USS Constitution by xken - Model Shipways - Scale 1:76.8

[slow2cool]

Outstanding !!!!

[David Lester]

Hi Ken,

This is amazing. I've been a little remiss in not commenting sooner, but I am hesitant because it feels to me a little like my telling Michelangelo he's not a bad sculptor. You're in a different league than I am but it's a pleasure to follow along.

David

[MEPering]

Hi Xken,

 

That is a very ingenious way to handle a problem like this.  I had been considering carving them out of holly, since it is a wood with very fine grain and could probably stand up to the fine carving.  However, your method is something I hadn't considered, and now I am considering doing it totally in brass.  Your method does have the advantage that the solder is much faster and easier to cut though.  The level of relief here is going to be exaggerated no matter what though, and I wouldn't want anything greater than .015 in height, as I think it would be a bit out of scale.  Your work here looks great though.  I will include a pic of how I thought about doing mine... By engraving.  This is from my current work on an 18th century firearm.  I am now considering carving the actual brass with gravers.  I will scratch my head a bit more and decide, since I am a long way from having to worry about the trailboard.

 

Matt

 

 

[xken]

Matt, good looking engraving; I look forward to see what you end up with. I have always admired the engraving process.

[MEPering]

Thank you much, Xken.  I am not a great engraver, but do know what I can do with it in brass and silver.  In that engraving, it is probably about .005 deep, though it could go much deeper, but that would not have been proper for an 18th century engraving from the United States. 

 

Your method though, since everything is painted, is a great way, and easier way to do it.  It will take me some time to decide which I will use.

 

Matt

[_SalD_]

Ken, thank you for sharing your technique for doing the trailboard scroll and for the template.  I'm not building this ship nor am I planning to but I liked your method so I thought I would give it a try just to practice.  I have one question, how is the wooden finger held in place?  Thanks again.

[JSGerson]

For those who are curious, here are the US Navy plans for the headboard decorations. (Please note that I had to reduce the file size to conform to MSW file requirements). Based on the notes in these drawings, this is how I understand their history:

 

Dwg. No. 30155001: Headboard decorations. Not shown: the billethead and the base wrap-around which I addressed in Post 320

 

Dwgs. No. 27498001 and 29623001: Billethead 1813-1835 and 1927 to present.

 

1835-1861: the Andrew Jackson figurehead was used

 

1861 – 1907, the 27528001 style billethead used

 

Dwg. No. 27528001: Billethead 1907 – 1927

 

If anyone wants the full size drawings, please PM me with your email address.

 

Jon

Edited May 7, 2016 by JSGerson

[xken]

Jon, thanks for posting those nice drawings I am sure they will be helpful for a future builder. The person drawing the plans would have certainly benefited had he had these.

 

Sal, the wooden finger is intended to replace your finger in holding the brass sheet tight to the bench pin and close to the cut. The blade should be lubricated very often to avoid the teeth biting the sheet and snapping the blade. You will know a bite when it happens; but keeping the finger tip close to the cut and tight to the bench pin minimizes biting. The finger is just made from a scrap piece of wood and try to select the wood grain running parallel to the length of the finger for strength to avoid breaking under pressure. I also harden the tip with CA and then sand smooth. 

[HIPEXEC]

That is the neatest and most precise work I've ever seen on this website! Wow.

[xken]

I moved onto the "bumpkins", "bumkins" or "boomkins" or whatever they are called. I used boomkins since it sounds more nautical. First I started at the stern since they appeared to be more complicated than the bow ones. I cut and tapered the boomkins and included enough length to turn a locating pin on the end. I then selected a square tube and cut two slices off the end for frame straps that slipped onto the wood. Next I drilled and soldered three lengths of .020" rod to the frame. Once joints were trimmed and cleaned I positioned the boomkin into the 1/16" hole drilled a in the hull. Next I carefully formed each wire to match the hull surfaces which required removal and bending for each hence the locating pin. When both sides were done the ends at the bends were flattened with a small drift punch to from flanges and the excess cut off. The flange corners were filed round and smooth. They were then final fitted and adjusted and then painted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This shows the final installation at the stern.

 

 

Then I fabricated the bow ones which were much simpler and the ends cut to match the stem board below the bowsprit. The wire brace indexed into a hole in the black surface between the white strips.

 

 

 

Next will be more hull details.

 

[Altduck]

Good work on the boomkins, and a very nice, well illustrated tutorial an how you did it.

 

Thanks,

 

Richard

[usedtosail]

Very nice work Ken on the boomkins. Those rods look excellent, much better then my attempt at using wire. I thought the eye bolts at the ends were for the rods to hook onto the boomkins, though. Also, I thought there were two rods on each of the fore boomkins. At least that is how I interpreted the plans. I am hoping you will pass me soon so I can start getting ideas from you.

[xken]

Tom, yes you are correct, the plans show two brace rods, but real ship photos show only one. Both historic and modern. Since I have found other issues with the plans on accuracy I decided to go with the photos. 

As I have mentioned before one feature on the I-pad versus the PC is the ability to zoom in on photos for detail looks. In the historic photo below also note the difference in the billet head design and decoration with some of the rails not painted white. Being new to ship building I am still trying to sort things out and am learning everyday. 

 

[David Lester]

Hi Ken,

Looking very nice. I prefer boomkin too; bumpkin reminds me too much of my home town!

David

[xken]

David, yes I was thinking the same thing when I saw it and had to read the plans twice. I see you live in Southern Ontario, I was born in Northern Ontario, Marathon at the top of Lake Superior. Now living on the Central Coast of California and do not miss the cold winters at all. Down here the winters are actually warmer than the summers due to the summertime fog on the ocean.

[Burroak]

Ken your ship is awesome

[David Lester]

Hi Ken,

I was just kidding about my hometown - I couldn't resist the urge to use the pun, and to reference my extended family would have been too mean, so I said hometown.

Wow, Marathon - that's really up there. It's about 1200 km (750 miles) northwest from where I am. I've been there, driving through on a road trip to western Canada but I haven't made it to California yet. It's on my list.

David

[xken]

I have been busy this week helping the kids with their house renovation and renewing my familiarity with joint compounding tools doing what I can with my back issues.

 

Anyway I have done a few things with hull details; adding channels, davits and sheaves. I sheaves started with fabricating a wood tube to represent the sheave frame that extended through the hull walls. Next holes were surgically cut for as tight a fit as possible with any gaps being filled with shims. Once the frame parts were cut they were hardened with CA and then axle holes were drilled. Here are a few pictures showing the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also added the stern davits with sheave slots and drilled for axle. This shows the pin with a square nut cut from 1/64" wood stock. I also carved the cleats for each. For the cost of this kit one would think they would include the cast cleats used in the Niagara. So far I have carved 10 for davits and head walls who knows how many more will be needed.

 

 

Next I moved on to the quarter davits and the bottom of the arms drilled and sanded round. I also noted that the laser cut brackets with pivot holes were not symmetrical and marked the top surface with a pencil for reference when mounting to the hull.  

 

 

This shows the adding of the brackets to the channel that had to be cut and fitted. These were added first and were then used to align the forward brackets.

 

 

 

Here are the brackets painted with arms in location. Also note the stern davits with cleats, the channels and sheaves.

 

 

Here are the quarter davit arms detailed with sheave slots, cleats, eyebolts and reinforcing bands using .005" brass strips. Much easier to see details before painting. These will be set aside and added later in the build.

 

 

 

Next I will add the carvings over the gunports; I will save the gunport covers until after the spar decking is installed.

 

 

 

[usedtosail]

Nice Ken. You are finally ahead of me on at least one part - the davits, so I can get some great tips from you when I add mine. Thanks.

[Burroak]

Ken your dong a superb job! Thanks for showing!

[JSGerson]

XKen - you were "complaining" about having to make cleats. Syren Ship Model Co makes wonderful laser cut cleats that you finish yourself. These are a lot easier to work with than home made ones (at least for me). BTW, yours came out beautiful! How did you do it?

 

Jonathan

[xken]

Jonathan, my remark was more of a comment rather than a complaint since the Niagara kit has cast cleats the same size as those needed for these applications. The next time I carve cleats I will post some pictures of the process.  

 

I have been working with the kids on their house renovation and drywall patching the existing living room ceiling and walls after walls were removed. Great exercise! I have some time to do some building and added the gunport carved decorations to the top of all the gunports as well as the lower covers. I then did a test for the top covers and decided that these will wait until the spar deck is installed so as not to damage them. I am trying to button up all the steps needed before adding the spar deck. The carved decorations needed the drilled holes for the lines which would cause wood bits on the gun deck which are easily cleaned without the spar deck in place.

 

 

   I also realized that it might be wise to index the bowsprit in place as well which required fabricating the bowsprit. In reviewing the plans I noticed that a drawn detail did not make sense given the blending of flat surfaces and round ones; so back to actual photos of the real ship, one can be seen below.

Here are a couple of pictures of how I resolved the issue based on the photos. The main tapering of the bowsprit fore and aft then followed the plans; but the end did not.

I then got carried away and fabricated the dolphin striker as well. Another opportunity to hone my wood carving skills which are getting better everyday.

 

Here are the in progress parts coming together with more details yet to be added.

 

Now back to adding more bowsprit details. We are waiting for the city inspection on the electrical and plumbing of the new laundry room before I can get back to dry walling.

 

 

[JSGerson]

I did understand your remarks, I was just being a little facetious, hence the quote marks.

 

The bowsprit looks great. I just hope it's stronger than it looks. I wouldn't install it until I had for fear of inadvertently hitting and breaking it.

 

Jon

[xken]

Finished up all the details on the bowsprit and then made both the jib boom and flying boom. Johnathan the bowsprit is removable and the dolphin striker is stronger than it appears but yes; better to be safe than sorry.

 

Here is a sequence showing the finished up parts ready for paint and to be set aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approval was received for the laundry room rough in so insulation is now happening and I am on stand by for dry walling. My next direction will be to button up the gun deck and then start on the spar deck.

[mtaylor]

Sweet work on the bowspit, Ken.  I can see where the photos would better than the plans for it.  

[David Lester]

Hi Ken,

I have a question about the quarter davits (yours look great by the way.) I've been getting mine ready to install and it appears to me if they are mounted upright against the hull of the ship as the plans show and the spar is installed across the top of them, that it will interfere with the mizzen shrouds. Does it look that way to you too? Is there a potential problem here and is there a good way to deal with it. In the Bob Hunt practicum, he just left the spar off which appears to be one approach. In the pictures below which I took when I visited the ship a couple of years ago, the spar is in place, but the davits are pivoted outward with quite a different arrangement where the kit supplied upper bracket would be. Of course I realize that the Constitution as I toured it is a different version in many respects than the model, but if I followed the model plans to the letter, I'm pretty sure the problem will present itself.  I see two possible solutions, the first being to leave the spar off as Bob did or to pivot the davits away from the hull and change the upper bracket. I would be interested to know how you plan to deal with this little issue. Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

David

[David Lester]

Hi Again,

I may have just answered my own question. I took a closer look at the plans and it shows the metal strap which holds the davit to the upper bracket to be long enough and with enough "slack"  to allow the davit to pivot away from the hull whereas the practicum shows the metal strap to be short holding the davit tight against the hull which causes the problem I outlined in my earlier posting. I think this longer metal strap might be the correct solution without having to reinvent the upper bracket. In any case, I'll wait until I have the mizzen shrouds in place before I install the davits, that way I can better gauge how far away from the hull the davits need to be. Anyway, I'm still very interested to hear your take on this. Thanks again,

David

[xken]

David, glad to see the problem solved. I have had a busy week dry walling, wife's craft fair, and yesterday my son had twin boys in NYC. Life is good and all are doing well.

[xken]

My contribution to the house renovation work is done so back to some ship building. I finished up the flying jib hardware and gundeck detailing and am moving on to the spar deck planking. I decided to use a 1/64" plywood carrier for the planking due to the hole needed for the center grating area. First I made a card stock pattern then traced it onto the plywood and added reference tick marks for tapering the planks. I am using black glue that will show as the joint lines. Planks will be shaped and glued individually for each position. 

 

 

 

The hardware parts will be painted black before adding.

 

 

Here the rope coils were added for the in haul lines.

 

 

 

 

 

Now back to adding decking to the carrier and sorting out what bracing may be needed to glue the carrier to the hull. 

 

[JSGerson]

If I read and understood you correctly, the support decking was your contribution and not the kit instructions. If that is correct, will that make any difference in the final height of the deck? I'm thinking cannon clearance through the gun ports. I don't know what was the original deck construction plan.  When I was making the gunports for my Rattlesnake, I made a card dummy cannon that I could poke through the gunports to ensure the opening were of proper height.

 

Jon