USS Constitution by bthoe – Model Shipways – Scale 1:76.8 – 1812 era

[bthoe]

Motivation - My interest in Constitution goes back to when I was 10 years old.  My uncle bought me a 22” Revell model of Constitution – it had a record in the box that that described the highlights of Constitution’s history which I nearly wore out while my dad built the ship for me.  I don’t know what ever happened to the model, but I have a photo of it completed (see below).  Seeing that photo inspired me in 2020 to purchase the kit off of **bay**, and upon finishing it (see below), I began thinking in larger terms – what about a wood ship model?

 

 

 

So here I am, 18 months later, having obtained a Model Shipways kit of Constitution, and having taken some time with the Lowell Grand Banks Dory, Norwegian Sailing Pram, and 18^th Century Longboat kits to get some basic experience in wood ship modeling under my belt.  I have no illusions of matching the outcomes of the model masters I’ve seen on this site, but I won’t hurry the build along.  As I turn 60 next month, my thoughts turn to finishing Constitution before I’m done with this world, and who will get it after I’m gone (I love the picture of xken’s son’s family with his – I hope for similar interest from one of my sons…).

 

Details

Modeling Constitution from 1812 prior to Guerriere Battle, possibly before “The Great Chase”.

-          Stern fashioned after Hull, Revell, and Bluejacket models

-          Billet Head & Trailboards fashioned after Hull, Revell, and Bluejacket models

-          30-Gun gun deck – no bow chase/bridle ports

-          24-Carronade spar deck + 1 bow chaser

-          Ships Boats – Captain’s gig & cutters in the davits, undecided about the hatch for now.  

Model Examples I will follow

-          Isaac Hull Model (Peabody Essex Museum)

-          Revell 1:96 Model

-          Bluejacket Model

-          Others as depicted on Model Ship World

Modeling Resources

-          Model Ship World builds – many

-          Model Ship World model techniques - various

Books & Papers Resources – this list will grow as the need arises

-          A Most Fortunate Ship – Martin

-          All Sails Up and Flying – Eriksen

-          Anatomy of the Ship – Marquardt

-          Constitution Close Up – Martin

-          Constitution Practicum – Hunt

-          Rigging Period Ship Models – Petersson

Plans and Misc Resources

-          USS Constitution Museum – Modelers Resources

-          US Navy

-          Bluejacket Models (undecided)

-          Historical Paintings – difficult to sort out for accuracy

Photographs

-          A “bazillion” online images and videos

 

One thing that is somewhat discouraging is the number of attempts at this model that have apparently been abandoned.  I have no doubt that every one of you who set it aside in the end started out with much enthusiasm as I carry today.  Only time will tell.

 

I do have a life beyond modeling - wife, children, and grandchildren.  Oh, and work.  Therefore you won't see progress moving along at a quick pace.  However, if you stick with it, so will I.  Looking forward to the ride...

 

Midshipman 3/c (Ret) Bob

[bthoe]

Thanks for the likes ccoyle and scrubbyj427!  I'll post an update tonight.  I've already gotten as far as gluing the bulkheads to the keel, created the counter, and have begun shaping the stern filler blocks.

Midn 3/c (Ret) Bob

[bthoe]

Thanks for the like Gregory.  As promised, here are a few photos to show where things are at right now.  Forgive the harsh lighting - I'll try to get better at this...

 

 

 

 

You'll notice that I have not faired the frames as of yet, nor have I drilled the hole for the rudder post in the counter.   I've heard from others here that no matter what the stern blocks end up like, once they're attached you still end up removing more wood.  We'll see how that goes.  Next step will be to do "final" cleanup on the stern blocks, then attaching the counter and stern blocks.  Then to the bow blocks.

 

Mid'n 3/c (Ret.) Bob

[bthoe]

One thing while I think of it - for all of you who have detailed the gun deck:  once it's planked over and hull planking done, is it worth it for what you can see?   I mean, besides just knowing in your heart that it's there.  It occurred to me that as much as I am leaning towards detailing the gun deck that once everything is finished and the ship is in a case, will it be for nought?  I'd like to model the guns as being run out, and so I don't like the looks of the boxed in dummy barrels - I'd at least want to see the front of gun carriages.

 

Also - if the guns are run out, are the gun port covers hinged up out of the way, or are they removed entirely?  On the Hull model there are a couple of full gun port lids in place, and that's how the Revell kit displays them.

 

I'd welcome your thoughts.

 

Mid'n 3/c (Ret.) Bob

[Henke]

Hi Bob,

As an answer to your question about dummy barrels or not, I think you should ask your self what in the model building, "turns me on". My view is that model ship building is primarily for fun. Your build is for your own entertainment. If you enjoy super detailing whilst you build, you should definitely super detail but if it is for the look of the finished model in a display cabinet I am hesitant. My view is that any model is a representation of a real thing in scale. All modelling in scale lead to simplifications. Smaller scale means more simplifications. For me the most important thing with the finished model is the overall appearance Is the shape of the hull ok? Are there details which apparently are far out scale?

 

For me personally, it is the finishing of the build that is the most important thing. Stashing away or discarding an unfinished model because you have lost interest gives dissatisfaction.

 

There is a third alternative also. You can have the gun lids closed. It is not that common to show the model like that but it gives the model another appearance. Do what you like. As Sjors once commented in my Agamemnon build log "You are the captain."

 

Best regards

 

Henrik

[bthoe]

Henrik,

I appreciate your insights.  They gave me pause this weekend to really think through how I'm going to build Constitution. I'm still pretty sure that the gun deck will be detailed, but for now I'll be going slow forward.

 

Thank you for the freedom to build her as I see fit.  As for being the captain, I don't think it would ever go well for a midshipman to claim to be captain!

 

Cheers,

[bthoe]

Well, it's been 2 months since my last confession (or post).  Forgive me - I'll try to stay more on top of it.

Since September, I have

- mounted the filler blocks,

- framed in the bow and stern (for 6 windows),

- as others have done, I tack-glued battens at the top of the frames to prevent breakage.

- added the Spar Deck waterway

- cut the tenon on the bowsprit and checked fit over-all

- cut 1/32 plywood to size for the Spar Deck, and made a copy of the plan for Spar Deck (mainly for hatch openings)

- removed the bulkheads above the Gun Deck

- added the Gun Deck waterway

- purchased a full set of guns for the Gun Deck from Model Expo. 

One of the bigger departures was to redo the stern counter and to cut out the R bulkhead to allow gun deck planking all of the way into the captain's/commodore's cabins.  I'll be building out the walls in the stern Gun Deck as the build continues.

Hopefully this long weekend will allow me to cut a 1/32 plywood deck for the Gun Deck, map out where the Gun Deck hatch openings are, and decide how much detailing to do below down into the berth deck.  I'm trying to leave as many options open as I can at this point, as I haven't decided yet how much detailing in the hidden places to do.

 

I welcome comments and questions, along with kindly criticism.

Photos below of my progress...

 

Counter - note the surface has been shaved down for deck planking to come

 

Counter and Filler Blocks from below

 

Bow Filler Blocks

 

Bow Framing

 

All of the pieces laid out for building the stern framing.  Note that before installing, the entryway to the captain's/commodore's heads in the stern galleries were cut.  Also the center frame was tapered so as not to interfere with the rudder head.  The short pieces at the top will bridge the gap from the stern frames to bulkhead R (but not until after the deck is planked).

 

And here it is, put together.  The paper on top was to help with alignment of the frames.

 

Spar Deck waterway installed at bow.

 

Bowsprit tenon - and no, that's not a stain sample - it's proof positive that I've shed blood, sweat and tears - or at least the blood part over this model!

 

Upper bulkheads removed and Gun Deck waterway installed.  Also, mast tenon framing in place.

 

Stern showing both waterways.  Note opening for rudder head box.  The Gun Deck plywood will end at the Counter Block.

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by bthoe

[bthoe]

Happy New Year everyone! 

 

Since my last post, I have been working on Constitution sporadically. Last week I was on vacation, and spent the bulk of the time in the shop – as a result, I’ve finally made some decent progress. 

-          I got the plywood decking done for the Gun Deck. 

-          I decided to make the Fore and Main Hatches open so I could see to the hatches below in the Berth Deck. 

-          I completed the Berth Deck hatches, and a section of decking that will be visible from above.

-          I built the Gun Deck Hatches

-          I planked the Gun Deck.

All of the above gave me much-needed practice for when I work on the Spar Deck.

Next will come sanding / finishing the Gun Deck planking.  Full sail ahead!

 

Initial Plans for Spar- and Gun Decks.  Later, I changed the Gun Deck Fore Hatch layout (top) to increase size and relocate the ladders down to Berth Deck.  I also will replace the anchor chain bitts with cable bitts, and the Main Mast Fife Rail with a curved one like on the Hull Model.

 

Plywood deck support for Gun Deck

 

Carving out space for ladders

 

Painted waterways

 

Patched stairway in Fore Hatch.

 

This would have been much easier had I done the Berth Deck before covering it with the Gun Deck plywood.  I made thin planks so I could fit them through the Fore Hatch.

 

Berth Deck Main Hatch (left) and Fore Hatch

 

View through Gun Deck Main / Fore Hatches.

 

Gun Deck Hatches

 

Hatches set in place prior to planking the deck.

 

Beginning planking.

 

I did not taper the planks on the Gun Deck, so when I got to the edges, I needed to create filler pieces.  I will be tapering the Spar Deck planks.

 

And here they are installed against the waterway.

 

Finished planking, ready to sand and finish!

 

Hatches set in place to see what it looks like.

 

[Kelp]

It’s looking really good Bob!  The green you used looks just like the green on the real ship.
 

I’ll be watching your progress on this model.

 

Don

[bthoe]

Thanks Don.  The green that I found was Tamiya Color Acrylic X-5 (Green).  It was the closest match that I found at the hobby shop.

[JSGerson]

Just started to follow you. You are moving along very nicely. I also am putting in a gun deck, but my model will reflect what the ship looks like today (minus the tourist accoutrements). I admire anyone who can extrapolate what the ship looked like before photographs and accurate detailed plans. Paintings and old models are nice guides, but as any model builder knows, no two models of the exact same ship (or paintings) are identical. The artist/builder always puts in or leaves out details as he/she feel fit. Even though the US Navy has provided some of the ship's plans, I wish they would provide more. There must be more for the contractors working on the restoration of the ship all these years. Keep up the good work and even though you claim to work slow, I think you will surpass me soon enough. I've been working on my model since Feb 2017.

 

Jon

[bthoe]

Thanks for the likes folks.

 

And yes, Jon, I agree.  At first, I was distressed at the lack of consensus as to how things were "back then".  But very slowly, I have come to the same conclusion that you have - that the reason for differences is in the eye of the beholder.  Or in the case of now vs then, ladders can't be as narrow and as steep as they probably were if the lawsuit-aware tourists are going to be using them!  (I did spend 5 weeks on active duty  )

 

I'll continue on as best I can, continuing to see what others like you are doing, choosing what I like or what makes the most sense, but not sweating it if it's not 100% accurate (hope it doesn't cost me my membership in the NRG...).  As Henrik said somewhere above, I only need to make myself happy.

[bthoe]

Hi Folks, time for an update.  I sanded down the Gun Deck and prepped for staining.  I've been using basswood for everything, and I heard that it's best to use pre-stain on basswood.  So, I thought I'd give it a try...

 

Afterwards, I applied Golden Oak stain.

 

A couple of things - first, it took the stain much better than without the pre-stain.  Also, it really emphasized the plank ends - for the Spar Deck, I'll really need to get those joints tight.

[Ian_Grant]

I like the green too. Ironically it's pretty close to British racing green...😀

[bthoe]

Next, I was thinking I wanted to get the Gun Deck bulwarks planked.  So I took measurements of the Gun Deck bulwarks at each bulkhead - all kinds of measurements - and began figuring out the plank thicknesses to make this happen.  Then I realized that I couldn't plank the bulwarks without first framing the gun ports and stern windows.  And I couldn't do the gun ports without first making a test cannon for checking measurements, etc.  And I knew guns and port alignment were giving people headaches. For everyone's reference, I did NOT cut down the bulkhead Gun Deck, but laid the 1/32" plywood right on top of the cutouts, and then laid the 1/16" planking on top of the plywood.  From the plans, my Gun Deck is 3/32" higher than what they indicate.

Kick in the nerd in me... I started making measurements of the U.S. Navy gun carriage plans, scaled them down to the model scale, then compared them with the gun carriage laser-cut gun carriage pieces.  Here's what I found out.  The Model Shipways carriages were 5/64" shorter than scale.  The rest looked close enough to not worry about.  See below:

I'll need to modify the carriage sides to make them scale-like in appearance.  I was really bothered about why MS would make this apparent mistake, and then I realized that the carriage is identical to the bowchaser carriage contained in the kit - back to the U.S Navy plans.  Yep, the bowchaser was an 18-pounder, and its carriage was 6" shorter height-wise than the 24-pounders on the Gun Deck.  6" at scale is - you guessed it - 5/64"!

That established, It was time to modify a set of carriage sides to see how they looked.  See below for my methodology in making the new carriage sides.  The inserted piece is a 1/16" x 1/16" strip.

 

[JSGerson]

Quote

 I did NOT cut down the bulkhead Gun Deck, but laid the 1/32" plywood right on top of the cutouts, and then laid the 1/16" planking on top of the plywood.  From the plans, my Gun Deck is 3/32" higher than what they indicate.

I DID cut down the bulkhead gun deck to compensate for the additional gun deck planking and yet my mock-up gun was too short as well. I was surprised that your guns were short, but you stated that was because the MS carriages were too short. For you, that should have cancelled each other out - the higher deck and the short carriages. That's odd it didn't. However, since I have to do what you are doing with the carriages, I really appreciate your little jig on how to accomplish this task. I've put this little task off until I do more work on the hull.

 

Jon

[bthoe]

Next, time to lay out the rest of the parts.  I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, the lack of a plan - or parts layout - for the gun carriages was unsettling.  So I did.  First, I took the "real" plans, scaled down to 1/76.8, then rounded to measurements of 1/32 - for me, 64ths are just too small, although you might see measurements of 1/2 32nds when it is something worth mentioning - it can be sanded in w/o extreme accuracy.  Then I took my CAD program (DeltaCAD - about $35 - deltacad.com, easy to use) and with the new parts "built" the carriage to see how it looks.  You can see it all below.  We'll see later how it all goes together "for real".  Feel free to use this if you find it helpful.

And here they are, put together.  At least theoretically, as I haven't actually done it yet .

 

Lastly, my measurements of the bulwarks/gun port.  Note that my waterway is 3/16" tall, as it was placed directly on top of the bulkhead before the 1/32" plywood was placed on the bulkhead - I needed it to be 1/32" taller than normal.  I'm encouraged that after all that work, the center of the gun port shows to be 33/64" above the deck, and the line showing the center of the gun port on the cannon barrel above is also 33/64".  That was not planned! -- Note that none of this has been committed to the model as of yet, so if you see any glaring errors, please point them out!  Thanks in advance!

[bthoe]

JS,

The gun carriage thing started because I noticed that the MS carriage side looked different from the U.S. Navy Plan.  That's where I have been these last weeks since my last post - measuring, measuring, measuring.  And then comparing and scratching my way-too-thin hair with too many "what the heck..."s muttered under my breath.  But that is why I haven't committed it for REAL yet.  It may end up being that I will still need to modify the height of the carriage to get it right.  Mainly, I wanted to make sure that the gun ports would be ok with my heightened gun deck.

 

Ian,

Perhaps they painted the waterways "British Racing Green" to needle the British Captains taken aboard  - or to help Constitution catch the British ships! 

[bthoe]

Built the test cannon.  Initial measurements look good.  Wheels, barrel, and elevating quoin have not been permanently attached.

[bthoe]

"In our last episode..." I built the test cannon so that when I framed the gun ports, I could verify that the fit was correct.  And then no posts for a month.  Sorry about that. 

Here's how I framed the gun ports.  All framing pieces are 1/8 x 1/4.  First was the lower sill, and per my drawing above, it is 3/32" above the waterway.  So, I used a 3/32" spacer to set the lower sill in place as below.

 

Next, I used a 13/32" spacer on top of the lower sill to set the top sill (same idea as above, I don't have a photo of that).

Finally, I cut side frames.  To do this, I measured each port to determine how far off of vertical it is.  That is, at the bottom, how many 32nds off is it.  Then I created the below drawing with 2 horizontal lines 13/32" apart, with 1/4" vertical planks at select 1/32" offsets.  This drawing helped me to lay out the side frames.  I cut all of these together, and then fit them using spacers where necessary.

 

Then I created a gun port sized spacer to install the other side frame. 

Finally, the moment of truth...how's the fit?

Edited March 3, 2022 by bthoe

[bthoe]

Happy with the fit, I went into gun carriage sides manufacturing (I needed another 58 for the gun deck).  I sliced them all first using my "carriage slicer" above.  Since I was cutting with the grain, pushing down with the razor blade was sufficient to part them.  

 

I then inserted a 1/16" piece in between, and once dry, packaged them all up for the time I will be making the carriages.

[bthoe]

Next came framing the stern windows.  Here's the drawing I am basing my stern from:

And here is the drawing on how I was framing it:

After careful measuring, I noticed that my vertical frames were not exactly where they needed to be, but I could correct by using offset fillers.  Here's how it came out.  Notice the filler pieces offset on either one side or another from the frames.  Also, I put solid fillers below and above the windows to support the planking.

[bthoe]

Finally, I could start doing what I was wanting to do at the beginning - plank the gun deck bulwarks!  Here are a few photos:

[Rokket]

Very nice. Watching with great interest.

[bthoe]

Thank you all for your likes, and welcome.  Sorry for my silence over the last 6 months.  I ran into an issue, and rather than ask a community of skilled modelers how to address the problem, I just tried figuring it out myself.  I'm sure that you all would have had some great advice on how to proceed.  The problem I ran into was the outer planksheer.  My first attempt ended up with a wavy line from bow to stern.  It ended like below:

Then I made a tool to help with consistency - the notch is for the gun port:

Unfortunately, while the bottom of the planksheer was a more uniform distance from the gun ports, the result was a planksheer with varying thicknesses, sometimes to so thin as to be almost non-existent:

This ended up with a similar pile of sticks as the first.

 

 

[bthoe]

Finally, I decided that I needed to focus on a nice line, and for that, I would use long planks vs short ones.  This would minimize all the joints, and the bumpiness I was running into because of them.  I also decided that if necessary, I could sand down the planksheer to an even thickness with the rest of the planking, and add a thin planksheer on top of the planking – or not (we’ll see).  With those decisions made, I went ahead and began laying planks, and here is where I am at present:

Now I need to smooth out the surface, perhaps use some filler where necessary, and clean up gun port and stern window openings.  Then I can begin to lay the wales.  It's nice to be back in the shipyard, although I think that I'll be making it more of a HOBBY.  You're sure welcome to join along - just don't get frustrated with long gaps between posts.  I DO want to see this project finished someday, but not at the expense of my sanity .  Fair winds to you all!

 

- Bob  

 

 

[bthoe]

Hi all, thanks for the likes!  I really appreciate it, and it encourages me to keep going.

 

With Thanksgiving approaching and family coming over, the Admiral said it was time to shut down the shipyard and make it ship-shape for our guests and safe for the grandkids.  Now that I’ve done that, it’s a good time to update the build log.

In my last entry, I was going to clean things up on the outer planking and then begin the wales.  I DID begin cleaning up the planking, and filling where necessary, but every time I filled and sanded, there were more places I needed to fill and sand.  I got frustrated and decided to move to something different for a while.

 

So, on to the bulwarks!

 

I decided to go with the “glue-drop method” of adding the rivets/bolts.  I admire the workmanship, and the patience that some of you have gone to in order to make these look more realistic. However, I couldn’t envision spending the next 10 years punching out tiny brass rivet heads (and losing them).  Likewise, the thought of drilling tiny holes and going crazy trying to insert tiny plastic rivets was not my cup of tea!  So, glue dots it was.

 

First, I made the bulwarks by edge-gluing the planks.  For the curved bow section, I soaked the planks, and clamped to the frames to set the curve.  I edge glued these as well once they were dry.  This didn’t work out as well as I had hoped, because I glued these “on-edge” vs stair-stepped as they probably were when they were wet on the frames.  So, I repeated the process, but once dry, I glued the planks to the frames with the intention of adding glue dots to these curved sections on the hull.

 

I did a test application on a mock-up panel.  The rivets were difficult to see once dry, but under magnification I noticed that the glue had flattened out too much.  Then I did another mock-up panel and applied 3 coats of varnish prior to applying the glue dots.  The rivets were much better defined this way.

 

I sanded / varnished all of the panels in a likewise manner.  I then sharpened a bunch of toothpicks to apply the glue dots.  I applied to one panel and let it dry.  I was happy with the results – but then realized that this panel, as well as most of the other panels would have pin rails attached later, and the “rivets” would get in the way. 

 

I tried to remove the rivets in the pin rail area and found that they were quite easy – almost too easy – to remove with a simple knife tip scrape.  That worried me, that I would knock them off in handling.  So as soon as possible, I decided I would paint them.

 

I identified which panels would have pin rails and avoided this area while applying glue dots to all of the remaining panels.  I had to keep switching toothpicks as the glue quickly built up on them and had to keep refreshing the glue puddle I was dipping into as it dried/thickened fairly quickly.  Under magnification there were some dots that were a bit flat and needed to have extra glue added to define the dots.  There were others that needed to be scraped away and redone completely.  Once done, I attached the panels to the ship’s frames and added glue dots to the inner planksheer.  Then I painted them all.  The bulwarks are not as shiny as they look in the photos under bright light.  Overall, I am happy with the results.  Much better than nothing – it would have looked wrong – and much easier/faster than other techniques.

 

 

[bthoe]

Next up:  The Gun Carriages.

These took a few weeks prep.  I already had added the 1/16” filler to the carriage sides.  I needed to make the parts – front axle, rear axle, etc.  You can see all of the parts on my Jan 29th post.  I made 35 of each, just to make sure of 30 good ones.  Once all of the parts were made, I assembled the carriages.  Now all I need is to find the right paint color.  What colors have you all used for this, or was it a custom mixture?

 

 

For the gun tackles, I purchased blocks from Chuck P’s Syren Ship Model Company.  I just wanted to mention this, because the blocks are spectacular!  Makes me want to replace all of the kit’s blocks with Chuck’s, but it’ll cost a lot to do this – they are reasonably priced, but there are so many of them on Constitution. And no, Chuck is NOT paying me for this advertisement!  I’m a long way from rigging, so I might start replacing them a little at a time.  In the meantime, I’ll be making the gun tackles when I’m closer to installing the guns, probably AFTER the hull is completely planked.

 

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  I have many things to be thankful for and will be counting my blessings on Thursday along with many of you. 

 

Fair winds,

Bob

[bthoe]

Here's just a quick follow-up from my previous post about blocks.  The picture below shows 1/8" single and double blocks that came with the kit, and below them the blocks I purchased from Syren Ship Model Company.  The Siren blocks have 2 holes in each of the sheave slots and are over all better in my opinion.  (The strange halo effect is because my ring light is only a few inches directly overhead, and I'm shooting thru the magnifier).  The coloring is more a medium-brown on the MS blocks, and a yellowish-tan for the Syren blocks.

 

[JJUSNRET]

THANK YOU for the idea of glue drops for "rivets".  Like you, thought of cutting the pinheads would drive me nuts!  GREAT work!!!