GGibson

Yep, agreed. Pretty small variance from a 1:76.8 viewer's perspective. Looks good, Peter.

Excellent way to test how it would look with various stains/paints, Peter. Good work. And very good analysis by Jon. Along those lines, my vote is for the "similar to planking" stain above. I recall you invoking the KISS principle previously. This stain choice keeps everything subtle, IMHO.

My $0.02 worth of opinion... Syren. 🤷‍♂️👍

Never really thought about any coverage on brass, Peter. But, referring to an expert, especially when it comes to brass work in ship modeling, I looked at my copy of Ken Foran's (@xken) book Modeling Building with Brass - 2nd Edition. When discussing cleaning parts, on page 113, he states that "parts that are to remain a natural brass finish can be clear coated, using lacquer or urethane spray can finishes intended for this purpose."

Looking good, Peter! 👍🏆

Hello, Mustafa! Hope you are enjoying your summer break and holiday! I apologize for taking up space on your build log for this query, but thought others might be interested in the picture and in your knowledge of the location. Saw this photo on the Internet of the Sumela Monastery in Turkey and after my first thought of it being an amazing structure with an obviously unique backdrop, my 2nd thought was wondering if you have ever visited?

Oh, crap...!! 🤷‍♂️😬🤣

Sharp looking vessel, Scott! Congrats on its completion. 🏆

Jon, I love that display technique!! Very unique way to expose the details on the gun deck! Yeah, the intent of buying a handful from Model Monkey to start with was to experiment with dissection. So, I'll mess with them sometime. I have plenty of time before I get to that point. I will. of course, being watching your process with great interest. Carry on, sir! 👍🏆

Hey, Jon! Your aft planking is looking great! It is interesting to see how you gentlemen are planking the spar deck in order to best expose the details of the gun deck. And I am also very interested in how you are using your Model Monkey carronades. I recall the conversation we were having back in January on Peter's build log regarding these Model Monkey 3-D carronades (starting at Post #427, FYI). At the time, we were discussing the possibility of cutting/separating the cannon and screw adjustment mechanism part from the carriage base, so that the carriage base would be made from wood. I even purchased a half dozen of the 3-D printed carronades to examine ahead of time. But it sounds like you are just going to use the full 3-D printed carronade piece on your ship? Anxious to see how it comes out! Thanks for the update, Jon!

Great to hear that acknowledgement from you, Jon. As I said, I'll take the baby-step wins. Thank you, sir!

Another (I’ll try to be) quick update on this Constitution build. In my mind, this feels like one of those “…small step for model builder man, giant leap for Gregg-kind” type of accomplishments. I’ll take the baby-step wins when I can get them, because I know a ton of “what the…?!?”s will cross my lips ultimately in this journey, as well. First thing I wanted to get done was what I had mentioned at the end of my last post… and that is to insert some brass tubes up through the keel and into the bulkhead former a bit in order to provide additional support for when this ship is placed in a permanent base. Several builders have done this on whatever ship they were constructing, and I mentioned that Jon gave an excellent tutorial on what he did early on for his Constitution, so… I had to follow suit. I decided to place the two support holes about 12” apart, approximately at the F & N bulkhead locations. Using just a pin vise and drilling holes by hand, I had to accurately drill straight down through the rabbet and keel in order to insert a 3/32” tube at each spot. I started with a #60 micro drill bit and carefully worked my way up through larger drill bits so as to not tear out the hole. So, a #60 drill bit, then a #54, then a #50, then 5/64”, then finally a 3/32” bit so that I could tap in the small tubes. Sweet! I had also mentioned in my last post that I was considering making some cuts into the appropriate bulkheads and keel locations in order to have visible ladders going from the detailed gun deck down to what would be the berth deck. I looked at what others had done to the bulkheads and bulkhead formers to accomplish this visual. Some had made the cuts at this stage, others had made cuts into the frames after the bulkheads had been secured to the center spine. I decided to do this before attaching the bulkheads. After reviewing several previous build logs and several USN documents, I made the following cuts in the center keel… For the fore hatch going down to the berth deck, I cut out the center keel 19.34mm back from the Bulkhead F and 1” deep. For the main hatch going down to the berth deck, I cut out the center keel 37.12mm back from Bulkhead I, which removed all from between Bulkheads I & J and went back another 12.44mm from Bulkhead J. For the after hatch (the one that will be just in front of the capstan), I cut out the center keel 19.43mm from between Bulkheads L & M, beginning 9.78mm back from Bulkhead L. For the companionway hatch (the one that will be just behind the capstan), I cut out the center keel 19.43mm from between Bulkheads M & N, beginning 14.52mm back from Bulkhead M. In addition to the cuts made to the center keel, cuts also need to be made to a couple of the bulkheads that will be in the way in order to accommodate the “ladders to the berth deck” illusion. So, the gun deck beams from Bulkheads I & J were removed now (other gun deck beams will be removed similarly later) as well as some deep cuts. According to the USN plans (and looking again at other builds), it appears all of the gun deck hatches going down to the berth deck are 5’ wide, which translates in our 1:76.8 scale to 0.78125”. So, the openings in these bulkheads were made that wide. And, yes, the beams that are being removed will be saved in order to use as templates for when the new beams are added back in later on in this build process. And, yes, I am still worried about snagging and breaking off at least one of these bulkhead extensions at some point during this build process! Uggghhh... So, all in all, a good start to the first major bashing in this project. I believe, then, that the next task is to get the Lego blocks out and, after a bit of initial fairing on a few of the bulkheads, secure each of the bulkheads to the center keel. Then, begin on the filler blocks. Thanks, as always, for peeking in. Appreciate the likes, comments, advice and criticisms.

These coins look really cool, Gene! Nice work! Do you have a list of the 12 images you have created to-date? I didn't see that on the Amazon page. Would be an interesting addition to my Constitution build and display when I eventually finish it... 🤷‍♂️😬🤣 Again, beautiful work, Gene! I wish you great success!

Thanks for the input, fellas! Yeah, it seems like that is the proper thing to do. I may look at "pre-sanding" some of the "end bulkheads", i.e. Bulkheads A, B, Q, R, that will require a deeper sanding than others to eventually fair properly but otherwise will hold off on the detailed fairing until all bulkheads are in and I can test them with a planking strip. Appreciate the reminder, gentlemen! Last night I did give each of the bulkhead tops a nice, thin coat of Titebond glue to help strengthen them, as I know I am bound to snag one or two of them during this build/install process. Hopefully. a nice topcoat of this glue will toughen them up to prevent any serious *SNAPS*... 🤷‍♂️😬 Before I begin securing the bulkheads to the keel, I am thinking this would be the best time, if I am going to do it, to drill holes in the bottom of the keel in order to insert brass rod and tubes to help hold and provide additional support for the ship on whatever type of pedestal/cradle base that is eventually made for its display. Although other builders may have done this, I do know that Jon Gerson described his process of doing this very well in his build log. Thanks, Jon! 🏆

Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant, Peter. Thanks for the correction! 👍