US Constellation 1798 by Jack12477 - Artesania Latina - 1:85

[mtaylor]

You're right, Jack.  Those instructions probably are why so few have been finished.  

[Jack12477]

I'm building the stairs now. On the parts list it indicates the stair treads are cut from a 1x5x100 mm sappeli strip with each tread " 0,6 mm"  long. However my completed stair seems to be too narrow and does not match the photo in the instruction manual or the photographs in other Constellation build logs. Looking at the kit blueprints it appears the stair tread are 9 mm long, but there is no scale on the blueprint for reference and they are not drawn to 1:1 scale either.  How long/wide are the treads?  And how wide is the finished stair ?

[Moonbug]

  Sounds like the instructions are up for

some interpretation Jack. It’s been a while, but I seem to recall that being the case with the couple of Artesania kits I did.

I think I relied just as much on other builds and books as I did on instructions. 

[Jack12477]

13 hours ago, Moonbug said:

Sounds like the instructions are up for

some interpretation Jack.

Yea,  @JDDouglass responded to my post in his build log that he used 9mm as his length.  I guess the instruction translator inverted the 9 to a 6. And there are 9 step DADOs cut into the stringers where the plans show only 5 steps.  Ah well ! 😌  

Edited January 19, 2022 by Jack12477

[Jack12477]

Just adjusted my jig to 9 mm and assembled a ladder. Now it looks more like all the pictures in the kit and everyone's build log. Have to decide what to do with the 5 I built with 6 mm wide steps, either use them or rebuild. Not sure if I have enough 1x5x100 mm strips for a do-over.  I'll finish the ones in kit and then decide. 

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. 

[Edwardkenway]

You could rebuild them with any 1×5mm strips and either paint or stain them to match the sapele ones.

Alternatively use the narrower ladders in positions where they'll barely be seen😇

[Jack12477]

Already been going thru my wood stash looking for suitable wood to substitute. I can use my miniature thicknessing jig with the miniature Jack Plane to reduce the thickness to 1 mm.  Looking at the wood in the kit, I doubt it is sapele which is a dark wood, this is more blond like mukali which is also included in the kit. Probably another instructions/parts list error. 🤷‍♂️

[Jack12477]

Finally got the guns installed under the catwalk, but not before I broke 5 good drill bits trying to drill holes in the sides for the ring bolts to attach the recoil ropes. Now to finish off the ladders, install them and finally get the fore and aft main decks permanently installed. The pieces for the ladder sides all have 9 slots cut in the for the stair treads but it seems only 5 treads are needed per stair, something that is not made obvious in the written instructions. So I may run out of material since I've been cutting and installing 9 treads per stair instead of 5.

 

But this can wait. Mother Nature has finally granted us a release fom Covid Prison by providing us with foot thick ice on the river for sailing and some good sailing weather once winter storm "Landon" 😀 😄  passes by (winter storm "Izzy" was a boring ho-hum over-hyped storm in this area). Eight vintage ice boats from the late 1800s are parked in a Cove near Athens awaiting us.  So model building is taking a backseat to more outdoors events for now. Gotta get some good ole fresh air and vitamin D. Stay tuned.

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by Jack12477

[mtaylor]

Good choice of priorities, Jack.  Have fun.

[Edwardkenway]

Oh the things we Brits  miss out on with our average weather.

19 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Good choice of priorities, Jack.  Have fun.

Enjoy😊!!

[ccoyle]

10 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

Oh the things we Brits  miss out on with our average weather.

 

I would happily take your average Brit weather once our Deep South summer sets in -- not my favorite time of year.

[AJohnson]

9 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

 

I would happily take your average Brit weather once our Deep South summer sets in -- not my favorite time of year.

Yes, we like a good moan about our “grey” weather, but having sampled the extremes about the globe, I think we are very lucky! - on balance 😎

[Jack12477]

Feb 3rd & 4th we got hit with the "Perfect Storm" of winter ice storms. The system sat directly over northeast Ulster County NY and dumped an icy rain on us for several hours during the night, coating everything in 3/4 inch to 1 inch of ice. Woke us up at 3 AM with tree limbs dropping ice on roof, scraping roof and house siding.  At 9 AM Friday (4th) we lost all electric power and our heat, house inside temperature dropped to 48 F, about 7 C, overnight. Outside temperatures dropped to 9 F overnight. Power was off for us until Saturday early afternoon,  about 30 hours.  65,000 homes and businesses in a county that covers 1, 161 sq miles were without power, some until Wednesday this week, 1,000 tree and line crews were brought in from several surrounding states to help  get power back, clear roads of downed trees and limbs, restring powerlines etc. Fortunately I did not suffer much tree damage, only 2 small limbs on my Birch tree snapped off, but my next door neighbor wasn't as lucky, their front yard was littered with large broken limbs from their 80 ft tall pin Oak. But no house damage to anyone on street.   For anyone interested in the science behind this Perfect Storm here's a Link.

 

So there wasn't much incentive to wander into a cold dark cellar to the shipyard. Been here 50 years and never seen a storm this bad,  winter or summer.. Not even hurricanes Sandy, Irene and Lee caused this much outage. 

 

I did manage to finish installing the cannons before the storm hit. Broke 4 drill bits trying to drill the bulkheads underneath the catwalk for the recoil ropes. So I decided to leave all the tackle off the "hidden" cannons to save my sanity. 😉 I'll install them on the main deck cannons that are visible. After getting the cannons installed and the ladders I permanently installed the fore and aft main decks. Finally! 🙂 

 

Photos follow: 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Jack12477

[Edwardkenway]

Looking good, Jack. 

Sensible call on the gun rigging!🤪

[toms10]

She is looking good Jack. I remember when I built mine. Had to do all the hidden cannon work prior to installing the deck above. I believe it was Mark Taylor here on MSW that warned me about that pitfall. It really paid dividends to read ahead in the instructions for what they are worth. 🤔😕🤨

 

Tom

 

 

[BrianK]

Great work Jack. These photo really show how much work a kit like this takes!

 

BrianK

 

[Jack12477]

Modeling is on hold till my eyes readjust to cataract surgery.  Right now even with cheaters I can’t see what I'm doing.

[bruce d]

3 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

Modeling is on hold till my eyes readjust to cataract surgery.  Right now even with cheaters I can’t see what I'm doing.

 

It will be well worth the wait, I'm sure. Think of all those lovely things you've done on the model and only we got to appreciate!

[Jack12477]

Well  I'm back ! 🙋‍♂️  Finally got thru all the cataract surgeries, follow-ups, new reading glasses, et al.  I've  been trying to get all the deck "furniture" assembled, fighting with vague instructions and even more vague photos.  The Veritas shooting plane and board are certainly helping true up the cut ends, also "The Bug" Hold and Fold tool from The Small Shop has been very useful in bending the brass straps for the anchors. Some overall photos of the furniture, just randomly placed for photos. 

 

 

 

The Bug 

 

 

The Veritas Shooting Plane & Board

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

Hi Jack great to see you back model making and with new toys to play with. 
Looking good, just a quick check on the anchor stocks with your nice brass strip additions, are these just dry fit?  The stocks are on upside down I think, they should be ‘flat’ on the top side near the anchor ring and the ‘taper’ faces down towards the flukes, if I’ve made myself clear 🤔

[Edwardkenway]

Looking good Jack, with some new toys, ahem! tools.

I had to have a second glance at the anchors and I think Andrew is right.

It's good to have you back at the bench 😉

 

[Jack12477]

@AJohnson @Edwardkenway Thanks for the Eagle  eyes. You're both right they are inverted. Unfortunately they are not dry fitted, but attached with CA. I hope I can unglue them without destroying anything, especially the brass bands. They only gave me enough strips to do the anchors. 

[Edwardkenway]

A drop of isopropyl should break the CA bond, then perhaps you could gently tease the stock off in one piece, without taking them apart.

[AJohnson]

A gentle rock back and forth might loosen them okay, C-A is not always rock solid with dissimilar materials. Finger’s crossed 🤞 

[Jack12477]

I have to flip the brass bands. Even tho I cut them to the lengths called for in the instructions, they don't mate on the underside. 

 

I guess I'll tackle it after breakfast 👨‍🍳🥓🍳

Edited January 3, 2023 by Jack12477

[Jack12477]

Voile ! After an hour plus soak in acetone, everything disassembled without any problems. Flipped everything over including the bands, dry fitted for now till all the acetone evaporates out of the wood. Thanks Andrew and Edward for catching that.

 

 

 

[AJohnson]

Nice one Jack, glad it all came apart okay. Onwards! 😁

[Edwardkenway]

Excellent save and redo!! 

It's good you were able to salvage the brass bands. 

 

[Jack12477]

Especially since I had no extra material to make new ones. They barely gave me enough to make those eight. 

[mtaylor]

Good save, Jack.