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

[src]

Rich,

Nice work on the ports. I am not sure about Constructos' method of cutting the ports out after the planking, When I did my Enterprise they directed me to do the same and keeping the port sides parallel in multiple dimensions was interesting. Your method appears to be much better.

 

Overall what are your thoughts on your Constructo kit? I am finding my kit instructions are a bit vague.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

Getting there. Only two more planks up to give me full sized gunports. The good part is the ports are nice and square.

[augie]

Really worth the effort on those gun ports.

 

Now put down the tools for a second, step back and take a good look.  She's starting to breathe

[HIPEXEC]

The things I have to do to shape one plank. I first start with the curvature at the bow looking down, then clamp in place to get all the curvatures and rakes.

[Sjors]

That looks great Rich !

I love the colour of the hull.

The way how to make the gun ports it's the first time I see this.

Normally you have to drills holes.....

 

[HIPEXEC]

Sjors,

Yes, I pre-cut the planks to make the gun ports because I don't like my skills at cutting into the hull and still have straight and perpendicular holes. Here's a picture of the port side with full planks. There's only a small support plank to fit on the inside until I add the rails much later. I'll have to be careful handling the hull until all rails and trim is in place since these upper ports have no top support yet. 

[HIPEXEC]

Here's a picture of both the lower and upper gun ports using my method of pre-cutting the planks. As you can see they are nice and square even before filing and sanding. If I had to drill holes in the corners and try to cut them all even and straight....what a mess you would see. I don't have the skill to make good cuts.

[HIPEXEC]

I discovered that after all the glue dried and planks dried out, one gun port warped, and is not aligned with the next gun port from a bird's eye view. This will cause a problem down the road when I will have to mount the final top rail to the gunwale. I am fabricating a fore & aft, top to bottom tapered plank to glue in place to make the alignment. I will make the tapers fine enough so that it will blend very nicely and only need a small amount of filler to make the fix invisible. Then I will shave the inside planks to make it conform with the whole gunwale.

[Sjors]

Rich,

 

I understand what you mean about the pre cut gun ports 

I have to do the same with the Aggy but I find out when you marked the gun ports correctly, you can use a small file to sand the ports to the pencil line....

I have to see if that's working for me also.

 

[HIPEXEC]

Now that I am at full height with the gunwales, I find that since the tops are open and castle turret-like, they are fragile and I have broken two of the narrow ones. I have one more inside narrow plank to thicken the gunwales. Then I am going to skip many pages ahead and add the lower and side frames to these upper gun ports for support. They are much too fragile for me to be handling the hull while I mount bow stems and rudder posts, etc. The frames should give me added support until I finally add the top rails and get great strength all around.

[cookster]

She's looking good Rich!  One tip on the broken pieces of planking, if you take the broken piece and put it back on where it came from, it should fit with virtually no gap since it split/broke with the grain - as long as you don't attempt to sand or dress the broken edge(s).  A little glue and you should be good to go for an almost invisible repair.

 

Good luck!

[HIPEXEC]

Gunwales are complete. Now I have to carefully file and sand the excess wood and glue off. Next, I'll skip way ahead and install the frames on the upper gunports for added support so I don't break them while adding deck trim, bow stems and rudder post, aft cabin windows and  stern windows. Then I'll install the top rails.

[HIPEXEC]

I started framing the upper gunports the old fashion way. A mitre box and eyeball sanding the ends. Very tedious!  I just ordered  a Micro-Mark "Sand-it" which looks like will give me furniture finish cuts that will fit nice and tight. Augie gave me the tip, so thank you Augie.

[src]

Rich,

Looks good. In you previous post what Ocean is she sailing on? Looks like a tropical cruise?   Gives a great sense of scale. She is bigger than I thought.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Sam

Edited January 31, 2014 by src

[M. Pajulahti]

Hei Rich,

 

Nice progress. Your ship is looking good. Precutting gun port planks is a nice idea and it works well. Could it be a possible idea to cover the open gun ports with a longer planks fastened by tape? Just a temporary solution to protect the ports. But maybe when you get the framing done, they will be strong enough.

 

Markku

Edited January 31, 2014 by M. Pajulahti

[HIPEXEC]

I framed a few of the upper gunports and they are much stronger. I'd really have to exert a lot of force to snap them. Not like before. I don't think planks held by tape would do the trick. These gunports have to be framed anyway, so I'll just do them all and feel much safer. I have to put some deck trim around the base of the gunwales on the inside. That would be tricky  if I didn't support those gunports. It will be  close work with my thick fingers working right against the gunwales. 

Edited February 1, 2014 by Hipexec

[HIPEXEC]

The plans call for me to add more realism to the deck planks. To make it easier, the plans called for me too lay full length planks, which is what I did. Then, I scribed cuts in the planks simulating the actual way planks are laid. Now, I just added the nails. I tried several methods and didn't like the outcome. I tried drilling with a mini drill bit, but it splintered the planks. Then I tried a very pointed awl. That method didn't give me nail-like impressions. So, I got this bright idea to sharpen several #2 pencils and try simulating the nails with them....the result was the best of everything I had tried. Today, an old model maker friend looked at them and actually thought I had hammered nails in!   

[bucknbarney]

Wow! I love Old Ironsides! what a beautiful ship. This is the ship that got me first interested in square riggers. I am really looking forward to watching your build as you progress through it!

[Sjors]

You see Rich,

 

Everything comes together when you try something out.

That's a great compliment!

And it looks great !

 

[src]

Now your building Rich!. Another builder here used a pickle fork and pencil for the same thing. Thats one of the many things I like about this site; if you dont like a technique, look around and you will find another that works for you.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

I decided to invent my own way of drilling all aspect perpendicular holes in the deck. I made a jig that lays flat on the deck and only lets the drill bit make a completely perpendicular hole. I also put some masking tape on the bit to let me know when I'm deep enough (10mm). I also put tape over the prospective hole site to prevent splintering. What do you know, it worked!!!

[HIPEXEC]

Here's my newest tool....a Sand-it. I hope it gives me the square cuts I'll need to do all the fine carpentry work needed to finish my model. I'll have to practice, though, since there is no power source to run the sander...my right hand has to do that while my left hand feeds the part? Practice will make perfect...I hope.

 

P.S. I find that I am all thumbs trying to fit these tiny frame pieces. Also, I find that my engineering is all off. I'm trying to make perfectly square frames when I find that the gunwales are far from square and perpendicular. So, I settled on gluing the sill or base piece first, then cutting one vertical to get the exact angle at the sill to give me a perfect match. All very tedious but rewarding. I'll have to sharpen my engineering skills for future pieces.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Hipexec

[HIPEXEC]

Tedious framing. My new tool has given me better quality woodworking, but at a price. It is very slow, tedious, work: measure, cut on miter box, square an end, measure again, sand-it, place it, then repeat for the two remaining pieces, then glue in place carefully watching for alignment, squareness and glue drips. Wow. At least the results are very good. You can see the difference by looking at the ports to the left.  I can see I'll be framing for a while.

[HIPEXEC]

I finished framing the upper gunports. Very tedious work. Now I can finish trimming the deck since the upper gunports are not fragile now.

[HIPEXEC]

Here I go again! Having to play chess with a poorly fitting piece provided by Constructo.. The pre-cut stern is about 2mm too big in the vertical even though I built the frame exactly as it appeared in the plans. Now I have to "play chess" all the way to the last page to make sure I don't cut off too much to finish the veneer planks. If the plan called for me to finish it with full size planks...it will fit. So now I stop and think and thinks and think.

 

I'm going to skip the stern and frame the lower gunports while I think.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Hipexec

[src]

Rich,

Thats frustrating! I have run into the same issues with Constructo on my Enterprise build.

Constructo, if you guys are listening, take notes!

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

I'm "dry" fitting the frames of the lower gunports before gluing them in place. Constructo calls for me to fit the lower and upper frames pieces before the side pieces.

[HIPEXEC]

Still holding off on installing that stern piece.

[HIPEXEC]

So much for plastic! My miter box split in half after my last cut last night! That's not only through the plastic, but through a quarter inch plywood support I added when I first bought this thing. You would have thought I kept sawing after the wood was cut, but I quit sawing immediately after each piece was cut and still this thing was cut in half. I'm buying a metal one today. I've glued this one in hopes of salvaging it, but I'll still buy a new one.

[HIPEXEC]

Here's my new metal miter box. Nice and strong with a major flaw....it comes with pre-measured tracks that don't let the wood get cut all the way through? I just took my hacksaw and deepened the tracks. Go figure?