Kilo66

John; I hope all has gone well for you and your wife since you last posted here and I look forward to the day when you can pick up the thread where you left off. You've done some fine model shipwright work and your log has been most instructive. Best wishes, Ray

Beautiful craftsmanship! I hope the lapse in postings doesn't mean that the project has been abandoned. Will we ever be allowed to see the completed model?

Thanks muchly for the guidance, gents. You've saved me time, money, and agro.

I'm planning to embark on a build of the venerable USS Constitution 1/96 scale kit in which much of the decking will be omitted and the port side hull opened to allow an interior view. I'd also like to try a similar scale scratchbuilding project, a sectional cutaway of the Constitution (rather like the Mamoli kit but centered on the ship's wheel area). In either event, I'd like to try to include the recessed skylight hiding under the gratings of the small deck fixture immediately forward of the wheel. I know it's there. I've seen it mentioned in a few sources but none had pictures. A Google Image search came up snake eyes. I vaguely recall being told it was noted on the plans of the Model Shipways 1/96 kit but don't have those plans in the hoarde of paperwork, plans, and scrap drawings I'm accumulating. If anyone does have those plans (and if they do show the construction of the skylight itself, rather than just mentioning it's lurking below the grating), I would REALLY appreciate it if you could be so kind as to post the relevent drawings here. Ditto for any photos of the real thing on the actual Constitution. I've tried the MSW search bar but got nada for "Constitution recessed skylight" or several other word combinations. I thank you, ladies & gentlemen, for any aid you may see fit to render.

I have enjoyed following your adjustments of this venerable kit. I note, though, that it has been quite a while since the last log entry. Has this fascinating build been indefinitely relegated to the "someday..." catagory?

Popeye, thanks for the reply. This will be my last 'jacking post; I don't usually do that sort of thing. (Evan, thank you for your forebearance!) As luck would have it, I was able to find one more, low-res picture of the current Berth Deck pump assembly taken from a different POV and could now see that it had a modern brass fire nozzle affixed to the "urn," apparently for use with what looked like (and almost certainly is) an equally modern fire hose off to one side, so your response seems spot-on. Based on that, I believe I'll still model the rocker-arm Gun Deck pump and Berth Deck pump assembly (which at least have an early 18th Century look) but leave off the red "urn" and attached modernisms. Again, thanks muchly.

If I may attempt to distract you from actual building for one moment, I'd like to ask a reference question. I can hardly believe it but in a few weeks I'll finally be initiating a long-awaited attempt at a huge scratch build of the venerable Revell 1/96 Constitution during the course of which large sections of the port hull will be completely cut away, allowing a full and detailed view of the interior construction and appointments. I don't mind telling you that the photographs and information you have provided so far will be of great help to me. Again, I thank you. That said, I'll tell you that, for entirely aestehetic reasons, I plan to build the bilge pumps as they now exist. There are numerous excellent photographs of the Gun Deck pump arrangements but I have found only one of the pump assembly on the Berth Deck. That one photo is actually failrly well detailed, save for one aspect: what appears to be a large, bright red urn-shaped attachemnt rising from the center(?) of the baseplate. The "urn" is mostly obscured by other components. Do you have any photos of today's Berth Deck pump assembly in what I assume is your extensive accumulation of print and visual references? You seem exceptionally knowledgable re the Constitution in her several incarnations; might I be fortunate enough to find that you know what the "urn" is and does? If I may, I'll throw the same question out to any other member who might come across this posting. Thanks in advance to all for any assistance or guidance to a viable image source.

Friend Cooper, have you given up on the project? I hope not. You were progressing so well and your scratch-building was as impressive as your illustrations were helpful to other model shipwrights tackling the Revell Constitution.

For mercy's sake, Piper, PLEASE resurrect this thread and post more. Your solutions to the various challenges posed by this kit are ingenious and, like the crisp photographs, VERY useful to those of use contemplating a Victory build of our own. Splendid work so far.

Not only is your own build a guide for others seeking to upgrade this venerable kit, your history related sidebars and source material suggestions are like frosting on the cake. Thanks muchly for taking the trouble to post in such detail and for the very useful photo-illustrations. And now, in the immortal words of that precocious little girl in the TV commercial, 'More, more, we want more!"