This build log is to be blamed for my latest purchase, the Mamoli USS Rattlesnake. I have question about the color of the hull. How sure are we that the sides were painted yellow ochre? The Mamoli kit looks splendid in golden varnish like the cover art. Are there any historical references known which mention the ship's appearance? I'm looking to create the most authentic model based on what little we know. There must be more that is known for USS Rattlesnake than much older vessels such as La Couronne.
Also, what is known about what covered the lower hull? Some models use white stuff but this was far obsolete by 1780. I don't think it was copper sheathed like larger ships, but one source I read says it was. Basically, what color is the lower hull?
I would go with the Golden varnish. I painted the model to the specs in the MS plans. I also purchased the MS Rattlesnake paint kit to use on it. Looking at the Alfred, this pretty much matches its paint scheme except for the inner bulwarks. MS has it gray while the Alfred was red. From what I have been able to find, every Continental Navy ship of the time had the off white hulls. Keep in mind that most of these ships started out as merchant ships.
My end state with this ship was practice for the MS Constitution so I opted to get the experience using paint. That being said, even though the Constitution and the Victory are still around....some historians think the white on the gundeck was actually painted ochre.
As much as I wanted to practice working with copper plating, I opted to build it using the off white, my logic was that it was a privateer, not a funded government construction project, money was to be made in the capture of other ships, not the building of the ship. The war was going to end eventually, build something fast, make money fast and then ditch the ship at war's end because it really wasn't constructed to be a merchant ship. The hull difference between the Alfred ( originally a merchant ship) and the Rattlesnake pretty much show the difference between a ship that were built for commerce and a ship that was built for commerce raiding.
All that being said the varnish Mamoli Rattlesnake really looks much better than the painted MS Rattlesnake. If we really want to get technical, every ship started out vanished and unpainted.....
Something else to keep in mind, each Captain of a ship changed aspects of the ship when he took command. A ship commissioned by a Navy had regulations to adhere to, privateers... not so much.
My first wooden ship was the Enterprise, I built the hull had to deploy, no place to store it so it went in the dumpster. Lessons were learned on how to construct a plank on bulkhead hull.....it served its purpose.
My second ship the Prince de Neu Chatel (sp), I married while working on the hull so when I deployed, I had a place to store it. I finished that one and still have it.
I retired from the Marines, three kids and no time to build these ships. 25 years later the oldest is in the Navy. She ordered the Constitution for father's day 2020.... still hasn't arrived. This gave me an excuse to get the Rattlesnake as practice for when the Lt's model arrives... I needed practice. My daughter is having problems getting the Constitution, I told her to not worry about it..... I need more practice after the Rattlesnake.
Damn the paint, full varnish ahead.
