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JerryTodd

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Everything posted by JerryTodd

  1. JerryTodd
    I was going to paint the new wheel but decided instead to reuse the wooden pedestal from the previous wheel. I sawed off the attached printed pedestals, drilled the drum and reused the brass rod axle. The skylight and the wheel got painted, and the wheel now spins. I'm going back to the idea of connecting it to the rudder servo so it'll turn when the rudder moves. I modeled the hammcks so they were hollow, saving a lot of resin/money and some weight I modeled the gun circles to be cleaner versions of the hand-cut one I had. I printed them all in one go, cleaned them, drilled them (to pin them to the deck), painted them, and they look great, but I think I'm going to add to it, more like what's shown in the manual, with rails for the center skid, etc.
  2. JerryTodd
    Looking back at this thread, I see I missed responding to your question Roger, I'm very sorry, it doesn't normally take me almost a year to catch on, then again, maybe now it does. Constellations boat lengths were; Launch: 31 ft at 1:36 scale: 10.3" 1st Cutter: 28' 7" - 9.5" 2nd Cutter: 25' 10" - 8.6" Quarter boats: 26' 6" - 8.8" Stern boat: 28' 2" - 9.4"
  3. JerryTodd
    The LCD screen on the printed went bad and I had to get a replacement. With that done I stuck some things together to give it a test drive. I plan to put a second cat on board, and here are the one's I have to choose from (excuse the bust of Ares). The one rolled on it's back, and the stretching one with the tail in the air are the ones I'm leaning towards. I rigged up the bobstays with the new bulleyes. The crew got a base-coat of black in prep for painting them to look like, well, crew. The new skylight sashes are mostly installed. It all needs to get painted to match the rest of the skylight, and the glass installed to be considered done. I worked on the 3D model for the hammocks, but it's a little low-res and looks too faceted when printed. I'm going to model them in groups to be glued down on the bulwarks in sections of about 11cm each (that's what fits on the printer). In every image of the ship I have, she has her hammocks showing with out tarps covering them. I originally planned on modeling them from some combination of materials, making a mold, and casting them in resin so I wouldn't have to worry about them getting damp, growing moldy, leaking, causing rot, etc, on a working, sailing model. Making them in 3D though, I need to make them hollow so they don't use up so much resin. In the pic, I removed the rounded over layers of balsa on the port side. You may have noticed in previous pictures the line between the black and white of the inner bulwark was, well, sloppy; that's because I never intended the balsa cover to be permanent. So, if you'll excuse me, the thing below that looks like an electronics cooling component just came off the printer and contains 48 10 foot oars in 1:36 scale, that I have to carefully dig out of there
  4. JerryTodd
    I love the pudding on the bow - does it do side work as a tug?
  5. JerryTodd
    Still printing away....new skylight panels, some more sailors who I posted about the deck on temporary bases, more oars, and some articulated studded anchor chain with a shackle- that was fun. The chain took a few tries at printing short lengths to finally get it to print with out bonding the links to each other. The crew printed this time are those I hadn't printed yet and a couple that didn't come out well the first time. All of them printed perfectly together this time. With Ivan and Igor (the unpainted officer from the kit Ivan came from, there' 19 people on the boat now I still need a couple of officers and 6-8 Marines - the Marines are being the real pain to find. I still plan to have between 30 and 40 people manning the model including some on the footropes, sliding down a backstay, doing something in the tops, and so on - it's gonna be a busy place. I always intended to have a crew working a pivot gun. There's one a single working line aft, as opposed to three sets of jib sheets forward, so I'll have the gun crew working aft. Now I'm trying to work myself up to open a couple of panels back aft The skylight's getting new panels, a little bigger with more detail. I like the cat on the capstan, I've named her Stella, though I'm thinking of a second cat chasing a rat, which means I'll need a rat. I don't know if Constellation had cats aboard, but I can't think of any sailing vessel I worked on that didn't have a cat or three
  6. JerryTodd
    I was going to make some 3D belaying pin handles with a hollow to accept some brass rod as a shaft, but went ahead and made the pin-rails and belaying pins all in one piece. I clamped this into a jig and played with making thing off to it and pulling hard enough to break an 1/8" wood dowell, and they held. I think they'll do the job. On CGTrader I found files for some Civil War period sailors. I can edit them some in the software, and alter them after printing to get what I want. There were no Marines, though they wouldn't be right for 1855 anyway, and the officers were all armed and in "action" poses. The figures are made by Artejaol Studios and who also make a bunch of WWII and other figures and are basically meant to be "toy soldiers." I contacted the artist about maybe doing some 1850's officers and Marines, attaching reference images but if they, decide to do it, it'll be a while. Meanwhile, I can get a start on a crew with the figures I have. At least Ivan won't have to do everything by himself. Back when I started this model, Geoffrey Footner gave me a print of a image from a Harper's Weekly type magazine picturing Constellation in drydock in Charlestown (Boston) in 1859. It's the only image of her stern I've ever found and what I based the appearance of the model's stern on. While the details are highly simplified, it still shows a lot of useful information. It also shows two objects that have baffled me for years - the round objects between the stern ports in line with the stern davits. Looking at something else in Banyan's HMCSS Victoria 1855 that also pertained to Constellation, I happened on the answer to my puzzle, which also linked to Sperry's thread; What do we know about the origins of the lifebuoy? which added more data. At some point they reduced the lifebuoys to one on Constellation, shown in New York ic.1912. And other ships carried them as well. I found pics of them on British, German, French, and American naval vessels, though no pictures close enough or clear enough to see real details. My model's based mostly on the image of the Alert's. My model's very basic, but I have some feelers out to see if I can find more details, with the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, for instance. I had to beef up the parts a little in the end, as it was just too frail to print successfully, and when I finnaly got a combination of angle and supports to print, it turned out a bit too large. Re-scaled again, it's on the printer as I type this.
  7. JerryTodd
    In anticipation of actually rigging this thing, there's a zillion little parts I'm gonna need. Bulls-eyes are a major one as are shroud fairleads. Shroud fairleads you say? Yep, fairleads lashed onto the shrouds above the pin-rails to keep various lines close to the shrouds to keep everything neat and shipshape. The the red arrows in the image below (click it for a larger view) So I got a copy of Olof Eriksen's Constitution All Sails Up and Flying which is a great book full of great research. On page 272, drawing #rig-23, "Fittings - Various" are drawings of what he calls "sizing trucks" both double and single. Looking at his drawing and the image above it's easy to see these things haven't changed much, if at all, since Constitution's time. Eriksen sized them relative to the diameter of the shrouds, so I did the same based on my shrouds being 1/8" (3mm) So I made up the two-hole version, and some bulls-eyes as well, and printed out a batch. They look a little large to me, so I resized some at 50% and started those printing. I need to model a single hole version. I'll probably need a batch of these items for Macedonian as well, so I doubt I can have too many. A couple of years back I purchased a 4 3D printed 10 spoke wheels from "Model Monkey" on Shapeways that he resized to 1:36 for me. They were very nice, but very fragile. Every time I even looked at the thing a spoke broke off. I finally gave up on repairing it and gluing on spokes, and made my own wheel and printed it. It's not quite as fine as Monkey's, but it's noticeably tougher and less worrying. Two more items I wasn't happy with how they turned out, and will get replaced with 3D printed ar the deck circles for the pivot guns, and the pin-rails to sit on those stanchions at the fore and main masts. Here's those items in the works in the modeling software.
  8. JerryTodd
    They are "Lizzards"
  9. JerryTodd
    Down-rigged the model so I could install the stuff I've been printing Boarding steps, oars for the boats, and pin rail stanchions, as well as painting some more.
  10. JerryTodd
    Glued down the launch's rail and gave everything a preliminary coat of paint, including the boat gun, anchors, reprinted stanchions, and shells for blocks. Now I have to unrig the jury-rigged model so I can get to installing all this stuff.
  11. JerryTodd
    While modeling the pivot point fittings for the launch's boat-howitzer, I got the idea to just model the cap rail with the fittings attached all in one piece. To fit in the printer, I had to make it in two parts. Once I prep the top of the hull, I'll glue this down and paint. I have to model stuff to go in the boats; oars, casks, maybe the gun's ammo boxes. I got a bottle of this resin, that's working so well, in "Sonic Grey" as well and printed the pivot gun with it. I redid the supports as well, and it came out nicely this time. But those facets on the barrel. I made the basic 3D model back in 2009 and just added details without updating the barrel... ...so I modeled a smoother barrel for the pivot gun and printed it. I'm done printing pivot guns for a while. The previous one I'll file to lessen those facets and these go on the boat.
  12. JerryTodd
    I've played wargames since the 70's, have a bookshelf full of them, many of them Avalon Hill titles. Last Full Measure is based on the rules of Avalon Hill's 1977 Gettysburg.
  13. JerryTodd
    All four anchors done, the boat howitzer, and the wheels for a friend... Now I need to paint this stuff. Here's the pivot guns, but I'm going to take another shot at printing them with a different arrangement of supports. If that works I'll probably make a set of book-ends with these This is the 3D model of the windlass for another model. It need it's pawls and a little size correction to be ready. The axle won't be printed, it's meant to have some brass rod there.
  14. JerryTodd
    I have more hobbies than I have money or sense. One of them is designing board war games for which I provide the files for people to print them, cut them out, and play them - "print and play." I redid the artwork in my series of Civil War battles and released a new one on Lee's 1862 invasion of Maryland. I started that one in August? Planning to post in in September on the anniversary of the event, but It took longer to get the research in order and I didn't finish it till February. -=> http://UhlanGames.us
  15. JerryTodd
    If I'm doing it Vic, it should be obvious that not a lot of brains or money is required because I'm incapable of meeting such requirements.
  16. JerryTodd
    For two years until a few months ago, it seemed like all I did was work at "the job" with no time or energy left for myself. Well, one of those "Karens" came along and successfully relieved me of that burden, so now I have some time to do something for me (and a dozen other people wanting something done). Anyway, one of those other people asked me to 3D print a plate for mounting a thermostat in an outlet box for them, and while I had resin in the vat, I figured to get back to printing some parts for Constellation. Using the Siraya Tech Build "Smoky Black" resin I used on the pivot gun a few posts back, I tried printing the boat howitzer again, only this time with the wheels and carriage separate, and the gun on the sled. It came out nicely except it was scaled to about 1:76 for some reason. I re-scaled it to 1:36 and tried again and it came out perfectly. (I think clicking on the pic will let you see it full size) Next I went for one of the anchors, which came out perfectly, so I pressed my luck and printed a second one with the same result. The two anchors and the boat howitzer, all in 1:36 scale. I need two more anchors, but I had to print some steering wheels for someone else. After that, I opted to go for the pivot gun again. It didn't come out perfectly, but I can fix what went wrong and use this print, just like before. I may give it one more shot after rearranging the supports where the little failures took place, and if that works, print a pair and maybe make static models of these? Second printing of the pivot gun here being zapped with UV light to cure the resin completely. My friend that I printed the wheels for needs a sampson-post windlass for the same schooner model as well, so I'm in the 3D modeling software making one from scratch cause I couldn't find any models on line. After that I'll come back and print the other two anchors and reprint the stanchions, fairleads, bullseyes, block shells, and other stuff for Constellation in this better resin.
  17. JerryTodd
    A functional hull should be glassed outside and resin inside. It need not be epoxy, polyester resin is cheaper and will do the job just fine. The glass helps "shrinkwrap" the hull so any seams that open even a little bit don't let water in. Without the cloth, the resin will just crack, water will get in and swell the wood, expanding the crack, and deforming the hull. Building Wooden Hulls for RC
  18. JerryTodd
    Lovely little plywood clinker. I want to build a boat I can car-top alone as a chase boat when sailing my models. Nothing so pretty, maybe a basic pram.
  19. JerryTodd
    I started using Anim8or in the 90's to make new 3D models for a WWI flight Sim, because it was free, saved in 3DS, and saved in plain text that could be edited. It's still out there at: www.anim8or.com It's not Blender, or any other "modern" 3D editing tool by any measure, but I'm at home with it. My problem is if it's useful for making that viney 3D carved stuff, like below, I haven't found a way that isn't tedious enough to be maddening. As for working in 1:36 scale, the larger the scale, the more detail that lacking, compared to what can be left out of say, 1:72 and still appear highly detailed. But these being RC models, I can still see a 1:36 scale ship a hundred yards away.
  20. JerryTodd
    Some carronades and Blomfield 18 pdrs for Macedonian from STLs by Tim Bowman that I altered slightly. Boarding steps, shells for blocks, bitts and stanchions, and a pivot gun for Constellation, all 3D models made in Anim8or free 3D software by me. (All in 1:36 scale) I'm trying to model the filigree vine-work of Constellation's head carvings, but it's difficult. The basic geometry of guns and stanchions is much easier for me.
  21. JerryTodd
    I bought a copy from the designer, Tom Gilmer, back when I was on the crew in 1981, and redrew them to 1:20 scale for the model. The plans were also very different than the actual boat in a lot of places; number of gunports, some deck details, etc. The drawing is actually a work in progress and in some places I mad something from photos, and added it to the drawing-after-the-fact. The designer is no longer alive and I don't know if the original drawings are available except possibly from the Maryland Historical Society
  22. JerryTodd
    I too haven't said much in the thread, but been watching consistently since, oh, 2009? And been mashing that Like button since they added it. You're one of my inspirations on this forum, thank you for sharing to the benefit of us all.
  23. JerryTodd
    My elementary school library had "The Captain from Connecticut" by C.S.Forrester and it was through that book that I discovered Hornblower. I've read it many time through, the last few times in chronological order. My little boat of over 40 years, is named Lydia. O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series was good, but never grabbed me the same way. I hated Bolitho who just happened to be at every major naval engagement in history in a pivotal role, even if they were a thousand miles apart on the same day, except maybe Salamis or Midway. Another series I found by chance at a yard sale, and recommend is the Nathanial Drinkwater series by Richard Woodman.
  24. JerryTodd
    What you see set is all the sail the model's getting. The real boat might set stuns'ls, a fisherman, and a ringtail (never set during my time aboard), beyond that, but controlling that stuff remotely is more than I could manage to figure out.
  25. JerryTodd
    I knew Jeffery Footner, worked on his house in Fells Point, and we discussed Constellation a lot over beers at the Whistling Oyster or John Stevens. I don't know why, but he NEEDED Constellation to be the frigate. He did a lot of good research for his book, but in the book he tried to bend it to fit his agenda. Some of the data had been debunked long ago, but still got regurgitated as evidence. They say you can't talk politics or religion with people, with Jeff, you didn't talk about Constellation. Another fella that NEEDS Constellation to be the frigate has This Page claiming that a t'gallant pole as opposed to separate t'gallant and royal masts proves a drawing is Constellation somehow.

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