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

[dafi]

But first, it was time to tidy up. The kit had suffered greatly, having been assembled quickly under time pressure, pushed from one place to another, and generally not treated like a beloved model child. I'm sorry about that. Really. Reall-really …

First, the old copper test had to be removed. The stuff sticks like hell. Unfortunately, it had been primed underneath – something I don't normally do – and even a lot of isopropanol couldn't prevent the paint from coming off in places. But I was able to smooth it out inconspicuously. But that's part of the demolition process, which fits in with dafi's whole artistic concept 😉

Then the self-printed hammock crane holder dummies flew through the workroom in a high arc and the lower links of the preventer chains that had been injection moulded onto the hull were scraped off with a scalpel and excess holes were closed with plugs.

For the huge gaps in the gangway in the kit forseen for the kit´s holders, there were matching polystyrene plugs, which were softened with plenty of styrene glue and then pressed into the gap with pliers.

The bitts on the side of the ship for the main tack were also sanded down, sawn with a fretsaw, fitted with a roller and shortened so that it would fit under the new channel boards.

The interior also needed a lot of work. Spray and glue the knees.

Where there are bulkheads, I cut off the arms for simplicity's sake.

Then, as usual, I used some diluted ink to emphasise the corners and screw heads.

And then it looked much more homely.

XXXDAn

[dafi]

And now came the part I was most looking forward to: things immediately got exciting again, the old test channels had to come down!

And just like centuries ago, the fire separated the iron parts from the rest and cleaned them of adhesive residue. Me, lazy sod that I am, wanted to save the needle head bolts, which always takes a while to get done.

And there they were, ready and waiting, the new channel boards and irons 🙂



It took a lot of effort to clean up the glue residues on the slots for the channel boards, as the model had already had about five previous versions glued on, including the original kit´s channels :-O.

Once everything was clean and fitted, the new boards were put in place and a horizontal stop helped with the alignment ...

... and, although only minimally visible, the print-induced steps on the edge were sanded down...

... and the inner edges and connections were cleaned up ...

... and paint cleared from the holes for the irons with a fretsaw blade.

And then it was time to start cutting out the etched iron parts, bending the eyes, fitting the dead eyes, adjusting the length of the links and bolting them to the side wall. Just like in the big original.

The result was quite impressive; the new parts fit perfectly. In some places, I deliberately left the white stubs in place to show that the original holes in the kit were sometimes not ideally placed.









It turned out quite satisfying, here's a close-up, just because we can http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

And next up are the hammock net holders.

XXXDAn

 

Edited yesterday at 01:26 PM by dafi

[dafi]

At some point, I noticed on the model that the channel boards have no supports. The contemporary models of the constitution and the drawings also omit them, but could this have been one of the details that are not shown as they are too unimportant? Just as a point of discussion I retrofitted them.

 

Next, I put in some dummy hammock nets. Just to see how they look. The real ones will come once the weather deck is installed. They're just too delicate. But it was worth it, because the side view has changed again.

XXXDAn

Edited 11 hours ago by dafi

[Marcus.K.]

Isn´t she a Beauty already ?

 

(And we all know:

Dafi can be a Beast when taking apart what he had build 😄  )

 

Wonderful add-ons !!! 

Edited 3 hours ago by Marcus.K.