Constellation by Smittybear - Artesania Latina - 1:85

[Smittybear]

I got this kit in the mail last weekend from micro mark. I got it out that night and started going through everything. A few days later started cutting bulkheads and the keel out. Dry fitted everything and then eyeballed the keel. Man is it twisted. 

[Smittybear]

I put it on a board and added a few supports which really do nothing except hold it upright. The blocks I use to keep the bulkheads square don’t do much either. I’ve been thinking about this all day and came home from work thinking i would just glue the bulkheads using my 90 degree blocks as an aid and then stick supports between them. After poking around and dry fitting some things I am back to square one. Soooo... I have a few questions. 1. Should I go through each bulkhead individually and hold it with my hands for 30 minutes to an hour each to make sure it all lines up? I don’t think any clamps will be of use and I’ll attach pictures to show why, hoping I’m wrong. 2. If I add supports would this be of any use at all in straightening it out? The keel seems more twisted than bent to me. 3. Should I just have a new keel made and bypass all of this nonsense? 

[Jack12477]

I bought some aluminum angle "iron", 90 degree, about 3/4 inch on each leg, using a hacksaw blade in my power jig saw, cut it into 1 inch, 2 inch, segments.  I then clamp these against the bulkhead and false keel, only put glue on the slots. Wait for glue to set, remove and repeat with next bulkhead.   The angle brackets hold the pieces at 90 degrees to each other. 

[Smittybear]

Thanks Jack, I will try this idea. I may end up using 4 angles with clamps and extra wood supports. 

[Jack12477]

I put an angle in each corner, 4 in all, use 4 clamps.  

[Smittybear]

Here is another pic of how bad it is before I start trying to straighten it out. After soaking it over night and then clamping it and stacking piles of bricks on it and leaving it for 48 hours.... it straightened up a little and within 24 hours was back to this state. 

[Jack12477]

Hmm. I have the same kit and mine were not warped. 

[Smittybear]

Your kit unboxing looked a little different than mine also, 4 plastic parts bins where mine had 3. I only had 3 spools of thread, the olive thread had already been woven in to the sails. Yours was definitely stored better. Mine must have been in a wet basement next to a giant register in a climate that swung from 105 to -10 degrees. Probably on it’s side. And upside down. I’ve looked all over the internet and haven’t been able to find a keel in this bad of shape. Anyway, finalized a bulkhead with your suggestions, looks lined up so far. 

[mtaylor]

Smittybear,

You may need to use more than 4 keel clamps.  I don't remember on mine, I think I use and old building jig that came as a kit.   Been awhile.   If you haven't, do a search in this topic for Constellation..   should be several.  Use them as a guide.

[Smittybear]

I definitely plan on referencing a few builds of the Constellation I found on this site. So much useful information. Since I’m only doing a bulkhead a day, I’ll have plenty of time to catch up on the rest before planking.

[Smittybear]

I’ve been plugging away once a day trying to get this warped keel straightened out. I’ve increased the brackets from 4 to 10. Do one, lift, slide, remeasure and level, measure again, glue, adjust, and measure one more time. 
Today I discovered some bulkheads (the ones on the same sheet as the keel) to be a bit warped. Compounding the issue of trying to get everything squared up. The keel, even with all of these brackets still wants to twist and turn too, so this has been a pretty frustrating endeavor. In hindsight I wish I would have just had the keel remade. I don’t think there’s a way to 100% salvage this project, but I’m still going to try. 
My question is, typically I see people put supports between bulkheads. Would it be better to try and ward off twisting by adding 90 degree supports to this location? It’s still twisting even after gluing the bulkheads in. Or just add wood pretty much everywhere?

I’ll be out of town for a bit, so in a few weeks I’m going to have to tackle this issue at the bow. The keel has limited space to put angle supports. Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated. 

[Jack12477]

I am surprised you are encountering this much warpage. My kit was stored in my basement, long end upward, for 9 years after it was given to me and none of the parts are warped.  Maybe when you get it planked and the decks installed it will provide enough stiffness to overcome the warping.  Good luck with it.   

[mtaylor]

One thing you can do for that warpage is use a piece of wood such that it's glued to both bulkeads and the keel instead what you're thinking of doing.  All that will do is keep the bulkheads square but still allow the keel to warp.

 

Another way, is find a straight, flat piece of plywood the same thickness and cut a new false keel.

[Smittybear]

I will try this in the problem areas before moving forward. Hopefully, by weighing it down with multiple bricks glue and the wood it will straighten out twisting in the front especially. Also hopefully if anyone has an issue with this in the future they can reference this log. I also emailed micro mark and told them about the issue, haven’t heard anything back. For the price of this kit and the skeleton be so warped, I’m pretty disappointed in that distributor to not even follow up.

[Jack12477]

I have gotten all my AL kits from Tower Hobbies and have never encountered a kit with warped or damage parts.  And their price is pretty competitive also. 

[Smittybear]

I’ll check them out, I have only built AL and am in the middle of a panart/mantua. I do like the quality of parts of the AL brand, bummer they aren’t around anymore. 

[Jack12477]

I think AL went thru what we in US call Chapter 11 bankruptcy and are back now, at least their website is back according to reports here on MSW

[mtaylor]

AL is back as Jack points out and I understand that they are shipping models.

[Smittybear]

🤔 I wonder if they would ship me a new keel and bulkheads

[Jack12477]

You could try AL Parts

 

Might be faster and easier to get a piece of cabinet grade Birch plywood of the same thickness from a local lumber store, trace the parts out and cut them out with a band saw, scroll saw, or by hand  

[Smittybear]

Finally finished putting the bulkheads in and still had significant warpage. Putting some of the inner decks in while still keeping it clamped straight has helped straighten everything out.

The bow is still somewhat warped. I tacked on the upper decks temporarily which hold the bow where it is supposed to be. If it’s a little off I’ll just have to shape it by sanding it down a little more in some spots. I am planning on adding a few rows of planks and then I should be able to remove the upper deck and work from there. 
this isn’t the best shot and this isn’t tacked on to every bulkhead, but everything appears to be lined up. Lots of sanding to do today.

[Smittybear]

Side note. One this I haven’t done yet is add the inner under deck cannon supports. After reading toms10’s blog it appears that I should wait to do this and line them up with the other cannons when they are fitted in prior to installing the deck. 

[Smittybear]

Have had quite a bit going on the last 2 months. Recovering from a hip surgery last week and can finally sit and work on the boat again. Because it’s been 2 months I’ve lost some of my train of thought. I’ve finished the first layer of planking and decided I want to cut out the gunports before using wood filler, sanding, and applying the second layer. I like JD’s idea of making the interior 9.5 vs 8 because a square wooden dowel of 9.5 mm (0.375in) is available at Lowe’s To use as a square guide. However it’ll be a few days before I’m out of crutches or wanting to run errands, so it’ll just have to wait. I’m having some trouble getting the bough keel cut out sufficiently. I’ve been using a razor blade but was wondering if you guys thought a Dremel router or cutter would be more useful? Also reference sketching on the gunports... any tips for accuracy? I’ve spent a lot of time searching the forums and referencing other build logs so look forward to your inputs. I have lots of other things to keep me busy with this build until moving forward with the gunports.

[Smittybear]

Took a hiatus out of frustration and in general life busy-ness. I’m back at it now that it’s cold out again. Cut out gun ports and put in the frames. See pic. I was dry fitting the bulwarks and one snapped. I don’t have an electric plank bender so plan on soaking and then using a hand iron to bend. If that doesn’t work I’ll use a clamp bender and sand down. Should be ok since it will be planked on both sides. For the frames of the gun ports I built them prior. Put primer on and then painted black. They will need a final touch up. 

[Smittybear]

Also apologies, I like to be auditorily distracted while I work and was “watching” Prometheus while working this day. I didn’t realize there were half naked aliens and severed Android heads in the backgrounds until I reviewed the post. 

[JIMNDU]

Looking good Smitty.

Working on the same model right now.

[GrandpaPhil]

Prometheus is a good movie.

 

The Constellation is looking good!