The Bitter End

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)

Good Morning Bob!! I am so sorry for my very delayed response. The farming season has begun, early mornings and late nights have played havoc. Thank you for your kind message. It is good to be back and I can't wait to finish her up and start my constitution build! Kindest regards, Haiko

This is an embarrassingly delayed post but better late than never! I stil have a fairly long way to go on this build but I would like to take the opportunity to thank @chris watton and @Blue Ensign for their help and patience with me in choosing a ships boat. This is the 28ft pinnace from vanguard models that I made some minor modifications to. These gentlemen answered numerous questions with patience and kindness that is hard to find these days. As for the build as a whole, I absolutely could not have gotten this far without the help of Blue Ensign. I have shamelessly stolen every step of the way and followed every step of his outstanding log, even going so far as to message him directly where I had additional questions(which he always seemed happy to answer). As for the build and progress so far, I have made several mistakes and there are lots of loose ends(literal and figurative). Getting parts has been a nightmare and today marked the very end of my 0.1mm thread, this has however resulted in a whole new layer of creativity, finding alternatives has been a journey in itself. The photos included are largely an overview of my attempts, please ignore the clips hanging off the model and absolutely ignore the dust. I live on a farm in south africa surrounded by dirt roads. I will give her a proper clean before she goes into a case, at this point its a slightly pointless exercise. Please feel free to give any feedback, this has been a great learning process and I hope to continue to grow. Thank you all for your help so far and here's to the next few months! TBE

This is an incredibly kind thing to say and I appreciate the praise. I think your log is perfect for me because your work is beautiful and precise while going over every detail. This pegasus was my first build so I have plenty to learn and your log has already started to help. I hope to start my constitution in the next few months and I will be much more diligent about posting every step and hopefully something in there serves to help you too. I will post an update on my progress this evening. Please feel free to criticize and comment, that seems to be the only real way to learn. Thanks again! TBE

Good Morning/evening/afternoon! I am still steadily chilling away at this model and will be sure to post more updated photos soon. I fell 11 meters through the roof of my workshop which put a bit of a hitch in my proverbial giddiyup for a while and life has generally been too busy to allow for serious modeling. I have hoever been making some progress and I hope to be moving onto my next model(The USS constitution is already on the shelf waiting). I have however in the interim picked up a bit of a problem. It turns out that I am short on at least 50 of the 3mm deadeyes that were meant to come with the kit(I stole 8 2.5mm deadeyes from my constitution kit in desperation) as well as some of the thinner rigging rope. I did contact amati to let them know that they had packed an incomplete kit but they simply sent me an invoice for 75 euros for the full value of replacement parts and shipping and accused me of having made up that the kit was shipped incomplete. When I gave a negative review on their website they simply deleted it. This leads me to my question. does anyone know where I might find deadeyes and rigging thread at a reasonable price where shipping wont cost me 5 times more than the actual product. I have looked high and low without success. All the best! TBE

Good Morning Blue I would firstly like to thank you once again for this incredible build log. It has genuinely been a source of joy for me. It has lead me down a path of learning on my first build which goes far beyond just copying instructions on plans like building a puzzle. This was always what I was looking for in this hobby and you have helped me to find it. This leads me to my more specific question. In the quoted post you do the rigging for what I assume is the lower main mast yard, you then say that that is your sample and that you will be doing all 10. does this mean that all 10 yards are rigged with blocks in an identical manner(I assume not), and if not then do I just follow the block rigging instructions which are on the plans provided by Amati for the rest of the yards? Any guidance on this would be great. Kid Regards Haiko

Hi Again BE Thanks for the input. It is always helpful. As a matter of interest, why did you decide to go with blue instead of black? I took a look at your list of sources. I was hoping for something more detailed but I realise that is an enormous ask. I will just have to order things one at a time as I come across them in your blog and need them.

Good Day to you Sir Sorry about the slow response, I am coming up to the end of this years orchard establishment and things have been rather busy. We planted 9000 plum and apricot trees and I may have bitten off more than I can chew. How is your SOE project going? I did find it hard to create a realistic rendition of these critical items and I think its fair to say there was a certain amount of settling taking place. Thanks for the link, I am going to get my orders in today. CHeers TBE

Good Morning Mr. Ensign Thank you so much for your input and again thank you for your amazing build log. I could not have done this build without it and I guarantee you that my next build will be based on whether or not you have a log I can follow. So firstly...the chain plates. I realised that I did these wrong and I am rather ashamed that it didn't occur to me that I could modify that part of the kit to resolve the issue. I do unfortunately think its too late to fix this at this point as i drilled holes in the hull for pins and I might just cause a huge mess trying to make right. I will consider it to be a lesson for next time. I have no idea how I managed to let the varnish thing happen but here we are. What are your thoughts on carefully applying boiled linseed oil? I feel like this may be slightly more forgiving or will I just make a mess. Its a bit of a scary position to find myself in because any mistake has the potential to ruin the model. Something unrelated to your kind response.... I know that this is one heck of a long shot but do you perhaps have a list of all the things that you bought to modify your Pegasus(anchors, lantern, extra wood, rigging materials etc). I am in South Africa and shipping is very complex and expensive so I am trying to make a comprehensive list of all the extra items I need to order and then order them all in one shot. This situation is made worse by the fact that this is my first build so I don't even have old bits and pieces to fall back on from other builds. I hope you have a charming day. TBE

Hey Mugje Thanks for the compliment, the support is always appreciated. As for the decoration I thought about it long and hard and considered the following factors before deciding not to do this. 1. I didn't feel that it was that much of a realistic representation of what this embellishment would have looked like in real life. 2. Apparently the vessel would only have had these decorations immediately after its commissioning but for the bulk of its career they would not be in place. 3. I was concerned that the provided components may not actually fit that well into the allocated area due to slight variations between the plan and my model. 4. I was told that CA(super glue) can deteriorate over time and I anticipated these parts starting to fall off in the future and ruining the model) 5. I kind of like the somewhat more traditional feel of the model without the decoration on it. This is just a personal choice but she feels a bit more "serious" without it. All this being said, I really did struggle with the choice but ultimately decided that is what would be best. I loved how they looked on the Pegasus built by B.E. but I'm satisfied with the choice on my version. One other thing worth mentioning is that I saw a model where they replaced the blue paint with black and it created a much more aggressive and sinister feel which I really liked but saw too late to make the change. It might be worth considering. I hope you are well otherwise and that this helped with your decision. Cheers, TBE

Hello Folks! Its certainly been a hot minute since I last replied. I have not abandoned my pegasus project but the demands of being a farmer meant that I didn's seem to get around to posting. I thought It was high time to give you all a bit of an update on my progress. Below are a number of photos of where I am on my build. This is essentially an exercise in copying Blue Ensign and I am eternally grateful to him for his attention to detail and historical accuracy. I has been a pleasure so far. In a couple of places I have deviated from his instructions, often due to the shortage of materials available for the suggested modifications but I like to think I have done a reasonable job for a first build. I am waiting for a number of things to continue my build which the more keen eyed of you may notice. Correct size anchors Correct size dead eyes Stern Lantern Pegasus figurehead(mine is broken) Swivel guns Wood for masts A lathe which I ordered online A converted cad drawing so that I can begin scratch building a pinnace. Never the less! here are some photos of my progress below. It might be worth mentioning that I have not put a lick of varnish or oil or anything on this model so far. does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed with this? Should I be applying something and if so what? Any and ALLL feedback would be appreciated. I would like to improve where possible. If anyone has any questions about how I approached this project please let me know. I would be happy to help, I have made my fair share of mistakes and I think I might be able to offer fairly meaningful advice in places.

@SpyGlass Hi there Spy Soooo i have zero lip on the bottom of the counter(I realised that this was not my finest moment) and my stern counter is made of plywood and not walnut. Do you have any suggestions? plank it and just taper things? If you look at the photo of the stern in my last post you can see how things look there. As a matter of interest do you know if hulls were ever actually planked in the way in which I did it? I somehow remember reading that it seemed wrong but was actually done this way sometimes? I must say it didnt feel very historically accurate when I did it but it was the easier option for me.

@The Lazy Saint I am leaning more and more in that direction lazy. Watch this space for my final indecisive decision.

@vulcanbomber Good Morning Vulcan! Thanks for this great response. I will follow your advice and steps. I am still on the fence about the coppering thing predominantly because this is a learning exercise. If I were to varnish the hull now could I still copper over that if I ultimately decided to? I also assume that I need to finish the wale before varnishing or the wood glue wont stick too well? I opted to plank the counter as mine is just ply wood, I hope it turns out ok. Cheers Haiko

continued from above. I now sanded down the hull(with 100 grit sandpaper) and carefully saved all the sawdust. Once the hull was rough sanded I carefully applied a mixture of this sawdust and PVA glue to all the gaps and blemishes. I found that it was easiest to do this with a finger and then use a damp sponge to wipe off any excess glue(this is important as it is very hard to sand this mixture once it is dry). For bigger gaps I applied multiple layers of sawdust/glue filler as the mixture contracts when it dries. This was followed by a vigorous sanding with 300/600/1000/1200 grit paper producing the following results. Now its question time for those that wish to help. If there are any more photos needed please let me know. 1. WHAT NEXT!? Do I varnish the hull or is there some other step I should be taking and in general what is the next logical step to take. 2. Is there some way to get better results 3. Have I done anything wrong(this is a learning process so I would appreciate criticism) 4. Should I have planked the stern counter. 5. Whats the deal with coppering? It seems to me that it would be bordering on a sin to copper over this hull. It is worth saying that I really enjoyed this process! Thanks in advance CHeers The bitter end

Finally...Day 39-103(that's 65 days to do the second hull planking, for those who are planning a build it is worth noting that I applied very little time to my build during this period, I was in the peak of my farming season and was going through the end of a relationship) So here goes. After trimming the stern counter so that it was flush with the bulwarks I marked the hull with vertical lines spaced at 28.5mm to plan my layout for the 4 butt planking system I chose to use(there is a post in this build log by vulcan bomber explaining this layout.). I found that it was easiest to draw a single vertical line between gun ports 5 and 6 and then set a compass to 28.5 mm and use this to mark the spacing at various points along the location for the next line before connecting the dots to create the next complete pencil line. The photo below shows the completed line layout. It is also worth giving a quick warning here about the bulwarks, I failed to protect these from breaking while working on the model when upside down. You can see the break below. Something as simple as resting the model on a piece of foam would have solved this problem. The next step was to lay down the wale line. I did this using 3 strips of the darkest wood in the planking pack. I did not cut these down to 118mm lengths as I wanted a nice solid sweeping curved line to plank from and I did not trust myself to create this using short pieces. These were steamed and pinned to the hull with drawing pins. I can suggest that one uses a flat blade to scrape away all excess glue from the edges of the plank to prevent the dry glue from getting in the way of the next strake(i hope thats the right word). I laid down 3 full planks for the bulwark line and then three additional strakes of plunks in the 4 butt pattern without any tapering of the planks. These planks and all others were chamfered slightly at the point where the plank meets the bow to allow as tight a fit as possible. Once these were in place I simply held each of the next planks in place and tapered them in such a way as to allow them to lie as naturally as possible and then pinned them to the hull after glueing. I approached this very slowly and used probably more pins than required but I found this gave pleasing results. As you can see I also opted for lighter planks for the lower planking This was continued from the bulwarks to the keel while tapering planks in the same way as described for first planking, I was left with a tiny filler plank but I was fairly happy with the final spacing. Once this was done I move up to the gunnals and planked them using the same 4 butt pattern, letting each plank overhang the gun ports slightly seemed to be the best way to get a need finish. When these were all glued and dried I simply trimmed them back and filed the edges. Once all this had been done I trimmed the stern keel pieces and tops of the gunnals and prepared for the arduous task of filling gaps and sanding the hull. I will end this post here as I fear it may be becoming too large... next post...filling, sanding and questions. The Bitter End