USS Constitution by JSGerson - Model Shipways Kit No. MS2040

[JSGerson]

The openings in the hull required a bit more manipulation with drills and files because the final opening shape was oblong. Also, during the installation, I had to make sure that the scupper lid swung open forward on both sides of the ship due the requirement that the lid hinge (which is covered by the open lid) is always on the forward side of the scupper. I’ve not found another builder who has done this.

[JSGerson]

Coppering Preparation

Once more I’m deviating from the build sequence laid out in the practicum. Instead of moving on to the stem with all its complications intricacies, I’ve elected to work on coppering the hull before any delicate structures are added to the stem. Thus, I painted more of the hull black to just below the waterline. The copper plates will eventually define the actual waterline once they are installed.

[JSGerson]

The practicum uses a coppering method which I feel could use a little improvement. Mr. Hunt used a ponce wheel to make plate edge dimples on the copper plate edge. Unfortunately, I feel they are oversized for the scale and look more like a boilerplate. A lot of builders used this method of just outlining the plate, and some made them with bumps raising above the plate like rivets. But after seeing actual pictures of the Constitution’s plating, I going to attempt an alternative method of embossed plates.

 

According to Roger Frye’s Shop Notes in the Nautical Research Journal V66-4 Winter 2021:

Quote

“Many attempts that emboss the plates result in bumps or dimples that are over size and draw too much attention to this feature. In full size practice, nails are pounded flat leaving only a small depression. Since the nailing pattern is generally subtle the decision on whether or not to depict it becomes a matter of scale. There seems to be a consensus that depicting nailing in 1:96 scale or smaller is difficult to appreciate without magnification and can be eliminated, while at 1:48. scale or larger the nailing pattern adds visual interest if done realistically.”

Per the quote above, the range between 1:96 scale and the Model Shipways kit at 1:76.8 scale, is left to the judgement and skills of the builder. The plate nails make small minor depressions so the indentations will have to be almost flat, just enough to disrupt the natural smooth mirror finish of the copper tape that is provided in the kit. The first image below is what Mr. Hunt created. The following images are of the actual ship for comparison.

[JSGerson]

I have several choices for my copper plates:

• Full accuracy - Make an embossing stamp for ½” x 3/16” plates. Problems, the copper tape is ¼” wide, I need to make the stamp and jig to create 50 interior dimples plus a method to make the close quarter edge dimples
• Impressionable – give the impression of nail indentations only
•  No nail impressions at all and may or may not overlap the plates

I made the pattern for the fully accurate pate by counting the nail heads and their locations on the real plates from photographs. When I reduced the pattern down to scale size, the nail pattern would be indiscernible let alone easy to make. When I considered the number of plates needed, I didn’t think it was worth the effort.

What I call the impressionable method is relatively easy to do, but still tedious. The idea is to emboss the copper using sandpaper. The rough surface of the sandpaper would make random impressions in the copper just enough for the viewer to realize the copper has some texture detail, not enough to discern a pattern while cutting down the mirror finish of the copper tape. I do have a method for the edge nails using a method which I’ll discuss below

The last method is just to add plain copper plates straight off the copper tape roll without any embellishments, just cut to size. The relies on the idea that the scale is so small, you can’t see the details.

I felt that the impressionable method might be the best way to, but I had to make a test run first. I cut a few ½” length strips for my trial and create the plate with these steps:

1. Cover the plate with a piece of coarse sandpaper and using another block of wood (not shown), lightly tapped the block so it forces the sandpaper into the copper.
2. Per Nautical Research Guild’s Ship Modeler’s Shop Notes II, Pgs.138-9 I used a fine-tooth modeler’s saw blade and with a single tap embossed the edge of the plate top and one side.
3. Just rubbing the plate with my fingers to burnish the plate smooth.

From just a few inches away, any discernable pattern would have been lost in the full accuracy method, so this method is my choice.

[Tidbinbilla]

Hi Jon,

 

I would like to offer up another possible treatment of the hull plates.  Look at my build of the Conny.  In there you will see pictures and links to an easy method to simulate nails.  Food for thought...

 

Dave

[JSGerson]

I remember this method now! It's a very ingenious and it makes for a fast process. Although your log was short, I was impressed when followed your build. I'm kind of machoistic in doing some things the hard way. My method is time consuming, detailed, and prone to missteps, but I think I'll like the results a bit better. Thank for reminding me. I have some ideas that your method has inspired to streamline my process.

[JSGerson]

A couple of images to show the initial start of the hull coppering. It’s a slow tedious process, Couple of hours a day is all I can take: cut a bunch of plates, emboss, then apply each plate, repeat.

[JSGerson]

A week or so into copper plating and all is going slow (my usual pace) with decent results. I did run into one annoying problem – the plating wants to lift up even after multiple burnishing. I burnish by rolling a short 3/8” diameter wooden dowel over the copper tape. I want to flatten the embossing, not rub it out. With carefully applied CA glue under the plates that lift, I gotten most of them to stay down. So it’s two steps forward and one back. The pictures below show only one side although both sides are being plated at the same rate.

[JSGerson]

Progress as of May 10, 2022

[JSGerson]

Progress report on the copper plating: I believe I am approaching the halfway point, if not already on it. If you look closely, you may notice two areas of the keel where the sides are not covered in copper. I left those aeras untouched so it can be identified as the places I used wood from the actual ship. Also, I have not yet plated the bottom of the keel.

[JSGerson]

Still in the routine of cutting up about 20-25 plates at a time, embossing the face of the plate with the sandpaper and the fine teeth of my miter saw on two edges then placing, and finally burnishing the plates into position. After about 40 to sixty plates, I’d quit. I couldn’t take any more. Before I could add any additional plates the next session, I’d have to CA glue all the plates that curled up not sticking permanently. That is a pain.

[JSGerson]

Now I am approaching the top edge boundary of the plating. Up until now I had been using Robert Hunt’s practicum as a guide to perform this task. His plating method used a double capping row to end his coppering. This method is shown in numerous guides as one method which copper was done, but not the only method. The actual ship, it turns out, uses a different method, at least it does currently. It may have used different patterns in the past, but since my model reflects the current version for the most part, Mr. Hunts method is incorrect for the current method as you can see from the pictures below. I had started to create the double copper capping row but ripped it out when I realized the discrepancy. I still have about 3-4 hull rows to the water line, plus the stem, keel, and stem edges as well as the rudder, to plate.

[JSGerson]

2,500 or so Copper Plates so far

My copper tape roll ran out 24 plates shy of completing the hull. However, I was prepared as Hunt’s practicum warned me that may happen, and I also read the same accounts in a couple build logs. This did not include coppering the stem, keel, stern, and rudder. Also, it was not unexpected that the oxidation color of the second roll of tape was of a slightly darker hue. Over time they will even out going from shiny new copper to old penny brown, and finally green copper oxide (if the model lasts that long).

[JSGerson]

Copper Completed

Finally…the major milestone has been reached – The coppering has been completed, including the stem, keel, stern, and rudder. I’m estimating it took cutting, embossing, and placing 2,600 -2,700 plates to do the job. I’m glad that’s over and done.

[JSGerson]

In case anyone is following where I am in the practicum, it’s Chapter 9.1.5. I skipped over Chapter 7 for the time being. In any case, this the part where the practicum adds the “iron red” (plans state “red lead”) waterline stripe. According to the Model Shipway plans, the stripe is “not an historic feature.” By this statement, I assume it was added in the twentieth century. But since this is a US Navy commissioned ship (oldest commissioned ship still floating in the world by the way), anything the US Navy does to the ship is, by definition, historic. Here is a blurb from the USS Constitution Museum newsletter from 2017:

Quote

 

In her early years, the ship’s hull sported a yellow ochre-colored gun streak/stripe. Her familiar black and white hull color was established by at least 1811. Interestingly, Captain Charles Stewart had the gun stripe re-painted yellow in 1814, likely in an attempt to disguise Constitution and trick the Royal Navy into thinking she was another British warship in the War of 1812.

 

In 1842, the Board of Naval Commissioners decreed that U.S. Navy vessels were to have black hulls and white gun streaks/stripes. For the rest of her active career, until her last sail in 1881, Constitution‘s hull color changed only once, when, according to ship’s carpenter Henry George Thomas in 1844,

 

“December 20…Since leaving Rio, the ship has been painted white or lead color with a red streak, in place of black with a white streak…the ship is cooler…both inside and out…” [Around the World in Old Ironsides, The Voyage of the USS Constitution, 1844-1846 by Henry George Thomas]

 

 

As most of us Conny builders know, this ship has been constantly modified. The red waterline is no different than painting the ship white with a red gun stripe like a hospital ship. So yes, I’m adding the “historic” red waterline.

To make things a tad more interesting (read more complicated), the Model Shipway plans show the red stripe between draft marks just about mark 21’ to the top of mark 18’, which at scale is ½” wide. There are photos to show this is correct …aaaannnnd photos to show this to be wrong. The composite image below shows multiple locations for the top and bottoms of the red waterline stripe - top of draft mark: 23’, below the mark 23’, and top of mark 21; the bottom locations at just above mark 18’ and below mark 20’. ‘When the ship is floating, the actual water line on the boat is at mark 19 and just above 21’. Since there doesn’t seem to be a definitive position for the red waterline, when in doubt, follow the plan, in this case the MS plan which appear to follow the US Navy 1844 Draught & Lines plan #11249 which shows the high and low draught range.

[Rokket]

Lovely detail. I really like the knees and the accessories. Beautiful.

[JSGerson]

Thanks Rokket, I need all the encouragement I can get! Eventually, those knees will be accompanied by more structural members as I populate the gun deck with the guns after I work on the stem.

 

Jon

[Geoff Matson]

Looking great, hang in there it is all worth the effort in the end

[JSGerson]

Geoff, good to hear from you! I had been following your build long before I started my Conny and then you just stopped posting in Jan 2019. I hope everything is OK with you. Did you finish your model, any more pictures, etc.?

[JSGerson]

My sister is an accomplished artist who uses acrylic paints (see PaintedFurnitureBySue). I told her about the peeling problem I had with the Rust Red paint. First thing she asked was who manufactured the paint. I told her Anita’s Craft Paint for the rust red and DecoArt Americana for cherry red. She informed me that the proper term for the peeling was crocking, and it was an indicator of poor-quality paint. She was not familiar with Anita’s Craft Paint, but that DecoArt Americana was a high-quality paint which she uses. Here are the paints I referred to in my earlier post.

[JSGerson]

The red stripe was painted by applying Model Shipways primer white and two coats of Cherry Red mixed with a few drops of hull black following the lead of the practicum. I neglected to take pictures of the resulting red stripe.at this stage.

[JSGerson]

Fenders

Per USS Constitution Museum:

Quote

“Since at least the 1973-1974 dry docking, when USS Constitution‘s copper sheathing was replaced, fixed fenders have been attached to the hull to protect the waterline area of the ship. For the 2015-2017 restoration, new fenders were once again made, but this time each fender was cut and fashioned to individually fit the contour of the hull.”

What’s interesting is that the 1927-31 restoration MS based plans show the oak fenders. How are there fenders on the plans? It also states that the fenders are “Not a historical feature. Installed by Navy to protect copper from camel damage in dock” Again, my argument that anything the Navy does to a commissioned ship, IS historic. Albeit, adding permanent fenders is not something you would do an active warship as it would obviously slow the speed of the ship.

[JSGerson]

I followed the practicum for the most part in constructing 20 fenders, 10 for each side with the following modifications:

• The MS plans, the practicum, and the  pre 2015-17 restoration photos, show the fenders are chamfered on the vertical sides and top edges, not the bottom. According to the 2015-17 restoration photographs, all four sides are now chamfered.
• The practicum left the fenders as bare wood, but the photographs (even before the 2015-17 restoration) showed they were painted the same color as the red stripe.
• The practicum would have you just simply glue the fenders to the hull. I added two pins each fender for a more secure attachment.

To be fair, at the time the practicum was written sometime in 2014 I believe, there were very few images available showing details of what the fenders looked like on or off the ship. I’ve only located these images from the 2015-17 renovation shown below. Moreover, when the ship is afloat, most of the fenders are not visible as they are hidden below the waterline. And, for some reason, very few images with any detail are available even today (at least on Google) when she was in dry dock. I guess they’re not a very interesting subject to photograph.

[JSGerson]

Using 5/32” x 1/8” stock boxwood, twenty pieces were cut 21/32” in length. Boxwood was chosen over basswood because it holds a very fine edge. The chamfers were created using a sanding block. I didn’t trust myself to cut them using an X-acto knife as Mr. Hunt did in his practicum. Then, using a drum sander bit on the Dremel rotary tool at a slow rpm, the hull face side was sanded down every so gently to match the contour of the hull at each position. The fenders were identified on the inside face with an arrow indicating UP orientation, S or P for the proper side, and the position 1 -10. I just arbitrarily made the aft most position No. 1.  Using left over metal wire trimmed from eye bolts and other hardware for the pins, holes were drilled into the backside of the fenders and the pins were CA’d into the holes. Before installation, the fenders were painted red. Pressing the fender onto the hull, the pins left an impression indicating were I had to drill holes into the hull for the fender pins. The fender locations were premeasured and indicated on the hull with paint trim tape.

[JSGerson]

The results of my efforts are shown below.

[gregkthompson]

On 3/8/2017 at 4:16 PM, JSGerson said:

Moving on, I thought I would make the stem and keel parts while still waiting for the styrene strips. It was at this point that my good feeling sank a bit. Looking at the practicum, my pinnace shell looked very similar to what was shown. However, when I looked at the plans to make the templates for the keel and stem I found another problem. The aft end of the boat angled up. See the pictures below. I checked other build logs and those with images of the pinnace that showed the bottom of the boat, all agreed with the plans, not the practicum. So, I have a bit more carving to do. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still a novice when it comes to reading ship lines on plans.

 

So I’m kind of going off of you on these since it it is a great learning curve. The question on planking.  Seems I’m at a stand still.  Do we actually add planking to this or are we drawing lines to make it look like there is planking?  Any help is greatly appreciated!

[gregkthompson]

On 3/8/2017 at 4:16 PM, JSGerson said:

Moving on, I thought I would make the stem and keel parts while still waiting for the styrene strips. It was at this point that my good feeling sank a bit. Looking at the practicum, my pinnace shell looked very similar to what was shown. However, when I looked at the plans to make the templates for the keel and stem I found another problem. The aft end of the boat angled up. See the pictures below. I checked other build logs and those with images of the pinnace that showed the bottom of the boat, all agreed with the plans, not the practicum. So, I have a bit more carving to do. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still a novice when it comes to reading ship lines on plans.

 

So I’m kind of going off of you on these since it it is a great learning curve. The question on planking.  Seems I’m at a stand still.  Do we actually add planking to this or are we drawing lines to make it look like there is planking?  Any help is greatly appreciated!

[gregkthompson]

On 3/8/2017 at 4:16 PM, JSGerson said:

Moving on, I thought I would make the stem and keel parts while still waiting for the styrene strips. It was at this point that my good feeling sank a bit. Looking at the practicum, my pinnace shell looked very similar to what was shown. However, when I looked at the plans to make the templates for the keel and stem I found another problem. The aft end of the boat angled up. See the pictures below. I checked other build logs and those with images of the pinnace that showed the bottom of the boat, all agreed with the plans, not the practicum. So, I have a bit more carving to do. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still a novice when it comes to reading ship lines on plans.

 

So I’m kind of going off of you on these since it it is a great learning curve. The question on planking.  Seems I’m at a stand still.  Do we actually add planking to this or are we drawing lines to make it look like there is planking?  Any help is greatly appreciated!

[JSGerson]

Greg, there is no whaleboat planking. The boat hull surfaces are painted which would erase any evidence of the planks. If you look at pictures of the real whaleboats, they are smooth as a baby's butt 😁. Hope this makes it easier for you.

 

Jon

[JSGerson]

Bow Details

it’s time to work on the bow details, Chapter 8 of the practicum. Taking a deep breath and I jumped in with both feet. The practicum instructions provide an annotated image of the bow with the pertinent nomenclature.