Herbert Heger

Hallo Chris , wie kann ich nachträglich den Text in englischer Sprache ändern ? Gruß Herbert

To the fellow model builders in the forum, I'd like to briefly introduce myself. My name is Herbert Heger, I'm 70 years young, from Germany, and live near Heidelberg, a city that some of you in the USA might also know. I started building wooden model ships in my youth under my father's guidance and continued his passion for ship modeling. Over the years, I've crafted models of the Adler von Lübeck, the Berlin, Helgoland, U-Boat 845, Hamburg, Gorch Fock, Endeavour American Cup, San Felipe, Soleil Royal, and other artistic wooden objects. Anyone who would like to know more is welcome to contact me. My working life as a master dental technician has come to an end, and so I have a bit more time for my hobby of ship model building. I've been considering for a long time whether I can still build the USS Constitution from plans at a scale of 1:76 using traditional methods. The plans from Model Shipways (as if it weren't difficult enough already) are, of course, all in English, and the labels are even in inches. They are quite good, but they do have errors, for example, the gunport drawing isn't to scale. The ship itself is a piece of American history, has been renovated several times, and is still moored in Boston today. I conservatively estimate that I'll need at least two to three years to build the model. This time, I'll also be adding color, as it should be as close to the original as possible. That means the bulwarks will be black and white on the outside, green on the inside, and the underwater hull will be planked with copper plates. I won't be adding any sails to the model; the elaborate rigging will be done with black lines for the standing rigging and beige linen for the running rigging. That's the plan, anyway. I'll see how it goes as the construction progresses. Whether it works out, I'll see. ``` I acquired the plans quite cheaply from an estate sale. The keel and frames were already glued together, more or less, but still needed some work. Everything else from the original Model Shipways kit was either missing or so badly damaged that it was only good for firewood. To stabilize the whole thing, I filled the hull with abachi wood to provide better support for the planks. I won't be detailing the gun deck, but I will be installing gun mounts and the cannons themselves as half-barrels. I'm sure there are specialists in the forum who are very familiar with the USS Constitution and its appearance over the years, and who have already built a model. I would be very grateful if one or two fellow model builders could give me tips and suggestions regarding their respective construction stages. My model is intended to depict the ship around the year 1813, so the gun deck will have 16 ports, and the stern will have 3 ports and 5 windows. The rigging shown in the plans appears to be quite good after my review, and I will build it accordingly. I will post pictures and brief explanations as construction progresses.

Das Deck fertig beplankt , Aufbauten angebracht .

Ein kleiner Fortschritt bei meiner Endeouver .

Thanks TerryPat, it's not a kit, I got the plans, I was only able to buy the brass parts from a model maker. There is a nice kit at Krick Modellbau Germany that might be interesting for you.

Small progress on my Endeouver. Planking the deck is progressing slowly with the 3 mm wide planks, but the squirrel is struggling to feed itself. I've already finished the superstructure, and I've finally finished the cabin seating with wood, as I simply didn't like the proposed leather upholstery.

Hello Mark, you've created a beautiful model of the Endeouver with all its many little details. Congratulations, I take my hat off to your achievement. Your construction report is helping me with my Endeouver, which is currently under construction. Thank you. Greetings from St. Leon, Germany.

A brief overview of the current status of the construction of the Endeouver

Pictures after the planking has been completed, now it is sanded and the hull gets a finishing touch

Hello Marcika, the stability when filling the frames with balsa wood is surprisingly good. If you make sure to apply the balsa face to the fuselage side then small pins will also hold the planks.

We are slowly moving forward with the planking of the Endeavour. Here are some pictures