Rodedwards

Escondido about 20 miles north of San Diego and inland.

My name is Rod Edwards. I joined a month or so ago but did not take on board the introduction section. So here , a little late, is my introduction. I'm 83. I started building ship models (strictly from kits) while in school in the fifties. They were all pretty simple kits with solid hulls. The last one that I completed before heading off to the Coast Guard Academy in 1960 at age 17 was the USS Constitution ( probably no bigger than 1:100 scale). Being part of a service family, the models were lost or damaged in moves. There's an old service joke that three moves are as good as a fire. On my 16th birthday (1954), my parents gave me what I thought was the ultimate.... A Model of the Santa Maria to a scale of 5/32" to 1 foot by the Marine Model Company in Halsite, Long Isand, NY.. I never started it until years later in Canada (crappy weather motivates Model Building, I think) but again put it on hold. Never took up work on models in Southern California(work, golf and too much good weather). Then COVID happened. Model Building seemed like a good idea so 67 years later, I finished it. In the meantime, My wife Joyce gave me a kit for Christmas ( it must be 20 years ago) and I swore I wouldn't touch it until Santa Maria some how got done. Last year, in reality a rank beginner, I started work on Constitution. Plank on bulkhead was a new and tedious experience but the real challange for my limited patience was coppering the bottom which I just finished recently. I have already been the beneficiary of helpful guidance from other members and really look forward to engaging with this great community.

I have a set that I am using but there is no table G. I have Tables (Tavola 1-15) which are 8 20 X30 inch sheets printed on both sides and two large( 42X48 inch to scale(1:93) drawings Tables(Tavola) "A" and "B". The code for my kit is 3106. If I can help by photographing one of the sheets that corresponds to your table G. Where is it in the sequence of instructions?

Thanks again for the various inputs. It looks like I was all wet in stating that white oak looked like what had been suggested on the Museum website. Digging deeper I found a quote from the designer Humphreys who apparently specified " the finest hart(?) pitch pine". So Allanyred had it right. In the end, I tried the "dullcote" which did not materially change the color of the planks but gives them a bare wood look I think is "OK".

Thanks for direction to the Museum website. Very useful. White Oak sounds believable for its hardness and strength in standing up to the abuse of the gun carriages. Since I have already completed the deck planking using the planks provided by Mamoli, I do not have the choice to employ new stock. However, the information on the deck material is helpful. I had already tested Minwax's "Weathered Oak Stain and it gave an unexciting dull grey look that while possibly authentic was underwhelming. Modelexpo's Natural Stain results in very little change to the planks intrinsic color. I'm off to try the Testor's Dulcote and the thinned shellac. Thanks to all for the suggestions. I know that the deck ought not be glossy of course. Having spent a few hours with my backside in the air pushing a holystone as a Swab (fourth classman/freshman) on the 1957 transatlantic voyage of the USCGC Eagle ( three masted barque).

Thanks. This sounds like a straightforward approach.

I am in the midst of building a 1990's Mamoli kit for the Constitution and would like advice on how to make the weather (Spar) Deck look authentic. I am using the planking supplied with the kit. I have seen in build logs such suggestions as "Danish Oil"???, and pecan stain and others recommending a final coat of a polyurethane sealer which I thought would result in an unrealistic gloss.

What a coincidence! I too have just started on this very kit that my spouse bought me for Christmas in 1986. Covid 19 has a way of renewing old interests. But first I just had to finish a kit give to me by my parents on my 16th birthday in 1954. The Santa Maria..solid hull kit from the long defunct Marine Model Corp. of Halsite Long Island. It only took me 66 years. Is that a record.