USS Constitution by Unegawahya - Model Shipways - scale 1:76

[Der Alte Rentner]

I love all the work on the airplanes, but I'm perusing your build log for ideas on how to proceed on the gallery window construction.  I wish there was more detail provided, but your photos from page 1 of your log tell most of the story. 

 

Man, oh man, did you do a spectacular job.  Kudos!

 

 

 

 

 

You've got me rethinking how might go about doing mine.  

 

 

Edited August 12 by Der Alte Rentner

[Unegawahya]

On 8/12/2024 at 10:52 AM, Der Alte Rentner said:

I love all the work on the airplanes, but I'm perusing your build log for ideas on how to proceed on the gallery window construction.  I wish there was more detail provided, but your photos from page 1 of your log tell most of the story. 

 

Man, oh man, did you do a spectacular job.  Kudos!

 

 

 

 

 

You've got me rethinking how might go about doing mine.  

 

 

I apologize for the delay! The glass I used was .005 Clear-lay film from Grafix. 4649400a.pdf

I scaled the US Navy plans to the Constitution as best as possible. Once I had the open frames I used a pin to trace the openings onto the film. Once I had the window openings I used Testors canopy glue to assemble the windows and mullions. Onec everything was in place I used as little CA glue as possible on the window joints. Just be really careful because the CA glue can cause the film to fog up!
Once everything was good and dry I was able to carefully curve each window with a lot of irritation to fit the quarter galleries frames. If I remember, I used a curved surface and a lot of pressure from my thumbs.

[Unegawahya]

Finally! 
I’m back to working on my Constitution! I’m working on all of the recoil ropes for my spar deck guns and then I will be setting up all of the block and tackles for all the guns.Im also going to have to loosen everything up a little once I have them all tied off.

[Unegawahya]

It’s really nice to be back working on my Constitution! I’ve gotten all the spar deck guns mounted and the recoils are done  I’ve gotten one of the carronades rigged with one set of tackles each side.I’ve decided to tie off the ropes to the tackle like the USS Constitution seems to keep them. Or at least that’s the way it looks on the 2015 360 virtual tour.

[Unegawahya]

I’ve now finally gotten my spar deck guns rigged! It seemed to take forever but I only have a couple hours a day to work. I also got my galley stack cleaned up and modified to look closer to the 2015 stack.

[hamilton]

Very nice work!

hamilton

[Coyote_6]

Beautiful!  Very nice.

 

Steve

Edited September 11 by Coyote_6

[JSGerson]

Now I know what my model should look like! Nice job!!

 

Jon

[Unegawahya]

I finally got my first of three companionway canvas framing done! I just need to make two more.😳

[JSGerson]

You did a beautiful job on those companion ways. How did you do it? How did you make the cube joints and the finial? I checked xKen's method but I don't have a metal lathe or the skills and experience to use it even if i had one.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Man, you do good work!

 

Keep it up..

[Unegawahya]

On 10/7/2024 at 8:30 AM, JSGerson said:

You did a beautiful job on those companion ways. How did you do it? How did you make the cube joints and the finial? I checked xKen's method but I don't have a metal lathe or the skills and experience to use it even if i had one.

 

Jon

I’m taking a lot more pictures for the other two companion ways and I’m hoping to make a better post showing all of my progresses. tonight I will hopefully have time to get back to work!

I also don’t have a lathe. I used the good old finger lathe to make the finial. All the parts that I used are all brass stock that I got from TrueValue. I did use my 8” drill press with my needle files this time to make the finials.
 

[JSGerson]

My biggest problem is drilling into the brass. My typical manual twist drills used with a Dremel rotary just don't want to bite into the metal. So making holes into something like those block pieces is a mystery to me.

 

Jon

[Unegawahya]

On 10/11/2024 at 12:03 PM, JSGerson said:

My biggest problem is drilling into the brass. My typical manual twist drills used with a Dremel rotary just don't want to bite into the metal. So making holes into something like those block pieces is a mystery to me.

 

Jon

I was having the same problem! I ended up using a knife sharpener honing stone to sharpen one of my broken bits. It’s been working better for me now. I also made a jig to drill the four holes in the 3/32 brass tubes.

[JSGerson]

I don't have any honing stones or experience using them so I looked on YouTube for a how-to and found: this video using a Dremel drill and grinding disk. I'll give it a try.

 

I figured I would need a simple drilling jig, and yours is about as simple as it gets. I had to order some brass rod and tubes, but it appears the USPS may had lost my package. But thanks for your insight.

 

Jon

[Unegawahya]

On 10/11/2024 at 12:03 PM, JSGerson said:

My biggest problem is drilling into the brass. My typical manual twist drills used with a Dremel rotary just don't want to bite into the metal. So making holes into something like those block pieces is a mystery to me.

 

Jon

I’ve been thinking about using my Dremel, I gave it a try and I think that may be part of your problem with drilling the brass. The Dremel has a high rotation speed and is heating up the bit and brass too much and dulling your bit. It did seem to me that using my Dremel was harder than using my had drill to drill the brass. I also have to sharpen my bit after a few holes. I’ve always found going slow when drilling metal works the best for keeping the bits sharp and getting through the metal. 

[JSGerson]

I'm getting my materials and tools together preparing to start drilling brass blocks. Based on your comments about drilling speed, I'll switch to my variable speed Dremel in order to get the slower drilling speed. I also may have some cheap drill bits, which didn't make too much of a difference when used on wood. In the past, when applying a little drill pressure, some of my bits have bent. I can understand if a small diameter bit snaps, but to me, bending means that the metal wasn't tempered properly to make it stiff for a straight cut. It would also mean the drill tip can't hold an edge. Thanks for your insight.

 

Jon

[Unegawahya]

4 hours ago, JSGerson said:

I'm getting my materials and tools together preparing to start drilling brass blocks. Based on your comments about drilling speed, I'll switch to my variable speed Dremel in order to get the slower drilling speed. I also may have some cheap drill bits, which didn't make too much of a difference when used on wood. In the past, when applying a little drill pressure, some of my bits have bent. I can understand if a small diameter bit snaps, but to me, bending means that the metal wasn't tempered properly to make it stiff for a straight cut. It would also mean the drill tip can't hold an edge. Thanks for your insight.

 

Jon

Yes you are correct. If the bit is not tempered correctly it’ll bend. I’ve been using a bit that I broke and I sharpened for drilling the square parts.  
My Dremel is a variable speed one and the slowest speed was too fast. If you have an electric drill that the small drill bit will fit, I feel that would be better. 

[Unegawahya]

I finally got all of the connecting joints done on my USS Constitution Campanion-way Canopy Frames! I just have all of the cross bars to now put in. 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Your workmanship here rivals XKen.

 

Kudos.

[JSGerson]

beautifully done. I'm still in a quagmire with mine which I will explain in my next posting.

 

Jon

[helmarsowick]

I'm impressed you can work at this scale. I had to print mine.

[Unegawahya]

After a lot of other distractions and work I’ve finally gotten my companion way canopy frames done!

[helmarsowick]

Impressive

 

[JSGerson]

Unegawahya - (I posted this on my log, but I'll repeat here)

 

The finial is phenomenal, especially the spoke hub. It looks like the assembly was made from 3 or 4 pieces. What is the basic diameter? When I get to it, I would like to reproduce it, so any details you can provide would be helpful.

 

In total admiration, Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 10/25/2024 at 1:09 PM, helmarsowick said:

I'm impressed you can work at this scale. I had to print mine.

If you're that handy with a printer, could you build the windows for the galleries with a printer? Also, where do you get the detailed information to input to the printer to get these results?

[JSGerson]

I don't have the 3-D printer plans, but I do have the original source US Navy plans. There is a lot of detail that has to be whittled down to the resolution of the printer. That's a lot of work in and of itself.

 

Jon 

[helmarsowick]

I had the plans scanned to pdf's by my local architect and then sent them off to my friend in Poland who builds a 3D model of the 2D drawings and prints them out. He then ships them out properly packaged and it takes several weeks to arrive. I can give you his information and he already has the complete 8 sheets of plans in digital form. He would probably still have the file to print out others.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Thanks for the offer, but with that long a turn around time, I'll just soldier on with old school techniques, or invest in the learning curve to print my own stuff.  

[helmarsowick]

And yes that means he can print the entire model, but that wouldn't be any fun would it. I'm only having him deal with the few things I can't make because I no longer have the tools. When I was young I got familiar with wood as an apprentice cabinetmaker which didn't last too long. Before I retired from business I sold most of my tools not knowing I'd get into this hobby. So 3D printing.

Helmar

415 244-9526

hsowick@gmail.com