USS Constitution by JSGerson - Model Shipways Kit No. MS2040

[ronald305]

too bad it would have been a nice feature 

             Ronald 

[JSGerson]

With the gun port netting detail dropped, I can now move on with the gun deck bulwarks. Looking at other builds, I’ve seen some builders make these bulwarks out of full width sheets of basswood or plywood because the surface is to be painted white, making any planking wood seams disappear.

I find planking easier than custom fitting large pieces of inflexible wood. Once again, due to the poor visibility and the painting of the gun deck bulwarks, my choice of plank length will be based on ease of installment and not of historical size.

 

The first thing I did, was paint the inside walls, sills, and headers of the gun port black. The subsequent planking will cover over any black paint spillover.

[JSGerson]

The first bulwark plank installed was a piece the full length of the visible gun deck placed flush with gun port sills on the port side. This acts as a baseline for the subsequent plank levels. The next plank was a pre-painted white, short piece placed at the aft end in between the waterway and the sill baseline plank. Because these planks must be custom fit due to the slight spacing irregularities between the waterway and the baseline plank, short pieces ease the fittings. It was pre-painted because painting these planks after installation so close to the green waterway would have been very difficult trying to avoid white paint spillover. The remaining planks will be painted white after installation. As you can see (or not?) the joints between the planks are all but invisible.

[kmart]

Looking Good Jon!

I really like how your gratings/gangways to the lower deck turned out.

 

Q?  The green paint?  Which did you use?    The model shipway's paint  or something else?  

I just picked up a bottle  of Craftsmart acrylic paint from Michael's.   "Grass Green" (mat). Looks really close to the right shade of green.

[JSGerson]

I purchased the Model Expo USS Constitution Paint package, so I'm using their #MS4801, "Bulwarks Dark Green." I had not used much acrylic paint  prior to the Conny build, so I can't comment as to how it compares with other brands.

 

Other than the simple clean up, I'm not a big fan of acrylic. I find it does not spread evenly, and drys too quickly. out of the jar. Adding water is very critical - a little too much, it is too loose and it won't cover well. Too little, and the paint layer is too thick. Maybe it's because I have so little experience with it and I'm just not using it right. My sister, who is an excellent artist and paints ultra realistic, uses it all the time and get phenomenal results. I'll see her this Thanksgiving and hopefully get some pointers.

 

Jon

[JSGerson]

The bulwarks continue with short unpainted pieces in between the gun ports working upward. The excess wood that protruded into the gun port spaces were filed and sanded off. The bulwarks are no completed yet, but I will be taking a break for Thanksgiving week. The following week I will out of commission beginning that Wednesday as I prepare for lower back surgery which will require the services of two surgeons performing separate specialty tasks. I’ll spare you the details but suffice to say, I’m going to be poked through the front side as well as the backside. I don’t know how long recovery will be. The doctors re-assured me they do this all the time and they are confident of a successful outcome.

[CaptainSteve]

Best wishes for your upcoming appointment with the surgeons, Jon.

[usedtosail]

Good luck with the surgery, Jon.

[kmart]

Yes speedy recovery Jon!

[J T Lombard]

Jon:

I just had similar surgery 12 days ago. The 1st 7 days will be painfull so try & stay ahead of it. Also using utmost safety try to move as best you can. I am just now able to dress myself & using necessary precautions take a shower. Follow all directions & I'm confident all will be well. Wishing you the very best.

 

J

[JSGerson]

Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. This will be my second, and more evasive trip to the surgeon. My first was 39 years ago and that worked great, so I have high confidence this time. JT, I know it's going to be painful due to my first surgery experience, but hopefully that pain will be the result of the incisions, etc., as opposed to my spinal defect (herniated disc) that is suppose to be corrected. I will be very happy if I'm back on my feet and on my own in 12 days like you.

 

Jon

[Kirby]

Will be keeping you in prayer, Jon.  Look forward to your speedy recovery!

[JSGerson]

Just a quick note to let everyone know I’m finally back from surgery and rehabilitation. I had a large herniated disc in my lower back which required immediate removal. This was done through an incision in my abdomen by a surgeon who specializes in that sort of thing. A second surgeon worked from my backside to adjust my vertebrae angles with a wedge (screwed and pinned) where my disc used to be. And then the whole thing was fused together. All told they worked on me for six hours flipping me over four times. I was knocked out for eight.

 

After spending 3 nights in the hospital working with occupational and physical therapists learning to walk with a walker, I went straight to a rehabilitation center for two weeks for addition therapy. By the time I left I had no need for any walking or stair climbing/descending assistance…for the most part. Surprising, I had very little pain as a direct result of the surgery. Of course, the pain killers might have something to do with that, but I don’t take anything during the day. I then spent a bit of time going through all my snail-mail as well as email, paying bills, etc., reacquainting myself with friends and family and the cat, who has not left my side since I returned.

 

I’m just getting back to the Conny and will give you an update as soon as I hit a small milestone.

[Geoff Matson]

Glad you are back. 

[SawdustDave]

Glad to hear your surgery was a complete success Jon.  Sounds like you've been through a major ordeal, but the worst is now behind you (no pun intended).

 

Dave

 

[usedtosail]

Glad everything went well Jay.

[xken]

Jon, great to hear all went well, now relax and recover.

[DocBlake]

Glad to hear all went well.  Welcome back!

[JSGerson]

I just finished installing and painting the gun deck bulwarks. They didn’t come out as even as I would have liked, but by the time I add all the knees and bracings, guns, eyebolts, and furniture, these imperfections won’t be areas of interest to be noticed…I hope. Also, there still are a bunch of painting touch-ups on the waterways and inside the gun ports to be done. Right now, I think the diagonal knees and gun rigging eye bolts need to be installed next.

[poundemin59]

Glad to see you back and hope everything continues to improve. Love what you're doing with the Constitution, it's beautiful.

Leonard

[JSGerson]

Thanks to all for the well wishes

 

Jon

[kmart]

Jon,   

another.. welcome back.   Glad to hear your surgery went well.

And glad to see you back to working on Connie.

 

No more surgeries or breaks! 🙂   I'm relying on your log, and progress to keep me moving on mine!   🙂

 

Best

K

  

[JSGerson]

K - Thanks for one of many welcome backs. It does feel good to be back at my shipyard.

 

As for relying on my progress, well let's just say I'm not known for my speed. My next big milestone is the installation of the gun deck cannons. However, in order to do that, I wanted to install all the eye-bolts the cannon rigging will require into the model first. As it turns out, some of that hardware is embedded into the knees that support the structural beams for the spar deck. In order to install those knees with the required hardware, I am now in the process of forming the all those structural beams so I can fit the knees. tight against the bulwarks and the beams. Each one is a custom fit due to inconsistencies inherit in my woodworking skills. Not only that, Those eye-bolts aren't simple eye-bolt., They are double eye-bolts, so they have to be individually made as well. It seems that no matter what I have to do, I have to do something else first. So, to reiterate, you may grow much older at the rate I'm going.

 

Jon

[JSGerson]

Gun Deck Hanging Knees & Gun Rigging Eye Bolts

The order of installing the gun deck knees, as I’ve interpreted the plans, are first the vertical hanging knees under every other spar deck brace, next the diagonal knees and remaining spar deck braces above each gun port, (Whether I’ll make those braces completely or partially I’ve yet to determine), and finally the horizontal knees between the spar deck braces. Once all of this is installed, then I can work on building the gun carriages, mounting the guns and rigging them onto the model. I think I’m scaring myself.

 

So, to paraphrase an old saying, a journey of a thousand miles starts with taking the first step. Following the US Navy Plans for the structure of the gun deck, they indicated that the spar deck braces do not always line up with the kit’s bulkheads. Those braces determine where the vertical knees are located. Therefore, the first thing I fabricated were the braces using 1/8” thick basswood stock. To ensure I had the proper beam curvature, I used as a guide the bulkhead spar deck braces, that I cut off from the bulkheads when I made gun deck. I traced the curves onto the basswood.

 

Each brace was dry fitted into their proper location as indicated by the US Navy plans. They will be glued into place once the gun deck is completed

[JSGerson]

The hanging knees for each brace must be custom made as the bulkhead changes angles along the length of the deck. But before any vertical knee is glued into place, the rigging hardware needs to be installed now. To do that latter, would make the task much more difficult.

[JSGerson]

As it turns out, the rigging hardware are not your typical eyebolts. The side tackle of the gun hooks into a double eyebolt while the breeching tackle connects to two rings, one over the other, on the bulwarks using, such a seized loop of thick rope fits between the two rings and is held in place via a pin which drops through the top ring, through the loop of rope, and finally through the bottom ring. It appears the pin has a cap which prevents the pin from dropping all the way through.

[JSGerson]

I took it as a challenge to create the double eyebolt, but it really wasn’t too difficult. Using 1/16” eyebolts, I bent the loop such that two eyebolt could lie next to each other without any overlap. These were placed into a slightly modified clothes pin used as a clamp and silver soldered together. I tried using silver solder paste but due to the small and rounded surface area, I could get the paste to stick where I wanted it or well enough. So, I resorted to using flux and a very thin sliver of silver solder from a roll. That worked great. After some filing, trimming, and blackening, I inserted the double eyebolt into the vertical knee.

[JSGerson]

I decided to take the simple route for the breeching hardware and just used two 1/16” eyebolts. The hard part about this was drilling the holes into the bulkhead. Used tenacity and force of will to do that. That was proof of concept. Now I must do all of this again twice per gun port. Joy.

[usedtosail]

Those are nice details to add Jay.

[Walker_Wheeler]

Timely info.  I've been wondering about those double-eye bolts.   I also see you've opted for two single eye bolts spaced vertically for the pin stays.