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Thanks for all your kind words! We are having a great time with the twin boys, they are bundles of non stop energy in every direction and extremely smart. They love being in the pool especially with the heat and humidity. We are really going to miss them. Alex enjoys getting mom’s smart phone and dialing FaceTime with us. He did this a couple of times when we were traveling here. Tyler on the other hand is an eating machine and has no problem downing his food at meal time. Thanks again for your kind comments.

Arrived at son’s house with no issues with the ship. It did not move at all. The roughest roads were coming off the George Washington bridge with some very interesting terrain changes on the roads. That stretch could be used as a tank obstacle course. We picked up the glass for the display case and it will be custom built by a friend of my son. They felt it best to have the ship first and then build. I suggested that they add a drawer to hold the Constitution book and build CD. I am really enjoying the swimming pool in the east coast heat and humidity.

Bad news good news! Water pump seized up just before Somerset, PA able to make it to the Ford dealer in Somerset yesterday afternoon at 4pm. They needed to overnight the parts needed and we are now at the hotel waiting for the work to be completed hopefully by 11am and get back on the road. We are 6.5 hours from our son’s house. The good news is that it happened where we were able to limp in to a Ford dealer that was near by and immediately assessed the problem and ordered the parts and had an employee drop us off at the hotel for the night. Now just waiting to hear from them, better to wait at hotel rather than dealer lounge. Hotel has free WiFi. Keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well with the repair and we can still get to destination tonight. On the above comments, I flew in ‘34’s and ‘46’s and all the crew had for protection was the 40 pound body armor that we wore. Pilots sat in armored seats along with bullet bouncers on. Weight was always an issue in I Corps especially in the mountain areas along the DMZ for the higher altitudes and thinner air. Both types of aircraft were striped bare of non essential gear to compensate for gun weight and armor. 34’s had m-60’s while the ‘46’s had .50 cals. I loved the .50’s and never had a jam, guns came from B-17’sand all ammo cans had 1944 or 1945 dates on them and were anti aircraft ammo During the Tet battle for Hue city we would be called in to take out a snipers in buildings and the .50’s would go through anything used for building materials. This is when the exploding rounds really did the job. Semper Fi to those who fly!

Mark, what kind of birds were those?

Kurt, you are right for most of the time; but underneath a CH-46 patching bullet holes and other repairs laying on the steel marston mating having baked in the sun for hours that every now and then slight breeze would be hot and dry next to it. For some reason the bullet holes were always on the underside and never on the top, unless one went through the window and up. Today a couple of museums in Denver, then on to Topeka, Kansas tomorrow assuming all goes well. Just learned last night that my best friend back in Ohio passed away suddenly. We were to visit and spend a day with him after New York.

Arrived safe a sound in St. George, Utah. Very hot 110 degrees walking across the parking lot reminded me of the flight line in Vietnam; hot dry breeze. On to Denver tomorrow. Ship is traveling perfect so far.

Thank you all for your kind wishes on safe travel. We just found out that our son will be arriving in Indianapolis the same evening we will so we are going to try and connect for breakfast the next morning. He is on a three day business trip and will leave Indianapolis that evening. We all will arrive at his house the same afternoon what luck and coincidence. Thanks again!

She is crated and packed in the car ready to leave in the morning. It will ride on a 1" layer of energy absorbing foam with 3" of clearance above the main mast. I had to tilt at about a 30 degree angle to clear the door opening and the roof has a bulge up that allowed space for the masts. The sides of the frame had to be short into order to clear and rotate back up to fit with the car side wall camber. Everything is snug and tight. Now all we have to do is leave in the morning and drive to the end of Long Island, NY. I removed the central hatch cover and tied down across at the rails, trapped fore and aft by the cradle nesting. Created a little pocket for the hatch cover with the pinnace. Here it is with the honey comb cardboard sheet between the frame structure and the gear. Wish us luck on our delivery adventure!

Dave, that could be slim pickings but if you have any questions just let me know. Keep in mind I will be out of the loop between July 19 - Aug. 7 and not sure about communications. I will be delivering the Constitution to my son in Southold, Long Island. A long drive from Morro Bay,Ca. 6130 miles round trip.

Dave, don't forget to add the forward line to the eyebolt on the channel.; every fifth ratline extends to it. But I am sure you are aware of this.

I have been busy on three kit design projects; two of which are in production and the third still in design. But now waiting for parts to come so I got back on the Detroit and carved the Rescue and two life boats. I used poplar rather than Basswood to get the detail needed. Here are pictures of the boats. Next will be the davits which Evan has detailed photos of to share when back. Here is the first life boat. Then the trick was to carve the second as close as possible to the first. They are both the same size despite the camera lens distortion. Here they are painted red as close as I could match. Various sources show color variations that are weathered paint. Here they are in there locations on the ship needing their davits. I will wait for the photos of the davits that hopefully will have next week. Thursday I leave to deliver the Constitution to my son in Southold, N.Y. a cross country drive across this wonderful land.

Ben752 I just was reading your post and just wish to make a suggestion for future reference for yourself and others. Scanners and copiers really do distort images; for better results use a camera telephoto lens and stand back and zoom in on a plan detail, the lens greatly reduces distortion, then import the image to trace more accurately. keep up the great efforts! Ken

Doris, I can only concur with all the previous accolades of your wonderful talent. I also appreciate the fact of individually sculpting each detail. Your time and effort puts the "ART" in the art of ship building. Have a great day and keep up the great work you are doing!

Here are some additional pictures for a better look at it. The decorations are P.E. brass. This is targeted for those wanting to get into boat building and learn some of the techniques of building. The challenge for me to to build it using no machines and doing everything by hand as a novice might have to just getting started.

This is one of the projects I have been working on and is now available. It is a larger scale than the previous kit offered by Model Expo and is the one Chuck refereed to in one of his postings. I can now show it since ME has posted it. MODEL SHIPWAYS 18th CENTURY ARMED LONGBOAT BRAND NEW! 1:24 SCALE KIT 24" LONG True plank-on-frame construction Perfect detailing with 36 Brittania mettal fittings, dozens of photo-etched parts Armed with 2 swivel guns & a cannon Three huge sheets of detailed plans 48-page step-by-step assembly manual SEE IT HERE & BE THE FIRST ONE TO OWN IT! 18th CENTURY ARMED LONGBOAT Laser Cut Basswood, Metal & Photo-Etched Brass Parts Model Shipways 1:24 Scale Kit No. MS1460 MSRP $169.99 Intro Special $119.99 Bulwarks & transom decorations are photo-etched brass! ARMED LONGBOAT PAINT SET Ten 1 oz. Bottles of Model Shipways Paint One each: Bulwarks Gun Red, Primer, White, Hull Yellow Occre, Iron Cannon Black. Two: MS4973 Wood Conditioner, Three: MS4972 Clear Satin Reg. $44.99 Now $34.99

Sandor, the key is to first anneal the strip by heating it to just starting to change color and then quenching in water; this will soften the brass. Then with small duckbill pliers straddling a rod slowly form the strip while pushing down and squeezing at the same time. There is a picture on page 9 of my Constitution build of this. Hope this helps.

Tom, your build is coming along and looking great! Don’t you just love doing the rigging keep the great job you are doing.

Mark, your build is looking fantastic and I love your attention to detail. Keep up the great job you are doing! Ken

The final chapter for the Dirty Dozen at home in the Morro Bay Maritime Museum display. Tonight will be the Patrons Preview of the museum. but still a work "in Progress" until the official opening in October during the Morro Bay Harbor Festival. They are now talking of reviving the Landing Craft and now a Clipper ship the "South American" built in Boston and launched by Smith and Townsend in 1876. "In her early life was considered the finest wooden sailing ship afloat" a quote from "American Merchant Ships" page 316. "The figurehead was a finely carved Amazon." She was 245 feet long, beam of 41.6 feet with a depth of hold 25 feet and registered at 1,694 tons. If anyone has more information or pictures I would greatly appreciate any help. The museum was donated a painting, artifacts and letters from one of her Captain's passed down through the family. If ever in Morro Bay make a point of visiting our small but ever growing museum. What will be neat, is to see again the original builder again tonight. At one time Morro Bay was the world capital of abalone fishing.

Darrel, your build is looking great! I really like how you have integrated natural wood with the paint finishes. Your mention of trips to Keim’s brings back memories of our trips there and wishing we had one out here in California. Keep up the great work!

Dave, the build is coming along great! Love all the details, they are always fun to add. I had my granddaughters help as well during mine and the younger 4 year old loved making rope on the rope walk. keep up the great job!

Greg, yes I did, I took a piece of .010" brass and filed a half round profile in it and then used it as a shaper to cut the molding. I made two types a single and a double. Since then MicroMark offers a molding cutter by Amati. Unfortunately, they have not updated their online catalog but it is listed in the most recent catalog. I have since used these and they work great.

Darrel, your doing a great job and it looks like you are still having fun with this build.

Between breaks from CAD drawing I finished up all the chocks for the forecastle and stern mooring deck. I also made a display base for her to sit upon. Next I will work on the small boats, their cranes and davits. Still waiting to get images of the container deck structures and catwalks as well as the new propeller. I have sent laser cut part files off for two projects so I will be waiting for parts to arrive. Now back to work.

Gerald, thanks for the link to the duplicator. I enjoy your ingenuity for building the tools and fixtures as needed, “necessity is always the mother of invention”. As for hr noise it is music to my ears knowing that she is having a great time doing her work. Keep up the great work!