kmart

Great build Jeff! You did Victory proud!

Continuing on, The stern windows, As the ME kit is of a modern version of the ship, the kit does not include the window like they do with the quarter galleries. But to look right, the windows need to be sized and be comparable to the quarter galleries. and did I mention they are TINY! Modern Stern The stern I'm aiming for... First Attempt. Did lots of math. Calculated all the spacers I needed. Cut up lots of tiny pieces of wood. Started framing out the windows using the spacers to make square frames Then added the two sets of vertical sashes? inside each frame. Again using the spaces to get them perfectly positioned So far so good. BUT, when I took them out of the jig. started to try and add the super tiny cross pieces. They were just too tiny to align right, and the surface area holding the frames together was soo small. The frames kept falling apart. I got a pile of wood pieces that looks like the first pic, but covered in glue. Attempt #2 Looking at the plans, I thought hmmm that kinda looks like a deck grating, but just larger holes... So, While I never successfully made my own gratings before. I kind knew the general idea. Lots more measurements, math and cutting more spacers.. I made a pile of these.... Glued them together. (this time they stayed stuck together) and got these. Cleaned them up... Still needs some more sanding and cleaning. Just set in place but.... They are actually the same height as the quarter gallery windows, even though they don't look like it in the pic. They came out way better than I expected.

Next up, start the gun-port lids. Soo they gun-port lids all come laser cut... Nice! But it would be too easy if they just fit in the ports. No chance of that! Actual, after I cut them out and sanded off the char, the height was perfect, but the width was about 1 mm too wide. Now as the lids will be open, no one in the world would notice them being 1 mm too wide. But it would bother every time i looked at her me sooo. they must be fixed. Because the hole for the cannon and the portholes are in the center, I cant just take 1 mm off one side. Need to take 0.5 mm of each side. Evenly and square. And then do it 64 times.. (16 ports a side x2 sides x top and bottom piece) There is no way I can cut that precise and that consistently on my mini table saw. Plus the piece are so small... Id loose a finger tip in the attempt. : -( Had to find another way. So I cut 2 strips of basswood the proper width of the ports. In this case exactly 15mm wide. Drew a center line on all the lid pieces Drew a center line on the strip of wood I cut Put some double sided tape on one one piece and More double sided tape and Sandwiched the second piece on top of the lids. Sanded down the 1/2 mm sticking up. Repeated on the other side. And you get... Yes they are all the same size. What I was more amazed at was the gun-port frames were remarkably consistent. With only a couple of minor exceptions, lids all nicely fit the ports without adjustments. I still have to add the tiny photo etched hinges, and then paint both sides. That shouldn't be to hard. What I'm really stumped on is how to attach the things to the hull. The bottom hang straight down so I can almost just glue them right to the hull. But the upper lid is angled up. And any for kind of attachment, the eyebrows will be in the way of the attachment point. Any ideas/ suggestions on how to attach the lids?

Marking the Copper line So first.... need to get the ship at the right angle to the reference baseline. The Keel is not parallel with the baseline. The bow end of the keel is about 8 mm higher than the baseline than the stern. When I roughed out my stand.. i didn't account for that and made them the same height. That's incorrect. The bow stand needs to be slightly higher. But NOT mm. something less than that. took me longer to do the geometry than to actually fix the stand. fix was just a shim of basswood glued on the bottom Then cleaned up. trimmed both to have similar silhouette Notice how the stand in foreground... the slot where keel rests is a bit higher.When the hull now is in the stand, is correct relative to the reference baseline in the plan. Next I need a waterline marker. I inherited the drafting / architecture tool from my Father. (Never used it until now) Taped a pencil to it and presto ...perfect waterline marker. calculated based on reference line + height of stand +height of top of copper-line. Adjusted pencil height to same... and marked away. Sorry... Didn't take a picture with just line. Here is taped right below the line and right above the bottom sill of the gun-ports. (ie bottom of white stripe). Checked bow and stern to make sure it looked parallel / aligned on both sides. Yes its level.. the picture is taken at a off angle. Annnd.. starting to paint Tape comes off Then I taped and painted between the top of the white stripe and the just below where the channel/chain-plates will go.

Hey Chuck. I have RW kit on my shelf. But years down the road befor i start her. Ill follow you build in the meantime. If you havnt aready. Search the forum. There was two fabulous builds of RF completed in 2019. Both with great build logs. Also. Before they went out of business. Euromodel had a user build practicion on their website free to download. Had 13 or 14 large pdf on slmost every aspect of build. If you dont have that but want it. PM me and i can send you. K

Jonathan. My sympathy on the loss of your Mother. I like how you built your sheaves. Im aproaching that part soon. Hadnt yet figured out how i was going to male them. May do a varient of your techneque. K

Congrats. Very nicly done. I also like how your sails came out

Lol. Well they are medical syrnges. But wont be injecting myself with glue using them. That would be a quick way to harden the arteries. 😁 Not pointy hypodermic needle . More like eyedropper tip. Dont need perscription. They actually work great for applying glue. Very small amounts in controlled fashion in exact spot. Glue doesnt dry out or clog in there. Just use a micro drill or t pin as a cap. Glue stays good. No clogs. Have used same syringe for a year now as my primary glue application tool. John.and usedtosail. Thanks for the positive comments. Means a lot to me. Im not so much fast as ocd. Wont touch the model for months and months. Then i get a long week like over Christmass and i disapear into worshop for entire duration. Only emerging to eat and sleep. I get obsessed to complete a phase and reach that next milestone.

Sooo. Starting the white stripe decided to go with Vallejo paints instead of my old stock of floquil. After testing on some sacrificial wood. Vallejo was just so much easier to use. Went on with a brush very easy. levels right out nice, no smell. and the color look good. I was also really worried about using that really old Floquil. It looked ok, but didn't want to risk the model with it. This is coat #1. you can barely see it.. but its there I put on very thin layer at a time. it levels out very nice straight from the bottle. not thinned. Dries quick so I left 1 hr between re-coats This is around coat #4. After last coat (#6) I also started preparing the Eyebrows (Rigloi??) cleaned them up and painted black. Will glue them on.. so its wood to wood before I put black on the hull. Used double sided tape to stick them to a board. Made it much easier to hold them while painting Nest up.. While looking at pictures of the real ship.. I did see that there is a series of bolts on the side of the hull Basically just below the sill of and between each of the main gun ports : . : 2 - 1 -2 pattern So thinking about if I wanted to add this detail. I haven't really seen it on other builds. but they are noticeable enough on the real ship to at least consider adding. I'm guessing these are at back of the ring bolts used for the cannon tackle. the pattern and location certainly seem to match. Thinking ahead for the inboard green bulwarks on the spar deck will also have all the bolts heads . So I did a few tests to see if I can simulate bolts at the right scale to be used for both. Made a few test strips with very small brass nails but the heads still looked way to big/ out of scale. So I went and looked at several of the other Connie build logs I follow. JSGerson log. He had a ingenious method with a brass die punch. His turned out great with that method .. but I neither have a punch or the patients or skill John had to make the 1000s bolt heads by that method and come out looking good. UsedtoSail's is my other go to log (I reference that all the time. Its basically a build practicum the way he organized it!) He used small drops of white glue. turned out looking real good as well. and easy to replicate. so i copied the white glue technique. (using my yellow wood glue). I apply the glue using a small medical syringe. can put out very small drops. so I mad a test plate and painted with black. Looks big in the picture.. but the "bolt heads" are ~0.5 mm diameter. so they look the right scale. That test strip took me all of 1 minute to make all those heads.. So that looks like a winner as the way to go. I'll definitely do this for the bolts on the bulkheads. Now I just need to decide if I want to add the bolts to the side of the hull below the gun-ports. Probably will .. but still TBD That's about it for now. Will let the white acrylic paint fully cure for the week.... while I go to back work for the week. Want it fully Dry before I use masking tape on it. I've read that acrylics dry to the touch fast, but take a while to truly harden and cure. Else they can peel right off. Should be ready to add the black next weekend. Then she will really start to look like Connie.

Hello Delphic, I'll grab a front row seat on this one. Right at the start of your build. Always liked the looks of USS Rattlesnake. Always; eyeing that one when it goes on sale... maybe after I finish the kits already sitting on my shelf. 🙂

1 more update. So when I put in the gundeck planking and bulwarks... at the time I didn't put in the green waterway. Time to correct that. Because its the gun deck and will be barely visible.. I didn't try to do the proper shape Just left it a rectangular profile. Painted up several strips and added. And side view...If you look close in addition to the waterway... I've been adding some of the pre-paint details You can see I have the lower deck port lights also installed. They will get painted in position when the hull is painted. I ordered a bottle of Microscale Krystal Clear. After painted.. will use that to make the porthole glass... as well as the glass panes in the stern windows. I'll add the Scupper ports and the gun-port eyebrows next before I paint the black. Also created and installed molding /trim between the channels. In AOS it actually shows 3 rows of trim. the one as seen above. another one that runs through the center of the spar deck gun-ports and a third below the channels but above the gundeck gun-ports. The trim itself is 1 mm high. by 2.3 mm wide and there is a grove down the middle. The groove is 1/2 mm deep Took me forever to figure out how to make that. Still deciding if I will add the other two rows. To make , I uses a dremel (sears actually) router table that I have (but never used until now) Used the smallest engraving bur bit. And was super careful not to route my fingers when working with strips that small Hopefully fairly soon I'll get to post some pictures with her white strip on. 🙂 K

More updates So in addition to making the channels. I'm getting the hull closer to painting. First step.. Sanded the whole hull with 320 grit. Next I used Areo Gloss Filler to coat the hull. This is what they used back in the 70 and 80s to make model rockets. Its basically a lacquer based sanding sealer with fine filler. They discontinued it for years.. but was in the hobby shop and they had some in stock. So I bought. Brushed on the hull... Let dry Sand again 320 grit Second coat + sand. And the result.. going to add some of the hull details before I actually start.. hut the hull itself is all ready for paint As for the paint. In my stash I actually have some still good Floquil. New bottles unopened until recently to check to confirm they are still good 2 bottles of engine Black ( plan to use this. will test to make sure its not glossy) 1 Bottle of Dull Black 1 bottle of Grimy Black. (might be good for the cannon barrels) 1 new bottle of flat while (White Stripe) 1 navy aged white I took a few large squares of basswood. (same as hull material) first prepped with the Areo Gloss. Now am paining with the colors to see how they come out before I commit on the hull.

Time for my next post. While I haven't posted in awhile I have been making progress on my build. First up.... I finally got around to fixing the forward gun-port. From way back last year.. when I framed in the gun-ports, I used a jig to ensure all the ports were equally sized and square. The jig also spanned athwart ship to do the matching gun-port on opposite side. This worked great for almost all the gun-ports. The foremost port is where the hull curves in to at the bow. Well using my jig,, these forward ports came out square and matching with its pair. But because of the curve of the hull and geometry...:-) it was larger than the other ports.... Fix was to insert a new side piece of the port to make it the proper width. Then added a piece of hull planking (vertically). (i know wrong but no way to put in proper horizontal planks that small). sanded the new plank in flush. Later I'll use some wood filler. Once painted it should be invisible. Looks pretty rough hear but it cleaned up well.. better pictures of fix later. Next up... started roughing out the channels. cut out blanks to the proper size... From plans... measured and positioned them on the hull where the belonged. Because there is not a lot of surface area to later glue these on, and because of the stress of the shrouds... 1) drilled small holes in the hull facing edge. 2) drilled matching holes in the hull. 3) used small brass rode.. into the matching holes. So now the channels stay in place.. (not glued yet. But the rods will help me align them later and give a lot more strength when I do glue them on. Speaking of gluing. I am planning to attach the channels permanently prior to painting. Want a wood to wood matting. to add strength. ie not tried to glue to a painted surface. The risk is these will be in the way / risk breaking during other parts of the build. Well see how it works out. Next, I used Microsoft Visio.. build a template to match the channels. Then figured out exactly where the notches for the chainplates will go. also spent hours going over the plans... all the way through Standing and running rigging to figure out where eyebolts will also go. Want this all added in advance of attaching to the hull. More details on the channels. Notches, eyebolts and some of the wire rods.

🙂 lol. Very slowly. It wasnt acualy that hard but it did take a long time. Traced the opening. Drillied the holes leaving lots of space away from the lines. Hacked the big stuff out with the mini carving tools. At that point.. using a very sharp exacto knife was able to clean up to the lines. Its basswood so it cuts easy and clean. But did i mention it was slow work.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. So i am now leaning towards using rhe areo glow. Will do some test runs on scrap. Will test with the acylic i have. But also look to see if i can find a laquer paint to compare. Waiting a week or to to harden i can do. Waiting months is a bit much.

Hello All. So Background. I am currently building Model Expo - USS Constitution. I have the basic hull all planked. Used wood filler where needed and have her sanded down with 300 grit. And am planning/ prepping phase to paint the hull. I am a complete novice with painting. Past models I just brushed on a primer then a coat of color. But most of them had very limited painted areas on them.. The Constitution I want to do better / proper. and not look amateurish. As its the Constitution... color wise its easy. Bottom will be copper foil tap from waterline down. Top sided will be solid flat black with the white Gun port Strip. I plan to brush on. Will most likely be Acrylic Paint. I had bought the Model Expo paint kit when I first bought the model. Well its been a few years (5+) since i bought them..Went to open them and they are all dried up. not usable. At hobby store was asking painting advise and the knowledgeable owner suggested to use 2 coats of Areo Gloss fillercoat Dope. Sand between coats, (The stuff you used on model rockets as a kid...I would not have even thought of using that...but he strongly recommended it..) Then acrylic paint on top.. He recommended Tamiya 1) is this a good approach. I would not of thought of Areo dope to prep the hull I didn't even think they made this anymore. 2) Is this compatible with Acrylics? The hobby store owner said it was but looking for second confirmation 3) Would I need a primer coat between the Areo and the Acrylic 4) Is Tamiya a good acrylic for this application 5) For below the waterline... can copper foil tape go right on the Areo dope.? I'm assuming it will adhear well And then when its done painted.. does acrylics require a clear top coat of some sort to protect it? Other related questions And how does everyone handle the hull details... There are things like steps on the tumble-home and a thin, narrow molded plank that goes on the side of the hull,or the chainplates channels Do you paint the base hull and then glue these parts on the paint. or do you glue all the detail parts on first then paint over them first pass. My thought is ... wood to wood will adhere better.. especially for small parts will little surface area to glue to. Will it these parts adhear to the painted surface as well? I am thinking I mask off the areas where parts will be glued on later... to keep the wood to wood contact. then hit those with paint they are glued on. I know.. lots of questions... Any and all advice requested And yes, I'll definitely try any techniques on scrape wood before committing to the hull and causing a major disaster. PS I do have a stock of old Floquil paints. I know those are great paints. Unfortunately I have only 1 bottle of Black. Cant risk its not enough to do the whole hull. Grrr if only i had 2 bottles. K

Jonathan and GrandpaPhil... Thanks for the feedback. The more I'm looking at it, the more I like it. Once cleaned up and detailed it will work. So onto my progress. slow but moving forward. I needed to prep the quarter gallery windows. so after tracing out where the windows will go... I drilled a bunch of holes in the block Then carefully carved, cut out the openings From the backside both Quarters with windows roughed in Set on the Hull And the port side Once cleaned up and painted.. I think they will come out looking decent. I cant believe how long a 4 small block took me to make. (days) That's it for today. And Happy Veterans Day for all of you who have served. We owe you more than we could ever possibly repay! Thank you.

I just went and checked my picture library. ... This is how Connie's roof currently looks today. This is in line with the simpler version of the roof. Now the fancier version the roof extends higher up and has another white trim line in the middle. So my last attempt isn't as far off shape wise as i thought. hmmmm

So,,,last spring, when I left off, I had started working on the quarter galleries.. I had just completed the lower piece, and the decorative piece underneath it. Next After several attempts I made the main part where the windows will go. I made out of a solid block. The challenge was fitting the three surfaces properly .. All of them angled and not square with one another. Bottom, inner side towards the hull and then the back towards the aft. After several attempts, I got the block to fit. After that, shaping the front curved side was fairly straight forward. Using the kits window frames, I traced in where the windows will go. leaving 2 mm under and over the window frames, Then another 3 mm for the trim. You can see that marked up on the block Next up comes the Roof. I have two options with this. The easier one... or the harder version... I'll give you 3 guesses on which one I chose to attempt. Attempt #1 : i thought I could model in two pieces to make up the roof. First piece breaking of the trim in the middle So attempt #1 failed. I didn't like the looks, and the top of the roof was not sized to have the second layer. Attempt #2, and #3, all failed as well. I cant believe how much time I've wasted on making 2 little pieces of wood. Grrrrrrrrr Now onto attempt #4 came out a bit better: This attempt is with a single piece. Because doing one big complex block couldn't possibly be harder than doing smaller , simpler shaped pieces ) Laying out the cuts to make on the block After cutting and rough shaping It has potential.. But it kinda looks more like a shoe or sneaker that a fancy roof. Both at the bottom and then at the flat selection in the middle , I'll put a trim piece. That might make it look better. But I'm not convinced yet. Still considering to another attempt. This is a really hard part to make. Really testing and frustrating me. Thoughts , opinions.... look good enough once cleaned up and painted... or start over.? FYI for the main piece.. the plan is to cut out where the windows will go. Then use jig saw to cut away the inside of the block. That will leave the outer wall... say 2 mm thick, with all the proper curves and fitting and window frames as one piece. ( I still think the roof looks like a sneaker!) That's it for now. And please comment on the roof. keep the roof or toss it and try again.

You build is looking good. Off to a great start. Will be following you progress! K

Hello all, Sooo sailing season (real sailing as apposed to model sailing :-)) is wrapping up in the next few weeks here in New England. Hoping to get a few more days on the water before hauling her out. Then it will be back to work on the Connie after the summer hiatus. I already started cleaning up the basement workshop to start getting my brain back into modeling mode And thinking about where I left off . My goal for this winter modeling season.... is : Finish the hull Finish the stern windows/ details/ quarter galleries Paint the hull Detail the main gun deck And just maybe get the spar deck planking in At my speed of modeling that's ambitious. but that's the goal. Especially as I'm trying to do a respectable job and up the quality of my Connie build over my past builds as apposed to fast... Should start having real updates and (modeling) pics in the next few weeks. K

Another view of the aft extra plank in place Screw up #3 This was done prior.. I just noticed it now. Well since I'm adding the extra plank aft .. it needs to go all the way around so I'm making same update at the bow. Look at the first gun-port... that's closet to the bow. That's Not actually a gun-port.. its where the anchor gets stored. Notice its a larger size than the gun-port. That's correct per the current 2019 version of the ship. But all the Corne paintings and AOS pictures show it as the same size as a normal gun-port.... So not correct for 1812. Plus I really didn't like how it looks. not symmetrical with the rest of the ports... Soo demolishing time. Made a new backing piece Glued in place Next session I'll plank it over.. Screw up #4 Also just noticed today. Waaay back when I was framing the main deck gun-ports. I was so pleased with myself for my framing method and my jig for perfectly square gun-ports... Well As you can clearly see... quite a large gap. This is for both gun-ports on both sides. The way I framed them two at at a time port starboard... worked great for rest of the ship. Because of the steep curvature at the bow, If I run the jig all the way through both ports.. its square and proper sized, but because of the curvature of the hull, if I put the jig in at 90 to the hull... the ports too wide. Fortunately is just the one pair that suffers from this. I can build up one side of the frame to the right side. Not sure how to add extra planking to cover it up. Grrr. I'll figure something out. The past week is NOT what I had been expecting to do in the wood-shop. Oh well. Fix and move forwards.

Trying to fix screw up #1 let me to Screw up #2. Sooo as mentioned about earlier in my log. I chose to go with the 1812 version of the ship that does NOT have that top-galleon Rail. On the model expo plans of the current ship... the cap-rail sits right on top of the spar deck gun-ports.. and then there are 3 more planks... and then their is the second ( top-galleon) rail. That's where I messed up. I positioned my stern based on the model expo plan... Not adjusting for the different stern and lack of the extra planks. i.e. 3 more planks. Looking at the AOS and also several other models. I notices that while they don't have the top galleon rail... some models DO have 1 maby 2 planks over the spar gun-ports under the mail cap rail. That's it. that my way to fix... Add a plank or two over the ports, but still under the main cap. Sooo Look Close again The green arrow is the extra plank. All good. But red is screw up #2. I forgot I had not completely cleaned up the gun ports. they were planked higher than actual size, The plan was to pair it back down to proper size, when I put cap-rail on. Well when I added the extra plank,, all my gun-ports became too tall. I had to go back and add extra plank and as well as a header behind it. You can see I used small scrap pieces to put in in backings as well as gun-port header the full length of the extra plank. So when I get to the cap rail.. it will be a solid 3 pieces top to attach to, outer plank+ backer+ inner plank.

Well,,, it was bound to happen. I screwed up... but if your going to do something.. do it right... So I screwed up a second time. Then I identified my 3rd and 4th screw up that I made earlier in the build...but just identified now. So. Screw up #1: The stern. Hear is what my intended goal is/ was. Looks like everything is lining up well so far. In my prior post.. I showed how I had all the stern prepped to plank... All the windows and gun ports framed in etc. soo For the stern scuppers, portholes. I cut a small square piece of wood. half the thickness of the planks and positioned /glued.. them on the stern. Then I planked around it. This will allow me to have those ports open. or if closed they ill sit flush with planking. either way, I have options. Getting there. Will cut out upper gun-ports later. But they are all properly framed under the planking. But wait. Look above pic where the topmost plank is at this point. I still have 3 more planks to reach the top where the Cap-rail will be. However ... The top of the gun ports on the spar deck are already lower than the current plank on the stern. The cap-rail has to run in 1 level from around the side to the stern. My stern is 3 planks to high. Ugg My current stern planking ends at the lower red arrow. 3 more planks will end up way over the side cap-rail at upper red arrow. What to Do???

So time for my next update. The stern... Well after being thoroughly pleased with myself for how the hull planking came out..... I though finishing planking the stern would be quick and easy... boy was I WRONG. (again) First pic.. The old Gal back in her build cradle. Now for the stern First I glued on the ears. Even as I was doing that , I knew sooner or later I would wind up breaking off the tops of the stern "risers"?? tops of the stern bulkheads. They are really thin, fragile and not supported by anything. Since I needed to frame in the stern gun ports on the Spar deck anyways... I used the same technique as the other gun-ports.. Basically made them solid! Note the filler pieces are not rectangular. That would be to easy. The spar deck port openings are just roughed in at this point. Latter on I'll clean them up to proper size . Right now they are there to prevent me from breaking off the stern timbers. Before I can go much further, I knew I had to position the quarter galleries. So I cut out and shaped two lower solid pieces. This was done similar to how the bow and stern spaces were made. Square block... mini table saw to right size, Then scroll saw to get close to the right shape. Then table sander to finish up. Then I started the decorative fitting that goes underneath. For the lower pieces, I dove into hand carving with a number #7 exacto blade Notice the lip on the upper right piece. That fits over the wale . The lower pieces will sit on the wale. and then the upper pieces will sit on those. So If I measured right.. They will all align and be at same height and symmetrical relative to the wale Like So... Note at this point, the upper blocks are glued on. The lower blocks are just dry fitted. They lowers do need more fitting and sanding to be flush with the upper pieces. Those lower pieces were my first ever free hand carving. 🙂 Next, Need to frame the 5 stern windows. Like the gun-ports, I made a jig. basically a piece of wood 14x14 mm. That's the size of the stern window frames. The challenging part is that 1. The stern angles outwards (further to stern) as it goes up to the top rail 2. That the stern framing is NOT straight up and down. They cant outward port and starboard 3. The stern framing are not exactly parallel to one another. They are at slight different angles. So with those three challenges... Need to frame 5 perfectly square 14 x14 mm ports , that are aligned and spaced properly. Ugg I know it looks rough, but you can see all the shims of various sizes in place. pretty much all 5 windows needed shims on 3 sided. The bottom sill was correct and my starting reference point. You can see the tick marks above each window. My methodology was I basically measured and marked the center-line of the stern. Then measured from there and marked where the center of each window should be. My Jig also has the center-line marked. So I aligned the center-line of the jig with the center-line mark for each window. Then positioned the shims around the jig. Easy ... NOT! Now.. Finally, I glue on the first plank. First one is aligned with lower window sills. So much for stern planking being quick and easy!! 🙂 And that's where I'll leave it for today. Hopefully next update will have most of the stern planking finished.