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This is my very first build. I always have been fascinated with model ships from the first time I saw a model in the Chart House restaurant in Christiansted USVI some 40 years ago to going down to the Seaport Museum in Philadelphia and watching some of the members of the Philadelphia Ship Model Society in the Ship Shack (before covid) build their models. A little about myself, just pasted my 64th birthday and looking forward to retiring in a couple of years. I am a mechanical engineer and a partner in a small engineering firm. The last 10 or so years I do more of running the company and really miss do designing and watch my design come to be. I am hoping this will full fill some of missing part of design. While not doing the design but figuring out the problems and challenges that come from building a model. In reading the build logs and seeing what people do is amazing. I was inspired by lraymo and following her as she did her first build. I have chosen the dory because of the Model Shipways Shipwright Series builds on each kit and I download the instruction and they seem clear. I have read about some of the instruction that come with some kits and rather have something clear in the beginning.- 18 replies
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- Lowell Grand Banks Dory
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At long last I have started my CWM. This kit has been in my stash for quite some time. I saw no point in photographing the kit contents as there are quite a few Morgan build logs showing the parts. I will note that, contrary to the instructions, the center keel was a single laser cut piece, not 2 pieces. I do not know if this is still the case, but it makes for an easier start to the build. The photo shows my building slip set up to start test-fitting the bulkheads. -
Hello Model Ship World! I am starting my build log for the Model Shipways Niagara. Although not new to model ship building, this will be my 2nd foray into wood. I recently finished the 18th Century Long Boat and learned so much, that I feel confident in moving to a larger ship. I am very slow and methodical when it comes to building. I'll let stuff dry for a week before touching it! I'm including the shots of the box and contents as it will probably be the last time it looks so neat and organized I cant thank other folks from the "Niagara Club" such as 6ohiocav and Mikiek (among others) for their build logs, your logs have been a wealth of information. Time to start counting sticks and get a keel laid down! Updates to follow! Tom E -
After lurking on the site for a few months taking advantage of all the great information, I'm jumping in. As I've been working on the model for a couple of months, I have a bit of catching up to do. This is my second build since getting back into modelling. I built many, mostly plastic models of ships, planes, tanks back in my younger days. Jumped into wood ship models about 2 years ago. Based on the advice on this site I started with the Model Shipways Phantom. With that under my belt I've started the Rattlesnake. I still consider myself very much a beginner. Most days I wish I had instructions like the Revel plastic models from my past. I guess that's part of the hobby and what makes a community like this so valuable. so here goes.... -
Starting my 3rd model! I know I'll have LOTS of questions for the forum about this one, but I'm excited to begin! First step, check out the kit contents and do a complete inventory. So far, so good! -
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I just completed my Syren build, so thought I'd set up a build log for the Confederacy. From what I have seen, this is an exceptional kit and there are amazing builds on this forum, so I hope to do this ship justice. This will be my third ship build. I plan to use the basswood supplied with the kit, but may upgrade the cannons and the blocks from Chuck. I am also thinking of fully rigging it, but I may change my mind as I progress with the build. I'll be making my own rope for this ship (I have not done this before), so let's see how it goes. This will be a really long project, and will only have time to work on it for a couple hours a day, so it will be a few years until completion. Anyways, I was inspired by @Justin P. to take an opening box shot of the kit 😄, so here are the pics: I will be starting this project in a few days. First I need to check the inventory and see if there are any parts missing. -
With a Black Friday sale price on the screen and a long pandemic winter in prospect, I finally took the plunge I had long been considering on Emma C. Berry. Although my experience is limited, the thought of building up a ship's proper framework and deck substructure was appealing. I liked what I saw in the various logs here, and wanted the challenge and opportunity to extend my skills that ECB offers. Most of all, I wanted something to occupy my time, hands, and mind. ECB has not disappointed. I started work on Dec. 7 and have entries in my handwritten log for every day since then, Christmas and New Years included. No holiday gatherings, no family obligations - no problem. Best of all, ECB has taken up many brain cycles that would otherwise be spent in fruitless worry about this or that. I have reached the first major milestone: all frames installed and the clamps in place. I love the look of this early stage - so graceful, light yet strong. There are several excellent ECB logs going so I won't include every detail of construction. I'll concentrate on areas I found particularly challenging or interesting, rather than documenting each step. For starters, I'll skip the usual unboxing and kit contents photos, other than one picture of the box. The next couple of posts will cover how I got from a pile of laser-cut pieces to the frame as it stands today. Finally, my thanks to the modelers who have shared their ECB journeys in build logs. Without those logs, I probably not have started this build, let alone made progress. May all your ECBs reach glorious completion! -
Hello everyone! I'm so excited to be starting my first ship and build log! For my first build I chose the Lowell Grand Banks Dory. I chose it because it was designed for beginners, seemed like a fairly simple build, and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow. It also wasn't too expensive, which was nice as I wasn't sure if I'd like the hobby or not and was just trying it out. I can say though that now that I've gotten started I'm hooked! Now on to the build... I started by reading through the instruction book and getting oriented to the kit. Reading through the book definitely helped with envisioning where the project was going and why steps were done a certain way. I then got to building! The kit comes with two options for the hull of the boat: a solid piece that is pre-built or three pieces that must be glued together. I decided to challenge myself and do the three pieces, figuring I could always just use the pre-built base if I messed it up. Luckily it came together just fine! The three piece base. I sanded the edges as described in the instructions and then glued together with yellow glue. I think I used too little at first, but now have moved to a method of putting small glue 'dots' on any glued pieces with a small paintbrush tip. I use the same brush, rinsed in warm water to clean up any excess glue. I think I sanded a bit too much off as the pieces didn't quite align at the ends, but I don't think it was too much. I have some wood filler if it turns out to cause a problem later. I then cut and glued on the bottom cleats. The instructions say to sand these down to have a curved edge instead of sharp corner which I forgot to do until they were glued down, but I sanded them post-gluing and this worked fine. I then cut out and glued on the stem. I used a couple Lego bricks (another hobby of mine) to ensure it was at a right angle. I think it came out pretty well! It does look a bit curved up the stem, but I'm going to leave it for now and decide later if it needs to be adjusted. Cleats and stem glued in place. While the stem glue dried, I began work on the transom. For this, one simply aligns the pieces with the wood-cut guiding lines. It is very straightforward and the instructions are very clear. To make sure I aligned the holes on the transom and cleat correctly, I used a couple toothpicks through the holes. This worked well and everything looks in order. The transom gluing/clamping setup. Note the toothpicks. After it had dried, I glued the stern knee onto the base, thus connecting the transom. The build requires that the base be bent. Once all glue was dry, I followed the instructions by taking a paintbrush and brushing the base with warm water, allowing it to soak in a bit then placing up on some scrap pieces with a weight in the middle. I had trouble finding something to use as a weight and ended up using a small jar of honey I found in the kitchen! Whatever works I guess, haha! I was worried that the warm water would cause the glue holding the base planks together to come apart, so the first time I didn't use much water and the base didn't bend as much as I wanted. I was more generous with water the second time since I didn't see any glue issues, and we will see if I get more of a bend this time. The base in the bending process. Not sure if anyone will read this, but if you do, thanks for checking my humble build out! I am loving this hobby so far, and can't wait to keep at it!- 9 replies
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- Lowell Grand Banks Dory
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I decide to build the Syren after reading Chuck Passaro's instructions and Gahm, dubz and augie's build logs. The work done on these build is truly amazing and I'll be using them to guide me with my build. It has taken me a year to get up the nerve to enter a build log, so here goes please bear with me. 😁 on June 28th I received the kit so as seems to be a convention here's a photo of the box. -
I've decided to dig into my stash and take out the oldest resident there: Model Shipways USF Confederacy. This is going to be a slow build, because I only have a couple of hours a day to devote to it; too many other kinds of projects going on. Since there are a very large number of both old and new build logs of the Confederacy, I'm not going to post a blow by blow description. Plan on periodic updates and asking advice for problems encountered since many have built this model. I was relieved to find the kit had the good plywood, and there was no warping despite its period of neglect. I dusted off the snazzy build board I bought primarily for this build once I determined that this big mother would fit. The building "board" is amazingly flexible once you figure out how to arrange all the bits depending on what you want to do. I just moved the model up from the base clamp once I finished placing the bulkheads, filler blocks, stern and bow fillers, and fitted balsa blocks at the bow. So, ready for faring. The board apparatus allows for rotation of the model, and some clamps (visible in the photo below) holds it rock steady together with the fore and aft clamps. I've got it turned to work on the starboard faring, and will start that soon. It looks like I will have plenty of clearance for constructing the stern pieces, and other than rotating from side to side I should be able to do all of the upper planking at least with the current positioning of the attachment points. Pretty neat. Planning pretty much an out of the box build, perhaps except replacing the cannon with Chuck's. I wish he still had replacement figurehead though. That's all for now. -
For my first build log I chose the Rattlesnake kit from Model Shipways because it’s just such a pretty looking ship. I think I am up to the task of building it, although I still consider my self more of a beginner-intermediate modeler. I also have Bob Hunt’s Rattlesnake practicum for the Mamoli version of the kit which I will probably look to for ideas. I’ve spent quite a but of time reading other build logs for the Rattlesnake here on the forums and I have to thank all of the modelers for posting them; those build logs will help tremendously as I work through the kit. The Kit The kit arrived and I took inventory. I’m glad I did because it was missing the filler blocks. Model-Expo has a good missing parts policy so I got them replaced. Unfortunately, they only sent me one of the bow filler blocks, but I don’t think that will be an issue as there is plenty to go around. The britannia fittings are in pretty poor shape. I’m probably going to replace most of them with alternatives. I’m not sure what to do about the transom carving. It looks like the mold may have split so the border is bulging out a bit. Also, like others have posted, the curve of the transom carving is too narrow and will have to be widened by bending it. the curve is off by so much that I fear it will break from bending. The Keel Construction of the keel was straightforward, but the curve where the stem meets the center keel was way off so I had to trim it you can see the amount I have to trim on the center keel in the photo. . I also had to add a shim between the two center keel pieces to get the length to match the plans. Even so, the slots were still a bit off. The shim between the center keel pieces I wish I had cut the rabbet before installing the keel, stem and sternpost. It would have been easier. -
Well here we go, my first attempts at ship building. Got the bottom put together and glued to the frame. Start planking tomorrow -
So, I’m going to try my hand at a solid hull, it’s a little scary since I’m not a very good whittler. About 20 years ago I bought a wooden boat model that was a solid hull and I could never get it started since I had no clue on how to finish the hull. This is actually the second model I bought, but I kept putting off to gain more overall experience by building the MS Grand Banks Dory, Norwegian Pram and the 18th Century Longboat. Reading build logs about this boat made it a little less intimidating so here it goes. I have learned that it is important to inventory all the parts of a kit at the very beginning and it appears that there a couple of metal parts missing so I’ll contact Model Expo. As some of the instructions say, inventorying the parts also helps to familiarize you with them, their names and where they are installed. {I've edited the initial posting to remove the work I did on my original hull} -
This is my second build. I received the Bluenose kit just before Christmas. The Admiral "suggested" I put it under the Christmas tree. So on Boxing Day I did an inventory. All parts were present and accounted for. However, one problem I had was that one of the dowels was badly warped. I emailed Model Shpways and had two replacement dowels in about 2 weeks. Excellent customer service. All the wood was sorted, organized and stored in cardboard tubes. I laid the plans out flat to try to get the folds out of them. I plan on following Bob Hunt's practicum from Lauck Street Shipyards for the most part but will also be using the MS instructions manual plus other build logs on this forum. I also purchased the book Bluenose by Brian and Phil Backman. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1965. According to MS it was a major reference for the kit. Right now I am cleaning up my workspace and getting everything prepared to start this build. I will be pre-occupied over the next few days but hope to get started later this weekend. -
Hello everyone. This is my first build log and it is for the Donald McKay designed extreme clipper Flying FIsh. The ship has been described well in other logs, but the summary is here: (wikipedia and http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/News/BDA/BDA(1851-11-04).html) Built: 1851, East Boston Shipyard Length Overall: 220 ft Length between perpendiculars: 210 ft Length at keel: 202 ft Maximum beam: 40 ft Tons (OM): 1566 tons Originally owned by the firm of Sampson and Tappan of Boston. She was wrecked in Fuzhou in 1858, sold to a company in the Phillipines, and renamed El Bueno Suceso. She eventually sunk in the South China sea. Flying Fish was "coppered" with Muntz metal rather than copper (similar to the Cutty Sark). You can't get Muntz metal tape, alas, but I may try to do something to make the plating more consistent with muntz. I had not originally intended to do this ship. Having recently completed the US Brig Niagara, my plan was to make a scratch model of the RRS Discovery, but COVID-19 put the kibbosh on that for now, as the only plans available are at the Royal Museum Greenwich and they went back on lockdown while processing my order. I can't imagine going through the winter cooped up in the house without some kind of project. If and/or when the plans for Discovery arrive, I will likely have two projects going. But, I've decided that this is a feature, not a bug. While I'm in the doldrums of say ratline tying with one, I'll be in the doldrums of planking with the other. So, while it means that both projects will take longer, I'll be able to at least alternate some of the tasks. And, there will likely be a couple of months of work converting the builders plans into a usable POB design for the Discovery, so, who knows, depending on COVID vaccine timelines, it may be enough to make serious progress on this ship. That's what I've told myself anyway. So, I believe tradition for the first post of a kit build log is a picture of the kit ready to go, so here are mine. Let the construction begin: -
Started on building the brig syren, and the first photo so fare am planing to get some lights on, so its know time to plan this before I start going to fast forward -
Test photo and posting. CWM current stage of build. -
Introduction This is the Model Shipways Kit No. 2040, 5/32” scale. Kit purchased new about 2005. Notably, after starting (15 years later!), noticed Plan Sheet 5 missing, contacted Model Shipways and they immediately sent a replacement at no charge. Building out of the box - meaning using kit supplied plans and materials, and adding additional hardwood wood if necessary. Update 7/18/20: See this post (currently pending) for upgraded parts and sources. This kit is not for the novice. You should come to this game with at least 1 ship model under your belt, preferably several. And you need an understanding of the nature of wood and how to shape it using chisels, files, and a hand plane. These tools need not be expensive, however they must be sharp. I recommend a 1/4” fish tale chisel from Lie-Nielson located in Maine. Power tools are used, they save time, essential to me for this project as there are hundreds of cuts. Not necessary though. I’ve built many kits and expect this to be some old hat but also I’m stretching into new areas like building stern galleries. So welcome aboard, I’m glad you are here. USS Constitution References: my own photographs of the ship Anatomy of the Ship: USS Constitution College of Model Shipbuilding: USS Constitution Practicum General References: David Antscherl’s: HMS Swan Class Sloops - for construction techniques Mastini: Ship Modeling Simplified George F. Campbell, M.R.I.N.A.: The Neophyte Ship Modelers Jackstay (Inexpensive and Essential) Table of Contents Part 1: Hull Doweling the Stem, Sternpost, and Keel to Centerboard Bulkhead Marking and Glueup Prep Shaping the Counter Block Bulkhead Glueup Completing the Counterblock Transom Frame Prep Bow and Stern Block Prep Shaping the Bow Filler Block and Fairing the Bulkheads Shaping the Filler Blocks (continued) Shaping the Filler Blocks (continued), Starting Bow Framing Bow Framing (continued) Bow Framing Completion Transom Frame Installation Making and Installing the Waterway Tools Inner Planksheer/Bulwarks and Bowsprit Prep Framing and Cutting Out the Gunports Cutting Out the Gunports (continued) Gunport Cleanup and Bulwark Prep Bulwark Completion Leveling the Bulwarks Lower Gunport Upper Sills Lower Gunport Framing and Planking Smoothing the Planking Gunports and Upper Hull Planking Completion Mast Partners/Tenons and Deck Framing Coamings and Hatch Framing Planking the Wales - Planking Without Pins or Clamps Tapering a Plank Planking Starboard Wale Belt A Installation - Starboard Side Forming the Forward Planks Belt B Installation - Starboard Side Belt C Installation - Starboard Side Belt D Installation - Starboard Side Belt B - Port Side, Marking the Belt Width Dealing with Butt Joint Gaps Using Proportional Dividers Plank Glue Up Completion of Port Side Planking USS Constitution Pictures - June 2020 Part 2: Fitting Out Installing Eyebolts for Carronade Tackle Installing Large Inboard Bulkhead Cleats Installing Small Inboard Bulkhead Cleats Fitting the Cathead Painting the Bulkwarks Cleaning Up the Dust Finish and Installing Deck Grates Deck Plank Stock Preparation Planking the Deck - Part 1 Planking the Deck - Part 2 Planking the Deck - Part 3 Planking the Deck - Part 4 Evening Deck Finish Color -
Here is the start of my 18th Century Longboat by Model Shipways. I watched the development of this kit by Chuck Passaro on MSW v1.0 and was amazed to see the detail that he put into such a small boat. I felt that this would be a fun kit to build and so far I am right. As all of us on MSW know Chuck is an amazing ship model designer and I was glad to see Model Shipways turn his design into a kit. I ordered this kit as soon as it was available. I was fortunate to see Chuck's Longboat at the 2012 Northeast Joint Clubs Ship Model Conference and Show. It is a beauty and it won the Jim Roberts Award for the Best Ship Model in the Show. The kit is in an 8" x 15 1/2" box. Here are pictures of the contents: All of the wood in the kit is basswood and it is laser cut. Blocks, rigging line and preprinted friezes and stern decorations are included. A 20 page instruction booklet with color pictures is included. The instructions are written like a practicum, they are highly detailed in explaining the construction steps. Three sheets of plans drawn by Chuck are provided. Like I said, this is going to be a fun build. -
Hello everyone. I have just ordered the Model Shipways Benjamin Latham. This will be my first wooden ship build, I have been modeling most all of my life and for the past 20 years I have been building scale R/C aircraft. The airplanes have ranged in size from 27" to 90" wing spans. The airplanes have been from short kits to full scratch built from plans. I have spent quite a bit of time researching information about wooden ship building (the do's and don'ts). Also there several very good builds on this site. The Model Shipways information says that prior building experience is helpful, we'll see what they mean by "helpful". Non-the-less, I have always liked to challenge my skills. For the present time, I am going to be gathering as much information as I can. I am really looking forward to getting started. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. If you have any thoughts that you would like to share ( even if you think I have lost my mind or bitten off more then I can chew) please feel free to comment. Thanks, Bill -
I am starting to build this kit as my first foray into a POF model so bear with this beginner. I am included a picture of the box but not the contents as I neglected to take a photo. I probably won't do a step by step log as it will bore the more experienced members and much of it is self explanatory, instead I will concentrate upon my challenges and mistakes and will probably asking the experienced members frequently for Help! There is a rather impressive amount of wood which I did inventory and label by size and checked off all the other items. I started by building the keel section per the plans and instructions and it was quite straight forward. I then hopefully correctly marked the frame locations on that assembly. I next turned to the building board, marked a center line and also the frame locations. Next I built the lofting jig for the frame installation and took pains to be sure it it was square and plumb to the board. I thought the frame was critical to the proper frame placement so went beyond the instructions by gluing and pinning the runners and added reinforcement to the rear of the frame. I also copied a metric ruler being sure it reproduced at 100% and glued it to the top of the jig, marked the centerline so I could transfer the measurements from the plans to the ruler on the frame, I think I wore out two pair of eyeglasses to be sure it was right😯. So it begins, I will endeavour to to present my problems and mistakes and hopefully a few successes. I suspect it will be slow going, like me at my age! Hope someone may find it useful or at least good for a laugh at my beginner mistakes. As always, any comments, suggestions or criticism would be very welcomed and appreciated! -
I am starting the Model expo Confederacy but plan on incorporating some (maybe all) of the Swiss Pear framing and other material supplied by the Lumberyard. The Lumberyard materiel will not be here for a couple of weeks so I plan on starting either the ship's boats or the guns (using Syren Ship Modeling cannon and carriages) or maybe so outside "house" work (it IS getting cooler here in Florida) until it arrives. In any event here is the obligatory work bench and kit box picture. The two blue "things" are the "T-Tracks" that go on the build board that I have yet to fabricate. -
As far as I know this is the first log on this site for Model Shipways’ cross section of the USS Constitution. I bought the kit last summer, when I think it was pretty newly released, and when I was about midway through my Spray build. I have never done a cross section, and I was attracted to the novelty (for me), the detail, and the fact that I wouldn’t be spending many months simply building a hull. So far I am not in the least disappointed. Upon opening the relatively small densely packed box I soon realized this was not going to be a simple, quick build. There are five sheets of plans (although only two are really plans; the smaller three show the location of the hundreds of laser cut parts as laid out on their sheets of wood as well as some photo-etched brass fittings). The two plan sheets are three feet by almost four feet (that’s a two foot ruler in the photo of them laid out on my floor). I found a couple poster hangers on Amazon and hung them on the wall to better view them. The fittings are extensive, as is the number of laser cut wood parts. The only thing that seems underwhelming in volume is the number of wood strips and dowels, but that kind of makes sense for a cross section. The really amazing thing for me are the instructions. Almost 100 pages, with an average of 3 or more color photos per page! As with most Model Shipways kits, the instructions can be downloaded as a pdf from their website, which makes choosing an appropriate build a lot easier. With instructions this voluminous, it is helpful to have them on a computer and able to be searched, if there is a specific issue you want to look ahead about (as I mention below). First step is to cut out the three frames, or what I might have called ribs, which are the skeleton of this part of the hull. The laser cut pieces are securely attached with a minimum of tabs, and the laser cutting is sharp, precise and complete -- well done. All three parts are attached to a building stand, that will be cut off later in the build. Two lengthwise pieces connect those stand parts, and the slots all need to be sanded so they fit. I made those connections quite tight, as they will not be disassembled for quite some time. Eight additional crosswise laser cut pieces (identified as spacers) are provided to connect the frames and to keep them a precise distance apart at the level of each deck. These will be moved around a bit from time to time during the build, and I sanded their slots so they are a little looser. The instructions assign six of them to what seems like a random distribution among the orlop, gun and spar decks (there is also a berthing deck, which for some reason gets none of these spacers). Interestingly, I haven’t found anywhere in the instructions or the plans where the deck names are expressly identified, but it is pretty easy to figure out by looking ahead at the pictures in the instructions (orlop, berthing, gun and spar, from bilge to sunshine). Assembling and gluing the keel (which needs a rabbet cut in it), the keelson pieces, and the keelson cap is all quite straightforward. The instructions suggest, and the pictures show, writing “B” on the bow end of the keel to assure that it is properly installed. That struck me as a bit odd, until I realized that the three frames vary fairly significantly in shape and that things are not symmetrical for and aft. No big deal as to the keel, but a good habit to get into when dealing with other pieces later in the build. The slot in the frames for the keel is a loose fit, and I used a couple of rubber bands to press the keel up against the frame when gluing it in place (careful to glue it to the frame and not to the building stand). A mast step is then made out of a 1½” length piece of the remaining ¼” x ½” strip. To avoid chewing up the soft basswood with a large bit, I drilled the ¼” hole for the mast by starting with a ⅛” bit and working my way up to ¼” with the three or four intermediate bits I own. I then chamfered the hole with a Dremel tool. Note that I did not cut the mast step off of the ¼” x ½” strip until I had finished all of this -- it’s nice to have something to hang on to when working on a piece like this. Limbers (I had to look up the nautical definition) on either side of the keelson cap are shaped from ¼” square strips. Here the change in shape of the hull fore and aft makes shaping them a little like shaping a propeller. The instructions complicate that quite a bit by having the limbers slope up to the base of the mast foot where the two intersect, but the plans show the mast foot simply continuing straight down on each side to intersect with the limbers. In one of the photos below I tried to draw in red what the instructions direct. I chose to follow the plans instead, and added a 1/16” strip to the bottom of each side of the mast step to fill the gap between it and the limber below. -
Hey guys ... I'm new here and wanted to try my hand at a wooden ship model. I cannot hope to complete anything as remarkable as the build logs I've seen but I want to try anyway and you've gotta start somewhere. I chose the Syren because I like her lines without regard for difficulty. I belonged to a yahoo group about model ship building around 20 years ago although I have no real experience building a wooden model. I did build a cross section of the USS Constitution back then but I can't say I knew what I was doing although I did learn a lot. I have started several other kits but got to hull planking and abandoned them. That was before forums (I even remember B&W TV) so I will rely on you guys for assistance in explaining things to me. I do have a fully equipped woodworking shop and experience mostly building small projects like boxes and chessboards although I have done a little furniture. I have also done some wood carving. I should apologize for the photos I will post. I lost my left leg so I am wheelchair bound now and unable to get better angles but I will do the best I can. I am retired now so time is available as long as I am not seeing that endless string of doctors. I got started by gluing the rabbet strip to the bulkhead former and then the stem. From there I cut out the rabbet. I have never done that before so I hope I did it correctly. I used my scalpel to thin the deadwood area which actually was easier for me than the smaller cuts along the bottom of the bulkhead former. Then I sanded as best I could making the transition as smooth as possible. That discoloration is a result of that sanding. I am now beginning to attach the bulkheads. With a background in engineering I know that the foundation is critical for the entire project so I was careful to get things square. I started with the center area because the bulkheads are larger there so it is a little easier to get the square in place. I have some leftover basswood blocks for carving that I intend to use for fillers. Cutting them on the tablesaw is next. I didn't see any indication of where the masts will go so I marked one side of the BF from the plans as I will undoubtedly have to drill holes somewhere along the line. I am also undecided as to the platform for the ship when completed. I have a decent pair of brass pedestals. If I use those I will have to prepare the BF for the nuts and bolt holes along with reinforcement. That is a lot more work, of course, so I don't quite know what I want to do. Any suggestions? Ken- 40 replies
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USS Constitution - Model Shipway’s Kit No.: MS2040 “Old Ironsides” 1797 Frigate Scale: 5/32” = 1 ft. (1:76.8) This is my second POB square rigged ship; I spent about seven years building my first, Mamoli’s Rattlesnake. Like the first one, I will be following Robert Hunt’s practicum, but unlike the first, I have a multitude of excellent build logs and books to supplement it and help guide me through the inevitable pitfalls that are sure to raise their ugly heads. Hopefully, based on this and my hard-earned experience with the Rattlesnake, it won’t take another half a lifetime to build. Now for the obligatory part. Below is the kit box and contents. I won’t bore you with showing all the little packets that are stuffed in the box, that has been done very well by numerous other builders. I will state that in addition to what came with the kit, I purchased a few more items: · Robert Hunt’s practicum · Hobby Mill’s wood supplement package (based on Hunt’s practicum) * · Additional copper plate tape (as I understand it, the kit was a bit too frugal with their supply) · 2 - 2½” x 2½” x ¾” genuine pieces of USS Constitution wood ** · Medallion made from genuine USS Constitution copper plate. Not sure yet how or if it will be used. * Wood package purchased before HobbyMills closed shop. The supplement package was derived by HobbyMills where Mr. Hunt made his substitutions in the practicum. It was not identified as a package that could be purchased in the practicum. I have the original price list which describes what the wood is being substituted for and where in the practicum it is being described. If anyone wants a copy of the supplement wood list, please send me a PM. ** Constitution wood was purchased from the museum just before the ship went into drydock, December 2014. I have since tried to get a larger size for the keel or nameplate but accordioning to popeye2sea (who as I understand it volunteers on the ship), the US Navy is withholding any more wood from the public for now for reasons unknown. The museum told me, maybe in the Spring sometime. This will be my third attempt at constructing this model. The first attempt was done when I was a child building Revell’s small plastic model which I really botched. I hadn’t yet learned to read and follow instructions, but just dove into assembling the parts with expected results. My second attempt was as a young teenager and when the wounds of that failed build had waned, went a bit better. This time I got the larger plastic model. I did follow instructions and even painted the parts but had absolutely no idea how a rigged ship worked let alone how the lines were attached or what they were for. It looked decent to my young ignorant eyes at the time. Both models met their demise at my hand with firecrackers; usual method of disposing such items This time I expect a glorious finish…I hope.
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