Jack12477

Patrick,
Thank you for stopping by and for your kind works. This being my first scratch build I am happy with how the planking has turned out. But the pictures do not show everything, there are gaps at the edges and some of the planks did not lay as flat as they should. The plank thicknesses are not uniform, so I have had to soften the edges of some with a chisel blade or else they would be trip hazard.
 
I am also working at 1:24 scale, not the small scale you work at. Patrick, your planking on that scale is amazing. 1:24 scale has some advantages. I believe the gaps are not as obvious as they are in smaller scales. The drawback I am finding, is that a lot of the detail that can be omitted at the smaller scale, would be noticed if missing at 1:24 scale. When I started I figured I could get this done in about a year. I have been working on this for 7 months (I did take 2 months off over the summer, so say 5 months actual working). I think I will be doing good to have started the deck planking when 1 year rolls around.
 
I am trying to plan out long term, so I will not have to rush to get supplies when I need them. There are several items that will need to scratch built.
Windlass Stove Coffee Pot ( You can't go to sea without Coffee) Winder (Dredging Winch) Dredge Rollers Oyster Dredge Dredge A-Frame Steering Mechanism 2 Lanterns Running Lights I have been on the look out for Items that would be useful in building those parts. I believe my best find was some decorative gears at the local Michaels Craft Store. I have picked up 2 sizes of wooden barrels, fish hooks with straight shanks and some assorted brass.

Hopefully I can use some of the gears in the winder and the windlass.

The main railings, along with the hances, volutes and beaded moldings have been completed:
 

 

 

 
 
With the bulwarks (finally) sealed off, it's almost time to start on the planking of the quarterdeck.  But first we'll be adding some hatches, coamings and companionways.  
 
Hope everyone is feeling shipshape and being productive!
 
 
 

Arrr ...
CaptainSteve, blushing a deep colouration somewhere a-twixt red and pink, doth indeed-eth and most verily, wish to express-eth his gratitude to one and all for the platitudes above !!!
 
“Truly,” were Our Hero to sigh most gratefully, “you guys (and gals) have been of incalculable assistance and have kept me going throughout this build."
 
“Whatsomore,” he didst continue, “there be NO WAY that me Launch could have ended up a-looking the way she does wi'out the Horde and MSW !!”
 
Now, as he were-eth to mention above, CaptainSteve didst have a couple o’ final touches in mind ...
 
“I be a-wanting,” he were to announce-eth, “a couple o’ extra tools.”
 
To that end, today Our Hero didst mock-eth up a pair o’ extra chisels and a cross-cut saw to be placed “lazily” ‘pon one o’ the thwarts.
“Me idea a-bein’,” he were to explain-eth, “to display the tool-box that little bit betterer.”
 
And so, without further waffling, here be pictures …
 

The chisels are just a pair of cast-metal belaying pins which hath been salvaged from the remains of kits gone-by. They has been shaped using the Dremel with a grinding bit, and given a touch o’ paint.
 
The cross-cut saw was made wi’ some scrap timber. The blade was, once 'pon a time, an Exacto saw-blade which hath been cut, trimmed and grinded to shape. And the tension wire at the top be the wire middle trimmed from an ordinary twist-tie, folded o’er, twisted into shape and chemically blackened.
 
"Here they be a-fixed into position."

("Arrr-geth," were Our Hero to roll-eth his eyes, "I be a-maintainin' that the yellow on them bread-fruits be not-eth a-lookin' SOOO YELLOW in reality !!")
 

("Dang it !! Why cant-eth me camera be taking pictures like this all the time ?!?!?")
 
“Tomorrow,” CaptainSteve were to blather on, “be the big launching o’ me Launch.”
 
Our Hero plans to be adding some final photos from the Launch party, but then this build-log can be considered, most verily, to be-eth finalized !!
 
“I be a-hopin’ to see each an’ e’ery one o’ ye over at the continuation o’ me USS Constitution build !!”

Hi Michael
 
Happy Birthday ! Enjoy your day.  Your workmanship is amazing!

Yep - the term in question is defined by citing the term to be defined as the definition!  It was interesting to do a web search on the term "museum quality ship model" and see this lengthy listing of retail websites selling museum quality ship models (or even kits tagged as museum quality).
 
I think I'll stick with building mine to the horse at a gallop standard.

In 1980, Mystic Seaport published the, “Ship Model Classification Guidelines″ - attached.  Includes some 1961 specifications from Howard Chapelle at the Smithsonian.
 
In its simplest terms, “Museum Quality Model” means that a model has been built to a set of standards as set forth by a specific museum with regards to scale fidelity, materials, methods, research, historical accuracy, and so on.
 
Or, as has been pointed out above,  'I don't know art, but I know what I like'.
 
I also like this description - 'A museum quality ship model is whatever a museum director accepts for a museum collection'
 
ship-model-classification-guidelines-1980.pdf

Hi Ray,
 
thanks for the interest.
Gimo
 
 

thanks again everyone for the kind comments and likes    I'm only using that ladder,  because I made it for the boat....the first attempt....and not like the others.  they sport the round rungs.   I'm still rather new to scratch building,  and the first thing I came away with,  is if you make an aspect in a certain way,  all 'like' aspects should be done the same way.  it gives uniformity throughout the entire build.
 
no fret on the finish of this one........I have two other fishing vessels in the wings.  I've had urges to do something on them...but I can't seem to pull myself away from the A.G.  I need to see this build done      I also learned a few things from this build....some really cool stuff to throw at the others.  I want to dwindle down my back log.......I have that Titanic......AND  I have another special project in mind........sorry,  can't go into it any deeper    I can guarantee though...that you'll love it.   I guess you can say that I'm way past the lament of the finished build........most likely another reason why I've accumulated the back log I have....I find {and have found} myself not waiting for the finish....and just mindlessly ramble on to the next one.
 
I'm glad your all enjoying this build........I'm enjoying sharing it with you     here in this theater,  that is MSW,  we portray a play for all to see.......and our models are the stars.   they don't do much,  no lines to read.....and us,  as the modelers,  pull the strings,  to make them perform. 
 
at MSW,  there spotlights a stage
where logs accumulate,  page by page
narrated through the modeler's eye
it grows,  it grows,  as time goes by
 
no dance to do,  no song to sing
but ships made from wood and string
we tell how it's built,  cut and glue
we describe all the steps we do
 
but time goes by,  and soon it is done
congrats and kind words from everyone
thanks MSW for all that you do
for allowing us to share them with you  
 
....oh dear..........I think I've caught a bad case of poetry
.......well,  how long have you had it?
...ohhhhhh,  once upon a time!
                                        >Monty Python<

Many thanks for all the well wishes guys.
 
A quick update - yes, from my hospital bed!
 
Everything went well today - was in recovery by 0930 and in own room from 1300. Doc has visited and is well pleased. Physio have been and had me up standing and walking up and down on the spot already. Nursing staff all excellent. Oh, and some real quality pharmaceuticals too!
 
Food has been excellent and I've just had the worlds longest pee (one litre's worth), which I proudly delivered standing up!!! (I know - it's a real boy thing!)
 
Doc says hopefully released on parole over the weekend, or Monday at latest, all going well.

First of all thank you all for the kind messages and birthday greetings. Judy and me went for a nice walk and them met her Mum and Brother for supper at a great Greek restaurant that has tasteful furnishings and no TV's.
 
Row the taper pins are quite tough, I got the idea about using them from some old mechanical navigating equipment that all sorts of splines and gears that were fixed with small taper pins.
 
I started work on the inlet manifold today, it is 1/8 inch diameter copper tube I am going to use a petrol vapor carburetor. By all accounts this type of carb works well in small engines. I can make the carb look scale and have the vapor pass right through the model carb with the fuel tank hidden under the seat or floor boards.
 
the tube was annealed and filled with some .093 styrene them bent around some 1/2 inch dowel, the the loop was folded down a few degrees to match the face on the cylinder.
 

 
The extra length was cut off with a jewelers saw and the styrene burnt out. the flanges were turned on the lathe filed to shape then soldered to the tube. The faces that mate to the cylinder were cleaned up with a file and a sanding stick.
 

 
The four short holes in the cylinder needed to be tapped for the manifold studs these holes are only .060" deep I reground the tip of a 1x72 tap to make it absolutely flat and square, then just knocked off a few thou with an Arkansas Stone. The head was rest in the small machine vice so that the manifold face was horizontal, used the back end of the #52 drill(.063")
to locate the first hole then was able to index to all the rest following the numbers on my plans.
 
the drill was replaced with the tap with one of the brass thumb discs for the tapping.
 

 

 
I turned up some stud from some .073 music wire, this allowed me to cut a slot for a small screwdriver to set the stud temporarily, I will use high temp loctite with the final set up. The stud on the right is too long so I will shorten it up to match the left one.
 
Because the space is pretty tight I made some special small diameter nuts out of some 3/32 allen key, (a great source for small hex-stock old allen keys) I softened it by heating up to a bright cherry red and letting it cool slowly.
 

 
Tomorrow I will finish off the inlet by adding the T and the bottom of the loop which is where the carb with attach about 1/4 inch below the T
 
Thank you to all who visited the log over the last day or so.
 
Michael

I think you will find that this group of modelers offers constructive critique not destructive !  Come join us !

Looks pretty darn good to me !  None of the "mistakes" you point to are obvious to me until you pointed them out. And I'm really not sure they are "mistakes". I'm not sure what you mean with the coiled ropes on the deck?  The stern detail looks good, even the molded wood (instead of brass) looks good.
 
We modelers sometimes tend to be too critical of ourselves. I would say your model is excellent.

I have a  friend who swears by Model Shipways paints; I, on the other hand, swear at Model Shipways paints.  Main problem - they are too thick - unless you dilute them heavily with water they are way too thick (IMHO) to apply even with a brush. For this reason I would never try them in an airbrush. Even applied with a brush the obliterate any small fine detail with their thickness.

Congrats on your perseverence.  And the best of luck with the hip surgery.  We'll keep a light burning in the stern gallery for you.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and all the likes.
 
I had hoped to post a bit more of an update tonight but a couple of things got in the way............
 
Firstly, having proudly displayed all of my component parts in my last update, when I went to assemble them I found some small but significant errors in the milling of the shell room pillars. Long story short, I didn't take enough care in setting up the mill and because I cut all 18 pillars in one continuous cut, there were enough differences between one end and the other of the cutting line, that when assembled the bomb racks between the pillars looked like they'd been for a run ashore on pay day.
 
That then gave me the impetus to also re-make the floor support beams - those incorrectly drilled holes were still bugging me.
 
So I re-made everything...........................................twice! Yep, managed to bugger up both the milling and the floor beams on the second attempt.
 
Fortunately, it was a long weekend and rainy - no other "distractions" in sight! So after measuring 37 times, and aligning the mill to within a cat's whisker of its life, I went for attempt number three. What was that about "the third time is the charm"? All I can say is that Jeff Hayes (of HobbyMill) must have believed in this as he supplied enough raw material to allow a third attempt! Thanks Jeff!!! Don't know what I would have done if I'd botched it a third time.
 
Anyway, a test fit of all parts revealed a good match all round. I then needed to await delivery of my new "bombs", which arrived today. The size looks right, but they have a shiny finish, which I will probably spray with Dullcote before using.
 
So unfortunately, no photos for now. I will take a few during the final assembly and finishing process and post with my next update. That, however, will be a few weeks in coming as I've been consigned to the knackers yard to get some replacement body parts. I'm going into hospital tomorrow morning for a hip replacement operation. I had the first one done about five years ago, so I'm no stranger to the procedure, or the recovery process. I do know two things for sure. Firstly, I'll be in less pain afterwards than I am now, and secondly, I'll be enjoying some quality pharmaceuticals for a little while! That of course means no model building - unless of course you were interested in seeing some rather unique maritime interpretations..................
 
I hope to be back in the shipyard in a limited capacity in 2-4 weeks, but will have to await both surgeon and Admirals approval first. And of course, you just know which of those is going to be the more difficult to obtain!!! In the meantime, I shall continue to live vicariously through all of your logs.

I think you will find that this group of modelers offers constructive critique not destructive !  Come join us !

I think you will find that this group of modelers offers constructive critique not destructive !  Come join us !

Looks pretty darn good to me !  None of the "mistakes" you point to are obvious to me until you pointed them out. And I'm really not sure they are "mistakes". I'm not sure what you mean with the coiled ropes on the deck?  The stern detail looks good, even the molded wood (instead of brass) looks good.
 
We modelers sometimes tend to be too critical of ourselves. I would say your model is excellent.

Wow. Thanks guys. This forum really is a friendly place.  
 
If I recall correctly, my last experience with a ship model discussion group turned out to be a negative experience. My wife referred to them as 'the ship model gestapo', she has a good sense of humor.

Looks pretty darn good to me !  None of the "mistakes" you point to are obvious to me until you pointed them out. And I'm really not sure they are "mistakes". I'm not sure what you mean with the coiled ropes on the deck?  The stern detail looks good, even the molded wood (instead of brass) looks good.
 
We modelers sometimes tend to be too critical of ourselves. I would say your model is excellent.

I think you will find that this group of modelers offers constructive critique not destructive !  Come join us !

I think you will find that this group of modelers offers constructive critique not destructive !  Come join us !

Yours does pass the "standing horse test"
 
Jan

Looks pretty darn good to me !  None of the "mistakes" you point to are obvious to me until you pointed them out. And I'm really not sure they are "mistakes". I'm not sure what you mean with the coiled ropes on the deck?  The stern detail looks good, even the molded wood (instead of brass) looks good.
 
We modelers sometimes tend to be too critical of ourselves. I would say your model is excellent.

Looks great from here.   We are our own worst critics.