USS Constitution by dafi - Revell - PLASTIC - To Constitution and beyond ...

[dafi]

Welcome to the Jungle!

Attentive observers had already discovered the hull of the USS Constitution in my shrubbery for some time.
 

But who now expects a FITZCARALDOOOO downhill is wrong for the time being, it actually goes on in a civilised way

The kit has been lying around for quite a while, as it is really great in many aspects, such as the hull, but in others it does not fully meet its own claims, especially with regard to the guns.

What could be more obvious than to choose these guns after the purchase of a new printer and to program them in a contemporary correct way. The results were promising ...
 

 

 

 

 

... and with a little colour quite convincing ...
 

 

 

 

... especially compared to the originals from the kit.
 

Grandpa, what big fingers you have!

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by dafi

[dafi]

And since then, I've been itching to put these parts onto the deck. Since I still have to do some research on my Vic, I simply used this compulsory break and lifted the pretty girl onto the tinkering table.

First I glued the three deck parts together and reinforced them.
 

Funnily enough, the middle part is 1 mm thicker, so the other sides had to be relined.
 

Then cut off the rim for the positioning of the guns ...
 

... removed the gratings ...
 

... and the stubs for the ropes had to be cut off as well.
 

Then, while trying to fit the deck, I noticed that the supports were much too far apart and the deck sagged in several places. So I put a small batten atop the supports for alinement and added some extra supports. I dry fitted once more and noticed that the deck did not sit properly. This is probably because the hull is curved at this point and thus the supports were at an angle. But a quick re-pinching quickly eliminated this and the deck could be laid flat.
 

Then the exciting moment, the guns were put on deck ...
 

... and they are sitting nicely in the middle of the port

 

It remains exciting.

Best regards, DAniel

[dafi]

The main deck guns of the kit are even real beauties compared to the carronades of the upper deck.
 

From a construction point of view, they are supposed to represent the current state of the equipment, but unfortunately their appearance - especially the barrels - is miles away from the original. That's why I took a little break in my day-to-day business some time ago and programmed new ones, but unfortunately I never got around to presenting them due to lack of time. Here is a comparison:
 

Their construction is based - according to Marquardt's AOTS - to the carronades used from 1795 onwards, which were inspired by the British design.  
 

 

 

 

 

Also on the bottom one finds everything your heart desires: the two-stage slot and the pivot pin with the retaining washer 

 

And a dafi certainly wouldn't be a dafi if it didn't also play a bit 😉

The gun above is classically printed as one piece. Of course I couldn't resist to print this additionally as a kit - one is a model builder after all 

And that gives a whole new set of opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

According to contemporary plans, the top carriage can also be pivoted, possibly quite convenient for maintenance or in case of problems with loading.
 

 

Also the whole gun can now be aligned sideways. 
 

 

 

If the gun is swivelled too far, the carriage collides with the ship's side.
 

That is why there is a second pivot hole further inside to be found on contemporary plans ...
 

... with which the gun can be elegantly moved to the wall in order to lash it there.
 

If the slide is pushed further back, even the port can be made clear.
 

And if you want, you can also depict completely different conditions.
 

As always: It remains exciting 

XXXDAn

[etubino]

Dan,

 

Alles sieht so gut aus!, genau wie beim HMS Victory. Villeicht musst Du auch Fotoätzteile wie die Dafisimus?

 

Eduard

[dafi]

Thank you Eduard, watch this space, who knows 😉

 

Meanwhile the hopefully final version of the long guns came out of the printer. All the important details are in place, including the cap square key and the coins's handling cord .

 

 

 

Also, the supports are now all in such a way that the part almost falls out by itself after printing and hardly any rework is needed.

If you cut out the coin and the stool bed, the gun can also be secured well over the port.
 

 

But other positions also are possible 😉
 

Parallel to that I cut planks, glued them on self adhesive foil ...
 

... and sprayed it black. More about this soon.
 

Then the grain structure of the decks was smoothed with sandpaper ...
 

... and I marked the approximate position of the deck beams underneath.
 

Even if the position of the passages to the orlop deck do not quite match the plans, the concept could be transferred. These beam lines form the alignment of the plank joints, as these had to be nailed into something, as in between the beams the nails would have hung in thin air 😉

Best regards, DAniel

[Ian_Grant]

Daniel, great to see you starting on a non-Victory kit! Love the guns. Looking forward to seeing it develop into another masterpiece.

[dafi]

And the next step was planking the deck.

The adhesive foil is placed on the black side and the foil is carefully peeled off ...



... the planks with the black side down are glued on with superglue ... 



... and then sanded to the same height with 80-grit sandpaper. And the parquet is finished. And now diligence work for the rest of the deck.



XXXDAn

[dafi]

So, I continued with some gardening.



When gluing, finger cots are recommended, just cut off the tips of an old rubber glove and put them on again individually ...



... but how do I get all the cherry blossoms off the deck afterwards?



After gluing, the whole thing looks very messy at first, so I first go over it with the scraper to remove the worst of it.



Then comes the sanding block with the coarse 40 grit sandpaper ...



... then the 80 grit and individual planks that are sitting too low are scraped off with the thin chisel.

Here are the two states side by side ...



... but slowly it becomes a deck ...



... if I hadn't run out of planks http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

Happy Easter!

XXXDAn

[dafi]

I had already used this technique on my Victory.
Here on the left is the picture from which my avatar comes and next to it a picture of the lower deck of the Vasa

Coming in the right direction for me.
Just a 100 times smaller 😉

XXXDAn

[dafi]

Captn dafi supplement:

After my computer was in a reconvalescent home for a few days due to an "eternal boot loop", here's what's been happening lately.



Last status was that I ran out of planks. New planks were cut, the old Ikea-shelf has become a bit smaller again http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

Meanwhile the deck is finished and test fitted.



Even with guns this fits http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



But in the manger area I had to discover that the deck stands up a bit. But a bit of finger pressure ...



... was remeding it and tamed it and it should be not a problem.



While I was at this, I noticed that the entire hull was also totally warped. Midships there was a gap of almost 5mm on both sides in the battery deck. And I had done nothing that could have provoked this - no paint, no glue, no other immoral things that could have sprung from a sick modeler's brain.

Hence some bondage ...



... to eventually discover huge gaps on the spar deck aft as well. More bondage then this means.



So with this realized, this is truly no longer a shake and fit kit.

After that a careful look inside http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



At least this fits reasonably well.

Here at the upper deck the carronades of the kit ...



... and then in comparison the English classics from 1795.



And from close up you can see the possibilities of the new modular construction http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif





Even from the outside, the guns give a completely different picture than the kit parts.









XXXDAn

[dafi]

In parallel, I continued with the periphery of the guns. A first test of the blocks was still a bit too big, but the brown drybrushing did as expected a good job.



Therefore the whole thing was redaone a little smaller. Surely another 20% smaller is possible. Note the one double block in the "C" of "Cent" 🙂


And then the question, are they also rigable?



Oh yes we can! Here again the dimensions of the smallest, scale was my thinnest rope in 1:100:



Thereupon tried some sizes ...



... and the 3 hottest candidates on the model.





I then reworked the rigged version with the smallest blocks a bit. Looking at the picture ...



... and realized, crap, the lanyard is twisted. I did not see that in the original, despite strong magnifying glass.

So the whole thing decuddled and it fits much better.









XXXDAn

Edited May 6, 2022 by dafi

[dafi]

Man´s glitter!
 

Well, after more than half a year I finally came back to my man cave and was able to do something. Man did I miss that!

In the meantime I was able to hatch some great ideas, so I dug out a matchbox ...
 

... and used it as the basis for a small pre-model.
 

 

 

As usual, it's about being able to try out a few small things. Esepcially again and again about the use positions of the carronades.
 

 

 

 

 

The guns are also slowly coming into the home stretch. It's always good to be able to keep an eye as a model builder on the programmer. The printing supports have been optimised so that the parts can be removed with as little reworking as possible, and the model construction itself also leads to details being improved in order to make them easier to paint. Here is the 24-pounder.
 

 

 

Beautiful details like the coin´s handle and the retaining cord of the stool bed are just great to look at, as are the fittings on the underside - just too bad they are mostly hidden.
 

 

Meanwhile, for the carronade, I decided to leave the barrel in one piece with the upper carriage. Because of the height adjustment screw, changing the elevation was difficult to adjust anyway or would have been too fragile. The swivel radius of the skeat around the pivot pin, the sliding way and rotation of the upper carriage were kept.
 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a little family picture.
 

And then came the man´s glitter.

XXXDAn

Edited October 10, 2022 by dafi

[dafi]

When the little wood hunger strikes ...

... then there it comes, the man´s glitter ...

... or dafi goes stray 😉

First of all I made a small deck, the size of a matchbox ...
 

Then I put a round sander into the stand drill and worked out the frame shape.
 

After I had to look for my workpiece 3 (!) times in the hoover bag, a perforated plate was placed in front of the hoover´s tube!

Then I glued 4 blanks with double sided tape on top of each other and sanded them as one piece into the frame´s shape.
 

A quick check - yup, it fits.
 

Made a jig out of polysterol strips so that everything can be glued at right angles ...
 

... and after curing the next fitting test.
 

Meanwhile, the gun visits its new home.
 

 

The barrel is in the center - yup it fits too

So I glued on the planks on the inside, from bottom to top according to Marquardt: Waterway, then Spirketting, Ceiling, Thick Stuff below Clamp and Clamp.

And then also closed the planking on the outside
 

And yes, here they come, the inevitable: the 1 cent piece and the TicTac 😉

Best regards, Daniel

Edited October 12, 2022 by dafi

[mtaylor]

Nice to see you back in the shipyard, Danial.  You're posts have been missed.  Not sure where you're headed with this small "fragment" but it is an interesting work.

[dafi]

Never even I know where my brains will go, there were small voices that told me: "take that wood and build ..."

 

My wife is missing that old shelf she inherited from her anceseters, hope she does not get too souspicious ...

 

XXXDAn

[mtaylor]

Repeat after me.... "Shelf?  What shelf?". And try to look surprised.

[dafi]

*looking surprised* "Shelf?  What shelf?". *looking surprised*

 

XXXDAn

[dafi]

And on it went in the text, or rather with the man glitter.

First attempt at the substructure of the upper deck. I still changed it afterwards.



Then the planks were caulked: Glued vertically on a duct tape and brushed with thicker paint, gives exactly the right width for the scale.



Freshly glued, it looks like newly tarred ...



... and after holystoning already a bit more "shipshape" http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



Adjusting the height of the Carronade ...



... and fitting test.





Fits, so close and put the gunwale on http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



Enjoy http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif













And to show the size ...



... in this sense, all the best, DAniel

[dafi]

And I was finally able to do some more woodwork. Got the lathe out and turned some supports.



Then built the 4 knees. And suddenly the part flew towards the aspiration tube. THAT'S WHY I have the perforated metal grating there on the smoke http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



Fitting ...



... and ready.



Here you can see the two diagonal knees above the gun.



And so that I don't mess up when rigging the gun tackles, I made the upper deck removable.





Now it's going to be small itsbits, looking forward to it,

XXXDAn

[ScottRC]

Ah Daniel, those guns are soo authentic.  The most frustrating, un-enjoyable part of the Revell Constitution build for me was trying to get the two piece barrels to align, then all the filing, filling, and sanding to make them look somewhat presentable.  That was some years ago.

 

Now onto your gun deck build.  That looks like a fun project that would look good presented next to the fully built ship.

 

As always, your attention to detail and scale is superb.

 

Scott

[Ian_Grant]

"diagonal knees" I haven't heard of up to now.  Is that something special to "Constitution"?

[dafi]

At least at today´s Constitution 😉

 

 

XXXDAn

[Ian_Grant]

"Old Ironsides" indeed.  👍

[popeye2sea]

Pay no attention to the electric wiring, light fixtures, and fire suppression plumbing. 😃

 

That was a fun day. I was topside teaching them how to shoot muskets.

 

Regards,

[dafi]

I continued a bit over the weekend.

First fixed the bolts and rings in the hull ...



Then prepared the breech: 0.6 mm, the middle marked by means of black thread. The barrels had no brech ring on the pommelion, so the breech needs an eye splice to prevent it from slipping off. The small parallel piece is glued on first. So that the attachment is not too obvious, it is cut off at an pointed angle ...



... and glued on.



Then came a test fit to determine the length.



Stabilized the cut with super glue ...



... glued on ...



... and fits http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



A good model building solution in itself, ...



... but in the original, this splice was additionally dressed to protect against the large stress when guns were fired.





Then made a template for the length of the breechline. The eyes are bound in the manner of the dead eyes.







And everything is ready for installation ...



... and in place. Here in the loading position at the very back, the brooktau tensioned.











And run out here.







So slowly it's moving in the right direction.

XXXDAn

[dafi]

Finally after a long time remounted my rope walk again. For space reasons simply hung in the basement hallway under the ceiling :-)



Then I started rigging to try out the blocks. In the contemporary plans, the blocks are about half the width of the forward wheel. These blocks are minimally larger, which makes handling much easier. To do this, nailed a mounting hook into a piece of wood for holding the hooks. And for that the small blocks do not go off, I always put them immediately on the leash 🙂



And here the rigged hook and block from close up.





For comparison in size ...



... and in place.



Since I had pulled down one of the knees with my thick sausage fingers, I immediately took the chance to be able to photograph undisturbed 🙂














Greetings, Daniel

Edited November 11, 2022 by dafi

[dafi]

Until now, the bottleneck in rigging the guns were the blocks: There were almost no small ones, and if there were, they were often difficult in appearance or quality.

Recently, I have test rigged my smallest self-printed blocks times and noticed that fine thin and steady surgeon hands are needed, including good visual reinforcements. 

 

And I realized that suddenly it is now me beeing the bottleneck ...

Here the measure of things was the thinnest rope I needed in 1:100, 0.2 mm diameter. Something for the filigran ones among us http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

Now the pragmatist in me came out again. According to the old literature I need for the guns in 1:100 / 1:98 the diameter off 0,3- 0,4 mm for the ropes for the lanjards of the side- and back tackles. The 0.4 mm rope is also a common thickness for Gondesen and other suppliers in the aftermarket. So a block combination on this rope thickness is required, and also a good method in which this is done quickly and with good visual results.

It has cost me a few attempts, meanwhile I have found the right variant for myself.

First a normal classical knot to tie the hook in ...



... then the whole thing tightened to the back, in order to make the hook sit well in the middle ...



... spreading the ends again and ...



... put the block of choice ready.



Then clamped the hook between my fingers, used a toothpick to make a drop of super glue in the middle on the knot of the hook and centered the block on it.



Don't let go of the hook now, but detached it would look like this.



This is just the positioning guide to superglue the groove on the side with the toothpick on one side and pull the rope well over it.



Do not grab the glued area, but pull on the free end. This works quite well without the whole thing forming an inseparable bond with the builder.
Then glue the groove on the other side, pull the rope over it accordingly and make sure that the pull is even and the hook hangs centrally over the block.



Then glue the bottom of the block with the toothpick and pull the ends against each other, cut off the excess diagonally, and press the two slanted ends against each other with tweezers or pliers, securing again with glue if necessary.



And then you already have it in your hand, the rigged double block http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



If you want you can strop the bridge between hook block a little bit, but I noticed that it doesn't help that much, so I made it easy for myself here.

By the way, here is my first attempt, you can still see it somehow crooked, and the one after that, you can see, practice makes perfect http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif



With the single block it is the same, thread hook on the rope, knot, pull back, spread, hook between the fingers, glue in the middle, block on it to secure, glue the side and pull rope over it, glue the other side and pull over it, and now the difference, on the bottom a knot and secured with glue.



Then the free end stropped up, glued and cut tight ...



... and the pair of block is ready http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif



And the other two pairs came together quite quickly, so I soon had a set of three ready for my gun setup.



And as I said, no other tools or jigs were needed than a toothpick as a super glue applicator, I only used a pair of self-clamping tweezers on my bench vice to srop on the free end of the single block.



All the best, DAniel

Edited November 29, 2022 by dafi

[dafi]

In between all the X-Mess preparations, I actually managed to get down to business again http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

Status:



First it was about taking the measurements.





That means at the back the blocks must not overlap ...



... and the front position determines the length of the lanyard



And always the anxious question about the side rigging. After the shot in the retracted position and enough rope for 3 to 5 men to pull, yes there is quite a bit of rope left when the piece is run out again.







But if no one pulls the ropes, it isd mostely displayed directly as running into coils lying on the deck. That has two flaws: First, so the gun can move by itself and slide inward. In addition, the rope is shown mostly in a stretched position that would never be able to run smoothly into the coils, as it obeys gravity that pulls it.

So if no sailor is at hand and secures the free ends, the rope should be secured to the gun, the tackle or the ship's side. On my Vic I had made a half hitch around the aft end of the side tackles, Boudriot shows the "amarage simple" around the cascable. The first attempt went wrong, as at Boudriot there was no splice over the cascable as the breechline goes through the gun carriage, and there it worked well. After some research I found a reference, where the lanyard was led under the eye splice of the breech.



So the free end around the cascable, some turns as required ...

as

... and the rest as a bunch neatly arranged on one of the hooks.



So everything should be neatly tidied up and secured.

XXXDAn

[dafi]

And seen from deck´s height it would look like this ...



... scnr 😉

XXXDAn

[dafi]

In addition to the figurehead of the Victory, I also made some progress with the battle station of the Constitution. First attached the eyebolts for the carronade's gun rig.





To determine the length of the tackles I again documented the different positions.













In the last two pictures, it can be seen that the hooks for the tackles are too close to each other to work effectively because the angle is too tight. That's why two more eyebolts are needed further out.



While this position is technically possible, I think it is a special case that can be well achieved with handspikes if needed.

To tie the breechline, I built a small rigging aid. Hammered in two nails spaced at width of the eyebolts and fixed the carronade in maximum aft position. Then tied the two rope eyes, nice and tight around the nails.



After tying the eye, just pulled them out over the top of the nail, bent the rings up from the eyebolts on the bulwark, removed them, slid them through the eye of the rope, bent them closed again a bit, and reattached them to the bulwark in the eyebolt.



Looks like this then http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif







XXXDAn