Rattlesnake by Jon219 - Model Shipways - 1:64 - First Build

[Jon219]

Masts

 

I've been working on the masts.  I could not work with the dowels provided with the kit, the wood was just too hard to shape, so I tried using some square basswood from the local Hobby Lobby and that worked much better for me. I could use my knife to get close to the shape and then sand smooth and round.  Working from the plans I'd decide on width several places along the length and then check with the calipers and slowly work the mast till it was close to the width from the plans and looked "right" to me.  I stained it with the same stain I've been using and used black construction paper for the iron bands of the Main and Fore masts.

 

I really enjoyed making the tops, but I had to substitute planking for the solid tops from the kit.

 

 

To get a little spacing between each plank I cut the planks longer than they needed to be and then laid them out on wax paper till i got the spacing I wanted and then I put glue on the laser cut rim piece where that section of planks would be and then set it down on top of the planks, trying not to disturb the spacing as I set it down. and then I trimmed and sanded the planks till they were even with the rim.

 

When placing the masts I realized that when I left the hole in the decking for the Mizzen mast, I placed the hole directly over the top of the spot in the frame for the Mizzen, not remembering that the Mizzen comes out at an angle so the hole is a bit out of place.  I managed to enlarge the hole and even had to undercut the mast a bit so it can sit at the proper angle.  I will have to custom build a Mizzen mast wedge and make it a bit bigger on one side to cover the gap between the mast and the deck.

 

I think I've gotten all the blocks and fittings on the masts that I'll need but I'm still not gluing them in place until I have to.

 

 

 

 

 

Ive been struggling with the bread and butter lifeboat and I just don't see any way to make it look presentable.  Possibly if I had an electric tool to work on the inside but even then I don't think it will ever look right.  I took a good look at the JSGearson post on building the Model Shipways lifeboat and since it was only about $5, I've ordered one and will give it a try, it looks challenging but fun.  I'll be referencing that post as I build it and can't give enough thanks for the effort put into documenting everything and laying it out so clearly.

 

 

[JSGerson]

I made a similar mistake with the Mizzen mast as well and had to enlarge the top hole. Luckily the mast wedge that I had made covered just about all of the excess hole that was left when the mast was finally seated.

 

Those tops really gave me all kinds of trouble. Yours look quite nice. 

 

The ships boat that came with the Mamoli kit was a pre-cut wooden shell and would have worked quite well and appeared to be a lot easier to use than MS's bread & butter version. Even still, I felt like it was cheating to use it since I had made most of the model from scratch once the keel and bulkheads were used. When I found the ship's boat model on Model Expo for $5 I had nothing to lose but try. Bending the ribs is the hardest part as the wood will kink rather then bend. If I could have figured out a way to draw the ribs to make a template, I believe it might have been easier to cut them out of airplane plywood. Sometimes I feel like I should have gotten a commission from Model Expo for the number of sales I inspired. 8-)

 

Jonathan

Edited April 4, 2015 by JSGerson

[scott larkins]

Looking good.  Can't see in the pics but did you leave plenty of space between the lower masts and the middle masts where the shrouds are run.  Make sure to leave a little extra for the lower yard arm lifts.

[Jon219]

Lifeboat

 

Got the Model Shipways lifeboat kit and for the most part followed the excellent log by JSGearson.  I did change a couple things though.

 

I didn't use a 1/16" square piece for the top strake.  Any way I looked at it with that size on the strake, it just looked off to me so I substituted the regular planking (1/32" x 3/32").  I then used a 1/32" x 1/16" plank on the top of the top strake and side bent it to match the curve of the hull.  It did kink a bit but I just sanded them out as best I could.

 

In the Model Shipways plans it looks to me like the bow and stern are a little higher than the center of the boat so I tried to give the model a little more of that curve by adjusting the tiny tabs that you lay the top strake on.  I left the two middle ones untouched but trimmed about half off the two outer ones to allow the plank to curve a but to the ends.  I seemed like that made a natural curve and the ends ended up right where I wanted them to be.

 

Observations

 

Pretty much ran into the same issues as JSGearson and being able to follow his build was a tremendous help.

 

I wanted to stain the inside of the boat dark to stand out against the lights detail pieces inside the boat, but my planking job was so poor that the stain came through and stained a lot of the outside of the boat.  So much for using a light stain for the one section on the outside.  On the Rattlesnake if my planks were a bit loose I could add some glue on the underside that's never seen and seal it.  A small model like this where you can see both sides of the planking requires a lot more skill to get tight.  I ended up just painting the outside white with the top strake black (hats off toe JSG again!).

 

With some glue on the inside boat surface and all the ribs there, staining the inside didn't come out near as well as I had hoped.  I'm not sure what I'd do if I was doing it again, I might try staining the wood before gluing it to the frame.  In any case there are enough other things inside of the boat that it's not too bad, just more blotchy than I would have liked.  Just another one of those live and learn experiences.

 

Made the oarlocks from a 1/16" square piece and just cut the angles and notches and then sliced it in half making two in the process. 

 

Still haven't done the rudder, don't think that will be too hard but I'm wondering if the rudder would have been attached when it was stowed on the ship or would have been inside and then put in place if they were planning on launching it.  For that matter it seems to me that the lifeboat would have been covered up by a tarp in real life but I'm guessing that for models it's such a nice piece of detail to see that most leave off the tarp.

 

For me the hardest part of working with something this size is that there's just no where to push without breaking something.  My technique is still rough enough that I sometimes need to push a piece a bit to get it in place and every time I did that it seemed like something broke.  I spent a good deal of time of the floor looking for tiny pieces.

 

I'm still debating if I'm going to try and add the little detail piece from the plans that sits on the top rail near the bow.  It looks purely ornamental but I'll probably give it a couple trys and see if I can get something that looks decent.

 

Also still need to do the oars, I've seen several different techniques to create them on the forums and trying to decide which way I'll go.

[JSGerson]

Very nice. It may be a small, cheap model kit, but it still takes a lot of skill to build right. I wouldn't let the "blotches" on the inside bother you. When was the last time you saw a pristine working boat? It just makes it more realistic. It's not a flaw, it's an attribute! BTW, I like those oarlocks.

[Ulises Victoria]

I am at this moment trying to make three of these boats for my Royal Louis. I find it almost impossible to bend the 1/16 square strips to conform to the curves of the forming frames. They indeed require a lot of skill!

[JSGerson]

I had the same problem bending those #$%^& ribs. I've been thinking it might have been easier to cut out the ribs (and more of them) from airplane plywood or boxwood directly to shape and skip the bending. You would have ended up with a stronger frame and planking would have be easier. That is assuming you knew how to shape the ribs in the first place so you could cut them out.

[scott larkins]

Coming along well.

[Jon219]

It's been forever since I posted but I've just been plugging along.  Started the rigging and I've been focusing on the Standing Rigging and the Bowsprit/Jibboom area, I wanted to hit that Bowsprit/Jibboom area because it just confused the heck out of me looking at the plans. By just focusing on one rope at a time and slowly working through it, at least most of it became clear to me.  

 

One thing that I'm trying to understand better is what order the rigging needs to be done in, I think the instructions are a bit simplistic in that they say finish all the standing rigging first and then proceed to the running rigging.  I understand starting at the running rigging to get everything in it's place and solid but there are times when I feel like I'll be leaving something underneath that will be a lot harder to get at once things "outside" it are done. So I've bounced a bit between running and standing rigging as I build it up.

 

At this point it's just pick a rope and work through the starting and ending of it and see how it goes.  Of course the biggest trick with the standing rigging is getting the tension on the ropes with the right balance of tight and not pulling things out of place.  I've had to replace a couple of ropes as later ropes have just make them too slack.

 

Here are my pictures of the Bowsprit/jibboom area. I still have the outer guys to put in place but I'm thinking I'll hold off on them for now. I'm trying to work out a way to make the footropes look good and I'll try to finish them up once I come up with something.

 

 

 

[GuntherMT]

Coming along nicely, and looking great Jon!  

[scott larkins]

Wow, looks good.   I did do all of the standing rigging first.  Most of the standing rigging is the shrouds, at least when it come to time consumption.  But as we've all said before, there is not one way to skin a cat in these kits.  Keep keeping on.  And you are right about reviewing the rope plans,  I've said it in my log, don't get caught up in the plans as a whole.  Focus on one rope and follow it through.

[RevKB]

Scott, she looks fantastic