patrickmil

Did I mention that this would be a slow build? Thanks to all for the likes and views! I got some planking done finally. The picture shows 6 planks on the starboard side and only four planks on the port side. I'm chugging along slowly but surely. I'm working carefully to bevel the planks where they butt up to other planks to ensure smooth planking and tight seams. I'm using the thumbtacks because with this build, I wanted to use only PVA and not CA glue.

Hello All, First of all, I hope all of the Dads in the US had a good Father's Day weekend. Secondly, Thanks for the comments, views, and likes. I finally managed to get all of the bulkheads attached and am working on getting the stringers and fillers installed. I'm enjoying this kit immensely so far, albeit I haven't accomplished that much yet. Without further ado, here are the pictures of my progress. An overall shot of the hull as it stands today. A closer shot of the skeletal stern and the rear filler blocks A picture of the bow waiting on filler blocks. And finally, a close up picture of the bow filler blocks Thanks in advance for looking in on my journey. Patrick

Hello Mike! I'm another Buckeye in the Columbus area. Glad to see you join!

@Eric, I appreciate your following along. I've been reading enough of the other build logs from the likes of Mike Dowling, mbp521, and Brucealanevans for some ideas and tips that go out of the general scope of the instructions. @Micheal, thanks for following along. I'm glad to be back with some inspiration. @Jorge Hedges, thanks for your thumbs up! I don't have an update yet as I'm still gluing on bulkheads. As I stated in my opening remark, this will be a slow going build. I do appreciate the commentary though!

Hello All, It's been a while since I've posted anything on here. I last left off with lofty goals for the USS Constitution by Model Shipways. Well, you could say that life got in the way with job changes, family, pets, etc. But that wasn't it. My goals for the USS Constitution were fairly large goals and were a little over my skill set and eventually I lost the desire and inspiration to continue working on her. Since then, I've been putting together plastic model airplanes and tanks. My favorite so far has been between Tamiya's 1/32 Corsair and 1/32 Mosquito. All along though, I have been checking in here to see what others have been doing and I got the itch a couple of months ago while sitting (some call it working) at home. I decided that the Chaperon would be a nice reintroduction to scale ship modeling and better yet, was able to purchase the kit through Model Expo for a pretty reasonable $239. I won't bore you all with the kit contents. Others have already shown off this kit much better than I ever could. I have made my start by gluing the keel parts and a single bulkhead on so far. Please bear with me as this will be slow going progress. While I don't mind recommendations and/or criticism, my goal here is not exact historical accuracy, but rather enjoying putting together a model ship again. Here's the keel parts all glued together And here's the first bulkhead glued on using a slab of granite for a perfectly flat surface and the age-old Lego squaring method Thanks in advance for looking!

Very nice Sjors!

Great looking deck Sal! The planking is very clean.

The stern decor looks great so far Tom.

Bob, your standing rigging is outstanding! Fantastic work.

Thanks for the likes and comments to all. CaptainSteve, I will scan those in and send them to you. If you guessed eight windows then you were absolutely correct. I'm going with the configuration that Cmdr Martin describes in A Most Fortunate Ship. There is a good picture of the stern in Anatomy of the Ship and I have a drawing of the stern that was made by William Bass. Bass's drawings don't match up exactly with what is in AOTS and are supposed to be a more authentic representation of what she would have looked like, but the drawing doesn't apply easily to the the back of Connie either. I will making more of a hybrid of the AOTS and Bass's drawing.

Evan, I'm left with thoughts that can't be put into words. Your paint job is incredible! Such clean lines on a raised detail plastic model were always rumored to be a thing of myth. I'm glad you went with a yellow stripe. I wish when they refit Connie, they would bring her back to her very first years (the 1812 period is okay too I guess ). It's so hard to get an idea of what she really looked like from old paintings and speculation, but I think you hit the nail on the head.

Frank, you have never told us that you sold your soul to the devil. Achieving realistic weathering results like you've done is incredibly hard. I'm speechless. The hull and deck are completely amazing to the point that she looks like she was just pulled from duty and put in dry dock for refit!

Augie, your Confederacy is amazing. I have to agree with others; I think you should be scratch building with your quality of work. WOW!

Tom, the windows look great. The floppy disk idea is awesome. I've seen people use it before in model airplane applications for radar 'disco balls'. I'm following very closely on what you're accomplishing.

Incredible progress on your ship since I last commented on it. I have been watching and your work is astounding. I appreciate that you decided to put sails on your Connie. Great work Rich!

Everything still looks great! I have been watching, just not commenting lately. I'm anxious to see your rigging on your fine model.

Great work John. I've been keeping up with your build, I just have been quiet lately. I'm anxious to see your upper rigging and masts.

It's been a while for a post. I had to go back to page 12 to find my log. Work is new and I'm getting adjusted to it. Also, most of the progress isn't Earth shattering. It's mostly just framing gun ports and some planking. The gun ports were all framed in a 15 mm x 13 mm size. It's uniform and easy to follow. It might now be what Model Shipways had on their plans but hey, this model is dating back to 1803 at the latest so who's to say that the size of these openings hadn't changed a little bit. They are all framed up on the starboard side. The port side is next. I also couldn't resist the planking above the wales. I just had to do it. I'm not following any particular planking scheme either. I feel that the scale won't lend itself to showing individual planks and the hull will be painted over anyway. Like my Niagara, I want a perfectly smooth hull, hence the reason why I'm not sweating the planking too much. I also got the transom filled in. The port side gallery is starting to take shape as well, and the waterways are complete for the gun deck. I will finish framing up the port side gun ports and plank that area. Once that's done I will start work on the deck. I am going to go with maple planking and have just purchased a 13" bench planer that ought to help get some planking billets into the proper thickness. I hope you enjoy the pictures. As always, feel free to point and yell about any critical areas that could use more attention.

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes! I have the next week off before I start my new position. I should have a couple of updates by then.

Incredible framing Ben. She looks very impressive!

Great looking stain Sal! I look forward to seeing all of the treenails in place. I've always felt that it was a great detail in planking.

The white stripe is awesome! I am a Bengals fan and it's a very hard division.

Larry, Niagara is looking awesome! I blackened my belaying pins and was very happy with the results. Like Augie said though, it's Captain's discretion.

Larry, I use a full size table saw to rip billets with lengths of 12-18" and the width of 2-3" and with a height that will be the final width of the planks. I take this billet and then rip it on the little Proxxon table saw in 1/16" thicknesses. The results are nice but it is time consuming for sure. Wes, thanks for looking in and thanks for the encouragement.

I'm completely happy with using maple for the deck planking. The admiral also weighed in on the question and she thinks the maple looks nicer as well. Since I was unable to decide on my own I appreciate everyone giving me their opinion. I will start ripping off maple planking then.