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Constitution by jfinan - FINISHED - BlueJacket Shipcrafters


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I'm at the very first stage of the build of Blue Jacket's Constitution build. Unlike Model Shipway's plank on bulkhead construction seen here in other builds, I opted for this semi-solid hull build. I say "semi" as although the focus is not on hull construction but on detail in the gun and spar decks. Despite having some experience with Blue Jacket ( i built the Portland several years ago) I have already had a few questions swiftly answered by the good folks at Blue Jacket. This is far from a "cut it out and glue it together" build. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Stay tuned.
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Hi Jim,

I'm really pleased you're doing a build log for this model and I'll be following along with great interest.

David


Current Build - St. Roch, Billing Boats; HMS Agamemnon, Caldercraft (on hold)

Previous Builds - Armed Virginia Sloop, Model Shipways; Constitution, Model Shipways; Rattlesnake, Mamoli; Virginia Privateer, Marine Model Co, restoration; Prince de Neufchatel, Model Shipways; Charles W. Morgan, Model Shipways; Pride of Baltimore II, Model Shipways, Bluenose, Model Shipways (x2); Niagara, Model Shipways; Mayfower, Model Shipways; Shamrock V, Amati; HMS Pegasus, Victory/Amati

 

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Day 2. Is this where I continue on with my build progress? I'm a newbie to MSW. Anyhow, I've created a profile template from the full-scale plans. You can see from the pic out of the box the hull is a little off at the stern. Better too big than too small. Once shaped correctly the hull will be marked for 37 station templates (see second pic) whose soul purpose is to check those compound curves.  I see some fine sanding in my future. I'm beginning to doubt I'm putting this submission in the right place. Help!

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Connie3.jpg

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Jfinan - I think you've got the hang of it and this is the spot for your build photos. Keep up with the good work and I'm watching your build. I'm almost 2 years out now on my 1:96 Connie by Revell but also working on a Bluenose that's almost complete. Take your time and don't be afraid to ask questions or for advice. Someone in here will come to your rescue. Other modelers have helped me along my path. Smooth sailing and look forward to many more photos. Cheers!

Robert O

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Day 3. A block of wood is screwed to the hull to allow mounting in the vice. A little carving and a whole lot of sanding. My "go-to" tools for this work are the Black and Decker RTX with a small Dremel carving bit, and a Dremel Multi-Max for sanding. After some minor filling I'll hand sand with fine and super-fine paper. Right hand to sand; left hand to check. 

Connie4.jpg

Connie5.jpg

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Jim, the hull looks great. I look forward to following your progress, especially to see the differences between the Blue Jacket and MS models. 

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Drawing in the water line: First a small tick mark is placed vertically 22 scale feet from the keel at the stern and 20 scale feet at the bow. A rig is built to hold the marker then the hull cradle is "adjusted" so that when the marker rig is firmly seated the marks line up at both ends. The hull cradle is a "borrow" from a Bluenose I I build years ago. The line is drawn sliding the marker rig around the hull on a very smooth surface. Ta-da! I hope the rest of it  is this easy! Probably not!

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Edited by jfinan
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With the hull cleaned up I thought it was time to build a work cradle:
connie14.thumb.jpg.a976737e685146cda22cdb0db2ca2ffc.jpg

The wood at the transom is cut out. Later a photo etched plate fits here:connie15.thumb.jpg.45e8dee908128c166b034582d0e60277.jpg
I've started to thin out the interior of the bulwarks. Fairly easy task near the cap rail but I'm a bit stymied as how to thin out the interior down at the gun deck. The bottom is three eighths of an inch further in than the top. That's a lot of carving out. Anybody got a simple solution or suggested tool for this task?
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connie15.jpg

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Jfinan,

 

I have attached pictures of this stage in my Newsboy build here in MSW.  I used sharp gouges to carve vertically and remove excessive bulwark material.  A dial caliper was used to monitor thickness.

 

Pete

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Edited by Pete Jaquith

Pete Jaquith

Shipbuilder

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Thanks, Pete, for your input and the pics. I need a set of decent carving tools, especially that dial caliper!! I ended up using a Dremel with a small saw blade marked with masking tape at 3/8" and ran it horizontally along the gun deck. That set my depth. Now I'm using the dremel vertically to give me a rough cut. I see a lot of sanding in my future. I wish I had serious carving skills like you!

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  • 4 weeks later...

After a short hiatus I'm back to work on the Constitution. As it's a solid hull one can go ahead and simply paint but I have opted to add actual planking down to the water line and copper plates thereafter. I've learned the hard way on a previous kit not to attempt to stain after gluing as stain will not penetrate any glue errors. As seen in the pic I have stained the planks with black ink prior to installation. If I was to paint them I would lose the wood detail so stain was the answer. 

connie19.jpg

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I like your work jfinan. Your work on the bulwarks was excellent. I didn't do near as well with them on my BlueJacket model. With all the mistakes I made it still turned into a beautiful model. I never was happy with the bow vertical supports. I could never figure them out so I winged it. I used decals I made for the fine striping. I made decals for the cannon barrels ends since there are no holes. I still do not know if I got the stern quarter galleries stools right. My BlueJacket reference pictures were terrible.

Edited by CPS_skybolt
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11 hours ago, CPS_skybolt said:

I like your work jfinan. Your work on the bulwarks was excellent. I didn't do near as well with them on my BlueJacket model. With all the mistakes I made it still turned into a beautiful model. I never was happy with the bow vertical supports. I could never figure them out so I winged it. I used decals I made for the fine striping. I made decals for the cannon barrels ends since there are no holes. I still do not know if I got the stern quarter galleries stools right. My BlueJacket reference pictures were terrible.

Thanks CPS_skybolt for your note. I'll have to watch out for those vertical supports. I agree with you completely regarding those galleries. Even with lots of Google images as reference it's very difficult to ascertain the final shape of them given the five pieces involved. Bending the parts so the edges match up AND fit snugly to the hull is a bit of a monster. I love a challenge but I kinda wish BlueJacket manufactured those as one piece and in the final shape. I'm sure Nic and company have good reason for doing it as is. As a partial solution I've made a cardstock template of the transom and temporarily glued it in place just to give me some sort of reference. Did you opt for the hull planking? I love the "authentic"look. See below:connie20.jpg.deedc758ade54709b624ef0b3c1ae91f.jpg 

connie21.jpg

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Ref. "  Did you opt for the hull planking? I love the "authentic"look. See below: " Yes, I put the planking on. However, I sanded them smooth and lost the definition of the individual planks. Another mistake I made was to put the copper on the hull with CA glue. This caused some discoloring so I had to paint the copper to cover the discolor. Not a good effect.

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Edited by CPS_skybolt
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21 hours ago, CPS_skybolt said:

Ref. "  Did you opt for the hull planking? I love the "authentic"look. See below: " Yes, I put the planking on. However, I sanded them smooth and lost the definition of the individual planks. Another mistake I made was to put the copper on the hull with CA glue. This caused some discoloring so I had to paint the copper to cover the discolor. Not a good effect.

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One nice lookin' boat! Good note about sanding. I have a small amount of sanding to do and will be careful to not go so far as to lose definition. I'm glad I got your warning about using CA glue on the copper. Blue Jacket recommends using Weldbond Universal. I think the surface will have to be made non-porous first. A sealer of some kind?

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20 hours ago, CPS_skybolt said:

Jfinan, Just found the best reference for the stern quarter galleries stools .

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Thanks for this. I've seen this shot from the last large restoration. I've CA assembled the five parts that make up one of the quarter galleys but it will take some bending and prodding to have it fit flush to the hull and transom. A little added lumber might be required...similar to the picture!

 

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The decision to plank the hull necessitated me jumping ahead to deal with the two quarter galleries made up of five castings each. I shaped them, prepped the glue surfaces, taped the backs then added CA glue to the seams. Tricky bit of business. I thought about reaming out the windows.....but then  I shook my head and sobered up.

connie23.jpg

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