Constitution by jfinan - FINISHED - BlueJacket Shipcrafters

[jfinan]

Lower deck guns, pumps, air ways and stairways installed. Ongoing touch-ups needed. The bottom half of the bulwarks should be white, but as they will not be viewable once the spar deck is in,  the I've opted not to sweat the error.

Edited June 4, 2019 by jfinan

[jfinan]

According to the instructions, sixty-two knees, that will support the beams under the spar deck, are to be jigsawed out of a  single 5/32" plank. Since that sounded like a monstrous task to me I opted to make the knees by "glue-lamming" some hull planking left over from a earlier kit. Here's a few of them, shaped with the Dremel and lightly sanded. To fit the curved bulwark, each will have to be fitted individually.

Edited June 4, 2019 by jfinan

[billt]

Looking really good!

[KurtH]

Very neatly done.  Looking forward to seeing them in place.

[Richard Griffith]

Hi Jim, your Connie is looking great!

 

I think you're making the right choices and getting good input from this valuable website.

 

Just remember, you are making an illusion, so everything you make must 'look right'. just as you did with the coppering (and confirmed by others). Viewing distance lighting, choice of paint, fidelity to scale, and others all affect outcome.

Nice job.                        Duff

 

[jfinan]

The knees, horizontal beams and the visible stanchions are in. Now I'm carving out the two halves of the spar deck. A lot of trial and error. More trial and less error I hope. 

[jfinan]

I'd like to take a moment to say thanks to all of you who send along words of support and advice. This build is a monster! A special shout-out to Kurt Hauptfueher. His attention to detail is inspiring and humbling!

[Audi man2]

I am planning to purchase a Constitution kit from Blue Jacket and your blog is of great help and inspiration to me

im looking forward to your progress.

[jfinan]

Dear fellow Audi Owner!

To be honest, the build is a challenge. If you are a novice, you really should look elsewhere. The instruction book is a substantial compendium of historical information, such as differing descriptions of many iterations and renovations to the ship from 1797 onward, occasionally interspersed with model instructions and advice. If you are used to seeing straightforward step-by-step build instructions in chronological order, you won't find it here.
That said, if you love having plenty of options, and enjoy personal research, this one's for you!
Good luck!

[KurtH]

Very nice job on the deck.  The beams look great, and I do not see any seams between sections of decking which is amazing.  The glued up decking I used was not long enough to run fully fore to aft, which, I must admit, was one reason that I left the waist unplanked.  As for the instructions, I found that not only are there gaps in the information needed to do all the detail, but there are actually wrong procedures which can lead the builder to make mistakes which can result in a cascade of problems which require considerable ingenuity and creativity to rectify.  I would also recommend to anyone about to build this kit to get the Marquardt Anatomy of the Constitution, and also buy the Revell plastic model to use as a reference.  Thanks so much for your gracious compliment.

[jfinan]

I have the Marquardt book, purchased at the Constitution Museum gift shop, and indeed, it is a great reference. That said, I have resolved not to sweat any detailing that will not be seen. As my late Irish mother would say, "A blind man would like to see it".
 

Thanks re: the deck. I had to fill to microscopic gaps (just big enough to grab the eye) but now they're pretty much invisible. I used the two decking sheets from Blue Jacket. In hindsight, I wish I had experimented with ink (wipe on/wipe off) between the planks to add some realism. I might still experiment on some stained deck scraps to see what I can come up with before adding any other superstructures to the deck. After that, I'll flip a coin as to what to tackle next...the transom detail or the bowheads. Either way.....yikes. As you have mentioned, Kurt, it's essential to look into the future and ascertain the consequences. What I would give for a simple "order of operations".

[KurtH]

A note about the bowheads.  The plans given in the instructions reflect their present configuration.  There is no scale given, but after I completed my bowheads, I measured them, and compared them to the elevations, and they matched.  So you can use the drawings as they are for your construction.  Speaking of looking ahead, I decided not to permanently mount the seats of ease, or enclose the bowheads in order to facilitate installing the gammoning.

[mort stoll]

i  have the kit under my table and intend that as my next build, hopefully. isn't the aos of the uss constitution as she was during the 1927 refit? i also have the bass book " constitution super frigate of many faces second phase 1802-07. they use the corne painting of her at tripoli as a source. it's an interesting book.

 

mort

[MrBlueJacket]

On 7/12/2019 at 11:05 PM, mort stoll said:

i  have the kit under my table and intend that as my next build, hopefully. isn't the aos of the uss constitution as she was during the 1927 refit? i also have the bass book " constitution super frigate of many faces second phase 1802-07. they use the corne painting of her at tripoli as a source. it's an interesting book.

 

mort

 

Hi Mort,

 

Our kit represents the Constitution as she was in 1812-1815.

 

Nic

[Brian Falke]

Hi jfinan,  very nice work and I really appreciate the tips along the way.  These will greatly help me on my USS CONSTITUTION journey, which has just kicked off!

[Audi man2]

On 7/11/2019 at 9:32 PM, jfinan said:

Dear fellow Audi Owner!

To be honest, the build is a challenge. If you are a novice, you really should look elsewhere. The instruction book is a substantial compendium of historical information, such as differing descriptions of many iterations and renovations to the ship from 1797 onward, occasionally interspersed with model instructions and advice. If you are used to seeing straightforward step-by-step build instructions in chronological order, you won't find it here.
That said, if you love having plenty of options, and enjoy personal research, this one's for you!
Good luck!

 

[Audi man2]

Good evening  Jim,  I have decided to pull the trigger on the Constitution kit  and I am heading for Blue Jacket on

labour day to pick up the kit. From where I live (Ottawa Canada)it is about a 10 hour drive but my wife and I will take 

10 days with stops at inns throughout New England. I’m looking forward to the building process and the continuation of your blogs. This will be my second solid hull attempt, I built Red Jacket  over a two year period starting in 2016.

best regards, Audi man.  a.k.a. Jay

 

[jfinan]

Enjoy the great weather and enjoy the trip. Pass on my best wishes to Nic Damuk at Blue Jacket who is recovering from heart surgery.

Best wishes! Drive safely!

[jfinan]

It's been some time since I've reported in. Several unsatisfactory attempts to form up and paint the stern galleries caused me to abandon the project for a while but I'm back at it. Here are the fighting tops finished and married to the lower fore, main, and mizzen masts. The netting on the tops is taken from standard vinyl screen used on screen doors. It's cut and mounted on the diagonal to better mirror the original.   The trim around the tops and the rings on the masts is standard cardstock.

Edited December 22, 2020 by jfinan

[KurtH]

Very nice clean work on those masts!

[MrBlueJacket]

Nice to see you again, Jim. looking good!

 

Nic

[jfinan]

Have you ever missed a step that cost you a week of work? I was all set to install the gammoning that ties the bowsprit to the ship when I discovered that I had missed installing a "slot" in the knee through which the gammoning goes. To get in to install the slot, I had to remove all bowhead rails and timbers. Anyone who has built this boat knows what a pain they are! Each one is sized, cut, painted and placed individually. Anyway, a week later, it's done. I have revised and deleted all explicatives from this submission. 🙂

[MrBlueJacket]

Never mind, it looks good now!

[jfinan]

Thanks Nic! I hope your ticker is functioning well and you are having a good holiday.
One thing I've noticed. Photos don't lie. I've got some serious clean-up to do!

 

[KurtH]

Very neat job on that gammoning.  Well done!

[Audi man2]

Good morning Jim, 

good to see you back, looks like your making great progress on your model, I like what you’ve done,you have been a source of inspiration for me, like you I have had my frustrations with this model particularly with  the stern galleries 

however I finally got it to come together. At this point I’m working on the masts and tops,. I’m happy to have this ship as a project over this period of COVID 19 lockdown here in Ottawa
 Best regards,

Jay.  (Ottawa)

[jfinan]

Thanks Jay. I share your pain regarding the galleries. I have attached my second attempt to the hull and I'm going to revisit them soon. I just can't seem to get them to line up with the edge of the brass transom plate. In the meantime, I've just rough fitted the top masts and jib boom after turning them on a mini-lathe ( a birthday present from my missus). As Kurt has pointed out they're a real challenge as, at different points, they are round, square, and worst of all, octagonal. For the last part, I started with square, added thin strips to the flat four sides, added filler on the seams, and sanded to "octagonal". Close enough! 

[jfinan]

Just an update on the quarter gallery issue. As mentioned above, I've been trying to get the galleries to meet the port and starboard edges of the transom. I was doing this based on current photographs. Wrong!

Nic Damuk has reminded me that the BlueJacket plans reflect the Connie as it was in 1812/15 where the galleries actually butt against the transom so that the transom sticks out beyond the galleries.
Waddyaknow! I had it right the first time. For me, this means I don't have to rebuild!

Thanks, Nic, for the reminder to FOLLOW THE *&*%^^ INSTRUCTIONS!

[Audi man2]

quarter gallery, Well that’s  a relief ,I had it right the first time, but I had no intention of changing it.

Jay

[Audi man2]

Hi Jim here’s where I’m at with my Connie 

I don’t know if I mentioned that this my second Blue Jacket ship I did the clipper Red Jacket a couple of years ago.

jay (Ottawa).  P.s. if you want to see my Red Jacket go to search on this site  and type in Red jacket by blue jacket.