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“Huzza! Her sides are made of iron!” (Unknown sailor, USS Constitution, 19 August 1812, battle with HMS Guerriere) "Building a new Navy for the 'new' United States" The American Revolution ended in 1783, and the new United States sent its merchant fleet afar to trade in spices, fish, leather, etc. to rebuild its economy. However. The last Continental Navy warship was effectively sold in 1785, and US merchant vessels thereafter sailed unprotected. This lack of protection soon became a problem, especially when sailing off of North Africa in the 1790's, and finally Congress authorized a new navy, in 1794, to protect the fleet. Between 1797 and 1800, 6 frigates were launched: United States, Constellation, Constitution, Chesapeake, Congress, and President. USS Constitution, launched 21 October 1797, is the sole survivor (USS Constellation, in Baltimore Harbor, is the 1854 warship of the same name). Joshua Humphreys designed theses frigates to be the strongest, fastest, and most heavily armed warships of the era. Constitution’s hull is 3-layers of wood: exterior & interior oak planking and dense live oak framing (ribs) spaced 'close together' as the middle layer. At the waterline, the ship is over 22” thick... and this thick, strong and dense hull makes up her “iron” sides. When hit with enemy fire, Constitution’s hull either repelled the cannon shot's, and/or effectively absorbed them, due to her massive hull, thus helping to prevent serious damage to the ship while also minimizing casualties to her crew. Between 1798 and 1854, Constitution was victorious in 33 engagements and a great deal of her fame rests in her 3 stunning victories over Royal Navy vessels in the War of 1812. The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned ship on the U.S. Navy roster. Still seaworthy and served by Navel officers and crew to this very day! _______________________________________________________ ... and so the build begins! I've acquired a copy of Joshua Humphreys original hull design from 1794, courtesy of the 'Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment, Boston'. This will make for a proper start to this historic project. My goal is to reconstruct an accurate depiction, in scale, of the USS Constitution as she was originally designed, by Joshua Humphreys in 1794. This build will begin with my restoration and clarification of the original hull drawing, via Autocad, as there are portions of this original drawing that have obviously lost a bit of needful detail via the ages. Mid-ship frame details, via the body plan, will likely be difficult to accurately recreate, therefore, I'll likely make those frames a bit proud both internally 'and' externally, for safety... and simply fair them down to their proper forms once it's time to fair the hull's frames to shape. I've not yet decided as to the true scale that I'll actually be building her to, however. I'm currently 'thinking' somewhere around 1/75'ish. Larger, maybe, but definitely no smaller than 1/75. I'll also likely build a rather lengthy mid-section 'prototype' prior to going for the full length build. I can see a lot of potential 'difficulties' to be encountered in such a complex build. A prototype, whether I finish it, or not, should prove to be a good 'test-bed' from which I can figure out just how in the h*ll I'm going to pull this off to personally 'acceptable' standards. It's going to be very interesting and time consuming, for sure! This is what I'm starting with. It's Humphreys original draft of the constitution's original hull as designed in 1794. Sorry for all of the edits to this post. I was trying to post the hull drawing that I received, in .pdf format, from the Naval History & Heritage Command, but no joy. You'll have to settle for this much smaller 'jpeg', instead of the actual 5' foot long drawing...

Been doing some research and reading customer reviews. "Hmm... nevermind!" 😲

Any of you folks familiar with this kit and its manufacturer/supplier? I'm liking what I see, up front, however. I'd like to get a few opinions before I 'pull a $250 trigger'. https://www.model-space.com/us/hms-victory-cross-section-model.html

I totally agree with your differential between the terms 'Bashing' vs. 'Improvement/Augmentation'. There is 'definitely' a distinct difference between the two! "Bashing", as I see it, represents an intentional alteration to the original design of something, with forethought, for whatever reason... with the specific intent being to void something of its true and original design parameters (much like a good deal of the model ship manufacturers seem to be doing). To 'BASH' something that is already inaccurate in detail, in order to restore its original design details is not bashing, at all. It's "Historically Accurate Alteration!" When you take an old 'Jensen Das Ugly Stik' and add bomb bay doors and shielded bottle-rocket launchers to its wings... "That's Kit Bashing!"

Greetings, all! I've been a beginner for twenty five years and have YET to complete a single model, however. I 'have' collected many POF kits, and also a 'boatload' of plans for scratch building. Sorry folks, none of this stuff is for sale. It's all gonna be for my long term retirement and enjoyment! My reason for not completing any of these kits, nor scratch building from any of the plans has nothing to do with a lack of skills, nor interest. Quite the contrary! The very first POF hull that I built, (Cutty Sark), turned out quite beautiful for a first time build. Something for a first time model ship builder to be extremely proud of, of which I am! It wasn't until I was well into fabricating the deck furniture, for this first build, that things started to go south. The more I worked on the model, the more curious I became about details and 'true' historical accuracy. The more I learned about historical accuracy, the more horrified I became with the obvious 'monstrosity' that I was inadvertently building! My heart sank, I lost interest and put it on the shelf, inaccurate deck furniture and all. I'll finish it, someday, as it looks really nice... but I'll not name it "Cutty Sark". It'll just be a 'no-name', nice looking piece of artwork and skill, sitting atop a shelf. "Too proud of the craftsmanship and the time involved to toss it into the BBQ pit, too embarrassed of its inaccuracies to officially name it!" During the time that I was going through the motions of building that first hull, the more I realized how much I enjoyed the model ship building process. I quickly went overboard and started buying models and plans, willy-nilly, left and right. Huge mistake! By the time I figured out that most of the stuff that I had purchased was, and/or was likely to be very inaccurate... it was too late. I already owned it all, and still do!!! If someone just wants to build a nice looking ship model, go for it. Beauty is in the eye of the 'builder', and most all kits can provide exactly that, if your skills are up to the task, however. If one is into true accuracy and detail, as I am... "do your homework", 'FIRST'! "Don't be like me!" I simply 'assumed' that the manufacturers of these models did their very best to replicate accuracy. The truth is, "not so much." I've since tinkered with a few of my kits, not doing much work, here and there... but just couldn't really get into it, not knowing if what I was doing had any real historical accuracy involved, or not. I shelved 'everything' for a later date. I haven't touched 'anything' for 8 years... but I'm wanting to get back into it, but I also want to do such in a much more informed, rewarding and satisfying manner! Looks like there will 'now' be a lot of "Damage Control" in my future, LOL The above being said... "There 'is' a silver lining to this old, dark cloud. I picked up a lot of ship models for about a third of the price that those exact same models are currently being sold for, today. Lots of good wood, rigging items, etc. that can surely be put to good use, albeit. The plans and instructions, for these old models, might well serve a much better purpose in lighting the fires, in my BBQ pit, than in the building of an accurate ship model! I joined this forum to tap into the knowledge of folks who are in the know, who also know the proper 'ins and outs' of doing good research, where to find the data, info, etc.., and hopefully to make another friend or few. I'm now approaching retirement and intend to get back to it and start building everything that I had once purchased, kits as well as plans. Definitely gonna be a lot of kit bashing required, but that's okay and also a given, with true accuracy being a goal! With the help of you folks... I hope to build a lot of excellent models that are both accurate, and properly done! 😊