Hi Paul, you're off to a great start. I looked at this kit once. Remind me of the scale - it looks like 1:64 or 1:72?
It's 1:64.... the deck plank length became an issue with my daughters...very amusing watching their messages about the length.
Keep in mind, one daughter is a 27 year old Lt in the Navy. She is changing duty stations in March so she will be home for a couple of weeks. She built some of the cannons on my first ship 24 years ago. My other daughter is 17. These are their messages:
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Finished painting the hull, it came out okay. I sanded off too much primer and had to apply another primer coat between the 3rd & 4th air brush coats. I need to get the inboard bulkheads painted and install the gun deck before 13 March. The Lt will be home on leave for 2 weeks and she needs to work on the cannons. A lot of lessons being learned in preparation for my next build.
Thank you Paul, that means a lot coming from you.
Assembled the gun deck tonight. Main objective for now is to transfer it to the hull so that it will be ready for cannons when my SWO arrives on the 13th.
Glue dried so I figured I would test fit it.
Well, finally ran into a shortage. The kit had 2 11" grating strips. Doesn't matter if you lay them flat or do egg crate....there isn't enough for the model.
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I went to Pittsburgh for the weekend so no work was done. Tonight I put in the upper cheek.
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Did a little bit of work on the boat tonight. I ordered the binnacle from Crafty Sailor. The cheeks and the dog aren't the best but a good learning experience.
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Another mini kit from Crafty Sailor.
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Hi Paul, This is a very good effort, you are doing better than you think. I built an M.S. kit once and found that the wood was so soft that it was difficult to get sharp neat edges or a very smooth surface, try applying cellulose sanding sealer to it, it toughens the wood up and gives a better smoother surface to paint over. Don’t try and compare your build with those made from more expensive kits using better woods, they are easier to get a good finish, just carry on as your doing, I‘m enjoying your effort and will follow your progress
I like the way the pump turned out....PITA to build but worth the effort.
I finally got around to gluing the forecastle rails.....I have a gap. Something about this build that I am learning.....I could go on and not worry about it...or I could try to fix it. Good life lesson.
I'm figuring out how to fix it.
I'm figuring out how to fix it.
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- Joined
- Dec 16, 2016
- Messages
- 988
- Points
- 453
Hi Paul, I see that you’re getting on quite well with your build. I like the idea of your upgrade, it’s nice to have good detail to focus on, and it lifts the model. With regard to a recommended second build this is a difficult one as it will eventually come down to personal preference, ask ten people the same question and you will get ten different answers, but here’s my best two contenders by far. First is Panart Royal Caroline, this has been a best seller for over thirty years with good reason and builds into a very attractive model. My second and favourite would be Amati HMS Fly. This is one of the newer generation kits and as such it has raised the bar. It is more detailed than your Rattlesnake yet because of the materials used and a most complete step by step plans/instructions guide it would be easier to build well. It is not very expensive and not too large yet it has most of the build features of larger ships like the Victory. It is very complete even down to rigging hooks, you wouldn’t need to upgrade or buy anything to complete it to a high standard. The only thing that I felt was missing was the ships boat, I had to make one of my own. It is a very pretty ship, my wife likes it and although I have a collection of large impressive ships this is the one she lets me have on permanent display in our living room.
I’ve included some pics of the detailing you get with this model to give you some idea. Remember though this is only my personal choice, the build will be your model and that you must like it to want to build it.
I’ve included some pics of the detailing you get with this model to give you some idea. Remember though this is only my personal choice, the build will be your model and that you must like it to want to build it.