USS Constitution by vacotton - Revell - 1:96 - PLASTIC - 1812 version - first kitbash ever

[vacotton]

Hi folks,

Way back in the 70's when I still had brown hair,  I built this plastic USS Constitution.  As did many of us then, I glued the pieces together and then put the black strings where they belonged and the tan ones where they were supposed to go.  Before I could complete this ship, I moved and during transit, that Constitution was destroyed beyond repair.  Now retired, I happened to be on Amazon.com and saw my old ship for sale and I couldn't resist and a few days later UPS delivered my kit in a heavy rain storm lovingly protected by a plastic bag.

 

Now it's 2013, I have white but we have the internet.  So this time before doing anything else, I Googled the Revell USS Constitution and found Model Ship World.  To make a lousy pun, I was sunk after that.  Especially after I saw what could be done with a plastic ship kit, some supplies and some know how.  MSW is unbelievable!

 

I was amazed with all of the superb craftspeople but was particularly taken with Force9's approach to building the Constitution and because I know nothing at all about shipbuilding I decided to start out by emulating his approach figuring that as I progressed I would make discoveries of my own.  I had no idea how right I was.

 

The first thing I found out was that "kitbashing" is not for the faint of heart.  I began and started over three times on the first step of lining the hull with styrene stripping to "thicken" the bulwarks until finally I thought things were going well.

 

 

 

After looking at Evan's (Force9) pictures of the r/w Constitution, I thought that it would be nice to model the bolts in the buwarks and that's when things started to get dicey.  I took my punch to .010 styrene strip and it didn't take long for me to realize that it's not good enough just to punch some bolts in the strip.  It has to be punched on in a prescribed manner so that there is pattern after the strips go on or it won't be very believable.  So off they came and then I did the job over only this time with a repeating pattern.  Back on to the bulwarks they went.  Better now.  

 

 

I was feeling pretty good about myself now so I attempted the knees by selecting .08 x 1.0 styrene strip.  This works out to about 7" x 10" full scale.  The results were an absolute disaster.  As I said in another post, they were so crooked that they looked like they needed a good orthodontist,  

So this morning, I decided to yank them all out and start over again.  Pretty ugly stuff now but I know that I can smooth the bulwarks over and start over after I learn a little more about what I am doing.

 

 

Seeing that I needed a change of pace, I moved over to preparing the spar deck and happily things went went quite well.  I don't have that nifty drill press that Evan has so I had to resort to a steady hand and a strong filing arm but here is what I came up with:

 

 

 

Also, I have been playing around with the quarterdeck windows.  I ran and didn't walk to West Valley Hobbies but alas the K & S PE gratings are gone forever.  Mike Sanchez of WVH assures me though that said gratings can be had through Plastruct or another vendor.  In the meantime I played around with cutting tiny little 1mmX9mm styrene pieces but didn't find that too satisfying.

 

So here I am folks deciding which direction to take next.

Thanks for reading.

Verne

 

[DCooper]

Great to see your progress Verne.  You have a wonderful mindset in that if you aren't happy with your first result you will pull it out and try again.  An excellent way to model.  Have fun and try new things but don't rush and except second best.  Just don't get discouraged if you can't always match your expectations.  I'm finding building a ship model is at a much slower pace that other model build I've done in the past.  Ship building is very rewarding though.  Looking forward to more progress from your build.

 

Dan

[vacotton]

Thanks for the words, Dan.  I woke this morning with the realization that maybe I had been rushing things a bit.  Each part, each phase is a project in and of itself and that is how I must approach things.  As Benjamin Franklin wrote,  "Haste makes waste."

So that said, I plan to do the following:

 

   1. Reapply the .010 strips on the gun deck bulwarks after texturing them following the attached pattern.

 

 

 

  2.  Build the beams under each spar deck section.

 

 3. CAREFULLY build knees and fit each one in seamlessly before gluing in.  Each knee must align with the beam on the overhead      spar deck section. 

 

 

 

  4. Review work and make necessary corrections.

 

Future steps:

  1. Build the starboard quarterdeck details including the bench in the window and changing the windows to incorporate the "2x3" windows instead of the "1X3" s  that Revell modeled 

  2. Begin work on the port hull half following all of what was learned on the starboard side.

 

Thanks for following.

Verne

Edited August 6, 2013 by vacotton

[lambsbk]

Nice to see you up and running Verne.

[vacotton]

Thanks, Dave.  I would like to thank all of you guys for making me feel welcome and providing me with the encouragement that I need as I learn this.  Evan, I especially owe you a debt of gratitude for providing me with an approach to get started with.  I am sure that before long my own individuality will emerge but for now, I will follow the trail that you have blazed.  I would be foolish not to.

 

So today I am working on roughing the spar deck together in order to have a guide for placing the gundeck bulwark knees.  This time, I will carefully strive for uniformity of size and shape when crafting the knees for a satisfying overall effect.  

 

As soon as I have some results, I will follow up with pictures.

 

Cheers!

Verne

[lambsbk]

Just a heads up Verne: re-size your pics to 800 x 600 (or 600 x 800 if portrait oriented) to upload. I had some difficulty in the first log before realizing the size requirement.

 

Dave

[vacotton]

Gotcha, Dave.

[vacotton]

Images are all 800 x 600 now.  Thanks for the heads up.

Verne

[vacotton]

I found an intriguing white paper published by the Naval Surface Warfare Center during  August 1993 entitled "Structural Evaluation of Diagonal Riders for the USS Constitution".  In that article Messrs. Roger Hoffman and Kevin Lynaugh discuss the phenomenon of "hogging" whereby over time the hull weakens as the timbers slip laterally until the strength of the keel might be compromised and in extreme cases could cause breakup of a vessel. Diagonal braces are fastened throughout the weight bearing bulwarks to prevent that slippage from happening.  Based upon my understanding of this information, I have decided to model the 1812 Constitution with diagonal knees only as it seems that vertical knees might have been redundant and may not have had any preventative effect to counter "hogging".  Another possible reason that the original ship may not have had vertical knees installed is that said knees would have taken up valuable deck space and prevented efficient access to the cannon.

 

For those interested: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a271335.pdf

 

Regards,

Verne

Edited August 7, 2013 by vacotton

[lambsbk]

Actually Verne the knees, like Evan has said, are not well documented for 1812. But the diagonals to which I think you refer are on the Orlop deck and have nothing to do with the knees on the Berth and Gun decks. These same diagonals were removed from the ship in the early 1900's refit only to discover that the hog of the ship increased by 200%. They were reinstalled as laminated wood (no timbers of proper shape or size could be found anymore!) in the 1993 refit. The photo below shows Henry (popeye2sea) explaining these diagonals. You can see them in the background. Marquardt in his AOTS has a drawing of them as well. I will see if I can post it without getting into trouble...

[vacotton]

Nice shot, Dave.  

 

I am aware of those massive braces as well. They show up on the Navy's 1927 reconstruction plans. What I am concerned about is the truss construction on the gun deck that may have been present on the 1812 version.  The 1927 plans shows vertical bracing which I believe is redundant.   It is sad that even by 1927 there was such a shortage of wood that the knees had to be fashion from laminates. That should have been seen as a shot across our ecological bow.

 

Agreed. Short of finding a complete set of plans from 1812, there is no way to know the details of Constitution's original construction.  But Hoffman and Lynaugh's paper was still fascinating and provided insights into the problem of hogging and the need for diagonal bracing.  The rest were purely my suppositions and conclusions.

 

Now comes the hard part of fashioning clean looking knees with good alignment that will look right.

 

Cheers   and thanks again for the help as I learn about this ship.

Verne

Edited August 7, 2013 by vacotton

[lambsbk]

Good luck Verne. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I am especially looking forward to your research and it's incorporation into your build I think it adds a bit of excitment to the build (and maybe a little bit of intrigue!). 

 

Dave

Edited August 8, 2013 by lambsbk

[vacotton]

Here's a new tidbit of information.  The knees were fashioned from the roots of trees.  Logical.  The roots are incredibly strong and would make excellent load bearing braces.  I thought that the naval architects were just being stylish with the swoopy lines of the knees but it appears that the contours were shaped naturally. See the illustration below:  

 

 

Granted that this drawing was done in 1927 but probably hearkens back to a time when there was plenty of white ash.  Of course we know that by 1927 there wasn't enough white ash left and so they had to resort to laminates.  Either way this drawing probably provides the dimensions of a typical gun deck knee.

 

Here are the scaled dimensions of the illustrated knee at 1:96

 

Thickness:                                            6"     =   . 063"

Width from bulwark  10" to 22" (from apex) =   .104" to .229"

Heigth                                                5'-6"     =  .688"

Length from bulwark                         4'-6"     =  .563"

 

This will require the use of .060 x .100  styrene strip to come close to the above dimensions  Also each of these knees will have to be hand contoured as the slope of the bulwark changes over the run from fore to aft.

 

Since this drawing is too detailed to be read at this resolution please see the pdf: Knees from Trees.pdf

 

 

 

Regards,

Verne

Edited August 8, 2013 by vacotton

[lambsbk]

Thanks for sharing the info Verne. I wondered how they did that. I would have never thought of using the roots.

 

Dave

[vacotton]

I am starting to cut and install knees based upon the drawing that I found.  Pleasing aesthetics anyway if there really is no absolute proof that these were present in the 1812 vessel.  I roughed out the spar deck so that I have a guide when I work back to the waist so that I will be able to line up the knees properly to the beams.  It sure wouldn't do to have a mess where it is visible in the viewport.

 

Here is what I have done so far:

 

I cut the slugs out from .060 sheet styrene and then worked them with a rasp and small handfile until they resemble the above drawing and specs.  I quickly found that additional filing had to be done to make each knee conform to the curvature of the bulwark.

 

 

Please wish me luck as I work back on the starboard hull half.

 

Regards,

Verne

[lambsbk]

Looks very good Verne. Just a question: have you thought about the port door tackle and where it will be going? Your current configuration would probably allow you to more accurately place it above the canon and between the knees. Really nice. Keep up the good work.

 

Dave

[vacotton]

No. I haven't!  Yikes.  

And that brings me to the gun door controversy.  Did Constitution have hinged doors in 1812?  Without hinged doors, the guys must have had to close the ports up from the inside by hand and maybe lock them in? Then in a combat situation pull the door covers from the ports and stow them below?  I hope that the sailor who came up with the hinged half door idea got at at least a NavCom in his file and a promotion.    That innovation sure freed up a lot of deck space and probably resulted in better morale.

So is that what you meant: the hinged door rigging?  If so where do we go from here?

Good eye, sir!

Verne

[vacotton]

Okay.  Starboard knees are installed.  Now that I went through that exercise, I wonder if it was all worth it.  After all, except for those under the  viewports, most of those knees are not visible unless you squint through the port gun ports.  Oh well, look at the practice I got shaping styrene sheet into those knees from white ash tree roots. 

 

 

 

 

 

These knees are cut as close to scale as possible.  Please consult the dimensions in the above drawing.  

 

Well hopefully the port side will go smoother now that I went through all of that agony learning the ropes of working styrene with all of the accompanying blunders and frustration.

 

 

 

I think the next step now is to visit the commodore's head (in a manner of speaking, that is)  contained within the starboard gallery and build a floor and a seat.  Hole optional.  I will need to take the virtual tour again.

 

http://www.history.navy.mil/USSCTour/movie.html

 

Here some good material:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that Revell made the gallery windows differently than the windows on the actual ship.  Revell: Four 1 x 3's  while the actual windows are Three 2 x 3's.  Was this an oversight or have there also been changes in the side gallery windows since 1812?

 

Anyway great fun.

 

Thanks for visiting. 

Verne

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2013 by vacotton

[youngtiger1]

Verne, great start and already getting deep into research. I like it a lot. Keep up the good work.

 

Mike

[vacotton]

Yes,  I must say that I was inspired by Evan and his passion for this ship.  And over on Finescale Modeler there is jtilly who has lit my historical fire with the detail of his analysis.  

 

I admire the courage displayed by those who served in our fledgling navy in the early years. Life aboard a late 18th century warship couldn't have been a vacation cruise and I am sure that the average sailor aboard Constitution was not there because he wanted to be.  Life was tough for both seamen and officers alike.  How many admirals today would consent to sleep in a hammock?  So, Mike, these thoughts roam through my mind as I work on this treasure.

 

I have just started the port side with a lot of experience gained from my initial struggles with the starboard half.  Already I can see that building this ship is a little like spinning several plates.  

 

 

I appreciate you looking in as I move forward.

All I can hope for are fair winds and following seas.

 

Verne

Edited August 11, 2013 by vacotton

[lambsbk]

Here here. Well said.

[RadMan]

Hey Verne, I just found your blog.  It looks like things are coming together nicely.  I am enjoying all the true-to-life history of construction that I have learned since joining this forum.   Though it makes perfect sense that the knees are made from the bottom of the tree and roots, I would have never guessed that.  People really knew what they were doing back then when it came to building ships...I wonder today if we could even find trees mature enough to make the build.

 

In any case, i will be following your progress.  Welcome to MSW.

[vacotton]

Hi RadMan,

Lots of surprises alright. To think that those 18 century naval architects did all of this without the technology that we take for granted.  They didn't even have sliderules in those days.  But roots of trees?  Such insight.  

 

I have been fascinated with these tall ships since I lived near Newport News, VA back in the early 50's as an eleven year old boy.  I remember riding my bicycle almost every day to the famed Mariners'  Museum to admire all of the nautical models they had and still have.  Happily, it turns out that one of the contributors on Fine Scale Modeler Magazine is Professor John Tilley who started his career at the Mariners' Museum.  Understandably, his articles are very complete and shed often shed valuable insight into the construction and operation of these old vessels.

 

I am busy setting up the portside bulwarks and doing the bolt patterns.  Then I will create a deck for the portside quarterdeck gallery complete with the skipper's head.  Then comes the outside hull half painting.    That is plenty to keep me busy for the rest of the week.

 

RadMan I appreciate your comments and interest in this project.

 

Best regards,

Verne 

Edited August 12, 2013 by vacotton

[vacotton]

I scribed the longitudinal lines and butts on the  gun deck and while I do like the color, it seems a little bit vanilla.  Maybe the color of the fittings will make it pop a little.  

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the lines and bolt pattern don't show up well in the picture and I haven't figured out a satisfactory way to make the them more prominent without making a mess and overwhelming the gray/green of the holystoned teak.  If anyone has any insider "tricks"  they would be most appreciated.

 

Many thanks to Greg Meyer of Knightdreamers http://knightdreamers.com/HomePage/Ships/13.htm for posting this deck planking plan.  

 

 

After a few hours of puzzling how it works, I finally got it.  It is a pattern using 24' and 30' planks and staggered by 6' on each succeeding row.  A few mistakes were made in the process of learning.  The good news is that much of the gun deck is nicely buried by the spar deck. No pass when I do the the spar deck, though.  It has to be right. 

 

If you happen to decide to use this chart, here are the numbers worked out for 1:96 scale

 

24' = 3.0 in = 76mm  

30' = 3.75 in = 95mm

  6' = 0.75 in = 19 mm

 

7/8' on the chart is 6'

1 3/4 on the chart is 12'

Different scale.

I wrote in the converted numbers in on the bottom margin of the chart and arrows from board to board to keep from getting confused. 

 

Ordinarily I haven't worked in metric in the past, but I have found that I get finer precision than with inches and calculations are a lot easier. And I am all about easy. 

 

Thanks for visiting,

Verne

Edited August 17, 2013 by vacotton

[vacotton]

In looking at the gangway ladder, I can't understand how anyone could climb up that thing without slipping.  Does anyone know if there were handlines attached.  Was it a ropeladder?  Has anyone modelled that detail?

Thanks,

Verne

[vacotton]

Question of the Day:  How did the guys operate the gun deck capstan with those ladders in the way?  Were the ladders placed there later?  Hmm.

 

 

Also, if you look aft of the capstan, you might notice that the aft hatch is snugged up next to the captain's day cabin which is quite a variance from the model gun deck.  Again, perhaps big changes over the years?

 

Cheers,

Verne

[vacotton]

I learned something yesterday:  Don't get too much going or nothing will get done and your head will explode.    So I am breaking everything into miniprojects.  

 

Today's goal:  Get the right size metal washers so that I can mill the styrene donuts to the right scale.  I found a terrific set of drawings of the capstans both early 1800's and 1927 versions.  The Navy tour site is a wealth of information.

 

Another troubling situation:  the headroom between the gun deck and the spar deck is barely six scale feet so some adjustments will have to be made.  I am wondering if the capstans can be successfully lined up so that a truly double capstan can be built.  I think that would be a nice touch.

 

Here's some eye candy for you ship wonks:

 

Back in the day (1815)

 

 

 

And in 1927:

 

 

 

And a nice little technical blurb on capstans:

 

 

I might incorporate the stylishness of the whelps of the 1927 version into the model capstans.  Those 1815 capstans look awfully clunky. 

 

This is the stuff that makes me love this project.

Thanks for your patience.

Verne

Edited August 20, 2013 by vacotton

[dafi]

Question of the Day:  How did the guys operate the gun deck capstan with those ladders in the way?  Were the ladders placed there later?  Hmm.

 Hy Verne,

 

all obstacles, means ladders, stanchions, guns and other equipment had to be cleared before using the capstan. Hatches within the spars radius had to be closed.

 

I do not know the american systems, bit the english had the large companionways made in two halves to make moving "easier" and had jacks to lift the decks beams to remove the stanchions. The french appearently had iron stanchions on hinges, which made disassembly easier.

 

See here:

                                          #136                         

                                          #146                         

                                          #150                         

                                          #156                         

 

Cheers, Daniel

[lambsbk]

Daniel: nice pics!

 

Verne: I too had doubts about the Revell model being able to mount the capstan on the gun deck. It is a CLOSE fit due to the hatches but it can be done according to my previous measurements. I have set aside the styrene in a plastic bag with the diagrams and will be getting to that project after the pumps. I am working toward the aft portions of the deck. I am looking forward to seeing your progress on this mini-project.

 

BTW: I have taken the same stance and now look at each of these additional build works as models to themselves...the whole will be equal to the sum of the parts...good or bad. It's what keeps me going.

Edited August 20, 2013 by lambsbk

[vacotton]

Okay, so the gun deck capstan is roughed out and I am finished for today.  Tomorrow: Run some errands, work on some virtual airline business, touch up the capstan and then do some more on the gundeck.

 

 

 

 

Daniel:  Sounds like the Brits and French may have had a little more experience that we did at the time.  Amazing work on the Victory. Astounding pictures.

 

Dave:  I tried to build the small section on top but it just wouldn't clear.  Oh well, the main part worked okay. I wonder where the capstan bars were stowed when not in use.

Verne

Edited August 21, 2013 by vacotton