USS Constitution by Hipexec - FINISHED - Constructo - 1:82

[HIPEXEC]

Starboard gallery rough planked top to bottom. I'll plank the port side next, then clean up the rough edges.

[HIPEXEC]

Port side gallery rough planked top to bottom. I'm taking the grandkids on a spring break vacation until next weekend, so all ship building will be suspended on account of I'm the only shipyard worker. 

[PopJack]

Always a shame when you don't have minions to assign the drudgery to while you're away.

[HIPEXEC]

I decided to check the symmetry of my hand carved gallery replacements, so I took a bird's eye photo. Not bad!

[HIPEXEC]

Important all Constructo model builders. Now that I've rectified all the errors made way back when, let me alert all future Constructo builders.

 

When mounting the false stern piece to the false keel, double check the correct angle with the plan. I glued mine to the pre-cut angle and didn't check the drawing and when I got around to finishing the stern area, the angle is off by at least 2 to 4 degrees. That screws up many things that I have already fixed or will have to fix at a great amount of time consuming work.

[okyay3557]

W're waiting you....

[HIPEXEC]

Ship's construction  on hold account of home construction project. I'm working on the whole stern area whenever I get a minute. I had to re-build one of the window frames on account of a mis-alignment.  

[src]

Rich,

Home remodeling is always.......fun(?) We will be here when you get back.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

I'm almost though laying the new floors in my house and still managed to make some progress with my model. I'm trying to rectify the mistake of the wrong angle on the transom by retrofitting the whole gallery. I've fabricated a lower frame to hold the pre-cut window provided by Constructo (this happens to be the tarnished one that Construct says they will replace. I'll have to fabricate fore and aft spacers to compensate for the wrong angle. The window will be final installed when I get the replacement. While I was fiddling with this project, I managed to break an upper gunport. Like Wes told me, It glued back just fine.

[Sailor1234567890]

Nice clean gallery windows.

[patrickmil]

Rich, the windows and quarter galleries look great.

[Sjors]

Very nice Rich.

 

At the right side of the window there is an opening.

Are you filled that up with wood ?

 

[HIPEXEC]

Sjors,

I'm trying to figure out what to do as we speak. That is where I set the transom on a wrong angle in the beginning. Any ideeas?

Rich

[augie]

Can you make a thin, wooden overlay to go over the windows?  It could be made to butt up exactly against the transom and carry forward past the windows right to where it would meet the hull.  A little tricky but not impossible.

[src]

That looks good Rich. Too bad about the angle, Augies suggestion sounds like the best solution so far. You could make your own frames although those are so nice and crisp it would be a shame to scrap them. I wish Constructo would supply frames like that for the Enterprise. Constructo, clean up your plans, please.

Rich, you may have mentioned it earlier and I missed it when I re-skimmed your log a few minutes ago, what do they give you or recommend for the 4 "jambs"/columns flanking each window?

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

Nothing! I have to shop for some trim/molding  or modify some of the smaller planks to have a trim like appearance. I'm going to a doll house shop to see what they have.

[src]

Rich, there is a doll house supply company in the Midwest somewhere that has a great supply of stuff. I think I have the link at work, will look on Monday.

In the meantime, if you dont find anything that works you can alway make your own moldings. I think its in the wood section of the forum but somewhere there is a great post by DanVad about making scrapers for moldings.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

While I am waiting to get moldings and the new parts from Constructo before I finish the galleries and transom, I'm starting to try to figure out how to mount the final top rails to the gunwales. The mounting surface (top of the existing gunwales ) is only 3.6mm wide and the top rail is 1.5mm wide and 5mm high. That seems like a pretty fragile arrangement for just glue to hold upright. Anybody have any ideas as to how the support such a fragile arrangement? Maybe tiny pins? Of course all these pieces have to be bent both vertically and laterally.

 

When I finally get that 5mm piece glued on, it calls for a 1mm x 1mm trim piece to lend it some support. Getting it all on and staying there while I work on the rest of the boat will be the trick.

 

Also, I'm clamping  the top gunport frames from breaking off while I file and sand the top of the existing gunwales for a tight fit.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Hipexec

[mort stoll]

Just discovered the build. It looks great. I look forward to more posts.

 

Mort

[HIPEXEC]

Help!!!

 

How am I supposed to get this 2mm x 5mm rail to stay glued permanently onto a 3.5mm wide gunwale? That's 2mm gluing surface only. If I could pin it like reinforcing rods in concrete, I'd feel better. But drilling down 5mm in a 2mm thick plank is pretty tricky.  Any and all ideas will be appreciated. The Constructo plans are of no help here.

[patrickmil]

Rich, in tricky areas like this I've had some success using medium CA glue and accelerator. It looks like the upright part is sandwiched at the base by the two smaller pieces. I would think that once you get it down and put the reinforcing base pieces in that it would be pretty sturdy. That's just my two cents.

[augie]

I'd say Patrick is right with the medium (or thick) CA as far as holding power.  Just be sure your wood is stained beforehand and work as neatly if possible.  If any glue seeps and dries marring your surface, you can give it a light coat of clear flat acrylic and the shine from the glue should disappear.

 

As for pinning, I do it a lot on things like holding channels to the hull, belaying pin racks, fife rails etc.  It adds a LOT of strength.  I'm thinking about 28 gauge wire set into holes drilled with about a # 76 bit.  Yes, it's delicate but can be worth the effort, especially if you knock into a rail down the road.  As always, experiment first.  Your pins need not be long at all, just maybe 1/16" into each part.

[src]

Rich pinning is the way to go I would think. When constructo mislead me on the knight heads (?) on my enterprise and I had pinned them in place. They came out but it took some work.

 

The dollhouse supply place I mentioned is

rosesdollhouse.com

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

I'm going to work on pinning as well as strong glue. Once the 5mm vertical plank is glued, the small 2mm x 2mm trim pieces will add strength. I'm also looking to see if I can tie it to a cross plank at the stern. There's nothing to cross tie it to at the bow, though.

Thanks,

Rich

[HIPEXEC]

Tomorrow I'll buy some 0.5mm drills and small gage wire to pin all these railings. I also looked way ahead in the instructions and plans, and installed the aft portion of the gangway that I temporarily chocked for extra support while I drill and pin everything. That will give me support on the forward end of the aft rail sections. Then I'm fabricating the aft rail, which needed to be bent vertically as well as horizontally (photo shows horizontal bend being forced in). I'll glue and pin the aft top rail in place, then glue and pin the aft side rails. Big job! I have no idea how I will attack the forward pair of top rails...but that's another day. I'll also try to buy some doll house moldings to trim the stern area.

[HIPEXEC]

I bought some #76 or 0.5mm drills and they're too small for my smallest collet. So, I thickened the drill bits with some CA glue and....they now hold in my collet. Then I did a practice drill and set a pin into a plank vertically and pinned it to a horizontal plank...and it held real strong with no glue. I think I'm back in the business of building my top rails.. Thanks for all your help...I couldn't have done it without you all.

[HIPEXEC]

The new part from Constructo arrived today!

[HIPEXEC]

Constructo's engineers strike again! I spent two days bending a 2mm x 10mm plank on two axis  to fit the rear top rail as called for by Constructo's plans, which was no easy task. The last phrase in their instructions says "trim to fit". So I looked ahead and saw that the aft top rail and side top rails are the same height and I would have to trim off (probably saw) a whole 5mm of material. So today, I bent a 2mm x 5mm plank on two axis and now the rear top rail will fit with just a tweak of sandpaper. What were they thinking by calling for a whole 5mm of material to be removed?   

[patrickmil]

Rich, your build is exemplary. I don't understand why Constructo would plan for so much waste. At any rate, keep up the awesome work!

[HIPEXEC]

This is how I drilled the plank for the top rail and drilled the gunwale to receive the pins. The last pics show the top rail in place ready to be glued. I had to be very gentle using this hair-like 0.5mm drill or else it will break off. Now I'll glue it all together and I won't have to worry about breaking off top rails while I rig the ship. The pic of the bird's eye view is an illusion. The top rail is on center all the way across.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Hipexec