USS Constitution by David Lester - FINISHED - Model Shipways

[David Lester]

Hi Matt,

Thanks, but you're being a bit too kind. The biggest problem is controlling their length, because you don't want to cut off the end with the hole in it at the bottom, but once you cut off the top end and solder it to the deadeye, it's pretty much a done deal if it's too short. For my future ones, I'm going to actually pin the strap in place without glue to measure it rather than just holding it up to the approximate location on the hull. Then remove it, solder it and then put it back in place permanently. If I have enough left over when I've finished them all, I'll redo the most egregious ones.

 

I used small nails to attach them with a small dab of glue. There are a number of small brass nails that came with the kit, but as I alluded to in any earlier post, I don't know what the heck they're for. They're way too big for this application. So, I ordered a bunch of steel pins from Blue Jacket which are just the right size. (If they're of interest to you, they're the ones identified as corresponding to a #75 drill size.) The small head on the pin looks like a bolt head. The only problem is, I ordered them ages ago and only ordered 100 of them which seemed like a lot. I hadn't actually counted the number needed and I have discovered that it's well over 100. I don't really have need of anything else from Blue Jacket right now and ordering more of these and nothing else is just not cost effective. The shipping costs to Canada for a minor purchase are staggering. This morning I went in to a local sewing store and it appears as though they can help me out. They have pins in many different sizes, including ones small enough, but those ones had big round heads, so they won't work. They offered to order some for me with the small flat head which I should have by next week. So that should solve my problem. Now that I know I can get them easily, I think I'm going to add another detail that's not in the plans, but I saw someone else do and I kind of like. Have you found this build log? http://www.knightdreamers.com/HomePage/Ships/00.htmThis guy, Greg Meyer, using pictures of the real ship as a guide, added pins to represent bolt heads to the outside of the hull which secure the breach lines on the gun carriages. You'll be able to find it in his log.

David

[MEPering]

David,

 

Thanks for that link.  I will go through it and see what information I can glean from the guy.  Looks like he has done a pretty good job, from the few pages I have skimmed.  And I will have to look at my pictures again to see if I can find that detail on the breach line connections, as well as his sight.

 

As for those little nails, I never saw a reference to them in the instructions, and the only thing I could figure they my be used for was temporary holds during the planking process.  And they give you so many.  I might use them for the chainplates, but only after turning down those huge heads on the lathe.  Tedious work, but I am pretty frugal (i.e. cheap), so I might just do that.  But please let us know how your sewing store nails work out.

 

Matt

[mojofilter]

Hi David - 

 

As for which side out?  Your ship is so beautiful that you must put it on a table in the middle of the room so people can walk all the way around it!  I say all sides out!

 

- Tim

[David Lester]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks Tim for your comments.

 

I don't have too much progress to report at this time. I've been working away very slowly. There are too many outdoor maintenance demands on my time now that the warm weather has arrived. What little modeling I have been doing has been very frustrating. I seem to be in some kind of hellish loop where everything I touch turns to *#@! I'm still working on deck and upper hull details and it has become downright sisyphean. Why do anything once, when you can do it twice or three times over? Right? Those little components called the horse blocks have really tried my patience and only after I had both of them glued in place did I decide to rip them out and start over. I notice in Bob Hunt's practicum that he omits them. In fact he doesn't even refer to them and I now understand why. At first I thought he forgot them but now I believe he chose to "forget" them. (The latter, of course, is a time honoured technique and one that I have frequently employed to my advantage throughout my life)  

 

I'm currently soldering the chainplates for the starboard side and here my skills seem to be getting worse with practice with several attempts needed for just about every one of them. (You've heard about the carpenter who cut the board twice and it was still too short, well I literally did that in one case!)

 

I don't really have much new to show in pictures at this point and sorry for all this kvetching, but as soon as I have evidence of progress I'll get some new pictures up. It won't be until next week at least as we have a very big weekend coming up. My wife Nancy is retiring. She's an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada (a liberal denomination, similar to the United Church of Christ in the US) and they have a big dinner and special services planned for her and we have relatives coming from far and wide so it will be chaos around here for a few days. It should be a great weekend though.

 

Perhaps with a little break and my preoccupation with the upcoming weekend over, I will return to the Constitution next week with fresh eyes and more nimble fingers and get past this Groundhog Day loop that I'm currently in.

 

David

[donrobinson]

Hi David; it appears we are leading similar lives when it comes to yard work and modelling. It is not like this hobby has enough repetitive tasks that we need to cause more for ourselves. I'm attributing my sudden lack of skill and enthusiasm to the time of year and all the tasks I have created for myself, my mind is simply unable to focus on any one thing.

Following in your mindset I also have been promising myself next week will be better, it has been almost three weeks now for me. I too have nothing to report but every week I look forward to next week and the possibility of some progress happening   .

 Take care and please send your wife  Nancy my congratulations on her retirement. 

[DocBlake]

David and Don:  I've joined you two in having my model work pre-empted by outdoor  tasks and my consulting business!  I see a light at the end of the tunnel, though!  Hope it's the same for you both.

[Landlubber Mike]

Beautiful job David, really impressive work.

[David Lester]

Hello All,

It's been a while since I last posted or even worked on my model. There are just too many outdoor demands on my time and it never feels right holed up in my basement when the weather is absolutely glorious. Nevertheless I have a little progress to report. I have almost finished the chainplates. The biggest problem I had with them was getting their length correct, but I developed a little system that worked well enough. Working one channel at a time, I pinned them in place temporarily and let them protrude up through the holes in the channel. (This of course brings me to my frequent complaint about all those little brass nails they include in the kit for no reason that's apparent to me. On this build I actually need little nails to attach the chainplates, but the ones included in the kit are about three times too big to fit the holes in the chainplates. I had to buy new ones. They're about the size of a #75 drill. Why do they do these things?) Working one chainplate at a time, I snipped it off flush with the top of the channel and then removed it. I then snipped about 1/16" more off of it and then soldered on the deadeye. I slipped them back into position, let them hang loose and painted them below the channel before attaching them permanently. Once all are in place, I'm painting the channel and deadeyes and touching up black and white paint where necessary.

 

I'm also planning ahead for the netting along the railing. I had bought some tulle at a fabric store some time ago, but I'm beginning to think the little diamond openings are too big for the scale. I don't know whether tulle comes in different "gauges" or not. (At any rate, gauge is certainly not a word to use at a fabric store; I got a very odd look.) Today I took a stroll through a dollar store to see if I could find anything else that might work. I did find two different cheap black mesh zippered bags which I can cut up. One also seems a bit too big, but the other looks like it might be ok. I'm going to experiment with all three.

 

That's all until next time. We're told to expect beautiful weather right through the weekend and then plenty of rain on Monday, so maybe I'll be able to have indoor recess all day!

David

[usedtosail]

David, your chains are looking great. I am just about to attempt this step on mine and I must say it is pretty daunting. I did find some nails that I had that are just a little oversize, but I was able to enlarge the holes slightly in the chains and plates, and I can chuck the nails in my Dremel and file them down to fit into the enlarged holes. That is the plan for now anyway.

[JSGerson]

 

 

 On this build I actually need little nails to attach the chainplates, but the ones included in the kit are about three times too big to fit the holes in the chainplates. I had to buy new ones. They're about the size of a #75 drill.

Out of curiosity, what was your source for the #75 nails?

 

Jon 

[donrobinson]

Looks real good David, every little bit suddenly adds up to completion

[David Lester]

Hi Jon,

I've been buying a lot of my bits and pieces, including these nails from Cast Your Anchor in Toronto. www.castyouranchorhobby.com. They have a pretty decent inventory and I like the fact that they give very detailed descriptions of the sizes of things. While their website is well laid out and descriptive, it never seems to work all that well if I try to order through it, so I always phone. You always deal with Sandra and she's great. If I get the answering machine she always calls back. Even though they're based in Toronto, most of their customers are in the US so they price in US dollars. I'm not sure how they charge for US shipping, but here for small items they just pop them in an envelop, stick a stamp on it and mail it without any extra charge. It's pretty hard to do better.

David

[JSGerson]

Ah yes, Cast Your Anchor. I've dealt with them before, but it's been a while. I'll have to check in with them more often. Thanks for your quick reply.

 

Jon

[David Lester]

Hello Everyone,

I've been feeling a bit embarrassed about my build log for some time now which I've allowed to become virtually non-existant. I became very lazy about taking photographs and making updates, and then the more time that passed the less inclined I become to update. Nevertheless, I finished my Constitution in April, so if I upload photos of it now, I hope you'll forgive me for the huge gap in the middle. I pretty much had the hull and its details finished when I last checked in, so it's primarily the masts and rigging that I haven't reported on.

The rigging end of things went quite well generally. Making the masts and yards was very enjoyable and not particularly difficult. I didn't find the rigging too difficult either, but at times the shear volume of it and its finicky nature were a bit daunting. It was very frustrating to stop for lunch (and a quick fix of CNN) only to return to my shop and discover that I had tied a whole set of lines on the wrong side of something. I'm sorry to report that this happened to me more than a few times. However, every time it did happen, I tore it out and redid it. I am certain that there are many errors in my rigging, but at least I can say that none that were apparent to me went unaddressed. 

This was my second build and I couldn't have enjoyed it more. It was the model I wanted to do from the outset, but I chose to build the AVS first as a practice piece and I'm glad I did. I didn't find the Constitution to be especially difficult (although it had plenty of challenges), it's really more a matter of the volume of the work it requires that might be overwhelming as a first kit.

I used Bob Hunt's practicums for both the AVS and the Constitution. The one for the AVS is excellent and as a complete novice, I don't believe I could have worked my way through the model without it. For the Constitution, the first half of the practicum is also excellent and I found it an invaluable resource. However, when it came to the rigging, it was quite a different matter. This part of the course is so full of errors and omissions and with a confusing approach that in many ways it hindered rather than helped. I did buy the Lennarth Petersen Rigging Period Ship Models and it was a very helpful resource.

 

I know for a fact that my family is glad this project is done. They seem to take great delight in teasing me about how much I tend to talk about it and at what great length. At Christmas, my sister-in-law innocently asked "how's the model coming along?" at which point my son jumped in with "Oh my god, whatever you do, don't ask - do not engage - do not make eye contact - do not show fear!" But their respite is to be short lived as I have now started on the Rattlesnake.

 

Here are some pictures of my completed Constitution.

 

 

[Heronguy]

David,

 

This is something to be very proud of!  Well done.  I expect your Rattlesnake and your PdN will be outstanding!

 

 

[CaptMorgan]

Congratulations!!!    Looks like an awesome job.  I will be following your Rattlesnake build.  

[Tigersteve]

Congratulations. Looks great!

Steve

[xken]

David, Congratulations on it's completion and looking great!

 

Ken

[MEDDO]

Outstanding David!  Are you going to case it?

[David Lester]

Thanks for the likes and comments; much appreciated. I don't know about a case for it. I don't even know where it's going to go at this point. It's currently sitting on the mantelpiece, but it is tending to overwhelm the room. It might go to my daughter's office, we'll have to see, then dusting will be her problem.

David

[donrobinson]

Great looking build David, congratulations. Good to hear from you 

[coxswain]

Yeah, what they said!!  You're pretty sanguine about letting it go David - at least if it would be at your daughter's office, maybe you could visit it once in a while...........I would have some serious post-partum depression after that beautiful build, and it doesn't seem like you're cluttering up the house with a whole bunch of them, but c'est la vie!  Steve

[DocBlake]

Beautiful job David!  I'm sure your Rattlesnake will be first rate.  Do you have a log started?

[David Lester]

Hi Dave,

Thanks very much. Yes, I just started a build log for the Rattlesnake. And I'll try to be a little more diligent about keeping it up to date than I was for this one!

David

[usedtosail]

Very nice , David. You should be very proud of her.

[mrshanks]

Excellent model David.  I envy your completion as my connie is still on the shelf.

[RGL]

Just lovely David. 

[bhermann]

Congratulations on finishing up this chapter of your model building.  She looks really good. 

 

Bob