USS Constitution by Modeler12 - Cross-Section - Bow Area

[mtaylor]

Looking good, Jay.  If I were re-wiring my Constellation, I'd follow your approach and us a bus bar type set up.  One line with the leads going to where I need them.   A cleaner that way instead of leads all over the place.  

 

The mast and mast step looks good.

[Modeler12]

Looking good, Jay.  If I were re-wiring my Constellation, I'd follow your approach and us a bus bar type set up.  One line with the leads going to where I need them.   A cleaner that way instead of leads all over the place.  

Once I decided to drill the hole through the keelson for the main connection below the stand, I figured that two of the LEDs for the powder room lights would also be right there. Hence having the connections where I put them. 

But then it occurred to me that having a 'bus bar' lead going underneath the floor and then out between the port frames was better than a bunch of individual LED wires. Just like you said. The connections there can be done anytime before I plank the outside hull.

 

It is awfully warm in my garage right now, so I played around in my office with the LEDs I have for the powder room. The type I bought are very bright and I may have to add some white paint to dim them. For now I will leave them until I have installed them in the wall (yet to come). However, I am also toying with ways to hold the two in the 'light room' so they shine through the porthole as well as up into the sail-room (through those two rectangular openings in the floor, as Henry pointed out).

 

Right now I am thinking a small block that can be bonded on top of the mast step block with a hole in the back for the LED wires and a slot on top for the sail-room opening. They would be aligned with the port holes in the wall. I would still be able to pull the LEDs out (straight back) if I have to exchange them for a different size.

 

Here are two pictures with the bright lights. Looking at the back it is not too bad, but a head on shot is glaring.

I need to order more LEDs and consider getting some of the nano lights with a soft white color.

  

Edited October 14, 2015 by Modeler12

[mtaylor]

I bought a variable potentiometer and wired it to dim..   During the day, the lights can't really be seen, at night, they were too bright.  I think it's a 100 ohm variable.  But given the prices of LED's and the various forms they come in, one doesn't even need to add current-limiting resistors (like I did), they're built in.

[Canute]

You may want to look at yelo-glo LEDs. Good simulation of the old kerosene lantern look. Or paint Tamiya Clear orange on the LEDs.

Take a look at these folks' products: http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/home.php?cat=22

[Modeler12]

Ken, I painted the LEDs I have with some yellow and they look a lot better.

When loosely installed they do give about the right amount of light in the powder room. So, I am going with that.

I mentioned that I was thinking of adding a block of wood with holes to hold the LEDs. I did just that and bonded the block to the back of the rear wall where the holes line up with the 'portholes'. In addition the block has two holes on top that will line up with the slots in the orlop deck (the ones that Henry pointed out as being part of the light room) Hopefully that will cast some light in the sail-room.

The back is getting rather crowded but after I cut the mast hole and the light room slots in the orlop deck, I am ready to finally put it all together.

[GLakie]

Those lights are really going to set her off nicely Jay. Cool stuff!! 

[Modeler12]

Thanks George.

I have also decided that the view above is good enough that I am cutting the front wall back to the center line. Instead of two crawl holes there will be only one in the port side. But it will be visible because I can also cut the wall to the hold back.

I hope that makes sense. I have seen the details enough right now in my head.

 

Those LEDs do show up nicely and I will install several in various places but only to provide space lights (unless I get brave enough to make some lanterns).

[lambsbk]

Crowded or not that is looking SO COOL...

[Modeler12]

Well the orlop deck and powder room with LEDs is installed. So what comes next?

 

I was going up to the berth deck when it occurred to me that it was there that we found the hand pump hanging from a post. Some research and lots of help from Dan and Henry let to a set of drawings that explained that around 1880 a fresh water system was installed and the hand pump could deliver fresh water to the oven. One of the drawings is shown below.

It is not clear how many tanks fit in the area indicated and how deep they were. The lead lined tanks were removed probably towards the beginning of the 20th century. I took the liberty to design my tanks and do some calculations about how much water was needed and how deep the two tanks needed to be.

I have no idea if this is correct, but I assumed that each person on deck would consume one gallon of water a day. Let's say there were 450 men aboard and there needed to be at least 60 days of water. That equates to 27,000 gallons of water. Assuming that the tanks would come up to the level of the orlop deck, the volume of the tanks shown below would hold roughly 30,000 gallons. Not much of margin of safety. So the tanks would go deeper than than that.

If the tanks were on average 8 feet deep, the volume would be about 40,000 gallons. More reasonable. To do this the top of the tanks would need more beams and supports leading me to another series of planked deck which are about 20 inches above the orlop deck. That also jibes with the original drawing which indicates that there is a step upwards from the orlop deck to this new 'hold deck'.

 

So here I go again. My model will stop right in the middle of these tanks, so the cross section will show water in the port side, while the starboard side still remains 'open' and the forward area (powder room and lights) should still be visible. On top of the hold deck on the port side will be barrels of food, a rack for lumber and other stuff.

[shiloh]

Put some baffels in your tanks. Unless you have driven a tanker truck half full you probably don't apreciate the amount of thrust moving water can create, baffels help control the speed of the water movement in closed tanks.

jud

Edited October 15, 2015 by shiloh

[Modeler12]

Put some baffels in your tanks. Inless you have driven a tanker truck half full you probably don't apreciate the amount of thrust moving water can create, baffels help control the speed of the water movement in closed tanks.

jud

Right on Jud.

If you have ever been on a cruise ship and tried to swim in a pool with choppy seas you get a ride of your life. Most of the time they empty the pool when things get too rough.

In this case I will add baffles but I also need to keep the tanks tied together so you would not need to shift water from one to the other. 

[Modeler12]

I know I am jumping around a bit, but when I installed a few more planks on the inside of the hull it occurred to me that the back part of the orlop deck needed a few more short planks.

At what point do I want to cut away the part I don't want????

After all the work I put into this, it is not easy to cut it away. Some of it was because of a mistake, some because of bad plans and other simply because I had to in order to keep the 'flow of the lines'. 

 

I will be holding off a little longer until the berth deck is in place and the hull is more stable. At that point I will smooth the outside of the frames and chop away.

[dgbot]

You are doing a bang up job.  I have faith in your work. Keep it up.

David B

[mtaylor]

No doubt cutting away planking and framing is going to be mentally hard, but I think you'll be up to it.  I don't think I would be, however.

Edited October 16, 2015 by mtaylor

[Modeler12]

Not to worry, Mark. 

Cutting things out are not hard if they get in the way (both physically and mentally ).

 

Here is the 'hold deck', loosely in place, before tree nailing and finishing. That little 'wall' you see might be the partition that separates the 'special store room' from the rest of the orlop deck. Just to the left of that will be the 'carpenter's walk'?????

 - more about that later. 

The 'fresh water swimming pool' in the basement goes next. 

But don't hold your breath . . . .

[Modeler12]

Here is the port side of the fresh water tank.

Not shown are several support posts to hold the sides of this tank. The volume of water would result in a lot of pressure on those walls.

I may show some of them along the starboard side. I could even notch the beam like I did on the port side and add a post there.

 

The tree nailing of the hold-deck was done (as well as the back section of the orlop deck) but it still needs to be stained and finished.

At this point it still sits there loosely waiting for the next step and I have not yet installed the baffles either. 
How could I show water in the tank??

 

BTW I have been concentrating so much about this view and almost forgot there is another side forward. 

I need to include the steps (up for both to the hold deck and the major one going up to the berth deck.

So, having a loose hold deck is not all that bad.

Here is what I was talking about. The steps need to be notched out of the hold deck.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Modeler12

[capnharv2]

Who would have thought-water ballast!! Next thing you know, there will be hiking straps and trapezes for the Marines!

 

Oh wait-we're not racing.

Edited October 18, 2015 by capnharv2

[mtaylor]

Water?  A bit of plexiglass but it would need a bluish hue to it, I think....  not sure how to do that.  

 

I guess goldfish would be out?

[capnharv2]

Mark,

 

Koi pond

[Canute]

Alclad II paints has a blue green lacquer window tint for spraying onto modern passenger car windows. See: http://alclad2.com/finishes/transparent/

[shiloh]

Might be a resin available that is intended to represent water, seem to have read something about such material somewhere. You are doing good work on this project.

jud

Edited October 18, 2015 by shiloh

[Modeler12]

I thought about plexiglass like Mark suggested and I have used casting resins in the past. Both would require good detailing of the shape in order for the edges to look 'normal'. But I will give both more thought and a try here and there.

Meanwhile I will keep the hold deck loose.

Thanks for the suggestions and comments.

[Modeler12]

Time out!

 

The admiral and I are ready for a little outing before El-Nino sets in and brings in rain (hopefully, in California).

We are going to Carmel-by-the-Sea for a couple days, drive down highway-1 along the coast, spend a night in Moro Bay and visit some friends along the way.

 

I am having some design problems with the stairs (little guy up to the hold deck and the longer one up to the berth deck). So it is good time to clear my mind, soul and body.

[Canute]

Jay, great idea. Usually work for me. And that area is beautiful.

[mtaylor]

I love that area.  Have a great time.

[capnharv2]

ooooooh. . .  I love Morro Bay . . .

 

Have fun. I hope you get plenty of rain (and snow in the mountains) this winter.

 

Harvey

[Modeler12]

 

Harvey, since you are from the Puget Sound area you would have to love Morro Bay. I has a quiet atmosphere with calm water to do some kayaking and paddle boarding and lots more.

I used to live on a house boat on Portage Bay (before the current bridge across Lake Washington) and know what it is like to be on 'the water'.

 

The admiral and I had a great time for this 'time out', including the long, but scenic drive along highway 1 from Carmel to Morro Bay (with a tour of the Hearst Cattle as well).

 

But now it is back to the model. I still need to put some drawings together for the stairs but know that the angle will be somewhere near 65 degrees. More about this later, but I couldn't help myself but post an addition about using my mill to do so.

The above is just for my reference on this log, but I do want to give Ken and Mark my thanks to the 'time out' post.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Berth deck cut to size.

 

Again I made a template out of stiff paper, cut the shape and did some touch up sanding along the perimeter. The deck is still loose so I can work on the orlop deck, the walls and cabinets that fit along the wall in the forward storage room. But I needed the berth deck for height reference. There are several posts and walls and they should fit right.

 

Including the fresh water tanks and the hold deck turned out to be more work than I had in mind. The earlier pictures of the tank did not show the flimsy walls (stiff cardboard painted grey) and the posts were just a tad too long, so the whole thing did not fit right. I ripped it all out and redid the walls using 1/32 inch boxwood. The orlop and hold decks are now glued in place.

 

I also had problems with the ladders going up to the hold deck and berth deck. The alignment fore and aft is critical and I still have to do some juggling with the berth deck hatch and its hole for the ladder. When all of that is done, I will cut away a lot of the beam structure to show the inside.   

BTW the head clearance you see for the hold deck (below the berth deck) is just that; very small. It will be an area where barrels are stored.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Modeler12

[GLakie]

It's nice to see the pieces coming together Jay.  She's looking great! 

[Modeler12]

It's nice to see the pieces coming together Jay.  She's looking great! 

Thanks George, but now you can see why I keep thinking about the side view and removing a lot of those beams, carlings and frames to get a better idea of what is inside.