USS Constitution by Avi - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1:96

[Avi]

Redid the rudder. Used an iron to heat up the copper, removed all the plates, cut my finger (optional), sanded it down, then sanded a curve, primed, painted, and applied new copper. 
 

Giving it a day, then will wax and varnish. 
 

Bluejacket is sending me replacement gudgeons and pintles of the correct width, but they will not arrive for a few weeks. 

[Avi]

Well, in a funny twist, bluejacket sent it to my brother in the USA, who came for a visit. He opened the envelope to check it when it arrived, then put it in his baggage… but didn’t realize until he got here that it had fallen out of the envelope while packing. Oops. 😆 

[MrBlueJacket]

Oops indeed. Can he send it to you without great expense? At least you can work onother tings in the meantime.

 

Nic

[Avi]

Yeah. I’ve got someone visiting near him in a week, she will bring it back. Phew. 

[Bill Morrison]

On 5/20/2023 at 1:06 AM, aliluke said:

Hi Avi

Just looked through your log - very nice work indeed. But I'm confused by your coppering technique and it seems to frustrate you as well. Why at 1/96 - a very small scale- are you overlapping the plates? It seems like a near pointless detail that is causing the frustration and it appears to be "ruffling" the lines of the hull. Why not just butt joint them and the problem goes away? Why are you doing them in sections rather than them running full length side to side?

 

On my Fly model at 1/64 they are just butt jointed and I laid each row, starting at the keel - stem to stern, side to side before I moved up to the next row. All glued with a light coating of CA. The plates follow the planking lines and are snipped to the correct angle when they reach the waterline. At least for Fly or Pegasus this the correct layout for these ships. They aren't the Constitution of course so I can't speak to that.

 

I have no idea how you'll be able to match the sectional approach from side to side. I'm also confused about why the kit supplies them as individual plates when you can get them as strips which work quickly and accurately for long horizontal runs? With strips you can snip off individual planks to work with the upward flow made by imperceivable increments. The strips with butt joints also keep the flow of the hull intact and avoid the "ruffling" effect that I see and remove the adhesion problems as well.

 

I can't help feeling that you are digging a hole with your method and it looks like it'll just get deeper as it progresses.

 

My more radical advice would be to de-bond what you have done and take a simpler line of approach. Strips if you can get them, butt joints (for sure), run them full length and from side to side and go with the planking flow from the keel upwards. I'd see this as a make or break moment as an outcome below the waterline that detracts, for you!!!, from all of the work beforehand will always detract from all of that work and all of it afterwards.

 

I hope you take this as intended - advice from someone who has coppered a hull (but not done a Constitution build!) and had a relatively easy time of it.

When I built the old PoF by Aeropiccola several years ago, I coppered the hull. The ship was in 1/180 scale, and I overlapped the plates. It worked beautifully.  The model was of HMS Victory.

 

[Bill Morrison]

On 12/17/2023 at 10:30 PM, Bill Morrison said:

Avi,

 

There is nothing in particular. There are so many videos that are helpful.  They are great!

 

Bill

Just log into YouTube.com and search for Coppering on a Model Ship.  Or just perform a search in your search engine.  You will not be disappointed!

 

Bill

[mtdoramike]

On 5/15/2023 at 3:11 AM, Avi said:

I did some work using contact cement. I found it to be a more solid hold in general, but really difficult to work with. It dries quite quickly, into a goopy rubber (well, it is rubber). That made applying it to the plates while the hull dried challenging.

 

it also was challenging to do the overlap (higher plate over lower, forward over aft). That was the weakest point of contact even before; with contact cement, I end up with the overlapping plate having some contact cement on it, while the outside of the copper plate beneath has none. Didn’t make for the best seal. 
 

I did manage to do about 45-50 plates like that. 
 

The best way I have found to apply copper plating is to use copper foil tape that has a sticky back. Run it down the length of the hull, cut it, stick it and then come back with a sharp utility knife and score it how ever size plates you want. But first I start off with a smooth hull, no divits, then seal the wooden hull with a coat of poly to give the plates something to stick to. 

[Avi]

I’m actually pretty happy with the copper that’s on the hull. My gudgeons and pintles finally showed up, so going to get those trimmed, painted and applied, and finally move on to the gundeck. 

[Avi]

Rudder shipped. The gudgeons and pintles aren’t permanently attached to each other, in case I need to remove them for work. But they are glued to the hull and rudder, respectively. 
 

I had them primed and painted, then attached them. And when I did, most of the paint came right off. I had to do another coat or two. And I suspect more in the future. But good for now. 

[Gregory]

I don't know if that's close to your final look, but the rudder would be almost flush with the stern post.

Your arrangement looks rather incongruous.  Sorry to sound critical, but I wouldn't want that to detract from an otherwise excellent build.

The kit supplied gudgeons and pintles  may leave something to be desired, or require a lot of work to get a good fit.

[Avi]

Yeah I saw that as well. But I’ve no idea how to get that. The gudgeons and pintles are as flush as possible with the hull and rudder. How would you get it in closer?

[JSGerson]

If you don't need to make the rudder move, make your own pseudo hinges and pin the rudder to to the post. Or, if you do want the moveable rudder, that will take some skill and creativeness to make your own working gudgeons and pintles. My MS model is a larger scale (1:76.8) and I made the working rudder with some effort. I don't know if I would have tried it at 1:96.

 

Jon

Edited Monday at 05:16 PM by JSGerson

[Gregory]

Here is the rudder attachment from Chuck's Winchelsea.  It is typical.

The pintles are countersunk into the rudder and the gudgeons are no bigger than the slot where the pins are.

I'm surprised the Bluejacket plans don't show this more clearly.

The kit supplied parts may have to be modified somewhat, or you might consider making your own. 

I made the gudgeons and pintles on my Resolution from cardstock.

Your rudder would also require some modification to fit correctly.

Keep in mind that it doesn't have to go together like the real thing to look good.

For my Resolution, I put the Pintle pin in the gudgeon, rather than hang the rudder as in actual practice.  Then I used small pins to fix the rudder to the stern post.

You might find a different way that suits you better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bill Morrison]

On 6/16/2024 at 12:19 PM, Gregory said:

I don't know if that's close to your final look, but the rudder would be almost flush with the stern post.

Your arrangement looks rather incongruous.  Sorry to sound critical, but I wouldn't want that to detract from an otherwise excellent build.

The kit supplied gudgeons and pintles  may leave something to be desired, or require a lot of work to get a good fit.

I agree.

 

Bill

[MrBlueJacket]

One thing about modeling - it doesn't have to mimic the full size, just LOOK like the full size. I agree with some thin material and pinning the rudder. The rest of your build is excellent, BTW

 

Nic

[Bill Morrison]

On 6/16/2024 at 12:19 PM, Gregory said:

I don't know if that's close to your final look, but the rudder would be almost flush with the stern post.

Your arrangement looks rather incongruous.  Sorry to sound critical, but I wouldn't want that to detract from an otherwise excellent build.

The kit supplied gudgeons and pintles  may leave something to be desired, or require a lot of work to get a good fit.

He did say that the pintels and gudgeons were temporarily mounted and that corrections were to be made.

 

Bill

[Gregory]

I also said: " I don't know if that's close to your final look..."