Jack12477

For my next ship build I decided to finally drag the Artesania Latina US Constellation kit out of my stash and start building it. It was given to me by a good friend as a birthday present 9 years ago and has languished on the shelf since then; partly because it was intimidating, but mostly because I did not have the work space big enough to set it up and build it and lastly I did not know where I would display it once built - still don't but that will be dealt with later on.

Even the box it comes in is huge and intimidating. 

I first constructed a build board that will hold it. Unfortunately I routed a groove along the centerline of the board to hold the keel but when the keel sits down in the groove the bulkheads don't seat fully, so I set it flush on the board and screen small cleats alongside the keel to keep it upright and straight.   Some startup photos are below:  So far I have dry fit all the bulkheads, sanded them as needed and am now slowly gluing them in place use small pieces of aluminum angle to keep everything perpendicular to the false keel.

At this point everything is just dry fit

Thanks guys, see you on the other side! 😁

Hmm ! Guess I should have used Gen Douglas MacArthur's quote instead ! 😁😁😁😁

Well guys, @Canute, @cog, @Egilman, @Edwardkenway, @popeye the sailor, @mtaylor, @CDW, @Backer, @Landlubber Mike, @lmagna, just wanted to let you know that I am leaving the dark side and going back to church ; or is it the other way round, leaving church for the dark side?

But anyway I am dragging the AL USS Constellation kit that I received as a birthday present 9 years ago out of the stash and onto the workbench as my next build. So I will see you all over in the kit build arena as soon as the dust settles from the mass migration. 😉

But I will continue following all the non-ship builds over here. My son gifted me 2 vintage Verlinden diorama ruins for my birthday and Fathers Day so another diorama(s) is(are) in store for some future build here. One of the ruins is 1:15 scale, misprint in sellers ad, instead of 1:35 but we decided to keep it anyway. Both are Verlinden's original plaster castings in original unopened boxes. 

As Arnold once said ""I'll be back"  😎

7 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Can I give  a tip that I use for close up photos  - they  tend to focus behind what we want

If the camera has the "spot focus" feature, try using it.

Oh yes you are right about the instructions. Very confusing. Yea, know about the gun deck. Watching for that step. 

Hi Tom, just opened up my kit of this model. Will start a log soon .

I just started the same kit and had the same question. Dry fitting the bulkheads leaving out the duplicate #9 seems to line up okay.  There is a larger instruction book in either Spanish or Italian that I haven't tried to translate yet to see if there is better info.  

Update:  Review the ship's layout diagram in lower right portion of fold out sheet #1 ( reverse side of picture).  It shows there are 2 sub decks in that area and only 1 instance of bulkhead #9. 

The guage attaches to the grill hose then to tank, mine shows green, yellow, red with a needle that moves.  I keep two 20 gal tanks, one in grill, other full one in shed.  Easy to swap that way. When you detach the tank the guage stays with grill hose.   

I agree. Beautiful photos. 

Yea, the took this sub forum off the recent updates as Ken said.  Just go to the top of the log and click the follow button, set up notifications as you wish. I just click the "unread content I follow" button when I log in, takes right to all the updates here. 

BTW Great job on the painting. 

Nice work on the carvings. The gold leafing makes them really pop.

You can buy a guage for those that tell you how much gas you have. I have one on my grill. It attaches to grill hose then to tank. 

Sounds like Murphy paid you a vist, Denis.

Denis, bet the drain tube for the deicer/defroster was plugged up. Happened to me. Causes everything to freeze and ice up. Probably household dust or lint. It drains to a small evaporator tray under the unit.  

Welcome from another Upstate NYer ! Just down the road from you in Catskills area.  Been to Kinderhook and Pittstown a number of times. 

I've use it along with Vallejo, LifeColor, Tamiya paints on wood and plastic with no problems.  

I'm here too, Michael.  Snuck in the side door. 

17 minutes ago, Canute said:

Carl, Jack Northrop in California, had flying wing designs in the late 30s. He started building on a government contract in 1941, about the same time the Hortons were doing similar in Germany.  A couple of 1/3rd scale N-9Ms were built during the war as proof of concept, flight testing and  flying trainers. The first bomber, an XB-35, flew in 1946. A jet powered version, YB-49 was flown in early 1949. Whether Northrop or the Hortons were first is hard to call. The Hortons got contracts for airframes about the same time, so it's a tossup. We definitely learned stuff from the Hortons, but for reasons known to the Dear One, we scrapped the whole program in the early 1950s. It took until the late 80s to resurrect the  Northrop designs and build the B-2.

 

 

From Wikipedia

"In a 1979 videotaped news interview, Jack Northrop broke his long silence and said publicly that all Flying Wing contracts had been canceled because Northrop Aircraft Corporation refused to merge with competitor Convair at Air Force Secretary Stuart Symington's strong suggestion, because, according to Jack Northrop, Convair's merger demands were "grossly unfair to Northrop." Shortly thereafter, Symington became president of Convair upon leaving his post as Secretary of the Air Force. Allegations of political influences in the cancellation of the Flying Wing were investigated by the House Armed Services Committee, where Symington publicly denied exerting pressure on Northrop to merge."   ..............

"in April 1980, Jack Northrop, then quite elderly and using a wheelchair, was taken back to the company he founded. There, he was ushered into a classified area and shown a scale model of the Air Force's forthcoming, but still highly classified Advanced Technology Bomber, which would eventually become known as the B-2; it was a sleek, all-wing design. Looking over its familiar lines, Northrop, unable to speak due to various illnesses, was reported to have written on a pad: "I know why God has kept me alive for the past 25 years." Jack Northrop died ten months later, in February 1981, eight years before the first B-2 entered Air Force service."

Nice start to the diorama, OC, the jeep and trailer came out "smashing" ! 😉😉

Add a few BBs to the nose.

Looks good so far !

19 minutes ago, lmagna said:

Sounded like I was visiting with Darth Vader as well. 

You mean you weren't ! 😁😁😁😁  I have one of those 3M brand N95 painters mask, I sound like Lord Vadar when I talk .... 

1 minute ago, lmagna said:

Don't forget your mask for the flying sardine can part of the trip!☠️

Actually a Scot Air Pack might be safer ! 😉

Growing up in the 50s we had a neighbor across the street who had flown with the La Fayette Escadrile in WW1 France. We asked him how they learned to fly back then. He said after hours of classroom instruction on flying techniques they put you in a single seat biplane and had you take off solo and fly around. If you landed without crashing, they gave you your pilot's wings.

At the time we knew him he was a pilot for one of the major airlines and his son commanded the USAF Thunderbirds flying team.  

54 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

Kennscht Mi'noch?    looking up the meaning is a bit confusing,  because it appears there is a word missing,  but it translates to "do you remember me?"

Actually, I think it translates to "Remember Me ?" as a sarcastic question

Nice job on the seat, EG !