USS Constitution by MEPering - Model Shipways - 1:76.8 (5/32"=1'0") - First build

[MEPering]

This is just an experiment though.  Oil paintings I have done have held up for 30+ years though, so I have faith in the substance.  I just never knew it would be good for a metal prime.

[David Lester]

That's interesting Matt. Getting paint to stick to those castings has been a real pain for me too and even priming doesn't seem to help all that much. I'll tuck this gesso idea away for the future. On my cannons for this build I bought a can of flat black spray paint that the manufacturer calls "camo coat." It's not acrylic; it needs solvent for clean up. They told me at the hardware store that hunters use it for a non-reflective surface. It's dead flat. It actually adheres extremely well and is quite satisfactory where flat black is called for.

 

David

[MEPering]

Thanks, David.  I will look into that.  I also considered an etching automotive primer, which I am pretty sure would have done the job nicely, but I am out right now, and it is kind of pricey at $30 USD for a regular aerosol can.  I will look for the camo coat though.

 

Matt

[MEPering]

I know my updates are a bit slow, but I am new to this, so I beg everyone's patience.  Today I started on the spar deck gun and anchor ports.  These are a lot more fun than the gun deck boxes, though I don't know why.  But these are a bit tougher to do.  The wood is thin, and easily broken.  My hand aren't as steady as they used to be, but they are still functioning, and should be capable of doing the job.  To think at one time I was going to become a surgeon... lol.

 

Anyway, this is the beginning of the spar deck gun ports.  It is going to storm tomorrow, so I should be able to get some work done.  I still haven't glued in the gun deck boxes, since that can throw off the top gun port positions.  I know that in the pics I have those in there, but just to show the relationships between the two decks.  As I am seeing it, the lower gun deck is slightly more flat than the spar deck.  It may be an illusion, but that is what I see.  I will need to check it against my AOTS book.

 

Matt

 

 

[usedtosail]

Looking really good, Matt. For metal castings, I use Bin Primer after cleaning the parts in white vinegar. This has worked very well for me. I'll have to give gesso a try at some point though.

[MEPering]

Thanks, Tom.  I will have to check for bin primer as well.

 

So here you all can see I have almost completed the front starboard quarter of gun and anchor ports, as well as part of the main rail.  The only thing left to really do up here is add the strips on the outside and inside of the ports ahead of bulkhead "E", but I am going to hold off on that until I fair this potion of the hull.  This allows me to just do it in a single strip instead of several short ones.  As you can see by the photos, it is coming along smoothly.  Getting the right bends in the main rail was a little tricky, but fairly simple.  All I did was soak the plank in hot water for about 3 minutes, eye-balled the bends, and held it in front of a little space heater I have to set it.  The bends are subtle, but really need to be there.  If you look at the pictures, you will see it, I am sure.  The moulding that I cut into the rail may not be visible though.  I took a piece of scrap brass I had lying about, and cut a moulding profile into it, and then dragged the edge against it.  Brass is plenty tough enough for this task on such a soft wood as basswood is.

 

This tiny moulding will barely be seen, I know.  But my philosophy of modeling is that if it looks like a model, you didn't do a great job.  A model should look like the real thing, not a model of the real thing.  What makes this happen relies on two things, in my opinion... The first is detail, and the second is proportion.  If detail is missing, it will look like a model.  If something is out of proportion, it will look like a model.  Of course, workmanship is important to, but I have been fooled by models which didn't have the greatest workmanship, yet the level of detail shifted my attention from that to the point that it took me a few minutes to notice missteps in workmanship.  And concerning proportion, I have discarded parts on plastic and metal kits before, like piping molded in plastic, in favor of brass wire, or fashioned my own parts from scratch.

 

Enough of my rambling, here are the pictures:

 

  

[MEPering]

I started wondering about wood finishes a few days ago, and have been pondering whether I want to paint the hull or not.  I wasn't really warm to the idea of painting it, since paint tends to fill the grain structure, and the painted pieces don't really look like wood after that.  So I started thinking about stains.  I have a can of Minwax ebony stain, so I thought I would try that.  It looked good, but not really black... More of a very, very, very dark brown.  So I ruled it out.  So I prepared another test platform and tried a black Sharpie.  It gave a nice black, but left shiny spots on the wood which I didn't really care for.  I knew I could probably get away with this and give it a squirt of dull coat afterwards, but it still wasn't an optimal solution.

 

So then I got the idea to try India Ink... This gave me the exact finish I was looking for.  It is dead black, and gives the illusion of painted wood.  Here are a couple of pictures that show the grain, and you can differentiate between the individual planks.

 

Matt

 

 

[MEPering]

I know that my photography skills are poor, and my camera isn't that good either, but the pictures are as good as I could get.  I will have to go buy a tripod one of these days.

 

Anyway, I now have completed all of the gun ports on the starboard side.  I could start work on the port side, but I decided it was time to deal with the transom, which I have been putting off since the laser cut parts aren't that well cut.  I am not faulting Model Shipways for this, but this angle I am showing in these pictures could have been done by them.  But then again, maybe they were trying to accommodate for builder errors.  This seems likely.

 

If you look to the rear, you can see the overhang of the transom frame over the counter, and at the front, you can see the huge gap between the bulkhead and the frame.  My solution for this is to remove the excess wood.  I will use a jeweler's saw for this, but it could be done with a sander probably faster. 

 

In order to cut less and come close to the angle I wanted here, I used a compass to transfer the line to the transom frame.  When I used to work as a remodeling carpenter, I used this trick frequently.  Like cutting baseboard for uneven floors, or hanging cabinets on uneven walls.  You will notice that the space at the bottom of the bulkhead is not as great as the space of the overhang of the frame over the counter.  I will use a file or sandpaper to correct that later.

 

You can also see in the pictures the completion of the starboard gun ports, except for the last one which is why I needed to finish off the transom framing.  Also, the transom must be done in order to do the windows and chase ports there.  I know that they were not original to the ship, but I am sure they wished they had them in the Great Chase.  But it is easy for me to sit in my chair and speculate about why were they so silly as to not have included them in the first place.  This ship was a state-of-the-art war machine at the time, and all circumstances couldn't be seen then. 

 

These 2 pictures should be self explanatory.

 

Matt

 

 

 

 

[David Lester]

Hi Matt,

Those two outer transom frames are quite tricky to locate, however I don't recall having to scribe theminto place when I did them. They do sit at a compound angle. They lean inboard at the very top of the extensions and they lean inboard at the rear. I believe the distance from outside edge to outside edge of the two outer frames is just shy of 4" at the very top and the distance is about 4 1/4" across at the bottom. I made my lower forward corners meet the last bulkhead (R I think?)flush. As the two frames move inboard at the rear, some of the length of the frame was taken up. Moving them inboard in the two directions left an irregular shaped void on their outsides. I glued a filler block on the outside of each frame and sanded it to create a smooth flush surface. Before I installed them, I tacked a piece of wood across the two extensions at the right distance apart and another one at the bottom. I then set this unit in place and skewed it back and forth until it was sitting correctly and then glued it (and of course removed the two temporary braces. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures that show all this but hopefully you can get my meaning nevertheless.

David

[MEPering]

Thanks for that insight into how your build was, David.  I rechecked and rechecked my measurements, and every thing seems kosher here.  I thought I might have not made my counter deep enough, but it is spot on.  I did compare my unmodified transom frames with the drawing, and noticed and extra bit of length, but it shouldn't have been enough to justify the almost 1/8th inch error I have.  I think I will finish the port side gun ports while I think about it.

 

Following is a picture or two of the starboard side gun ports.  They are glued in now, and if I had it to do over again, I would probably not build the gun deck ports off-ship.  I would probably stick build them in place if I were to do it again.  There is really no advantage to making them separately, and they require a bit of adjustment while fitting each one for gluing.  I made myself more work, in other words.  But what is done is done.  I should have the port side completed to this same point in 2 days though, if nothing of momentous importance rears it's ugly head.

 

I did take a moment to stand back and really look at what progress I have made to this point, since it is 4 days short of a month since I started this build log.  I know I am not a fast builder, and I realize I am trying to take my time building this ship.  But I thought I would have been further along by now.  And then I stopped and really thought about it.  I considered how many parts had to be scratch built, and just how many there were.  I figured it was about 150 parts in the ship total to this point.  I decided that I should count them, and see how many were actually there, and figure out how many were actually needed to bring both sides to where the starboard side is now.  I was genuinely surprised.

 

In 2 more days, I will have 352 parts glued up.  That includes the transom frames.  At this moment, I have 262 parts in place, most of which have been custom cut for their unique space.  I really had no idea so much went into these ships, but it is a pleasant surprise.  It has been a very satisfying trip.  I really have to commend you all who take on this challenge.  It is a lot of work.  Fun work, nonetheless.    I know I will have a lot of fairing to do... lol.

 

Anyway, here are the pics:

 

Matt

 

 

[EJ_L]

It is always kind of a nice shock when you take a moment to sit back and look at all the progress that has been made and the time involved. I always keep running time of actual hours spent working on my ship. I don't count research time though mostly because I'm not sure where to begin on that. I'm constantly reading articles, build logs, questions and answers, watching You Tube videos and talking to people about tips, tricks, facts, and ideas that it would be almost impossible to track that time. Time building a ship can be an interesting thing. I have some days when I spend 3 hours working on her and I can see a lot of progress planking. Then days like yesterday happen and I spent 5 hours working on canons and all I have are piles of parts waiting to be assembled.

 

The fact that you are taking your time and building correctly without taking shortcuts will benefit you in huge ways later on. There are no set time frames to these projects and as you are building for your own enjoyment there are no deadlines to meet. I would rather a ship take me years to complete so that I can look upon it with pride and not regret. Sure, there are always ways we can improve upon a model but improving skills is always a good thing. It's those shoulda, woulda, couldas that we eliminate by taking time.

 

You are doing a great job. Keep it up!   

[MEPering]

I think it would be interesting to be able to keep a running log of hours spent, EJ_L, but I am interrupted so much with phone calls and my mother-in-law, who lives with us, and my father, that it would be virtually impossible as I see it.  I think the longest time I have been able to spend on just building without interruption is about 40 minutes.  I would love to track my hours, but it just isn't practical for me.  But thanks for the words of encouragement... I am keeping calm and carrying on. 

 

But it really does amaze me how much can be accomplished just by working on a project for just a few hours a day.  I had nothing but parts less than a month ago, and now, I am approaching planking.  Granted, waterways are going to be a bit complex, but I am estimating that within a month's time I should be ready to begin planking.  The instructions, I am finding, are more like guidelines of what should be done first.  They don't really tell you how it should be done, but just to do it.  I know that the writer assumed you know what you are doing, but it would be nice if he went into just a bit more detail.  The plans actually say more about how to build it than the instructions.  For a model that supposedly retails for US$700, you could expect a little more. 

 

Enough of my complaining though.  It has been really fun to jump through the fiery hoops and figure some things out, and change the order of things a bit, knowing my own limitations.  For instance, they tell me to mount the gangway boards and hammock boards before planking?  I am sorry, but I refuse, since they would get broken in the planking process.  Such misguided instruction is not helpful to people who want a quality build.  I will place a temporary spacer block to support the rail, but I won't affix the board until the hull is coppered.

 

Matt

[MEPering]

I finished the gun ports today, and everything you will see in the following pictures (as poor quality as they might be) is glued in and probably should not need to be changed.  I also framed the cathead openings, which the instructions don't tell you to do.  I have been through the entire instruction book, and couldn't find any reference to framing these, but I felt it was prudent to do so, and that it couldn't hurt.  If it is a mistake, I can always tear it out.

 

As you can see, I am still dealing with the transom.  I went through measurements and dimensions and calculations, and can find nothing wrong with the way I have done things, but still, things aren't coming out as expected.  I am absolutely certain my counter is made correctly, as I checked it many times against the drawing, and it is exact as can be expected.  My only conclusion with the problems I am having with it is a compounding of minor errors with the laser cut parts and the plans.  I am certain my construction has been correct.  I have an idea as to how I will correct that, but that is a post unto itself, so once that is done, which is my next step, I will report on it.

 

Next, I will fix the transom, finish the main rail, and topgallant rail.  As I have mentioned in other posts, I will not be affixing the hammock or gangway boards, since I am sure they would just get broken in the planking or coppering process.  If you look at my gangway, you can see it is easy to avoid mounting the boards and still give the support that should be behind the planking in these areas.  I am surprised that the instructions or plans have a butt-joint for support of the planking.  With my method, there is definite support behind the planking. 

 

 After that will be installing the inner plank shear and water ways, fairing, and planking can start.  I think I will hold off on installing the outer plank shear until I can take some measurements to confirm it's position during planking.  I have been working on the ship for 1 month now, and feel progress is going well.  I should be ready for planking to start next week, actually.  Then things will slow down a lot, I am sure.  Here are some pics:

 

Matt

Edited May 18, 2016 by MEPering

[EJ_L]

She is looking great Matt. All the time you have been taking to get your framing done is paying off big already. Your lines look nice and smooth. Should not have too many issues with the hull shape when you start planking. Those compound curves can be very tricky on transoms. More than likely I would bet that your laser cut pieces are off some which is common. Also like you said it could easily be a combination of a few tiny errors. It is amazing how a few .05mm mistakes quickly add up. Thankfully we have wood filler and sandpaper to help correct those errors. 

 

Keep up the great work!

[alde]

Nice going Matt, she looks great.

[MEPering]

Thank you, EJ_L and Alde.  I have tried to build as close to the plans as possible, but I also realize those are not quite as accurate as I would like.  In fact, as I said, my construction was spot on, but I still had a whole 1/16th discrepancy in the plans and the actual build when it came to deck height.  I am not liking that, but I have little choice.  But then again, I compare the model to the AOTS by Marquardt, and mine looks more accurate so far, so maybe the frustration is worth it.  It really doesn't matter... I will get it to where I can say it is acceptable.  And it is not that far from that now.  All I can think is that Model Shipways made the frames oversized to accommodate for laser burn, but I am not certain.  I have never had any experience with laser cut parts before, so I really can't say.  I really am just going by what I think is right, and though that is not a way I would prefer to go, I do have the AOTS and my eyes to try and attain what can be considered correct.

 

Matt

[MEPering]

Well, I am progressing on the transom, correctly or not.  I still don't understand the reason the frames had to be so severely modified, but they have been on my Constitution, and what will be will be.  If all else fails, I can always start over on it.  But while doing the transom, I started thinking about how I was going to handle the bulwarks.

 

This is a subject that I have been thinking about for some time.  That is the spikes or rivets which line the bulwarks, to be more specific.  It is a feature I definitely want to model, but the best way to do so is what has been making me think.  I have considered MicroMark, Tichy Train, and Archer rivets.  With the exception of the Archers, these all are out of scale, and Archer's are too pricey. 

 

So I have decided that I will make my own.  It took me a few hours, but I think I have figured out how to do it, but it is going to take a bit of work.  It is going to take some careful milling and manufacturing, but I think I can do it.  My plan at this time is to cast them in resin.  Not individually, but in strips connected with something similar to a tree on a plastic model.  Once mounted, the tree is cut away, leaving only the rivet/spike heads.  This is tiny, tiny work, and I don't recommend it except for the extremely mad, but I do think it will enhance the model while being closer to scale than most I have seen.  That is the key to a good model, the proportion in scale.

 

As I said, this is going to be very tiny, very precise work.  As such, it is going to take me a couple of weeks to present any results of these experiments.  But I am pretty certain this should work, using pressure casting techniques to get the resin to fill the heads of the rivets.  With parts this tiny, the hardest thing is going to be getting the resin intimately mixed enough to pour in a reasonable amount of time.  This is best done with a slow-setting resin, but I don't have that to experiment with that right now.  My molds will be made of brass, since it is easier to work with than steel.

 

Transom framing should be done tomorrow, so maybe I will have some pictures tomorrow.

 

Matt

[David Lester]

Hi Matt,

Your transom is going to be just fine. I didn't think I had any pictures of mine at that stage, but I took another look and found this one. It's a bit blurry, but it shows how mine looked. I installed the four interior transom frames first, just as you've done and then I tilted the two outer ones inward in two planes. You can see where I added a filler block on the outside of the frames and sanded it into a smooth contour. I know I worried about this aspect quite a bit, but it actually came together fairly easily as it turned out. The only real discrepancy I found and I think I mentioned it in an earlier post was the length of the galleries from fore to aft. They needed to be a bit longer than the plan indicates to line up where they should with respect to the first gunport on each side.

 

What I'm finding as I gain experience, (this is only my second attempt at a model) is that the aspects of the build that I worry about and approach with trepidation, I don't need to and the things that I don't give a second thought to tend to jump up and bite me in the behind, such as my chainplates. So in a sort of convoluted George Costanza-style logic, I think I'd be wise to start only worrying about the things I don't worry about and stop worrying about the things I already do!

 

I'm not sure I quite fully understand yet your plan for the bolt heads on the bulwarks, but I will be very interested to see how it unfolds. I would love to have done something on mine, but I think the plastic rivet heads seemed a bit overscale and I didn't think the benefit outweighed the effort and I couldn't come up with another alternative, so just left them out.

 

David

[MEPering]

Well, David, I am glad you took another look.  It may not be a great picture (few of mine are, I know), but the information is there.  I am able to see how you handled it... About the same way I had planned to.  It is good to see too, since this seems to be a logical solution by someone other than myself... lol.

 

I did get the deck braces in on the transom, though I haven't put on the stiffeners yet.  The pictures are a bit deceptive.  My cheap camera, though it has a macro mode, still has a terrible problem with fish-eye.  In one of these pictures, it will look like the frames are leaning outward, but actually they are perpendicular to the horizon.  I say to the horizon, because the the deck is curved, and they are not perpendicular to the deck.  I did cut the rear deck beam since there is no way it would have fit as the transom frames sat.  This doesn't bother me, since these pieces will not be seen.  Also, the deck beams are heat-bent in order to conform to the curvature of the deck.

 

You will also see in one of the pictures I have begun working on the waterways.  These are somewhat complex little parts, and I haven't started beveling them yet, but I think after the stiffeners on the transom frames, the beveling is next.  It looks like the 45 degree angle only holds after bulkhead "C".  In front of "C", they are a bit more shallow.  But most of the bevel is on the side that fits against the bulwark supports, so fairing the interior bulwarks needs to be done prior to fitting of the waterways, so maybe that should be done after affixing the stiffeners.

 

Anyway, here are some pics:

 

Matt

 

  

 

[MEPering]

Now that the transom is mostly in order, except for the stiffeners and port framing, I am turning my attention to the waterways.  I have a few pictures of the bow waterways, but the sides are also done too, but I chose not to show them, since they are comparatively simple compared to the ones at the bow.

 

I have them almost perfectly fitted to the ship, but I have a bit more fine-tuning to do before gluing them in.  I also need to make the transom piece, which I am having a bit of confusion with.  In my plans, it shows the sides going straight back, with the transom waterway butted up against them.  But it seems like the two pieces should be mitered together to me.  The reason I believe this is so less end grain would be exposed to the elements, though I know the waterway was painted along with the bulwarks.  I can't find any reference to this in AOTS book.  Any help would be appreciated.

 

The way I made these pieces was to make a 5/32" piece and made a template and cut out the curves, and then determined the height of the planking, thus setting one edge of the bevel.  I chose not to bend the wood hear, simply because it was easier to do it this way, I thought and still think.  It may seem that the answer for the upper width is just to cut it at a 45 degree bevel.  I don't think it is that simple.  It depends on where the planksheer lands on it, so it can't be determined exactly until it is mated to the planksheer.  The bevel I cut, which I know is not easy to see in the photos, was cut entirely by hand with sandpaper and a file.  But I am very used to using hand tools, so it was not as difficult as it might seem.

 

For some reason, people seem to have a fear of doing things with hand tools.  But it takes just a little practice, and you will be surprised what can be done with some chisels, riffler files and sandpaper.  The last picture shows what can be done with patience and just hand tools.  The spot of green on the end of the one was me testing paint for the right shade for the bulwarks.

 

Matt

 

 

[David Lester]

Hi Matt,

I mitered my waterway at the transom, though I think it could also be coped. Bob Hunt suggests mitering the waterway in his practicum and it seemed to me the best way to go.

 

Do you have the link to the Google Maps "tour" of the ship. Even though some of the details are different than in the kit, I still find it to be an invaluable resource. Here's the link if you don't have it already.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@42.3724197,-71.0564018,3a,75y,96.03h,75.28t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sY3hsBHFmwkkAAAQZN-nfoQ!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en&hl=en

 

It includes a clear shot of the waterway corner at the transom, but it's still a bit difficult to tell how it was done, although my guess is that it is a coped joint.

 

David

[MEPering]

Hi David,

 

Your resources continue to amaze me... That definitely shows they are mitered.  I really need to do more research, it is becoming obvious.  It didn't make sense that endgrain would be exposed in this environmental situation.  It would be asking for rot to set in, even if painted with the porous paints they had back in the day.  If it had been practical, they would have even coated the running lines with pitch or tar as well.  Thanks, David.

 

Matt

[robnbill]

Hi, i was just catching up on your blog. You are doing a great job. Your instincts were right on target. India Ink is color stable on the ship and can be safely used from ebonizing to coloring standing rigging. Sharpies are not. There are many nice models out there where colors are looking faded or worse after just a few months. Stay away from them if at all possible.

 

I started wondering about wood finishes a few days ago, and have been pondering whether I want to paint the hull or not.  I wasn't really warm to the idea of painting it, since paint tends to fill the grain structure, and the painted pieces don't really look like wood after that.  So I started thinking about stains.  I have a can of Minwax ebony stain, so I thought I would try that.  It looked good, but not really black... More of a very, very, very dark brown.  So I ruled it out.  So I prepared another test platform and tried a black Sharpie.  It gave a nice black, but left shiny spots on the wood which I didn't really care for.  I knew I could probably get away with this and give it a squirt of dull coat afterwards, but it still wasn't an optimal solution.

 

So then I got the idea to try India Ink... This gave me the exact finish I was looking for.  It is dead black, and gives the illusion of painted wood.  Here are a couple of pictures that show the grain, and you can differentiate between the individual planks.

 

Matt

[Jparsley]

Matt she is coming along wonderfully Patience is a wonderful thing No one on here expects anything less or more than what you put into her Ive been working on my constellation for well over a year It is my first ship Still working on the rigging You have the right to be scared of it I've been looking at the rigging plans seriously for a couple months and still not sure what to do with 900 tiny peices of rope but I'll get her done just like you will Your hull is looking great

[EJ_L]

Matt, great job on those waterways. I agree that a lot can be accomplished using just hand tools. I do a have a full woodworking shop in my garage but I hardly use any of those tools. About the only power tool I really use on a regular basis is my Dremel Drill ans even it is only used for major sanding/drilling operations. Other wise I have a small hand miter saw and exact-o knives for cutting, chisels and hand planes for shaping, files and sandpaper for smoothing and pin vises for drilling.

 

That being said, There are many things that are pushing me more and more towards using more power tools. The more I build and read about other ships the more I want to scratch build my own parts and rely on kit parts less. I am thinking that very soon I will be finding myself out in my shop milling, and scrolling more and more and I have already been practicing turning parts on my lathe.

 

I do not think this will speed up anything. In fact, this will actually probably cause my builds to take longer but I think I will take even more pride in knowing that I made all the parts and not just installed ones premade. 

[MEPering]

Thanks Bill, Jparsley and E.J.  I appreciate the feedback being new to ship building as I am.  I was fairly intimidated by the project when I first unpacked it, and still am, but not like when I first got it.  I was confident I could accomplish the tasks that were necessary to have a reasonably nice ship when it was finally finished when I ordered the ship.  But then when it arrived, I saw the incredible amount of time it was really going to take.  I finally asked myself how I was going to eat this elephant, and of course the answer was, "One bite at a time."  If it takes me a year to get her planked, so be it.  But I am having so much fun, it really doesn't matter.

 

And I understand what you mean, E.J.  I too am tempted to do more scratch building on this model than is called for.  I also have a full woodworking shop, and metal shop as well as a forge and casting capabilities.  The  things I really am not impressed with in this kit are the cannon and carronade castings.  I am so very tempted to make them from brass on the lathe, but am trying my best to hold back.  I think if I do decide to actually do that, I will just make a couple of wax masters and cast them in brass.  But then again, I may turn them all in brass on the lathe.  But like I said, I am trying to hold back.  As far as wooden parts go, I already know I am going to be turning parts for the bitts and posts for the fife rails.  Some tiny work to be sure though.  I think sugar maple should fill the bill though.

 

Matt

Edited May 22, 2016 by MEPering

[MEPering]

I had a lot of yard and garden work to tackle this weekend, so didn't get much time to continue working on my waterways.  But while the chainsaw and tiller spun, I had some time to think about the best way to handle the bulwark rivets, which thanks to David Lester, I don't believe are rivets at all, but rather bolts threaded into Ogee nuts.  Ok, I know the photos aren't great from my cheap little camera, but it is all I have at the moment. 

 

David's link to the google maps shoot of the Constitution is about 6 posts back.  I urge anyone who is working on this ship to look at it carefully.  Since I have never had the pleasure of touring her, the link was a real Godsend.  I see so many details I would not have imagined.  Thanks again, David. 

 

So contemplating how I was going to emulate the rivets/bolts, I finally decided the most realistic and accurate way was with brass wire.  In the photos, I show .022" wire glued into holes drill in a plank and painted.  They were inserted in the holes, cut to length, glued and carefully filed to final height.  But when it comes to actually doing this, .022" is too large.  By my calculations, this is about 1.5" real-world.  So, I will be using .015" instead, which may be a little on the small side, but I am accounting for the thickness of the paint as well, which when you are working at this small scale, does make a difference.  And when painting this test piece, I should have used a thinner paint, but you can see the shadow caused by it's thickness.

 

Now this is going to amount to probably at least 1000 holes to be drilled in precisely the right spots.  How can I achieve this?  With a jig, of course.  So I will build the jig, and get it set up for use on my Dremel drill press.  This will give me exactly placed holes each time.  I will post pictures and an explanation when I do this, which might be as early as tomorrow, we shall see.  CA glue holds the pins in place.

 

Matt

 

 

[David Lester]

Matt, that looks like a great way to address the bolt/rivet issue, but it's a big job to undertake and once started, it pretty much has to be finished. It's a subtle detail on the actual ship and needs to be subtle on the model too. It looks as this should achieve that effect.

 

It also looks as though you've hit on a good colour for the bulwarks. The green on the ship is actually quite a bluish green rather than a bright Kelly green. Yours looks pretty close to the real thing. What are you using? I'm sure I broke every rule in the book by buying sample sized containers of house paint from a hardware store. But it seemed like an acceptable approach for this bit of the model as I knew there would be a fair bit of experimenting. My options for model paint are either order on line and wait for it to arrive or drive about 45 minutes away - neither of which seemed practical when I knew there would be multiple stabs at it, and there were because with every attempt to match it, it seemed to come out too turquoise. I'm happy enough with my final colour, but it's not quite a dead match.

 

I don't recall now where I stumbled across that link to the Google maps tour of the ship, but I'm glad you're finding it helpful. You can really zero in on many different details. I use is almost constantly. We toured the ship a couple of years ago and I took some pictures, but they're not particularly helpful as I didn't take them with modeling in mind so they seem to never show what I need to know.

 

David

[MEPering]

Thanks, David, and yeah... It is going to be a major undertaking, but it is a detail I thought was worth including.  Rivets and bolts make military models look meaner... lol.  But to tell the truth, it is going to be so subtle, that I doubt many will even notice it.  The reason I want it there is for me... So I can look at the model, and know I came as close as I could.  But like I said, it is a detail I don't believe anyone else will notice.

 

The paint I used I picked up at Walmart... Just a cheap craft paint that they sell.  I will insert a photo below of it, so you can see the bottle.  It is a little darker than I want, but not much.  A drop or two of white should bring it pretty close.  I am sure as cheap as it was, it is neither light resistant though, nor color fast.  I like the color, but want a artist quality paint so things don't fade as much over time.  But if I did... Hey... Then I could just forget the drop or two of white, right?  I am tempted to use oil paint, but that poses problems with drying, and glossiness, and it is risky doing a flat coat of acrylic over oil.  What I will probably end up doing is using Vallajo paint.  I have had great success with it in the past, it is not that expensive, and I have airbrushed it and manually brushed it on, all with excellent results. 

 

Once I get the drill press set up, and the jig made, I should know how long this is going to take.  I am thinking maybe a week to do all of the interior bulwarks.  I did the experiment freehand, and even with painting it took me maybe 10 minutes.  But we are talking about over 1000 holes, I am sure.  Maybe I will count for the record.  It is my guess that it will probably take about 5-10 minutes per side of the 24" planks.  The jig is actually quite simple to use, and anybody should be able to fabricate it after I show it.  But then again, I doubt many will want to once they see how many holes there are to drill... lol.

 

Here is the picture of the paint.

 

Matt

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the stuff I used for paint.  It is called "2917 classic green".

 

Matt

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MEPering]

To finish off how I am going to handle the bulwarks.  Pictured below is one of the jigs I have made to get my spacing of the bolts/rivets correctly placed.  It is a simple affair, consisting of a fence, and a barely visible pin that positions the part based upon the last hole drill.  The pin fits in the hole, the next hole is drilled, and the plank moved so the last hole drilled fits over the pin.  This gives very accurately spaced holes, which are then filled with .015" brass wire.

 

The wire is pre-cut, using another jig I made.  It is simple a piece of wood with a hole drilled in it to attain the proper length of wire.  Doing it in this fashion is much easier than trying to cut the pins oversized and then trim them after they are in position.  This can be inconsistent, but I finally got the process down.  You will see there are some shorter pins on the pieces that are shorter, which I made before I got the jig made right.  These parts are by no means exact copies, and are just practice pieces.  The spacing will be much more accurately staggered on the actual model parts.  I just made these to test my process. 

 

This is a slow process, and am still questioning why I am undertaking this madness, but the results really do look realistic and I am liking how they are close to scale.  I admit, they are a bit larger than actual, but they are close, and a good representation of the feature.  Remember, these planks are only 1/8th" wide and 3/64th" thick.  This process isn't perfect yet, but I am getting closer to good enough.  These are the third and fourth tries I made.  The first two were fails because the wire bent when trying to clean them up with a tiny file.  Trying to straighten them out again resulted in destruction of the wood.  But I am satisfied with the basic process at this point. 

 

I should be able to drill all the holes in a 24" piece of plank material, which is what I have.  It is easier to work with a long piece than many short ones.  The drill bit is .0145", so there is a slight friction fit between the wire and the wood.  Once in place, CA glue is applied to the backside of the plank to secure the wires. 

 

This is precise and exacting work, and I don't recommend it.  I wouldn't be doing it if I were sane, but I want the detail in this model.  But I now know this is going to take me longer than I first estimated, and maybe as much as 4 times as long.  Oh well... I want a model I can be proud of, and it doesn't really matter how long it takes as long as it looks right.  Anyway, here are the photos.

 

Matt