Rattlesnake by MS

Aft gallows bitts, main grating and inboard elements of anchor rope installed.

I pre-drilled some holes in the deck planking with a [gasp] power drill after knocking out some of the slats in the main grating. Boy did I go slow with this stuff! Hard to come back from knocking big holes in your teak deck planks. The rope is 1.57mm light brown from Chuck Passaro and I think it makes a pretty good anchor rope, much better at least than the nylon stuff provided with this kit.
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Hi TKAM,

Beautiful work on your model.
One tip about the belaying of the anchor cable at the bitt, I would remove the wrap around and belay like below.
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And if @Maarten isn't a reliable enough source for you ;), here is a diagram, from Darcy Lever's Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor(the best-illustrated rigging book I own, after Lees, of course), on turning the cable over the bitt.

Your Rattlesnake is looking terrific, @TKAM , Nice work!
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Hi TKAM,

Beautiful work on your model.
One tip about the belaying of the anchor cable at the bitt, I would remove the wrap around and belay like below.
View attachment 161376

Oh boy I'm embarrassed showing my little model compared to yours. I really gotta work with more hardwood and less basswood.

Which side in the above picture are you talking about? One wrap around the vertical post of the bitt or just laying on the deck?
 
Topsail bitts fashioned and installed. This represents the last of the deck furniture except for the longboat. I started the longboat mini kit today. So far I like the product. From Russia the directions can be translated but are nevertheless bereft of much detail LOL! Still, it's pretty simple and I think the finished longboat will be better than the kit supplied launch.

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Dont be embaressed by your work I think it looks a hell of alot better than mine, taking a little break from the snake and started AL Constillation and not having fun with it, I was missing a whole sheet of plywood bulkheads I ended up buying a scroll saw and made new ones from the drawings and right now trying to fair in the bulkheads
 
TKAM, You mention that the long boat is from Russia. I just have to ask - which manufacturer? It looks great.
 
Dont be embaressed by your work I think it looks a hell of alot better than mine, taking a little break from the snake and started AL Constillation and not having fun with it, I was missing a whole sheet of plywood bulkheads I ended up buying a scroll saw and made new ones from the drawings and right now trying to fair in the bulkheads

Thanks Dawg!
 
TKAM, You mention that the long boat is from Russia. I just have to ask - which manufacturer? It looks great.

Jimsky is correct. Lemme know if you are going to make something similar, there are a few pitfalls to avoid.
 
Thank you - I will make use of your offer! Thumbsup
 
Back to my "work" place so time for some more Rattlesnake.

Finishing up the longboat with three coats of white paint for below the waterline, and the rudder too. Fore mast including the tops are almost finished, here is the top platform as yet unpainted. I will not paint the upper side of the platform, I like the planking too much to just paint over. I'm using Passaro cleats (wooden) for most/all of the project.

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Longboat complete. And yes, the rudder actually works. I also added some lashings for the spare booms that support the longboat. This also is not on the plans but seems appropriate, I mean these spare booms have to support the longboat and without a solid foundation the longboat would be sliding to and fro in high seas. Tomorrow I'll lash the longboat down. nbbvcgbv.jpgbncvb.jpgbnxvc.jpgmvbhgm.jpg
 
Has anyone tried using black dye instead of paint to color the wood without filling the grain in and making the timber look like plastic? Black leather dye comes to mind, but I'm wondering if such a dye wood bleed out after being applied and mess things up. USS Rattlesnake was one of the models I considered making as a first model, and the black masts and other trim look really nice. Painting wood seems to cover up the fine beauty of it and change its character when applied to large portions of the hull. It's the reason I didn't paint the bottom of La Couronne with a simulation of "white stuff".
 
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