GGibson

Your Pram is looking great, sir. Excellent work! And no visible blood stains from your culinary injury! I'm a big fan of Tamiya White Putty. It is advertised primarily for plastic models but can also be used for wood application. It has worked well for me.

Your rudder work at the stern looks awesome, Peter! Excellent! And... as we have all said at one time or another on each other's build logs... while we all strive for perfection and see the "little oops" in our own work, no one is going to be taking a magnifying glass to your work once it's completed and in the display case. The picture view you are sharing with us is what everyone will see once completed. I'm not saying don't fix what you are seeing, but... ok, nevermind... we're all going to fix our "little oops", anyways. CARRY ON, SIR! 🤷‍♂️🤣🏆

These look great, Chuck! Have you seen any 3D printing plans for the 32-pound carronades with the elevating screws? I have seen one other company that has created those, but always curious to see options.

I am a bit late to the conversation, but a few years ago, I purchased from Blick Art Materials a 22" x 30" x 1-3/4" archival storage box and a few sheets of chipboard for the dividers and made a storage box for my various wood strips.

Peter, in a shipbuilding zoom meeting I participated in yesterday, a gentleman suggested using 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200 for adhering copper plates to the hull of a model ship. It sounds like that would work well with brass to wood, perhaps, as well. Several others chimed in and said they've used it successfully, too. Perhaps worth a go?

Both excellent suggestions/reminders! Thank you, gentlemen! Much appreciated!

Well, I completed two of the three steps that I intended. My shipyard work this past month has had its share of interruptions, with a trip to Iowa for one extended weekend plus with the Thanksgiving holiday, but I did get some work done on my Constitution, albeit at my slow and deliberate pace. After making the changes in the main hatch position, I was now ready to secure the false gun deck to the bulkheads before beginning the additional work on the gun deck itself. A fairly easy and straight-forward process of gluing each of the four individual false deck pieces in place and, using some spare square dowels and longer rubber bands to hold the false deck in place while the glue dried, the false deck was secured. The pair of aft hatches that are located on either side of the capstan were the simplest to build, as there was no grating involved. Simply two sets of stairways with the ladders facing athwartship (I learned a new nautical term!). With all of these hatchways, I am using 3/32” x 1/4” basswood stock for the frames. In a previous post, I described how I built the lower ladders that go from the gun deck down to the berth deck. Since these will be difficult to see details, these stairs are simply small blocks glued together in a stairstep fashion. The lower railing stanchions are blackened 0.81mm brass rods. I used a different process this time to blacken the rods. After dipping them in white distilled vinegar to clean them, I painted them with the JAX Pewter Black product using a Q-tip cotton swab, then rinsing in clean tap water. I have been really happy with the results! For these lower “berth deck” level stanchions, I used a spot of CA glue to secure the 0.25mm rope for the rope railing. I am, of course, leaving lengths of railing rope loose at this time to eventually place the gun deck level stanchions at the appropriate time. In my last build log post, I mentioned how I was switching, or pivoting, the position of the main hatch so that the ladders were in a forward/aft direction rather than side/side direction (or athwartship, as I learned a new nautical term!). As others have previously indicated, there are several plan interpretations of how the main hatch looked. One configuration that I recall Jon mentioning is the US Navy’s 1927 restoration work Plan #24423. But… is that the way the main hatch looked back in its 1812-1815 days? The plans from Bluejacket Shipcrafters are presented based on Larry Arnot’s research during this 1812-1815 period. What the heck, let’s use that configuration. They look pretty close to one another. I had also mentioned in my last build log post that I was going to use Mustafa’s process in creating the criss-cross hatch grating work. After that comment, I found some flat pearwood grating strips on Dry-Dock Model’s website. They were advertised as being 1:72 scale, so they are close in scale to our 1:76.8 scale. Their grating slat spaces are only 1mm in size, which is closer than what I was planning on doing on the mill at 1.4mm. A 1mm opening converts at our 1:76.8 scale to just a smidge above 3 inches, which is probably a more accurate hatch grating size, anyways. So, I went with these grating strips. Using the aforementioned Bluejacket plans, I wrote up a sizing plan for my Constitution’s gun deck main hatch, which helped me keep things organized while cutting each of the grating pieces to their accurate size, along with the stairs in each corner. And, of course, I have to include a couple of my magnetic box and Lego building pictures… Although none of these hatches have been firmly secured yet to the false gun deck, I placed them all in position to see how they were going to look. First, a quick peek at how the ladders look under the false gun deck (noted with the drawn red line)… And a shot of the full false gun deck with each hatch in place… A close-up of the forward gun deck hatch… A close-up of the main mid-ship gun deck hatch… And, finally, a close-up of the aft gun deck hatch, where the capstan will be placed in between… I am happy with how the hatches (and gratings) came out on this gun deck. I’ll decide in due time whether to use these same Dry-Dock gratings on the spar deck or attempt to make my own. What I need to work on now, though, are the gun deck waterways. Oh, one more thing. Before it gets too late and I forget, I made the necessary cuts and notches in each of the mast dowels so that they fit properly and snuggly in their respective spots on the gun deck. Of course, once the spar deck is built, we want to be able to slide these masts down into their respective gun deck positions and secure them. The notches done now will assist in that endeavor. Appreciate the peek-ins, the comments, and the criticisms. Thanks for your support.

Excellent work, Mustafa! Nice use of the jig. What is the distance between upper and lower deadeyes that you were achieving?

That's the exact brand and Alizarin Crimson Hue color I used on my lower hull, with the Liquitex Basics Acrylic Mars Black as my choice for the black portion. I am not a good spray painter, and these colors brushed on really nice for me. Also, if you haven't already prepared for it, I highly recommend using Tamiya masking tape to help create the sharp lines between colors. Nice hull work on your Bluenose, Terry! Carry on, sir!

Have fun with this little boat, Jasennord! It was a nice ship to continue to learn skills on. Although I don't recall the exact issue now, I'd have to look back at my build log to hopefully jog my memory, but be cautious when you get to the point of trimming the transom, as I don't think the kit's measurements were exactly accurate to what you really needed to do. It looks like you have a great start on the planking! Enjoy!

And keep reminding yourself... "It's a journey, not a race to finish." Best wishes and have fun!

Great to see you starting on the rigging, Mustafa! Will be an entertaining and informative following. And I appreciate your decision on the non-sails. I recall you were on the fence as I read your early posts. Not having sails will allow your family and friends to see your magnificent work even clearer. We all aspire to build a "Mustafa-quality" Constitution. Congrats on achieving this crossroad, my friend!

The day that I was there in Boston in September it had rained overnight and was misty that morning, so much of the spar deck details were covered. And I was also unable to get anywhere near the bowsprit area that Jon was requesting, too. There was a port-a-potty in the way! 🤷‍♂️🤣

Thanks, Jon! I've been looking back at your build log multiple times for guidance. Thanks, Peter! This is where I say "hold my beer", though, as I'm confident I'll screw it up somewhere along the way. Thanks, Mustafa! And a great reminder on the wood grain. I thought I had the right size mill bit, but... so it's on order and working on a couple other areas.

Very creative and successful way to make the double eyebolts, Frank! Nice work! Will need to remember this when the time comes. 👍