Der Alte Rentner
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USS Constitution by mtbediz - 1:76
Der Alte Rentner replied to mtbediz's topic in - Build logs for subjects built 1751 - 1800
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Whew. I'm glad this is done..
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Trying to construct these pillars from the boxwood left over from planking the deck was problematic. And with the boxwood this close to the curved Basswood molding, the difference in materials was notable. Therefore I used the same material - basswood, and procedure to start making more pillars but with a narrower bottom cross piece. Time consuming work to be sure.. I use the same milling method I used yesterday, but narrowed the strip for the lower cross pieces. Using a spacer, I made marks where I needed to remove material. Then, ever so carefully, I pared away the material for the indentations. Despite supremely careful handling of very sharp tools, breakage occurred on every piece, requiring repairs. If this continues to plague me for the remaining five pieces, I will just get rid of the lower crosses all together, and go with the solution exhibited in the Constructo kit.
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Jon, You may have noticed that I'm not exactly following the plan. Given the screwup with the lower molding, for example, I'm forced to make the pillars longer than the plan. And since I already used basswood for the round molding on the transom, I think I may be stuck using the same for the pilasters, to keep the color there consistent. However, since I'm less than satisfied with the first one I made, I'm pretty sure I'll be revisiting the process, and may yet try boxwood, as I have some left over from the deck planking. I'll see how I feel when I return to the shipyard..
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I started working on the pillars for the transom today. Not 100% sure I like the result. I'm going to look at the pictures for day and decide if I'm going to take a different approach. Here is one of those cases where styrene would have been a fabulous material to work with. Not so much basswood.. I'm thinking that the bottom cross member should be narrower, perhaps half as wide..
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There you go, Haiko, you now have the attention of one of the most knowledgeable contributors on the subject of the USS/Frigate Constitution at this site. You'll not want for plans or pictures going forward. 😄
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Doh! Of course, that makes absolutely perfect sense. I can't believe I didn't remember that. Go for it! By the way, if it hasn't already come up, you'll also need to make planking for the spar deck.
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You've nailed it on the head! That's all these kits are. If I hadn't found this website and the Bob Hunt practicum, I would be completely lost.
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In my humble opinion, if you have the kit, use the stem that came with it. I don't see an appreciable difference between the drawing you showed and the part in the box.
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I only knew two definitions for bow lines, the first was the line was the one you used to secure your boat in a slip - along with stern and spring lines. The second was the knot commonly used aboard a boat. I had to do an online search to find the definition or use you put them to.. I couldn't find one of my own photos from my '95 Soren Larsen passage from Sydney to Auckland, but I do have this one that I got from their promotional postcard. No bowlines that I can see (or remember). From my profile, admittedly from the wrong side of the sails, but no evidence of bowlines here. Learn something new every day. Thanks for the education, Tom Best
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I had you in mind when I asked Jon the question..
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I had to kill some time this morning before heading out for an eye exam. So, I opted out of the shipyard and perused MSW Constitution builds ad nauseam instead. When I reviewed the Jeff Toma build, I had to ask myself, was this indeed the one I remembered? Though my recollection of where he left off doesn't quite jive, I must admit, this may have been the one. I would have cut the lower mast sections short and painted them before calling it quits, but here's hoping Jeff someday comes back to finish it. Once again, you're the go-to guy for Conny arcanity!
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Thank you Geoff. I'm glad I didn't have to cut off his talons..
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I see that the sails have some shape, and it's via rigging. What are the lines called that bow the sails to forward? I don't recall seeing such on the tall ship I sailed on. Bravo! Very nicely done.
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I assume you're using a good resaw blade on a bandsaw to get your boards. With a 1" resaw blade on my bandsaw, I can get really thin strips if wood as wide as 3 or 4 inches, depending on the hardness of the wood. The key is to run the board you just cut a piece off through a planer or thickness drum sander to completely flatten the surface before the next resaw. But how ever you make the boards, if you make the strips fairly long, a thickness drum sander is ideal for precise dimensioning. I've got a 16" Jet drum sander and it has netted me perfectly dimensioned thin strips. I had to run some of the wood that came with my Model Shipways kit through the sander to get them to uniform thicknesses. You might need to experiment to see just how thin you can go, but I'm pretty sure that you can easily produce stock for planking. You might want to reach out to Mustafa for advice, as I'm pretty sure he makes his own strips too. Well, you're off to the races. Congratulations, and again, welcome aboard.
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If you're going to double plank, you could skip the filler blocks, as you can do a lot of correction after the first planking. That's what wood putty Is for. And as you mentioned, the practice is worth the exercise. Make the second planking as thin as you can, would be the one thing I would suggest that this point. But you have a long way to go before you start planking, so I'm looking forward to seeing your first photos. Good luck and welcome aboard.
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Much prep work, staining, correcting. Despite very careful application of masking tape some stain still got underneath the tape and I'll be doing some more work trying to clean up the main hatch. But by and large I'm on the home stretch and can move on with construction. (I've got to figure out how to get consistent results from my phone camera..)
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Ace Hardware bass wood. Soak it long enough and use one of those converted soldering gun type plank benders - very carefully, and you can get very good results.
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I'm positive it was at model ship world. Well, unless it's only in my head.. 😁
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Can't wait to see the final pictures. Excellent workmanship, beautiful build.
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I feel even better now, after 2 hours of tweaking those moldings
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No, it wasn't Captain Steve, I remember seeing a photo of the completed hull on display on a bookshelf. Captain Steve never finished the hull. I appreciate the effort you're going through Jon, but it's really not worth it. Thanks for giving it the old College try, though. I promise, if I ever find it, I'll get back to you.
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Nope, it wasn't Mundie. I've been back through my entire list of "Followed Content" and simply cannot find the build I distinctly remember. The builder even commented at the end that he didn't have the time and space to continue and was calling it a wrap. Oh well, I was just trying to be helpful to another builder who might benefit from the info. Thanks for trying though. You're the man!
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Absolutely! BTW, the original isn't exactly perfect either. There are some kinks and the odd bend in her as well. And that second molding could be a tad thinner.. I might even be able to remove and do some surgery on the first one to make the two more symmetrical. I feel a lot better now. Thanks! 😁
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You're right on all counts. Yes, I will attempt to narrow the moldings a bit and the laser cut moldings were too wide and too thin. Also they were too scorched. By the time I sanded away the scorch marks, they would be so thin they would stand out like a sore thumb. The plans do show that the moldings are thinner than the ones I made, but I was trying to keep with the same thickness of the moldings under the gallery windows. And I will definitely sand out the kink marks. This goes to show how much attention you need to pay attention to details well down the road from the stage you're dealing with at the moment. (Here's where the veteran's experience comes to play.) The gunports are all on the same plane, but somehow the galleries may have been slightly misshapen? Working off the plans, I positioned the moldings on the galleries where they should have been, but to keep them parallel to the bottom of the windows, I missed the mark where the molding met the transom. It is what it is. Since I'm not going to be going for an exact replica (going with stain vs black and white paint, skipping the bulwark rivets, the nails on the deck, etc.) I'm not going to lose much sleep over this. Here's a thought, maybe I omit that last piece altogether? 🤔
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