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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I finished cleaning up all the spar deck gun ports:
I then drilled the hole for the bowsprit in the bow. I got a little carried away though
The outer plank ends were a bit splintered so, I took them off and will replank there to plank around the bowsprit. I cut the tenon into the end of the dowel that will become the bowsprit so it is centered correctly and I can take it in and out and get it back to the same place. I took the inside planks off because they were not bent enough in the center and the bulwark was too thick at the bow. I will bend new plank sections there, again cut around the bowsprit, then add the rivet heads before gluing them in. it will be a little slow because I can only do one plank at a time on each side.
In the mean time, I want to clean up the spar deck waterways and sheer plank a bit, as they are rough in spots, especially around the curve of the bow. Then I will paint the insides of the spar deck gun ports black, then mix up some green paint for the inside bulwarks and paint them. Luckily I have a few days off from work, so maybe this will all get done by early next week.
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usedtosail got a reaction from SkerryAmp in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I finished cleaning up all the spar deck gun ports:
I then drilled the hole for the bowsprit in the bow. I got a little carried away though
The outer plank ends were a bit splintered so, I took them off and will replank there to plank around the bowsprit. I cut the tenon into the end of the dowel that will become the bowsprit so it is centered correctly and I can take it in and out and get it back to the same place. I took the inside planks off because they were not bent enough in the center and the bulwark was too thick at the bow. I will bend new plank sections there, again cut around the bowsprit, then add the rivet heads before gluing them in. it will be a little slow because I can only do one plank at a time on each side.
In the mean time, I want to clean up the spar deck waterways and sheer plank a bit, as they are rough in spots, especially around the curve of the bow. Then I will paint the insides of the spar deck gun ports black, then mix up some green paint for the inside bulwarks and paint them. Luckily I have a few days off from work, so maybe this will all get done by early next week.
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I finished replacing the inner bulwark planking with the glue drop riveted planks. I sanded the spar deck gun ports on the starboard side so they were square. I used a sanding stick for the sides, but this time I did not sand all the way to the bottom of the gun ports. I cleaned up the bottom of the sides with a riffler file that did not have teeth on the sides, so I didn't sand into the sill like I did the first time. I then finished the interior of the gun ports with a smooth emery stick. I also used the sanding stick to get the tops of the bulwarks flat. I still have to do this on the port side, but that will have to wait a few days. Here is how they came out:
While planking the bulwarks, I had some time waiting for the glue to dry, so I made up some of the gun tackles for the gun deck cannons. I had cleaned up the blocks and made some hooks, so I wanted to put them together to see how they would look and to gauge the size against the gun carriages. Here is a shot of the tackles:
I used this picture from the present Constitution as a guide:
At first I thought the hooks might be too big, but they are about the same length as the small blocks, which is about right. Also, they are about as small as I can make them. The length should be OK too, as long as I put the eyebolts in the bulwarks in the middle between the gun ports, as the current Conny has them.
Have a very merry Christmas everyone.
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usedtosail got a reaction from GLakie in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Thanks guys. I think part of the problem, besides my inability, was that the planks are not supported right at the bow, so there was a lot of flex in them while drilling. The outside planks were also very thin from sanding, kind of like an eggshell.
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usedtosail got a reaction from CaptainSteve in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Oh, and Happy New Year everyone.
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usedtosail got a reaction from msberkman in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I finished cleaning up all the spar deck gun ports:
I then drilled the hole for the bowsprit in the bow. I got a little carried away though
The outer plank ends were a bit splintered so, I took them off and will replank there to plank around the bowsprit. I cut the tenon into the end of the dowel that will become the bowsprit so it is centered correctly and I can take it in and out and get it back to the same place. I took the inside planks off because they were not bent enough in the center and the bulwark was too thick at the bow. I will bend new plank sections there, again cut around the bowsprit, then add the rivet heads before gluing them in. it will be a little slow because I can only do one plank at a time on each side.
In the mean time, I want to clean up the spar deck waterways and sheer plank a bit, as they are rough in spots, especially around the curve of the bow. Then I will paint the insides of the spar deck gun ports black, then mix up some green paint for the inside bulwarks and paint them. Luckily I have a few days off from work, so maybe this will all get done by early next week.
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usedtosail got a reaction from CaptainSteve in USS Constitution by fletch944t - Model Shipways - Scale 1:76 - 1812 Era
Fletch, I am glad to see you are going with a five window configuration. I like your logic. I did it to match the Corne painting, but it also meant I could use the supplied transom extensions, with a little modification. I don't feel so alone now.
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usedtosail got a reaction from mattsayers148 in Bounty Launch by CaptainSteve - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:16 Scale - SMALL
Wow. First human hair, now bird poop. You are indeed a master. I love it.
Have a happy new year Captain. (I guess it is already 2015 where you are)
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usedtosail got a reaction from CaptainSteve in Mutiny on the Bounty
That's a really nice spreadsheet, Captain. It will be a big help to those building the Bounty Launch model.
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usedtosail got a reaction from robnbill in USS Constitution by robnbill (Bill) - FINISHED - Mamoli - 1:93 kit - First Build - Bashed
Really nice Bill. Have fun with the boats, table and case.
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usedtosail got a reaction from GLakie in USS Constitution by robnbill (Bill) - FINISHED - Mamoli - 1:93 kit - First Build - Bashed
Really nice Bill. Have fun with the boats, table and case.
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usedtosail reacted to robnbill in USS Constitution by robnbill (Bill) - FINISHED - Mamoli - 1:93 kit - First Build - Bashed
Today I finished adding the quarter davits to the ship. This means that nothing else needs to be attached to it other than hanging the three ships boats. I hung the davits by pinning the bottom to a bracket I made out of brass. Once I marked where the bracket would be I carefully scrapped all the paint off down to the bare hull. I roughened up the back of the brackets with course sandpaper, then used thick CA to attach them to the hull.
I strung the davit lifts per the AOS. At least my interpretation of the AOS. Overall I am pretty happy with the way they came out.
I ordered the legs and inlays for the case. It will take a few weeks to arrive so hopefully, I will be done with the ships boats and ready for them.
As promised, once I completed adding the davits to the hull, I brought the ship upstairs to get some photos in a better light. Here they are. I will do this once agin once I build and hang the ships boats. Sorry to post so many. She is a proud ship.
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usedtosail got a reaction from GLakie in USS Constitution by fletch944t - Model Shipways - Scale 1:76 - 1812 Era
Looks great so far Fletch. I can't wait to see your full gun deck and your take on the stern.
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usedtosail reacted to HIPEXEC in USS Constitution by Hipexec - FINISHED - Constructo - 1:82
My shipyard is idle today as we get ready to host 40 guests for a Christmas party. I'm 16 months into this build and I've learned a lot from all of you...that's a nice Christmas present!
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usedtosail reacted to robnbill in USS Constitution by robnbill (Bill) - FINISHED - Mamoli - 1:93 kit - First Build - Bashed
I spent the day fashioning the new davits. I cut the 4 davits out of a piece of mahogany I had and after shaping them to match each other I started fashioning the attachments to each. These were the stairs up the top, and the two cleats as well as 4 rings for the end.
You can see in this first photo, the broken metal davit, davit and cleat blanks, two of the roughly assembled davits. To fashion the stairs I glued short lengths of a small square strip. These extended over each side of the davits. Once the glue dried, I sanded these flush to the side and reduced the height of them to the stair depth, then cut the angles for the treads.
For the cleats I glued the strips together then did a rough shaping before gluing them to the blank. Once the glue dried, I did the final shaping of the cleats.
To mount the davits I created brackets from brass sheets and soldered them together. Prior to soldering them I drilled the holes for the davit mounting pins. Once soldered I cleaned them up with a file and did the final shaping with needle nose pliers.
I washed them all in acetone to remove the soldering oils, then stained them in a blackening solution. Once dry I also covered the sides with a light coat of the black paint to even the color.
Then I inserted a pin through the brackets and davits and epoxied the pin ends on the brackets.
Tomorrow I will mount the brackets to the ship. Instead of the are bar that the Mamoli plans have between each pair of davits, I plan on rigging a line per the AOS. This line mounts to rings forward and aft of the brackets along the same elevation as the brackets. Then it runs to the outboard rings of each davit. Another line mounts to the inboard rings of the davits and ties them together. This should create a firm frame. The upper rings will be rigged to a black set holding the entire assembly at the proper height.
The full davit would have sheaves built into the end but given the scale, I decided to attach a double block to a ring underneath each of the davits. These will be rigged to single blocks with hooks to attach the ships boats to.
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usedtosail reacted to augie in USF Confederacy by Augie & Moonbug - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:64
As luck would have it, did manage to find some time to work on deck fittings over Christmas. So, at about 800 hours into the build here's where we are:
THE CAPSTAN
Supplied as a laser cut sheet, this reminds me why I don't scratchbuild:
I'm leaving it with the natural finish to show off the pins made of 28 gauge wire. The ring on top was photoetched. She's just pinned on deck for now. Still need to make some pawls.
And that brings us to THE STOVE. Also supplied as (many) laser cut and photoetched parts:
The basic structure was assembled and brass strip cut for the corners and feet:
Lids with copper wire handles and more venting added (along with access doors)
Photoetched parts painted and brass tubes added to simulate stove vents:
Finally, the rotisserie was added!
Here it is just placed on my fine Italian brick hearth from fore/aft. The vent stack will be permanently added once we fit the upper deck beams:
Lastly, just an overall look:
Sorry to be so long-winded but I thought a walk through the stove construction might interest some. It was all given a coat of flat acrylic as a final touch.
Much of this will be obscured as the upper deck beams and partial deck go in. But I know it's there. And, I have to fess up ---- this was a LOT of fun.
Hope to have some deck bulkheads and deck beams in place by New Years. If I'm not back before then, Best of the New Year to all here on MSW!
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usedtosail reacted to GTM in Santisima Trinidad by GTM - OcCre - 1:90 - Kit Bashed
I’m still working on the second ships boat.. pictures of the (slow) progress will follow soon.
In the mean time I spend some time on other details for the ships boats..
I had an idea in my head about how to make “barrels”, and started working on a prototype.
I cut a “square lath" into “8” triangles with my FET saw and glued these in a "square lath" again with pieces of (black) paper in between.
The picture underneath shows much better what I’m trying to write ..
Using a lathe I turned it into a round stick and drilled a hole in one end.
I shaped it with a file, sandpaper and a scalpel into a barrel shape and glued a top & bottom in position.
"Flattening" 0,3mm brass wire, soldered it into a circles and blackened them.
Maybe not the best, but here it is: my first prototype of an barrel..
I also spend some time on the oars (the kit’s supplied oars where made out of cast metal.)
No more “new” ship boats details, I will leave it with this and continue with the second ships boat ..
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usedtosail got a reaction from GLakie in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Thanks George. I used the tip of a toothpick, which I blunted a bit. I had to keep wiping built up glue off the tip as I went, or the dots would get bigger.
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usedtosail got a reaction from michael mott in Strip storage
I just implemented this method, using 2" square by 25" square mailing boxes. I cut a section of the top off so I can get the full length strips in the boxes.
I bought these on Amazon.
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usedtosail got a reaction from SkerryAmp in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I finished replacing the inner bulwark planking with the glue drop riveted planks. I sanded the spar deck gun ports on the starboard side so they were square. I used a sanding stick for the sides, but this time I did not sand all the way to the bottom of the gun ports. I cleaned up the bottom of the sides with a riffler file that did not have teeth on the sides, so I didn't sand into the sill like I did the first time. I then finished the interior of the gun ports with a smooth emery stick. I also used the sanding stick to get the tops of the bulwarks flat. I still have to do this on the port side, but that will have to wait a few days. Here is how they came out:
While planking the bulwarks, I had some time waiting for the glue to dry, so I made up some of the gun tackles for the gun deck cannons. I had cleaned up the blocks and made some hooks, so I wanted to put them together to see how they would look and to gauge the size against the gun carriages. Here is a shot of the tackles:
I used this picture from the present Constitution as a guide:
At first I thought the hooks might be too big, but they are about the same length as the small blocks, which is about right. Also, they are about as small as I can make them. The length should be OK too, as long as I put the eyebolts in the bulwarks in the middle between the gun ports, as the current Conny has them.
Have a very merry Christmas everyone.
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Well, another major milestone, but not a good one. A major foul up, and when I say foul I mean something else. I was so happy to finish the inner bulwark planking on one side that I had to sand the sides flush with the gun port sides. They looked great from the inside. But then I had to go and turn the ship around. While sanding the sides of the planks I had also managed to sand some of the planking below the corners of the gun ports. Oh, I thought, I'll just sand these out if I can. Well, they sanded out but then when I looked back inside the bulwarks, I had sanded the plank sheer down under some of the gun ports, one so much it was half gone. At first I thought I would have to replace the plank sheer, but that would have been too disruptive. So on the worst one I cut out only the portion of the plank sheer under the gun port and replaced it with a new piece of the same wood I used to make the original plank sheer. I will fill in the joints with wood filler, so this should look OK when painted. Here you can see the damage under the gun port on the left and the cut out plank sheer under the gun port on the right:
I then realized I would still need to add a thin strip on the bottom of the gun port to make up the other material that was sanded away, which I did. Then I realized that I could just file the other damaged plank sheer sections square, and add a wider strip of wood over the bottom of the gun port and the plank sheer, which is what I did for the rest. Here you can see the two types of repairs:
They are all drying now so the next steps will be to sand these down (much more carefully) and fill the cracks with wood filler to try to make everything look like one piece. We shall see how this turns out.
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Thanks Patrick, although it is an idea that came from watching others on this site like EdT, with much less precision than his approach. And thanks for the likes too.
Well, I am pretty happy with the repairs to the starboard gun ports and plank sheer. Here are the results from the outside and the inside:
I am not totally happy with the squareness of the bottoms of the gun ports, so I will square them up a bit more with a rectangular sanding stick.
I continue planking the inner bulwarks on the port side. Just a few more sections to plank then I have to clean up the gun ports on this side. I will be doing that much more carefully so I don't have to repair them too.
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Here I go redoing things again. First of all I did make up a rectangular sanding stick with some medium sand paper and cleaned up the bottoms of the spar deck gun ports somewhat, so they are looking better.
Yesterday, I came across a Constitution build log on this site by galf, where he used WHITE GLUE for the rivet heads on the inner bulwarks. Now, if you remember my first thought was to use CA for these which I tried with no success. All the time I was doing that experiment, the white glue was sitting right next to the CA glue bottles, and I never thought to try it! Doh! Last night I took a wood strip and added dots of white glue to it using a toothpick. They looked nice and round and did not stick up too much from the plank, which was just what I had envisioned when thinking of using the CA. When the glue dried, though, the dots disappeared since they turned clear, but after giving the strip a quick coat of paint, there they were in all there round glory. So here I got crazy and pried off half of the wire riveted strips on the port bulwark sections, then I made up two long strips using the white glue method. I did add some grey paint to the white glue before I did this, so that the rivet heads would be visible after they dried, so I could line up the pattern when installing the strips. I cut sections from the long strips and replanked the bulwark sections that I removed, and I really like the results better than the wired method.
Here you can see a comparison of the old strip (above) with the new (In the jig) and the greyed white glue and toothpick that I used.
And a closer view of the strips:
And here is a comparison on the model, with the new strips on the left section and the old on the right sections:
It took a little while to get the hang of this and get the dots somewhat consistent. After a while, the glue got too tacky and was not sticking to the strip well, so I made up a new batch of grey glue, which made more consistent dots. Another nice feature of this method is that I can add or touch up dots on the planks after they are installed, like I did for a few that were too small.
After I took these pictures, I pried off the rest of the old planks on the port side and replaced them with these new planks. It went very quickly the second time, as did making the strips. Next week I replace the strips on the transom and starboard sides.
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usedtosail got a reaction from SkerryAmp in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Thanks Patrick, although it is an idea that came from watching others on this site like EdT, with much less precision than his approach. And thanks for the likes too.
Well, I am pretty happy with the repairs to the starboard gun ports and plank sheer. Here are the results from the outside and the inside:
I am not totally happy with the squareness of the bottoms of the gun ports, so I will square them up a bit more with a rectangular sanding stick.
I continue planking the inner bulwarks on the port side. Just a few more sections to plank then I have to clean up the gun ports on this side. I will be doing that much more carefully so I don't have to repair them too.
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usedtosail got a reaction from Ol' Pine Tar in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I finished replacing the inner bulwark planking with the glue drop riveted planks. I sanded the spar deck gun ports on the starboard side so they were square. I used a sanding stick for the sides, but this time I did not sand all the way to the bottom of the gun ports. I cleaned up the bottom of the sides with a riffler file that did not have teeth on the sides, so I didn't sand into the sill like I did the first time. I then finished the interior of the gun ports with a smooth emery stick. I also used the sanding stick to get the tops of the bulwarks flat. I still have to do this on the port side, but that will have to wait a few days. Here is how they came out:
While planking the bulwarks, I had some time waiting for the glue to dry, so I made up some of the gun tackles for the gun deck cannons. I had cleaned up the blocks and made some hooks, so I wanted to put them together to see how they would look and to gauge the size against the gun carriages. Here is a shot of the tackles:
I used this picture from the present Constitution as a guide:
At first I thought the hooks might be too big, but they are about the same length as the small blocks, which is about right. Also, they are about as small as I can make them. The length should be OK too, as long as I put the eyebolts in the bulwarks in the middle between the gun ports, as the current Conny has them.
Have a very merry Christmas everyone.