USS Constitution by Livingstoneman - Model Shipways

[Livingstoneman]

[Livingstoneman]

I live in a village in Africa so I had to be very concerned about the length of the box, as I had to make it fit in a trunk to get it on the plane. And Thank God, it fit perfectly!

Edited August 30, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[wq3296]

Greetings Live...

 

I have built two or three Model Shipways kits (not the Constitution) and have always been happy with the quality of the wood and other components. I believe many folks on this site have built the Connie so there will be no shortage of opinions should you need any help. I guess if you bought a kit like this you must have previous experience with ship modeling, so to wish you good luck is not really appropriate. 

 

wq3296

[Livingstoneman]

This is my first build. And yes I am told I should start with a more simpler model, but my pride tells me I think I can do it. So here goes nothing. I did one plastic ship model by Revel of the Cutty Sark when I was 15 years old. But when it was finished, I got board and modified it into a space ship. 

 This could be a nice reality check to my confidence level. HA!

Edited August 30, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Livingstoneman]

Thanks Wq3296 for the Luck. Yes, I need all the Luck I can get. The project already started with it's challenges. The kit was missing the second blue prints and a bell. So I contacted the company and with in a month I got in the mail both items for free. I was just lucky that my Mom had planned on visiting me here in Africa, so there was not much a delay.

 The second challenge was putting glue on the wrong sides! Then gluing a hull in the wrong place. But all was fixed.

 The part I am working on now is the filler blocks...man this is going to take the cake. 

Edited August 30, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[markjay]

Great start, best of luck with th build.

[GuntherMT]

You are a lot braver than me, I went with much simpler builds for my first & second builds both!  Good luck, and enjoy the journey.

[Gundorph]

Beautiful Conni... Great to see another one here... Will follow your build...

[drmac]

Good luck with the Connie.  I built it several years ago(my second build) and I am sure you won't run into difficult problems that you  won't be able to handle.  I really enjoyed building it and I hope you will too.  I always wanted to go to Africa, so if you need help let me know and i will stop by.

Jack

Trumbull Ct.

[Livingstoneman]

Today my goal was to make a filler block. Tackled just the one, and 3 hours later here are the photos.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[CaptainSteve]

Welcome to the Connie Club, Livingstoneman.

Great to see that you've hit the ground running now that the missing pieces have arrived from Model Shipways. 

[Livingstoneman]

ok, got some extra time to do a bit of sanding. I realized that my filler block was a bit thick, so I traced the print and checked & sure enough, I was way off. So I worked on the block and even finished the other side. Did the notches & started on the supporting rail. I used an old Scanner to do the tracing. After pulling the guts out and replacing it with a led it worked like a charm.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[xken]

I will be checking in from time to time since this will be my next build once I finish the Brig Niagara that I am building now.

Keep up the great work you are doing!

[usedtosail]

Looks good. I'll follow along and if you have any questions I will be happy to answer them, although it looks like you are doing great.

[Livingstoneman]

This Saturday I worked on the dreaded post. Took me 3 hours to do it and I am not happy how it turned out. I did just the one side with terrible results. The wood kept splitting. I guess when you deal with such small pieces, looking where the grain is traveling would be helpful. I will sand it down further and use wood filler to fill in the gaps.   

Edited September 21, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Livingstoneman]

Been busy last few weeks traveling to Lusaka to buy iron sheets for the orphanage. 1000 kilometers away! HA!

 ok so I think I have finished the front Plank sheer. If that's what you call them. It was tricky as I had to use tweezers to hold a few of the pieces, but I managed. It's not going to be seen from the outside so I think I did an ok job. 

 I have now started on the rear filler block. And it is a challenge! Still not done but I'm on it's way.  

Edited October 5, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Livingstoneman]

Ok, I have been fighting with these filler blocks long enough, since this is my first build, it's just going to have to do. Its not perfect but it should do the trick. I broke 3 blade saws and many dremel sand papers. Plus a boat load of saw dust. I think I gave my wife asthma. But all is ok now. I hope to stay away from those filler blocks forever!

Edited October 18, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[CaptainSteve]

Having only just recently finished doing my own filler blocks, I can relate with the saw-dust issue. Even more so, if you choose to do them over a couple of times like I needed to do.

 

Sorry to say, but from looking at your bow picture above, I think you still need to reduce yours down further. Try running a test-plank from the rabbet groove, over your bow filler block, and back towards the stern.

 

Alternatively, make yourself a set of cardboard templates by tracing your filler blocks from the plans. 

 

HINT: Don't do them like I did in the picture above. You will find they work better by making a template of the outside of the curve. This was how I learned that I needed to reduce my own filler blocks further.   

 

... and they ended up like this.

 

I also found the stern blocks to be a real challenge. In the above picture, the top pair are one of the earlier sets. The bottom pair were the final set. They were sanded down further to ensure a better fit for the planking, once they were glued into place.

 

Hope this helps, LSMan !!

 

PS: Looks like you are ahead of me on the bow-framing.

 

Edited October 18, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Livingstoneman]

Captain Steve, After comparing your bow with mine, you are correct! Mine are what I call swollen. I will work on that soon. And on the stern, yeh it needs a bit more too. Thanks for the heads up. I was going to try a piece os planking but was concerned that I didn't have an extra piece to use from my kit. I live in a remote village in the heart of Africa, so getting any spare balsa wood is out of the question. But I do go back to Texas once a year from April to June so I could get more supplies if I need it. 

 We have a volunteer coming in December, so my wife said she will buy me a new real Dremel for christmas. YEH. My off-market one has it problems. The flex cable broke as I crimped it.

 Anyways, thanks for the advice.  

Edited October 19, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Livingstoneman]

My mom just sent me a photo of me in Venezuela 1979 with my first Viking ship built from scratch. HA!

Edited October 19, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Livingstoneman]

In the same year in Venezuela, my brother and I would go over our neighbors house which was like visiting Captain Nemo. An old Indonesian engineer who decorated his house with things of the sea. Diving bell suit, blow fish as lanterns, giant sea turtles shells on the wall. Etc. In his spare time he built large scale ships from scratch! He had done several and are now in museums in Caracus. Only one photo survives of him that I have...      

Edited October 19, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[CaptainSteve]

I was going to try a piece os planking but was concerned that I didn't have an extra piece to use from my kit.

 

You won't need an extra piece. You don't need to cut it or glue it. Just pull any strip from your wood supply and use it as a test. Then it can go back in the box for later.

 

Keep at it, LSMan.

 

PS: I'm guessing from your pics (being 1979), that we would be of approximately the same age.

Edited October 19, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Livingstoneman]

Been busy at the farm (Terra Nova), but I finally spent a few hours on the rear filler block. 

Edited November 14, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Livingstoneman]

Worked on the Stern. Still needs a bit of touch up, but I think it is enough for today.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Livingstoneman]

Man oh Man. Made a huge mistake. Somehow the stern frame is too tall at the one end of where the deck is going on, the stern frame is about 1/4 inch too tall. Maybe the stern table block was too thick? uggg. 

 So what I did is just sand down each stern block down a 1/4 inch and re-cut those notches. During which I broke off 2 of those stern frames sticks... Glued them back on.

 I just hope this isnt going to bite me in the butt later, like for the windows etc.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[Geoff Matson]

Just found your build. Things are looking great. Looking forward to following your progress

[dgbot]

You are not in a race the care and work you are doing now will pay dividends down the road.  At this stage if you take off a little too much you can always build it back up.  You are doing a great job

David B

[usedtosail]

I remember having to do something similar to the stern frames on mine, but not as much as 1/4". You should be all right with the windows though.

[Livingstoneman]

I have been looking for this one strip of wood that is required to be glued to the back of the stern frame, but it is not included. Am I missing something here? It asked for 3/8 X 1/8 Strip for the deck beam. But it was not provided. I guess I should just make one?

 

Tom 

Edited December 2, 2015 by Livingstoneman

[dgbot]

Tom if you have the tools go for it.  Easier than ordering a new part.

David B