USS Constitution by Der Alte Rentner - Model Shipways - 1/76

[Der Alte Rentner]

No pix today, just a status update.  I've been staring at the hull for days now, and still can't bring myself to prime and paint it black. 

 

Marcus was one of the contributors to the discussion chiming in on the side for the switch to black.  I confused him with Pfälzer in the commentary below and have edited the post to correct my error.

 

Pfälzer's build of the San Martin is part of the reason I'm still on the fence.  Even though he used oak for his planking, he stained it and, to my eyes at least, the result is not so different from my Conny.  And I like the look..

 

I just went back to have another look at San Martin' Pfälzer build, and realize that my hull is a shade or two darker than I would have liked.  

 

 

Having said all that, I started adding the molding beneath the port side gallery and stained the transom.  Yes, I still wish I'd used better wood, and I keep telling myself I can switch at any time, yet I keep inching forward with the stained basswood.   

Edited November 8 by Der Alte Rentner
corrected a glaring error! Thank you Marcus..

[hoocat]

I really like the stained wood even if its not perfect. The quarter galleries are gorgeous! I vote no to painting the hull black.  Lovely work.

[Marcus.K.]

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

... Marcus was one of the contributors to the discussion chiming in on the side for the switch to black.  Ironically, his build is part of the reason I'm still on the fence.  Even though he used oak for his planking, he stained it and, to my eyes at least, the result is not so different from my Conny.  And I like the look..

 

I just went back to have another look at Marcus' Pfälzer build, and realize that my hull is a shade or two darker than I would have liked.  

I am pretty sure I do not deserve these praises.. as my build is a Revell plastic kit and far, far from being an example for anyone, I fear. Could you pls. add a link to the mentioned "Marcus' Pfälzer build"?

 

But anyhow: my opinion is just that. An opinion. Your build, and your decision! And I am sure either way: it will be a beauty!

Edited November 8 by Marcus.K.

[Der Alte Rentner]

6 hours ago, Marcus.K. said:

I am pretty sure I do not deserve these praises.. as my build is a Revell plastic kit and far, far from being an example for anyone, I fear. Could you pls. add a link to the mentioned "Marcus' Pfälzer build"?

 

But anyhow: my opinion is just that. An opinion. Your build, and your decision! And I am sure either way: it will be a beauty!

My mistake,  The build I mistakenly attributed to you is the San Martin by Pfälzer.  I apologize for confusing you with him Marcus.  Looking back over a number of my posts, I can't understand where or how I became aware of Pfälzer's build log, let alone how I got the two of you mixed up in my mind,  but his is the build I was referring to.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

As an aside, I have family very near Karlsruhe (Ettlingen) and I visited Karlsruhe some years ago on a visit to my uncle and cousins in the Black Forest.  I have very fond memories of my time there.  

 

 

Here is a link to the San Martin build log I was referencing.  

 

Edited November 8 by Der Alte Rentner

[Marcus.K.]

Funny!

 

1st: I am a born "Pfälzer" (the name of the area on the other side of the river Rhein, were our teammate Pfälzer obviously is from too, Palatina - not Palestine) ..  maybe comparable mistakes in English lead to that mistake as we would do comparable ones having the exact same mothertongue. 

 

2nd: in fact I live now a bit "behind" Ettlingen, if looked from Karlsruhe. So next time, you are in Germany you are invited to visit me with great pleasure! 

[woodartist]

5 hours ago, hoocat said:

The quarter galleries are gorgeous! I vote no to painting the hull black.  Lovely work.

i concur!!

[Der Alte Rentner]

2 hours ago, Marcus.K. said:

Funny!

 

1st: I am a born "Pfälzer" (the name of the area on the other side of the river Rhein, were our teammate Pfälzer obviously is from too

 

2nd: in fact I live now a bit "behind" Ettlingen, if looked from Karlsruhe. So next time, you are in Germany you are invited to visit me with great pleasure! 

 

 

 

 

 

Sollte ich jemals wieder in ein Flugzeug steigen, werde ich Ihr Angebot auf jeden Fall annehmen!

 

Da mir heute bewusst wird, dass mein letzter Besuch in Ettlingen schon 32 Jahre her ist, muss ich meinen Boykott der TSA vielleicht noch einmal überdenken. Bis dann, muss ich stellvertretend durch die damals aufgenommenen Fotos leben.  Die meisten von dieser Reise zeigen meine Familie, aber ich habe eines gefunden, dass ein Wahrzeichen enthält, das Ihnen sicherlich bekannt vorkommen dürfte.

 

Edited November 8 by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

1 hour ago, woodartist said:

i concur!!

Wow, Woodartist,  long time no see?  I check in periodically to see if you've gotten any further with Lady Isabella and Fifie, or if you resumed work on Conny.  Unless I missed a shift to another project, you seem to be sidelined these days. 

 

Thanks for chiming in with your vote to stay with the stained finish.  I guess I'm still headed in that direction, having I spent a couple of hours staining and applying clear poly to the port side today. 

 

Hope to see you back in action soon.

 

Best 

Edited November 8 by Der Alte Rentner

[Unegawahya]

7 hours ago, woodartist said:

i concur!!

I’m going to have to chime in too!
I also agree with leaving the beautiful stain job you did! I couldn’t do that because my build has too many spots where the stain wouldn’t take! 
 

I like the look of just wood enough that I put a wooden steering wheel in my pickup!

[Der Alte Rentner]

Well, it looks like my decision has been made. Here's how I left things at the shipyard today.

 

Edited November 10 by Der Alte Rentner

[JSGerson]

Looks beautiful!!!

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

She really looks nice. I wonder whether Constitution has always been painted black since she was launched or she was painted later.

Edited November 10 by mtbediz

[helmarsowick]

Looks beautiful. Constitution was black out of the yard. All six frigates

commissioned were the same black and white.

[Nearshore]

I think you made the right decision. I like the matural tones of the wood.

[Geoff Matson]

Great job!

[woodartist]

7 hours ago, Nearshore said:

I think you made the right decision. I like the matural tones of the wood.

awesome.

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 11/8/2024 at 9:04 PM, Unegawahya said:

I’m going to have to chime in too!
I also agree with leaving the beautiful stain job you did! I couldn’t do that because my build has too many spots where the stain wouldn’t take! 
 

I like the look of just wood enough that I put a wooden steering wheel in my pickup!

 

 

 

 

Your citing the steering wheel reminded me of something I asked you when you were constructing the wheel on your Conny - Could I sub contract you to make me one too?  (If I'm misremembering, apologies in advance), but in either case,  If you're up to making a few more of these canopies, you've got at least one customer.  😁 

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

One step forward, one step back?

 

It wasn't until I made a spacer to assist in adding the second curved molding on the transom that I realized that the three gunports are not flush with the second molding.  I don't think I'm going to lose much sleep over it, I may just have the eagle perch covering part of the center gunport lid, and hope that no one outside of this August body questions it.

 

Perhaps some tweaking will make this a less obvious flaw.  

 

Tomorrow's another day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JSGerson]

To help gain some space for the eagle, maybe thin the molding a bit. If you look at the plans, the molding on the plans are a bit narrower than your fabricated moldings. Sanding their inner surfaces will also eliminate any kinks left over from the pins used in forming the curves. I assume you didn't use the kit's laser cut moldings because they didn't suit your purposes or aesthetics?

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

You're right on all counts.  Yes, I will attempt to narrow the moldings a bit and the laser cut moldings were too wide and too thin.  Also they were too scorched.  By the time I sanded away the scorch marks, they would be so thin they would stand out like a sore thumb. The plans do show that the moldings are thinner than the ones I made, but I was trying to keep with the same thickness of the moldings under the gallery windows.  And I will definitely sand out the kink marks. 

 

This goes to show how much attention you need to pay attention to details well down the road from the stage you're dealing with at the moment.  (Here's where the veteran's experience comes to play.)  The gunports are all on the same plane, but somehow the galleries may have been slightly misshapen?  Working off the plans, I positioned the moldings on the galleries where they should have been, but to keep them parallel to the bottom of the windows, I missed the mark where the molding met the transom. 

 

It is what it is.  Since I'm not going to be going for an exact replica (going with stain vs black and white paint, skipping the bulwark rivets, the nails on the deck, etc.) I'm not going to lose much sleep over this.   

 

Here's a thought, maybe I omit that last piece altogether?  🤔

Edited November 12 by Der Alte Rentner
added content

[JSGerson]

Just remember, it's a model, not a replica. It can be as detailed or simple as you want it. It is, after all, YOUR model.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Absolutely!

 

BTW, the original isn't exactly perfect either.  There are some kinks and the odd bend in her as well.  And that second molding could be a tad thinner.. I might even be able to remove and do some surgery on the first one to make the two more symmetrical.

I feel a lot better now.  Thanks!  😁

 

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

I feel even better now, after 2 hours of tweaking those moldings

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12 by Der Alte Rentner
Added picture

[JSGerson]

Well worth the effort!

 

BTW, what kind of wood did you use for the molding? It took the the sharp bends very nicely.

 

Jon

Edited November 12 by JSGerson

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

I feel even better now, after 2 hours of tweaking those moldings.

 

48 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Well worth the effort!

 

Looks really nice, Peter!  Definitely worthy of the time.  👍🏆

[Der Alte Rentner]

1 hour ago, JSGerson said:

 

BTW, what kind of wood did you use for the molding? It took the the sharp bends very nicely.

 

Jon

Ace Hardware bass wood.  Soak it long enough and use one of those converted soldering gun type plank benders - very carefully, and you can get very good results.

 

Edited November 12 by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

Much prep work, staining, correcting. Despite very careful application of masking tape some stain still got underneath the tape and I'll be doing some more work trying to clean up the main hatch. But by and large I'm on the home stretch and can move on with construction.   (I've got to figure out how to get consistent results from my phone camera..)

 

 

Edited Thursday at 07:44 PM by Der Alte Rentner
the usual - typos

[Geoff Matson]

Nice save on the eagle 

[Der Alte Rentner]

21 hours ago, Geoff Matson said:

Nice save on the eagle 

Thank you Geoff.  I'm glad I didn't have to cut off his talons..

Edited Friday at 04:49 PM by Der Alte Rentner
claws and talons are not the same. who knew?

[Der Alte Rentner]

I started working on the pillars for the transom today. Not 100% sure I like the result. I'm going to look at the pictures for day and decide if I'm going to take a different approach. Here is one of those cases where styrene would have been a fabulous material to work with. Not so much basswood..

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm thinking that the bottom cross member should be narrower, perhaps half as wide..

Edited 17 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner