The Bitter End

Thanks to the help of @JSGerson who sent me copies of some additional stem plans, this is the second version I have come u with on layout. It involved some compromises as the blank stem shape provided is not identical to the outline on the plans, but I think it's as close as I can get. If anyone has any suggestions, they are as always most welcome. I have also attached my 2 reference drawings in case I have misinterpreted something on them.

Hi Jon This is a great method, thank you. I will give it a try this evening. Do you have any views on the template I made, I wont take any offense i promise! I partially made it up as I went along and I don't know if I made all the right choices. Haiko

Good day to you all I am looking for some advice on getting the most out of pear wood. I am busy building a model shipways Uss Constitution and I would like to leave the hull unpainted. I have therefore decided to go with pear wood. The wood in question does not come from Standard swiss pear but rather from pear tress that I cut down on my farm(Early BC is the variety). This is a wood with an incredibly tight grain and a certain degree of beauty. I would like to know what the procedure would be to get a really nice even well protected and realistic finish on this wood. I have attached an image of the partially completed stem in pear wood as a sample of what I am working with.

I am having a little trouble with the stem of this vessel. Due to the fact that I am not painting this model, the wood of the keel will be visible. I would therefore like to scribe the lines of the stem section into the wood. Despite the great information offered on here by various members, I am really struggling to decide on how to lay out these divisions. The images available differ dramatically, and none of the stems shown are exactly the same as the stem provided with the kit. I have also crossed the Rubicon in terms of changing the design of the stem entirely to match one of the drawings available. Any help on this would be hugely appreciated. I tried to sketch up a possible layout on a copy of the plans, but it still doesn't sit quite right with me. Please take a look!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen I apologise for the rather scattered approach to this build log, I hope things will become a bit more linear in the near future. Here are the next few glacial steps I have taken. Once I had photocopied the relevant keel section drawings I placed the matching wood section over the image and marked where the reference line started and ended, then simply joined the 2 marks using a pencil. Next, I took a strip of my homemade keel planking and used it to raise the bearding line by its thickness. I hope that this strategy will result in the double planking of the hull fitting correctly, but we will have to see. I then cut out the paper template using a ruler and scalpel and held each cutout onto its matching keel section and traced the bearding line along the edge of the paper with a pencil. It made the most sense to me to rough cut the bearding while the sections were separate, giving me more control and reducing the risk of breaking something. Technically speaking, the rabbet is too narrow for the double planking due to the width of the false keel material provided, but I am hoping to address this by sanding the last few strakes a little thinner on both layers of planking to allow them to fit flush. I achieved the rabbit cut with a combination of a small hand plane, some knives and a bunch of sanding. I then glued the three sections together, clamped them to the cutting mat and waited for them to dry. It's worth pointing out that I did not install the reinforcements recommended by various please at this point. I felt it would make my life difficult, as the protruding wood would prevent me from laying the false keel completely flat onto my work surface. Careful observers will also see that I inserted a small spacer on the lower forward tab where sections 1 and 2 are joined. This was to correct for sanding that had to be done to get everything aligned, and had the added benefit of tightening up the fit while holding everything together. This was followed by neatening up the bearding line so it ran from bow to stern without any stepping between sections. On the keel section side of things, I finished the shaping of the components, tapering the stem and stern sections and cutting the joints to fit. The instructions are slightly unclear on how much to taper and from where to where. If anyone thinks I have done this incorrectly based on the photos below, please let me know. Things are still a bit rough, but I will do final sanding once the hull planking is in. I then added keel sections using a series of rubber bands and clamps. I have begun using titebond original for the first time (it is not a common glue in South Africa) I love how the product behaves, creating a pretty firm grip on the material in very short time, freeing up clamps for use elsewhere. Unfortunately, I am not yet very adept at cutting parts from scratch, and I ended up with a gap in of my keel joints that I was not happy with. I attempted to fix this with a filler strip but didn't bother to match the wood colour, producing an unsatisfactory result once everything was assembled. I then realised the only way to fix this issue would be to cut out that area and try to patch it. I must say I don't love how the repair came out, but it's better than it was before. The final step-up to this point was to glue the reinforcements onto the joints. Something which I feel is best left to last, but I may be wrong. The pear wood I am using for the keel sections is also significantly stronger than the wood provided, which may have played a role in keeping everything sturdy enough to leave the reinforcements to last. That's it for now. Does anyone have any advice on making my keel joints neater? Should there be tree nails in the keel? What can I do to improve what has been done so far? Are there any mistakes which I should be addressing at this point? TBE

Outstanding! I owe you a beer

Thank you Jon I think I made a bit of an error and forgot to mention that I meant the planking for the deck. It sounds like you are referring to the hull planking. Haiko

Not a terribly exciting or informative post today... I took a break from marking up the false keel as I needed to produce the hull planking to see what thickness I could consistently produce. I then churned out about 600 planks of 4.5mm x 1.5mm and will sand them back to their correct thickness as I need them. Because they are cut from raw trunks, there is a lot of wastage, so there will be a fair amount of culling happening. While I was in the "big" workshop, I also cut some pear wood planks of 6.7mm on the table saw and simply traced the outline of the provided keel components onto those planks, being sure to avoid any knots and major inconsistencies in the wood. I then cut close to the line with my 1970s delta Rockwell 14 inch bandsaw with a blunt bent blade and then sanded back to the line on the belt sander and with a Drexel. This has produced reasonable results and with a bit of tweaking one can get a nice neat fit on the false keel. I hope all this extra work pays off. It is not that obvious in the photos, but the pear really is a beautiful wood once it has been given a little bit of attention It is probably worth repeating the warning that the parts provided in my kit were very fragile and broke exceptionally easily. The kit I have is apparently at least 15 years old, which may have played a role in this fragility. These parts still obviously need cleaning up and fitting, but here are the rough cuts

Thanks again for this information. I have been looking at the plans in your link, and they certainly are excellent food for thought. It is interesting to see the evolution of this vessel over her long history. Perhaps you can answer a question for me with your greater access to information. I have the original deck planking at 40ft by 7 inches length and width (thickness is not so relevant for me in this case. This scales to 2.3mm or 1/11" does that sound correct to you?

Hi Gregg! I am happy to have you tagging along, please keep an eye out for mistakes for me. I am also following these builds, I am truly amazed by the quality of the workmanship that exists on this forum. I hope you start your log soon, and we can struggle along together. Regards Haiko

Hi Jon Firstly, thank you for your input. That set of drawings of the stem definitely help. I ended up making the stem from a single piece of pear wood, but I think I will cheat a bit and carve these divisions into the wood. The images of the constitution you reference on used to sail's log are absolutely beautiful, and this is exactly the style that I am aiming for. Achieving this is another story. I would really appreciate your offer of additional drawings, it would be amazing if you could send them my way. Thanks again Haiko

I hope it stays that way, without your build log I would be completely lost too!

In principle, I do agree entirely. My motivation for making the stem from scratch is that I am leaving the model unpainted, and a pear wood stem should be easier on the eyes than the basswood one provided. I also want to do it in sections to increase the chances that I can get the stem out of as uniform a piece of wood as possible, a challenging task with all the tiny knots in these trees. I am still talking a big game about doing this, but It may not happen. The pear wood I have is presenting some significant challenges due to the incredibly cold winters and very hot summers where these trees grew, creating a very uneven wood density across the grain and this is exaggerated by the fact that they were farmed to bear fruit and not produce timber, so there are plenty of knits to contend with....that being said please keep the opinions coming, I give them all serious consideration

I have removed all clamps and sanded and scraped off all the excess glue and char. Nothing too notable about this process but it is worth mentioning that the wood provided in the kit is very delicate so it breaks easily and can easily be over sanded, especially at the edges, as a result I have had 2 glue back 2 broken sections indicated below as well as put in a bit of a filler strip where I had removed too much material during sanding. I have also simply photocopied the plans to transfer the bearding lines to the false keel, My intention is to do this using carbon paper, but I will still have to see if this actually works. If anyone has any tips or pointers at this point on how to go about double planking the hull, any help would be very welcome. When I transfer the bearding line I am working from the assumption that I will have to raise the bearding line by the thickness of the additional layer of planking that I will be adding....so far that is all that I have on the subject. The rest of the day was spent cutting more pear wood in preparation for milling. Hopefully I am not being over ambitious.\ On an unrelated note, I have been looking for plans for the keel stem so that I might make my replacement stem in pieces as it would have been made in reality. I found plans from 1929, but they are significantly different from the provided stem pieces that I cannot really make use of them. I am not sure if that is because the kit plans are incorrect or if the 1929 plans are just a modern version of the stem, but I am at a loss. If anyone has any suggestions or access to plans for a stem or era appropriate stem, I would jump at the opportunity.

I have finally begun this build process in earnest. I began With opening up the box and going through all the parts, removing the small items from their packaging and transferring them to my small parts organizers. I make use of these units which have small sub boxes with individual lids, which I absolutely love. https://share.temu.com/vMlcL3WUfmA (Please let me know if this link breaks forum rules and I will remove it). Next was a quick stock take and parts inspection. It has been mentioned in other builds, but Utmost care must be taken when removing parts from their frames, I managed to break a keel section before it was even properly out of the box. I will spare you all another set of photo of the box contents, which consist of vast quantities of bass wood and a multitude of bits and pieces. For now, I have packed everything back in the box and just removed the 8 sheets which contain hull frame sections. I will begin by removing the central keel sections with an Exacto knife and number 11 surgical blade(I bought about a million of them for next to nothing, so I might as well use them). It is surprisingly hard to remove these sections without doing any damage. I intend to leave the hull unpainted and planked in a second layer of pear wood, so I will make the visible keel sections from scratch using the same. The keel sections below have been removed for use as templates for scratch making these parts (Hopefully) Moving on to doing the glue-up on the portions which won't be visible once the hull is planked. I am doing the glue-up with titebond original. Alignment was done by gently hammering a standard toothpick into the alignment holes of the sections and then sanding them flush (hot tip - you can save money by breaking the toothpick in half and using 1 toothpick for both holes ) I then placed the sections between 2 sheets of wax paper and pressing them between various boards that were floating around the kitchen. That is it for now while I wait for the glue to dry and figure out how to make the keel sections T.B.E. EDIT! I lifted the weights after an hour or so to clear any squeeze out with a scalpel before it completely dries... and noticed that the warping of the bass wood caused the seams to open on 2 of the pieces. I therefore forced some glue into these gaps and re clamped with office clips. The lesson here is so either be more aggressive with the weight on a flat press or go with clips from the beginning.

Hi again Herr Renter! I am actually doing the strips on a table saw believe it or not, it produces pretty good results, but I will certainly try and get them neatened up with a drum sander as you suggest. I have also only cut about 30% of the hull planking that I need, so I might attempt the next batch on the bandsaw. I'll be spending the morning in the woodpile with a chainsaw tomorrow, so I should have more wood to experiment on during the week if my schedule allows it. I decided to get started on the hull this evening so...here we go....

Thanks for the advice and welcome. I will definitely do exactly that, I think I will need as much time as possible to figure out how to get those planks as thin as I can.

I guess this I have finally begun work on my Constitution....in a way I have decided that I will be double planking the Hull. I prefer the unpainted look to best showcase the unique element of this hobby, which is hull construction from individual planks. I also have access to several thousand Pear trees, which present a bit of a challenge, but I am excited to approach it. It was suggested to me by @Der Alte Rentner that I simply fill in between the frames and do a single planking over this(a great suggestion which will definitely save many hours of work) but I think I need the planking practice and I have the supplied timber from the kit, so I will plank the hull as per the kit instructions and then plank over it with my pear wood planks...hopefully. If anyone has any advice on what to be careful with in this process, I would be most grateful. I realise that I am making the hull thicker than was planned for in the kit, so I'm anticipating some issues. My research allowed me to settle on planks of 40ft by 12 inches(160mmx4.2mm at scale). This requires a staggering 95 running meters of planking by my calculations (assuming no wastage). The process requires me to cut out the straightest section of the tree with a chainsaw, while avoiding sections with nails (nails are used on these trees to tie open branches to aid fruit bearing). I then rough cut the trunks to square on the bandsaw, square off 2 sides on the planer, rip 5mm planks on the table saw and then tun these planks into 2.5mm strips on the table saw with a thin strip jig built for the purpose. I then need to thickness down to 4.2mmx1.5mm (a process which I haven't quite figured out yet.

Finally finished. Please accept my apologies for the very similar photos to my last post. It has been really interesting to go back over the model in the cleaning process and see the choices and mistakes that I made at the beginning of the build which I would have approached so differently now that I have completed my first model. If anyone sees anything which can be improve or if anyone wants any specific information on any part of this build or the techniques used please let me know. Thank you again to everyone who supported and assisted me in this multi year journey. It has only been a pleasure.On to the next one!

Good morning! I will put together a series of photos on this jig. You are absolutely right about the kerf size, I use a 2.5mm kerf aluminum cutting blade(they have a slightly different tooth profile which seems to work a little better) with a high tooth count. I agree that this is unfortunately very wasteful but I have access to almost unlimited quantities of pear wood as I live in a pear farming area and farm pears myself. I know you can get blades with a narrow kerf from some specialist wood working suppliers but I am yet to see one with my own eyes. Here is more or less the thinnest full size blade I could find. https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Kerf40-Melamine-Table-Mitre-Blade/dp/B00J8UM8O4 Kind regards TBE

Good evening everyone! I am about to start a uss constitution build from model shipways and I am not entirely happy with the basswood planking provided. I would therefore like to cut my own planking from pear wood that I have a startling abundance of. Does anyone know what the maximum hull plank length and width would have been on the original constitution? I have come across many different values ranging from 22 ft up to 60ft(which seems a bit excessive) and widths around 12 inches. I would appreciate any input before I embark on the rather challenging task of ripping all this timber on a full sized table saw. Ps. For anyone who is interested I made a very effective thin strip jig which produces surprisingly consistent planking at tiny scales on a full sized table saw. I would be happy to share the design if there is enough interest Regarss TBE

Good Morning Marcus I think you may be right about the kit being an accurate representation of the 1927 layout, I do foresee this being a problem and an adventure to try and get as close as possible to how she originally looked. My "research" so far has only been reading scraps of information here and there, browsing through the constitution museum database and drawings, scrolling through logs and even asking AI for some information. I have been working on Pegasus, so I have not yet had a chance to really get into proper research. I would be enormously grateful if you would point me in the right direction on any of this information, as one can easily get led astray with bad sources. I look forward to having your input as I struggle along! TBE

Good Morning Aliluke Thank you for the compliment. I really tried to go for a more muted colour scheme, more as I I imagine a vessel would have looked after some years at sea as opposed to the day she was launched. I have infact muted the colours even more in some places, I hope you will take a look when I post again with the hopefully finished model. I took a look at your log and that is absolutely beautiful work. I wish I had seen your stern galleries when I started my build! I guess I will have to copy you on the next one Ill be sure to keep an eye on that progress. TBE

Good Morning Marcus I was thinking about this very thing just before you sent this message. I think "the most accurate kit" is a bit of marketing gymnastics. It's more or less a big box of planks with some vague suggestions about what to do with them. From everything I have seen, this is going to translate to something quite close to a scratch build with a huge amount of modification. If you take a glance at my Pegasus you will see that there was fairly little that wasn't somewhat modified and if I could rebuild that kit I would have done far more. I am going to do my best to do the kit some sort of justice, but I can't make any promises just yet. If you happen to have any suggestions or see me going the wrong way, please let me know! Kind regards Haiko

Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to my attempt to redeem myself. Please jump ahead to post 16 to avoid the preamble and see the actual start of the build. After having begun a Build log for my HMS Pegasus in 2019 with great enthusiasm, life got in the way (everything from the daily challenges of being a farmer right the way through to falling through a warehouse roof and spending a long time recovering). This left a gaping hole in my progress log. My intention is to begin this Constitution build and record every annoying step from beginning to end. I like to think that it might help some of the modellers on here who are also beginners with a limited collection of tools and experience (Pegasus was my first build and is still not quite finished as I am waiting for parts). I do enter into this build with a fair amount of apprehension. Literally, the first word of this log brings up a question, the first of many. Should I be referring to this vessel as the Constitution or the USS constitution? My intention is to build her as she was in 1797 at which point she would have been the (frigate) Constitution... I think. Everything I have read about this kit tells me it will be a huge challenge, but I am hoping that with the help of the kind people on this forum and the bottomless well of knowledge contained within its build logs, I will be able to create something worthy of a glass box. I have already had incredible help from @Der Alte Rentner so I am feeling cautiously optimistic. My first big challenge is a decision on how to approach the hull, I think I will go with double planking. Due to my location and budget it is almost impossible to get hold of planking strips for the second planking that are worthy of creating an unpainted and coppered hull, so I have decided that I will cut pear wood planking from the pile of pear trees destined for the fireplace. This in itself is a pretty big challenge, but I have managed to extract some decent stock from the trunks, and my early trials with ripping planks has lead me to believe I can cut stock with success. This does however lead me to wonder what the correct size stock to rip is? What I have read in terms of plank length is anything between 22ft and 60ft(values which seem too low and too high to me) and 12 inches wide. I have sort of decided to go with plank lengths of 35ftx12inches(+- 150mmx4mm at scale). If anyone has any suggestions on correct dimensions, please let me know!! This also leads me to another minor point. I created a little Excel spreadsheet to convert imperial measurements both from the plans and information from the original ship to metric scale measurements. It is pretty simple but if anyone happens to need something like that I will happily send it through. I think I will try and create a model that is structurally as true as possible to the 1797 Constitution, but with a paint scheme that is more like the Belle Poule(which I believe was based on the constitution). Largely natural wood, perhaps a little staining and black paint with some ochre highlights. I like a somewhat more muted final outcome, and I can't bring myself to paint or copper over the hundreds of hours it takes to produce a decent double planked hull. Taking a look at what is still an incomplete Pegasus model(as of 20 October 2025) on my other log will give you an idea of the style I like I guess I should attach a photo of some sort to this post, so for now I will simply be a closed constitution box containing many man many hours of work. Hopefully it is complete, I bought it for around 250 dollars off Facebook marketplace. I look forward to sharing this journey with you all. Kind regards Haiko(The_bitter_ end)