First Class Sloop of War Constellation by Jerry Todd - 1:36 scale - Radio

[yancovitch]

what if you print it in two parts....that should be easy?

[mtaylor]

You'll get it sorted, Jerry.  You've come this far so what's a few more steps?  I think Yancovitch might on to something.   Is it that the "large" parts don't cool fast enough?

[JerryTodd]

On 7/24/2020 at 1:26 PM, yancovitch said:

what if you print it in two parts....that should be easy?

There shouldn't be a difference really, not with the anchor.  This thing, for instance, is about as big at the printer can handle, and it has a couple of flaws at the base because in a couple of places the suction of the last printed layer almost overcame the adhesion to the build plate, so there's a place that appears to be de-laminating right where the little patio attaches to the tower in the picture.  Otherwise it came out beautifully.  (click it to see it larger)

 

On things that don't have a flat face to attach to the build plate, you need those supports to hold them and connect them so the plate has a means to pull the part out of the vat.  It's a tug of war with every layer printed, and you want the build plate to win every time.  It's being able to pull the thing free of sticking to the film at the bottom of the vat that matters, and the supports have to be strong enough to do that job.  My set up seems to be weak where they attach to the part itself.  The layer sticking to the vat pulls the part loose from the supports.  I can change those parameters, I basically have them at their default values.  Rather than waste resin with trial and error, I've been looking at YouTube videos on the subject to learn what people with more experience are doing.  These folks seem to print mostly fantasy figures with wings, swords, capes, flowing garments, and all sorts of elaborate and fragile looking appendages; my models are nothing compared to that in terms of sticky-outty bits. 

 

Notice where this support detachment happened with this pair of wheels (red arrows), causing one spoke not to print and another to be deformed.

 

 

[JerryTodd]

It's been a while, but I'm making another attempt at printing the pivot guns.  I separated the gun/carriage from the slide and taking a shot at printing the slide alone.  This is a second attempt, the first already failed, so I beefed up the supports and I got a bottle of new resin that's supposed to be stronger.  The picture shows the model with it's supports that's sent to the printer, and it's printing as I type this.  I should know in an hour or two if it's failed again, other wise it'll take about 10 hours to print completely.

[JerryTodd]

Designed and printed a few items, some small bullseyes, improved stanchions, shells for blocks, and a few failed attempts at other items.

 

   

My latest try at the pivot gun wasn't great, but it was the best so far.  The front of the slide and the cascabel didn't come out right, but I can reprint just those portions and glue them on to make this print usable.  It was printed with a different resin that's a "smokey black" translucent color, and is supposed to be structurally stronger.

 

 

 

 

[yancovitch]

WOW jerry....looks super......!! .......ha...i can imagine the whole ship transulent 😀

[JerryTodd]

It's transparent aluminum from Star Trek 4

[shipman]

2 hours ago, JerryTodd said:

It's transparent aluminum from Star Trek 4

Incredibly transparent metals are real these days. CERN's LHC detectors have huge amounts of the stuff. Windows in modern tanks are made of transparent bulletproof metal......

[JerryTodd]

For two years until a few months ago, it seemed like all I did was work at "the job" with no time or energy left for myself.  Well, one of those "Karens" came along and successfully relieved me of that burden, so now I have some time to do something for me (and a dozen other people wanting something done).  Anyway, one of those other people asked me to 3D print a plate for mounting a thermostat in an outlet box for them, and while I had resin in the vat, I figured to get back to printing some parts for Constellation.

 

Using the Siraya Tech Build "Smoky Black" resin I used on the pivot gun a few posts back, I tried printing the boat howitzer again, only this time with the wheels and carriage separate, and the gun on the sled.

It came out nicely except it was scaled to about 1:76 for some reason.  I re-scaled it to 1:36 and tried again and it came out perfectly.
(I think clicking on the pic will let you see it full size)

 

 

Next I went for one of the anchors, which came out perfectly, so I pressed my luck and printed a second one with the same result.

 

 

The two anchors and the boat howitzer, all in 1:36 scale.

 

I need two more anchors, but I had to print some steering wheels for someone else.  After that, I opted to go for the pivot gun again.  It didn't come out perfectly, but I can fix what went wrong and use this print, just like before.  I may give it one more shot after rearranging the supports where the little failures took place, and if that works, print a pair and maybe make static models of these?

 

Second printing of the pivot gun here being zapped with UV light to cure the resin completely.

 

My friend that I printed the wheels for needs a sampson-post windlass for the same schooner model as well, so I'm in the 3D modeling software making one from scratch cause I couldn't find any models on line.  After that I'll come back and print the other two anchors and reprint the stanchions, fairleads, bullseyes, block shells, and other stuff for Constellation in this better resin.

Edited January 10 by JerryTodd

[yancovitch]

wow super jerry....looks great!!....wish i had the brains and money to do that kind of stuff.....congrats......oh...i ended up getting the modelmonkey carronades...seemed a bit on the smallish side but they're very well done...and even at that tiny scale, it's amazing how strong that resin or whatever is......cheers, vic

[JerryTodd]

If I'm doing it Vic, it should be obvious that not a lot of brains or money is required because I'm incapable of meeting such requirements. 

 

 

[yancovitch]

haha...hard to believe......ya gotta start singing....how great i am.....how great i am ...but then again, me thinks humility is a wonderful asset .......

[mtaylor]

Nice work dealing with the mystical resin printing, Jerry.  And great to see you back.  I was beginning to wonder if something happened.  

[JerryTodd]

I have more hobbies than I have money or sense.  One of them is designing board war games for which I provide the files for people to print them, cut them out, and play them - "print and play."  I redid the artwork in my series of Civil War battles and released a new one on Lee's 1862 invasion of Maryland.  I started that one in August?  Planning to post in in September on the anniversary of the event, but It took longer to get the research in order and I didn't finish it till February.  -=> http://UhlanGames.us

[JerryTodd]

All four anchors done, the boat howitzer, and the wheels for a friend...

 

 

Now I need to paint this stuff.

 

Here's the pivot guns, but I'm going to take another shot at printing them with a different arrangement of supports.  If that works I'll probably make a set of book-ends with these

 

 

This is the 3D model of the windlass for another model.  It need it's pawls and a little size correction to be ready.  The axle won't be printed, it's meant to have some brass rod there. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by JerryTodd

[mtaylor]

I take it you are enjoying all this, right?   I hope.....

 

Your games remind me of the old Avalon Hill games... many an long weekend of wargaming back in the day.

 

The printing is looking good.

[JerryTodd]

I've played wargames since the 70's, have a bookshelf full of them, many of them Avalon Hill titles.  Last Full Measure is based on the rules of Avalon Hill's 1977 Gettysburg.

[JerryTodd]

While modeling the pivot point fittings for the launch's boat-howitzer, I got the idea to just model the cap rail with the fittings attached all in one piece. 

 

To fit in the printer, I had to make it in two parts.  Once I prep the top of the hull, I'll glue this down and paint.

I have to model stuff to go in the boats; oars, casks, maybe the gun's ammo boxes.

 

 

I got a bottle of this resin, that's working so well, in "Sonic Grey" as well and printed the pivot gun with it.  I redid the supports as well, and it came out nicely this time.  But those facets on the barrel.  I made the basic 3D model back in 2009 and just added details without  updating the barrel...

 

...so I modeled a smoother barrel for the pivot gun and printed it.  I'm done printing pivot guns for a while.  The previous one I'll file to lessen those facets and these go on the boat.

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by JerryTodd

[yancovitch]

ahhh...so super....

[JerryTodd]

Glued down the launch's rail and gave everything a preliminary coat of paint, including the boat gun, anchors, reprinted stanchions, and shells for blocks.

   

 

Now I have to unrig the jury-rigged model so I can get to installing all this stuff.

[JerryTodd]

Down-rigged the model so I could install the stuff I've been printing

 

Boarding steps, oars for the boats, and pin rail stanchions, as well as painting some more.

   

[JerryTodd]

In anticipation of actually rigging this thing, there's a zillion little parts I'm gonna need.

 

Bulls-eyes are a major one as are shroud fairleads.  Shroud fairleads you say? Yep, fairleads lashed onto the shrouds above the pin-rails to keep various lines close to the shrouds to keep everything neat and shipshape.  The the red arrows in the image below (click it for a larger view)

 

 

So I got a copy of Olof Eriksen's Constitution All Sails Up and Flying which is a great book full of great research.  On page 272, drawing #rig-23, "Fittings - Various" are drawings of what he calls "sizing trucks" both double and single.  Looking at his drawing and the image above it's easy to see these things haven't changed much, if at all, since Constitution's time.  Eriksen sized them relative to the diameter of the shrouds, so I did the same based on my shrouds being 1/8" (3mm) So I made up the two-hole version, and some bulls-eyes as well, and printed out a batch.  They look a little large to me, so I resized some at 50% and started those printing. I need to model a single hole version.  I'll probably need a batch of these items for Macedonian as well, so I doubt I can have too many.

 

 

A couple of years back I purchased a 4 3D printed 10 spoke wheels from "Model Monkey" on Shapeways that he resized to 1:36 for me.  They were very nice, but very fragile.  Every time I even looked at the thing a spoke broke off.  I finally gave up on repairing it and gluing on spokes, and made my own wheel and printed it.  It's not quite as fine as Monkey's, but it's noticeably tougher and less worrying.

 

Two more items I wasn't happy with how they turned out, and will get replaced with 3D printed ar the deck circles for the pivot guns, and the pin-rails to sit on those stanchions at the fore and main masts.  Here's those items in the works in the modeling software.

 

 

[JerryTodd]

I was going to make some 3D belaying pin handles with a hollow to accept some brass rod as a shaft, but went ahead and made the pin-rails and belaying pins all in one piece.  I clamped this into a jig and played with making thing off to it and pulling hard enough to break an 1/8" wood dowell, and they held.  I think they'll do the job.

   

 

On CGTrader I found files for some Civil War period sailors.  I can edit them some in the software, and alter them after printing to get what I want.  There were no Marines, though they wouldn't be right for 1855 anyway, and the officers were all armed and in "action" poses.

The figures are made by Artejaol Studios and who also make a bunch of WWII and other figures and are basically meant to be "toy soldiers."  I contacted the artist about maybe doing some 1850's officers and Marines, attaching reference images but if they, decide to do it, it'll be a while.  Meanwhile, I can get a start on a crew with the figures I have.  At least Ivan won't have to do everything by himself.

 

Back when I started this model, Geoffrey Footner gave me a print of a image from a Harper's Weekly type magazine picturing Constellation in drydock in Charlestown (Boston) in 1859.  It's the only image of her stern I've ever found and what I based the appearance of the model's stern on.  While the details are highly simplified, it still shows a lot of useful information.  It also shows two objects that have baffled me for years - the round objects between the stern ports in line with the stern davits.

Looking at something else in Banyan's HMCSS Victoria 1855 that also pertained to Constellation, I happened on the answer to my puzzle, which also linked to Sperry's thread; What do we know about the origins of the lifebuoy? which added more data.

 

At some point they reduced the lifebuoys to one on Constellation, shown in New York ic.1912.  And other ships carried them as well.  I found pics of them on British, German, French, and American naval vessels, though no pictures close enough or clear enough to see real details.  My model's based mostly on the image of the Alert's.

 

 

My model's very basic, but I have some feelers out to see if I can find more details, with the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, for instance.

 

I had to beef up the parts a little in the end, as it was just too frail to print successfully, and when I finnaly got a combination of angle and supports to print, it turned out a bit too large.  Re-scaled again, it's on the printer as I type this.

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by JerryTodd

[JerryTodd]

Still printing away....new skylight panels, some more sailors who I posted about the deck on temporary bases, more oars, and some articulated studded anchor chain with a shackle- that was fun.

 

The chain took a few tries at printing short lengths to finally get it to print with out bonding the links to each other.

 

The crew printed this time are those I hadn't printed yet and a couple that didn't come out well the first time.  All of them printed perfectly together this time.  With Ivan and Igor (the unpainted officer from the kit Ivan came from, there' 19 people on the boat now  I still need a couple of officers and 6-8 Marines - the Marines are being the real pain to find.  I still plan to have between 30 and 40 people manning the model including some on the footropes, sliding down a backstay, doing something in the tops, and so on - it's gonna be a busy place.  I always intended to have a crew working a pivot gun.  There's one a single working line aft, as opposed to three sets of jib sheets forward, so I'll have the gun crew working aft.  Now I'm trying to work myself up to open a couple of panels back aft

 

The skylight's getting new panels, a little bigger with more detail.

 

I like the cat on the capstan, I've named her Stella, though I'm thinking of a second cat chasing a rat, which means I'll need a rat.  I don't know if Constellation had cats aboard, but I can't think of any sailing vessel I worked on that didn't have a cat or three

   

   

Edited January 10 by JerryTodd

[yancovitch]

getting more and more impressed tod............vc

[JerryTodd]

The LCD screen on the printed went bad and I had to get a replacement.  With that done I stuck some things together to give it a test drive.

I plan to put a second cat on board, and here are the one's I have to choose from (excuse the bust of Ares).  The one rolled on it's back, and the stretching one with the tail in the air are the ones I'm leaning towards.

I rigged up the bobstays with the new bulleyes.

 

The crew got a base-coat of black in prep for painting them to look like, well, crew.

The new skylight sashes are mostly installed.  It all needs to get painted to match the rest of the skylight, and the glass installed to be considered done.

I worked on the 3D model for the hammocks, but it's a little low-res and looks too faceted when printed.  I'm going to model them in groups to be glued down on the bulwarks in sections of about 11cm each (that's what fits on the printer).  In every image of the ship I have, she has her hammocks showing with out tarps covering them.

I originally planned on modeling them from some combination of materials, making a mold, and casting them in resin so I wouldn't have to worry about them getting damp, growing moldy, leaking, causing rot, etc, on a working, sailing model.  Making them in 3D though, I need to make them hollow so they don't use up so much resin.

In the pic, I removed the rounded over layers of balsa on the port side.  You may have noticed in previous pictures the line between the black and white of the inner bulwark was, well, sloppy; that's because I never intended the balsa cover to be permanent.

So, if you'll excuse me, the thing below that looks like an electronics cooling component just came off the printer and contains 48 10 foot oars in 1:36 scale, that I have to carefully dig out of there

Edited April 17, 2022 by JerryTodd

[yancovitch]

gonna be an r/c masterpiece

[JerryTodd]

On 7/12/2020 at 7:14 PM, Roger Pellett said:

Jerry,

 

...BTW, what is the overall length of Constellation’s launch?  I have been trying to read it from the National Archive drawing but can’t make it out.

 

Roger

Looking back at this thread, I see I missed responding to your question Roger, I'm very sorry, it doesn't normally take me almost a year to catch on, then again, maybe now it does.

 

Constellations boat lengths were;

Launch: 31 ft  at 1:36 scale: 10.3"

1st Cutter: 28' 7"  - 9.5"

2nd Cutter: 25' 10" - 8.6"

Quarter boats: 26' 6" - 8.8"

Stern boat: 28' 2" - 9.4"

 

[Roger Pellett]

Thanks, Jerry!

 

[JerryTodd]

I was going to paint the new wheel but decided instead to reuse the wooden pedestal from the previous wheel. I sawed off the attached printed pedestals, drilled the drum and reused the brass rod axle.   The skylight and the wheel got painted, and the wheel now spins.  I'm going back to the idea of connecting it to the rudder servo so it'll turn when the rudder moves.

       

 

I modeled the hammcks so they were hollow, saving a lot of resin/money and some weight

     

I modeled the gun circles to be cleaner versions of the hand-cut one I had.  I printed them all in one go, cleaned them, drilled them (to pin them to the deck), painted them, and they look great, but I think I'm going to add to it, more like what's shown in the manual, with rails for the center skid, etc.