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 May 10 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 Wednesday at 03:58 PM 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

[Der Alte Rentner]

To be clear, I am not planning on doing this, but to contribute to the discussion.  This photo comes from KMart's build log..

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

4 hours to install the third rail. I tried three different techniques before I bailed on them and opted for picking a softer piece of wood and just using the plank Bender to shape it.

 

And again, it's amazing what the camera picks up that the eye does not when you're actually working on it. I'm not going to change it, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the shape right above the flag.

 

And! I just noticed that I was a little sloppy applying stain to the bottom of that rail.  Oh well..

 

calling it a day

 

 

Edited Friday at 05:44 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Unegawahya]

For such a fiddly struggle as the head is, yours is looking great!

Just keep in mind, the artist is always the harshest critic of his own work.

[Der Alte Rentner]

2 hours ago, Unegawahya said:

For such a fiddly struggle as the head is, yours is looking great!

Just keep in mind, the artist is always the harshest critic of his own work.

Sad, but true. 

 

Honestly, I can't wait for this struggle to be over.  After this, I'll look back fondly on the piece of cake the galleries and windows seem to have been by comparison.  

 

I'll be approaching the two year anniversary on this build at the end of June.  Oddly, it seems like only yesterday.  I hope the entire head area will be done by then so I have a great photo-op for volume two of my hardcopy log.

 

Thanks for checking in Thomas.

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 5/14/2025 at 8:21 PM, JerryTodd said:

Constitution was basically rebuilt around 1854ish but may have had her head enclosed before then.

The mind sometimes ventures to weird places..  Um, with the entire area planked, where did the effluent go?  

 

[GGibson]

3 hours ago, Unegawahya said:

Just keep in mind, the artist is always the harshest critic of his own work.

 

Looks good, Peter!  And also remember what has been mentioned on countless other build logs... You are noticing things, as the artist, using a zoomed-in camera.  Back up 2-3 feet with the naked eye and it's never noticed. 🤷‍♂️👍

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

The mind sometimes ventures to weird places..  Um, with the entire area planked, where did the effluent go?  

 

Over the side somewhere!  With one hand hanging onto a rope and the other hand... well, nevermind.... 🫢🤣

[JerryTodd]

Down the "poop chute," of course

[mtbediz]

6 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

I'll be approaching the two year anniversary on this build at the end of June.

I remember those days as if they were yesterday. If I am not mistaken, you started with another company's kit. Then, after your conversations with us, you continued with the MS kit. My second year with this model will be up in June too. I haven't decided whether to make the masts and rigging yet. As every year, I will close the workshop soon for the summer vacation and will leave my decision until the fall. I apologize Peter, if you clarified this issue before, but I want to ask. Are you planning to add rigging and sail equipment?

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, mtbediz said:

Are you planning to add rigging and sail equipment?

 

I'm hoping that a few of you at least do the rigging on your Constitution!  Although I still haven't decided what Constitution era or version I will do whenever I get to mine, it was an easy decision to not do sails, but to do as much of the standing and running rigging as I can on it.  

[Der Alte Rentner]

No sails for me, Mustafa!  But I confess, it never occurred to me not to do the rigging. Somehow I think the model wouldn't quite be the same without at least some rigging. But thanks for suggesting a labor saving solution.  We will chat about this again in a year.. in the meantime

 

Enjoy your summer off.

 

(And thanks for the stroll down memory lane.)

Edited yesterday at 04:58 PM by Der Alte Rentner