USS Constitution by Avi - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1:96

[Avi]

You raise several good points @Brian Falke  

 

I definitely would have to complete the gundeck before doing the spardeck or I’ll have no way to do the gundeck. The deck planks themselves, it looks like, sit on the “horizontal knees” (I forgot what they’re called at the moment, book not in front of me), which make a T shape lying down, top of the T against the bulwarks, standing part on top of the hanging knees. Both of those, in turn are on top of the bulwark planks that form the walls or hull of the ship. So I definitely can plank that before dealing with the knees. 
 

which, in theory, means I can plank the entire inboard “walls”, bottom of the gundeck all the way to the caprail, without worrying about the knees or deck planking, all of which comes later. 
 

Except for the waterways. 
 

those clearly are *not* on top of the planks, but are part of the planking itself. How to get that shaped and properly positioned and installed and integrated with the hull planks is my current challenge. 
 

It’s not an issue for the gundeck, as that’s the bottom of the interior that I have. So I probably will do the gundeck waterway, mark where the spardeck one should be, plank up to there, install that one, and then plank up. 

[Avi]

I was in Boston for a brief visit last week, and just sort of happened to have selected the hotel right near the ship. Pure chance!

 

I spent a great 45 mins kindly with @Tim Murphy, who shared lots of great insight, and then an equal amount of time onboard the ship. It’s pretty clear what I need to do for the waterways now, as well as how the various knees and deck beams interconnect. I took dozens of pictures. 

[JSGerson]

Avi, up until the late 70s, I lived in the suburbs of Boston and enjoyed a lot of the amenities of the city, among them visiting the USS Constitution. I got one last in person look at her just before her last restoration. I have amassed a large library of images of the ship which I'm willing to and have shared with others for the asking, but I am always looking for new images, different angles, those little gems of details that help me with my model. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of images of her since the 2015-17 restoration. Would you be willing to post your pictures so the rest of us can enjoy them too?

 

Jon

[Bill Morrison]

On 11/6/2021 at 1:30 PM, Avi said:

Dentist? Funny, every time I use the dremel I think of my dentist! 😂 

Avi,

My wife and I now watch a few television shows about the behind-the-scenes care of animals at zoos. Whenever they show veterinary dental work on the animals., they use Dremel tools, including cutting and sanding disks, I immediately think of my dentist as well!

Bill

[Bill Morrison]

On 11/20/2021 at 3:13 PM, Avi said:

That was a genius idea @mort stoll

 

Look at the attached picture. I cut the tip of my template out at the top of the bulwark (ie bottom of the caprail). For the bottom, I cut the bottom loosely well below the gunports, and then cut out each gunport with a nice sharp xacto knife. I can just clip it to the hull, aligning the top of the cutout to the top of the hull, and just mark out the gunports. 

 

the bridle port is almost all the way at the bows, and so distorted by the curve, so I didn’t cut that one out. But it should be easy to extend the line just for that one port. 

I used the same technique on an old (now defunct) Aeropiccola kit of the HMS Victory. It worked well. One advantage to her small scale was that I used Plastruct square tubing to square the gunports. One part of ship modeling I have always enjoyed is to come up with out-of-the-box ideas to make a better model!

Bill

[Avi]

Actually I think my gunports are a bit out of shape. The cool thing about the planking is that it doesn’t matter. I can cut exactly four planks out, and set the width by a gunport lid. 

[Avi]

58 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Avi, up until the late 70s, I lived in the suburbs of Boston and enjoyed a lot of the amenities of the city, among them visiting the USS Constitution. I got one last in person look at her just before her last restoration. I have amassed a large library of images of the ship which I'm willing to and have shared with others for the asking, but I am always looking for new images, different angles, those little gems of details that help me with my model. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of images of her since the 2015-17 restoration. Would you be willing to post your pictures so the rest of us can enjoy them too?

 

Jon

I’d be happy to. I don’t think this build log is the right place for it. Is there a better thread, or some good place to upload them?

[Bill Morrison]

41 minutes ago, Avi said:

I’d be happy to. I don’t think this build log is the right place for it. Is there a better thread, or some good place to upload them?

Actually, I would also love to see those photos.  Unfortunately, there is some skepticism about the AoS book in some of the details. I also reenlisted in the Navy three times onboard USS Constitution. Unfortunately, I took few photos when I did so.

Bill

[JSGerson]

Quote

I’d be happy to. I don’t think this build log is the right place for it. Is there a better thread, or some good place to upload them?

 

I queried Model Ship World to see if there was some sort of a Photo Reference Library and if not, why not. They said there wasn't:

Quote

"The most likely reasons are

1. no one has asked for one (or at least very few people have asked), and
2. it would probably entail a not insignificant amount of work for an MSW staff member.

On top of those two reasons, sharing photos gleaned from the internet often constitutes some form of IP infringement.

So the best place to post any of your images is your own build log. I hope you do."

Jon

[MrBlueJacket]

On 5/23/2022 at 11:44 AM, Avi said:

I’d be happy to. I don’t think this build log is the right place for it. Is there a better thread, or some good place to upload them?

Perhaps the gallery?

[Avi]

2 minutes ago, MrBlueJacket said:

Perhaps the gallery?

Sure. Mind sharing a link?

[MrBlueJacket]

Here:

https://modelshipworld.com/gallery/

[Avi]

Thanks. There appear to be only three categories: gallery of completed kit built models, gallery of completed scratch built models, gallery of contemporary models from museums. 
 

Can someone suggest an admin to flash so we can have a gallery category for real ship pictures?

[JSGerson]

Avi, I already tried that. See May 23, Post #159

[Avi]

Ah I missed that @JSGerson  thanks. 
 

guess I will post here. 

[Avi]

Pics from two weeks ago at the constitution. Sorry for the weird orientations. It would take me forever to rotate all of those.

 

Update: I must be too nice. Or maybe I just appreciate the people here. I spent the last 15 mins tediously rotating each one. I hope everyone enjoys!

 

I uploaded medium size to save on space. If anyone wants an original full size, just DM me. 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Avi

[JSGerson]

Thanks for the images Avi, If you (or anyone else) is looking for a picture of a particular detail, just PM me; I might have it as I have collected thousands of pictures over the years for my build.

[Avi]

Finished planking the exterior of the ship, from caprail to keel (well, from wales to thick stuff above, then down all the way to the keel, then up to the caprail, but same result 😃). 
 

still need to cut out the gunports properly, and the slot for the bowsprit, and sand down a bit on top to make it even with the top of the hull, and especially the sides to make it smooth. But still it’s really nice to get here. 
 

After all of that, I’ll turn my attention to planking the interior bulwarks, which really means from deck of gundeck all the way up, including the waterways. Plenty to measure and cut and do there. 
 

I ended up having to adjust both the height of the hull - it didn’t match where the planking was going to be and was a bit uneven between the two sides - but easily handled by the micro planes I have. Also ended up needing to adjust the gunports. The theoretical measured shapes and locations ran headfirst into the real world of planks in place. Fine now though. 
 

I’ll get some pictures up after cutting the ports. 

[Brian Falke]

Avi, appreciate the pictures of the USS CONSTITUTION.  I have also found Google street view to be a good source of interior pictures.  They provide views of the berth and orlop decks.  However, they are lacking good exterior and quarter gallery photos, which you do have and I will find very helpful in my build.  Thanks again.

[JSGerson]

Brian, I have personally collected over the past 10 years approximately 19,000 images (organized in my particular manner) of the USS Constitution, from a variety of sources, covering most of her photographic history. I'm still building my model, so I am still collecting. Should you or anyone else need images of a particular view, angle, item, etc. of the USS Constitution, there is a good chance I may have something to help you.

[Avi]

Some pictures, as promised. 
 

I found when I planked and then cut out the gunports, that they didn’t quite align with the cutouts in the hull. If you look closely, you’ll see in some of them the hull peeking through or some lingering glued plank pieces. 
 

In any case, I had to reglue some of the plank pieces, so I’m giving the CA a few days to fully set, and then will file down to get the openings aligned. 
 

[Brian Falke]

Amazing!  It is looking great!  Can you throw in a bow on view?

 

Also, I am very interested in how you plan to construct the quarter galleys.

[Avi]

I will take a pic when I get a chance. 
 

as for the quarter galleries, I haven’t tackled that yet. I don’t plan to got a while. I’m going to handle the interior bulwark planking (which means the waterways as well), and then copper first. 

[Avi]

Lots of business travel, not a lot of time to work on it. Finally got some today. 
 

today was just filing open the gun ports, so that they all are the proper four plank height and proper width. That back and forth pressure inevitably knocked off a few planks, so I glued them back on. 
 

I mainly used a flat file for the edges, and square with its sharp corners for the corners. A few of them had a lot of hull material sticking out, so I used a small (keyhole) saw attachment to my xacto knife to remove most of it before filing. 
 

picture after adjusting is attached. 
 

someone also asked for a picture straight at the bows; that too is attached. 

 

I’m not overly enamoured of the planking job at the bows, but once I sand it down and paint it, it will be fine. And anything below the waterline will be coppered anyways. 
 

 

 

[Brian Falke]

Thank you for the bow on view.  I am struggling with wrapping my mind around the tapering of the planks as they approach the bow.  It looks as if you did a very fine job with that.  The planks meet perfectly at the bow from port and starboard, and have a slight up sweep.  To me, it looks great and sure once you sand and paint, you will be pleased with the work.

[Jerry Berenson]

Hi Avi, I just returned to model ship world and checked on your model! Great work, looking forward to your future posts. On our annual Maine vacation in July, I stopped in at Bluejacket and picked up a new kit of the Nantucket Lightship to build. I wanted to take a break from rigging and it is a very striking model when completed. I have started a post on the build today. The actual ship is moored close by in New Bedford harbor. Regards, Jerry 

[Avi]

Share a link to your build log, Jerry. 

[Avi]

Back to work on Connie after a summer of business and personal travel. Those national parks are just beautiful!

 

Having finished outside planking, I’m turning to planking the interior of the ship, just the gundeck and spardeck, of course. A few conundrums (conundra? 😁) to figure out. 
 

1. I’ll start with the gundeck waterway and then plank up to the spardeck waterway, then plank to the caprail. But will I need to do the various knees supporting the spardeck to get the spardeck waterway in place? I don’t think so, but unsure. I’d prefer to do the whole planking, then worry about the knees, beams and decks. 

2. I’m trying to figure out if I should drill/saw out the hatchways down from gundeck to berthdeck before laying the deck down, and then just cut it open afterwards. That seems to make sense to me. 

3. What’s the best way to cut and shape the waterways? There are four long straight planks of wood - one each larboard and starboard, spardeck and gundeck - which need to be molded to the curved interior of the hull. I assume some form of planing and sanding to get the acute angle to match the hull interior, similar for the angled (~45° hull to deck) inside. But the plank itself needs some curve as the ship runs aft to forward, and especially at the tight curving at the bows.
 

Also, how to match it up to the deck planking where it curves sharply inwards at the bows. I can keep it a continuous curve (if I can figure out how), but that doesn’t seem “right”. Photos from my May visit to the ship show the spardeck waterway continuous (gundeck forward was closed to visitors). Would “staggering” it (nibbing) be better? And how would I accomplish that? Interestingly, the manual says that it “adds extreme realism” and that restorers “used this technique on the constitution during each of her deck renewals”, but my pictures (above) from May do not show that. 
 

4. The BlueJacket manual has this cryptic phrase:

 

”The berthdeck airports are now located, drilled out, and brass ports installed. If you wish, you can make up the “rigols” (rain scuppers) for each gundeck port. Make them of flattened wire and glue them into place.”

 

I believe I’ve found the airports on the plan profile, and I think the brass is what is in the attached photo, which may be listed in the parts list as “3/32 Airport”, but unsure. Also unclear if those should be brass (placed after painting) or painted (placed before).

 

Unfortunately, nothing on the scuppers, what they look like, how to make them, or where to place them. 

 

5. Similarly, I’m wondering if I should drill the holes into the solid hull for the three masts now, before laying the deck planking sheets, or if that will make it difficult to align the holes in the actual gundeck and spardeck in the future?

I *think* I can just go do the waterways and interior planking, then worry about cutting out the hatchways and drilling out airports and scuppers, which should let me move ahead until I figured those out. But not sure. 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Avi

[Brian Falke]

With regards to your airports & scuppers question, yes, I too believe those pieces you pictured are the airports.  I have attached the plans for them if you do not have.

25001a_Airports & Scuppers.pdf

[JSGerson]

Here's an image of the airports and scupper. Model Shipways' plans show the locations of the airports and scruppers. If you have no luck finding and image/plan that shows these locations, PM me and I will scan my plans for you. BTW, I made my own scuppers, not that you can see them from a foot away at 1:76.8 scale (see my blog starting at post #625).

Edited August 28, 2022 by JSGerson