husky1943

Ciao Daniele!  Benvenuto!  You will really like it here, and I want to see how your Constitution comes out (love that ship!)
 
Ciao for now
Rob

Thank everyone for your kind words.  This will be my final post to this log.
Now I gotta figure out how to move this to "Finished Logs" and maybe post some parting shots to the Gallery.
Hope to see you on my Cutty Sark log.
 
- Tim
 
So - parting shots.
 

A little more progress - Got the drain holes (? insert nautical term here) in the bulwarks, and the lower deadeyes mounted.  Note broken off capstan bar.
 


 
The supplied pot metal tiller bar did not survive cleanup of the flashing - snapped in two.  I fashioned another out of walnut.
 

 
A lot of the spars, booms, gaffs, etc. need to be turned down to tapers, including the bowsprit.
I threw down and bought a little mini lathe from Harbor Freight - the larger of the two Central Machinery lathes.  Works pretty good, although it's been a long time since I've turned anything.
Turned down the bowsprit per the drawing:
 

 
Note that the drawing (second from bottom) calls for the the tip to be turned down to 3mm.  This contradicts other places in the drawing.  The coupling between the end of the bowsprit and the jib boom, which is a straight 3mm along its entire length , shows two different sizes:
 


 
The coupler is part (525).  The bowsprit is (504), and the jib boom is (508).  Clearly the bowsprit and jib boom are different diameters.
 
This is OK because the part (525) was missing from the kit.  I made my own.
If I had known this I would have turned down the end of the bowsprit to 4mm.
 
Anyone building America should beware of this - although I understand Mamoli has gone out of business...
 


 
Next will be all the rest of the cleats, blocks, and everything else on the hull or deck, then a light coat of satin lacquer.
 

 
More later.
 
- Tim

Hello all -
This will be my first posting to the forum.  I started the 'America' several years ago and got the first planking on and  the deck layed down, and put her away.  Around Christmas I pulled her out and started in again.  I got the second planking on and coppered the hull.
 
I used 1" wide self-adheasive copper tape (electronic cable sheilding tape).  I marked the individual plates from the front with a dull Xacto knife, and used a pounce wheel from the back for the rivets.
I did not like the look of the shiney raw copper so I used a patina fluid (Pax I think).  It went further than I wanted.  I was looking for more of a brown penney color.
 
Most of the deck furnature is on.  Deadeyes for the mast shrowds are next.
 
I've updated this first post (2016-07-07) to show coppering of hull before patina was applied
 


 

 

 

 

 




 
I'll get some more picks as I progress.
 
- Tim

To set the sail I mainly followed the kit's instructions. Exceptions are the lashings of the sail to the mast hoops. I prepared double holes in the hem of the sail for a double lashing according to an example in Lees' book. I use a thick pin to puncture the sail fabric also for reef points.
 
An additional feature is the single horse I added on the part of the boom overhanging the stern.
 
And whenever I use rigging hooks I take some leftover Caldercraft or Victory parts.
 
I'm still asking myself if there shouldn't be a down hauler on the gaff to assist the handling of that large sail. On the other hand I believe that the rigging was intentionally kept as simple as possible. There are also no brails on the spanker and they probably just could have used the sail to pull down the gaff. This simple rigging seems to match the illustrations in 'The low black schooner'.
 

gaff rigged
 

lashing to the hoops
 

mast foot and boom
 

single horse rigged
 

quite an impressive main sail

"are the yachts in sight?" The queen supposedly asked, 
"Yes, may it please your majesty", the signal-master supposedly answered. 
"which is first?"
"the America".
"which is second?"
"Ah, your majesty, there is no second". 

apocryphal or not, it's still a fun story. 

your S/Y America is looking quite fine. 

masts
The masts were made as per kit instruction. I usually put the parts of the masts together before stepping them. So far I had no problems to put the shrouds in place around the already standing topmasts. A little fid was added for said topmast. A considerable problem (or several of them) was (were) presented by the cast parts. Of course the openings for the mast parts were too small. Reworking them was tricky and several parts broke. Epoxy or drilling holes for new ringbolts to replace those broken off were the solutions.
I decided to paint the mast hoops in black metal, guessing they were cast iron - copper or brass are also seen on other models.
Next will be the stepping of the masts.
 

another broken cast part
 

despite generous white washing the new fid remains visible
 

provisionally stepped masts

The afterdeck was now planked and both decks sanded and scratched to get them smooth. Then the stanchions were glued onto the inner bulwark side. The scuppers were gnawed through but proved to be rather tricky and don't look too good. Working from inside to the outside they ended up on different heights, sometimes just infringing on the upper edge of the wales and correction was difficult.
 

afterdeck nearly completed
 

deck finished
 

stanchions being glued on
 

first 2 scuppers...that seaman isn't happy about their quality either

Hi Peter:
 
I found the scuppers to be very tough too...I ended up drilling them out very slowly starting with micro drills that were quite small and very gradually opening them up from both sides and using jewelers files to square them up. Another trick I learned was to clamp a piece of scrap hardwood on the opposite side of the drill to prevent the wood from flaring out when the drill went through...mine still did not turn out perfect...it's a very tricky business...but I still think your America is coming along very nicely....
hamilton

OK Martin, I went back into the alps for a week of voluntary work. A few short breaks to enjoy the scenery were possible.
(I know this is a bit off topic but just too beautiful not to share with those poor fellows which have to live on a seashore.   )
 

the Matterhorn is just visible in the background

The finished rudder was used to mark the hinge positions on the sternpost. The hinges were made in a similar way with stripes of cartridge paper and eyepins. All was painted copper and the rudder provisionally hanged. In my opinion it looks as good as those cast parts from the kit and is quite easily done.
 

raw material for the hinge
 

first hinge in place
 

the provisionally hanged rudder looks ok

The weather is still too fine for long working hours and I spent some time travelling in Iceland and hiking in the Swiss alps. In both places the air is rather fresh and the beer fine. On Iceland most places are at sea level and easily accessible but the country is expensive and some flight hours away. In the Swiss alps on the other hand glaciers are at 2500m the air is rather thin (you need to cook your soft eggs for 7 minutes instead of 3 and hiking is a bit straining but I can reach most nice places with a 3 hours scenic train ride. But back to serious business...
 

where America meets Europe...
part of the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge on Iceland

Finishing the hull
The upper part of the hull was painted black and the coppering started. I use Amati copper plates. They come in sheets and the single plates can easily be broken off by bending them a few times both ways.
Starting at the lower stern the plates were glued on, overlapping from stern to stem and from the keel to the waterline. Along the waterline a single line of plates gives a clean termination. This pattern follows the one used on USS Constitution and I think it should be adequate for America.
Those Amati plates are meant to overlap. That's the reason for them being left and right. One line of nails on the upper and forward side is provided by the next plate overlapping the bald edges. The handicap of that system is the unfinished look of the terminating plates.
I also like the way the nail heads are shown flat, running smoothly with the copper. I think the prototype should have looked this way (Constitution does) and not with those heavily protruding nail heads of the Caldercraft plates, somehow creating the image of a badly shaved hedgehog.
 

overlapping of the plates, viewed from the bow
 

the waterline has to be followed only roughly
 

the plates are brought on in stripes, running aft to forward, each upper overlapping the lower one
 

a dockyard worker holds one copperplate
 

one side is finished - now the work starts all over again
 

After finishing the larboard side as well, I will have to clean the plates to remove glue drops and fingerprints.

The gun carriages that need to be assembled are only for the bow chasers, two I believe.  The carriages for the other guns on the gun deck are one piece.
 
Paint the carriages (reddish brown).  Unpainted plastic looks like unpainted plastic. 

Started this kit today, some things I noticed about this kit:
- very very little flash
- instructions were printed in 2014.
- no twist in the hull halves
- shroud/rat lines are no longer prefabricated from thread, they are made from a soft plastic but look pretty good.
o
I read somewhere to glue a couple of pieces of scrap wood in the bottom of the hull in case I want to use a different mounting method. Where would they Go? (see picture below)
 
edit note: I used a long piece of wood that extended to ether side of those two mount holes, but first I drilled a tiny hole through the  middle so I would know where they are located once the model is built. (see photo further down in this post)

 
I probably won't use the preformed plastic sails, but I have a couple of questions. Here in the instructions it shows the cannon is to be mounted in a preformed carriage:

 
Yet further in the instructions it shows that the carriages need to be assembled:
 

 
I don't have any of the parts to build these carriages.
 
Also the cannons and carriages are not labeled to be painted. The cannons are already black and the carriages are brown.
 

 
Should I leave them unpainted?

Spent some more time on Ethalion today, finishing the initial bulkhead fairing and as I prepared the keel former (cutting in rabbets and tapering at the stern), I realised that the mizzen mast slot seemed somewhat out of place and at the wrong angle when compared to AOTS... (picture below).
 

 
So I trimmed out the excess, and built up the missing part to reflect the AOTS diameter and angle... (more vertical, and 8mm instead of 6mm by my reckoning.) The photo below shows the missing part added in, but I haven't cut the excess material out yet. I decided to keep the slot the same depth (the markings were longer to assist in lining everything up)
 

 
While I was taking the saw to the keel former, I took a drill to it too, and drilled 4mm holes into the base ready for when its completion. I reinforced both sides with scrap ply.
 

 
Once all that was done, I glued the bulkheads to the keel former. This really does provide a great deal of support to the bulkheads as they glue in place, and checking the angles I found they were spot on! I wasn't expecting it to be that simple -  (probably famous last words!)
 
Next tasks are to drill a hold in bulkhead 2 to take the jib boom, and finish off fairing the bulkheads.
 
[edited to restore photos, 11,13 July 2017]

Gaetan,
 
I, along with everyone else on this website, look forward to another masterpiece.  Bon Chance, mon ami!
 
Ciao for now
Rob

The slightly off white color looks good.
 
Russ

Well...took the plunge. Carved down the stem to fit the figurehead (which gave me a heart attack). The figurehead fits nicely now, and I prefer the positioning and shape now since the wood of the stem won't wrap under it to the front. Leaving the figurehead fully exposed. A feature I like! So perhaps a blessing in disguise to carve it in a way that makes me happy. =-)
 
Also painted the hull. 4 coats of paint with sanding in between.
 
A small pot of Tamiya (flat white) with 10 drops of Tamiya Desert Yelliw to soften it a bit. Pure white is ghastly, and the softer off white tinge gives it a more pleasing look (at least to me). The recommended tallow color was hard to match, but I really prefer how it ended up.
 
My Airbrush technique is awful, but it did the job. Sanding between with increasing fine sandpaper/pads took the matte finish away. Surprisingly it ended up with a nice finish with sanding alone. Win!
 
Moving on...
 
(Noted that my stern piece is a bit wide...but I'm just going to adjust at this point as I can't bring myself to carve it down now...).

Already got it reshape and pre-fit. Pics to come later! (Sweat bullets during the 'stem surgery'!)

Moving on...
 
Also:
Lesson Learned #2:  Do NOT start painting until you have a smooth hull.  That means wood filler/polyurethane/sanding sealer....choose your poison.
 
I thought I had sanded enough...the hull felt like a baby's bum...nope.  Not even close.  Next time....sanding sealant before I start painting.  =-(  Crapola.

She is looking great! Good thing you made a back-up stem. It always good to have a plan B .

This is something that we all go through at one time or another. Just keep plugging away.
 
Russ

Lesson learned:  Check figurehead placement and fit before gluing on the stem.  Crap.  Need to reshape and carve down to get it fit without snapping/breaking/etc. the glued on stem
 
For every single thing I do right - I seem to do 2 things wrong.  
 
But...I will overcome...I actually made 2 stems just in case!  

Got the stem, keel and stern post on. The fact wood filler exists keeps me from freaking out. The point where stern post and keel meet was really over sanded. Could drive a truck through that gap.
 
Wood filler (mixed with a bit of water...stored in a salad dressing disposable container for freshness) did the trick.
 
If I could count how many pounds of sawdust I have inhaled by now...
 
Moving on. Hull is looking fairly decent. (After 1000 mistakes...amazed).
 
Pat

Hi Elijah
 
Thanks for the compliment! Alas, I am a newbie. The only ship content I know is what I read from chuck's practicum and the variety of websites/articles/books I occasionaly skim as I creep my way through my first wooden model ship! My current profession is a global project manager for a pharma company. My past life is in science (I majored in chemistry in both undergraduate and graduate school) - long time ago.
 
Also, the planking is scribed sheets. But I think they won't look as good as individual planking, so I have decided to go with my own planking and have got basswood strips (~2-3mm width) slightly thinner than the deck planking which I plan to use. And I have learned from my mistakes....I will 'pre stain' them!
 
I am slow moving on this model - mostly out of fear. But I find myself becoming a bit more confident to 'overcome' my mistakes. My model might look nice - but it rrepresents 1000 mistakes! It will be amazing if I can get to the finish line. So...I will try to be honest about keeping this log! Wish me luck...
 
Best
Pat