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

[Unegawahya]

5 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Getting close..  

 

But Thomas, how the heck did you get such a great fit between grating and rail 2?  Kudos!  I'm going to cut my rail and tackle it in two pieces like you seem to have.   

 

 

Thank you!

From what I remember, I did all of the supports first using the gratings as a guide. The second rail was fitted to fit the grating and the hull. It’s also been 5 years since then too!You can also see in my picture that I messed up the supports and had to patch them to get a better shape.

[Der Alte Rentner]

So far, I think I'm having better luck. Still a ways from being done, but progress is being made.

 

 

 

 

 

[hmcarlin]

Beautiful work on all of those fiddly bits at the head.  Your attention to detail is inspiring.

 

[ERS Rich]

 

On 5/7/2025 at 4:57 PM, Unegawahya said:

But Thomas, how the heck did you get such a great fit between grating and rail 2?  Kudos!

Hi,

 

To get a tight fit, look up on the web the concept of scribing.  Carpenters scribe to get a perfect fit between two pieces of wood, for example cabinet trim and a wall.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Back to the fiddly bits.  Man,  oh man, is this time consuming stuff.  Also it's amazing what you see in photographs that you don't see when you're working on the parts themselves. I'm going to have to do some tweaking on the little slots for the third rail. There seems to be some disparity in the height of the slot on support 3 on the port side compared to that of the starboard side. Oh well, having fun..

 

The grating has not yet been glued in. I was waiting for the base support to be fairly solid first.

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 06:12 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Unegawahya]

Your bow is looking really good and it’s coming along nicely!

[Der Alte Rentner]

In 24 hours, I'll be installing the last two timbers and the 2nd head rail. (The stain needs to cure).  At that point, I'll probably also install the starboard side grating.  

 

[mtbediz]

Very nice.

[Der Alte Rentner]

I'm reluctant to even post today. Having just seen Mustafa's work on his supports, I'm completely demoralized. However, here's what four and a half hours netted me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GGibson]

16 minutes ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

I'm reluctant to even post today. Having just seen Mustafa's work on his supports, I'm completely demoralized. However, here's what four and a half hours netted me.

 

Nah... what's the old saying about skinning a cat?  Yours are looking nice, Peter!  Love how the grates are looking.  Grate work, sir! 

[mtbediz]

I agree with Greg. Your supports look pretty good. I don't see any problems.

[Unegawahya]

To make it three! Your supports look great. Keep up the great work!

[Der Alte Rentner]

Off to the endodontist, yet again 🙄, in a couple of minutes. Before I go, the most recent modifications. I had to reshape the gratng to get a better fit between the lower headrail and the grating. After doing so, I committed and glued the grating/head assembly to supports three, four, and five. Maybe I'll get back this afternoon and install the rail. Cheers..

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

I did come back to finish the starboard side lower head rail.

 

 

 

[mtbediz]

You got a very good fit between rail and gratings. 

 

There's one thing that caught my eye though. Your lower headrail seems a bit short to me. Shouldn't it extend all the way to the end? In that case, it looks like support number 1 will be outside the rail.

[Der Alte Rentner]

16 minutes ago, mtbediz said:

You got a very good fit between rail and gratings. 

 

There's one thing that caught my eye though. Your lower headrail seems a bit short to me. Shouldn't it extend all the way to the end? In that case, it looks like support number 1 will be outside the rail.

Good catch. I deliberately chose to eliminate support number one, figuring that for the millimeter or two distance from the stem, it wasn't worth bothering about.

 

I took a look at how the top rail would fit and decided this would be a good place to end rail number two. Time will tell if there will be some deconstruction in my future. 😁

[mtbediz]

If you did this consciously, that's fine. Otherwise, you'd have to do it all over again, which would be a disaster, I think.

[Der Alte Rentner]

I agree 100%. It would be a disaster. As a plan B in that event, I have seen older pictures of the Constitution where the entire four Peak is planked. No open supports at all. It shouldn't come to that.

🤔

[JerryTodd]

The fully enclosed head was a style with US warships from about the 1850s.   Constitution was basically rebuilt around 1854ish but may have had her head enclosed before then.

 

The head of Constellation built 1854