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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 the transom planking but failed to take a picture of it before removing the hull from the building board and turning it upside down for the rest of the planking. Here it is upside down, though:
I could not fit the upside down hull into the keel clamper because the clamps are in line with the keel and the gun deck is in the way. Oh well, the last time I planked a hull I used this method, which is to place the hull on a couple of socks filled with rice. I also placed some foam under the stem and stern to protect those areas. It is easy to turn the hull around this way so I can plank both sides simultaneously.
I used two battens per side to define the planking belts. I first started to use the measurements of the planking belts on the plans, but I did not like the way those battens were running. I am going to use just three bands between the keel and the wales instead of the four shown on the plans.
I cut the garboard planks in two pieces for each side. Since most of the remaining planking will be covered by copper plates, I am not going to use short pieces, but will use longer pieces that are easier to work with. I will still keep track of the butt ends of the planks just so I don't get them too close to each other. For instance, the garboard strake joints on each side of the keel are staggered. I found these planks very easy to make for this model, where in the past I have had problems with these. From the plans, it looks like these end at bulkhead B, so I used a piece of Scotch tape on the rabbet from bulkhead C to B and traced the outside edge of the rabbet. I then transferred the tape to a 1/4" by 1/8" plank and cut the curve out through the tape. The rest of the plank was straight, which is what made this easy. For the stern pieces, I just traced the curve of the rabbet to another piece of 1/4" by 1/8" plank and cut and sanded it to shape. After soaking these four pieces, I clamped them in place to dry, making sure the edge of the planks fit into the rabbet along the keel. Here is what that looks like:
The curve at bulkhead B:
The curve at the stern:
Tonight I will trim and glue these in place. In the mean time, I measured the gap from the bottom of the wales to the first batten to determine the number of planks to run in Band A and the widths of these at each bulkhead. I am definitely going to need to drop a bunch of planks at the stem and a few at the stern in this band. That should be fun.
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usedtosail got a reaction from SkerryAmp in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I finished the transom planking but failed to take a picture of it before removing the hull from the building board and turning it upside down for the rest of the planking. Here it is upside down, though:
I could not fit the upside down hull into the keel clamper because the clamps are in line with the keel and the gun deck is in the way. Oh well, the last time I planked a hull I used this method, which is to place the hull on a couple of socks filled with rice. I also placed some foam under the stem and stern to protect those areas. It is easy to turn the hull around this way so I can plank both sides simultaneously.
I used two battens per side to define the planking belts. I first started to use the measurements of the planking belts on the plans, but I did not like the way those battens were running. I am going to use just three bands between the keel and the wales instead of the four shown on the plans.
I cut the garboard planks in two pieces for each side. Since most of the remaining planking will be covered by copper plates, I am not going to use short pieces, but will use longer pieces that are easier to work with. I will still keep track of the butt ends of the planks just so I don't get them too close to each other. For instance, the garboard strake joints on each side of the keel are staggered. I found these planks very easy to make for this model, where in the past I have had problems with these. From the plans, it looks like these end at bulkhead B, so I used a piece of Scotch tape on the rabbet from bulkhead C to B and traced the outside edge of the rabbet. I then transferred the tape to a 1/4" by 1/8" plank and cut the curve out through the tape. The rest of the plank was straight, which is what made this easy. For the stern pieces, I just traced the curve of the rabbet to another piece of 1/4" by 1/8" plank and cut and sanded it to shape. After soaking these four pieces, I clamped them in place to dry, making sure the edge of the planks fit into the rabbet along the keel. Here is what that looks like:
The curve at bulkhead B:
The curve at the stern:
Tonight I will trim and glue these in place. In the mean time, I measured the gap from the bottom of the wales to the first batten to determine the number of planks to run in Band A and the widths of these at each bulkhead. I am definitely going to need to drop a bunch of planks at the stem and a few at the stern in this band. That should be fun.
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I haven't had a chance to test blackening the britannia metal yet, but I have been working on the hull. As I mentioned last time, I wanted to drill all the holes in the wales for the air ports and scupper covers now, just in case I messed them up. So, to start, I scanned the side view from the plans into the computer and used an image processing program to align the three page size pieces. I had to scan the plans in pieces as I only have a letter size scanner. To check the alignment, I exported the full image to a vector graphics program and drew a straight line on top of the reference line along the bottom of the plans. I would them go back and rotate the pieces again, then check the reference line. It took about three iterations to get the three pieces aligned nicely.
One thing that bothered me from the plans was that the scuppers, which are on the bottom of the gun deck, and the air ports, which are in the top of the berth deck, looked too much in line. When looking at images of the Constitution, like this one:
it looks like the air ports are a little lower than shown on the plans. So, since I had the plans now in the graphics program, I made up little symbols to help drill the holes and positioned them just a little lower at each air port location. I then printed the plans out with the symbols as three sheets, like this one:
I was going to cut and tape these piece together to make one long template, but found that I could use them separately and tape them to the hull as separate templates. I cut them out so that I had the locations of the gun ports for horizontal alignment, as well as the top of the wales for vertical alignment. I taped all three templates to the hull and lined them up where they overlapped:
I then drilled pilot holes through the templates, which you might be able to see on this image:
Then enlarged the holes using very sharp bits in a pin vice and this drill bit holder that I found somewhere online:
To clean up the holes after drilling, I first sanded them flat, then used the back of the drill bit to clean out the hole:
I used the air port and scupper cover fittings to check the holes and here are the results:
There sure are a lot of holes in the wales now, but they came out nicely without any tearing around them, which is what I was mostly afraid was going to happen. While testing the scupper covers to figure out what drill bit size to use for them, I found that the posts on the back of them were oblong, not round, so I filed them a little smaller and round so I could use a smaller drill size. Even so, the top of the hole can still be seen when a few of these are in place, but I can use a bit of filler later to hide them.
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usedtosail reacted to SawdustDave in Mayflower by SawdustDave - Finished
Good day in the shop. Here are a few sequence shots of how I am building the tops with planked sides.
1st Pic....Split shot showing the block of pine wood as it is marked on both sides before being shaping into the form used to build the sides. Note, the thickness of the block is exactly the height of the finished top.
2nd Pic.....After shaping the block and fitting the 16 vertical planks equally spaced around the form and beginning to fit the first row of planking. Note the glue used to fit these vertical planks is diluted to facilitate removal later. Also note, I have begun with the form placed upside down on a metal surface in order to keep the outer edges of the starting planks perfectly aligned. Also note the alternating pattern of end cuts.
3rd Pic....The pattern of the planks is more evident showing the third row being fitted. The joint gaps are desired as glue cavities for the outer vertical planks.
4th Pic.... Split shot showing the removal of the block form with very course rasp bits.
Note in the left shot, the outer "seam" at each of the 16 joints has been sanded flat to provide a good glue surface for the vertical planks.
Note in the right shot, the outer vertical planks have been fitted before final removal of the remaining pine form material.
5th pic.... There you are. Ready for floor piece, knees, and top rail, to be fitted....not included herein.
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usedtosail got a reaction from Cap'n Rat Fink in HMS Bounty Launch by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:16
I made a few items to enhance the boat contents over the kit supplied items. I made a bucket by turning a piece of dowel on the lathe. For the slates, I used the same technique I used for the barrels, scoring the lines using a razor saw. I added a handle and filled it with some husked coconuts I made from Sculpey. I also made some unhusked coconuts from Sculpey and a halved one. I made the cutlass from some brass strip and a small piece of brass tubing. I used a wide piece for both the blade and the handle. On the blade, I filed in the curves. I used a single piece for the handle. I first filed in the shape of the hand guard, then filed the rest narrower and bent it around for the finger guard. I blackened the individual pieces, then glued them together with CA. I filled in the end of the handle with wood filler, then painted the handle black. I lightly sanded the blade so some of the metal shown through. I still have to add the bands around the bucket, which I will do with black paper.
I really enjoy making these extra little details. Now I just have to figure out how to put all the stuff into the boat so it looks right.
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Tim, I am glad to hear I am not the only one that this doesn't work for.
I started planking the transom by adding the planks above and below the windows, leaving a 1/32" rebate around the windows.
I then added the planks above and below these, and along the outsides of the outer windows, again leaving a 1/32" rebate. This shot looks like Connie is having a bad hair day:
For the counter planks, I first filed the ends of the wale planks so the counter planks would fit inside of them. I didn't cut in the airing ports, as I am just going to make thin covers for these later and place them over the planks.
Here the last two transom planks are being glued on, after some preliminary sanding. These need to be trimmed for length after they dry. I used vertical pieces of planking between the windows, which worked out to be just the right size. When I build the window frames later they will fit into the rebates and be sanded flush with the planking. I am glad those gallery pieces are now secured with planks instead of just being edge glued on. I figured I was going to knock at least one of them off.
I will give these planks some more sanding, then it is on to planking the hull below the wales. I will probably start with the garboard planks and work up for the first band, but we will see. I have to figure out how to secure this beast when it is out of the build board and upside down. I have a keel clamp that might work or I may just put some padding on the workbench and hold it that way. We shall see...
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
In post #2 of this build log I showed how I have been storing the various wood strips for this project (in golf club tubes), as well as the storage bucket for the other wood strips I have in the workshop. I was not really happy with either of these methods so I started a little research project for a better way to sort and store wood strips. I wanted to store the wood on its side, not upright and be able to get at it easily. My constraints were space and cost. I cleared out a shelf I could use for the storage rack and I wanted to keep this project under $50. I came up with two options for something I could build - one using PVC pipe, something like this:
and the other a series of trays, sort of like a stack of 2 foot long draw inserts for silverware.
I priced out the PVC pipe I would need and it came out to $90, so that option was out. Then I thought of cardboard mailing tubes, so I priced them out and they did come in under $50, but I would still need to make a wood frame for them. I also was not sure if open ended tubes would be the best way to store these strips. For example, how would this work with partial strips that were less than a foot long? I kept coming back to the tray approach, but realized how much work that would be to make. While looking for the mailing tubes, I came across these 2" square by 25" long mailing boxes, and knew I had found the solution:
With a little modification, I had trays that would hold the 24" wood strips nicely:
I could get 50 of these for 69 cents each and just stack them on top of each other. I cut a portion of the top off each one, about 16 inches, which lets me get the full strips into the box. It can hold partial strips and I can use the end of the box to write the dimensions of the strips in the box. This was a problem with the PVD approach, as I could not figure out a good way to mark the tubes for contents.
I made up enough for the Constitution strips first, and in a few boxes there are multiple dimensions, where the kit only supplied a few strips for those sizes.. Others have only one size in them.
I then went ahead and built enough to hold all my surplus wood strips, and still have room on the shelf for more of these:
I still have a bunch of boxes left over for future expansion and since they are not folded yet they are easy to store too. I thought about gluing the boxes up into trays, but have left them as individual boxes as it is very easy to pull a single box from the bottom of the pile like a draw. I think this rack will work out nicely for me.
When I was finished i was reminded of the wand shop in the Harry Potter movies. I just hope these boxes don't start flying off the shelf by themselves.
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usedtosail got a reaction from SkerryAmp in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Tim, I am glad to hear I am not the only one that this doesn't work for.
I started planking the transom by adding the planks above and below the windows, leaving a 1/32" rebate around the windows.
I then added the planks above and below these, and along the outsides of the outer windows, again leaving a 1/32" rebate. This shot looks like Connie is having a bad hair day:
For the counter planks, I first filed the ends of the wale planks so the counter planks would fit inside of them. I didn't cut in the airing ports, as I am just going to make thin covers for these later and place them over the planks.
Here the last two transom planks are being glued on, after some preliminary sanding. These need to be trimmed for length after they dry. I used vertical pieces of planking between the windows, which worked out to be just the right size. When I build the window frames later they will fit into the rebates and be sanded flush with the planking. I am glad those gallery pieces are now secured with planks instead of just being edge glued on. I figured I was going to knock at least one of them off.
I will give these planks some more sanding, then it is on to planking the hull below the wales. I will probably start with the garboard planks and work up for the first band, but we will see. I have to figure out how to secure this beast when it is out of the build board and upside down. I have a keel clamp that might work or I may just put some padding on the workbench and hold it that way. We shall see...
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usedtosail got a reaction from CaptMorgan in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Tim, I am glad to hear I am not the only one that this doesn't work for.
I started planking the transom by adding the planks above and below the windows, leaving a 1/32" rebate around the windows.
I then added the planks above and below these, and along the outsides of the outer windows, again leaving a 1/32" rebate. This shot looks like Connie is having a bad hair day:
For the counter planks, I first filed the ends of the wale planks so the counter planks would fit inside of them. I didn't cut in the airing ports, as I am just going to make thin covers for these later and place them over the planks.
Here the last two transom planks are being glued on, after some preliminary sanding. These need to be trimmed for length after they dry. I used vertical pieces of planking between the windows, which worked out to be just the right size. When I build the window frames later they will fit into the rebates and be sanded flush with the planking. I am glad those gallery pieces are now secured with planks instead of just being edge glued on. I figured I was going to knock at least one of them off.
I will give these planks some more sanding, then it is on to planking the hull below the wales. I will probably start with the garboard planks and work up for the first band, but we will see. I have to figure out how to secure this beast when it is out of the build board and upside down. I have a keel clamp that might work or I may just put some padding on the workbench and hold it that way. We shall see...
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usedtosail got a reaction from CaptainSteve in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Tim, I am glad to hear I am not the only one that this doesn't work for.
I started planking the transom by adding the planks above and below the windows, leaving a 1/32" rebate around the windows.
I then added the planks above and below these, and along the outsides of the outer windows, again leaving a 1/32" rebate. This shot looks like Connie is having a bad hair day:
For the counter planks, I first filed the ends of the wale planks so the counter planks would fit inside of them. I didn't cut in the airing ports, as I am just going to make thin covers for these later and place them over the planks.
Here the last two transom planks are being glued on, after some preliminary sanding. These need to be trimmed for length after they dry. I used vertical pieces of planking between the windows, which worked out to be just the right size. When I build the window frames later they will fit into the rebates and be sanded flush with the planking. I am glad those gallery pieces are now secured with planks instead of just being edge glued on. I figured I was going to knock at least one of them off.
I will give these planks some more sanding, then it is on to planking the hull below the wales. I will probably start with the garboard planks and work up for the first band, but we will see. I have to figure out how to secure this beast when it is out of the build board and upside down. I have a keel clamp that might work or I may just put some padding on the workbench and hold it that way. We shall see...
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Over the weekend, I was finally able to experiment a bit with blackening the britannia metal, using two of the extra dummy cannon barrels that came with the kit. I first soaked the two barrels in white vinegar to clean them, rinsed them, them put one in a cup of Blacken-It solution (left) and one in a cup of Casey Brass Black (right), both at full strength. As you can see, the Blacken-It went to town and after a few seconds was all brown and cloudy. The Casey solution just sat there, doing nothing.
After 10 minutes in the solutions, I pulled them out and rinsed them off again. Here are the results:
The Casey's did almost nothing and as an aside I then threw a few copper eyebolts into it and they turned black almost instantly, so it works well on copper, just not on white metal. The Blacken It did make the barrel darker, but it was uneven and not very black, and it seemed to deplete a lot of solution for this one barrel. To do all the barrels would take quite a bit of the solution, I think.
So, I am going to stick with my usual approach for white metal - clean in white vinegar, prime with Bulls Eye primer, and paint with Floquil engine black paint. Here are the dummy barrels after that procedure:
I may spray these with some Matte Finish to protect them when they are dry.
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usedtosail got a reaction from GuntherMT in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Tim, I am glad to hear I am not the only one that this doesn't work for.
I started planking the transom by adding the planks above and below the windows, leaving a 1/32" rebate around the windows.
I then added the planks above and below these, and along the outsides of the outer windows, again leaving a 1/32" rebate. This shot looks like Connie is having a bad hair day:
For the counter planks, I first filed the ends of the wale planks so the counter planks would fit inside of them. I didn't cut in the airing ports, as I am just going to make thin covers for these later and place them over the planks.
Here the last two transom planks are being glued on, after some preliminary sanding. These need to be trimmed for length after they dry. I used vertical pieces of planking between the windows, which worked out to be just the right size. When I build the window frames later they will fit into the rebates and be sanded flush with the planking. I am glad those gallery pieces are now secured with planks instead of just being edge glued on. I figured I was going to knock at least one of them off.
I will give these planks some more sanding, then it is on to planking the hull below the wales. I will probably start with the garboard planks and work up for the first band, but we will see. I have to figure out how to secure this beast when it is out of the build board and upside down. I have a keel clamp that might work or I may just put some padding on the workbench and hold it that way. We shall see...
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usedtosail got a reaction from Aussie048 in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Tim, I am glad to hear I am not the only one that this doesn't work for.
I started planking the transom by adding the planks above and below the windows, leaving a 1/32" rebate around the windows.
I then added the planks above and below these, and along the outsides of the outer windows, again leaving a 1/32" rebate. This shot looks like Connie is having a bad hair day:
For the counter planks, I first filed the ends of the wale planks so the counter planks would fit inside of them. I didn't cut in the airing ports, as I am just going to make thin covers for these later and place them over the planks.
Here the last two transom planks are being glued on, after some preliminary sanding. These need to be trimmed for length after they dry. I used vertical pieces of planking between the windows, which worked out to be just the right size. When I build the window frames later they will fit into the rebates and be sanded flush with the planking. I am glad those gallery pieces are now secured with planks instead of just being edge glued on. I figured I was going to knock at least one of them off.
I will give these planks some more sanding, then it is on to planking the hull below the wales. I will probably start with the garboard planks and work up for the first band, but we will see. I have to figure out how to secure this beast when it is out of the build board and upside down. I have a keel clamp that might work or I may just put some padding on the workbench and hold it that way. We shall see...
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usedtosail got a reaction from SkerryAmp in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Over the weekend, I was finally able to experiment a bit with blackening the britannia metal, using two of the extra dummy cannon barrels that came with the kit. I first soaked the two barrels in white vinegar to clean them, rinsed them, them put one in a cup of Blacken-It solution (left) and one in a cup of Casey Brass Black (right), both at full strength. As you can see, the Blacken-It went to town and after a few seconds was all brown and cloudy. The Casey solution just sat there, doing nothing.
After 10 minutes in the solutions, I pulled them out and rinsed them off again. Here are the results:
The Casey's did almost nothing and as an aside I then threw a few copper eyebolts into it and they turned black almost instantly, so it works well on copper, just not on white metal. The Blacken It did make the barrel darker, but it was uneven and not very black, and it seemed to deplete a lot of solution for this one barrel. To do all the barrels would take quite a bit of the solution, I think.
So, I am going to stick with my usual approach for white metal - clean in white vinegar, prime with Bulls Eye primer, and paint with Floquil engine black paint. Here are the dummy barrels after that procedure:
I may spray these with some Matte Finish to protect them when they are dry.
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usedtosail got a reaction from CaptainSteve in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Over the weekend, I was finally able to experiment a bit with blackening the britannia metal, using two of the extra dummy cannon barrels that came with the kit. I first soaked the two barrels in white vinegar to clean them, rinsed them, them put one in a cup of Blacken-It solution (left) and one in a cup of Casey Brass Black (right), both at full strength. As you can see, the Blacken-It went to town and after a few seconds was all brown and cloudy. The Casey solution just sat there, doing nothing.
After 10 minutes in the solutions, I pulled them out and rinsed them off again. Here are the results:
The Casey's did almost nothing and as an aside I then threw a few copper eyebolts into it and they turned black almost instantly, so it works well on copper, just not on white metal. The Blacken It did make the barrel darker, but it was uneven and not very black, and it seemed to deplete a lot of solution for this one barrel. To do all the barrels would take quite a bit of the solution, I think.
So, I am going to stick with my usual approach for white metal - clean in white vinegar, prime with Bulls Eye primer, and paint with Floquil engine black paint. Here are the dummy barrels after that procedure:
I may spray these with some Matte Finish to protect them when they are dry.
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usedtosail got a reaction from Fright in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Besides the kit instructions, I plan to use the Anatomy of the Ship book for the Constitution as an additional guide. I used the AOS Beagle book to build that model and I really liked the extra information and details in these books.
I am going to try to build the Constitution in its 1812 configuration, as others have done on this site. In fact, those other build logs (Cookster, CaptainSteve, Jeff Toma, and others) have been a huge inspiration for me and I know the information in them will be a huge help.
I plan to add some sails to the build, and my first thought was to go with a look like in this picture, when see sailed in Boston Harbor in August 2012 for the 1812 anniversary. I believe our own popeye2sea (Henry) was on it when this picture was taken.
Now I am thinking of adding some fore and aft sails too, but I am not sure on that yet.
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usedtosail reacted to rafine in Frigate Essex by Rafine - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Kitbashed
Work on the bowsprit is now finished. I made collars for the hearts and deadeyes and attached them to the bowsprit. The collar for the mainstay actually passes through a hole in the stem, rather than attaching to the bowsprit, and this was a fussy little job to accomplish in place.The others went fairly easily.
After this work was done, I mounted the bowsprit permanently. That left the gammoning to be done. I realized when I went to do it, that I shouldn't have installed the seats of ease earlier. They made access to do the gammoning more difficult than it should have been. It all worked out in the end, however.
The last item was to attach the fairlead to the bowsprit. I still need to do the boomkins, the railing and some eyebolts for rigging attachment to complete the work on the head (and of course the figurehead).
Bob
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usedtosail reacted to popeye the sailor in Holiday Harbor by popeye the sailor - 1:20 scale - multi build
I made an adjustment on my pictures.......what I used to use on XP does not apply to Vista......they were better than 500kb!
anyway.......I had to run out to Hobby Lobby to get more wood. as I mentioned in one of my replies, they were out of the four inch wide flat stock......I could only get three inch I was going through the clearance shelf.......they had a bunch of balsa strip stock there for .10 cents a piece...different increments. too bad I don't do balsa. I may go back......perhaps I can use it for non stress framing
I also began to pick up Christmas decorations.......pretty......pretty
so.........when I got back, I did the scuppers for the starboard side.......but I didn't do them like I did the port side. I remembered that old Irish proverb......"don't du that ag'in Jimmy, er I'll whack ye up the backside wit' me shillelagh!"
then......time for the filler.......not so much of a repair this time
more work was done to the rack part...still more to go......add the podium etc....
there was a short break here due to sanding....and then quickly out to the garage to be touched up with primer, to clean up all the battle scars. what transpired in this time is Franks fault {not really}
I'll get into all this in a moment
the primer is dry, so I can show how the scupper job came out. I like them better this way.
I have found no information on the 'Miss Penny' as of yet. I do know that she hit the water in 1978. I believe she was renamed when she was purchased by the Sea Gale Corp. in Gloucester, Mass. she became this boat....her last day was 10-28-1991.
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usedtosail got a reaction from GLakie in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
That sounds good Starboard III. Saves the trouble of scanning the large sheets by folding or cutting them.
Tim, I also use the copy function on my printer when I need a copy of a section. Luckily it prints at exactly 1:1 so the scale stays the same. My old printer didn't and that was a pain.
Thanks for all the likes guys.
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usedtosail reacted to Starboard III in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I found that Staples will scan and download the plans onto a zip drive for $2 a sheet. You can then upload, and print each sheet from your computer and printer at home in 16 page 8.5 X 11 per, and print as many as you need. Of course you have to tape them together at joining images, but you can do only the pages you need and as many times as you want without home scanning. Just sayin. 16 bucks for the whole package. I find it works well.
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usedtosail got a reaction from GLakie in USS Constitution by CaptainSteve - Model Shipways - 1:76.8 scale
Steve, I used that method to make rope coils on an earlier build. It worked great.
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usedtosail got a reaction from SkerryAmp in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I haven't had a chance to test blackening the britannia metal yet, but I have been working on the hull. As I mentioned last time, I wanted to drill all the holes in the wales for the air ports and scupper covers now, just in case I messed them up. So, to start, I scanned the side view from the plans into the computer and used an image processing program to align the three page size pieces. I had to scan the plans in pieces as I only have a letter size scanner. To check the alignment, I exported the full image to a vector graphics program and drew a straight line on top of the reference line along the bottom of the plans. I would them go back and rotate the pieces again, then check the reference line. It took about three iterations to get the three pieces aligned nicely.
One thing that bothered me from the plans was that the scuppers, which are on the bottom of the gun deck, and the air ports, which are in the top of the berth deck, looked too much in line. When looking at images of the Constitution, like this one:
it looks like the air ports are a little lower than shown on the plans. So, since I had the plans now in the graphics program, I made up little symbols to help drill the holes and positioned them just a little lower at each air port location. I then printed the plans out with the symbols as three sheets, like this one:
I was going to cut and tape these piece together to make one long template, but found that I could use them separately and tape them to the hull as separate templates. I cut them out so that I had the locations of the gun ports for horizontal alignment, as well as the top of the wales for vertical alignment. I taped all three templates to the hull and lined them up where they overlapped:
I then drilled pilot holes through the templates, which you might be able to see on this image:
Then enlarged the holes using very sharp bits in a pin vice and this drill bit holder that I found somewhere online:
To clean up the holes after drilling, I first sanded them flat, then used the back of the drill bit to clean out the hole:
I used the air port and scupper cover fittings to check the holes and here are the results:
There sure are a lot of holes in the wales now, but they came out nicely without any tearing around them, which is what I was mostly afraid was going to happen. While testing the scupper covers to figure out what drill bit size to use for them, I found that the posts on the back of them were oblong, not round, so I filed them a little smaller and round so I could use a smaller drill size. Even so, the top of the hole can still be seen when a few of these are in place, but I can use a bit of filler later to hide them.
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usedtosail got a reaction from popeye the sailor in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I turned the hull around and used the same technique on the starboard side:
One nice thing about having the plans scanned into the computer was that was able to flip the image in the computer and print out the three pages for this side, so I didn't have to work through the back of the plans.
Now that this little task is complete, I will be focusing my attention to planking the transom and counter, then finish the rest of the hull planking.
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usedtosail got a reaction from Cap'n Rat Fink in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
I haven't had a chance to test blackening the britannia metal yet, but I have been working on the hull. As I mentioned last time, I wanted to drill all the holes in the wales for the air ports and scupper covers now, just in case I messed them up. So, to start, I scanned the side view from the plans into the computer and used an image processing program to align the three page size pieces. I had to scan the plans in pieces as I only have a letter size scanner. To check the alignment, I exported the full image to a vector graphics program and drew a straight line on top of the reference line along the bottom of the plans. I would them go back and rotate the pieces again, then check the reference line. It took about three iterations to get the three pieces aligned nicely.
One thing that bothered me from the plans was that the scuppers, which are on the bottom of the gun deck, and the air ports, which are in the top of the berth deck, looked too much in line. When looking at images of the Constitution, like this one:
it looks like the air ports are a little lower than shown on the plans. So, since I had the plans now in the graphics program, I made up little symbols to help drill the holes and positioned them just a little lower at each air port location. I then printed the plans out with the symbols as three sheets, like this one:
I was going to cut and tape these piece together to make one long template, but found that I could use them separately and tape them to the hull as separate templates. I cut them out so that I had the locations of the gun ports for horizontal alignment, as well as the top of the wales for vertical alignment. I taped all three templates to the hull and lined them up where they overlapped:
I then drilled pilot holes through the templates, which you might be able to see on this image:
Then enlarged the holes using very sharp bits in a pin vice and this drill bit holder that I found somewhere online:
To clean up the holes after drilling, I first sanded them flat, then used the back of the drill bit to clean out the hole:
I used the air port and scupper cover fittings to check the holes and here are the results:
There sure are a lot of holes in the wales now, but they came out nicely without any tearing around them, which is what I was mostly afraid was going to happen. While testing the scupper covers to figure out what drill bit size to use for them, I found that the posts on the back of them were oblong, not round, so I filed them a little smaller and round so I could use a smaller drill size. Even so, the top of the hole can still be seen when a few of these are in place, but I can use a bit of filler later to hide them.
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usedtosail got a reaction from CaptainSteve in USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76
Thanks George. I have never tried Blacken It on britannia castings but I think others on this site have with some success. I do use it on copper and brass and like the finish very much. I might have to try some experiments to see how it works on the white metal, as I have a few dummy barrels that I won't be using on the model.