USS Constitution by Avi - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1:96

[Avi]

Glued the trucks to the carriages, picture below. I’ll glue on the cannon piece next. There’s a picture below with a single without the cannon piece and with it on top (but not glued into place yet). 
 

I took the picture on top of the manual. It says (section in the picture) that it’s really hard to secure them onto the gundeck after planking the spardeck (which makes sense), so it recommends drilling a #75 hole through the carriages and pinning them to the gundeck, in addition to gluing (of course). 
 

I can see how that makes sense. The only contact surface between the cannon and deck is the four points of the wheels, which are minimal. What I do not understand is where on the carriage they are recommending the drilled hole and pin.  🤷‍♂️ 

 

I am missing  one truck (set of wheels). I couldn’t honestly tell if it was missing from the set, or I lost it along the way. Either way, I’m not bothering to order just one. I’ll construct something close from wood stock (I’ve lots of planking, including wales), paint it grey/black, and put it on one of the cannon which is not as visible. 

[Avi]

Margherita at the Navy Historical Command responded to me. Here is her response:

 

I am receipt of your message from last Thursday concerning USS Constitution’s guns and the “color” of the barrels.

 

I’m not certain where your group received information that the gun tubes may have been grey in color, but that is incorrect.  The barrels/tubes were black in the era of the War of 1812 and they are black today.

 

In fact, the term for the protective surface coating applied to gun tubes was “blacking” the guns.  You can find a list of ingredients and instructions of how ‘blacking’ was made and applied in Marshall’s Practical Marine Gunnery…In the Gunner’s Department, in the Navy of the United States by George Marshall, 1822: https://books.google.com/books?id=lHcNBLcgVSQC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Marshall's%20Practical%20Marine%20Gunnery&pg=PR5#v=onepage&q=Marshall's%20Practical%20Marine%20Gunnery&f=false – look at pages 94-95 for the information.

 

I trust this information is of use to you and your fellow modelers.  Good luck with your projects!

[MrBlueJacket]

So photos can be deceiving. If the real guns were blackened, then I'd say your blackening would be accurate.

 

Nic

[JSGerson]

For those who did not take` the time to read this vintage text, I copied the section in modern font for your convenance:

Composition for Blacking Guns

	lbs.		lbs.
Black lead	20	Red lead	10
Lampblack	14	Linseed oil	18 gals.

DIRECTIONS:

First the above mentioned articles must be ground very fine with boiled oil.

PROCESS

Boil the oil sufficiently until every appearance of froth subsides – the best way is to have two iron pots, dividing the oil in each pot, put the black lead in the boiled oil, and boil it half an hour. The 10lbs. of red lead must be put in the other pot, after the oil is put on the fire and boiled half an hour; after which, put the lampblack to the red lead and boil them together half an hour. – The two pots must be put by until nearly cold, when by the means of an iron ladle the ingredients must be shifted from one pot to the other, until they are naturally well mixed.

CAUTION.

Great care must be taken during the time the liquor is preparing to prevent its boiling over, and in particular to keep stirring the ingredients during the time of boiling.

 

Marshall’s Practical Marine Gunnery CONTAINING A VIEW OF THE Magnitude, Weight, Description & Use, OF EVERY ARTICLE USED IN THE SEJ GUNNER'S DEPARTMENT, IN THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES., 1822, p94-95

[Avi]

I don’t think I’ll be doing historically accurate paint, then. We can stick with the blackening toner or acrylic paint. 😂 

 

Any thoughts on the pins, @MrBlueJacket ?

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, JSGerson said:

 

PROCESS

Boil the oil sufficiently until every appearance of froth subsides – the best way is to have two iron pots, dividing the oil in each pot, put the black lead in the boiled oil, and boil it half an hour. The 10lbs. of red lead must be put in the other pot, after the oil is put on the fire and boiled half an hour; after which, put the lampblack to the red lead and boil them together half an hour. – The two pots must be put by until nearly cold, when by the means of an iron ladle the ingredients must be shifted from one pot to the other, until they are naturally well mixed.

 

 

59 minutes ago, Avi said:

I don’t think I’ll be doing historically accurate paint, then. We can stick with the blackening toner or acrylic paint. 😂 

 

I think I'm going to need bigger pots!!!  🤣🤣🤣  And my wife thought my homebrew kettles back in the day were stinky! 

 

As usual, Jon brings the historical receipts! 👍🏆

[Avi]

Anyone understand about the pins through the carriages? @MrBlueJacket perhaps?

[MrBlueJacket]

50 minutes ago, Avi said:

Anyone understand about the pins through the carriages? @MrBlueJacket perhaps?

The pins would be used to help fasten the carriages to the deck. The most logical placement would be through the crossbar at the rear, below where the quoin goes.

 

Nic

 

PS - The quoin is a wedge shaped piece with a handle, used to fine adjust the angle of the cannon.

Edited September 18, 2024 by MrBlueJacket

[Avi]

The quoin is permanently attached to the carriage, single piece of metal. Do you mean to the right or left of it?

 

See the pic, here?

[MrBlueJacket]

1 hour ago, Avi said:

The quoin is permanently attached to the carriage, single piece of metal. Do you mean to the right or left of it?

 

See the pic, here?

No, just through the center would work.

 

Nic

[Avi]

So before mounting the cannon, drill a hole through the quoin and crossbar? Or did you mean just on the bottom, ie not all the way through? And then the pin can be put in after cannon is mounted, wedged between bottom of cannon and into the deck? So if deck to crossbar is, eg 1cm, then drill a ¼ cm hole in deck and bottom of crossbar, and put pin in?

[Avi]

I’m drilling the holes in now, before I mount the cannon barrels, as it is easier. 
 

It did occur to me that a better solution than pins may be a small strip of wood. You cannot visually see the gap between the bottom of the rear truck (axle) and the deck. I can cut some wood stock to the right thickness and same width as the axle, paint it same colour as the truck, and glue it in place there. That would give a much larger surface of attachment. 
 

In the meantime, drilling holes to leave options open for later. 

[MrBlueJacket]

The answer is yes to all options.  There is usually more than one way to achieve a goal.

 

Nic

[Avi]

I haven’t posted in quite a while. Between the fall Jewish holidays, and then cutting my finger while preparing soup (did you know there’s enough room on your fingertip for 5 stitches? I didn’t before 😆) which killed my ability to do any fine work, it’s been a while. 
 

In any case, cannons are done. I put a plank between the two trucks, painted black, so it could support them and be glued solidly to the deck. It seemed better than the pin method, and wouldn’t be visible in the gun deck under the carriages. 
 

I originally used thick stuff below the wales (I had a few left), primed, painted, cut to 1.5cm lengths (those markings on the cutting board are very convenient), primed and painted the edges, and then attached. 
 

It turns out they are a bit too thick. The wheels were not touching the deck. Oops. Fortunately I only had done two carriages.
 

I broke out the calipers (discovered that the battery was dead so had to replace it), measured the thick stuff (3/64”) and then regular planks (1/64”). Thick stuff too thick; plank too thin; double planks just right (we will call that the Goldilocks measurement). So I started again. 

 

Took two long planks, primed on all sides, let dry. Then bob smith super glue, let it dry. Paint black on both sides (actually 50/50 black and thinner, with 3 small drops of white mixed in so it is more greyish). Dry, then cut (again) to 1.5cm lengths. Some of them came apart (the glue must have been weaker or not as well spread), so re glue those. 
 

Finally prime and paint the ends and let dry. 
 

Attached to both trucks with glue, let dry. 
 

Last, glue the cannon on. I made sure to check which side is up, testing each cannon before gluing. I then applied glue to the trunnion bed in the carriage and to the back bottom of the cannon, where it will touch the quoin. Place and hold for 30 seconds with moderate pressure, next. 
 

I realized quickly that most of the time is spent holding those 30 seconds, so I started doing two at a time: place both carriages side by side, measure two cannon, glue into both sets of beds, glue onto the bottom of both cannon, place both and hold with two fingers on the same hand. 
 

Picture below. 

[JSGerson]

Mazel tov! The canons look great. Hope you have a great Chanukah and a happy New Year.

 

Jon

[Jerry Berenson]

Hi Avi, I have not been on this site for many months. I wanted to see how your Constitution was going. You are doing a great job…it will be a museum quality build when finished. I also had trouble with the rudder on my Constitution. I am going to rebuild the rudder to get it closer after I finish my current model of the whaleship Essex. I needed some time away from rigging so I built the Nantucket lightship but am now back to rigging again. My wife and I were on a cruise this summer and I was fortunate to go aboard the HMS Victory at the Royal dockyards in Portsmouth England. I was amazed at the size of the ship as well as the fact that it seems that all the ships of the line including the Constitution are built so similar. Enjoy the last day of Chanukah and have a happy , safe and healthy new year…Shalom, Jerry Berenson

[Avi]

10 hours ago, JSGerson said:

Mazel tov! The canons look great. Hope you have a great Chanukah and a happy New Year.

 

Jon

And to you, Jon. Still got the blessings in time before the last night. 
 

When my now-20 yr old was about 1.5, we visited Yorktown. I’ve got a picture of her sticking out of one of the cannons (looks more like a carronade), still remember her so excited saying, over and over, “cannon goes BOOM!” I think she expected to fly. 
 

These cannons are a bit smaller, but I can fit them in my home. 

[Avi]

2 hours ago, Jerry Berenson said:

Hi Avi, I have not been on this site for many months. I wanted to see how your Constitution was going. You are doing a great job…it will be a museum quality build when finished. I also had trouble with the rudder on my Constitution. I am going to rebuild the rudder to get it closer after I finish my current model of the whaleship Essex. I needed some time away from rigging so I built the Nantucket lightship but am now back to rigging again. My wife and I were on a cruise this summer and I was fortunate to go aboard the HMS Victory at the Royal dockyards in Portsmouth England. I was amazed at the size of the ship as well as the fact that it seems that all the ships of the line including the Constitution are built so similar. Enjoy the last day of Chanukah and have a happy , safe and healthy new year…Shalom, Jerry Berenson

Shalom and happy Chanukah, Jerry. 
 

you think mine will be “museum quality”? Yours are beautiful. I almost kind of can see the point where I will get to where yours are. Almost. I’m just happy to get back to it, and not have too many egregious mistakes. 
 

Still, these ships are beautiful, aren’t they?

[Avi]

On to the next dilemma. 
 

The reason I stopped to build the guns before finishing the gundeck planking, was that I was concerned that the precise deck height vis a vis the gunports would be off. 
 

And I was right. I placed the decking, placed the guns loosely, and then checked. Most of the guns on the port side, and a few on the starboard side, are too low (or pointing on a slight downward angle).

 

I’ll attach some pics below. 
 

I’ve got two choices:

 

1. raise the edge of the decking by putting planking underneath, so it looks the same on top but raise the guns, and slightly angles them 

2. but a piece of planking underneath the outboard truck (the one closest to the hull) on those guns, so that they angle upwards appropriately. 
 

These are all gundeck, so I’m not really worried about the planking showing. And since I already have the planks across outboard to inboard trucks, I even can just put under there. This method would give me more precise control over each gun, but it also would require a lot of individual work, and still might show, and reduces some of the stability provided by the plank across the trucks. My original plan was to raise the deck planking by placing pieces of plank underneath, but I’m unsure which is the best approach. 

 

I will be thinking about this, and obviously looking for any feedback people have. 
 

[Avi]

Also about the deck planking. The painting guide says to leave it “natural wood, no paint.” Since I have the glued up decking, with the lines between, that makes sense. But I didn’t want to leave it completely exposed, and it makes things harder to glue to it, so I plan to varnish it. I wasn’t sure if the varnish would affect the colour too much (it shouldn’t, but always test), so I varnished a spare piece of deck planking; see picture. Right (M arrow) is matt varnish, middle is unpainted and unvarnished, left (S arrow) is satin varnish. 

[Avi]

On the planking height issue, I worked out a system. I took one of the templates and marked each gun, port 1 (aft) through 16 (forward) and starboard 1 through 16. I then marked each gun position as ok (✔️) or -3 to +3. Where -/+ 1 = a little off, -/+2 = a lot off, -/+3 = so far off that it gets stuck on the gunport. As you can see from the attached picture, I’ve got no +, all ok or -, and quite a few -3 in a row on each side. To my mind, that argues for raising the deck there by a plank or two, rather than working with each gun. 
 

[JSGerson]

You are not the first to run into this cannon height problem. Myself and another builder (forgive me, I've forgotten which one, it's been a while) had the same problem building the Model Shipway's model. The gun deck was not part of the kit so it was my first kit bash without instructions. We purchased additional guns and carriages from Model Expo. As it turn out the Model Expo gun carriages did not match the dimensions of the US Navy USS Constitution plans. They were too short. The other builder elected to split the sides of the carriages and add addition wood to raise the height. I elected to fabricate the carriages from scratch using the US Plans. In my case, that was 22 gun carriages that were visible and therefore affected (the remaining 8 guns were dummies). Raising the deck was not an option for me by the time I addressed the problem. Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment!😁

 

Looking forward to seeing how your solution works out, hopefully for the better.

 

Jon