usedtosail

My problem with plastic has always been getting glue where it isn't supposed to be. Much harder to deal with than cleaning glue off wood, I think. But hten again, it has been probably 45 years since I built a plastic model 

My problem with plastic has always been getting glue where it isn't supposed to be. Much harder to deal with than cleaning glue off wood, I think. But hten again, it has been probably 45 years since I built a plastic model 

Nice work, Tom. I did not know that the pin rails had so many changes. 
Can you pin-point the location?
It is also refreshing to see that you have a 'scrap bin', some thing we all have at one time or other, but rather ignore.

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

For marking the shroud locations on the card, I just mark the tops and bottom position of each shroud, then remove the card and use a straight edge on the bench to make straight lines between the two marks for each shroud.

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

I finished up the hatch coamings, giving them a second coat of oak stain, which evened the color out some more. Here is how they came out, along with the kit supplied smoke stack.
 

 
I then test fit them to the supports I added previously. I have to make the supports for the rear one a little closer together as  it is balanced right on the edge.
 

 

 
Next up was the fore mast pin rail. I am using the kit supplied rail which has a lot of holes in it for belaying pins. I am not going to fill all the holes with pins, though. I thought that I would end up making my own rail, as this one looked kind of flimsy, but it stayed together through all the sanding and handling, so it gets to be used. I made the five supports for the rail on the lathe, using square stock which I rounded in the center. I then used the drill press to drill the holes for the simulated sheaves. I could only get two sets of sheaves on each support instead of the three shown on the plans, but at least there is something there.
 

 

 
To attach the rail to the supports, I wanted some sort of mechanical connection because the last thing I want to have happen is for the rail to come loose during rigging. I thought of pins but then saw these nails with a nice small head, so I experimented with drilling holes through the rail and into the support for the rails. You can see the pieces I experimented with in the top of the last picture. This looked pretty sturdy even without any glue, but my method was to drill the five holes in the rail, making sure they were centered in each area of the rail, then drill holes in the tops of the supports, but not for the full length of the nail. I then put wood glue on the top of the supports and CA on the nail shafts and placed them together, then gently tapped the nails home with a small hammer. I am hoping to be able to cover the nail heads with rope coils, or at least a little brown paint to blend them in. But the important part is that the rail is very well connected now to the supports.
 
I had previously made the bitts for the fore rail when I made them for the main rail, but they did not work out for the fore rail, as the sheaves were right where the fore rail attaches to them. So, I made two more using the plans from the kit, with a single sheave in the middle. Here they are dry fit with the rail. I used wire in the bottom of these through holes in the support around the mast to hold them in place. These will be planked around when I do the planking, but the rail supports will sit on the planking. I did add wire to the two outer supports and the middle support to help attach these to the deck when I get to that point.
 

 
I then made an attempt at the snatch blocks on either side of the bitts. These are a bit too thick, I think, so I will try thinning them down in place after the glue dries or rebuild these thinner.
 

 
No work in the workshop over the holiday weekend, but I will be back at it next week.
 
 

Thanks to George and Steve for the encouragement, and the likes. They all mean a lot.
 
I finished building all the remaining hatch coamings for the spar deck, using the supplied gratings. There is a good side to those gratings where the holes are nice and square, whereas the other side is not so good. Of course, the first few grates I installed I put in the wrong way and had to replace them later. Luckily I had a lot of grating material to work with since I did not use it for the main hatch.
 

 
And here they are after the first coat of oak stain. I was going to use some Pre-Stain on them before I stained them but my Pre-Stain had about 1/4 inch of what looked like foam rubber on top of it, so I didn't want to risk using it. They did come out a bit blotchy so I am hoping a second coat will help, maybe with some sanding before.
 

 
One of those coamings includes the platform for the galley smoke stack. I cleaned up the supplied metal stack with some files and sand paper. I was not sure if it would come out well because the metal had some pitting on it, but after priming and a first coat of weathered black paint, I am liking it.
 

 
Finally for today, I wanted to show off my new favorite sanding tool. I found this in a hardware store in New Hampshire. it has hook and loop on the block and the paper and comes with three grades of paper, so I can change paper instantly.
 

 
The true sander also was used quite a bit in making the coamings, especially to keep the edges of the grates and other wood filler pieces square.
 
 
 

I got into a groove last night so made a bunch of progress. I finished shaping each beam and clamped them in place so I could draw a centerline on each one. Now I have a reference point for adding the carlings to support the hatch coamings.
 

 
I then marked the locations of the carlings by measuring out from the centerline, and used a 1/8" end mill bit in the drill press to cut the slots for them. I set the depth of the cut by placing the bit so it just touched the beam, then set the depth stop of the drill press to .09". I could then just replace each beam in the vice so it was just touching the end mill and line up the bit using the XY table. I had to switch the beams to the other side of vice for the opposite cuts, and I found it was faster to just loosen the bolts holding the vice to the XY table and move the vise then to rotate the table all the way over. I did two beams at a time this way so there was less switching from side to side.
 

 
I then used a small chisel to square off the backs of the cuts as best I could and clamped the beams back into place. I cut smaller pieces of wood for the carlings and fit them in the slots. Here they are in place but nothing is glued down yet.
 

 

 
Not as good as you masters of POF are doing, but since these joints will be planked over I am OK with them. I will have to work on my technique if I do ever try my hand at open POF construction, though. These pictures give you an idea of the size of the hatch I am adding, which is quite a bit wider than the hatch on the current ship and ME plans. This hatch size came out of the AOS book.
 
I still have to work out how to support then front and back coaming pieces of the hatch, as these are between frames. I will probably add another piece, like a long ledge, between the carlings between those beams, with a little extra toward the front and back to support the ends of the deck planks there. I also have to figure out how I want to finish these beams. I am thinking of painting all of the beam sections that will be planked over off white on the sides and underneath to match the paint on the gun deck side planks (ceiling?), and stain the sections that will be exposed in the open hatch with oak stain. The order of construction and staining/painting still needs to be worked out.
 

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

A side update... I'm doing the drawings for the ship's boats and I'll be putting one together while waiting for glue to dry on the main hull.    So as not to "interrupt the flow of things", I'll either make them a separate log like Danny did for his, or just hold off until the planking is done.  Here's a bit of where I am on these. 
 
The longboat drawings are done but still need some tweaking.  Seems that I didn't always account for kerf which I finally managed to get down to 0.015" (0.381mm).  And man, these things are tiny.  Might just be the end of me....
 
Here's two pics of the parts being cut, which is something I couldn't do on a scrollsaw to save my soul.   I tried and failed several times.

 
 
And here's the resulting parts.... the keel is 5" or 125mm long.  The keel and assorted structural members are 1/16" (1.5mm) thick cherry.  The frames (which look like bulkheads are 1/32" (0.79mm)) cherry and the other parts (knees, seats, thwarts on the upper left and upper right) are 1/32" from scrap holly but I'll have to redo them in boxwood as soon I as get some milled down.  I'm planning on using Chuck's method but gluing the bulkheads upside down into a basswood jig for handling and planking.
 
There (hopefully) will be two more boats.  A barge and cutter and all will be nested into the longboat.
 

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

Thank you all for the comments and the likes. 
 
Thomas - I like your assortment of sanding sticks. I have a few of those but don't use them as much as I should.
 
JParsley - Welcome and thank you, but what fun would that be for you? You are doing a great job on your Constellation. The Conny would be a fine next model for you.
 
Dan - Nice to meet you and thank you. I agree with your assessment of the Conny history. It has been fun interpreting the various sources available. My son just graduated from UMass Lowell, but is staying an extra year to get his Masters degree. We have been spending a lot of time there since he has been living there.
 
Tim, George, and Rich - thanks for your continued encouragement.

Hi Guys,
 
Time for another update.
 
A lot has happened since my last post not least the loss of my pictorial record of the build, it just disappeared. I searched my Laptop to the best of my ability but no luck, fortunately I still have them on my phone but because they had already been downloaded the laptop didn't want to copy the pictures, several hours later I have managed to recover 215 pictures plus the latest photos, I just have to organise them into some sort of order.
 
OK, progress made so-far is as follows:- Waterways ( Box )  are made and fitted, Spirketing ( Redheart ) made and fitted and the Deck Planking ( Holly ) has been laid and drilled out for treenails. The Bulwarks ( Redheart ) have been fitted and made ready for drilling out for the bolts, this will have to wait until the deck is treenailed and given a coat of WOP.
 
I mustn't forget the rings on the hatch have been changed to smaller ones.
 
Time for some pictures I hope.
 
Waterway and Spirketing on the Starboard side

 
The Portside

 
Portside Bulwarks

 
Starboard Bulwarks

 
The deck planks were cut to size and black paper glued to one side for Caulking.

 

 
The first seven planks have been laid, the first plank alongside the waterway required tapering.

 

 
The next three pics are of the completed planking and drilled out ready for the treenails, (a mix of sanding dust).

 

 

 
So that's where I am at the moment, still behind the boss and nowhere near catching up, I have been busy watching the cricket though, oooops.
 
That's it for now gents, any and all comments, remarks and criticisms are welcome. 
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

Tom,
 
Your work and patience are to be recognized.
 
Thanks for sharing
Dan

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

I have been working on the U shaped main pin rail, which is a deviation from the kit supplied rails. I am using plans from the Constitution CD for this rail, which makes it easier to fabricate the pieces, at least. This U shaped rail is a distinctive feature of the Constitution over the other frigates of the time, so I really wanted to include it. I used the supplied rail for around the fore mast, only because I have no information on how it might have been different in 1812. I am also going to be adding the spider rail on the mizzen mast instead of the supplied rail, for the same reason as the U shaped rail. The Revell plastic kit includes these details, but the ME kit is the modern ship so does not have them.
 
I started by cutting the three rail pieces. I copied the plans and cut out templates for the rail pieces, which I glued to what I thought was 1/16" birch plywood because I knew these pieces would be prone to split. For the two lower rails, I glued two sheets together so I could cut them out and shape them at the same time. I then soaked these in alcohol to separate them, which worked great. I used sandpaper and a rounded file to get the final shapes after cutting the rough shapes on the scroll saw.
 

 
I then made the posts to hold these rail pieces. Here I deviated from the plans some. For instance, the plans show three separate sections for each post, with each section between the rails and sharing the holes in the rail. At this scale, I was pretty sure there was no way this would be both strong and straight. So, I made the posts as one piece, with the rounded parts the same diameter as the rest of the post, instead of larger as shown on the plans. It would not have been possible to slip the rails onto the posts if they were larger. I also used a thinner piece of dowel for the posts than shown because there is almost no wood left on the rails on either side of the holes if I used the larger sized dowel, as you can see on the above template.
 
I made the posts on the lathe by marking off the round sections and using s diamond file on edge to round them, then some fine sandpaper to clean them up. I moved the dowel for each section so I was always working close to the chuck, to avoid breaking the dowel while turning it.
 

 

 

 
It was now time to drill the holes for the posts in the rails. I first drilled the four holes in the top rail, using the template as a guide. I then used the top rail itself as a guide for the holes in the bottom two rails. At this point I realized I was not working with plywood, because both of the bottom pieces split. The holes were still rather large for these pieces too. So, I decided to make the lower pieces a bit more like the top piece with more wood around the holes. I traced the top rail onto the plywood then shortened the ends and cut them out individually on the scroll saw this time. I sanded them down a bit and drilled the holes, and was successful on one of the them. I had to remake the second, and again it split, although this time it was while dry fitting it to a post. For the final and successful try I traced the shape onto the wood, drilled the holes and made sure the poles slid in easily, then cut it out and shaped it. Here are the pieces, although the bottom piece was the last one that split. You can see the hole on the left is too close to the edge. By drilling the holes before cutting out the last piece, I could adjust the edge slightly to make sure the hole was centered more accurately.
 

 
I also drilled the holes for the belaying pins in the top rail, then dry fit the rails and posts. I am pretty happy with the look so far. I am going to try to glue them up without taking them apart again, but we will see. I even added a few belaying pins to see how they would look. I had to shorten them by about a 1/32" to make sure I could fit a piece of line under them.
 

 

 
And for full disclosure, here is the bone pile of broken rails.
 

 
I still have a bit of work to do on this piece after gluing. I have to sand down the tops of the posts to be flush with the top rail, and even up the bottoms of the posts. I think I am going to drill post sized holes in the support pieces before I plank the deck and glue these posts into the support pieces, then plank around them. Otherwise I would have to glue these thin posts to the decking, and even with some wire through the deck for extra support I think it will be too fragile later on when rigging. There are also six sheaves between the two bottom rails shown on the plans, which I am attempting to reproduce. They are a bit small, but I have some prototypes made that may work. Of course, I will let you know if they work or not.

Well this little windlass is taking awhile so I'm doing an update of the weeks adventures.
 
First on the agenda was to move the windlass back 12inches. I won't say who(Harry), but no room was left for the samson post which has the pawl and hand pump assembly.

The pawl was made by soldering three brass strips that extended through a small, rectangled brass stock. The pivot arm was attached atop the samson post and fitted with links to attach to the purchase arms.

Next, the purchase arms were made from thin brass tubing and were beaten into submission. Solid brass rods were inserted into the ends to accept more links. Finally, the purchase arm were attached to the rear of the windlass with a tiny pin nail and secured with a drop of CA.

After much painful eye straining, final adjustments were made and the links were joined together. Next was making the detachable pump handles. While there was wood being turned, I made a couple of belaying pins to check for fit and appearance.

In this trial fit of the handles, they proved to be too short. So extensions were added to the handles to achieve the desired length.

Everything fit well in the end, even the first of many belaying pins.

This picture shows the handles in the up and down position, which are the only moving parts to the windlass.

Here's a penny for reference. I still plan to add whipping to the handles and a bracket on the front of the samson post to hold the handles when not in use. Also in debate is blackening or not. Might be awhile before that's figured out.

Thanks Mark and Marc.
 
There is an interesting thing I was thinking of. If you succeeded in something miniature, on some way, to me it seems that, success in some way pin you down to keep that line of detailing. It does not matter that you need a magnifier to see something. I thing that "invisible" details gives something special in whole picture on the similar way as high range of frequencies gives special feeling to music you listen 
 
Usual Saturday ... garden work at morning and after lunch fight with Yuka, and after that, nice time in shipyard at the evening
 
First decided to finish right cat-head with whisker boom  - complete done. I decided to put on it all possible shackle I am able to make, so, I started to play with beats ( brass wire 0,5 mm in 0,5 mm holes cemented with CA and covered with black acrylic

First - whisker. Two angles ( to up and to the back) are presented, and I tried to follow angles on C-plans
 
Temporary in place
 

 
And a details of connection.
 

 
Then .... uh how small are this ... very hard to control them ... making 
Dry testing
 

 
It can not pass through the hole I made, so it have to be mounted later
 
And then I decided to try one nice detail, which is, I suppose, necessary for proper rigging of bowsprit ( on C-plans called "Eyebair for Fore Tuck")
 

 
Little improvisation ( wire goes through sheave) and here we are. here are cleat, pins on both side of cat-head, and "cat-stopper" (?)
 
Uh, oh, ah, it seems I forgot to extend "cat-stopper" through bullwark to the outside on the fore surface of cat ... something to do next time, but it will be difficult, considering everything is cemented
 

 
Ok, cathead is cemented on place, and there is time to put beats/beasts on their place. There is something in C-plans called "Iron horn", but there simply has no place for it, considering whiskers are a bit over-scale thick
 

 
Hmmm ... little overscaled, but I can live with this
 
And after painting
 

 
And whole look of cat head with mounted whiskers boom
 

 
 
 
Edit: previewing post I noticed that I mixed pictures and text, but, i think you get a point. One of this days I ll edit this post properly. To late now 

Sherry, that is a beautiful lighting effect. Those lanterns and cannons are really impressive, too.

Doris, what a truly inspiring work the Royal Caroline is. And thank you for sharing the views into your other wonderful models on display. I could spend hours in that room.

Sherry, that is a beautiful lighting effect. Those lanterns and cannons are really impressive, too.

Sherry, that is a beautiful lighting effect. Those lanterns and cannons are really impressive, too.