g8rfan

Awesome work Jon. You are a true inspiration and show that things don't always work out the first time, but if you keep at it, the job can get done. God luck with the rest of them

Well it has been a while, but I have not been idle. I've spent a lot of time pondering how to do the stern. When I set out on this little adventure, I wanted to build the ship as she was in 1812 when she battled Guerriere. As most of you know, that comes with it's own set of issues, as I don't think anyone knows what she really looked like. The PE transom that comes with the kit is definitely not correct. It is a sort of blend of a few time frames, and although it would probably make things easier, I decided to not use this. When I started, I purchased the Revell 1/96 model as a reference. After looking at it (I believe based primarily on the Hull model), photos of the Hull model (thanks Jon) and the paintings by Corne, I finally decided to use the Hull model as my primary source. Having finally settled on that little detail, I turned to the transom and tried to figure out how I was going to handle all the fine details. I thought about using the 3D printed transoms available on line ($$$$) but my wallet said no. The idea of making anything reasonable by hand was just not happening. I turned to the Revell model. I had hoped to sell this model once I was finished to recoup the cost, so I tried to see if I could make a mold of the transom. After several attempts at this, I've gotten close, but not as good as I had hoped. I'll probably try a couple more times, but at this point I think I may end up just using it and forgoing the later sell (at east as a complete model). The kit supplied transom covers the entire stern, whereas the Revel transom (and the hull model) only cover a portion, with the topmost planking showing on either side. before I took the plunge and started working on the actual model, I thought I would make a mock up to see how everything was going to come together. I used a piece of 2x4 and after shaping and planking here is what I ended up with The darkened areas are where the PE brass transom windows would have been and where my current transom timbers are located. After making a template of the Revell transom and placing it on the stern, I realized that the outer most frames are going to need a little modification. Next, I turned my attention to the quarter galleries. I've read that the bow is one of the hardest parts of building a ship, but for whatever reason, the galleries intimidate me a lot more. The kit supplies the galleries as a 5 piece puzzle made from cast metal. Everal other builders have lamented on how difficult it is to use these pieces and I won't waste time reiterating. I decided I would be better off building them from scratch. Fortunately, for a previous project, I had purchased a laser engraver. Nothing fancy, a little 5watt unit I got for less than $100. Using this and teh plans from the Museum website, I cut out the four major pieces that make up the galleries: I also made up the "wings" where the transom hangs over the outside of the hull. (note self, do this before planking the stern).I only bothered doing one side, since if that works out the other side will simply be a repeat. The whole exercise was just to see what I could accomplish, learn where I was bound to make mistakes and not trash my model by having to rip everything off and start over again. The side was marked off where the gunports, gallery opening, gunport sill and gundeck would be. then I glued on pieces "A" and "B" So far so good. My first realization was that I was going to need to resize these pieces just slightly to account for the planking on the inside of the transom piece. next was the finish piece on the bottom of the galleries. I could never quite figure out how this transitioned to the transom and the counter. The piece supplied by BJ is a little half moon shaped thing that I could never get to fit quite right. I wanted to use this piece, since it has the scalloping detail. After looking at a lot of other builds and the best angles I could get on the ship itself, I convinced myself that the counter on the stern doesn't end at the side of the hull, but actually extends a little and transitions up and into the transom, which provides a little filler piece for this bottom finish on the gallery. I had saved the pieces I cut off the original solid hull and used these to carve out the support for the bottom finish piece. Here's what I ended up with: Of course, as it is, its just roughed in and would need a little filler and some sanding/smoothing, but overall I was pretty pleased with it. My question all of you (or anyone looking) is whether I am correct in how the finish piece terminates at the outside edge of the transom and the space in between is covered by the "filler" piece?

Thanks alot Jon, a few of my bolt heads are a little out of position, but from any distance at all, they all look the same. I'm totally with you on the details. I find alot of personal satisfaction putting them in and I know if anyone looks at this model, i will have the opportunity to invite them to look closer. I've been thinking alot about my next steps. Although originally, I planned to get started on the gun deck, I am now considering working on the stern, followed by the bow heads. Working on these structures, I am sure I will want to manipulate the entire ship at times, and it seems to me that having alot of stuff on the gun deck while handling the ship that way will not be a good idea. I've been dreading the stern, as it seems like an incredibly complicated assembly, but at some point, I know I have to do it, so it may as well be now. Stay tuned. . . .

I also installed the sheaves at the aft end of the deck. At first I tried to fabricate these using the sandwich method, but at this scale, I had a hard time getting all the pieces lined up well. i was able to manage the ones at the top of the bulwark. For the ones further forward that are embedded in the wall, I chose to just use a solid piece of wood. I drilled holes where the lines would feed through and then used a very fine engraving bit on the Dremel to carve out between the holes. This at least made the pieces look more like a sheave and not just two holes.

Well, I spent about an hour last night putting up a post of my recent work, only to find it wasn't here today. I'm guessing I must have forgotten to hit the submit button. Oh well, here goes again. After spending a while making a bunch of eyebolts for the gun deck, I realized I had forgotten a couple things on the outside hull, namely the boltheads around the gun ports (actually the backings for all the eyebolts i was getting ready to install). At first, I assumed these would be the same size as the bolt heads on the inner bulwarks, but after making a few comparative measurements on a few photos, it appears these are actually about 3.5" in diameter. At first I considered using pinheads, but these were a bit too large. Then I remembered the TichyTrain rivets and ordered some of the 0.035" size. The first time I tried to use these, I had a terrible time. If you try to cut them off one at a time, they tend to fly off like tidly-winks never to be found again, and even handling them with tweezers was not easy, if squeezed too tight or too close to the end of the tweezers, they again would fly off into the room somewhere. I found though that if I taped the entire piece to a piece of masking tape and cut them all at once with a sharp blade, the tape would hold them in place and allow me to pick them up one at a time fairly easily. I then simply inserted them into pre-drilled holes. I first tried using CA glue, but found that the glue did not want to adhere to the plastic, probably due to some mold release agent. Instead, I used slow curing two-part epoxy (J-B Weld) which worked really well. I just made a nice puddle of mixed epoxy and dipped the end of the rivet into this. Here's how things went, I left the rivets brown for the photo so they would be easier to see, but of course all this will be painted black

Thanks again Paul. Looking at that link, those are some tiny hooks, and the eyes might be just what I'm looking for. Best thing we have here is probably BassPro. I'll definitely check it out. Much appreciated!!

Hey Jon, You definitely hit that eyebolt on the head (or in the eye). It is amazing how many eyebolts are actually on this ship. To save my sanity, I will definitely take your advice. I plan to make enough to take care of the gun deck rigging and wait to do the spar deck when the time comes. For the rest, I can just make them as needed. I got you on blacking them. I did try painting the 1/32 ones at first, but as you pointed out, that does tend to clog up the eyes, even using an airbrush. Also, any that were touching would stick together and once separated, the brass would show. I got some Brass Black and thankfully it works well on the wire I'm using.

I spent a while searching some more for smaller eyebolts without much luck, so I set about making some. Using a small jig I crafted, I could make about 50 in an hour and a half. Not bad, but still a good bit of time. Then I simply posted the question here on MSW and got a great suggestion from @petervisser . Instead of trying to make an eyebolt with the typical shape, he simply twists wire around an appropriately sized needle. this gives an eye that is perfectly shaped and the right size. Of course, the shank is twisted and larger, but it doesn't matter as this will be buried in the wood and not visible, and actually gives a little more grip. This method is really fast and easy. I could make about 1/minute using 36 ga wire and a 24ga needle

Thanks Paul. Not sure even very small fish hooks would be the size I'm looking for, but for even the 1/32" I bet your right and probably cheaper than buying scale eyebolts

Hi Jim, Glad to see you got a log going. Just wanted to concur with Kurt on the transom issue, I had the same issue and thanks to him was able to catch it in the beginning. Easier to fix while you are shaping the hull than later. My hull didn't have a significant twist in it. Good luck on the build Frank

Thanks David, Thats a great site. I would love to buy one pack just to see how they are, but the shipping from the UK is more than the eyelets. Will have to think about whether to go ahead and spend $30 for three or just make my own. Thanks again for the link. I gave Peter's method a try last night and it actually works really well. After getting the hang of it, I could make about 1 per minute. I wrapped the wire around a 24 ga. needle and grabbed the ends with a hemostat. With one finger through the grip on the hemostat, I could just hold the needle end tight and twirl the hemostat. The toughest part is judging when the eye is tight against the needle. Still, a very nice approach. Of course, at a minute each, it will still take about 7-8 hours to make all that I need for the whole ship. 😆 Thanks again Peter. I'll be sure to give you credit in my build log. By the way, where did you get the black wire? Frank

Hi David Thanks for the link. These are a little bit larger than what I was able to make, but smaller than the 1/32" and I like that they come in packs of 250. It's unfortunate that they are out of stock. Might have had to give this some thought. Appreciate the input.

Thanks GP, I know what you mean there. I typically will work for about an hour and then give myself a break. I figure to do everything I need is going to take close to 12 hours total. Peter, thanks for sharing your method. I like the twist idea, because it keeps the stem centered and since it is going to be buried in the wood, it doesn't really matter what the final diameter is. I am also using 28 ga. wire and wrapping it around a 24 ga needle to get a final eyebolt that has1mm od. Your approach will definitely save some time. Henry - already thought about that AND they have to be small enough to fit through these tiny eyebolts......ugh. And we do this for fun, right?

Thanks GP, I'll take a look. I've given a go at making my own from wire as you described. I can gt it done and can actually make about 100 in an hour and a half. Problem is, the ship is going to need probably close to 800 total. It seems a pretty arduous task. Plastic might not be too bad. BTW, would you mind sharing how you make the eyebolts. The way I have been doing it is to wrap the wire around a post that I made by mounting a 24 ga needle into a wood board. After trimming this, I get what looks like a "P" shape. Then I insert this into a hole and use fine tip tweezers to bend the eye outward so that it is perpendicular to the stem. Bit of a process Here's the final outcome compared to the 1/32" eyebolts that came with the kit

Hey Jon, Thanks for the feedback. I have definitely considered whether it is worth it to even bother. You are correct, at any distance at all, you can hardly recognize the eyebolts, but to me, the 1/32 just look "clunky" at this scale. The wire is surprisingly strong and fairly easy to work with. You can get away with 2-3 bends in the same place, but any more than that and yes, it will break. My last concern was the thread. As you pointed out, it may be a bit of a hassle trying to get it through these tiny holes, and the hooks are going to also need to be fabricated from wire thin enough to fit in the eyebolts. I'm going to make a few and see how hard this is before thinking about spending the time to make all these. As for the count, thanks for the drawings. I didn't include the double eyebolts that go on the hanging knees. I made those up separately and am quite happy with how they turned out. I do like the look of the haul in/out tackle and so I wanted to include it. As you may have noticed form what little I've done so far, I am also a bit focused on the little details

I am currently working on the BlueJaket USS Constitution and ready to move inside and get started on the gundeck. Before laying the deck, I wanted to get all the eyebolts taken care of for the guns. The eye bolts supplied by BJ have 1/32" i.d. which equates to 3" at full scale - 2to 3 times what they should be. I made eyebolts from 28 gauge (.014") wire that were more suitably sized, and although not terribly difficult to do, I will need 14 per gun or 448 total (plus all the ones for the carronades). Definitely not thrilled about tackling that. My question - does anyone out there know of a source for eyebolts smaller than 1/32"? I've looked everywhere and that is the smallest size I have been able to locate.

For comparison, here is a pic of my eyebolt next to the 1/32" supplied eyebolt

All the airports, scuppers, sea steps and mooring staples are installed. I am ready to move inside and get started on the gundeck. Before laying the deck, I wanted to get all the eyebolts taken care of for the guns. The eye bolts supplied by BJ have 1/32" i.d. which equates to 3" at full scale - 2-3 times what they should be. I made eyebolts from 28 gauge (.014") wire that were more suitably sized, and although not terribly difficult to do, I will need 14 per gun or 448 total (plus all the ones for the carronades). Definitely not thrilled about tackling that. My question - does anyone out there know of a source for eyebolts smaller than 1/32"? I've looked everywhere and that is the smallest size I have been able to locate.

Aye...I am the cap'n of me own ship. I can do with her as I please. Thanks Jon, appreciate you taking the time to look. Personally, I kinda like the contrast of the white steps against the black hull. Think I'll stick with all white

Started work on the sea steps. I had hoped to replicate the 3 tier steps made by @JSGerson but at 1/98 scale, that proved to be a fruitless endeavor. I settled on making two tier steps, which still gives the impression that they are not just one layer. The top of the step is 28x6" and the bottom tier is 24x4", with an overall thickness of 4"(thanks Jon for the plans) . Dividing the overall thickness by two means each piece needed to be .02" thick. The top piece needed to be 1/16" wide. Of course I don't have any lumber to fit those dimensions, but as it turns out, the left over scribed decking I had from the gun deck worked out perfect. The scribing is 1/6" wide and if I sanded the back side down until the scribing just showed through, I got the perfect thickness. I sanded down a piece that was four planks wide and about 4" long, then cut this down to the appropriate length of .29" and .25" for the two different layers. The individual planks were then very easy to separate. Prior to separating the lower pieces, I shaved off about 1/3 to give me pieces that were equivalent to 4" deep. These were glued together using thinned (50:50) wood glue Now I just need to paint them and attach to the hull. Question for all: the instructions from BJ say they are painted black (from Navy plan#35810), however, most models I have seen they are all painted white, and then finally I have teh following photo from 1931 where they are painted to match the hull color depending on location. My model is based on 1812 configuration. Does anyone know what they should be for that time?

Hi Brian Been folowing your log for a while. I love the idea of opening up the side of the ship to show all the interior. When (if) I finish my Connie, I plan to build a cross section to display next to her to show all these details. Your log will help considerably with alot of those details. Keep up the great work Frank

Thanks Jon, I was pretty happy with them. getting the oval shaped holes in the hull to fit them into was a bit of a challenge. I'll post some pics once I get them painted.

Next were the scuppers. BJ doesn't supply these with the kit, so they had to be fabricated. From Navy plan 25001.A, the overall length of the scuppers is 17" and the ends of the "oval" are 8 3/4". With a little math, that equates to an overall circumference of 44", which if stretched out to a circle, would have a diameter of 14". On scale that would be equal to 9/64th. I could not locate that diameter tubing locally and didn't really want to wait to order it, so I settled for 5/32, which after squashing and shaping wouldn't really make that much difference. The plan was to cut small rings from the tubing and squash them flat to give the desired shape. The ends of the oval are 8 3/4", which is close enough to 9", or 3/32 on scale. All I need to do was squash the tubing down to 3/32" width. After that, the edges were filed down leaving just the lower lip for the door, then cut the doors from brass sheet and attach with CA glue. Here's the sequence: Here's a better pic showing the lower lip After doing a couple of these, I realized the door was too large and should be the same diameter as the hole so that it fits into the lower lip. I removed the ones I had done and cut new ones. here's the final outcome: One last mistake When filing down the outside edges, I forgot to take into account that the port and starboard sides are mirror images. I made them all the same. A tiny detail that will probably never be noticed by anyone other than myself, and since I really didn't want to make half of them all over again, the doors on one side will be facing the wrong way. Oh well.

Thanks Jon, I'm glad you liked the copper, and with the detail work that you do, saying that anything I did was amazing is a welcome compliment. I did remember to get the airports flush when installing them, here is how they look Still need a little touch up paint and a couple need some filler around the edges where the hole wasn't very clean. Overall, happy with how they turned out. BTW, thanks for the details on the sea steps.

So here a pic of the strip, cut and formed and then the finished airport: