USS Constitution by woodartist - Model Shipways - 1/76

[woodartist]

I have made the commitment to proceed with  this build. Not without a lot of trepidation. I have not been a model builder, I have been a wood carver for 25 years, and have taught wood carving for the last 10 years. I needed a change of pace. Last year one of my carving students, a talented 11 year old, wanted to build a boat. Together we built the Mare Nostrum, it was not perfect but it was a success and has given me the courage to do this build. Due to an accident I only have limited use of my right hand. But I have made compensations that enabled me to carve. Realistically, I had to recognize that my limitations are such that I will not be doing any but minimal rigging, although I may attempt to complete the masts. I have read almost all of the other build logs of the USS Constitution by other members and have them all bookmarked on my computer. To begin, I have decided to follow the path of JSGerson and to build whale boats and pennace first. If I was not able to finish those then I would not have spoiled the kit for someone else. Unlike JSGerson and others who decided to build out the gun deck, I have decided that when I finish the small boats I will build the gun deck as set forth in the plans. Unlike Gerson I have not acquired the naval plans or Hunt's practicum and will instead rely on the numerous build logs here and the guidance of its members. I have ordered the styrene and the 1/32 basswood needed for the small boats. I have a 25 year collection of carving tools including the latest high tech rotary hand-pieces with a large assortment of micro bits and cutters. I will forego the pictures of the kit contents and will begin with pictures of the pieces cut out for the small boats. I did manage to get them removed with only one minor break that was easily repaired with CA. My only camera is my cell phone. I will start with the pictures of my carving studio where the construction will commence. I look forward to working with all interested and hope I will be able to continue to get young people involved in he hobbies related to working with wood. My past carving students assisted me in the building of my new studio and we look forward to using it for years to come.

[woodartist]

[Thukydides]

I really like your workshop. Looks like a very pleasant place to work. Good luck with the build.

[CiscoH]

thats a great workshop.  it appears a lot bigger on the inside, a cool trick.  great luck on your build

 

cisco

[woodartist]

pinnace glued up

[woodartist]

Some progress shaping the small boats after the glue up.

[woodartist]

I thought it may be helpful to show the tools I used to work on these small boats. They are all part of my wood carving inventory.

The first 3  micro bits are stump cutters, the next three are diamond bits, and the sanders are Guge bird carving bits, and the two knives are skews.

[woodartist]

I have completed the basic shaping of the four boats, and cut off the tabs. Before I did so I wrote B on the bottom on the Bow end and S on the stern end. The angles are very close and i did not want to make a mistake. Those on the green background were bare wood, those on the black background have a coat of wipe on poly on them. After I applied the poly I saw some divots that I had not noticed so I will apply some wood filler in the divots and re-sand and poly. I am at a standstill till my styrene arrives so I will start on the hull structure. I have not noticed any comments on whether the bulk heads are sanded before they are attached to the center keel? In some of the build logs I can see the dark laser burn and on other build logs the bulkhead's edge is white. Recommendations would be appreciated.

[Minnesota.Tom]

I like how your smaller boats are shaping up. I'm not at this point in my model, so can't advise. But great use of time as you wait. I'm going to be working on the hull myself, after a very long hiatus. 

Tom

[woodartist]

I have noticed two repetitive differences between the plans and the actual bulk heads. The bulk head is taller than the plans on the top and shorter than the plans on the bottom. Is that anything to worry about. See photo below. the picture does not show the bottom of the notch but it is always shorter.

than the pattern. thanks for your guidance

 

[woodartist]

I have completed the ribs and the gunwale on the gig whale boat. I used the Evergreen Styrene strips .020x.040 (No. 122) as recommended by  Gerson and others rather than wood. There are 10 strips in a package, I ordered one package, and found out I should have bought two. One is not enough to do all 4 boats. Is is very time consuming to install the ribs and tiny tweezers and a plastic toothpick or glue stick is needed to coax them into place. They are not in perfectly and even though I tried to use a spacer to get them even, I just could not keep the distance uniform. When I got them i place with the spacer, and then removed the spacer to glue the they moved. I was afraid to put the spacer back in for fear that it would be glued in.  I will finish the other three boats to this point before installing the keelson and flooring. There is no pattern for the keelson, so I will freehand it. At first I made the ribs too long, when I realized that the gunwale had to be fitted in. So i shortened  the ribs I had installed and marked the location of the bottom of the gunwale and put the rest of the ribs in.

[woodartist]

progress on gig whaler and whaler

I have inserted the footlings in the gig whaler and painted the interior. On the whaler, I tried another method of putting in the ribs, which seems to be working better, it is more accurate and easier. After drawing the center line, i draw in the location of each rib, then I put one drop of super glue and using a micro plastic glue stick I spread the glue in a straight line, then I use the tweezers to drop the measured rib into place, then press it down. I will repeat the same process on each side wall. I tried putting the entire rib in one piece on the gig whaler but they often broke and it was hard to keep it straight.

[woodartist]

progress on gig whaler

I had some cherry sheets that were 1/32 and I used the to create the flooring, and the seat. I used the the brass grate provided with the kit. I also installed the keelson. The interior was painted with two coats of acrylic white paint and the seat and footings were stained with mahogany stain. Next steps put in the back rest, the remainder of the seats and foot rests. I have decided that it is beyond my capabilities t put in all the metal fittings that were so perfectly done by JSGerson. I only have use of one arm and I have to be realistic about what I can do with one hand. I had to redo the foot rest in the picture and use smaller dimensional lumber, I have finished the ribs in one of the two 28' whalers as well. More pictures to come tomorrow hopefully.

[woodartist]

well I have completed the gig whaler. I have added all the details that my skills permit. I did not add the cleats, the rudder or the oar locks. I soaked the fender pieces in water and then pinned them to the plans to dry. I failed to take a picture of that so I included one on my pennace that I used the same procedure. I am considering putting on a couple of coats of water based poly but am not sure if I should. Now I will continue with finishing the other three boats. The keel was a real challenge, I made a template out of card stock, but it took three tries before I could cut them out without breaking them.

[woodartist]

Work is proceeding on the Pinnace.  The ribs and footlings have been installed, the keelson was cut out of cherry with my stump cutters and installed. I used the brass bar clamps to install the gunwales and the footing on the sidewall.I learned a lot from doing the gig whaler so the process was faster and and the look cleaner. I used much less glue this time around. Now to install the bench and seating.

[Sjors]

Hello Woodartist,

 

I will follow you closely.

What you have done so far with the little ones is great!

I hope I can do the same...

But first the big one 🙂

 

Sjors

[woodartist]

I have finished the pinnace. When it was completed I went back to the gig whaler to fix some problems that I discovered after the last post. when I looked at the pictures, I saw that the keel was not level for its entire length, it  was too long on the stern end. So I corrected that and I was not satisfied with the paint on the hull. I took all the hull paint off, re-sanded the hull and repainted with new paint. I used some old paint and the white had yellowed after a few days. I used the same techniques on the pinnace as the gig whaler so I did not document all the same steps. There were some new challenges  on the pinnace. The first was how to make the oar  locks. JSGerson used a Byrnes table saw to make his. I do not have one so I put a circular cutting bit on my rotary carver and made the small channel in a 1/8 x1/16 cherry wood strip. I put my rotary cutter on its stand and made the channel, then sawed the oar lock off, and then made the next channel. Having a long  wood strip to hold onto helped the process. The second challenge was to make the very small corner braces. For this i put a diamond flame bit on my rotary carver and cut a half circle in a piece 1/16"  cherry wood and then cut it off with the same cutter bit I used on the oar lock. I have not made the rudders for either boat yet, I will wait and see how the boats fit on the deck before making that decision.  I ran out of styrene for the ribs on the remaining 2 whalers. I only ordered 1 package and it had 10 12" strips, I should have ordered 2. I also have not installed the footrests in either boat.  Have not figured out how to make them yet. I also have not installed cleats as that metal work is outside my comfort zone.

[woodartist]

Progress update on the two whalers. I installed ribs and flooring in the same manner as on the gig whaler and the pinnace, although now that I have done it twice it went much smoother and faster. I ran out of the cherry strips that were 3/64" thick that I had used on the pinnace for the cap. However I had a 4" wide sheet of 3/64 cherry. I do not have a table saw to cut strips s I decided to cut the cap out of the sheet.  I used the small rotary bit for my power carver to make the rough cut. I then sanded and used round diamond cutter to get the inside and outside edges to size. I glued on the entire cap and and then used a little wood filler where needed so there were no gaps. I cut the the stern and bow knees out of the same sheet of cherry and installed them. The thwarts and gang board are cut to size and I will get them installed tomorrow and get the remainder of the keels inserted. Then I will try and build the oar locks if i ca find a small enough dowel. The dowels supplied with the kit are way to large. I penciled in a line on the cherry at the stern and bow so it appears that two separate pieces of wood were used.

[woodartist]

Well the two whalers are as complete as possible until I get some small dowel for the oar locks. So I will move on to the main boat. I finished glue  up of the three core pieces and cut in the rabbit. I was fitting the 5 keel pieces on the pattern when I noticed that my rabbit was not deep enough in some areas so I marked those areas on both sides and sanded them until the depth was correct. It was easy to see that they were not deep enough when I laid out the 5 keel pieces next to it. I weighted them down with my sharpening stones. I was thinking about putting dowels in the connection between the keel and the center beam pieces. I saw where others had also installed mounting sleeves in the keel. So i thought about using multiple mounting sleeves as dowels. I do not have a drill press but I have a 30 year old Stanley dowel jig. I was thinking of using the 1/16" bass tube as the sleeve and the solid brass rod that fits inside. I will insert the solid brass rods in the base. i was thinking about using 5 of them. Anyone see any problem issues that could arise from that course of action?

[woodartist]

So I tried to use the Stanley dowel jig. Two problems became apparent, one, the jig was designed for a minimum wood thickness of 1/2", the second was that the bolt that held the metal sleeve was two short to accommodate a sleeve less than 1/4". I solved the thickness problem by using a wood scrap as a shim. I got a longer bolt but had to use a socket and socket extension to screw it in. I cut a brass tube with an internal diameter of 1/8", which would be my dowel size, and cut the 1/8" brass tube into 4 one inch sections. when you cut brass tubes with a tube cutter it reduces the internal dimension. So after i cut them I reamed out one end with drill bit so I could use 1" brass tubes on my mounting board that would be inserted into the dowels. So you kill two birds with one stone, you get the reinforcement from the brass dowel and you have a secure way to mount the boat. I put in four brass tubes, three at the joints on the keel, and the fourth one about two inches in from the end of keel piece 5. Now I am ready to start aligning the ribs next. The jig enables you absolutely get a straight hole centered on the keel. and you can set the depth as well. On the first photo you can see the red tube cutter and the shim. On the second Photo you can see the brass tube centered on the keel.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Our woodworking shops must be outfitted with different tools.  I too just finished this dowelling task, but went a different route.  I used my drill press, and for a couple of holes. I actually used a hand drill..

 

I'm following your build too now.  (I think I'll leave the small boat building for last however).

 

 

[woodartist]

I like your solution too.

[woodartist]

HELP HELP HELP Now I have a problem. I finished putting in all ribs and then learned that on rib section O I did not get the rib aligned with the reference line. It is now 1/16" too high on top and 1/16" too low on bottom. It is solidly glued in. How do i correct it? Do I shim the the lower section and shorten at top? Do I cut out the rib out entirely and cut out a new one from  a piece of plywood that is the same thickness? I have a band saw and could try that.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Had I spent some time on my own build log yesterday, I might have saved you some grief.  Here's my solution to deck faces aligning.

 

As for how to fix bulkhead O.  I think cutting it out is fraught with risk.  Make yourself a sandpaper file (glue some 80 or 100 grit sandpaper onto a stick), and work down the high deck area.  You may have to glue a strip of basswood onto the edges of the bulkhead, but since those edges will likely be faired soon, you might get lucky and not have to do anything.  Check how the edges of bulkheads N, O and P line up.  If you do need to add material now, you don't have to be too fussy.  The edges will be sanded down anyway, so use glue and pins to attach wood strips and sand away when it comes time to fair the bulkheads.

 

Coincidentally, I left off with bulkhead N myself yesterday.  I'm using Titebond wood glue instead of messing around with 5-minute epoxy - man what a pain it is to make that stuff and use it quickly enough to make adjustments.  With the technique below, I haven't had to worry about reference marks.  I do check the distances between the last bulkhead attached and the one I'm just gluing in.  If the bulkheads aren't parallel, I adjust the set of the new bulkhead by clamping a perfectly rectangular block (with beveled edge to avoid having the block glued to either component) against the spine and the bulkhead.  So far, I have had to do very little of that.  It'll be a few days before I post again.  While the bulkhead assembly creeps along, I'm working on making those bow knightheads and timberheads.  Now   T H O S E   are a headache!   

[Der Alte Rentner]

P.S.  One advantage of uploading photos directly to the site, vs my technique of uploading jpg files of my personal build log in pdf format, is that one can zoom in quite nicely.  I just noticed that the stick I used to keep the deck aligned when adding bulkhead H to the false keel is one of my sandpaper sticks - 100 grit side facing up.  

[woodartist]

thanks Der Alte Renter so much for responding to my request for help. I will follow your guidance and level the deck area and deal with the fairing issues when time arises. I have inserted 3/32x3/32 spacers between all the ribs as the plans recommend except at each end where the blocks will be inserted. Inserting the blocks is my next item on the to do list.

[woodartist]

Progress continued over last four days. All the bulkheads have been inserted and glued in, the edges were faired according  to the plans, and 3/32x3/32" spacers were inserted. I copied each bulkhead plan, cut it out and transferred the center lines, marked the areas to be faired and trimmed them before inserting the bulkhead. I cut out the transom filler block.  Then I placed a 1/8" dowel under the back edge of the transom filler block to grt an angle on the hole. The dowel was too small to get the tight angle so i replaced it with a 5/16" dowel and re-drilled in the rudder hole. I used a power drill and started with a 1/16" bit and then 3/16" bit and then  4/16" bit. I finished it to size with a round wood rasp. I then shaped it with my #1 chisel which is 1/2" wide. Then sanded the corners according to plans. I dry fit it and lined up the center line on the transom filler piece with the center line on the keel and the center line on bulkhead R. I cut out the two filler pieces that fit below the transom filler piece with the bandsaw and then sanded them to the cut line. There were some burn marks from the bandsaw which I sanded out. I clamped the lower filler blocks in place with a small brass bar clamp and marked the edge of the bulkhead on each. I will use 5 minute epoxy on the transom tomorrow and then finish the 2 lower filler blocks.

[Der Alte Rentner]

I wouldn't glue in the transom just yet...  Temporarily affix it with double sided tape while you're tweaking the shape of the stern blocks.  You'll be using double sided tape to make your next cuts on the blocks anyway.  If you're happy with the result of your shaping, glue away.

 

I found the shaping of these pieces difficult and tedious.  If you use the templates as a guide (see my build log) or Chapter one of the Bob Hunt Practicum, you'll get pretty close to the correct shape.  I have a feeling that you and I will be applying a bit of putty and doing some detail sanding about the time the planking phase rolls around. 

 

 

[woodartist]

Thanks for the advice Der Alte Renter, I followed your advice and double taped the transom and you were correct I had to reshape the stern blocks twice. I hope it is close. I used the template from Bob Hunt's practicum and I Iooked at your build log. Frankly, your build log was more useful.

[woodartist]

The bow fillers are in and the notches marked for removal. I had to go back to them several times in order to get them reduced enough. I wish I had cut out the pattern for the bow notches earlier because it is a very good guide to ensure you are on the right course. I followed the suggestion by Der Alte Rentner and used a piece of planking to see if it would smoothly fit.