USS Constitution by Michael G - Revell - Scale 1:96 - PLASTIC - Newbie Build!

[Michael G]

2 minutes ago, Tallshiptragic said:

Connie gun

What do you think...a brown with a tinge of red? Maybe orange. I'm gonna toy with some color combos, but I don't have anything at the moment that resembles that 😩  

 

I saw another build log it were somebody said the wheels on these things looked like they were assembled by a drunk monkey, and I could not agree more!  Guess I will start by shaving and trimming off all the erroneous plastic. 

[docidle]

Looks good so far. The color is really a terra cotta color. One of the closest matches you might try is the Model Masters Burnt Sienna in acrylics. Great brownish red. Hope this helps.

 

Steve

[Alex1201]

9 hours ago, Michael G said:

For you guys who have built this model, any tips on the color or color mix for the cannon...carriage? Is that what it's called? The base with the wheels? Anyway, I assume revell intended for the plastic to be the right color, but it doesn't look right unpainted in my opinion. 

The current color of her carriages is a muted reddish brown. Some people call it salmon, but it's browner than that, imo.  But red is the preferred color if you don't want to get fancy.  I am going to mix some brown into red, and maybe some gray to tone it down. 

[Alex1201]

20 hours ago, Michael G said:

I hadn't noticed the closed one on the picture of the box! I'll go with that then. You just putting that cannon in an inboard position then? You'll have to let me know when you start your log. 

 

I am going to leave out those 2 front cannons as well. 

I am working on my deck painting as the next challenge.  I like the color of yours!  

[Michael G]

On 5/29/2017 at 7:02 AM, Alex1201 said:

I am going to leave out those 2 front cannons as well. 

I am working on my deck painting as the next challenge.  I like the color of yours!  

Thanks. I used a 4 different browns, dark to light and did the lightest top coat mixed with water (trying to cut back on the brush strokes - may do that on the top two coats for the spar deck). I had no idea what I was doing, but I am totally pleased with how it turned out. I'm hoping the putty on the seams works out on the top deck...recreating the exact same color is unlikely, but the gun deck is barely visible at that point. 

 

Anyway, cannons are all painted (wife did not understand why I needed to paint the black cannons black ). Gonna go see if I can find that burnt sienna paint for the carriages next. 

 

 

[David Lester]

Have you seen this google maps "tour" of the Constitution. I know it represents a different configuration than the version you're building, but you still might find it helpful. I referred to it all the time.

 

https://www.google.ca/maps/@42.3725618,-71.0567171,3a,75y,29.78h,66.99t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sF1i4AxBGxW4AAAQZLBJ9WQ!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en&hl=en

 

For my gun carriages, I just bought paint at the hardware store in a sample sized container. I know that's not good modeling practice, but I figured for only the gun carriages how big a problem could it be. This way, the colour selection was endless and if I didn't like the first one I tried, I could easily try another, (without another 40 mile drive to our nearest hobby store, or wait for an on-line order) and the price is about the same as for model paints. My black and white paints are Model Master and I found a Tamiya colour - Desert Yellow - which worked well when I needed to simulate a natural wood finish.

 

David

 

[popeye the sailor]

rigging these plastic ships can be a bother.......over tension can bend the yards and masts.   I did a test long ago into what I call 'zero tension'   where the lines are taught,  but have little effect on the masts.   most folks know that there is some stretch in most rigging thread.   simply....take a piece and hold it in your fingers.........now pull it taught.   you'll feel the stretch.   now slowly release the tension and you'll actually see the thread relax.......then start to go limp.   tighten it back up again..........now release the tension slowly.  the point where you see the thread taught.....just before you see it start to go limp,  is the zero tension.   do this as many time as you need to,  to get a better feel of where it is.   it will help.    you can find rigging thread that is pre-stretched.   I've done all the 1:96 Revell kits {that I've done} with the supplied thread.  I like the thread......it doesn't fuzz out very quickly...takes a bit of abuse before it will begin to do it.   the kit isn't too bad in this respect,  since it does supply thread in different sizes,  in both the black and the tan.   I tried to get some from Revell when I ordered the sails and decal sheet for my Cutty,  but it seemed they didn't have it to send or purchase.   I believe Revell has stopped the practice of replacing parts......I think only Revell/Germany does it still.   some folks opted to replace the eye bolts with metal ones,  complaining that they break easily.   I have used them,  experiencing only minor problems...but using the zero tension method,  might have helped with that.   I never 'spined' the masts either.......didn't know about it then,  and never saw a reason for doing it.   one thing to take into consideration as well......is that with sails,  the lines will be taught and serving a purpose,  and if your going with no sails,  most lines will be somewhat limp anyway,  since they are not being used and at rest.

[Michael G]

Found a "Terra Cotta" color at Michael's (can't remember the brand...not with me at the moment) that is about as close as I'll likely get for the gun carriages. I keep thinking it's too pink, but then I look at the pictures, and I've looked at the Google Maps tour (didn't realize when I saw that before that you can go to all the decks!), and they do have a pink tinge to them. I've realized after painting a couple that these are going to be tedious to boot. That smooth plastic just allows the paint to be brushed right off of it. I think I'll go over all of them still attached to the plastic molding with a couple coats of white primer, then paint them, slowly, the terra cotta color. 

[Tallshiptragic]

With the plastic, there can sometimes be some releasing agent still present. It's a helpful idea to wash the sprues in soapy water, rinse and allow to air dry. You will find the paint holds a lot better. Also use tamiya fine primer after the wash.

[Alex1201]

On 5/29/2017 at 3:17 PM, Michael G said:

Thanks. I used a 4 different browns, dark to light and did the lightest top coat mixed with water (trying to cut back on the brush strokes - may do that on the top two coats for the spar deck). I had no idea what I was doing, but I am totally pleased with how it turned out. I'm hoping the putty on the seams works out on the top deck...recreating the exact same color is unlikely, but the gun deck is barely visible at that point. 

 

Anyway, cannons are all painted (wife did not understand why I needed to paint the black cannons black ). Gonna go see if I can find that burnt sienna paint for the carriages next. 

 

I'm not going to worry about the seams on the gun deck, but will try to come up with a solution for the spar deck.

 

I also felt a little silly painting black cannons black. 😊  I did add some white and dark blue to attempt an off-black. In the right light you can tell they aren't quite black.  I used the same color for the straps on the rudder. I am now officially finished with Step 1, hull is finished! Lol

My husband is giving some helpful input. After white glue fail trying to stick in the cabin windows... "Just leave them out."  Maybe will be able to see in better without them. 

[Ulises Victoria]

Hello there. Check the upper deck. Dry fit it in place and see if the joints in the lower decks are seen. I suspect they aren't. If so, don't bother about hiding them.

If you haven't painted the upper deck, may I suggest you do this. (Hope you have and can handle an airbrush) Get a roll of hobby masking tape the width of the planks. Airbrush a light wood color over all deck. Then randomly apply a number of stripes of tape as to cover some of the planks. Add a few drops of black paint or darker brown to the original color. Airbrush all over again. Repeat 4 or five times, adding stripes of tape at random and adding a darker coat of paint every time. When you remove all the masking tape stripes you may see a very contrasting mosaic of planks. Load your airbrush again with the first lighter color and "dust" all the surface to even the contrast . "Dust" means a super light coat of paint, so much that it does not cover the previous paint job only lowers the contrast between colors. I hope this makes sense.  You can later apply some "VERY LIGHT" dry brush of black to enhance the wood marks.

Its much work, but believe me, once you master this technique you can get outstanding results.

Hope this helps.

Ulises

 

[Alex1201]

Hi, Michael

I did start my log.  I'm now going to work on the gun deck and hope it's not a hot mess. 

Alex

 

[Michael G]

4 hours ago, Alex1201 said:

Hi, Michael

I did start my log.  I'm now going to work on the gun deck and hope it's not a hot mess. 

Alex

 

Great! I'm on my phone and can't figure out how to follow yours... what am I missing? 

 

I plan to have an update in the next week or so here. Working the gun carriages still As I mentioned early on I'm trying not to get too absorbed in this that I neglect my family 😄

[Alex1201]

On 5/30/2017 at 8:14 AM, popeye the sailor said:

....    you can find rigging thread that is pre-stretched.   I've done all the 1:96 Revell kits {that I've done} with the supplied thread.  I like the thread......it doesn't fuzz out very quickly...takes a bit of abuse before it will begin to do it.   the kit isn't too bad in this respect,  since it does supply thread in different sizes,  in both the black and the tan.   I tried to get some from Revell when I ordered the sails and decal sheet for my Cutty,  but it seemed they didn't have it to send or purchase.   I believe Revell has stopped the practice of replacing parts......I think only Revell/Germany does it still.   ...

Don't want to hijack Michael's post, but maybe Q/A helps others.  But, I'm struggling with the thread.

First, it seems so slippery, isn't it hard to work with? Or is that an advantage? 

Mainly I'm bothered that their small, med, large are too similar. Attempting to measure using wraps per cm, I get 0.42, 0.43, & 0.53 mm for black and 0.42, 0.5, & 0.52 mm for tan.  The large tan is probably the right scale for the cannons. But if my math is right, scale running rigging would range from 0.1 to 0.4 mm (3/8"-1.5" diameter).  

Standing rigging would range from 0.2 to 0.8 mm (2"-10" circumference). 

 

And on Revell's site, they say they replace parts for recent kits, but older ones no guarantees they will still have any. 

I emailed about what sizes of line they intended to supply in the kit (hoping mine is wrong). Got a "will look into it" reply.

[Alex1201]

1 hour ago, Michael G said:

Great! I'm on my phone and can't figure out how to follow yours... what am I missing? 

 

I plan to have an update in the next week or so here. Working the gun carriages still As I mentioned early on I'm trying not to get too absorbed in this that I neglect my family 😄

On my phone, at the very bottom of the page there is a bar to click to follow a thread. Right before the previous/next topics buttons.

Yeah, the real world beckons. 😀

[Michael G]

Cannons and carriages are fully painted! Going on vacation next week so I may not get to the point of putting them on the ship, but may try to put the two pieces together. 

 

Happy with the color. Terra cotta with a few drops of burnt sienna mixed in. 

 

[Michael G]

 The canons are all complete and ready to go onto the ship. I have a question for anybody who's done this build.  The cannons have a thread that goes from each one to the side of the ship and back all the way down. I added two pictures here. All these are are little nubs. There's really not any catch on any of them. In hindsight I would have whittled away at them before putting the hull together, but it's too late for that. Any ideas for this? How have others done this? I'm thinking I may have to just one at a time and blue and hold the thread on the nubs. 

[russ]

Your model is coming along well. I recall building this kit many years ago. I have one in my stash now. Have fun.

 

Russ

[Alex1201]

13 hours ago, Michael G said:

 The canons are all complete and ready to go onto the ship. I have a question for anybody who's done this build.  The cannons have a thread that goes from each one to the side of the ship and back all the way down. I added two pictures here. All these are are little nubs. There's really not any catch on any of them. In hindsight I would have whittled away at them before putting the hull together, but it's too late for that. Any ideas for this? How have others done this? I'm thinking I may have to just one at a time and blue and hold the thread on the nubs. 

Looks great!

It looks like there are slight indentations on the top of them?

If not, like you say, creating a notch would be tricky now.

Most people do seem to mention gluing each knot and waiting.  If you use CA, doesn't take long.  Also note this isn't load bearing. If carriages are glued down, there won't be tension on those lines.  Also note, they should be slack in the outboard position.  The old directions show them tight. I downloaded the newer ones and they have it right.  They don't adjust the length when the cannons move out, so they should hang loose.  

 

Another option might be to glue on a tiny piece of plastic on the top of the pegs to create a hump to catch the knot?

Most of mine have a tiny notch and I plan to knot and CA glue.  May try to file a small notch in the smooth ones.

Not expecting it to go well. Ha

[Michael G]

12 hours ago, Alex1201 said:

Looks great!

It looks like there are slight indentations on the top of them?

If not, like you say, creating a notch would be tricky now.

Most people do seem to mention gluing each knot and waiting.  If you use CA, doesn't take long.  Also note this isn't load bearing. If carriages are glued down, there won't be tension on those lines.  Also note, they should be slack in the outboard position.  The old directions show them tight. I downloaded the newer ones and they have it right.  They don't adjust the length when the cannons move out, so they should hang loose.  

 

Another option might be to glue on a tiny piece of plastic on the top of the pegs to create a hump to catch the knot?

Most of mine have a tiny notch and I plan to knot and CA glue.  May try to file a small notch in the smooth ones.

Not expecting it to go well. Ha

The knots should be there, but in reality only a few of them are actually useful. Like the idea of gluing additional plastic, but I think I'll just glue them. After all this is not even visible when all is said and done. 

 

So here's my test run pics. Nothing is glued down yet, but I think this will work nicely. Sadly for the ship, but not for me, I go on a cruise in 2 days for a full week! So this is the last you'll see for a couple weeks most likely. 

[Michael G]

14 hours ago, modlerbob said:

I built the Revell Constitution many years ago while I was in college.  I didn't finish it until three years later.  All that work on the gun deck including the Captains cabin ends up being not visible after everything is closed up.  I rigged every gun but should have spent more time securing them to the deck.  After 43 years about half a dozen of them came loose and move around whenever the model gets moved.  The cannons that can be seen through the openings on the spar deck where the ships boats are stored should get the most attention to details.  You are doing a great job so far.

 

Here is a shot of mine from 9 years ago when she was 35 years old.

 

I like it! Did you use the molded ratlines? I've seen pics of older ones where they're plastic, but kind of loose. My kit is just a molded plastic, but I think I'm going to make them out of thread. I may be crazy being fairly new to this, but it can't be worse than some of the other rigging. 

 

Thanks for the tip though. I will make sure these suckers are glued down!

[Ulises Victoria]

I built 3 instances of this kit. The last 2 I used real rope to make the shrouds and tied thousands of clove hitches to make the ratlines.

I have never regretted I did so, instead of the fast and easy way.

 

Best regards

[Alex1201]

Michael, enjoy your cruise!

Test run looks good.  Is that thread that came in your kit??  Mine looks nothing like that.

[Michael G]

3 minutes ago, Alex1201 said:

Michael, enjoy your cruise!

Test run looks good.  Is that thread that came in your kit??  Mine looks nothing like that.

 It is. That is the medium sized 10. C I believe. I got I think five different spools  (not home now). Leaving tomorrow! 

[Alex1201]

Interesting!  They must have stepped up their thread game.  It makes sense that is an item that will change over the years depending on their suppliers.  Mine is terrible.

[popeye the sailor]

every kit that I did has the plasti-thread ratlines {it's the best way to describe them}.   I used them.......I might even have some around somewhere.   for thread,  they supply four spools....two sizes of black thread and two tan thread.......the anchor rope is separate.  never like how the ratlines were to be installed.

[Michael G]

I'm back from vacation and back to the ship! I've completed the first row of gun deck guns. Not too bad, just glued the rope to the nubs on the ship. The one at the front at the closed port was the most difficult. Hard to get glue in there. I added a picture of the thread provided as well. 6 total, small, medium, and large of Black and Tan. Plus a thick anchor piece. The rope used for this step is the large tan. 

[Michael G]

Just a quick update for anyone following this. Since we got back from vacation we've had a few things going on, then we decided to get a puppy! So that's been a pretty full time job...I've gotten some more cannons secured (I think I have 6 left, still on the gun deck), but it's been slow going. I hope to have some updates soon! Here's some puppy pics (a couple of the old lab as well) in the meantime because why not!

[Michael G]

 All 32 guns are installed on the gun deck! Hooray!

 

I have a dumb question for anybody who has done this build before. There is a step that requires lashing some sail yards to the deck. It appears there are 20 total pieces.   I don't see these needed anywhere later but for some reason I have a fear that I'm going to put something here that is needed later. Anybody recall the step? What about the color of these things?  No  paint call out in the instructions. 

[popeye the sailor]

they are the capstan bars........can be painted wood brown.   the capstan is shown on the spar deck,  but information contained in other build logs suggest that there is a gun deck level capstan as well.

     should you choose to make one,  there are 'how to's' in them as well.  another thing to mention is that they show the pumps at the bow {beak grating}.   they do not belong there......they can be relocated on the gun deck.   either one of these build logs will have information and additional stuff for you:

 

I did the older production kit........updated kits may have changed or omitted this.  I hope this helps you