USS Constitution by mtbediz - 1:76

[mtbediz]

I began preparing the masts with the main mast. Using my milling machine, I squared off the top and chamfered the corners, as indicated in the plan. I don't know how much work is involved in completing this task yet. I think too much

 

Edited September 21 by mtbediz

[mtbediz]

I completed the chafing fish of the main mast using 1.5 x 2.2 mm basswood strips, chamfering their edges so they fit snugly around the mast without gaps.

Edited September 25 by mtbediz

[mtbediz]

Dear friends, I have a question. I couldn't find any information on the plans regarding the size of the fighting tops on the masts. The fighting tops on all three masts are similar in design, but their sizes should be different. If you have information about their sizes in the documentation, could you please let me know? Thank you in advance.

[JSGerson]

US Navy Plans attached

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

12 hours ago, mtbediz said:

I completed the chafing fish of the main mast using 1.5 x 2.2 mm basswood strips, chamfering their edges so they fit snugly around the mast without gaps.

Did you use the mill to do the chamfering?  Or eye-ball it?  

[mtbediz]

4 hours ago, JSGerson said:

US Navy Plans attached

Thanks for the plans, Jon. They’ll be helpful to me, but the given dimensions are a bit confusing. In the plan, I see the width of the main mast’s top as 21 feet. That’s roughly 6.4 meters, which seems quite large to me. Is it really that big? Or am I misreading the plan?

[mtbediz]

16 minutes ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Did you use the mill to do the chamfering?  Or eye-ball it?  

I did the chamfering with my sander. Of course, the strips were too thin to hold by hand, so I used metal clamps to hold them while sanding.

[JSGerson]

I'm surprised that the MS plans don't provide plans for these parts. I copied what was provided in the kit with a centimeter scale for your convenience.

 

Jon 

[mtbediz]

4 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

I'm surprised that the MS plans don't provide plans for these parts. I copied what was provided in the kit with a centimeter scale for your convenience.

Thank you so much Jon, you are the king! This is exactly what I was looking for. The definitive solution to my problem

[JSGerson]

Always glad to be of help

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

I'm still working on the masts. I've finished the chafing fish on all three masts and started mounting the iron bands. I cut the iron bands from 0.3 mm brass sheet and glued in place with CA.

Edited September 29 by mtbediz

[JSGerson]

You got the brass bands real snug to the mast without any voids and they look great. Any particular method to accomplish that? My first thought when I saw the pictures before I read the post was that you sliced up a brass tube, but you obviously didn't do that. Well done!!

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

1 hour ago, JSGerson said:

You got the brass bands real snug to the mast without any voids and they look great. Any particular method to accomplish that? My first thought when I saw the pictures before I read the post was that you sliced up a brass tube, but you obviously didn't do that. Well done!!

 

Jon

Jon, I am using Xken's method. I don't know if it could have been done any other way. The pictures are from Xken's build log.

[JSGerson]

Ken Forman is always a wealth of experience and knowledge.

 

Jon

[GGibson]

23 hours ago, JSGerson said:

Ken Forman is always a wealth of experience and knowledge.

 

Jon

 

I love Ken Foran's work and his Constitution build log, and purchased his Model Building with Brass book.  If I was only that talented!

Edited September 29 by GGibson

[mtbediz]

I've started building the fighting tops, which are quite detailed. I began with the main mast top and, if I'm not mistaken, I've already prepared and assembled 57 pieces for it so far. I'm not sure how many more will be needed.

Edited Friday at 02:46 AM by mtbediz

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 10/2/2025 at 2:11 PM, mtbediz said:

I've already prepared and assembled 57 pieces for it so far.

Seems to me those numbers are inverted.  Looks more than 75 by my count.  Yikes!  

[mtbediz]

4 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Seems to me those numbers are inverted.  Looks more than 75 by my count.  Yikes!  

And there will be 2 more tops like this, but I still love this job.

Edited Sunday at 12:04 AM by mtbediz

[mtbediz]

The wooden superstructure of all three fighting tops has been completed. It wasn’t a very difficult task, but it’s time-consuming because of the amount of detail.

[GGibson]

Excellent work, Mustafa!  I will be interested in seeing how you place these on their respective masts and I'm sure I will refer back to these photos whenever I get to this point.  Thanks for sharing, sir! 

[JSGerson]

They look beautiful!....However, I noticed a discrepancy between yours and the the actual tops. Two of your tops (Fore & Mizzen) match the real ones. However, the main top does not have the radial brace in front of the oval hole. Below are two images. The single top image is the foremast top. The other image shows the main and mizzen tops. You can see clearly, the main top only has six radial braces not seven. I hope that doesn't mess you up too much.

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

You're right, Jon. If I had had this photo before, I would have built it with 6 radial braces. Since I used XKen's build log to make mine, I build it with 7 braces, which is what he did.

[JSGerson]

Actually, the 1927 plans I sent you earlier, shows seven braces in the main top. Why it was removed as shown in recent photo is a mystery to me. If you won't tell anybody that it changed, I won't either😁

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

1 hour ago, JSGerson said:

Actually, the 1927 plans I sent you earlier, shows seven braces in the main top. Why it was removed as shown in recent photo is a mystery to me. If you won't tell anybody that it changed, I won't either😁

 

Jon

I promise I won't tell anyone Yes, the plans you sent me also show 7 braces. Perhaps they removed the middle half brace because they figured it didn't have much of a function. In the photo, as if I see that they also removed the 7th brace on the fore top.

Edited 7 hours ago by mtbediz

[GGibson]

You guys are amazing with this detail.  Appreciate all of the great info. 

 

And, Jon, thanks for climbing up the shrouds to take these awesome pictures!! 🤷‍♂️🤣

[mtbediz]

4 hours ago, GGibson said:

Excellent work, Mustafa!  I will be interested in seeing how you place these on their respective masts and I'm sure I will refer back to these photos whenever I get to this point.  Thanks for sharing, sir! 

Thanks Greg, it's been a while since we've seen an update on your Conny build. Are you working on it?

[GGibson]

3 hours ago, mtbediz said:

Thanks Greg, it's been a while since we've seen an update on your Conny build. Are you working on it?

 

Mustafa, thanks for noticing my "posting absence" on my build log!  Much appreciated.  I don't want to take up a lot of time/space on your build log about my build progress, but yes, I have been working on it and will be posting an update soon.  I've frankly been struggling a bit on how to exactly prepare my "1812-ish version" stern transom but am currently finishing the stern window framing based on Cmdr. Isaac Hull's 6-window transom version.

 

Thanks again for asking how I am doing on my Constitution, sir.  I continue to be inspired by your work.  Carry on! 👍🏆

Edited 4 hours ago by GGibson