Geoff Matson

Three Waterway sections completed - 2 to go. I went to Hobby Lobby with my daughter for a school project and found a piece of 3/16x3” basswood, so I decided to fashion the bow waterway in 2 sections vs the Hunt plan to use the supplied wood and use 4 pieces. The phone cam makes the bulwarks and keel look bent (they aren’t!). I’ll add the planksheer when the Waterway is completed. You can see where it was necessary to sand and shim areas for the decking. 
 
Question to the Conny builders about the mast reinforcements. I’ve been wondering if I should’ve cut the foremast reinforcement tab - the laser cut parts form a tab that rises (the mizzen and main mast sections were flush). I was wondering if this was meant to encourage the correct angle, or extra strength? How did y’all deal with it? I can still cut it out but not sure if I should.

Waterway & Planksheer
 
The waterway is made up of numerous unique angles and shaping. It’s a difficult timber to get right. If you’re using hand tools - it may be a true test of your patience, perhaps more than skill. I won’t get into the detail, because I simply followed Hunt’s cook book. For plank bending - I cranked up my on demand water heater by 50 degrees and used the hot tap water to bend the planks (gently!) by hand*. It took a few attempts to heat - then clamp - but each time resulted in a better fit. I primed and painted the waterways using the Model-Expo USS Constitution paint kit - Bulwarks Green. I chose to fit, then glue the transom waterway first. Additional waterways and planksheer remain.
 
I included a picture of many of the tools necessary. I missed a few - including the painting.
 
*Every modeler will find their “special” talent. Mine is bending wood by hand. I utilize a modified soldering gun for extreme curves (typically bow and stern). For everything else - I simply use hot or very hot water (depending on the wood) and bend the wood with my fingers. Knock on wood - I’ve yet to snap one. Gotta say the waterways sure had my concentration.
 

I know the feeling.  My shipyard seriously needs some renovation, my motorcycle needs an oil change, my wife's honey-do list is growing (and is encroaching on shipyard space as well as my time there), and a new keyboard will be arriving this morning, which will require assembly and at least a few days of dedicated time to pour over owner manual and get used to.  (Can't wait!)   The next zone of planking on my build may be delayed..
 
For someone who doesn't like rigging, you sure do it well.  😉 
 
I'm watching your progress carefully now, but will really zoom in to the details when I finally get to that stage of my build.

With spring time lots of outside stuff to get done. I do not like rigging so it is easy to find things to do first. I will be back hard at it this next week. Thanks for the interest and I will be posting soon

I made some progress on the foremast top. I try to do as much pre rigging off the model as I can. I am so afraid of breaking something. I will do the same for the mainmast top and mizzen mast top. Lots of knots and I am glad I have the third hand to help out. I posted a couple of pictures of the progress. I have a picture of the deadeye seized and done up. It looks like one big rats nest, but it does sort itself out when I rig the dead eyes.

I have finally made my goal. I can fully rig the futtock and bentinck shrouds off the model. All I have to do is fish the hooks through the ringing and attach them to the bottom of the deadeyes. Then glue the pin in the bottom of the bentinck rigging in the deck. And lastly use the seizing at the top thimble to make the final adjustment, glue it place with diluted white glue and snip off the end. Now all I have to do is make four of these subassemblies and I am good to go. 

I finished my foremast lower shroud ratline rigging. Lots of knots and lots of time. I am happy the way it turned out. It is really a learning experience as I go. A few techniques I learned as I progressed is I wet the ratline line first and then tie the knots. The water on the line seems to make the knots set and stay in place better. Then I set the knots with diluted white glue after each row is done. I am working from the bottom to the top. I am leaving the tails on each end of the ratlines in case I need to make some adjustments. As you are working it seems easy to snag line as you work your way up. 

I am making some progress on my shroud and ratline rigging. To keep everything equal, I am tieing the ratlines on both sides as I progress up the foremast. There are lots and lots of knots. I think I am getting a system with the clove hitch. The tweezers really help out a lot. One thing I found is that it is better to have a long line of thread to tie the knots. The short thread seems mohave mind go its own and goes where ever It wants. I usually go about five rows of ratlines and then double check them with my card and then set the knots with diluted white glue. (Elmer's). I also use just water with brush to help take some slack out of the lines. That is why I am doing both sides of the shrouds to make sure I don't get too much tension on the masts. So are it seems to be working. 

I made some progress on the foremast top. I try to do as much pre rigging off the model as I can. I am so afraid of breaking something. I will do the same for the mainmast top and mizzen mast top. Lots of knots and I am glad I have the third hand to help out. I posted a couple of pictures of the progress. I have a picture of the deadeye seized and done up. It looks like one big rats nest, but it does sort itself out when I rig the dead eyes.

I have finally made my goal. I can fully rig the futtock and bentinck shrouds off the model. All I have to do is fish the hooks through the ringing and attach them to the bottom of the deadeyes. Then glue the pin in the bottom of the bentinck rigging in the deck. And lastly use the seizing at the top thimble to make the final adjustment, glue it place with diluted white glue and snip off the end. Now all I have to do is make four of these subassemblies and I am good to go. 

Sometimes when you don't post for several weeks, it doesn't mean you were not working on your model. In my case, it was several weeks of mistakes and figuring out how to do things. I decided to scrap several plans of rigging the futtock and bentinck shrouds on my Conny. After doing lots of research and viewing the pictures from the above posts by GSGerson I decided to go a different way. My main plan was to rig as much as I could off the model. When you view the photos on the real Constitution, the area of rigging under the fighting tops looks like a big spiderweb. Then if you figure in all the seizings it just looked clunky. 
 
I made all the metal parts using 28 gauge black annealed wire. My main tool was my needle nose pliers The end of my pliers was the diameter of my ring. There was a little learning curve, but it all went well. I even tried to simulate the serving on these parts with line. But, it was beyond my pay grade. I feel this gave me a less cluttered look and it looks more realistic. The real trick was to get these parts made and make them look close to scale. Please realize I have some paint touch up on the rings and metal parts. 
 
This is part one of the subassembly 

I have come up with my plan for the Futtock and Bentinck shrouds. I did not like the kit supplied parts so I made my own. I made the hooks, and jumps rings out of wire, instead of hearts, I opened up some thimbles and used them instead. 

I can rig the futtock shrouds and the bentinck shrouds off the model. My connecting point will be the large jump ring. I will have two parts, on the top the futtock shrouds and on the bottom the bentinck shroud.

Each futtock shroud will have a hook, two small jump rings in the middle, and then a smaller jump ring on the end. There will be five of them on each side.

Each bentinck shroud will be attached to the waterway with a wire wrapped thimble with a lanyard in-between the two thimbles. The top end of the bentinck shroud will be seized to the large split ring. There will be two of them. One on each side of the model.

While on the model, the lower ends of each futtock shroud will be slipped on the large jump ring. 

My final adjusting point will be the seizing at the bottom of the bentinck shroud. Once it has been adjusted it will be seized with diluted white glue like the rest of the seizings.

I hope this all makes sense. Now all I have to do is make 20 futtock shrouds and 4 bentinck shrouds for the fore and main mast.

I am making some progress on my shroud and ratline rigging. To keep everything equal, I am tieing the ratlines on both sides as I progress up the foremast. There are lots and lots of knots. I think I am getting a system with the clove hitch. The tweezers really help out a lot. One thing I found is that it is better to have a long line of thread to tie the knots. The short thread seems mohave mind go its own and goes where ever It wants. I usually go about five rows of ratlines and then double check them with my card and then set the knots with diluted white glue. (Elmer's). I also use just water with brush to help take some slack out of the lines. That is why I am doing both sides of the shrouds to make sure I don't get too much tension on the masts. So are it seems to be working. 

With spring time lots of outside stuff to get done. I do not like rigging so it is easy to find things to do first. I will be back hard at it this next week. Thanks for the interest and I will be posting soon

I completed the gun deck hatch's stancions and hand ropes. I made two ladders from the spar deck to the gun deck and since they were still reachable I added stancions for the hand ropes because the beams would prevent me from reaching them later.

I made the chain pots and fixed them in place. These are where the anchor chains or ropes are transferred across the gun deck and into storage areas. I then hauled the anchor chains onto the gun deck.
 

While all of this was going on, I was also busy rigging four more sets of guns to match pace with the gun deck construction. These had to be in position before I could glue into place the dining partition, the Commodore’s pantry, and the spar deck floor beams. The partition doors were then installed in an open configuration leading into the dining area. The last item was installing the mizzen mast supports giving the future mast a 5° rake.

When I dry fitted the spar deck floor beam to the partition. I neglected to account for the effect it would have on the partition doors. I had drawn them too tall. Also, I noticed that the printed panels and doors were not to my liking, and the pasting work on the pantry front was not centered properly. So, all the printing and pasting had to be done over, as well as making new shorter doors.

Half Column on Commodore’s Pantry
The next component was the half column at the center of the forward end of the pantry. This was fabricated just like the column aft of the stove, however one side was flattened using a block sander until only a half column remained. The half column was then glued to the front of the pantry.

Construction of the Commodore’s pantry was made from three identical pieces of 1/32” plywood based on the US Navy plans and four vertical glueing surfaces. Using a four-way clamp, the three pantry walls were glued together. Next the two corners were filed to rounded them off. The partition was then dry fitted on the gun deck again for the image below.

Using card stock, I made a template for the partition. Then, using 1/32” plywood, I fabricated the partition based on the template. Due to the expected confined viewing space and dark lighting inside the finished model, the partition and pantry walls details will not be seen clearly. Like I did for the captain’s cabin’s interior walls previously, I printed the details of the partition walls on paper using PowerPoint and pasted them onto 1/32” plywood.

At this point, I’ve installed the main beams above the first two pairs of guns after the bow dummy guns. There are additional supplementary support beams between the main beams which I have not installed because this area will be mostly covered by the spar deck planking. However, as I progress aft, areas of the spar deck will be open to the gun deck for viewing.  I haven’t decided whether to install some or none of these supplementary beams because they will substantially obscure the view of the gun deck. This last main beam (as you view the image) is just forward of the main hatch where the whale boat is to be stored on the spare deck. My original intension was to work aft from the bow adding the gun rigging, furniture, support stanchions and beams as I progressed. I have since decided to pause here and start work from the stern forward and pausing to construct the supports for the hatchways as I encounter them.

The next  stage of construction was fitting out the mast partners, inner bulwarks, and deck.  On a real ship, the mast partners were made up from several pieces of wood.  For simplicity, I made the mast partners from single piece of cherry from my scrap box.  In the kit, it is made from two pieces of 1/32” basswood, with the two pieces oriented 90 degrees to each other for strength.  It measures 5’6” x 4’ x 3”.  The center of the mast is located 6” forward of the center point of the partners, to allow enough room for four eyebolts aft for securing the truss pendants and lifts.  It is not 100% historically accurate but compromises had to be made during kit design.
 
The mast is 17.5” in diameter at the partners and is raked aft so the opening will be oval, not round, with the long axis fore and aft.  I began by drilling a hole smaller than the final dimension.  It will be finessed later.  Remember, you can always remove more wood...you can't put it back.  Then the edges and corners were rounded over.


The waterway was made from two pieces of wood laminated together.  Because of the amount of hull curvature, I prefer to make a template and cut the outline of the bulwark onto a sheet of wood rather than edge-bend.  The template is very simple: a piece of paper which is gradually trimmed to the correct shape.  You only need one template since the two sides are mirror images of each other. The outboard edge of the waterway was traced onto the 1/32” basswood sheet and cut.

Using a compass, a line was the drawn 10” inboard and the waterway was cut out.  I prefer to make all my marks on the undersurface of the wood, where they will not be seen.  All four surfaces were sanded smooth, keeping the edges sharp.

Using the same template, I drew the outboard line on a second piece of basswood and cut it out.  A second line was drawn 4” inboard.  This was cut out and sanded but the upper-inner edge was rounded over.  The pictures show both pieces of the waterway.


The first layer of the waterway was installed and because a template was used, it fits perfectly and without tension.  After the first piece was dry, the second narrow piece was added next to the bulwark, rounded over edge inboard. 

Looks like all is coming together nicely. Lots. of work, but big rewards. Have fun

Zone 3 complete.  5 to go.  
 
First four, right side up.  Last 4, work side up.

 

 
Still struggling with the lighting.  Note to self:  Self, bring camera and tripod to shipyard.  
 

 
The camera picks up details the eyeballs don't.  The symmetry is slightly off again.  Oh well..

 
Not so obvious in this view.