Aussie048

I tapered the stem and sternpost, and finally started glueing the bulkheads!
 
Here's the first one. One small step for mankind, one giant leap for ship builder.

 
Three already...
 

 
And four...
 

 

 
Those damn bulkheads has a predilection to go awry after glueing. Permanent struts are great idea to keep everything straight.
 

 
Now I have already six bulkheads glued. They're pretty much straight and OK from deck and underside. Instead of that extensions for bulwarks are not in line, but need to see later what can I do with them. Also bulkhead G has 1mm extra in right side, which needs to be removed. I'm focusing to keep the deck lines and lower hull lines in balance, and everything else comes after that.
 
I also spent some money today. Ordered some Dremel tools. I will show them when they arrive.
 
Markku

This is my first build log. I started this hobby about three years ago and here are my previous builds:

Revell - Dom Fernando II e Gloria
 


 
Artesania Latina - Mare Nostrum
 


 
Corel - Flattie
 


 
 
Now it felt i'm ready for something bigger, so I bought the USS Constitution. Why? Basicly it just felt like a good choice, and I like the ships of that period. Also, I wanted the best quality kit for that, so my choice was Model Shipways. It's funny, because I'm from Finland (if you don't know, it's in North Europe) and everyone around here are building just european or asian model kits. In finnish modelbuildingsite they don't even mention MS in a list of manufacturers, so I guess i'm really the only one around here who is building this.

So this will be my third wooden build, but the first wooden sailing ship and first in this size. For now, it feels pretty big challenge, and I know it will very long build, but I'll always enjoyed building and thought that it's more fun if there are a lot of pieces.   The kit looks excellent and i'm very happy to get started.

Here are the first photos, just setting the keel pieces...



  Markku

Cutted the bulkhead middle supports off from the area where main hatch will be. I'm planning to do the same with companion ways area, where also will be ladders down. My new spar deck supports are excellent, since the top part of bulkheads seems to be very strong now, even they have no middle supports at all. Those were very good to add there.
 


 
Markku

The chief wants to have a pizza ...
 

 
... matchwood was made ...
 

 
... and one door remains shut, we do not need family size ;-)
 

 
But what will the gunner say about the ill use of his portable forge ?!?
 
Cheers, Daniel

... unfinished business, don´t go into the light ...
  ... still have to fix the outside of the side tackles ...   ... but tell me how, yes how?!?!   All easy? The hook already being fixed on the tackle, but the eyebolt still missing.    Ok, sticky business ...     ... once through the hull and ramming the sting deep into the meat! Better than drilling and no mess :-)     Maneuvering the eyebolt deep inside of the hull with the help of some thin tweezers ...     ... and juggle the hook with other pointed things into the eyebolt.     Almost like a bottle ship - just omit the bottle and take a deep-deep hull instead ...   XXXDAn   PS: Hurra, there is a light at the end of the tunnel ...   PPS: ... another train?   PPPS: ...

Hi.
 A update.. and the finish.
A few photos of the finished Ship.
The hardest part for me was the rigging as my hands are not very nimble.
The painting was OK and we did this without struggling.
 I enjoyed building the Black Queen.
 

 

 

 

 
Well thanks for all the very supportive messages and the likes
The base board is cherry with a huge knot in. Not usable by Antony my carer.
But I like the pattern.
 
Alex.

Erin, first off, welcome to MSW!  I'd suggest you start a build log as thats by far the best way to get help, advice and encouragement from builders who are familiar with this kit.
 
I'd also suggest searching on the site for some similar logs, heres at least one.  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5024-hms-bounty-jolly-boat-by-cannon-fodder-artesania-latina-scale-125-first-wooden-ship-build-small/#entry144948
 
I'm not familiar with the kit, but it looks like you planking at the bow should have terminated in a nice smooth curve against a keel/stem similar to the piece you are holding.  It sounds dramatic, and I hate to say it, but you may be better of removing the planking you've completed so far and redoing it.  Using putty would be futile as the shape of the final hull would be very odd indeed.  I'm sure you are eager to proceed, but I think you will get a much more satisfactory result that you will feel good about.
 
Good luck!

I am continuing to work on the Main Mast lower shroud deadeyes. The process I have found to work best for me is
1) Serve the first deadeye to the shroud and laced to the lower deadeye - this sets the level for the remaining deadeyes.
2) Bend the next shroud around a set of bent tweezers to locate the next deadeye. This allows me to tension the shroud while locating the deadeye position,
3) Make a loop in the shroud and tie just above this with the serving thread.
4) Push the deadeye into the loop.
5) Use the tweezers to hold the deadeye under tension and adjust the loop accordingly.
6) Server the shroud just above the deadeye.
7) Recheck and perform final adjustment for shroud length (using the tweezers again)
8) Rotate the deadeye for hole alignment
9) Use small amount of CA to lock deadeye and serving to shroud.
10) Trim loose end of shroud and add additional serving (and lock with CA)
11) Lace the deadeyes with the lanyard and loosely tension.
12) Do a shroud pair on one side then rotate to the other side.
 
Seems like a lot of steps but it is working for me better than the wire jigs.
 
Currently I am about half way through the lower main shrouds. Once I complete them, I will dress the upper shrouds. They are already laced but not fully tensioned.

This set of photos shows the bow barricade installed. I still need to turn the ships bell it sets in the middle of the barricade.

This set of photos shows the poop deck breakfront and hand rails.

This set of photos shows the poop deck breakfront installation.
It has a nice covered stairway down to the great room and Gene’s practicum shows an easy way to do the door frame that worked very well. I added a staircase that was not on the drawings from the quarterdeck to the poop deck and things was looking good until I noticed the door to the great room opened into the forward poop deck beam. I checked the drawing but it did not show any box framing for the stairwell. There are a couple of photos that show how I handled the problem.
 
My next post will show the hand rails.

This set of photos shows the quarterdeck breakfront it is made from boxwood and bloodwood.  

This set of photos shows the planking on the quarter and poop decks.

Although I have a good bit of model building experience – mostly model railroading – I'm quite new at model ship building. I've always been sort of a “scratch-basher,” very seldom building anything according to the plans and instructions. I learned pretty quick that model ship building doesn't work that way... So, with this project I'm making every effort to stick with the plans and instructions. I'm also using as a practicum several of the Fair American build logs, especially those of Pete, Bob, Gary, Kevin and Ed. Excellent work Gentlemen!   And THANKS! for sharing your work.
 
 
Bulkheads...
Once again I dry-fit all the bulkheads on the center keel assembly to make sure everything still went together OK. I beveled the forward four and the aft four bulkheads, but not quite as much as the plans called for, wanting to be sure I didn't remove too much material before I got ready to begin fairing.
 
Satisfied with the fit of the bulkheads, I clamped and glued each one individually, making sure they were square to and flush with the top of the center keel. After setting overnight, everything looked straight and square.
 
 
Creative Clamping 101...   or maybe some medieval torture device????
 

 

 

Thanks Pops and GuntherMT for the comments!
 
Pops:  In this case, as the parts are already cut and fit the plan sheet templates, I'm going with the parts. I would imagine if I was going to scratch build from just the plans, I would have them copied and reprinted to actual 1:48 scale and proceed from there.
 
Carving the rabbet...
After a little practice carving on the remnant of the sheet the center keel was cut from I felt a bit more comfortable putting the blade to the to the real thing. To keep the remaining edge of the rabbett consistent, I took a piece of 1/16” x 1/8” strip, soaked it and shaped it around the center keel. After it dried, I colored the 1/16” edge of the strip with a permanent marker. I clamped it and the center keel to the workbench, then tack glued the strip to the center keel edge, keeping both flat on the workbench. The 1/8” wide strip against the 3/16” thick center keel left 1/16” of free material to be cut away for the rabbet. This way I could carve the center keel and the strip down until the colored edge of the strip was carved away with a consistent 1/16” cut. Repeating this on the opposite side of the piece gave a relatively consistent 1/16” cut off each side and 1/16” edge down the center of the center keel.
 

 
Fitting the bulkheads to the center keel...
None of the bulkheads would slip into the center keel slots as cut – the bulkhead thickness measured .208” while the center keel slots measured .183” - plus the laser cut indexing made for a bit of trimming, sanding and fitting. The dry fitting looked OK, bulkhead tops flush with the top of the center keel. The bottoms of bulkheads 10 – 16 didn't quite reach the bearding line though. May have to shim them up a bit when we get to fairing the bulkheads.
 

 
So far, so good... 

After getting my feet wet, so to speak, with a couple of “learner” projects, I wanted to get into something a bit more involved. Model Shipway's Fair American seemed to fill the bill – complicated and detailed enough to be a significant challenge but not entirely overwhelming.
The larger scale – 1:48 – less complicated rigging and the modest price tag helped a lot too...
 
I received the kit a few weeks ago. Since then I've been studying the instructions and plans, and reading through the various Fair American build logs here on MSW. A lot of talented folks doing some really nice work, not to mention, taking the time and energy to share your knowledge and experience with us! Thanks!
 
The box and what's inside...
 

 
Model Shipways stuff always comes very well packed; kudos for the nice sturdy blue box.
 
Getting started...
After inventorying the kit contents, one of the first things I wanted to do was look for some of the initial problems with the kit that other builders had found.
 
The plans...
There does seem to be some discrepancy in the scale of the printed plan sheets. After measuring the printed scale on each of the sheets, I found three of the large sheets – the Hull & Decking Plan sheets and the smaller Mast & Spar Plan sheet - appear to have been printed a bit undersized. The 4th large sheet - Rigging Plan sheet - was a printed a bit oversized. But when comparing the center keel and bulkheads to the sheets I found that for the most part, they seem to match up with the plan sheet as is. I guess that makes this a non-issue for the time being.
 

 
Center keel and bulkheads...
The center keel in the kit I received is a single piece, laser cut from 3/16” basswood. It does appear to be straight, no warps or curves, and fits the template of the plan sheet. The bulkheads are laser cut from 3/16” plywood. On sheet “C”, the laser did not cut all the way through on a couple of the bulkheads. No real problem, just took a little more patience to get them out of the sheet intact. All of the plywood parts look pretty solid. No visible gaps in the inside plies and fairly smooth on the exterior surfaces. All of them tended to match up with the plan sheet within a line width or so.
 

 
Stem, stern post and keel...
These parts are laser cut from the same 3/16” basswood sheet as the center keel. The only discrepancy here, as others have mentioned, is the keel being about 1/4” short when compared to the drawing. Looks like there's enough spare material to cut another one from the original sheet or just add an extension onto the original part. The curve of the stem didn't quite match the center keel, but should fit OK with a little trimming and fitting.
 

 
That's about it for now.
Again,  THANKS!   to all who have taken time to share your work.
Your critique and comments are always welcome.

Little good news.  Won two ebay auctions for ship models last night, both came in under my budget.  One was a ship in a bottle kit ( and I made sure it wasn't one of those with cut open plastic bottles).  So need to do some searching on some of that type of modeling.  I think it would be nice on the side as something to build as I wait on paint/glue to dry on my swift.  The second an old balsa solid hull kithttp://www.ebay.com/itm/IDEAL-MODELS-HISTORIC-SHIP-MODELS-SOVEREIGN-OF-THE-SEA-BALSA-/261633172710?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=taHgOEXsi6vQPz74dCToxLprrcY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
 
give me the chance to try a solid hull ship.  Both were cheap (less than what I payed at BK for lunch today ) so if I muck them up I'm really not out much of anything.
 
would like to try a couple of them midwest kits but they seem to be popular to scarf up.
 
..................
 
Section A.9  outside bulwork planking.
 
My planks are dry now so I remove them off my bending rig and test how well they bend to the bulwork curvature.
 

( the one on the ship isn't actualy bent that way, its just drooping from it's own weight)
 
I notice that the planks aren't long enough to run all the way from the end transom to the end of the bow.  Since there is a piece that goes on the bow over the planking (#34 Cut water reinforcement) I'll just overhang the transom and then fill in the bow with pieces later.
 
Have the issue of trying to straighten out the buckling on the bulwork so I went to lowes and got some 1/16"x1/2" aluminum strip, I also made sure to get some of that angle aluminum like Keith used for getting his bulkheads in straight, to use on my next ship.
 
Cut it down to 14 1/2" and using my table vise and my cut out deck curvature form I bent the aluminum to shape.
 

 
Before I start the planking I take a 1" wide paint brush and wet down only the outside of the bulwork.  give it 3 hits of brushed on water to soften the wood up enough so I can try and reform it.
 

 
Starting at the transom I glue down 4 rows of planks with thinned wood glue, line up my bent aluminum form along the inside of the bulwork, place a hobby stick/popsicle stick) vertical across the planking and clamp it down.  Working my way to the bow I make sure the planks stay aligned and against each other, adjust the aluminum bar as needed, craft stick and clamp.  Where the buckling is the worst I use those 'trigger' ratcheting clamps to get more pressure on the buckeled areas.  Be mindful where the clamp pads are on the inside of the bulwork too, you can easily snag the stringer and mash it or miss the aluminum bar and hit a painted part and crush the bulwork wood.
 
This took some juggling and a little cursing and re applying glue in spots as planks shifted around but it went in better than I expected.
 

 

 

 
Now to just let it sit and dry, then I can repeat it on the starboard side.
 
Time to go read on rigging I think.

My Admiral is making me close my shipyard for twelve days so we can cruise to the Sea of Cortez and do some snorkeling.

The stropped deadeys and the basic instrumentation...

Rick, the Enterprise replica is Melbourne based and could be used for reference - I have a few photos somewhere.  More to the point, the replica was constructed to plans drawn up by one of our club's members.  If there is sufficient interest, we could ask whom has the copyright to those plans and maybe produce a model.  The club is currently researching and building a model of another ship of significant historical  interest to Victoria and Tasmania (having transported the roe from Melbourne to Tasmania to start the very successful Salmon industry they now have - the HMCSS Victoria.  Perhaps the Enterprise may be of interest to our club for a future build if no one takes it up?
 
Thanks for raising this.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Oh an' whilst I doth haveth me camera out ....
 

 
"With this pic, I didst tryeth to show the grooves worn into me gunwales from oar usage," CaptainSteve didst begin to boast.
 
But, in truth, he didst merely taketh his circular file to make a groove and then touch-up with the Golden Teak stain used for the wales.
(Future pics will show that our Hero hath since re-filed the oar grooves and re-touched/dry-brushed them with the darker Oak stain.)

Now as promised,a picture walkthrough of the steps involved milling the 'grating' with backing spacer.
 
First a safepark position was created with the mill,a slot around 2mm to 3mm wide 5mm deep(the sheet is 6mm thick)All work is done with a 1mm milling cutter

 
Step two was to machine 1.5mm slots 1.5mm deep that will form the grouves for the battens to lay in.

 
Step three was to mill 1.5mm slots 5mm deep perpendicular to the batten slots.These are the gaps between the ledges.All slots had 1.5mm of material inbetween them i.e. the centre to centre distance is 3mm.

 
Finally the sections at each end were cut off to enable easy fitting of the overlength battens.Now also in this pic,because I was determined to have a go with this method to produce a finer pattern grating,is one with 1mm holes and 1mm ledges and battens.This was a complete success,not one chip to any of the nibs,although removing the sawdust was a very careful job with a soft brush.I think this is the way forward for Mordaunt's gratings although 1mm pear sheet for the battens will have to wait as my supplier of this is currently on their holidays


 
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Planking continues within the two planking belts on each side. I did remeasure each belt after putting in about half the planks and adjusted the plan. I could have used wider planks in Belt A (below the wales) if I had added more drop planks towards the middle of the hull, but it is not enough of a difference now to start over. I ended up with one less plank in Belt C (next to the keel), but I am happy with the way this belt came out.
 

 

 
While waiting for planks to dry, I have been doing some painting of the gun parts for the gun deck. I used weathered black paint for the gun barrels and here is how they came out.
 

 
I also painted the trucks for the gun carriages black. I was going to hold them with toothpicks while painting them, but I found all these pointed pieces of wood in the trash pile from the tapering of the planks, and these worked great:
 

 
 
 
 
 

I use gutermann scala360, scala 240, scala200 – two-threaded. I wind two threads in one rope. And resulting rope is used to serve.
 
2-threaded serve is textured and looks excellent.
 

Thank you guys, do not worry I am already back to the path of virtue, just finished the half lids ...
    ... there still will come some coils over the eyebolts.      Good news, the fore channels are "only" 3 mm too narrow ...       ... so have to find the least messy way of fixing that as all the irons are in place and well fixed ...   ... but in the meantime next parts are in preparation to be fixed ...     ... and are by now waiting in the blackening soup :-)   XXXDAn