USS Constitution by Modeler12 - Cross-Section - Bow Area

[dgbot]

I am no longer in withdraw.  Thanks for giving a fix.

David B

[Modeler12]

Ok David. Here is the next step.

 

Even though the gun deck still needs lots of work, I decided to do a couple more things to the spar deck.

It will be the most visible from above and I want to make sure it will fit in correctly.

After I installed the horizontal knees I also had to add a few more joists fore and aft. The mill came into use and I had to remember how I did this last time. The 4 inch vise and rotary table are still in place and I made a wooden top with block that I can mount in the vise. A couple screws and wooden plates hold the spar deck to this wooden top and this is good enough to mill the 1/16 inch wide slots as shown below. The second pictures shows two of the joists in place to the far right.

I also added two more deck planks along the port side. This is where the waterway fits against the frames and planks. Thus I had to do this fitting with the deck in place. There is another waterway full length on the starboard side. It worked fine. Now a bit of sanding with my mouse, install some more tree nails and stain to 'almost' finish the pre-assembled spar deck.

But no, I still have to cut the opening for the mast, the missing hole for one fife-rail post, and several eye bolts  .

[dgbot]

Where do you find the energy?  Super expresso?

David B

[Modeler12]

The following is primarily intended for Mark.

I show the closeup below because of the dimensions and the vertical calibration of my mill (from Little Machine Shop).

The joist stock I am using measures 0.062 x 0.082 inches. Hence I use a 1/16 inch diameter bit and route the slots I show.

The depth is set at 0.080 inches so I have a little bit extra for sanding. To set this depth on my mill I have to turn the z-axis dial one full turn plus 0.010 inches more. Strange design to have 0.070 inches per turn. But I am used to it now.

The slots are flat on the bottom but rounded at the ends. Thus I have to round the ends of the joists to fit. I know this is not kosher but the result is ok for me. Locating and cutting these grooves by hand would be a monstrous task.

Edited August 9, 2016 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Here it is again with five more joists installed.

[Modeler12]

Back to the gun deck.

The cannon openings in the hull are finished along the port side and the standing and hanging knees are in place. I have to remember to drill holes for the breech line eye bolts in the waterways. The double eye bolts you see in the standing knees are for the gun tackles.

The alignment of the hanging knees with the spar deck is not perfect but has been tricky to work on, to say the least. Once the spar deck is in place those intersections will not be visible, unless you use a dental mirror  .

The next step is to cut the openings and install a few knees on the starboard side.

[Modeler12]

It helps to refresh my memory banks from time to time.

This is what it is supposed to look like. Minus the sprinkler pipes and electrical wiring, of course.

If I am not mistaken, the vertical pipe you see is another lead pipe that comes from the orlop deck. This is something I discussed a while back. It is probably part of the 'sanitation plumbing'. Notice the slight bend in the pipe (so typical of lead pipes).

 

When are you going to make the cannons, Jay?????

Edited August 11, 2016 by Modeler12

[mtaylor]

That is some tricky joinery on the joists, Jay and they turned out beautifully.   And thanks for the info on the mill.  

[Modeler12]

May I clarify, please.

In real life, the three knees come together and are bolted to each other and to the frame before the spar deck is added.

Of course, I chose to be different and built the spar deck before all of the above. Trouble!!!!

 

During my fiddling, I had to keep in mind the alignment of all those weird body parts. The vertical knees support the beams above. The horizontal knees tie the spar beams together and then the slanted knees tie those all into one happy family. Easy!!!

 

Bull.

I have had more trouble here then anywhere. 

The horizontal knees are already attached to the spar deck. likewise,
The beams of the spar deck are already in place (but the whole thing is still loose).

So, when I added the vertical and hanging knees I had to be extremely careful that they were in line and matched the beams of the spar deck above.

In the real thing (picture above), you can see an extra board near the ceiling. Ii might very well be to cover up the mismatch that I encountered.

 

I hope you are as confused as I have been

Edited August 12, 2016 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

I know the cannons and other items on the cannon deck are not yet finished.

However, I do need to cut numerous planks for the hull and bulwarks. So, I decided to invest in a better table saw.

Jim Byrnes comes to mind and his table saw is what I received a couple days ago. Made some trial cuts, made new table inserts for narrow blades I have and I think I am ready to go. Meanwhile I am looking into some 'improvements' of the saw. More later.

 

Elsewhere I made some comments about the saw, but for this build log let me add the following comments and pictures.

 

1. The long, hex wrench got to go. I am looking into making a 'permanent' knob to lock the blade into position.

 

2. The inserts I made work good. I can make more out of 1/16 inch thick plywood. After I install one and with the blade in position on the arbor, I slowly raise the saw and cut through the insert until I am satisfied of the depth of cut. this gives me practically zero clearance between the blade and table.

 

3. I have a few old (and one new) blades that have the 1/2 inch arbor hole. They work fine on this saw and I can order more directly from Thurston. I prefer the 3 inch diameter because it gives me more lateral stability and there is no need to have the extra 1/2 inch sticking up above the table.

 

4. It has been suggested to add a 'splitter' just behind the blade. It would prevent the wood from closing up right after being cut and it would be a fraction thinner than the blade for clearance. I will try to do that on mine but it would not be for every insert I make or use (unless I can think of a way to make them inter-changeable).

 

Meanwhile I dug out the old thickness sander and it still does a good job cleaning up the thin planks. If you like to know how it works, let me know. It is an addition to my drill press.

 

Back to the gun deck . . . I think. . . .

[mtaylor]

Jay,

Grant Dale made some nice add on's to this saw.. a "fence" for ripping planks without kickback, for one.  I'm not sure if it's in his Bomb Vessel Cross-Section or in the tools area.

[Modeler12]

I'll take a look, Mark.

Kickback has been no problem with this saw. As I mentioned, I use the carbide blade for thick ripping (up to 3/4 inch) and the thin jewelers blade for ripping and cross cutting. On my old Shopsmith I encountered kickback when cross cutting (thin blade), but with the nice miter gauge on the Byrnes saw I have not encountered any.

I have a supply of wood pieces I use to 'test' my setup. I measure the thickness of this test and use the micrometer on the table to zero in on what I want. Again this works fine and I can get to within a thousands of an inch.

[Modeler12]

For the spar deck carronades I started to make the carriages. I need four but will be cutting material for at least five.

Using my new saw I cut Swiss pear stock for the carriage base, side supports, cradle and quoin. 

 

The side carriages came first and I drilled holes (double up on the planks) for the gun supports. 

After cutting the parts to length (1/2 inch), I used my mill for the flat spots and a round bit for the rounded contour.

Some filing is still necessary to round the curves and smooth the parts.

I'll make the other pieces the same way with my mill. As yet, I have not made the gun barrels.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Here are most of the pieces required for the carriage.

Missing are the 'bolts' or rods that connect the side supports and, of course, the carronades.

 

Doing it this way is a lot more work than the laser cut pieces I used for the full model. Using the mill and other tools gave me a totally different perceptive about modeling this simple structure. More fun

 

I show the second picture because I used a rather crude way to drill the 0.018 inch holes in the side carriage for the eye bolts and cross rod. The hand drill, with its bit, was mounted into the chuck and this turned out to work ok. Not perfect, but the parts that go into those holes will be epoxied any way.

 

 

[Modeler12]

As long as I was drilling tiny holes, I decided to prepare the single and double blocks I need for the corronade rigging.

I has been ages since I did this for my full size model, but the idea is to drill a hole in the end of the block and epoxy a hook right into the block. This saves a lot of space that is needed for the tight quarters. 

Below are some of the blocks I will use. They are equivalent to about 7.5 inches full scale. The two shown with the hooks are dry fitted and need to be adjusted for length and alignment when the epoxy is still 'wet'.

[Modeler12]

There is one additional nice feature about the Byrnes saw. It has a great little miter gauge.

I can also use it now on my Ryobi sander. All I did is make a 1/8 inch thick plywood 'zero clearance' plate that is double back taped to the sander table. Actually I cut the plate into two pieces as shown below. That created the slot for the gauge.

 

The accuracy of square or angle cuts is now much better. The dowel pins in the gauge assure me that the angles are repeatable and true.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Modeler12

[usedtosail]

That is a nice mod to your sander Jay.

[Modeler12]

That is a nice mod to your sander Jay.

Thanks Tom.

I tend to be a cheapskate sometimes, but I have used this sander for several years now and I still like it.

For about $120 at Home Depot you can buy this combo belt and disk sander that works great for numerous projects.

The adoption of the miter gauge seemed a natural for the small stuff.

[Modeler12]

Here is another addition to my Byrnes saw. Feather-boards.

When the wood is wide enough, I use my left hand to guide the wood against the fence. But when it becomes very narrow, I have used a piece of wood to guide it, but the feather-board does a better job. Of course, I need to change the setting for different widths, but so be it.

 

I use 1/8 plywood and cut the slots on my mill. I made five for 'reserve'. 

The 1/2 inch aluminum bar fits snugly in the slot and the two 8-32 screws hold the thing together.

[Modeler12]

Although the feather-board worked well, the bar did slip a bit too easily in the slot.

I may have to modify this by making a longer bar with a slot and 'tapered' threaded hole as shown below.

An 8-32 set-screw or even a thumbscrew would force the slot to open and push the bar against the sides of the slot.

To make it easier, the slot could go all the way to the front end.

This is not a new idea because I used it many times on the old Shopsmith.

 

[Modeler12]

Back to the carronade carriages. Here are five (I need four, so one is in reserve).

These pieces were made out of Swiss pear.

I have also put hooks on the single and double blocks for the tackles.

Obviously there are some parts still missing

[Modeler12]

I keep thinking of things to add to my Byrnes table saw. 

Earlier I added a feathering board and now a hold down clamp. Actually it is a ball bearing pushing down on the work piece.

   

The concept came from looking at what another modeler had done cutting thin veneer. I simply added a ball bearing to that design.

Jim Byrnes provided a threaded hole on the far side. He used that to add a clear guard around the blade. It has the same design features  that I used here. 

 

I have cut a few pieces this way and it works like a charm.

 

[Modeler12]

One more addition and then it is back to real work.

[Modeler12]

Now that I have the saw the way I want it, it is time to make some saw dust. 

For the outside planking I am using swiss pear and for the bulwarks (inside top part) it will be mahogany. I'll be using lighter colored wood (such as holly and boxwood) for the fife rails, channel and top rails. That should give it a nice contrast.

But first I needed to level the top edges of the framed hull. It took a bit of juggling to arrive at the correct height such that there are five planks above the waterway. Note that the spar deck is still not fixed in place because there is more work to be done on the gun deck, plus the spar deck also needs more sanding and a coat of stain. So I cannot glue the inside planks where they belong. Yet I wanted to have some of the hull planking in place before cutting away the starboard opening. That 'hole' will be just below the channel.

I made the channels so that they are embedded between planks. It should be a lot more rigid this way than bonding them simply to the outside. I will not install the channels until much later and probably use epoxy to glue them in place.

  

After these outside planks are glued to the frames, I should be able to locate and cut the openings for the carronades.

 

Finally I cut two strips for the lower 'top-rail'. They are bent to follow the contour of the top edges.

   

Edited September 30, 2016 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Well, all is not well. 

My reasoning about the location of the top rail was flawed and I had to tear things apart (the planking I mean, a day-and-a -half of work).

 

All along I have been building this thing from the bottom up (like real ships). But then I decided to go the other way and it went sour. The location of the top rail should be dictated by the distance up from the gun port holes. The drawing below shows this.

Hence the hull planks should be aligned using the gun ports as a reference. 

What happened with mine is that some of the planks had to be cut narrower and at a small angle. Wrong. You can see that in the last picture above, the one of the hull with clamps holding some planks (that are now removed). To meet the gun ports the fill planks had to be cut the wrong way.

I am glad I caught this now while the adhesive was semi cured.

 

This drawing also shows the increased thickness of the wale planks. Something I have to remember.

Edited October 2, 2016 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Here is what it looks like now. 

Obviously this is before bonding them into place.

I used a piece of basswood for the inside extension and that will support the inside and outside planking, as well as serve as a edging for the carronade openings.

   

There are still a couple pieces of planking that need to be removed and then I can continue planking the hull down to the wale.

Notice that the pencil marks is where the cut-out will happen (if it does ) but I also want to show some of the frames, so the planking goes only part way along the sides.

[Modeler12]

This gives me an idea where the side cut-out section will be. 

Hopefully the pencil marks line up with what I have been saving along the inside. To machine part of the frames away is another challenge.

I just want to make sure some of the frames will show. But time will tell.

 

Now that I look at that picture, I am again surprised that the section I chose includes more than I had anticipated. The channel, for example, fits just inside the boundary and that means I can include all of the dead-eyes required for the fore-mast rigging. 

Next comes the other side and the cut-outs for the canonades. Didn't I say that before? 

Edited October 7, 2016 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Don't hold your breath about the 'opening'.

I decided to tackle the other side first and check out the 'lighting' as well. Notice the wires, one of which goes to the stove.

The three LED's and wiring are still working but need to be connected and buried inside the hull. There will be no way to get to them from that point on (without cutting). There will be at least two more that are connected to the back side.

 

The port side planking should be straight forward, but let me make a point about the gun-port openings and their alignment.

There should be a small ledge for the gun-port doors to rest on. The pictures below show that the one to the far left needs a bit of 'rework'. All of this is still in a 'dry-lab' situation, so it can be done before I bond the planks in place.

 

  

Edited October 12, 2016 by Modeler12

[Mike Y]

Great model, looking forward to see the LED lights through the cutoff area!

[Modeler12]

Great model, looking forward to see the LED lights through the cutoff area!

Me too Mike. This has been going on for at least a year (on and off) and all along I have stalled cutting the opening while being curious - and a bit afraid- to do it

 

Right now, though, I am concentrating on finishing the port side and making sure the wiring will work as I enclose it.

Building more planks on the hull will stiffen the whole and make it more stable while cutting those frames for the 'opening'.