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

[JSGerson]

I assume you wanted the vector images for a laser cutter. Hopefully, the laser won't burn off the fine sharp details.

 

I used the US Navy plans scaled down and hand carved the scrollwork from that. When it came to the sharp points and narrow joints, I had difficulty. My tools were just too thick to get into those areas. As a result, they are a bit rounded or thick more that I would have liked. But, if you're more than 1 foot away, it's not very noticeable. 

 

If it's not too late, the US Navy trailboard plans provides three dimensional detail that a good laser cutter could use, especially at the fiddlehead. If you want and don't have the plans, I can send them to you.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Yes, Clement will experiment with a laser cutter, which has the potential for burn marks. But, he's also going to try using his resin printer to produce the parts.  Ideally, I'd prefer boxwood without scorch marks, because I hope to go with the unstained finish for the scrollwork and stained backing.  However, I can also go with painting the scrollwork white, carrying forward the look from the gallery windows which I made out of styrene.  In the latter case, I can then opt for styrene for the trim pieces. I am prepared to try to make the trim out of basswood, holly or boxwood, if I see terrific results on the first option.  Or, my attempt to cut the shapes out of boxwood using  a jeweler's saw, which would mitigate the scorch marks that will likely be present on the laser cut parts.  The little I've worked with the jeweler's saw has me skeptical that I can achieve the results I desire. 

 

We'll see what Clement comes up with..

 

As for 3D detail for carving the fiddlehead components, thanks but I don't think I'll be getting THAT fussy.  I'm not programming the resin printer or laser cutter and I certainly don't know how to translate the details from the US Navy plans into usable input for either device.  As you aptly observed, from a foot away, no one will notice anyway.  I'm really only doing the bass-relief so that I can easily keep a sharp delineation between the back board and the scrollwork.  (stained vs natural finish)

 

Thanks for chiming in.  

 

Peter

[Der Alte Rentner]

Quick update.

 

Cannons and carronades arrived.  My first impression is, wow these are well made.

 

As expected, the carronades provided with the Constructo kit are almost identical to the ones provided by HiSModel, though the latter are a smidge longer.  The HiSModel units come in two pieces, the barrel and a pin. They fit together beautifully.  I'll use those on Conny.

 

The dummy barrels were what I wanted most, because I didn't want to have to whittle the inboard ends of the shafts to fit the gunport holes. The diameter of that end of the barrel was exactly 11/64".  I needed to ever so slightly enlarge the 5/32" holes in the gunport back plates that came with Conny - the ones I used on the starboard side, as well as the custom-made ones I fabricated for the port side.  Perfect fit.  Many tedious hours of filing saved.  Well worth the premium. 

 

Bow chasers looks good too.

 

HiSModel also included a small "sample" pack.  I haven't dug into which rigging components these are, but I'll rummage through the kit box and see how they compare to those supplied by model shipways.

 

Left to right in:

Constructo, HiSModel, Model Shipways

(Constructo did not provide bow chasers.)

 

 

Edited Monday at 10:01 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[GGibson]

Looking forward to seeing how you place them on the Constitution, Peter.  They do look nice!

[Der Alte Rentner]

Round one with a jeweler's saw and 1/32" basswood.  Fail..

 

Interestingly, the hardest part of this is finding ways to hold the part as less and less remains to be cut away. Some strategy will need to be employed going forward.

 

Next up, fabricate some 1/32" boxwood and try again..

 

Edited Wednesday at 04:53 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[JSGerson]

This looks very familiar. Now you know why mine looks the way it does. This is NOT easy. You need teeny, tiny clamps, and ultra, ultra, sharp cutting tools, and spider like fingers to hold and cut the fine pieces of wood. Even styrene will break apart at these sizes. What is needed I think, are fine watchmaker skills which I don't have.

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Round one with a jeweler's saw and 1/32" basswood.  Fail..

 

Interestingly, the hardest part of this is finding ways to hold the part as less and less remains to be cut away. Some strategy will need to be employed going forward.

 

Next up, fabricate some 1/32" boxwood and try again..

 

Since I am building this model from scratch, I will need to make this ornament on the bow somehow, but I still don't know how to do it. I hope you find an easy way to do this and I can copy the method.

Edited Wednesday at 07:39 PM by mtbediz

[Der Alte Rentner]

1 hour ago, mtbediz said:

Since I am building this model from scratch, I will need to make this ornament on the bow somehow, but I still don't know how to do it. I hope you find an easy way to do this and I can copy the method.

Funny you should mention that.

 

Using some 32" boxwood sheet, some double-sided tape, a paper template, some Elmer's white glue, a Jeweler's saw, and an incredible amount of patience and tenacity, the ornaments are indeed achievable.

 

I used the double-sided tape to a fix the template to the boxwood. Then I covered the template with a thin film of Elmer's white glue and let it dry. This was so that the paper wouldn't shred as I was cutting with the Jewelers saw. Making it much easier to follow the lines this way.

 

A little clean up with some sandpaper and Diamond files, I got the first ornament out of the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:51 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[JSGerson]

Well Done!!!

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Not so fast?

 

Stars will be the biggest challenge.

 

Round 1.  Fail.  

 

I have some ideas that hopefully will prove successful for round 2.  

 

[The Bitter End]

10 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Round one with a jeweler's saw and 1/32" basswood.  Fail..

 

Interestingly, the hardest part of this is finding ways to hold the part as less and less remains to be cut away. Some strategy will need to be employed going forward.

 

Next up, fabricate some 1/32" boxwood and try again..

 

It might be worth buying( or making) a jewelers clamp. It's essentially a cylinder of wood which has bee split down the middle with a wing nut through it and leather gripping faces. It may help. 

Beautiful work so far by the way. 

 

Haiko 

[vossiewulf]

13 minutes ago, The Bitter End said:

It might be worth buying( or making) a jewelers clamp. It's essentially a cylinder of wood which has bee split down the middle with a wing nut through it and leather gripping faces. It may help. 

As a class of tools they're called ring clamps and they're indeed very useful for holding small objects that need to be filed/cut/manipulated. I have one with a wedge that you drive into the far end of the clamp and that can generate considerable clamping force. I also think a ring clamp would be worth trying for holding your scrollwork.

[The Bitter End]

4 minutes ago, vossiewulf said:

As a class of tools they're called ring clamps and they're indeed very useful for holding small objects that need to be filed/cut/manipulated. I have one with a wedge that you drive into the far end of the clamp and that can generate considerable clamping force. I also think a ring clamp would be worth trying for holding your scrollwork.

Hi Vossie!

 

You are totally right, they are ring clamps. I wrote that response before my first cup of coffee, Im blaming that.😂

[vossiewulf]

Weird, my link isn't working right. To see actual ring clamps, hit the Search button on the Otto Frei site next to where it says ring clamps in the search box.

 

[Unegawahya]

10 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Not so fast?

 

Stars will be the biggest challenge.

 

Round 1.  Fail.  

 

I have some ideas that hopefully will prove successful for round 2.  

 

I do agree! The stars are a complete pain to make! I cheated on my stern stars and bought uniform ribbon starts.

[Der Alte Rentner]

I might yet be in the market for some of those uniform ribbon Stars. Can you tell me where you purchased them?

 

Having said that, my second pass delivered better results than expected.

 

 

In case anybody is wondering, I had to disconnect the blade from the Jewelers saw, feed it through the hole, then carefully reattach it.

 

Slow going, to be sure..

 

 

 

 

I won't mind making one more for the scroll work at the bow, but I would sure love to save the labor for those I still need to make for the transom.

 

I managed to do without ring clamps by taping the 1/32" material to a larger backing plate. When done cutting, I simply separated the star from the backing plate.

 

The only tools I needed to get the better shape after that, were these.

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 04:11 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Added content..

[Unegawahya]

Wow!  Your star looks so much better than the one I tried for the stern on my Connie!

 

I found the link for the ribbon stars!

https://www.vanguardmil.com/collections/ribbons-medals-attachments

If I remember correctly they’re just a little too big to be used on the bow.
There is also a small star on the front of the billethead.

Edited Thursday at 05:55 PM by Unegawahya
Adding picture

[JSGerson]

Those stars look simple enough, but are real easy to screw up. Nice job!

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

I don't want to say how many hours I spent in the shop today on this, but I'm hopeful that the worst part of this scroll work is over.

 

 

 

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

2 hours ago, Unegawahya said:

Wow!  Your star looks so much better than the one I tried for the stern on my Connie!

 

I found the link for the ribbon stars!

https://www.vanguardmil.com/collections/ribbons-medals-attachments

If I remember correctly they’re just a little too big to be used on the bow.
There is also a small star on the front of the billethead.

 

As you can see, I don't need them for the bow. But as brutal as these two stars were to carve, I'm happy to take a break on the stern, and will be ordering from the site you provided the link for above.  I will, however, be skipping that third little star in front of the billethead.

[Der Alte Rentner]

2 hours ago, JSGerson said:

Those stars look simple enough, but are real easy to screw up. Nice job!

 

Jon

You have no idea..😁

 

But thank you.

Edited Thursday at 08:40 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Unegawahya]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

 

As you can see, I don't need them for the bow. But as brutal as these two stars were to carve, I'm happy to take a break on the stern, and will be ordering from the site you provided the link for above.  I will, however, be skipping that third little star in front of the billethead.

I can understand! I just painted mine on.

[Der Alte Rentner]

I found a way to make this process quicker and more precise.

 

In a dream last night I fixed the Jewelers saw blade to my scroll saw. This morning it took a look at my scroll saw and saw that it not only would accept my Jewelers saw blades, but that the machine has a speed control.  By dialing the speed down to the slowest possible, and tightening the blade vertically, I was able to get very accurate cuts, unlike what I was managing with the handheld Jewelers saw.

 

I drilled a couple of pilot holes in the assembly and fed the blade through the hole and bolted it tight to the scroll saw.

 

To cut the work in half, I taped two pieces of the boxwood together, taped the pair to a back plate of Basswood, and taped the template on top of the top piece of boxwood. Once again I applied a thin layer of white glue so that the template didn't disintegrate as I was cutting around it. I'm now cutting two shapes in one pass. At the end it's just a matter of carefully separating the three pieces of wood.

 

Getting the tape residue off of the parts turned out to be fairly simple. The scroll work piece stuck to my finger easily as I passed it over 320 sandpaper. A little fine-tuning with files and sandpaper, Presto! two more pieces finished..

 

 

 

 

 

 

No I'm not giving everyone the middle finger. The tip of my index finger is missing, hence the use of the next one in line.

 

Looking at the pictures of the remaining scroll work to fabricate, I think I may have to cut the longer piece in two or possibly even three. We shall see..

Edited Friday at 06:52 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Added an afterthought

[JSGerson]

I'm being very critical so don't take this wrong. It appears from the photos that your beautifully cut pieces may be a tad too wide/thick (for lack of a better term). Looking at the line drawing and comparing it to the cut pieces, it seems to be the cut pieces are too wide by a width of the line. It's as if you cut the pieces to the outside of the line when it should have been to the inside. This may be an optical illusion, as we are talking thousands of an inch, but these pieces need to fit on the trail board with room for the white edging. The tolerances are very tight. Have you dry fitted these few pieces yet. I would hate to have you realize, that when all the pieces are put together, they won't fit.

 

I hope I'm wrong

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

No, you're not wrong. Sone of the pieces are a smidge oversized - as they stand right now, but I plan to whittle these to fit. I couldn't cut to the inside of the lines because,  as you may have noticed, I took the filled-in images as my guide. It was hard enough to get close to the edge. I can't imagine actually trying to eliminate the line with the scroll saw. So I will be tackling the overages here and there with files and sandpaper. If worse comes to absolute worst, I'll make a slightly wider trailboard. 

 

Depending on my luck with shaping those trim lines, I may skip them all together, rendering the point moot.

[JSGerson]

As long as you are aware that some tweeting (not twerking) may be required, then all is good.🙂