with the Spritsail Yard.  I used the following technique for all twelve.  For the gaff & boom only one end had to be tapered.

 

Preparation Steps

a.       For the Spritsail Yard, I used a 1/8” dowel; 5-1/2” long; Tapered to 1/16” on each end

b.       Cut the dowel to the required length & mark the center line

c.       The middle of each yard needs to be at the full diameter.  Cover the center with 1” wide blue masking tape.  I marked a line down the center of the blue tape so I could see the CL.

d.       Make a mark on each side of the centerline that shows where the end of the full diameter ends.  Wrap another piece of tape to protect this area from sanding.

e.       Cover the drill end of the dowel with another thicker layer of the 2” wide tape to protect the dowel while it is locked in the drill chock.  This is especially important when it’s time to insert the tapered end in the drill.  I had one accident where I snapped the thinned yardarm!

 

Sanding Steps

f.        I found that when I run the sandpaper evenly across the spinning wood dowel, it all comes out at the same diameter.  So, start with the largest diameter taper and sand from the blue tape to the end.  When this measurement is achieved, mark the next point on the dowel and sand until you achieve this number from the mark to the end.  Move from the center to the end in increasingly narrower sections until the taper is completed.  I would constantly stop to clean the sawdust off the sandpaper and check the diameter using the caliper while holding the end of the dowel up to my sketch.

g.       So, for the Spritsail Yard I used the drill to sand the exposed area all to 7/64 first.  Then mark where to stop with 7/64 and sand the next section down to 3/32.  Then finish the end down to 1/16” at the tip.

h.       When done I removed the blue tape from that end and smoothed/blended out this half with 220 grit paper.

i.         Now flip the yardarm around and repeat the steps on the other side

 

 

One dowel cut and another wrapped with masking tape and with one side tapered

 

Yardarm in the drill during tapering

 

Tapering finished on this one

 

Here are all the yardarms labelled after sanding

 

As I said, just a couple of more steps to complete the yardarms.  Then it will be time to start rigging!!  My Chicago Bears might be good this season.  I wouldn’t even mind if that interferes with shipbuilding!!

 

Thanks for looking in!

Ed