USS Constitution by SawdustDave - FINISHED - 1:60th Scale

[SawdustDave]

Captain's table and chairs.......

I took a couple days break after rigging all those cannons and returned on Friday not knowing where to begin next.... decided the furnishings of the Captain's study would be a great change of pace.  First, the table and 8 chairs....

Having built dozens of real chairs over the years as a woodworker, these are the smallest I have ever attempted.  These two pics are simply to share the approach I took.
Pics taken before assembling those last three units.

The chairs are very simple 4-piece construction.  The backs, along with the front leg frames, are actually carved from faux wood vinyl with the stretcher rails are carved into each piece.  Note that I did not attempt to add stretcher rails from the back legs to the front legs, nor the center stretcher from side to side.

Note to the users.... Do not lean back too far in these chairs!
The two carved pieces are attached with the seat piece, then the black seat cover added.

I still plan to wipe on a light stain after I clean up some of the rough edges.

I'll take a shot of the wall cabinet unit once I figure out how to build it.

 

Cheers
 

[SawdustDave]

I have no idea what the front of this side cabinet looks like.... can't find a frontal view online.
Anyone have a photo?

[xken]

Google uss constitution virtual tour google maps. On the lower right are icons to navigate between decks. Go to gun deck for cabin and furniture details. Follow the arrows to move view direction.

[robnbill]

Dave, if you look at the 1:00 mark on this video you will see that cabinet from the front side.

 

Captain's Cabin

[SawdustDave]

3 hours ago, robnbill said:

Dave, if you look at the 1:00 mark on this video you will see that cabinet from the front side.

Captain's Cabin

GOT IT BILL.... Perfect!
Three top drawers and three lower doors with arched panels.

Thanks for your help.
Also, thanking Ken for his suggestion.

[SawdustDave]

Here's the dresser cabinet.  Haven't decided just how I will treat the mirror at this point.  Playing around with tin foil but not sure I'll go there.  

The dark stain did a pretty good job of highlighting the details of the drawers and doors.  Thinking I'll hit it with a thin coat of clear poly tomorrow.

[Piet]

Chairs look great Dave and thanks for the warning not to lean back on them

Lovely cabinet work too. Can't wait to see the large upright.

 

Cheers,

[Omega1234]

Hi Dave. 

 

Outstanding job on the table, chairs and cabinet!  

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

 

 

[SawdustDave]

10 hours ago, Piet said:

Chairs look great Dave and thanks for the warning not to lean back on them

Lovely cabinet work too. Can't wait to see the large upright.

 

"Large upright?" Piet?
If you're talking about the piano.... not gonna happen.

[SawdustDave]

Installed chairs, table, and dresser cabinet this morning.  Clear poly dried overnight gave a nice pop to the wood grain.

I did settle on using tinfoil for the mirror (Viewed from three feet above, it works fine).

[riverboat]

the furniture pcs really sets it off..... nice! work Dave

 

frank

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

On 03/07/2017 at 2:21 PM, Omega1234 said:

Hi Dave. 

 

Outstanding job on the table, chairs and cabinet!  

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

 

 

G'Day Nils 

This is coming from an expert in making small furniture. 

Havta agree with Patrick  100%.

Havagooday my friend 

Greg 

[usedtosail]

How civilized...except for all those cannons, ha ha.

[SawdustDave]

GUN DECK PROGRESS REPORT....

First step in moving forward with the development of the gun deck details is tear some things up.... right?

So, I began with cutting out the the aft companionway openings on each side of the capstan.

Once the rectangular openings were surgically removed, I used a mortising bit (seen here) to remove the 1/4" keel former to the exact depth needed to insert a false deck below for the stairs to land on.

Note the template sketches placed further forward for the other two larger passages.

Coaming frames and stairs...... No stain has been applied at this point.
Note the black pattern used to create the stair stringers.

 

 

 

[SawdustDave]

While creating the gun deck capstan, I went ahead and created the spar deck unit since they have the same radius dimensions.  Coming up with a way to add the copper top was a challenge.
Note, I have not stained the one on the right.  After staining, it will take several coats of clear poly to get the high luster finish.

 

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Dave 

You're going great guns mate. Love the details in the stairs and capstan. Bloody marvelous mate. 

Greg 

[Piet]

Nice work Dave. Love the capstans. Yes, the brass really adds to it.

 

Cheers,

[SawdustDave]

Question for the experts....

Were the ropes and stanchions installed around the companionway comings on the original ship, or were they installed to protect the public tourists roaming around?

Trying to decide whether to include them on my model.

 

Cheers

[JSGerson]

Here is a picture from 1890 when the USS Constitution was configured as a receiving ship. It had the stanchions.

 

Jon

[SawdustDave]

Thanks for your info Jon.  
Guess that pretty much answers the question, huh?

[russ]

If you talking about the original ship, or even in the War of 1812, the answer is that they probably had some iron stanchions around those hatches with rope connecting them, but probably not the polished brass things you see more recently.

 

Russ

[SawdustDave]

58 minutes ago, russ said:

If you talking about the original ship, or even in the War of 1812, the answer is that they probably had some iron stanchions around those hatches with rope connecting them, but probably not the polished brass things you see more recently.

 

Russ

Now THAT is exactly what I was hoping to hear Russ.... because that is where I really want to go.  All that polished brass just didn't fit my logic meter.

[Gregory]

FWIW they appear on the Hull model also..  With rope..

 

Hull Model

[russ]

Gregory:

Excellent photo. I thought I had seen these somewhere before. They were also used on British ships of the period.

 

Russ

 

[Gregory]

I just noticed the moveable cover on the galley stack..  I don't think i have seen that feature modeled before..

 

Photo

[JSGerson]

Gregory, if you take a look at xKen's build log of the Conny, you will see how he modeled the stack.

[SawdustDave]

Gun deck companionways.......

 

So, this morning, I managed to install the two companionways on each side of the gun deck capstan.

 

And also the first coming and gratings just outside the pantry panels surrounding the mizzen mast.....

This last photo reminds me there is a lot of dust to be cleaned up on the gun deck.

 

[SawdustDave]

Been pondering the bilge pumps for a long time....still not sure how I'll tackle this interesting challenge.  Playing around with a few ideas right now.

This should be fun.

 

[SawdustDave]

A little surprised, these bilge pumps didn't take nearly as long as I thought they would.  
Still have to create the handles, which will be displayed in the folded position as seen in the previous posting.
The two pump heads on the opposite side of the main mast are almost ready.

[Omega1234]

Hi Dave. 

 

Well...you could've fooled me. They look just like the real thing!  

 

Once again, nice Dave, very nice.  

 

Cheers. 

 

Patrick