USS Constitution by Force9 - Revell - PLASTIC - Revisiting the classic 1/96 kit

[AnobiumPunctatum]

I found your log this morning. A really wonderful build.

[Marcus.K.]

Just ordered the Philips LED. I want to know wether its possible or not ;-) 

 

I think I once saw in a building report of an science fiction STAR TRECK Enterprize Star ship that someone used glas firbres to distribute LED-light to several different locations. ...

 

I think about the berth deck (direct illumination), some candles in the gun deck and the captains cabin (via glas fibre), the compass and maybe lights on spar decks stern (?). On my test of CWM of course will have less possibilities, but for a test it will be sufficient ;-)

 

The light of a glas fibre will not be very bright, I believe ,... but this will be accurate to the scale and to a then used candle or petroleum light, I hope. 

 

Did Constitution had Lights on the stern? I can not remember to have seen stern lights on ships after the 18th century? Where they not in use anymore?

[lambsbk]

Let me chime in...I am not aware of any use of stern lights on the Connie. Fiber will work for you but you will have to plan it out. There is not much bend in the fiber so the compass light will have to come straight up through the gun deck...that will need to be hidden. Good luck with your build. I look forward to following.

Edited January 30, 2014 by lambsbk

[Force9]

Marcus...

 

I am not familiar with any references that show a lantern mounted on the transom of an American heavy frigate... I have seen some instances of the smaller frigates (Essex, etc.) having a stern lantern.

[Force9]

Christian - Thank you for popping in to have a look at my Constitution.  I remember admiring your beautiful work on HMS Fly earlier last year... Is that project still active?  Perhaps on hold for now?

 

Evan

[Force9]

For those who may not have seen this on the Constitution Museum website:

Old Ironsides endured the "Polar Vortex" along with much of the USA...

[texxn5]

Thanks for the update.  Does not look like a good day to be a member of the crew.....

[lambsbk]

At first I thought that was a B & W photo! Man does it look cold... I'll bet Henry did not give any tours this week.

[Sailor1234567890]

Now picture that at sea, and it's not snow on the rigging, it's ice. And it's building up every time a wave washes over the ship.  Now you have to chip it all off. Climbing up there with hammers, axes etc to bash the ice away from her rigging in order to be able to sail her. Not to mention keep her upright. Those men were tough back then.

[texxn5]

those were the days of "Wooden Ships & Iron Men"......

[popeye2sea]

At first I thought that was a B & W photo! Man does it look cold... I'll bet Henry did not give any tours this week.

Nope.  Too cold for me.

[Marcus.K.]

 

Here is my effort to replace the pitiful kit provided brake pumps:

 

 

I bulked them up a bit using a bit of octagonal styrene, some brass eyelets, and a small length of brass rod. The stems protruding from the bottoms will aid in positioning them on the deck thru holes drilled in the appropriate spots and hopefully keep them more secure.

 

I should pause to say that the OOB pumps should NOT be placed in the bow as the Revell instructions instruct:

 

This positioning is almost too bizarre to merit discussion... Suffice to say that the pumps are better positioned on the gun deck.  The guidance I've used is from Chappelle's layout of the President taken from the drafts made of the captured ship by the British.  It shows four brake pumps - two near the aft part of the main hatch and two a bit farther forward near amidships.  The layout of the Revell deck does not lend itself to positioning two pumps near the main hatch.  Instead, I've elected to place them in the more traditional location near the main mast in between the chain pumps.  The other two were placed in the pre-existing holes on the deck that would normally have eyelets inserted.

 

 

I think these are also referred to as "Elm Tree" pumps - something to do with that being the preferred wood for the rot-resistance qualities when exposed so long to moisture.

 

 

Hello Evans, 

I was looking for something in the AOTS-book about USS Essex and found something very interesting in a longitudional cut view: at the bow - inside! - on gun deck! Just behind the stem post!  Mrs. Takakjian showed a small pump - just like these ones! ..

 

There is also a pipe going down just  beneath the berth deck .. and then ending there. First I was wondering because if water would flow on that level !!!??? 

 

But reading the text made me understand: "Water intake pipe through hawse piece"

This pump is for getting sea water just from before the bow!

 

What do you think about this position. Could it be that they were getting the water for washing the decks (and more) here?

 

You mentioned Chapelles layout - is this in the book "American Sailing Navy"?

[Force9]

 Hallo Marcus

 

The Constitution's small brake pumps led down to cisterns on the orlop deck (below the waterline) that were fed from pipes to the outer hull.  I am not familiar with the AOTS Essex layout, but Chapelle has a layout drawing showing the chain and brake pumps in the traditional position - nothing that far up in the bow.  I suppose such a configuration would be useful for cleaning the muddy anchor cable as it came inboard, but I would think it would be difficult to draw directly from a pipe led outside on the bow... I would think at least a small cistern would be needed.

 

Very interesting!

 

Evan

[Marcus.K.]

Here is a splurge purchase - scale brass belaying pins (Bluejacket part # 119). I just couldn't resist.  I'm sure something suitable could be put in place with small styrene rod with some blobs of glue on top. I think a complete set for this kit would cost about $40 US:

 

Some test fitted railings and gratings:

 

 

These belaying pins look so phantastic ! ... You said a set for the kit of the #119 pins costs about 40 $ .. Do you remember / can you check how much pins you need / are within one set for the kit?

 

I think I want those - since creating pins is much to much trouble for me - but I do not trust the plastic pins at all .. And it would maybe be a fine idea to show some loose pins somewhere ... Or a seaman working / exchangeing a pin ... Is there a certain action in which the pins have to be dismounted?

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Christian - Thank you for popping in to have a look at my Constitution.  I remember admiring your beautiful work on HMS Fly earlier last year... Is that project still active?  Perhaps on hold for now?

 

Evan

 

Thanks very much. I've stopped the project for the moment. I had to admit, that the project is to big and difficult for the moment. IPOF is the kind of ship modelling I like to do but I need to much trys for every part. So I decided to do a much smaller ship (Naval cutter Alert) first and learn the necessary steps. Then I will go back to my HMS Fly project..

 

I have the Constitution also in my kit stack and if I decide to give her a try, your log is very very good reference for me.

Edited January 19, 2014 by AnobiumPunctatum

[james_carder]

Marcus

According to the Blue Jacket parts list you need 160 belaying pins. If there is no lines on the pin you would just pull the pin up.

Jim

[Force9]

Jim - thanks for the guidance on the belaying pins... I may need to acquire another set since I will use more pin rails than the Revell kit specifies.

 

Folks - I am making steady progress on painting the gun deck - nearly complete. I may as well wait a bit longer to show everything all at once...

 

Stay tuned!

 

Thx

Evan

Edited February 2, 2014 by Force9

[Force9]

Paint!

 

Folks -

 

Apologies for the long gap between updates - I just got caught up in the flow and haven't paused to add to my log.

 

It may be hard to believe, but I've actually begun to smear some paint over some of the plastic...

 

I've got the gun deck and associated furniture mostly done with a few minor touch ups needed here and there:

Spare Anchor:

Camboose:

Capstan:

Chain Pumps:

 

I was a Floquil paint guy in the past, alas, we know how that has gone.  I'm now trying Vallejo paint and I'm becoming a big fan.

 

Thanks for looking in

Evan

[patrickmil]

Your gundeck is outstanding. It looks so much like wood we would have a hard time believing otherwise. Fantastic work as always.

[texxn5]

Really looks great Evan. Looking forward to the guns.

[lambsbk]

I agree Evan. I love the paint and the simulated wood effect. Fantastic.

[popeye2sea]

Outstanding work.  Looking forward to see the finished deck mounted.

[Force9]

Thank you all for the compliments! It felt good to dust off the old air brush and get out the sable brushes.

I suppose I could elaborate a bit on the wood effect... The forums are full of terrific examples with detailed explanations - most of which have eleventy six steps ending with "simple"!  I'll add my method to the pile...

Real wood has tonal depth... I need to replicate that using different layers of color. Firstly, I always prime everything. No matter what. I used a rattle can of Tamiya gray primer, but I'm not too particular about the brand I use.

The Vallejo Air paints are terrific. No need for a dope like me to carefully replicate multiple blends of colors to pass properly through my cheap airbrush. The other nice thing is that the good folks over at MicroMark commissioned Vallejo to produce "MicroLux" acrylic versions of the most popular Floquil railroad colors that were going to disappear shortly. Many of these colors lend themselves nicely to period sailing ships. Several of the most used colors are made available in the larger 2oz bottles.



For all of the wood elements I start with a foundation coat of Vallejo Air "Aged White" applied with an airbrush. This gives the piece the underlying bright tone. At this point it would be normal to switch over to an oil based paint to add the next layer of wood tone. In this case I was able to use Vallejo Air "Wood" applied with a brush. No need to switch over to smelly oils and thinners with much more onerous cleanup. Since it is pre-mixed airbrush paint, The Vallejo Air paint will go on nice and thin and I can layer it up to get a good medium tone while still allowing the underlying bright tone to show through. The next layer was Vallejo air "wood" mixed with a bit of MicroLux Air "Roof Brown". I just did one thin coat with a brush to give a final, deeper tone.

The last step is the critical part...

There have been many great ideas that have moved the human race forward through time. The wheel was a nice start... steam engines... the first airplane... landing on the moon. Penicillin was good too. But the guys in the white lab coats at Vallejo really made a contribution when they came up with this stuff:



Acrylic wash that can be applied over acrylic paint. No smell, no need to mix paint and thinner... water clean up. This stuff belongs in the pantheon of great human achievements. As a final step, I smear this sepia wash over everything and immediately wipe it off with a soft cloth or cotton swab. Pretty similar to using a stain with wood. This final step imparts a nice woody sheen across everything and helps the colors blend. I should note that with Acrylics, I always allow the paint to dry overnight before adding the next layer. I did, however, wait only 20 minutes or so to add more paint within the same medium color layer whenever I was trying to deepen the tone.


See - "Simple"!

The deck was done similarly, but with only two layers. I varied the colors on the second layer between Vallejo Air Wood mixed with Aged White, sepia wash, and dark wash. I did add a bit of Vallejo Air "Earth" to the Aged White on the first layer just to give the entire deck a slightly deeper tone. A dark gray .03mm pen was used for the lines between the planks.

Thanks again to everyone for following along.

Evan

Edited March 2, 2014 by Force9

[usedtosail]

Thanks Evan. That is a great tutorial for getting a nice wood effect.

[popeye the sailor]

that's a sweet job on the gun deck Evan,   very well done!   so clean and lots of detail.   have you assembled the hull yet?   it's not that hard a job to install the deck whole like that.......I did it with the wooden deck I made for my United States.   now I need to take it back out,  so I can plank it   {film at eleven}

 

the finish is nice looking as well......never tried that paint

[Marcus.K.]

Evans !   It looks just great !

 

I hope I will come to this level one day ..

[Force9]

Tom, Popeye, Marcus...

 

Thank you for your very kind remarks!  Much appreciated.

 

I should comment further on some of my color choices... The chain pump color is NOT authentic.  In fact, I have no idea how these were painted in August 1812.  Likely colors would be black, red, white, or natural wood.  I wanted these pumps to stand out - but not too much.   I ruled out red since nothing else on that deck was red.  Black seemed too much - the anchor, camboose, and gun barrels already would  show enough black on this deck.  Wood would blend too much with everything nearby and they'd disappear... White was too blah... I had mixed up some roof red and roof brown to make a mahogany color for possible use for the captain quarters panelling.  I decided not to go that route, so I re-purposed that color for the pumps.  Seemed like a good compromise - a neutral color that still stood out enough to make the pumps interesting.  Certainly NOT how they were painted during her battle with Guerriere... purely artistic license on my part.

 

Also - the Revell instructions specify the gratings to be painted black.  This is likely because of the Hull model.  But that artifact only shows black gratings on the spar deck - the gun deck still shows the gratings in natural wood:

 

 

I elected to avoid black for the gratings on this deck... I'll have to give it careful consideration for the spar deck.

 

The camboose and anchor were both primed and then airbrushed with Vallejo Air "Gun Grey".  Next came a thin coat of MicroLux "Engine Black".  Lastly, I used a fine sand paper to expose the underlying gun grey along some of the edges and corners.

 

The brick tray under the camboose was first airbrushed with MicroLux "roof red".  Individual bricks were then picked out with either gray, black, or a mix of black/red using a small brush.  Lastly I re-scribed the lines between the bricks to expose the white styrene underneath.

 

Thanks again to all who follow along.

Evan

Edited March 2, 2014 by Force9

[Marcus.K.]

Hello Evans,

 

interesting to read and understand you choice of colour.

 

Fascinating that you think about issues like "attracting attention" to something by the mean of coloring. On the other side .. well there is an experienced model builder speaking, I guess! Since I did build my last model more than 30 year ago and never achieved a level like the here shown I never thought about this questions. In those days I was happy, when the color was covering the surface completly and I managed that those parts stayed glued together a while

 

I have a question: your eyebolts - and the rings within them. I never saw eyebolts so realistic in this scale! Most of the time they are shown as rings standing on deck (and therefore being a painful problem for the sailors!). Your rings are correctly laying on the deck - nevertheless the small eyebolt holding the ring is visible. How did you do them? Can you show us?

[Force9]

Marcus -

 

Regarding the ringbolts...

 

I used a combination of the small Jotika PE eyebolts and the 3/32 split rings available from Model Expo:

 

 

Slightly pull apart the split rings with the blade of a hobby knife and insert the PE eyelet, then squeeze the split ring back together with your tweezers.  I was particularly bad at this in the beginning - I think it took four or five minutes to do each of the first five or so, but then I found my rhythm and I clipped along at a fair pace.  All were dipped in a quick bath of acetone and then spent a few minutes in a pool of Blacken-It for color.

 

I cringe at what others will think of this... The truth is that creating your own eyelets and split rings is an easy exercise and can save a needless expenditure of hard earned cash.  Pour a glass of your favorite beverage and settle down in front of your TV and before you know it you'll have dozens of each.  I happened to have a stash of the split rings at hand from a fire sale years ago and I've got tons of the Jotika PE eyelets after having stocked up for my Heller Victory build (since suspended in favor of Constitution) and I thought the small time savings was worth it to regain momentum on my build.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Evan

[patrickmil]

Evan, As I was finishing up Niagara I had to start making some of my own hardware and I agree, they were very easy to make myself and in the end I liked the quality better.