USS Constitution by JSGerson - Model Shipways Kit No. MS2040

[JSGerson]

Quote

At this point I had a decision to make: add the ball racks or not. My modeler’s gut reaction was to at least attempt to make them. The practical side said no, no one will see them due to the awkward viewing angle and lighting, not to mention how difficult and delicate they would be to make; at least not on the gun deck, maybe on the spar deck.

As I noted above, I did consider it. The gun deck is going to be only visible through the open areas in the spar deck planking and deck floor support beams. Therefore, the lighting will dim on the gun deck as well as relatively distant from the viewer. So considering the amount of effort required to make those racks, for something that won't be seen unless you have a keen eye and a probe light, I elected not to make them. I will however attempt to make them for the gun deck.

[SawdustDave]

Jon:

Got a question.

 

Dave

Edited August 5, 2018 by SawdustDave

[Tigersteve]

Dave- don’t post your email publicly. You’re inviting spam. Better to PM. 

Steve

[JSGerson]

I thought I was done with the gun deck gratings, but upon checking the Navy plans, it seems I missed one. This was labeled “scuttle” on the plans and it is just aft of the bowsprit support. This one’s a little different from the hatchway gratings as its grating is raised above the scuttle side walls and is painted.

[JSGerson]

As with the previous gun deck hatch gratings, I used the grating stock I bought earlier. After creating the size I wanted, I extended the side walls by 1/32” to eventually raise it above the grating frame. Then I created a frame to go around the grating. Finally, I created another frame  that was beveled on the top edge

[JSGerson]

The beveled frame pieces were glued individually to the inner frame. I know this could have been done with four pieces of stock instead of eight, but my problem was the bevel. I don’t have a proper tool to cut a bevel along the length of a piece of wood accurately. I was able the cut the bevel on the outer frame with my disk sander.

[JSGerson]

The frame was then painted green. I’ve flipped the structure over so that you can see the underside construction.

[JSGerson]

At this point I thought I was done, but then realized I needed to do one more thing. If you look at the picture of the actual scuttle (above), you will notice there is a post on either side of the scuttle where vertical posts are. They notched into the scuttle frame Using my Byrne’s saw, I very delicately cut out the notches and painted them. The bow sprint support was painted, and the scuttle was set into place. The kit’s bow sprit support brace is the furthest forward I plan to add details on the gun deck.

[JSGerson]

So, as it stands, this is what 8 months of work on the hull has accomplished so far. Just cruising along 8-)

[SawdustDave]

The Gun Deck is, indeed coming along very nicely Jon.

 

[JSGerson]

Gun Deck Planking

Now that the gun deck hatches and ladders have been installed, it was time to install the gun deck planking. After a little research, I’ve determined that the deck plank length vary from about 16’ – 30’. The distance between the various hatchways and scuttles is well within those limits. Therefore, there would be no planking joints when planking in those areas. Robert Hunt’s practicum also reached that conclusion although he was only dealing with the spar deck.

 

Using artist’s charcoal, I colored just one side of each plank which worked well. I had originally thought to use CA glue to fasten down the planks, but I found the CA glue soak too quickly into the plywood subdeck. Making the glue bead thicker just made it messier with no time to adjust plank positions. I resorted to wood glue (Wellbond) and had no problems.

 

I added lines perpendicular to the beam on the subdeck to represent the underlying gun deck support beams. This is where plank joints will appear and line up as necessary.

[xken]

Jon, your build is coming along nicely and going into more detail at the bow and stern than I did. Keep up the great work you are doing!

[JSGerson]

Thanks Ken for the "look in." Your build will be one of the main build logs I'll be using as a guide as my build syncs up with yours.

Edited September 7, 2018 by JSGerson

[JSGerson]

Wow, a month has past by already. In between doctor’s appointments, hurricane Florence, and the what-nots, some progress has been made. I’ve completed planking the gun deck, but there is still work to be done on it before I can move on. The deck required about 45 sticks of 3/32” x 1/16” x 24” basswood. Surprisingly, I had very little waste, about 6” combined.

 

As you will see from the images below, I managed to knock down almost every ladder stanchion so those will have to be repaired. The planks still need more sanding and then will need to be stained and sealed.

[SawdustDave]

Nice work Jon.  

This development stage seems to take forever, huh?

Be patient my friend.  You’ll be tying rat lines before you know it. 

🤣

[JSGerson]

Gun Deck Stained & Sealed

I tried to stain the Gun Deck as close to the color of the actual ship as I could. I have a number of images and each one is slightly different than the next due to the various lighting conditions of artificial lighting and indirect daylight among other things. One of those images is shown below.

[JSGerson]

My first attempt, if you remember, was the decking in the captain cabin which I printed on paper and glued to the plywood. Not very realistic but then most viewers won’t even see the that interior. This attempt was made using Minwax Gunstock 231 as the first coat. This has a rosy hue to it. Then, I applied Minwax Golden Pecan 245 to tone down the red and add some depth to the stain. Finally, I added Minwax Polycrylic  Clear Satin as the sealer. I got a good simulation of planking, but maybe just a smidge too much red. As it turned out, the color did match to captain cabin. Once more, the viewer will have limited access and dim lighting conditions as well. In any event, it is what it is.

 

The ladder stanchions have not been repaired yet, and I might delay the repair till the last possible moment so that I won’t damage them any further.

[JSGerson]

Gun Port Boxes for Dummy Cannons

Another week, another hurricane, OK, tropical storm (Michael). I got wind and rain, but luckily no damage.

 

As noted way earlier in my log, I plan to use some dummy guns on the gun deck. The first pair of gun ports in the bow won’t have any guns at all, as there is no room for them to operate. They may be some confusion when looking at the ship from the outside, because it appears there are guns with a tampion in their barrels poking out through the gun port lids. The tampions are there only to plug the muzzle openings created by the lids. You can see one lying on the green floor beam in the first image.

[JSGerson]

The next set of gun ports aft of the bow and the last two gun ports forward of the quarter galley will have the dummy guns because they won’t be seen (hopefully) through the opens in spar deck. All these ports will have their lids closed so that the gun boxes won’t be visible.

The kit instructions show the box piece being added to the framework and states specifically that they should be mounted vertically. The diagram shows the gun port wall back edges perfectly vertical, however mine are like the spar deck diagram. In order to make them vertical, I added a small piece of wood to the base of the box. I also had to trim the far aft pair of boxes because they butted up against the captain’s cabin which wasn’t part of the kit’s plans.

 

Those with sharp eyes will notice that I have marked the port openings with black chalk, so I don’t stick the cannons in the wrong openings or plank over them.

[DocBlake]

Nice work, Jon!  You're making good progress.

[JSGerson]

Dave, progress ye.s. Good progress?....well I don't know, I'm slow, but thanks for confidence vote.

 

Jon

[JSGerson]

Gun Deck Bulwarks

I have a US Navy plan titled Gun Deck & Inside of Bulwarks by G.F. Campbell with no identifying number or date. Based on the drawing letter style, I would guess it’s from the 1927 restoration. I believe this is when the waist was incorrectly covered over by the bulwarks. It shows it took 3 bulwark planks to extend from the spar deck gun port sill to its header. At the same time, it took four planks to do the same on the gun deck. Today, based on photographs, they are both the same at four planks which is also reflected in the kit plans. The kit calls for 3/64” thick spar deck bulwark planks. Per direct measurement from the plans (as it does not specify), the planks are 3/32” wide, thus 3/32” wide x 3/64” thick.

[JSGerson]

Because the kit does not supply planking for the gun deck, and I’m trying to save a few bucks, I purchased a 1/8” x 4” x 24” piece of basswood instead of buying precut strips. Using my Byrnes saw, I plan to slice the wood into 1/8” x 3/64”. Other build logs I seen have indicated 1/8” x 1/32” and 1/8” x 1/16”, so I’m in the ball park.

 

Another thing I’ve noticed is just about nobody has incorporated the netting inside the gun port openings (both decks); I assume for its delicacy and difficulty of fabrication and installation. I may have a simple solution for that.

 

My first try at a proof of concept seems to have worked. Using a piece of laser cut scrap wood from the ship’s boats, I cut out an opening to represent the gun port. Then with a very thin layer of PVC glue, I glued a piece of black tulle over the “gun port” opening. Tulle is a sheer (often stiffened silk, rayon, or nylon) net used chiefly for veils. I had bought some when I made my Rattlesnake. I got a lifetime supply in both black and white colors for $0.30

 

Then I planked it as I would the bulwarks. Because this was a proof of concept, I wasn’t too concerned with the squareness of the edges at the port opening, but this will be a precise operation when done for real because there will no opportunity to square up the edges with a file as the opening will be “closed” with the net.

 

Finally, an opening was made in the net for the gun barrel by cutting the central portion with a fine sewing scissors. I thought about using a hot metal rod to melt a round opening but discarded that idea as too imprecise and very prone to error with one false hand tremor. The outside hull would be planked as you normally would.

 

On the actual model, the interior of the port openings would have to be painted black prior to the net being installed. The bulwarks are to be painted white, so care must be taken not to get any white paint where its not intended to be.

Edited October 13, 2018 by JSGerson

[JSGerson]

It was pointed out to me that the gun port netting may be a modern safety feature like the sprinklers or electrical lighting. If it is, then That would be the reason I've haven't seen it modeled before. Does anyone know?

 

Thanks

[CaptainSteve]

They'd be a very nice feature, Jon ... if they were period correct. I think UTS added cloth gun-port coverings to the stern-most gun-deck gun-ports. As I recall, he had done some research to show that these were appropriate to his 1812-era build.

[JSGerson]

Captain Steve - Who is UTS?

[CaptainSteve]

3 hours ago, JSGerson said:

Captain Steve - Who is UTS?

Jon. It's Tom (aka UsedToSail).

[JSGerson]

I knew that 8-)

[usedtosail]

Yes, cloth coverings on the aft gun ports. I also think the netting is a modern safety feature.

[JSGerson]

I finally got a phone reply from the USS Constitution Public Historian to my query about the gun port netting yesterday. (he was out of town for a week). He confirmed the netting is a modern safety feature, so scratch that detail.