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Constitution by Geoff Matson - Model Shipways 2040 - 1/76 scale


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I don't know anything about guns or how to maintain them, but I did see something about using Birchwood Super Blue for blacking. Do you know if this stuff is the same thing as Birchwood Perma Blue?

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Current Build: Model Shipways USS Frigate Constitution
 
Past Builds:    Bob Hunt's kitbash of the Mamoli Rattlesnake

                         Model Shipways Typical Ship’s Boat for the Rattlesnake

                         Mini-Mamoli solid hull British Schooner Evergreen
                         Model Airways Albatros D.Va - 1917, The Red Baron's Forgotten Fighter

 
​Member: Nautical Research Guild

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I have used both on guns as well as the chain. This is just a little stronger medium. I got his one from the gun area at Walmart. Another benefit of living in the country. It looks good and I find it easier than painting. When I mount the bow sprit I will post a picture. I am holding off on the bowsprit for as long as I can. I am afraid I will break something. Once I get to the stays I will have to mount it. 

Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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I am getting close to installing the foremast. I was often confused about whether to clue it or leave it loose and let the rigging keep it in place. I know if I glue it, I will break it and be screwed. If I just set it in the mast hole and let the rigging hold it in place, it will twist, and I will be screwed. I came upon another method that I am going to use. It is a product called Quick-Stix remove-able wax. I purchased it on Amazon for $5.00 .My wife has a friend who builds miniature doll houses and uses it all the time. It is a soft wax that sticks to what it is applied too. It holds the item firm in place. If you need to remove it, ok. If you need to tweak it, ok. I feel it will be great on the masts and bowsprit. Just put a little ball of the wax on the bottom of the mast and stick it in place. It will hold them in place, while the rigging is done. If you have an accident, you can remove it. You could use it in many instances while modeling. 

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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Cool idea.  Thanks for sharing Geoff!

Mike

 

Current Wooden builds:  Amati/Victory Pegasus  MS Charles W. Morgan  Euromodel La Renommèe  

 

Plastic builds:    SB2U-1 Vindicator 1/48  Five Star Yaeyama 1/700  Pit Road Asashio and Akashi 1/700 diorama  Walrus 1/48 and Albatross 1/700  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/32  Eduard Sikorsky JRS-1 1/72  IJN Notoro 1/700  Akitsu Maru 1/700

 

Completed builds :  Caldercraft Brig Badger   Amati Hannah - Ship in Bottle  Pit Road Hatsuzakura 1/700   Hasegawa Shimakaze 1:350

F4B-4 and P-6E 1/72  Accurate Miniatures F3F-1/F3F-2 1/48  Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat built as FM-1 1/48  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/48

Citroen 2CV 1/24 - Airfix and Tamiya  Entex Morgan 3-wheeler 1/16

 

Terminated build:  HMS Lyme (based on Corel Unicorn)  

 

On the shelf:  Euromodel Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde; Caldercraft Victory; too many plastic ship, plane and car kits

 

Future potential scratch builds:  HMS Lyme (from NMM plans); Le Gros Ventre (from Ancre monographs), Dutch ship from Ab Hoving book, HMS Sussex from McCardle book, Philadelphia gunboat (Smithsonian plans)

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I made a little progress today. I have the swifter lines on the foremast roughed in. I rigged as much of the foremast off the ship to make it as easy as I could. When I did this I needed a way to hold the rat nest of lines off the model and not get snagged on anything. I picked up a couple of those plexiglass picture frames that you stick the pictures it. They work great keeping the lines from getting caught on the model. 

 

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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I got my feet wet over the weekend on the starting of the rigging the lower foremast shrouds. All in all, it went pretty well. My plan is to finish the lower formast shrouds by the weekend. I used my (quik stik) to set my mast. It works well and lets me tweak the mast when necessary. My deadeye spacer is working well. I made all my line with the Byrnes Ropewalk. I chose cotton thread. All my line is tied with actual knots. The knots are then set with diluted white glue. The cotton thread lets the glue soak in. Once everything is set and the way I like it I trim off the whiskers. 

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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Dave:  In the picture, the line with the double and triple block is called the swifter. There is one on the port and one on the starboard. They are single.  Then you have the first pair of shrouds on each side. They are paired, two to the starboard side and then two to the port side. I started from the stem and worked aft. Keep pin mind as you work aft the shrouds do get longer. Hope this helps. 

Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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I made some progress this week. I finished the foremast lower shrouds and added the shear pole. Every things was tied and then the knots set with diluted white glue. I was really amazed how the shear pole firmed everything up. This week I will attempt to get the lower main mast and shrouds installed. This whole process is very tedious and I try to work on about one hour sessions and then take some breaks. I am getting pretty good at tying knots with tweezers. 😁

 

 

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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Get used to doing everything with tweezers soon. Get yourself some long ones to reach through the rigging once you start on the running rigging. Your shrouds look great.

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Beautiful work!  Very clever idea with the picture frames.

Mike

 

Current Wooden builds:  Amati/Victory Pegasus  MS Charles W. Morgan  Euromodel La Renommèe  

 

Plastic builds:    SB2U-1 Vindicator 1/48  Five Star Yaeyama 1/700  Pit Road Asashio and Akashi 1/700 diorama  Walrus 1/48 and Albatross 1/700  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/32  Eduard Sikorsky JRS-1 1/72  IJN Notoro 1/700  Akitsu Maru 1/700

 

Completed builds :  Caldercraft Brig Badger   Amati Hannah - Ship in Bottle  Pit Road Hatsuzakura 1/700   Hasegawa Shimakaze 1:350

F4B-4 and P-6E 1/72  Accurate Miniatures F3F-1/F3F-2 1/48  Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat built as FM-1 1/48  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/48

Citroen 2CV 1/24 - Airfix and Tamiya  Entex Morgan 3-wheeler 1/16

 

Terminated build:  HMS Lyme (based on Corel Unicorn)  

 

On the shelf:  Euromodel Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde; Caldercraft Victory; too many plastic ship, plane and car kits

 

Future potential scratch builds:  HMS Lyme (from NMM plans); Le Gros Ventre (from Ancre monographs), Dutch ship from Ab Hoving book, HMS Sussex from McCardle book, Philadelphia gunboat (Smithsonian plans)

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jfinan:   The kit supplies you with a roll of copper tape. It is up to you figure out what to do with it. Since I started the kit years ago I went with the ponce wheel and tape. I think the ponce wheel is over kill. If I were to do it over I would just do the plain blank plates. At a scale of 1/76 I don't think you would see the bolts. But at the time I thought it looked cool. In the future I am going to try and stay with 1/4 inch scale. That way I think the details will look more realistic.  Thanks for the interest.

Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is  my latest progress. I have finished the lower main mast shrouds. Things are going well. I have posted two pictures. One has all the threads attached before trimming and the other is the finished product. Now it is on the to the mizzen mast shrouds.

 

 

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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Here is my progress for the week. All the lower shrouds are finished. Some were easy and other parts really kicked my butt, but I got them finished.

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I ran into a planning problem I did not think of. I need to install the chain gammoning to the bowsprit. I checked some of the other build logs and came up with a plan. The main problem was how to get the chain thru the  two small holes in the stem. ( I should have wondered what went there :) So, I will let the pictures show how I did it.

 

 

 

 

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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At first glance, it looked like you had the gammon chain coming through the seat of ease, but upon closer inspection it turned out to be a shadow. Nice job.

 

Jon

Current Build: Model Shipways USS Frigate Constitution
 
Past Builds:    Bob Hunt's kitbash of the Mamoli Rattlesnake

                         Model Shipways Typical Ship’s Boat for the Rattlesnake

                         Mini-Mamoli solid hull British Schooner Evergreen
                         Model Airways Albatros D.Va - 1917, The Red Baron's Forgotten Fighter

 
​Member: Nautical Research Guild

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I am now working on the bobstays. I had already rigged the bobstay collars on the bowsprit. i like to do as much rigging off of the model as I can.  Again I will let the pictures do the talking. Once I was happy that all would work out as planned, I discovered a potential problem. All the bobstay rigging would be in the way of rigging the fore stay hearts. I decided to stop at this point and work on the forestay hearts.

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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I have my open hearts made and placed on the bowsprit. It worked out adding them now and not having to fight with the bobstays in the way. The thin line running to the foremast is just a place holder for now. Now that I have this done, I will go back and finish the bobstays.

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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Here is my latest update. Having the open hearts in place on the bowsprit made attaching the bobstays a lot easier. I attached them from the top down. 

IMG_2491.jpeg

Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 years later...

I am back after four years of avoiding rigging my Conny. The more I looked and researched it the harder it looked. Well, I finally decided I could do it and with winter coming to Northern Illinois I can now allow some time to work on it. I have backed my Conny out of dry dock and am ready to proceed. I am following Bob Hunt's course on building the Conny. I have gotten this far with the course and will follow along to the end. I have made all of my modeling scale rope with the help of Jim Byrnes Ropewalk and numerous kinds of cotton threads. I went over all the rigging lines with Plan 7 sheet of the plans. I have labeled all the line sizes and what I need. I feel. like this took all the four years to get this far. I have all the lower shrouds rigged and am progressing to the top shrouds. 

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Geoff

NRG member #2666
Current build : USS Constitution

 

Finished builds: Armed Virginia Sloop (in gallery)

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