USS Constitution by kmart - Model Shipways - scale 1/76

[k-mart]

Next I started the rudder.    I'm going with the older,  more square rudder than the current spade like rudder.   Note sure when the switch was made, pre or post 1812....  I didn't see date in the plan / CD.

 

I had roughed out the new rudder earlier... but I needed to make the pintles and gudgeons.

Made a simple jig.  piece of wood 3/16th wide... same as rudder    rounded off one edge. 

Then just bent the brass strips over it.  after a few tries.... was able to get them the right shape.    Made 10 total.   5 for rudder,  5 for hull.

 

  

Pintles were a bit harder to make.   I've never really soldered before....

After a few attempts, I determined I either needed 4 hands to do this.    Using pliers,  one hand to hole gudgeon,  one to hold the pintle, one to hold soldering iron and one to hold the solder wire itself.

 

As that wont work... made another simple jig.

Drilled a hole in a piece of scrape wood  same diameter as pintle

Put the brass wire in hole.

clamp the gudgeon  in proper position

 

Now with two free hands.. can solder away.    I put the soldering iron on the outside. and the solder on the inside of the wire.   heat drew the solder right where it needed to go.

 

 

Drilled a whole lotta tiny holes  for the nails

And a bunch of clean up.

 

Next up... I'll finish coppering the rudder and then attach the hardware.

 

Now a question , opinion from this esteemed group of modelers?

Looking at other Connie build logs....  I've seen several variations on the rudder hardware color.

  1)  leave the brass natural color

  2)  copper sheet over the gudgeons   or paint it copper to match

  3)  paint the brass black   so its black gudgeons contrast against the copper platting.

 

In the pics I've seen,  they all look good.    but I got a pick one before I continue.

so I'll poll you guys.... option.... 1, 2 or 3?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by k-mart

[LyleK1]

Looking real good!

Option 3 is my vote!

[k-mart]

Quick update...  Rudder just about done.   

Just need too add the chain.   If you look close.. the eyebolts are already on the stern.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Great job, all around ... I'll have to try your soldering technique when the time comes.  You've gone with the straight (pre 1812) rudder, so is the slight gap between the top part of the rudder (blackened) and the stern where the 'spade-like' later rudder would have conformed to?  Small matter, but one could still affix a tapered sliver to the hull at that point and paint it black to blend.

[k-mart]

Snug Harbor Johnny,  Thanks for the compliment. Yeah... I didn't notice that gap at top of the rudder until it was already attached.  Its exactly as you described. The modern spade rudder would have the same contour of the sternpost.  In the picture the gap is obvious... but from viewing distance...  only a NRG member or model shipwright would ever pick up on that mistake.  :-).    I swore enough when hanging the rudder, that I'm calling it done.  Not going to try and fix it.  

[kmart]

Starting to work on Guns for gundeck.  So need to make 30 of them .   

I am going to use the ME cannon set.  Not the dummy barrels that cam with the kit.

Fairly common issue is the cannon carriage is to short.  Without modification the barrel it will sit too low in the gun port.

My solution was to replace the dowel axels with a taller pieces of basswood to raise the overall height.

 

The wheels will just glue right on to these pieces flush with the deck.

The wheels themselves will hide most of the piece.  So they wont be as obvious.

 

In  some of my past builds, I've had canons break loose.

The tiny wheels/trucks  just don't have enough surface area connecting the deck to stay stuck.   

I tiny bump and they break loose.   Typically this after deck is closed up and I can no longer access to fix.   

With these pieces, there will be a lot more surface area on the bottom piece's to glue to the deck.   

 

Mass producing the  carriages

Testing them on the ship

 

 

 

 

For the wheels themselves,   still want to show the nub of the axis.

Trying to clean, enlarge the hole to fit the axes will split the wheel.

 

Soo ill try using toothpicks.  Glue the wheel on

Saw off the pointy end flush with wheel.  That's  the side that will be glue to the new piece of wood/axil.

On the center side of the toothpick,  I'll cut short length after the wheel to simulate the end of a axil

 

 

 

 

Once the carriages are done.  30x4  = 120 wheels to make.  Geesh.   

Then I'll start looking at rigging.  At a minimal I'll rig  the breech's on all of them.

I'll do more excessive rigging on the 8 cannons that can be seen though the open grating on the spar deck. 

As I'm aiming for an 1812 version of the ship,  I'm leaving waist hatches off.  

 

 

 

 

[JSGerson]

A lot simpler method than I did and probably just as effective to the typical observer. Looks good so far.

 

Jon

[usedtosail]

That's a great solution for the gun carriages.

[Professor]

No further progress on this marvelous build? I'm certain we would all love to see more of your excellent craftsmanship. I hope all is well with you, Kmart.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Just now, Professor said:

No further progress on this marvelous build? I'm certain we would all love to see more of your excellent craftsmanship. I hope all is well with you, Kmart.

Likewise here.

[kmart]

Hello all.    Thanks for the interest in my build.

OK,  I have been delinquent in posting updates. My bad.    I have been lurking and watching your logs for inspiration!

And  I have been making progress on my build.   

I'll post some pics and commentary shortly.

But as a tease:   Areas I've done some work on: (all in various stages of progress,  none complete yet)

• Gun deck cannons
• Ship stove and chimney
• Channels
• Dead eyes and chain plates
• Fixed a major screwup on the bottom copper
• Upper gun port lids
• Gun deck riding bits
• boomkins
• Support for the Spar deck

 

 

[kmart]

The 30 gun deck cannons took awhile.   Just about done with them

 

Decided not to blacken the ringbolts.

Also only going to simulate the breach line.   not all the gun rigging.

As it will all be covered up with the spar deck,  I'll only detail enough that can be seen by peaking through the gunports

 

Gun #1

All thirty

By eye,  they are all centered in their gunports and have the same elevation .... Came out better then I hoped for. 

 

Oh and yes.. Got the upper gunport lids attached as well.  Painting top and bottoms of the gunports (top and bottom lids)  wasn't bad.    but getting the white edges was ugly. plenty of black marks on the edges if you look close. 

 

I was going back and forth on weather to rig the lifts on the upper ports.   I made a few attempts and didn't like the results.   I figured .. no one would be able to see the lifts when the lid is in the up position so I left them off.   After I glued them all on, now I regret not rigging them.  

Gun breech lines not glued to sides yet.   I put a simple overhand know at the ends.   Will touch  the knot with glue and then stick to side in the right position.   Again just simulating... as no one will be able to see them once spar deck is on. 

 

I have no idea how others manage to attach ring bolts into the side of the bulwarks and then rig them in proper.   I'm beyond impressed for those who can do that.  Even at this larger scale...  rigging them in that small space is way to small for my  paws to manage.   You need to have surgeon level skills....

Nice view looking from the stern

The modified trucks on the cannon works great.  They have plenty of surface area that it glues down securely to the deck.

 

15 guns mounted.  15 more to go.

[kmart]

Also been working on the other Gun deck fittings

 

Stove....

 

Again, as it will be barely seen under the deck...  I didn't add a whole lot of detail  to it.  

Stove pipe I left long.  will cut it down to proper height after I install the spar deck.

BTW,  being new to soldering.. I think It came out well.

By eye the diameter seems to large, but its same diameter as the kit supplied piece. 

Ridding bits

 

Double Capstan.

Not the kit supplies pieces only for the Spar deck.

So I made identical pieces and made it the proper double.

They do separate so I can install.  

Again more micro soldering to get the copper band on the top of each.

Will stain and then gloss varnish to get the riding bits and capstans looking like bright work.

 

Couple of shots of  them installed.

 

Note that's the kit stove pipe.  Not mine.   Might go with the kit one... I think it looks more accurate then mine.

Prepping the 4 stairs that go from the gun deck down to the lower deck

 

I had created the Channels earlier in the build.   I've now attached them and added some black

 

Lots more soldering practice preparing the chain plates

I studied a bunch of other peoples build to get ideas on how to make these before I got a method down that works for me.

 

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the process.

I'll try to describe.  Hopefully it makes sense without pics.

First.... I used the kit supplied photo etched parts.

Before cutting them free... I pulled out the tinyest nails I have in my spare parts boxes.

I re-drilled out all the holes on the chain plates and their smaller support pieces.

     My impression as it would be very difficult to open theses holes up after they are detached. 

Made sure the nails would fit through the holes.   I don't want to fight this later when nailing them into the hull.

Then I cut the parts all free.

 

Next I nailed a small put a small pin in a block of hardwood.   You can put the deadeye on this pin through one of the holes in the deadeye.   That basically holds the deadeye stationary for the next steps.

 

On the chainplate, I use a razor blade to fold the end over to make a  very small U at the end opposite of the hole.  

     ---

     |

     --------------------------------------0 

 

Next I cut a length of 24 gauge copper core wire.  ~ 2"  long.

using small pliers to I wrap the wire around the deadeye once and cross the  wires once at the bottom.

  Remember , the deadeye is held stable by that pin while you wrap that wire around it. 

 

 Take the u end in the chainplate and hook the two ends of the copper wire where they cross.. so both ends of the wire pass through the U.  The bottom of the U is now pinned between the ends of the wire and the deadeye.  

 

Put a drop of solder at the opening part of the U soldering the u to the wire.

 

Trim off the ends of the wire.

 

That's its.    The deadeyes even spin so I can later adjust their position.

Repeat 65 more times.

( Side note... Because I'm going for an 1812 build, I compared a few different references to determine how many and what size deadeyes,  chains and eyes I needed.     The MS plans are based on the current rigging not the 1812.  I can share the configuration I chose if people are interested in that.  )     

 

Production line of deadeyes....

Large,  Medium, Small and Eyes

Testing them out

 

That almost brings my log current to where my build is.

By my next posting (hopefully without the long delay in postings again)  I hope to report on the finished gun deck.    

 

Then I'll go over how I'll support the Spar deck.   I'm not doing the full beams  (again as they wont be seen at )  so I have my own unique method.  We'll see how it works out.      I'll cover that next time.

 

Best

K 

 

 

 

[JSGerson]

Very nice! You are going to have a great looking model when you are done. One thing caught my eye, If you plan on installing the spar deck capstan stove pipe before you install the spar deck, make sure you leave space under them for the spar deck planks to fit.

 

Oh, one other thing, It appears your anchor rope is tied (instead of wrapped) around the riding bitts. There is no way the anchor rope can be pulled in either direction to raise or lower the anchor. The riding bitts apply friction to the rope to maintain control of the ropes movement. The way you have it shown, the rope can't even be untied if it were on the actual ship.

 

Jon

Edited May 20 by JSGerson

[CaptainSteve]

You have made some awesome progress since my last visit, KMart !! Your Connie is looking better with every post.

 

PS: I luv the 1812 stern modification !!

[kmart]

Thanks all for the looks, likes and feedback.

Capt Steve.  very long time since I've heard from you!  Hope you are well. 

 

Jon,   only you and people on MSW would ever notice what you called out.   lol

         --Yes anchor rode is currently tied on ridding bits. (How did you even see that in the picture?)   That's temporary.  I'm going to replace it with  better cordage for the anchor rode. It wont be tied when finished.

         -- yes accounting for height of spar deck planks when working on the spar deck fittings including the charley Nobel.

 

 

Next post will be coming Soon.

Preview: 

• Gun deck is basically done. 
• Spar deck "supports"    (not planking) is done
• Spar deck beams where open grating is done
• Bowsprit and Jibboom  made (not finished but close)
• Working on all the spar deck fittings  (All the gratings/ Gangways etc) 

 

Question for all you Connie Modelers.   What Mast and Rigging version are you guys going with?  1812 or Current?

 

The Model Expo plans has the current modern rig.  Only have main,  Top mast and Top Galleon.

Missing the Royals and Skypoles.   

And the modern Main, Top and top Galleon seem to be different lengths than 1812

I have the following books  that show 1812 versions that I've been staring at for days trying to figure it all out and cross reference.

• Bluejacket manual by Arnot and 
• Chapelle's  "The American Sailing Navy"
• Anatomy of the Ship Constitution  by Marquardt

I'm still a long way from masting, but I want  to rough out Fore, Main and Mizzen masts before I close up the gun deck. Get the heal of the masts fitted properly in the gun deck and have the spar deck where they pass through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JSGerson]

For me, my choice is simple. My model is based (with some exceptions) on the present version because I have access to thousands of photos of the actual ship as she floats today. Building an historic model, I would have to rely on paintings, old books, and old drawings which can be very complicated or assumes the reader has more nautical understanding than I have to understand. So, modern rigging it is for my model.

 

kmart, when you started your build, I believe you were shooting for the 1812 configuration. Bluejacket's model is by design, to be 1812 era. model. I would use that as my primary rigging guide, and fill in in any gaps from other sources as required. You can buy their rigging plans if you don't have them.

 

As you may know, rigging styles vary from era to era, ship to ship, and captains to captains. A ship may leave port with one rigging style and return with another depending on the environment the voyage encountered. So there is no one correct rigging plan. You're the captain of your ship; what you choose for your ship, is by definition, the correct one.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

15 hours ago, kmart said:

Jon,   only you and people on MSW would ever notice what you called out.   lol.

I agree 100%.  Jon is the man!

[JSGerson]

You guys give me too much credit! 

[mort stoll]

I would use the Arnot primarily with Chapelle as a back up.

Keep up the great work.

Mort

[GGibson]

19 hours ago, kmart said:

I have the following books  that show 1812 versions that I've been staring at for days trying to figure it all out and cross reference.

• Bluejacket manual by Arnot and 
• Chapelle's  "The American Sailing Navy"
• Anatomy of the Ship Constitution  by Marquardt

 

1 hour ago, mort stoll said:

I would use the Arnot primarily with Chapelle as a back up.

 

 

I have seen Arnot's "USS Constitution 1812-1815: Step-by-Step Instructions..." book advertised on Amazon in both "Used-Very Good" and "Collectible-Good" conditions.

 

Watching your build with great interest, kmart.  No idea yet which era I will shoot for once I get to working on this ship.  But appreciate all the info from all sides! 

[kmart]

As always,  you all are leading me in the right direction.  I will go with the Arnot book as my primary source.  (fortunately I already have it)  

I sent out a bunch of emails trying to track down where i can buy the corresponding plans.   (Bluejacket, Taubman,  USSCMSG)   Hopefully  I can find a source to buy from without spending a fortune on plans.  

 

I'll keep you posted if i find a source.

[kmart]

Time for next update.

Not tons to show.    Based on last Discussion

•  I did buy the blueprints from Bluejacket.  I already had the bluejacket Manual/booklet
• I'll base most on my mast and rigging from Bluejacket.  So  yes sky poles!  but that's a ways off yet.
• Summary from last post
  • I did finish the lower deck.  All cannons with minimal rigging
  • Replaced the Anchor rode with a more properly scaled line
  • Yes, wrapped it around the ridding bits.   not knotted.  (Thanks Jon)
  • All the deck supports were cleaned up and glued in.   (same as last picture above
• Started planking the spar deck
  • first  ran a strip of wood, bow to stern right on centerline.   Nailed it down
  • This will be  a guide to start the first few runs of the planking
  •  

 

• I will use a 4 shift pattern
  • Each plank is 120mm long
  • Shifts at 30, 60, 90 120mm
  • Because I work in IT and over think everything...  Used Microsoft Visio to lay out all the planks on the computer first

My MS Visio layout of the planks

• By my math,   need  6x 120mm planks per run.
  • roughly 56 planks wide.
  • So 336  planks need.
  • Based on that I  sawed up all the planks on mini table saw
  • 1/16"  x 3/32"
  • That took awile
  
  

Roughly about 1/3 of the planks I milled

 

 

First 4 runs of planks

 

[kmart]

 

Planking in progress.   

So far the runs are staying nice and straight

 

Almost 1/2 way done.  Started fitting in the hatchways. (Not glued)

 

Looking down the main Hatch

 

 

I did go back and forth on whether to put in the waterway and plank sheer first and then plank up to the waterway

OR

Plank all the way to the bulwarks.  Then put waterway sitting on top of planks.

I chose to go the later method.

My reasoning is this.   I will be staining the deck.   and painting the waterway bulwark green.

For me, it would be nearly impossible to not get stain on waterway or green on the deck... or at least keep a clean edge.

 

This way I can stain the deck with no worries.

Paint the waterway green before gluing them down.   

And if I feather the waterway down to very thin.  no one will see that its actually sitting on the planks 

That's the plan. 

 

But first, I figure it will take me a couple of weeks to finish the rest of the planks.

Thats it for now.

K

 

 

   

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Your plan to paint and add the waterways later is solid.

 

I noticed you're not tapering your deck planks. That should make that job a lot easier. Looks great.

[kmart]

On 11/26/2024 at 4:53 PM, Der Alte Rentner said:

Your plan to paint and add the waterways later is solid.

 

I noticed you're not tapering your deck planks. That should make that job a lot easier. Looks great.

Errr   are the deck planks supposed to be tapered?   I didn't realize that,  I thought they stayed the same width entire run of the deck.

Kind of late now... will complete mine as planned.   But you have me curious.  Can you elabare on how / where they would be tapered?   Any pics would be helpful

Thanks

K

 

 

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

I'm working from the Hunt practicum.  The deck forward of the center hatch is made up of parallel decking, but in Chapter 4, on page 63, Hunt begins the discussion of planking the stern half of the deck with, "You’ve probably already noticed that the aft end of the ship is narrower than
amidships." Then follows that up with "That means we are going to have to start tapering our planks".  That's when I checked the plans, and, sure enough, the planks are indeed tapered aft of amidships. 

 

I don't have them in front of me at the moment, so I can't confirm whether they are also tapered to forward, but since I was following the practicum, at this point in the build, I didn't think about it until I read the above. 

 

I did in fact do the tapering aft.  Here's the link to my build log at around that stage of the planking:  

(click on the light blue rectangle immediately below.  Navigate to the beginning of page 10 of my build if the link takes you to page 1 instead)

 

If you scroll back a bit from there, you can see how I went about accomplishing the tapering of those deck planks using a thickness drum sander.  

 

Before I committed to the tapering, I checked at least a half dozen other builds of notable builders here.  Only about half of those did the tapering, so you are in good company.  (again, scroll back a little further to see my research on that topic).

 

 

 

 

Edited December 1 by Der Alte Rentner
I had trouble with the link to page 10 of my log

[kmart]

Der Alte,  I did check out you logs.  I see exactly what your talking about with the tapered planks.   If I had seen that earlier. I would have tapered aft at least.   As it is I'm far enough along... too late to re-do it.

 

That said.  I am have been progressing  along.  I'm ~75% of the way done.

All the hatches are trimmed in  (not shown in pic)   maybe next time.

Runs staying true  so far.

I did mess up some of the shift pattern.   I sure you guys can find it. 

Port side, aft of the main hatch...   There are two runs where the butts don't have the required 3 planks between.

The open main hatched messed me up when figuring where the next butt was.

 

Not too worried... Once all the deck fittings and guns in... no one will ever notice.   (but it will bug me.)

 

Now I am hoping that after the deck is sanded down and stained,  the stain can seep into the plank edges and joins just enough to make it darker that the top of surface the deck.  And accent the joints.  That's what i did on the gun deck and it came out good.  Well see.

 

 

 

 

[kmart]

Oh,  and i saw this pop up in one of the facebook groups I follow.

Good picture of the last time they catted the anchor.

The post staid this was recent pic,  but looking at how everyone is dressed... and its B&W...  I'm guessing this is  very old picture. 

The one guy standing on the anchor and it doesn't even move/tilt  at all. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

11 hours ago, kmart said:

no one will ever notice.   (but it will bug me.)

with the passage of time, even you won't notice (or remember).   one of the few blessings of aging.. 😁