David Lester

Hi Don, Well this certainly looks like an interesting model. I'm looking forward to following along. David

Hi Dave, It took me a while to get back in the swing of things, posting on forums etc. but I think I'm ready now to jump back in. I'll be following your new build with great interest; it's a new model to me. Have you built a AL model before? I'm always curious what it's like working with the different manufacturers. I'm sure you'll make me envious of your woodworking skills yet again. David

Hi, I have been following your build log with interest; I built this model last year. I found an effective way to make Flemish coils. It's not my own idea, in fact I read it in a build log somewhere and it works like this: place double sided tape down on the deck, then find a small round object, such as a vial cap or something like that (I used the cap from the tube that small drill bits come in). Press the cap down on the tape where you want the coil to be and make one loop around the cap, pressing the line down onto the tape. Then remove the cap and continue making loops working from the outside in, pressing the line down as you go. It isn't hard to get a nice coil. When it's finished, you paint it with diluted glue. Once it's dry, you can peal the tape off the deck, then gently peal the coil off the tape and then replace it on the deck an glue it down. I made my coils in place on the deck where I wanted them using the line directly from the gun rigging. I guess you could also make the coils on the bench, leaving one end of line long and glue it to the rigging block when you placed the coil on the deck. I also replaced my rigging line. I had decided not to upgrade all the parts in the kit as many do, but I did think that nylon line was going to be difficult to work with and opted to replace it. The Syren line seemed very expensive to me, so I searched high and low for decent line at an affordable price. I found some at Blue Jacket. They have both cotton and linen in a wide variety of sizes. I ordered their cotton line and it worked beautifully. Where I couldn't match the size exactly, I opted for the closest size smaller. I also read with great interest your posting today in which you attributed a spirit to your model (a feisty one at that!) and likened it to a cat. The timing seemed amazing to me because I had just moments before finished hearing an interview on CBC with Marie Kondo, the Japanese expert on de-cluttering who subscribes to the idea that inanimate objects actually have souls and that we relate to them. It's not something we think about very much, but here in one afternoon I heard about it in theory and read about it in practice! I'm looking forward to watching your continued progress. David

Hello Again, Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working on the stern and bow details. As many of you know the practicum suggests using Evergreen styrene for much of the details. While it's quite effective, it really isn't very much fun to work with. It's difficult to do without getting CA glue all over the place and it doesn't set up as quickly as I would like. Also, the "memory" in the strips causes them to not want to stay in place around curves. I found it helped to wrap the trip around a cylinder for a day or se before using it. One minor change I made from the practicum was the size of the stripe on the rails. For some reason it's suggested to use .040 half round on the cheek rails and then switch to .010 x .020 for the headrails. Once I added the smaller stuff to the headrails, I noticed how much better it looked than the hearvier on the cheek rails, so I redid it, using the smaller scale. I'm not sure if it's more authentic to use the two different sizes or not, but I'm sure happier with the smaller size throughout. The headrails are interesting to make. Most of them were not actually too difficult, but that middle rail is of the devil's own design. It's a series of compound curves and the practicum suggests making it ahead of attaching any of the rails to the model. The problem with this is that you're flying blind. The timbers connect the top curved rail with the top cheek rail. The middle rail goes between and I believe it is supposed to make contact with the timbers. My middle rail, which looked quite good off the model, didn't even come close to reaching the three middle timbers. It didn't seem to curve far enough toward the centre throughout it's horizontal run. I didn't have the heart to start over, as these rails were the result of several failed attempts, so my solution was to modify them. I laminated planking material to the inside surface of the rails where they were to meet the three timbers, then I sanded them to the necessary contour. Once I was satisfied, I then sanded the outside surface down to create the right width throughout its length. This effectively reshaped the piece. For anyone else using the practicum, I would suggest installing the other rails and timbers first, and only then making the middle rail to fit. On the gallery, I know my work here isn't especially beautiful, but it's the result of several failed attempts and if there's one thing I've learned it's to know my limitations and when to cut my loses, so this is what it's going to be. The nameplate looked like it was going to be a bit of a challenge. The laser cut plate provided required painting and I knew I'd never get a satisfactory job. The trailboard isn't so difficult as all the curving detail allows a fair bit of margin for error, but the lettering is another story altogether. The practicum suggests using dry transfer lettering. I ordered some, but it is very difficult to hold it in place correctly and to get a straight string of letters. Also, often despite rubbing the letter, only a portion of it actually comes off which leaves quite a mess. In the end I turned to Microsoft Word. I created the lettering in a Word document, approximating it as closely as I could. I cut it out, glued it to a piece of wood and then sealed it with polyurethane. It seems to work ok. So that pretty much brings my build log up to date. David

Good Morning Everyone, This is my first posting for my build log of the USS Constitution. I'm using the Bob Hunt practicum and started the model in September of last year and until recently was posting regularly on the LSS forum. At the time I left that forum, I was just about ready to begin the stern and bow details. So, this first posting will serve as a sort of recap of my progress to that point. My next posting will show what I've been working on over the past couple of weeks. I'm really enjoying how much material there is to be found on this forum (especially Constitution builds) and look forward to following them all. David Here are the "recap" photos: