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

[HIPEXEC]

This is the first time since September 1st that I cleaned my workbench! There was so much debris  I wiped off that the bench went....Aaaahhh! I placed a large peice of parchment paper under my sanding area to catch the sawdudt to use as filler as needed. I'm lucky that I only have very small places to fill. Compared to my first build, this is heaven. There will still be a month's worth of careful sanding to get the finish I want.

[augie]

Good time to 'police' the area.  I try to keep a thick towel on the bench when doing the heavy sanding.  Pretty simple to take it outside for a good shake every now and then. 

 

She's looking good.

[HIPEXEC]

I just did my first experiment with making and using my own wood filler. I had been collecting the dark sawdust from the Sapele wood I used on my hull. I took a small amount of it and made a thick mud using a few drops of water, then mixed in some white glue until it looked like the commercial wood fillers I had used in the past. I applied this paste to various nail holes and small cracks in a few palces on the hull and and let it dry overnight. What a nice surprise when it set up nice and hard and was very sandable and blended in just fine. Thanks for the tips I got on this great website.

[Sailor1234567890]

I have found that sawdust from the boards being sanded do not result in the same colour. My experience was mostly with WRC as opposed to sapele or other hardwoods. I found they came out much much darker than I would have hoped for.

[src]

Rich,

I discovered your build the other day, it took me a few days of reading on break at work to catch up. The time you took on your planking really shows! Nice job. It looks like you found a method that works for you to bend your planks. I had similar problems with the planks breaking on my Enterprise. Just a thought, its a little late for this build, but if you run into sapelle or mahogany again on a build try to look at the run of the grain. The 2mm planking that came with my build would run straight for several inches and then make a turn; in some cases there was a swirly grain similar to burl. If a plank broke on me it was usually in those places. 

Looking forward to seeing more.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

I feel like DaVinci who mixed his own paints. I mixed my own filler with sawdust from my planks. This is what the filler looks like before sanding.

[HIPEXEC]

In case anyone thinks I got lost....I'm busy sanding and sanding and sanding my hull. I'm having a hard time getting a thin layer of dried white glue off the planks where I made my own filler and spread the stuff in those micro cracks. The dried glue is harder that the wood and doesn't want to easily sand off? I want the hull to be super smooth and gleam when it's varnished. I'll be doing this well into January since I'm taking eight days off to go snorkeling in the Bahamas, Aruba and Curacao. Merry Christmas everyone. Happy New Year, too.

[Sailor1234567890]

Does anyone use scrapers instead of sandpaper? Or are models too small to allow that? A small card scraper should take that glue off with much less effort and dust than sandpaper I would have thought.

[src]

Rich, Sailor has a good point, I tend to scrape everything I can. I believe many of the builders here use scrapers. Check out dan Vads build(s) in one of them he has a tutorial on making custom scrapers. Also depending on what glue you used, you might be able to dampen the glue and remove it that way.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

Thanks everyone....I'll look into scraping. Merry Christmas to all.

[dragzz]

great job on the planking keep up the great work

[HIPEXEC]

I think I'm finished filling and  rough sanding. I've also rough fitted the bow and stern posts, but they don't get glued for quite a while. It's a good planking job as far as I'm concerned (compared to my first model it's great!), but no where near as perfect as some of yours. I had to use too much filler in some places especially the bow with the convergence to a point  of all those planks.

[Sjors]

Rich,

 

You can be proud of your planking !

That looks real great.

And now a layer of varnish ?

 

[HIPEXEC]

No varnish just yet. Still have to go up a few courses for the upper deck gun ports. Then a coat of varnish.

[augie]

Really well done, Rich.  Your patience paid off.

 

Best of the Holidays to you and yours.

[HIPEXEC]

Merry Christmas and a HappyNew Year to all. See you all next year!

[HIPEXEC]

I'm now fitting the bow stem. I've used two pins to make sure I'm locating in the exact same location as I micro-sand the bow the get a tight fit. It's tedious and time consuming. I'm almost there, though. The pins will disappear when I glue it in place down the road.

[Sjors]

Rich,

 

I have to close my mouth.......

That is a smooth hull !

And the bow stem fits perfectly !

And that on Christmas day !

Amazing ,fantastic job !

 

[HIPEXEC]

I took the picture on Christmas Day. I've been working on the fit for over three weeks.

[HIPEXEC]

I've started fitting the first plank going up to form the upper gun ports.

[src]

Rich,

Very nice work. I wouldnt worry too much about the filler, a bit of stain and then some oil or satin varnish and youll be looking great.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

I just glued on the first plank to go up from the deck. This was the most tedious, longest  plank prep I've had to do for any plank...and believe me some of the previous planks drove me crazy. This one is the port side plank. I've pre-bent the starboard plank, now when the glue dries on this one, I'll shape the starboard plank in place. These two planks will be the only ones to go on in one piece. The rest of the four courses up will be custom cut to make the gun ports, anchor ports and stairway ports. The pencil marks you can glimpse on the deck are where these ports will be located. I used the plans, photos and my electronic micrometer to pre-locate where they will go. I used this method when I did the below deck gun ports with great results. The plans call for me to glue whole planks and cut the ports. My cutting skills while planks are in place are terrible. I can used my new, very sharp plank cutter to precut all the rest on the pieces.

[HIPEXEC]

I just glued the first starboard plank for the upper deck. Just as difficult as the port plank. It's progress...slow buy sure.

[HIPEXEC]

I'm starting the second course upward. Once the both sides of the second course are done, I'll clean up the deck which is full of location marks.

[HIPEXEC]

Port side gunwales, gun ports, anchor ports and stair port started.

[HIPEXEC]

Port & Starboard gunwalls and gunports have been started. I cleaned all the measurement markings off the deck. Now, I'll continue upward.

[Blademaster2444]

Nice work on the planking I'm about to start the planking on my hms pandora by constructo

[HIPEXEC]

Starboard side, next course up is finished. The kit called for me to set all the planks for the gunwales in place, then cut or saw the gun ports. I experimented with my blades, mini saws, etc and it was a mess. I decide to go up by pre-cutting the planks with nice, clean, right angle cuts using my plank cutter, and put each piece in it's place that I pre-measured. So far so good. It will just take some minor filling and sanding/filing. to make the upper planks as smooth as the lower planks.  

Edited January 16, 2014 by Hipexec

[augie]

Looks like a good idea with the pre-cutting.  I always panic about breaking out the power saws to cut into the ship!

[HIPEXEC]

Port & starboard second course gunwalls complete. Pre-cutting going great with minimum need for filling. All ports seem very square. better than me cutting them out.