USS Constitution by JSGerson - Model Shipways Kit No. MS2040

[JSGerson]

As it turned out, the 3-D misprinted/broken recoil rope eye bolts for are a moot point as I had to remove all of them anyways. They were very fragile, delicate, and broke when I tried to attach the required ring to them. The plastic is very stiff, inflexible, and will snap if any stress is applied to them.

 

Each of the 20 carronades required seven 1/32” eyebolts, one each for the two tackles per side, one for the recoil rope per side, and one on the rear of the gun slide. The recoil eyebolts have a ring passing through their eye through which the recoil ropes are threaded. These were replaced with trimmed eyebolts bent 90° with the attached ring.

 

All 20 carronades were dry positioned on the spar deck ready to be rigged. First, I need to fabricate the two long guns to complete the spar deck’s armament.

[GGibson]

They look great, Jon!  I guess I will complete my Model Monkey order for the remainder I need... for whenever I get to this point years from now.  Thanks for the encouragement! 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Very nicely done!  Congrats.  Now all you have to do is rig them..😁

 

(oh, and thanks for including the photo of the dime - for nostalgia's sake.  I can't remember the last time I actually handled change of a dollar.)

 

(lastly, does Tom know you're crossing over into his field?  I noticed the kit from Model Airways on the floor.)

Edited October 1 by Der Alte Rentner

[JSGerson]

Ahh yes, the Model Airways 1917 Albatross d.Va. I finished building that in 2007. Around 2020 or so a strange phenomena took place. The Britannia metal wheel struts collapsed in veeerrrrrryyyy slow motion. I didn't notice it because it happened over years and then I did. I just wasn't looking at very often. The model was kept in case, in an air condition room, out of direct sunlight. I must assume it was the weight of the model that was too heavy for the soft Britannia struts. 

 

So, I got the kit box back out, looked up the part number and requested a replacement from Model Expo, which to their credit they did. But as I thought more about it, I decided why go through all the trouble and effort to replace the Britannia struts which collapsed, with another set of Britannia struts making the same mistake. Therefore, I used the replacement Britannia struts as a template for new stronger Boxwood ones. Now the problem is how to dismantle the model and rigging enough to remove the deformed struts, while not damaging anything else. I will need to create and fabricate a rig to support the model upside down so as to not putting negative stress on the wings. When the struts were originally installed, the wings were not attached. A relatively easy process.

 

By the way, those coins did not come out of pocket, but out of my old coin jar. Heck, I don't even recognize paper money any more other than a one dollar bill, the only bill that hasn't changed over the years. I live and die by the credit card and electronic banking and bill paying. The only place I spend cash is at my barber shop which is all they accept. Yes, an old fashioned barber shop, not a hair salon.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Beautiful model.  very nice save. 

[JSGerson]

Spar Deck Long Guns

Finally, the last armament to be fabricated for the spar deck were the two 24 pounder long guns. These were made almost identical to the guns for the gun deck. I say “almost” because this time I used the laser cut carriage sides provided by the kit, If you may remember, I had to scratch make my own sides for the gun deck guns because for some reason, the gun ports were a bit too high relative to the gun deck planking and I had to compensate with a slightly taller gun carriage. Which by the way, was closer to the US Navy plans version.

 

I made all the other pieces as before and assembled them using the jig I used before. However, the jig had to be adjusted a bit because my scratch made sides were a bit different thickness than the laser cut ones. Also, this time, the blackening didn’t seem to stick as well as last time, so I will have to use some touch black paint where the shiny brass shows through. Still to be done. I will glue down the quoin when the guns are aligned properly and glued into their final positions. Till then, rigging the guns is next.

[Der Alte Rentner]

looking good Jon!

[GGibson]

Long guns are looking great, Jon! Nice job!  What did you use for the blackening solution?.  I have used Birchwood Brass Black previously for my cannons and other Britania castings, but someone recently informed me about JAX Pewter Black, which is supposed to work much better on the cannons.  We'll give it a try here when the time comes. 👍

[Nirvana]

Gregg, thank you for the information.
I did a little tour on JAX's website and found they have quite a few products made for us.
Also to get our copper hull to get the patina.
Best of all, it is an American company based in NY.

I will for certain try their products out.

 

[JSGerson]

Thanks for the kudos guys!

 

I used to use Blacken-It with good results, but as far as I know it's not available anymore. So, I switched to JAX Black, Brass, Bronze,  & Copper Blackener. Typically, I soak the metal item in some mild acid for a few minutes to remove any oils from the metal, rinse in water, and then soak in the blacken solution (1/2 water & 1/2 blackener) for about 5 - 10 minutes while keeping an eye on it. But for some reason, the black coating flaked off this time.

 

Jon

[g8rfan]

Nice job Jon. Your guns look awesome. I hope to be working on my 24 pounders soon and no doubt will be using alot of what you have posted for inspiration.

[JSGerson]

Rigging the Spar Deck Carronades

There are three components to gun tackle: the rope, the hooks, and the blocks. I will initially be using .008” (.20 mm) Syren Ship Model Co, miniature tan rope and 3/32” (2.4 mm) blocks (single & double). The hooks I must make myself from 1/32” (0.8 mm) eyebolts. As far as I know, nobody makes 1/32” hooks with a quarter twist so that the eye is turned 90° from the hook. There are 20 carronades each requiring a minimum of 4 hooks. Then there are 5 hooks each for the two 24 pounders. That’s 90 hooks minimum assuming I don’t lose any during the fabrication process. I’ll make about 100 of these for the time being. So that alone is going to take a while to fabricate.

[JSGerson]

I did make a prototype recoil tackle to determine how much line I would need for that, approx. 3”. Looking at the miniature rope provided by the kit, the smallest diameter line provided were parts Nos. WP2589 (black) & WP2587 (tan) 3/0, 0.005” (0.13 mm) dia. two strand nylon. They did not look rope. They did look good for seizing line, so that is what I tried. My first attempt was a tad crude, but it won’t be noticed unless you have fantastic eyesight. I should improve as I make more.

[GGibson]

3 hours ago, JSGerson said:

...assuming I don’t lose any during the fabrication process.

 

What are the over/under betting odds on what hits the floor, Jon? 🤷‍♂️🤣

 

Prototype rigging looks good.  Excited to see how your spar deck carronades look with the rigging in place. 👍

[JSGerson]

Quote

Prototype rigging looks good

Gregg, now you are just being nice. I would say, it's just barely passing. snipping the seizing line close to to the rope line so it's not hanging, is an art I must master. I could get away with these flaws on the gun deck because you just can't see them well, but on the spar deck, they are out in the open.

 

Jon

[GGibson]

I will admit that that I cannot do the seizing like what you see in the demonstration videos well, either.  My "seizing" is more of a series of half hitches, back and forth on each side of the rope being seized, climbing up a millimeter or two before it looks like a good enough wrap to hit with a drop of glue.  Would love to learn better for this Constitution rigging.

[JSGerson]

Would you believe there are 100 hooks in this container? Once I got into the rhythm of bending the 1/32” eyebolts, I could do about 2, to 3 per minute, but it was tedious and working using the pliers, wire cutter, with a magnifier headset was tiresome. Now comes the really tiresome part, making 5 identical sets of tackle per each of the 20 carronades and 2 long guns. Oh joy.

[g8rfan]

Nice job Jon, those look perfect. I'll soon be working on my gun deck guns. Wondering if I will be able to do as well at my scale.

[JSGerson]

Frank. you might be able to make the hook style I used using a thinner gauge for your 1:96 scale, but I think you would also lose strength with such a fine wire. And I not even talking about line seizing. I would simplify the process. Getting blocks smaller than 3/32" is going to be tough and adding a hook, tougher. When I made my 1:64 scale Rattlesnake, I wasn't as cognizant of the block rigging details, so I drilled a fine hole into the block and inserted/glued a straight shaft hook into the hole and skipped tieing the hook to the block. Wrapping the rope line around the block was made easier, neater, and no layman was wiser.

 

Jon

[g8rfan]

Thanks Jon,

I think you're right. Making such tiny hooks and then trying to tie them onto a block is going to be maddening, if not impossible. I like your idea of inserting the hook directly into the block. Should still give a nice look and will be hardly discernable from any distance. Regarding seizing, I'm sure you have seen this, but thought I would reiterate here. I came across this tool and method for seizing lines. I've tried it myself and it works very well. Takes a couple practice tries to get used to, but I quickly got the hang of it. Here's an example from when I was practicing

 

The knots are very strong. Of course, I would still reinforce with a little glue. The loop at the end is easily adjusted after seizing by pulling the loose end through before trimming everything up and gluing. Here's the method

 

I made the tool from an old paint brush. Just ground off one side of the ferrule after removing the bristles. The only modification I made was not bringing the seizing line back through the  seizing loops (step 3). Instead, I just came back through the loop created at the end. You can make different size tools for different size lines using different brushes.

I wish I could give credit to whomever posted this originally, but I can't remember where I found it

Hope it helps

[g8rfan]

I found the original post

 

[JSGerson]

I have seen it, but think it may just be too big at the scale we are working at. I can barely use fine needle tweezers, so I just tie a simple knot with the seizing line, wrap 2 or 3 times and tie another simple knot. Then I add a fine drop of CA glue to finish. For me, that tool makes sense for larger scales.

 

Jon

[g8rfan]

Hey Jon

Yes it does take a little finesse to work with the finer threads. The seizing line I used was 0.01" diameter, which I guess is still a little large by comparison, but I do believe it will work with even finer thread. In the end, it is a matter of what you are comfortable with. Either way, you have a job ahead of you. Good luck and keep up the great work