Fright

Greeting All!
 
As I described in my introductory post a few days ago, this is my FIRST EVER build. I built plastic models when I was a kid, but that was decades ago. I appreciate the input I've received so far and look forward to learning this new skill with all y'all's help and suggestions.
 
Having never done this, I am starting at square one. I chose this model, in part, because of the combination package that included tools, paint, and glue in addition to the kit itself. Also, if I found I got little enjoyment or was constitutionally incapable of managing the process, my downside was limited,
 
So far I'm enjoying myself...unsure of lots of tasks, but having fun!
 
So far, I've managed to get my work space set up (with LOTS of help from my wife) and have added some tools and equipment that should help me as I proceed.
 
I got a little ahead of myself and removed the false keel, keel, and stem from the parts sheet and did some fine sanding to remove some of the burn marks.
 
A trip to the hobby store got me some spare basswood pieces so I can practice techniques to improve my skills. I also built a jig to set the hull into as I progress. Nothing fancy, but adequate (the keel pieces are fitted together but not glued):

In preparation for bearding the false keel and cutting the rabbet I practiced on a spare piece of 3/32" basswood. I found sanding to the required thickness at the stern is my best option. I will have to cut the rabbet with a knife.
 
I transferred the bearding line to the opposite side of the false keel by making a photocopy of the plan. After being sure that it was properly scaled I placed it on the part and marked the keel by making pin pricks every couple of millimeters. I finally used the pricks to draw the curve using a french curve.
 
In preparation for cutting the rabbet, I masked the bottom of the false keel with 1/16" art tape and verified my dimensions before cutting down to the appropriate depth. I believe if I cut too deep anywhere I can regain structural integrity when I get further into assembly. I then masked the other side of the false keel. Lateral cuts on the sides were done after completing the length-wise cuts.The picture below shows the masking:

I'm currently sanding the stern from the bearding line to the edge of the keel and stern. I'll update after I complete the false keel and combine the three keel sections.

Tjalle58 - I just finished the Bluenose schooner by Scientific, an old company that made wooden airplanes and ships back in the 60's. For me, working with wood gives one a feel that they are actually building a ship. A lot more creative and one certainly learns a lot of skills with these
 

Nicely done !
 

You have some exquisite carving skills going on with this one. She looks wonderful!!

so I have started it today. Keel and frame... thats the pictures of my todays work after 3 hours:

More Deck Planking
 
Thanks for the looks and likes.   I've continued the deck planking, and have now completed the aft section of the deck.  I have not been nibbing my planks...I think these planks are probably wider than scale and to properly nib I think I would have needed wider waterways.  Even though I pre-finished the planks, I ended up sanding parts of them down.  So I applied another coat of the tung oil finish before taking the pictures.  I may apply another coat or two once I have the entire deck planked.  Enough boring words, here are two pictures:

Oops, I feel the need to add a few more boring words.....You can see that I planked right over the hole for the main mast, though I did mark its location.  I also went with a 3-way shift on the deck plank butts.   So I had three lengths of planks next to the grub beam....1 2/3 inches, 3 1/3rd inches, and 5 inches.

I started to work on deadeyes. The kit supplied one are 2.7mm in diameter. At first glance they shows a bit small and out of the scale for this model. In Chuck's practicum i did not find place where size of deadeyes is mentioned or i was tired and missed it completely.
The work on deadeyes was similar to what Chuck's was suggesting... with some additions. I measured the length of the whole deadeye assembly and mark it on the piece of wood (lets call it a board). Then two nails were pushed into board: one to hold a deadeye and another to hold the  loop that will be nailed to the ship.. The 0.32mm wire was squeezed around the nail and around the deadeye forming the completed assembly.. Then i use a small amount of soldering paste and heat it to fill the gap between two wires...
 

The intention is to paint the whole deadeye assembly in black. Then i decided to test it on the ship to see actually is it visually out of scale or just my eyes playing games with me...
 

Well for me, it does appear to be a bit out of scale... Then i made one home build deadeye just for testing in 3mm and 4mm size.. They looked a bit more appealing to the scale... My skills to build home-made deadeyes are not quite at acceptable level so i made purchase of few deadeyes from Chuck' web site... They are coming.... 3mm and 4mm. Will see which one fits better...
 
While waiting for deadeyes, i started to work on quarter badges. Following Chuck' practicum i tried to make one out of sculpey and must say was not quite successful. They were looking more like a squeezed piece of chew gum spit on the sidewalk then actual usable badges... They are tiny, very tiny... So, i decided to use the ones that arrived with kit.
Clean them up a bit and cover with Tamiya earth color paint in attempt to simulate a wood.

After drying, the excess paint was removed and they appeared to be ready for mounting..

The windows were simulated with a tiny piece of wood and tracing paper colored in black..
 

Then badges were glued to the "window" and the whole assembly was glued to the ship..
 
 

Now when i looking this picture i need to fix that crooked window...
 
Happy modeling.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is really interesting ship to build. Old fishing boats have its spirit. Your progress of the build is incredible. I will join the crew!

I did a trial run with one of my Pico size led's in the wheelhouse  and rear cabin to get an idea of what it would look like.   *Neither top deck nor cabin is glued down. I'm pretty happy with the way it is going to look.
 

 

 

 

there is a bit more to the last I didn't add last night........I must have been in a hurry.   I didn't add this picture.

here I did some sanding.......more is still needed.  the kit came with mahogany planking,  which I won't use.......I ordered some Obechi instead.  most of the sheets that the part are printed on is mahogany.  the deck platform is sheet mahogany,  printed with the details for the planking and fixtures.  this might be the reason for the problem I've been having.
    when I built the Nordkap,  I intended to plank the deck.  along with this,  I would have to create parts to overlay the margins along the bulwarks.  the deck platforms were of basswood......light colored wood where the printing showed up good enough to be seen using printer paper.  I traced the margins and cut them from 1/16 basswood strip.   logical,  since I planked the deck using 1.5 x 5 mm strip.  I never gave a though to thickness,  or an alternative to use thin strip instead.   here is a picture of the margins I made.
    
not to confuse folks,  I will toss in a picture here and there of the Nordkap build to show the differences.  I keep thinking to myself that I really should redo the original log,  but I've likely forgotten so much and it would be quite an undertaking to do.......it was a huge log     I did a separate build log of her on Blogger....if your interested,  do a search for 'seymoregutz' and you should find it easily enough.
 
getting back to the problem at hand........there could be other reasons why I was having a hard time in trying to trace the margins.   perhaps I was using a paper that wasn't as dense,  as what we have now.  I dunno..........I did have an idea........tracing paper.   I went to the local Wal Greens,  but they didn't have any.    I went to the local Wal Mart.......they had paper products strewn over four departments....and they didn't have any.   we asked some kid to help us,  and the 'lil bugger disappeared on us!   we ended up at the local Staples and bought the last pack of tracing paper they had.  


as for the bow and the stern.......there won't be much to see of the bow,  as it's a boxed in cabin of sorts.   it's mainly for storage and the mechanism for the anchors.  the stern will be planked over,  since the aft cabin is eliminated and will be open.   there will be some major modification for the main cabin structure..........the upper decking will be gone as well.


still more parts to be cut out too.....

the next step here,  is to fit and install all of the deck beams.   following the numbers,  they were all cemented into place.

two additional part were added to the stern,  once the beams were dry.   sanding was required to fit them into place.  the rest of the sanding can be done when it's time to level the frame for the false deck platforms.

stringers were added to the frame.  at this time,  the bulkheads were checked and adjusted to the upper increments.........53 mm from center to center.

a single stringer for the bow,  and two running down the sides in the slots provided.

when dry,  the ends were trimmed........I could leave 'em......but I like a neat job      I did some sanding to level the deck frame surface....I still have a bit more to go.  besides,  I need to go on an errand before that happens      not much more to go anyway,  before I'm caught up to where I am with the project at this point.  see you in the morning   

by the 24th of September,  almost all of the spacers were in place........the second of the two 50 mm spacers was being put into place.

#6 was being cemented in place.........#5 was next.....a slow process.

it wasn't to bad keeping the frame on an even keel.......I was using another part of the build slip to keep it perpendicular.   there!  I said it......Perpendicular..........upright!........not vertically challenged!      

the rest will be added to the stern stem now.   #4 will sit in the notch at the beginning of the stem.  I cut another spacer to aide in holding it in place and give the bulkhead a better root.

by the end of the day,  the rest were in place.   they required no special supports to be added.   looking down the barrel,  all of the bulkheads appear to be fairly straight.

To all who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.
 
Lou, thanks for your observation.  The rudder support was loosely taped in the pic but when I tightened it up it did help the clearance.
 
Steve



I CA’d a wood shim to the hull bottom and did some preliminary sanding.  Then I taped the rudder support to the shim and worked on the layout of the rudder tube hole through the hull.  Voila, it worked and the prop just clears the support.  No need to replace it or try to fabricate a new support.  I’ll do a little more sanding at the support fillet, then work to make the installation permanent.  At the interior I sealed the tube to the hull with epoxy and will follow it with some structural support.  All in all a better finish to the day than it started out.

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.
 
Hal, thanks for checking in and thank you for your compliment.
 
Steve


After gluing the wood shim for the rudder support I globbed some plastic filler around it, but while waiting for it to dry I had second thoughts.  Although it will be primed and painted the rudder support area will be underwater during sailing, so I sanded off the filler and replaced it with a two part cold weld reinforced epoxy.  The second pic is just after placement and a full day prior to curing and sanding - I needed a bit more hardener.
Given the size of the ship (54 inches) versus my Bowdoin build (23 inches) it seems like every step involves either endless repetition or long distances, rolling back and forth from one end to the other.  I thought I’d give the bulwark interior a shot of primer.  I want to paint it prior to placing the main deck to keep the joint clean between the two.  After three laps of the ship, yards of masking and a wipe down with tacky cloth it was ready.


The slight blotchiness is the bulwark filler showing through the light primer coat.  I’ll prime again after filling a few defects.  Hopefully it's not bleed-through.  If it is I'll go back to Kilz or BIN.  The paper towels are just to keep paint off the electronics/battery deck which was just sealed, and the prop tube/motor mount/rudder area.

A question is what should be the finish color of the inside of the bulwark?  In the National Archives photo above the promenade openings are white on the outside, probably leftover from the Vance’s hospital duty, but the hull and exterior of the bulwark forward and aft are darker, which I am assuming is a gray tone (Battleship Gray in Krylon speak) added to cover up the large crosses and green horizontal stripe that signified hospital use.  If the forward and aft bulwark interior was white during hospital work is it reasonable to assume it would have been painted over when the exterior bulwark and hull were refinished?  Or should I assume only the hull exterior would have received the new paint since the refit only lasted a month?   
 

Nicely done!
 

And here it is with all the deck furniture and pieces attached. Next stop - Mastville!

And now the cockpit is all decked out. Was that a pun?

Back in the Saddle
 
So, after a bit of a break, I have resumed working on my America.  I have started the deck planking.  As noted earlier, I bought some cherry strip wood for the deck planking, just to give the deck a bit of a nicer, richer color.   I started from the center, which means doing a bunch of short planks between the various bits of deck furniture.  Once I get away from the deck furniture, I plan to use 5 inch long pieces, which works out to deck planks that are 20 feet long.  I'll stagger the butts of course though have not decided on a pattern just yet.
 
I have 7 planks done from the aft side of the forward hatch all the way to the stern.   I have more work to do around the cockpit, and some very short planks between the forward hatch and the skylight, and then it will likely move a bit faster.
 
Oh, I pre-finished the deck planks, using the same tung oil finish that I used on the deck furniture.  I'll likely still go back and do one more coat after all the planks are installed, but I still think it was a useful thing to finish these planks before putting them on.
 
Here are two pictures of what I have completed.
 

Hello Mike and welcome. Smooth sailing on your USS Constitution build and look forward to watching your progress. 
 

Hi there everyone, this will be my first post here on Model Ship World. I have been trawling the many build logs for several months now and I'm excited to finally become a part of this community!
 
As a quick introduction I'm an Englishman and recent graduate working in Los Angeles. Since I was a child seeing the model boat in Tintin's 'Secret of the Unicorn' I've had an interest in the complexity and beauty of models ships and I'm glad to finally be making a boat of my own! With that said I have very little prior modelling experience other than a few Airfix plane kits that I would glue together as a child and then throw out the window to see if they would fly. As such I thought it would be a good idea to start with a rather small and low difficulty model. When I stumbled upon Chuck Passaro's 18th century Longboat it seemed like the perfect kit to cut my teeth on. So far I have relied on the instructions and reading through build logs but I do now have a couple of questions that I want to pose to you guys. 
 
Firstly, at what point should I apply the poly coating to the different elements of the boat? Right now I am beginning to glue in the interior details (only the floorboards so far, everything else is dry fitted) and it seemed to me like this might be a good time to apply the poly whilst I can still reach everything easily. Is that something I should do now? Also I hear most people talk about using wipe on poly. Right now I only have the clear satin poly provided with the kit and have been applying it to test pieces with a brush. Is this a method you guys would recommend? As I say I'm completely new to this so any advice is welcome!
 
And Secondly, in the instructions regarding the mast it simply says to seize two single blocks to the iron bands. I'm a little unsure of how to do this especially on such a small scale. I have looked around a fair amount but still do not feel very confident in my understanding of what I need to do. In one of the following images you can see that I have attached one already but I did this simply through tying a couple of knots and applying a tiny amount of CA to the knots. If there is a more accurate way to achieve this I would love to know! 
 
Below are some photos of the boat in its current form. 

Ozark, scratch building is where I would like to end up but I think I have a ways to get there.
 
all of the repairs are completed and I am making progress on the braces. I have the fore and main lower yard braces in place and have started on the crossjack yard and topsail yard braces.

I  have some more work to get done before starting the copper bottom …I think.  I am not sure what is right. The top gallant rail is not too strong and they include all of this in the books as the first phase.  They are not too clear about when and how to do the bottom.  
 
 
·         My favorite adventure so far is getting these cheek knees installed.   We are slowly getting there…maybe. each time I look I want to make them smaller.
·         The top gallant rail and “rooster tails”.    I already  knocked them off once, so maybe this is out of sequence.  I decided so far not to so the knight heads and buffalo rail until after the bottom is on, as I like removing the bowsprit.   I made a little cut out piece that goes in after the knight heads that I will cut through the cap rail for strength.
·         The cutaway bulkhead is the first fun piece. 
·         Second boat cheeks
·         Top gallant on stern
·         Hawser pipe surrounds
·         Sanding of wales and cheeks ready for trial painting
·         Bulkhead installed for sailing
·         Bulkhead from inside boat two.  One of these brigs will have it open and stored….not sure where but that’s a plan at least. it would clearly block access to the pin rails if just to one side.  
 
 
I am going to do a first paint out to see what we have. I expect damage during copper so I will save touch of then.  
 
All for know

I will always update the log when I can make some progress with her.
 
When I painted the copper color, I used up half of the pot, with the airbrush in 3 layers, and the hull needed approx 10-15 coats altogether, so I would say you will need 3-4 pots of Revell Aqua 93 (but only if you are as "talented" in airbrushing as me 😄 , in better cases you maybe need only 2)
For the upper part, I used 3-5 coats of black color, so 1 pot of black paint is more than enough

Swivel gun stock installation have been completed. I made a small notch on the stocks rather than cutting the molding so the stocks can fit as close as possible to the ship hull.
 
Glue them into position. The last two stocks, closest to the stern will be done after i complete the quarter badges..
 

 

 

 
 

 

and a testing...
 

Happy modeling.
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Welcome LG to this world of talent and advice.