USS Constitution by JSGerson - Model Shipways Kit No. MS2040

[Geoff Matson]

I can see a lot of thought and design went into stairwell openings. Things are coming along well.

[JSGerson]

To install the wood column at the forward end of the furthest aft gun deck hatchway, the spar deck beam had to be installed directly overhead of that column so it could support the beam. This beam is also supported at its ends by knee braces previously attached to the bulwarks which the gun riggings are now attached. Unfortunately, when the beam was dry fitted on the knees, the beam did not center directly over the column. It was about a beam’s width aft off. To dismantle and reposition the knees meant removing the gun rigging as well. I could do that or fudge it. Because where the knees and the beam ends join will be hidden when the partial spar deck is installed, the beam was moved forward just enough to get it centered over the column, just not sitting directly on the knees.

[JSGerson]

This brings to light that some or all my support knees may not be positioned properly. I may have to fudge a bunch more. Because the main grating on the spar deck (under the pinnace) will be partially opened to allow viewing of the gun deck, the supporting beams below it must be aligned with the grating’s cross beams precisely. For that reason, I will pause installing the additional gun deck bitts and previously fabricated furniture (i.e., capstan, pumps, casks, etc.) until I have fabricated the spar deck hatchways and gratings. They will be dry fitted to ensure the key beams below are properly positioned.

 

Where to begin? I had several false starts trying to figure out how to fabricate the various grating using Robert Hunt’s practicum. Per section 4.2.2 Hatch Coaming Framework of the practicum, I installed the framing supports for the bowsprit hatch and foremast hatch just aft of it. These supports will allow the hatchways to be dry fitted.

[JSGerson]

I should mention here that at the time I purchased the MS kit back in 2016 or 2017, I also purchased a supplemental wood kit from HobbyMills (a company Mr. Hunt worked with and recommended) which substituted boxwood (among other wood choices) for certain elements of the MS kit’s basswood. Unfortunately, HobbyMills is no longer in business as the owner retired, so getting the supplemental wood packages from them now is impossible. Check with Mr. Hunt to see if he lined up another suppler.

USS_Constitution_Wood_Supplement - HobbyMill.pdf

[JSGerson]

These hatches are one of the items in the supplemental wood package. Mr. Hunt mentions that the MS kit does not have certain sizes of wood stock for the hatches, and you must fabricate your own. The supplemental wood package supplied the proper sizes in boxwood.

The basic hatch frames consist of three pieces of wood.

•        Outside: 3/32” H x 1/32” W
•        Center: 7/32” H x 3/32” W
•        Inside: 5/32” H x 1/32” W

When assembled you get the cross section shown below. Something like my diagram I believe would have been more helpful in the practicum than his Figures F4.3.1-1 and F4.3.1-2. I’m not knocking the practicum, I could not have started, let alone built this model without it; just some constructive criticism.

[JSGerson]

The first hatch to fabricate is the smallest, the simplest, and the easiest. I’ll use this experience to make the others. Mr. Hunt has chosen to use lap joints which I believe add more difficulty to the task. It is my opinion that the method used by Mr. Hunt is too complicated requiring you fabricate rabbets and dados. These may be fun to make for a skilled woodworker, but I do not have the tools nor have reached that precision skill level.

 

Although a lap joint adds strength to the joints, I don’t believe the added strength is warranted as no stress will be applied to the frames. I am using a simpler butt joint method and if I don’t mess up, the end product will look exactly like Mr. Hunt’s in the end (no pun intended).

[JSGerson]

Starting with the small grating frame just forward of the foremast, whose grating supplied by the MS kit measures 15/32” x 13/32”, I cut the 7/32” x 3/32” boxwood stock as follows:

•        2 pieces: 21/32” lengthwise
•        2 pieces: 13/32” beam wise

These pieces were placed around the grating, framing it with butt joints and glued (not the grating). Then the 5/32” x 1/32” boxwood stock was cut as follows:

•        2 pieces: 15/32” lengthwise
•        2 pieces: 11/32” beam wise

These were placed inside the and at the bottom of the glued frame. This left the 1/16” ledge at the top for the grating to rest on. Finally, the 3/32” x 1/32” boxwood stock was cut as follows to create a mitered joint, just for looks.

•        2 pieces: 24/32” lengthwise
•        2 pieces: 20/32” beam wise

The top edge was beveled to a 45° angle and the ends mitered before final assembly.

[JSGerson]

I next chose to make the bowsprit hatchway. This was almost identical to the first one except its sides extended along the bowsprit. Because the sides butted up against the bow waterway, it had to be tapered to fit. In addition, where the hatchway frame extended around the bowsprit, the top covering was cutout to allow the bowsprit to pass through into the deck. I made a blank out of 1/32” plywood to be fitted and painted later.

[JSGerson]

The third hatchway is part of the stove stack. The grating was framed as the others, but the chimney platform section is 1/32” lower with seven 3/32” x 1/32” boxwood planks. The planks are supported just like the grating with an inside ledge. In actuality, the stack passes through the platform to the stove below. My first thought was to recreate the stack using brass tubing, but the stack is oval in cross section, and it tapers towards the top. Even if I had a metal lathe, which I don’t, I have no idea how I would/could fabricate a hollow stack of that shape. The kit’s casting is pretty accurate, so I went with it. Until I removed the kit’s cast stack from the kit box, I thought it would sit flat upon the platform. But the cast piece has a substantial plug/protrusion that requires an oval hole in the slats.

 

If I were to cut/drill a hole through the slats, the platform would collapse. Therefore, I glued a piece of 1/32” plywood under the slats for support. Because this a solid cast part, I drilled out the stack’s mouth just enough to give the illusion the stack pipe was hollow. Of course, just to make things more interesting, the plug is not circular but oval in cross section, and the stack’s base flange is supposed to be recessed into the platform. I decided that the recessed flange was a bit much. A lot of work for not much visual gain and a high probability I could really mess up and have a “re-do” on my hands. The drilling of the plug hole went smoothly. Using successive larger bits, a pilot hole was expanded to the proper width and then filed to get the proper oval shape. A couple of planks tried to come loose but the slight damage was covered up by the stack’s base flange.

 

The next item fabricated for the stack was the spark arrester in front of the stack mouth. It sits very close to the mouth and blocks a direct view inside the mouth enabling my hollow stack illusion.

[JSGerson]

This was a tricky bit. Ideally, I would have drilled a hole on either side of the arrestor plate, inserted some fine diameter rods into the holes and soldered them in place. The immediate problem is that I don’t have a fine drill bit that can drill into metal, even a soft metal like brass. I opted to cut a slit in lieu of holes and hoped the solder would fill in the gaps.

 

I cut 0.005” thick brass place to the oval shape and cut two pieces of 0.018” dia. music wire to length. Using silver solder paste with a butane torch, these were soldered as shown below. It worked like a charm until I tried to remove it from the wood block, and it fell apart. It took numerous attempts and a slightly different, more robust setup, till it held together. The excess solder was then filed off.

[JSGerson]

The final touches of adding the arrestor to the stack, eye bolts, shot racks, and painting will be done later, as the main purpose of this exercise was to get the hatchways completed for dry fit up to ensure proper alignment of the spar deck support beams.

 

BTW, the MS plans state that the shot racks on the forward hatchways were not installed in the 1997 restoration. I will install them because I believe they originally existed when the ship was militarily active. Also, I will not install the support beams under the main hatchway that pass under the grating openings. This was where the ship’s supplies were loaded into the holds. Even though she is technically an “active” commissioned warship, these recent modifications, I believe, were made to make the ship more of a museum piece, structurally sound, and for the welfare and safety of tourists. My model is based on the 2015-17 restoration but is not a total replica of that restoration. 

 

Still to come are the forward hatchways and the main gratings.

 

[Looking at the stack mouth after I posted these images, I realized the casting had the spark arrestor, but I mistook it for a stack mouth flange. There is no mouth flange, so I will probably remove it when I go to attach my arrestor.]

[GGibson]

A ton of great information here in this last series of posts, Jon!  Thanks for sharing!

 

I have purchased wood strips from Joe at Modelers Sawmill - Milled wood lumber strips for the model ship builder - Modelers Sawmill.  I'll probably look to him again when I get to my own Constitution.

 

Great work on yours, sir!

[JSGerson]

Gregg, glad to have you as a reader!

[Der Alte Rentner]

3 hours ago, JSGerson said:

Mr. Hunt worked with and recommended) which substituted boxwood (among other wood choices) for certain elements of the MS kit’s basswood. Unfortunately, HobbyMills is no longer in business as the owner retired, so getting the supplemental wood packages from them now is impossible. Check with Mr. Hunt to see if he lined up another suppler.

I chime in with Gregg in recommending Modeler's Sawmill.  I just received my third batch of wood from him, and I'm very pleased with the quality of the milling.  Dimensions are spot on.  As mentioned in my own build log, I wish I'd known (or even had an inkling) about replacing the subpar materials supplied with the kit when I started.  Coulda, woulda, shoulda..  

Edited June 17 by Der Alte Rentner

[woodartist]

I wholeheartedly concur, Joe Volpe, at Modelers sawmill provides high quality wood, that is precise and does it timely.

[Geoff Matson]

Great job on the spark arrestor.

[JSGerson]

I have not had the opportunity to buy wood from Modelers' Sawmill as I have plenty of stock wood. The point I was trying to bring out that HobbyMills was referenced by Mr. Hunt's practicum for Model Shipways USS Constitution supplemental wood packages . Since HobbyMills is no longer in business, I don't know if Mr. Hunt's practicum has been amended to replace HobbyMills as a wood suppler for the packages.

 

Geoff - Thanks for the kudos 

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 6/17/2024 at 12:54 PM, JSGerson said:

I’m not knocking the practicum, I could not have started, let alone built this model without it; just some constructive criticism.

I'll add to the list of constructive criticism for the practicum.  It would really be nice to see photographs of Hunt's completed Constitution.  Or even an uncompleted version with masts and bowsprit attached.  If these exist, they are absent from my copy of the practicum.  Has anyone got photos of the finished product?

[JSGerson]

I don't think he ever finished it. He did just enough to show how this things could/should be done. Have you noticed, there are no pictures of him rigging the model either once the masts were made. He had too many other models he was working on. Still, without his help, I never would have started my model.

 

Jon

[GGibson]

5 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

I'll add to the list of constructive criticism for the practicum.  It would really be nice to see photographs of Hunt's completed Constitution.  Or even an uncompleted version with masts and bowsprit attached.  If these exist, they are absent from my copy of the practicum.  Has anyone got photos of the finished product?

 

4 hours ago, JSGerson said:

I don't think he ever finished it. He did just enough to show how this things could/should be done. Have you noticed, there are no pictures of him rigging the model either once the masts were made. He had too many other models he was working on. Still, without his help, I never would have started my model.

 

Jon

 

I purchased Bob Hunt's Bluenose practicum when I began my Bluenose and used it fairly extensively in the early stages of my build.  However, as I have progressed, I have hardly used it at all, relying more on other MSW Bluenose build logs that, to Peter's point, have awesomely progressive pictures associated with their content, making them more beneficial to me to follow.

 

In anticipation of "someday" getting to my own Constitution presently sitting in a box up on the shelf, I also purchased Bob Hunt's Constitution practicum now (to save money in case his price increases over the next few years), as I simply look at his practicum as an additional tool/resource in this hobby.  Truth be told, though, I will no doubt rely more on other MSW Constitution build logs like what you gentlemen have been documenting, as they are much more detailed and have more "oops, avoid this..." type precautions.

 

With all that said, gentlemen.... Carry on! 🏆👍🏆👍

[JSGerson]

Saving the main hatchways and gratings for last, I worked next on the double grating next to the ship’s wheel. The larger of the two gratings is a hatchway, and the smaller one covers a skylight. I never found an image where that grating was removed to revealed the skylight below. As a matter of fact, I never found a decent image of the double grating as a whole. However, this is where I realized I made a mistake in choosing the kit grating I used for the foremast hatchway. I used the one assigned for the skylight, a 7x5 grid instead of the proper 7x6 grid.

[JSGerson]

As it turns out, due to the construction of the ship’s wheel double grating, I was able to salvage most of what I had already made. First, I refabricated the foremast hatchway with the proper 7x6 grid grating. (Yeah, I know, no one will know the difference, but I and the man upstairs will). Using the old hatchway, now to become the smaller grating of the double hatchway, I removed all the 3/32” beveled edging from it as well as one wide side of grating 7/32” x 3/32” frame. This piece of the framework was replaced with another 7/32” x 3/32” (the length of the larger hatchway) that was glued to the larger grating frame. This is the piece that will act as the transition between the two gratings.

[JSGerson]

Now for the tricky part, the inside transition curve between the two grating frames. This curve was initially fabricated by trimming off the corners to start the transition. Then, using a router bit on my Dremel tool, the router bit allowed me to carve the inside curve of the 7/32” x 3/32” boxwood using the side of the bit as the cutting tool. This was done by hand, no drill stand or jig was used. To create the curved beveled edging was even tricker due to its size. I was trying to emulate a curved piece of beveled 3/32” x 1/32” boxwood because bending a strip of boxwood 90° in that short of distance was neigh impossible (for me at least). The curve was created by cutting a separate piece of boxwood to the basic shape and finished by carving by hand, again with the router bit fitted Dremel and assorted files. I suppose if I had a milling machine, it would have been more precise, but I think the results I got work just as well.

Edited Thursday at 07:19 PM by JSGerson

[JSGerson]

The last hatchways prior to the main one are on either side of  the capstan. One hatchway is planned to be open, and the other closed. I found a small discrepancy with the kit gratings. If you look at the actual ship, there are separate gratings for each ladder, four in total. The kit provided two double wide gratings. Maybe they were this way in 1927 which is the main basis for the kit’s design, I don’t know. Whatever the case I’m leaving the closed hatchway as a double wide. The open one looks closely like, but not exactly like individual gratings. The main difference is the center beam between the ladders is flush with the top of the hatchway, whereas mine is sunk down to facilitate the formation of the lip which holds the grating should it me placed back on the frame. The image of the open hatchway is dry fitted pending painting.

[JSGerson]

I also noticed that the painting scheme of the actual ship has again changed. You will notice the frames of all the hatchways presently have black trim, whereas prior to the 2015-2017 restoration, the frames had natural wood finishes. Since my model is based on the present ship configuration (with some exceptions), I painted these last two frames with black trim now because the interior elements had to be painted during fabrication and to see how they would look. The others will be painted later.

[Der Alte Rentner]

 

I hope those red flecks aren't drops of blood!  😁

[Der Alte Rentner]

43 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Now for the tricky part, the inside transition curve between the two grating frames.

Nice work, I wish I'd done a better job on mine.  But looking at mine without magnifying glass on my nose, I can live with it.  

 

 

... and I have to ask, what's your plan for the spar deck planking?  Tapering as you work aft?  Scribed butt joints or short planks?

Edited Thursday at 08:03 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[JSGerson]

No blood, just the way the wood took the stain. Maybe sweat stain?

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

19 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Maybe sweat stain?

red sweat?  oh my!  

[Geoff Matson]

It is really nice when things come together for you. The hatches look great. Again, all these mini models that make the ship look great. Remember the old days of plastic when all had to do it just glue the part on the model instead of making it?