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

[Der Alte Rentner]

3 hours ago, Unegawahya said:

Your carriage looks great! I don’t think the peace under the carriage would be that much of a loss because like you said “it’s not very visible.”

are you going to build all wedge type carriages or are you going to add in the two screw types that are there.

 

Assuming you were addressing me with the question, Unegawahya, I'm going for what Bob Hunt showed in the photo (not his build).  Though  I haven't decided on going with this color scheme, that of the Constructo kit (stained wood and brass), or a hybrid -  red carriage with brass carronade?  black carriage with brass carronade?  I kind of like this color combo, but I hate to blacken the brass carronades.  

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

12 hours ago, mtbediz said:

Yes I can see the concept. I was lazy and didn't add this piece under the gun bed in the plans because it wasn't very visible  Here is my concept;

 

In my previous comment to you, Mustafa, there was a typo.  I was trying to show you how an ogee bit could have made shaping the curve on the carriage sides easier for you by using a router table, instead of the numerous passes you must have endured on the Proxxon mill. 

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Does anyone (Jon?) have a jpg file of the US flag decoration for the Oval decoration on the trailboard that you would be willing to share?

 

The one bmp file provided with the Hunt practicum (Conny Chapter 8 Flag.bmp) is too small, not to mention too pixilated.

 

 

[mtbediz]

5 hours ago, Unegawahya said:

are you going to build all wedge type carriages or are you going to add in the two screw types that are there.

Thomas, I didn't notice the two screw type carronades were also there. I checked again and yes they are there. I will try to make them.

Edited yesterday at 06:34 PM by mtbediz

[JSGerson]

You might try making a decal from one of these photos. Of course you will have to reduce it down to the proper size.

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

In my previous comment to you, Mustafa, there was a typo.  I was trying to show you how an ogee bit could have made shaping the curve on the carriage sides easier for you by using a router table, instead of the numerous passes you must have endured on the Proxxon mill. 

 

Thank you Peter, I understand what you mean.

Edited yesterday at 06:57 PM by mtbediz

[GGibson]

All great historical research and discussion, gentlemen!  It is going to be interesting to watch how each of you complete your spar decks and what combinations of 1812-era carronades vs. the 1927-1931 restoration castings each of you place on your spar decks.  Of course, I'm watching it all with great interest and admiration.  Carry on, fellas! 👍🏆

[JSGerson]

The following is from the USS Constitution Museum:

Quote

Constitution’s Modern Armament

August 25, 2015

By Margherita M. Desy, Kate Monea

Originally rated as a 44-gun frigate, USS Constitution typically carried around 54 guns. During the War of 1812, she mounted twenty-four 32-pound carronades on the spar deck, as well as a long 18-pound “chase” gun forward, and thirty 24-pound long guns on the gun deck.

Today, Constitution’s guns are replicas, not originals. When the ship returned to Boston in 1897 for her 100th birthday, she no longer carried any guns. In 1883 she had been turned into barracks and a “receiving ship” for sailors, so guns were no longer necessary. Her first 20th century restoration in 1906-1907 saw fifty-five replica guns made for the ship. All of the present guns were cast for the 1927-1931 restoration with the exception of two 1812-era replica carronades on the after quarter deck. Cast in 1981, these carronades are closer to Constitution‘s 1812 spar deck armament. The gun deck guns were cast in the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1929. The pattern of these guns was based on a British siege gun that was abandoned in Boston during the American Revolution and is currently displayed near Harvard University. The decision to cast “British” guns was made by Lieutenant John A. Lord, Supervisor of the 1927-1931 restoration. He based his decision upon inaccurate research that led the Navy to mistakenly believe that Constitution was outfitted with British guns in 1812.

As stated above, all but two carronades are inaccurate British guns replicas with the remaining two gun replicas closer to the 1812 pattern. Somewhere I read in the USS Constitution Museum documents that the plan is to replace the inaccurate carronades with the 1812 style at some future date. Therefore, I decided that ALL my model's carronades will be the more accurate 1812 style (screw type elevation mechanism).

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Thanks to all you historians for your contributions to the discussion.  Hopefully you'll forgive me for going my own - less than perfect - way..

 

Which brings me to today's contribution..

 

I built a little jig for assembling the carronade carriages, and since the idea behind working on these at this stage of my bill is to keep myself busy while on vacation, I only assembled one unit as a proof of concept.

 

To give myself plenty of work time before the glue set, I used Titebond II and a very fine brush to carefully and strategically apply glue to the block in the center before inserting the base Into the fixture, and then dropping the carriage sides down into those little grooves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner
Corrections

[Der Alte Rentner]

3 hours ago, JSGerson said:

You might try making a decal from one of these photos. Of course you will have to reduce it down to the proper size.

That was always an option, but requires spending some time with Photoshop or Corel Draw.  I had hoped that someone had already gone through this exercise. But if not, that'll be my next home office art project. Now that I think of it, it would be fairly easy to do in Corel, especially since I already have the scanned ellipses. I'll just create my own Stars and Stripes to fit.

 

It helps to be a jack of all trades.

[GGibson]

Jig and carronade carriages look good, Peter!  Enjoy your vacation time! 

[mtbediz]

Your jig works great Peter.

[Unegawahya]

18 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Thanks to all you historians for your contributions to the discussion.  Hopefully you'll forgive me for going my own - less than perfect - way..

 

Which brings me to today's contribution..

 

I built a little jig for assembling the carronade carriages, and since the idea behind working on these at this stage of my bill is to keep myself busy while on vacation, I only assembled one unit as a proof of concept.

 

To give myself plenty of work time before the glue set, I used Titebond II and a very fine brush to carefully and strategically apply glue to the block in the center before inserting the base Into the fixture, and then dropping the carriage sides down into those little grooves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I would have seen your jig way back when I did my gun deck! I had to figure it out on my own.

They look great!

[Der Alte Rentner]

This morning was spent advancing my skills with Corel Draw.  Having closely studied the photos that Jon provided a couple of posts back, and checking other sources, I came to the conclusion that the shield on the bow decor is not symmetrical.  I exported to all the file formats I thought anyone might benefit from going forward:

Corel Draw  - cdr

Scaled Vector Graphics - svr

and good old jpg.

 

Note: to get the correct scale for the printer, I opened the jpg file using Photoshop.  

 

But first, the graphics that led to the results:

Closeup of the shield as provided by Jon and my cdr version superimposed onto that.

 

 

 

Isolating just the shield.  Then adding the mirrored image for the opposite side of the trailboard.

 

Here are the files for anyone interested in downloading them.  I quadrupled the pair, figuring that anyone printing these would have more than one of each to play with.  Good luck..

 

Note: to get the correct scale for the printer, I had to open the jpg file using Photoshop.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bow Scrollwork - Shields in pairs.svg Bow Scrollwork - Shields in pairs.cdr

Edited 2 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner
added caveat.

[JSGerson]

Since you are going to try and recreate the shield, you might as well have the exact shape from the US Navy.

[Der Alte Rentner]

59 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Since you are going to try and recreate the shield, you might as well have the exact shape from the US Navy.

Ooops,  I thought I was done until I paid closer attention to the white perimeter.  Back to the drawing board.. 

 

Fortunately, all I'll have to do is scale down the components of the shield and change the color of the background oval, which is completely covered right now, from black to white.  Shouldn't take more than a half hour.  Not today however.  

 

Thanks Jon.

 

P.S.  Sorry, I couldn't help myself.   😁

I checked your build log to see how you did it. 

I think you mounted at least one shield on the wrong side. 

If you caught the asymmetry, then both sides are reversed.

But, as has often been mentioned here at MSW, from a foot away, no one will ever notice.

 

Still, an amazing job on the scrollwork!

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Der Alte Rentner