JeffT

The gunports. The gunports are pretty simple. Its just a matter of gluing the two halves together and shaping them to fit each opening. Two holes are drilled in each top piece for the rigging. A curtain is glued over top of each gunport. The wire I used for the rigging. Its just jewelry or hobby wire. I used two pieces about an inch long. Twisted one piece to the middle of the other and formed a triangle. The two ends of the triangular piece are inserted into the holes on the upper lid and glued to the back to keep it in place. After that I glued the gunport to the port and attached a curtain above the port. The curtain has a hole in it for the rigging so a hole has to be drilled through the hull there to accept the rigging. I put a drop of glue on the wire before inserting it through the hole. Its a little tough to see the rigging in the photo.

Here is another quick update. I finished the skylight and started working on the gunports. I have decided to model the majority of the gunports closed since I think that if you've seen one, you've seen them all. There really isn't much to see anyway besides a barrel and a wooden block. They are also easy to knock off the hull. I will probably leave the last 2 or 3 on each side open. The upper half of each gunport has some rigging I'm assuming is used to open and close the port. The practicum suggest to use white wire and then paint it black. I chose to use black 34 gauge wire, therefore no painting is necessary. The following pictures show the method used to build the skylight. It took me a couple of tries to get it right. For some reason the six-sided shape was difficult for me to wrap my mind around. Using the pattern provided with the practicum, I cut out the first piece and then traced it to get the second piece. I used a razor saw to cut a groove for the 6 sections on top. Then I shaped the top using a number 11 exacto. I used styrene to add the raised detail to the edges of both the top and bottom piece. Then I glued the two pieces together, painted, and added 4 pieces of wire on all sides of the top. The little round piece on the top was made from a piece of 1/8" dowel. I glued the skylight to a piece of styrene cut from a sheet and painted green which was then glued to a square piece of construction paper. The whole thing was glued to the deck.

Its currently $250 on Model Expo with the mad13 code.

I know what you mean Robbyn. I just bought 4 spools of jewelry/craft wire for use on my models; black, silver, copper, and brass. I'm sure I can find a use for all of it. I'm using the black wire as rigging on my gunports.

I think you improvised well on the hinges. Making note of that idea.

Looking good! Glad to see she is back in service.

No problem. I looked into this once when I was considering selling a practicum I purchased.

To the best of my knowledge this law already exists in the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court said in their decision that U.S. copyright owners may not stop imports and re-selling of copyrighted content lawfully sold abroad. In the U.S. the law known as first-sale doctrine says something to the effect of: The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109, provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner. The right to distribute ends, however, once the owner has sold that particular copy. See 17 U.S.C. § 109(a) & ©. Since the first sale doctrine never protects a defendant who makes unauthorized reproductions of a copyrighted work, the first sale doctrine cannot be a successful defense in cases that allege infringing reproduction.

I for one think that's a good decision by the court.

Thanks Jay.

Question for you Jay. I saw the the chart you made for chain plates and was wondering how you knew which size deadeyes to use? Is it on the plans somewhere?

I can hear the steady drum beat...

Thanks for that advice Jay. I've had to fish a few things out of the hull already so tape is a good idea.

I always wondered why Euromodels kits are so expensive. Maybe someone has some experience with them? I did notice that it costs less to order one form overseas, even with shipping included.

They look very good.

Thanks Tim!

I think I saw somewhere that the Constitution had 3 belts at the waterline. Below that its just like the second picture. I ended with one belt at the waterline on my Conny, which I discovered later was wrong.

CA usually works well enough for me. As Richard said though, the parts need to be cleaned first. I use vinegar. Also experiment with different makes of CA if you go that route. Some work better for metals than others. I prefer the gorilla brand for metal.

Looks spot on Geoff. Well done.

Wow Doris! Your models are fantastic! I've never seen models built this way and I must say they are stunning.

Looking good Geoff!

Your masts look good Jay. We'll probably go ahead and let you change your mind a couple more times...maybe.

Thanks Jay. I kind of had a feeling I would need a smaller diameter line with the smaller blocks, so you just confirmed my suspicions. Which size blocks did you use for the carronade rigging? That corian looks really nice. I wonder how hard it is to shape it.

Thanks Bob! I used Golden Oak stain on the deck.

Thanks Mario!