ERS Rich

Thank you very much, these pictures are helpful…..

Hello Mr. Ross! Thank you!

Hull Preliminaries Cut a building board from a piece of plywood and found a chuck block in the scrap pile. Screwed the block in the bottom of the hull and clamped in the shoulder vise. Used a 36” ruler to mark the centerline on the deck. Picture 1 shows two pieces of decking, glued with epoxy, along the centerline. Pretty simple, clamped lightly after the epoxy set. Be careful as the deck can slide. Let dry overnight. Next flipped the hull and drilled a series of holes n the deck along the hull - picture 2. Here picture 3 shows the hull back in the vice with the holes outlining the hull edge. Ready to do the deck rough cut with a Tamiya razor saw. Picture 4, cutting along “connecting the dots”….. Finally cutting along the curves with a well sharpened flat chisel….pictures 5 and 6. Picture 7. Rough cut finished. The deck will be sanded flush with the hull when fairing the hull with the templates.

Introduction This is the USS Maine kit by Bluejacket. This beautiful multimedia kit features: an enormous solid hull, resin turrets and sponsons, metal gun barrels, and many sheets of photo etch. After planking many hulls, decided to build this solid hull kit; less time on hull building, means more time spent on topside buildout. And, hopefully, quicker results. Can I knock this out in 6 months? This log may be less detailed than my USS Constitution log, and will show how I do the major tasks. My building philosophy, at this point is to keep working, don’t sweat the small stuff - analysis/paralysis, and trust my ability to overcome the inevitable problems. Please feel free to send a message with any questions you may have.

Project on Hold Thank you for the positive comments. At this time the Constitution project is on hold. Question is whether to just model the hull or to fully build out the masting and rigging. And given the size of a full model, where will I put it. Expect to return to this project in the summer of 2023. Looking for quicker results I’ve kicked off the Bluejacket USS Maine project. Here she is on the shelf:

Hello and Welcome! Former cabinet maker here.....always up for answering questions. Enjoy your shipbuilding journey!

Hello, It may have been already said…. Checkout the movie Captains Courageous….see the real schooners in action…. Never tire of watching it…. Your work is beautiful by the way…. Cheers!

Spray Painting the Hull Completed the spray painting of the hull. Trim painting to follow. Hull was prepped with Varathane Ipswich Pine stain, 1 application, then light rub with steel wool. Wood has a little “tooth”. Lower hull is Tamiya Dark Copper XF-28, thinned with about 10% Tamiya Thinner X-20. Paint applied with an Iwata RG-3L Mini Spray Gun with 1mm tip, @20 psi. This gun produces a robust spray pattern such that the paint lays down wet, silky and smooth. See Paul Budzik’s video on YouTube to find out about this gun. Black bands are Tamiya Flat Black XF-1, also thinned with about 10% X-20 thinner, and with Tamiya Paint Retarder added to the mix. Paint applied with a Paasche Talon, with #3 tip (0.6mm), @18psi. White band is Vallejo Model Air white, with flow improver. Also applied with the Talon. Going to let this paint cure for a few days. Next is the brush work to cleanup the overspray and paint the white trim and details.

Hello and welcome to the site. Always up for answering a question. Good luck with your Atlantic…..

A few close ups….

Hull Construction Complete Just about a year since the beginning and the hull is ready for finishing. All hull construction is complete. A major milestone. What a learning process to say the least. Looking forward to finishing the hull. Merry Christmas!

Prepping the Gun Barrels The gun barrels were cleaned with a Degreaser. Then the parting lines on the barrels were removed using a diamond bur in the Foredom tool.

Gunport Lids and Brows Cut all the hinges from the frets using an xacto knife on the base of a Small Shop Hold and Fold. Then fixed the hinges to the lids with a tiny dot of CA applied with a toothpick, made a tiny dot on the lid, then used tweezers to place the hinge. The upper lids fit perfectly. The lower lids just needed to be trimmed on the bottom edge and this was done with the Byrnes Saw and the Sliding Table. The brows were fixed with 5 minute epoxy being careful to align the hole in the brow midway between the gunport sides.

Trimming the Galleries After the rough, the next step is to trim the galleries. The horizontal trim, 1/32” square, was glued in stages, first picture shows the forward end of the piece glued, this was left to dry completely before proceeding aft. Take care to make sure the trim is straight, it tends to wave. I used a half round file to blend the roof block with the trim - picture 2. Pictures 3 and 4 show the vertical trim pieces in place, and there are little tab pieces between the horizontal trim representing a base and capital. Aware that the plan calls for 2 vertical trim pieces on each vertical stile, the piece between the windows, but two pieces looked a little crowded for me. Next time I’ll try to see if I can mill 1/64” square stock. Overall this is delicate detailed work. The forward and middle window top corners are sanded down to create the curve. The windows are brittle, and easy to chip. Broke the bottom off one and had to glue it together again. Slightly file and sand both the windows and the frames to get the the windows to sit square with an even gap all around. Still some work to do on that. At this point there maybe little gaps, say between the horizontal and vertical trim that will be bridged with sealer, and primer. Right now my thought is using a lite coat of Minwax Ipswich Pine, then prime with Vallejo acrylic primer. Need to test that. Next is making the bottom fairing piece - notice the rough piece in the pictures.

thanks, just decided to do it my own way....🤔

Quarter Gallery- Part 1 This part shows the rough work associated with the base, windows, and roof. Part 2 will cover the lower fairing block and trim. Made the gallery base and roof out of hickory. Hardwood will hold on edge better than soft pine. The following shows how the base was made, same methodology for the roof. Started with 1/4” stock (7/16” for the roof) and ripped the outboard angle. Picture 1. The angle was taken from the base template on the plan. Then used the tilt table and miter gauge to cut the compound angle in the aft end to fit the angle of the gallery wing. Picture 2. Byrnes saw makes what could be a difficult task, trivial. So easy to dial in the angles. Pictures 3 and 4 show the fit of the lower piece against the gallery wing from the bottom and top. The templates were used to mark up the stock. Picture 5 shows sanding along the top line. A file was used to smooth the outboard bevel on the lower piece, and the roof contour. The templates were essential to get the correct shape. Next the top and bottom blocks were glued to the hull. Picture 6. The aft window was used as a spacer. Note both the base and the roof have the sill and a thin trim piece installed. Finally the window openings were framed - starting at the aft end and moving forward. Picture 7. Notice the frame pieces are extra thick and sit proud. Pictures 8 and 9. They will be shaped to match the curvature of the base/roof. The windows are a press fit and are removable for painting. The edges will be sanded to establish a curve. Notice the window sill is built up, so the window sills stair step at the bottom and are aligned along the top. The last picture shows forming the cap strip with a piece from the billet and a clamp.

Congrats SeaHoss!

Now that’s a great suggestion about the blade, thank you very much for reminding me! Regarding the trim/painting. One possibility is painting the trim first, white, then masking and applying black. Light color first, then dark. To save time and tape, going to paint black first with an Iwata RG-3 mini spray gun, then paint the trim white, with a brush. Another thought is the white over black will diminish the “whiteness” of the trim, less pop. And only paint the outboard face of the trim. Will checkout your log to see what’s up with the stern galleries….

Hi JS, thanks for checking in. The trailboard hasn’t been glued in yet….. Liking the wood trim in a big way, especially how it looks on the timbers. It steam bends easily and glues up nice and quick. Problem is, only 2 strips in the kit. Having trouble making more with my mini table saws - the blade chews up the wood. It’s available from Bluejacket…..

Trim the Head Found 1/32” x 1/32” stock in the kit and decided to use it to trim out cheek knees, rails, and head timbers. First picture shows clamping damp pieces next to the cheeks to bend them to shape. Picture 2 shows some results.

Head Deck Gratings and Second Rail It took me a while studying the plans and the reference books, particularly the Anatomy of the Ship, to understand the sequence to install the Second Rail. Finally understood the deck grating is where to start. The gratings sit on a frame attached to the stem and head timbers, and the rail acts as a fascia board, covering the outboard end of the timbers and the ends of the athwartship grating support beams. Study plan detail 4A to understand this relationship. The deck grating position drives where the beams are located on the timbers. And the location of the beam on the timber drives the final shaping of the timber top. So started by building the grating frames. The frame aft edge is aligned to the bottom of the second strake below the sheer strake. Picture 1 shows the port side frame. Notice the beam ends are a little long and will be trimmed and shaped to fit against the side of the rail. Also notice the rail ends offer additional glue surface area, that will help when glueing up the rail. Picture 2 shows glueing up the rail with ends clamped and a rubber band in the center of the stem looped around the board. Picture 3 shows the rail in place. And picture 4 shows the grating installed. Finally picture 5 shows the side view.

Hi Bob, and thank you. Trying to show this in a way that is easy to do and understand. Good luck on your Constitution. -Rich

Third Head Rail After much time checking the fit and shaping, forged ahead and began glueing the rail in position, starting with the forward end and working aft. So glued the forward end of the rail to a position just aft of the laser cut scroll work and the first timber, then clamped, and let dry. Repeated 2 timbers at a time. After starting, realized that’s the horn on the aft end was not shaped as much as I wanted but had to go with it. Picture 1. Picture 2 shows glue squeeze out along the rail horn, to get some gap filling. Use a toothpick to remove the excess after a few minutes. I also used a dab of CA to get a quick hold without clamping. Pictures 3 and 4 are views after shaping the cathead support knee and the aft end of the rail, using a cylindrical burr in the Foredom - Picture 5. I think the rail horn needs a bit more material removed along the lower edge, seems a little fat in picture 3.

Thanks KLB, this is the first time I’ve built such an elaborate head, the rails are intimidating. I spent a lot of time looking at the plan and the Anatomy of the Ship reference book. Finally came to realize that there are variations in the references so there isn’t a perfect answer to positioning the timbers. It’s been a very iterative process, shaping the rail, committing and installing the timbers, using the rail to mark the timber notches, checking the fit of the rail, and shaping it. Thanks for checking in and stay tuned!