USS Constitution by Antonio Vasquez - Revell - scale 1/96 - PLASTIC

[popeye the sailor]

I spelt sail wrong......I'm los'in it   

[Antonio Vasquez]

My first try at using an airbrush. Wayyy slower than a spray can, way faster than a brush.  I have the knob open on the back all the way I was still getting very little paint out of the tip. I guess I may have to thin  it a little more.  I’m very pleased with the way came out though.

[popeye the sailor]

you'll have more control than with a spray can.   what brand is it?   I have a Spraycraft gravity feed that I haven't used yet.   practice with it.......you'l get comfortable using it     nice bit of painting there  

[Antonio Vasquez]

 I have no idea what brand it is. I bought it off eBay.

[Antonio Vasquez]

I am trying to attach the galley stern to the hull. The bottom part by the rudder has about a 1/32” gap so I know it’s not going to glue right. Should I buy some putty or would an epoxy or JB weld work better. I have been using wood filler for uneven spots but I don’t think it’s works well for gaps.

[popeye the sailor]

on plastic models,  wood filler is not always best. it will tend to crack over time.   it doesn't stick to plastic very well either.    Testor's and Tamiya have a plastic putty......there are other brands out there as well.

    the transom / counter part has always been a problem with these models..very hard to fit correctly.

[Antonio Vasquez]

 I have the main deck on. I thought I would use some of the styrene strips along the sides, so I am transferring the hole locations to the strips as I glue them on. I also picked up some Bondo spot putty for gaps. It worked way better than wood filler.

[Antonio Vasquez]

Galley stern finally fitted up.

[popeye the sailor]

looking very nice indeed.......even the transom came out well      the decks look great as well.

[Antonio Vasquez]

 I broke off a lot of the Belaying pins on my last plastic build.  I decided to try to make me a small fife rail to  accommodate some 6 mm be laying pins that I ordered.  I’m having a very hard time however holding onto and work the small wooden pieces.  I don’t want to use small vice grips or my hemostats because I’m afraid of leaving marks on the word. What do you guys who  work on wooden models use to grip those small pieces?

[lmagna]

Hello Antonio

I don't know about other people but I have an old pair of crossover tweezers that I like to use for stuff like that. I have had them so long that I don't even know where I got them but they are something like this:

 

Hope that may be of use to you as well.

 

Lou

[popeye the sailor]

I just use clothes pins........I flip the wood parts over on the spring ,  and it give it an  inverted look                                                                                                                        

[lmagna]

The clothespin system works well for holding regular stuff like for painting. but for tiny stuff like Antonio was showing they can be a little clumsy unless you cut the tip WAY down to a point. I would use them if that was all I had, if for no other reason other than they will not leave a mark on the wood, but i still think tweezers are better as they are a little more delicate in their application and easier to use on tiny parts.

 

Lou   

[Antonio Vasquez]

Time to start tying lines to the cannons. That may take awhile. I do like working with the rigging lines a lot more than painting.

[sprtsracer]

Just got my 1:96 "Connie" kit today! This is all going to help me immensely!

[Antonio Vasquez]

I have all the top guns on and tie down now. Currently working on getting the launches and the oars painted and mounted.

[Antonio Vasquez]

Very productive day today due to the rain.

[Antonio Vasquez]

 From the looks of it ,I am missing six holes. 

[Antonio Vasquez]

Woops, I found 90 and 91. Now I just feel stupid.

[popeye the sailor]

nawwww...that's when you go well beyond the step,  forgetting to do it      you've made some really nice progress,,,,very nice!   

[Antonio Vasquez]

These stachions are hard to work with, and very fragile as well.  I hope there’s a couple extra on the sprue  or I am going to be screwed.

[Antonio Vasquez]

Too many of those stanchions have broken on me. I’m going to have to find another way to do that maybe some narrow Staples if I can find them.

[Antonio Vasquez]

Bent some wire over a .188 in piece of steel. I used a welding tip cleaner to file a small groove in the rail and then glued the wire in. So far so good.

[DCooper]

A wise and elegant substitution for a fragile part that if broken latter in the build would have caused a lot of problems.  

 

Good solution.

 

Dan

[popeye the sailor]

I've heard of folks doing this........likely this is the reason why.  good save   

[Antonio Vasquez]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[Antonio Vasquez]

I need to figure a different way of doing these rails. I was sanding the flash off of one as gently as possible and it broke. I knew when I removed the piece from the sprue that those rails were going to get broken. I tried to cut a piece of red oak on my table saw the same size as the top rail. But it didn’t turn out very well. The wood had a large grain and the piece looked really rough when I was done. I wonder if anyone has done these rails a different way?

[lmagna]

Hi Antonio

 

You might go back to brass rod like you used in the hammock frames. Then you could possibly try a finer grain wood sanded smooth for the cap rail.

 

Lou

[DCooper]

May I humbly  suggest that you look at using soldered brass strip.  If you pre-tin the top rail and make a simple jig you should be able to put this together pretty easily even if you are new to soldering.  Much stronger result and once painted shouldn't look out of place.  IHTH  I am so enjoying your build and your ship looks beautiful.

 

Dan

[Antonio Vasquez]

Thanks for the ideas.  It’s really great to have other minds to bounce ideas off of.