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

[mtbediz]

You're making pretty steady progress Peter. I don't know if you're going to glue the gratings in place, but I assume you've planned out how to make the gammoning as well.

[Unegawahya]

I’m happy to be able to help! She’s looking great!

[Der Alte Rentner]

Well, well, well.. another deficit in the Hunt practicum. There's absolutely no mention of gammoning that I can find anywhere through chapter 12. Now, maybe when I get back to my desktop I can search for the term "gammoning" and see if it pops up somewhere. But frankly, I hadn't even thought about it until you asked.

 

The grates are already glued in. Now that I've seen the gammoning on the plans, it's possible I might still be able to get them in, at some point. If not, I'm going to take a low-tech approach and cheat - perhaps just paint them on the bowsprit, or simply omit them. (For what it's worth, the Constructo kit plans don't even include them.)

 

If I don't cheat, maneuvering the chain is going to be really tricky.

 

Two steps forward, one step back.

 

Along those lines, I am finding it very difficult to glue the plank stiffeners in place. Neither tite-bond nor CA glue is sticking well to the lower head rail.  I'm hoping that the planks themselves will afford enough points of adhesion, that the whole structure will stay in place. Make that two steps forward, three steps back?

 

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Mustafa.

Edited May 20 by Der Alte Rentner
Typos

[mtbediz]

Yes, there had to be enough space between the bowsprit and the grates for the chains to pass through. But there's nothing to do now. If I were you, at this stage, I would make the gammon out of rope instead of chain, this solution might be easier and wouldn't be wrong. I read somewhere that gammon were made out of rope before the chain.

Edited May 19 by mtbediz

[Der Alte Rentner]

58 minutes ago, mtbediz said:

there's nothing to do now. If I were you, at this stage, I would make the gammon out of rope instead of chain, this solution might be easier and wouldn't be wrong. I read somewhere that gammon were made out of rope before the chain.

 

Hey, that's a great idea!  If I get that far..   

 

Today was very frustrating.  While gluing in the first plank, those "plank stiffeners" came loose at several points along the lower head rail.  I pieced things back together as best I could and hope that subsequent planks serve to reinforce the structure.  My choice to stain these parts is coming back to vex me yet again.  It's oil based and covered with clear matte poly, but given the small surface areas at the mating points, the joints are extremely fragile.  If things go south, the gammons will be the least of my worries..

 

Thanks again!

[Unegawahya]

9 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

 

Hey, that's a great idea!  If I get that far..   

 

Today was very frustrating.  While gluing in the first plank, those "plank stiffeners" came loose at several points along the lower head rail.  I pieced things back together as best I could and hope that subsequent planks serve to reinforce the structure.  My choice to stain these parts is coming back to vex me yet again.  It's oil based and covered with clear matte poly, but given the small surface areas at the mating points, the joints are extremely fragile.  If things go south, the gammons will be the least of my worries..

 

Thanks again!

That is really unfortunate! Is there a way you could remove just enough of the mating surface to give your glue a good fighting chance?

[Der Alte Rentner]

Exactly what I did, Thomas.

 

In the end, the planking strengthened the entire structure.  All's well that ends well. Starboard side done.  

 

 

Now I get to relive the entire adventure on the port side. Oh joy! 😁

 

P.S. Once again, a photo shows me something I didn't see with my naked eyes. I have to redrill the Gammon holes, preferably before I plank the port side. And yes, Mustafa, rope gammoning is correct. I've seen several references to it online and at this website.

 

Finally, before anyone asks, I have no idea why I put dowels in those holes in the stem..

Edited May 20 by Der Alte Rentner
Added comments

[mtbediz]

Peter, I'm glad things are going well for you. By the way, I'll also make the gammon out of rope. Rope is more pleasing to my eye.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Though not visible in the photos below, I did check to see where the gammoning would be on the bowsprit and I believe there will be plenty of room to pass rope between the head and the bowsprit. So, no worries on that front. Meanwhile, work begins on the port side..

 

(As an aside, this dividing attachment is a pretty crappy accessory for the proxxon MF 70 mill.  It would be nice if the rotary base would accommodate the small proxon vise instead of having these ridiculous Jaws. At least I got one thing accomplished using the tool.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 21 by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

Due to matters requiring attention at home, I am using the day to update my personal build log on my desktop PC.  When it came time to mention the gammoning issue, I felt I needed a photo to illustrate what I was talking about.  Here's a photo from a post by "AllanKP69" at another model building website.    Have a good weekend all..

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

I fabricated rail three in three parts  finding this to be the easiest way to do it. I wish I'd done this with the starboard side rail, but better late than never.

 

Before I attempt to attach the stiffeners for the planking, I am going to let the glue and stain cure, and contemplate employing Mustafa's technique of adding a backing plank to make that installation easier.  So I'm going to take the rest of the weekend off.  Happy Memorial Day to all.

 

By the way, if anyone looking at my post has not yet discovered the one for The Bitter End, look that one up. You are going to be stunned with what he posted today.  Link follows:

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37377-uss-constitution-by-the-bitter-end-model-shipways-176/page/6/#comment-1101164

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25 by Der Alte Rentner
Typos and additional commentary..

[Der Alte Rentner]

Finally!  While not perfect, due to slight discrepancies in symmetry between port and starboard sides, I am pretty satisfied with the result of the port side planking. More than that, I'm happy to be moving on to something else. What that will be remains to be determined. 

 

Drat! I think I know what that's going to be afterall. I noticed a chip in the bottom port side rail, right near the top by the ornamental arrow in the trailboard scroll work. Maybe I'll try to fix that. I have no idea when that happened.  Again, the camera sees more than the naked eye.

 

 

 

 

Before I left the shipyard, I had to at least try to fix the chipped rail. 

 

Edited May 27 by Der Alte Rentner

[mtbediz]

Everything looks great Peter, congratulations. I've also finished the bow detailing for now. I'll fabricate the grates and put them in place after I install the bowsprit and gammoming. The trailboard ornament looks like it's going to wait a long time. Because I haven't figured out how to make it yet because I've never make anything like it before. I haven't made up my mind yet but I think I'll continue with the gun port lids.

[Der Alte Rentner]

3 hours ago, mtbediz said:

The trailboard ornament looks like it's going to wait a long time. Because I haven't figured out how to make it yet because I've never make anything like it before.

Your bow detailing is striking and elegant.  I look forward to seeing how you deal with the trailboard and ornaments.

 

I assume you have the plans which include the drawings of the ornaments. In which case, you - of all people - should have no problem.  Since you seem to have a knack for metal work, XKen's method for making these may be of interest to you.  Or you could try styrene (the Bob Hunt method).  I'm sure you'll come up with something amazing.  (Don't forget that I have the artwork for those oval flags, as well as the scale drawings of the ornaments, if you need them, at post 499.)  

 

My thoughts are to tackle what I can on the hull first, so I can finally clamp it down to work on a stable platform.  Rudder? Channels? Gundeck cannons and port lids?  But maybe before I do much else , I'll experiment with aging the copper plating to see how the green looks next to my planking.  If I like the look, that could be next. 

Edited May 27 by Der Alte Rentner

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Since you seem to have a knack for metal work, XKen's method for making these may be of interest to you.

 

Ken Foran's brass work was amazing to see in his Constitution build log.  So much so, that I purchased his book, although I'll probably never be good enough to use half of the techniques he described! 🤷‍♂️🤣

 

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

My thoughts are to tackle what I can on the hull first, so I can finally clamp it down to work on a stable platform.  Rudder? Channels? Gundeck cannons and port lids?  But maybe before I do much else , I'll experiment with aging the copper plating to see how the green looks next to my planking.  If I like the look, that could be next. 

 

Sounds like a lengthy to-do list, Peter!  Will be fun to watch you continue your progress! 👍

[Der Alte Rentner]

I struck out in my online search for methods of aging the copper plate for the hull.  Given that the materials supplied with the kit have a tape/paper backed copper strip, none of the soaking approaches suggested by A/I Deep Searches yielded a workable solution.  Does anyone know of a supplier of adhesive copper tape already green (green, as in an aged penny or the Statue of Liberty)?  To refresh memories before anyone asks,  I don't like the look of the shiny copper next to my "natural" finished planking.

Edited May 28 by Der Alte Rentner

[usedtosail]

About 10 years ago I remember there was a post on another modeling web site where a builder used his own urine to turn his copper plates green, right on the hull. I am not recommending that approach but thought I would include it for completeness, I guess?

[Der Alte Rentner]

Hi Tom,

 

My goal is to keep the hull 'completely' dry.  but thanks for the novel 😆 idea.. 

 

Peter

[GGibson]

Well, there is a pea green hue, but not a.... 🤷‍♂️🤣

Edited May 28 by GGibson

[Der Alte Rentner]

Doing a little house keeping here by finishing up some undone stuff.  I finally got around to cutting the stars out of styrene for the transom.

 

[GGibson]

I give your transom work a 6-star rating review! 👍🏆

[mtbediz]

Your transom looks very nice, Peter. I either have to buy these stars or cut them out myself. What tool did you use to cut these stars?

[Der Alte Rentner]

14 hours ago, mtbediz said:

Your transom looks very nice, Peter. I either have to buy these stars or cut them out myself. What tool did you use to cut these stars?

I used double-sided tape to affix printed star shapes onto a styrene strip (.010" x .188"). I then used an Excel 17a chisel blade to cut out the shapes.  There's no way these are going to end up being perfect. I threw away about as many as I ended up gluing to the transom.

 

Truth be told, I think it might have been easier to make them using boxwood and my scroll saw, as I did for the stars in the decoration on the trail board/stem. Scroll back a bunch of pages to see how I did that in my build log.

 

I could not find a source for Star decals in the size required for this job.

 

Edited May 31 by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

I had hoped to finish the long guns for the spar deck today. But I grow weary. I don't think much needs to be explained below, except that I did take a slight deviation from the Hunt practicum in that I did not use a brass rod to support the stool bed. I figured that it would hardly be seen and add too much complexity to the construction. I took an easier route that didn't risk poking holes in the carriage sides.   

 

(Boy, it would have been fun to be able to jump from my previous post to the finished Constitution, like Gregg just did with the Santa Maria. Sadly I'm not quite as productive as he.  Once again Gregg, congratulations on a beautiful build.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as the wheels are concerned, I'm going to take a simple approach by cutting dowels of the proper diameters and simply glue these to the ends of the axles.

 

The quoins should be a piece of cake, since I think I still have some leftover material from when I built the carronades.

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:30 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Typos, typos, typos. Speech to text is not the best tool to use for these posts.

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

(Boy, it would have been fun to be able to jump from my previous post to the finished Constitution, like Gregg just did with the Santa Maria. Sadly I'm not quite as productive as he.  Once again Gregg, congratulations on a beautiful build.)

 

Wow, those carriages look sharp, Peter.  Nice work!

 

As to my completed Santa Maria, I had a much shorter leap to completion on it than you have on this beauty.  Thanks for the look-in on mine.

 

As I said in my post, give me a few weeks to clean up and reorganize my shipyard and spend some "grandkids time" away from the shipyard, and I'll be back in no time working on the Constitution's keel and bulkheads. 👍

[Der Alte Rentner]

Except for a coat of poly, the addition of a pair of eyebolts and installation on the spar deck, the cannons are more or less done.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 08:33 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Unegawahya]

Your guns are looking great! Do you know if your going to rig them?

[Der Alte Rentner]

18 hours ago, Unegawahya said:

Your guns are looking great! Do you know if your going to rig them?

Yes, I will rig them.  In fact, I'm studying up on that now.

 

I think I'm only going to use one set of block and tackle and a breech rope per cannon or carronade. Since, as previously mentioned, I've already installed the eye bolts in the bulwarks,  and since I also didn't construct the pieces the breech ropes attach to with a pin, I will be using hooks to attach blocks and breech ropes to the existing eye bolts.

 

I see I have much rigging and seizing ahead of me.  So, while it may look like I'm taking a summer hiatus, I will probably just be busy for a time with fiddly work and finalizing year two of my build log for a spiral bound hard copy. 

 

I'll be back as soon as I have something interesting to display.  

 

 

 

[Unegawahya]

10 minutes ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Yes, I will rig them.  In fact, I'm studying up on that now.

 

I think I'm only going to use one set of block and tackle and a breech rope per cannon or carronade. Since, as previously mentioned, I've already installed the eye bolts in the bulwarks,  and since I also didn't construct the pieces the breech ropes attach to with a pin, I will be using hooks to attach blocks and breech ropes to the existing eye bolts.

 

I see I have much rigging and seizing ahead of me.  So, while it may look like I'm taking a summer hiatus, I will probably just be busy for a time with fiddly work and finalizing year two of my build log for a spiral bound hard copy. 

 

I'll be back as soon as I have something interesting to display.  

 

 

 

If I remember correctly, I used the 2.5mm boxwood blocks from Drydock Models. 
I can’t wait to see yours installed!

[Der Alte Rentner]

2 hours ago, Unegawahya said:

If I remember correctly, I used the 2.5mm boxwood blocks from Drydock Models. 
I can’t wait to see yours installed!

 

Hmmm,  I never thought I'd be back this soon...

 

 You won't see the blocks installed anytime soon, but here are the Syren Ship Model Company 1/8" double and single blocks (left) compared to their equivalent(?) versions as supplied by Model Shipways (right).  Yes, I'm sure those are the correct ones from Model Shipways. This was verified by the count of the blocks compared to the parts list that came with the kit.

 

 

Attaching the hooks to the Syren blocks is going to be an interesting proposition.  Pin vice and drill baby drill?  Looks like it will work.  I opened up the eye of an eye bolt and trimmed the bolt to fit the hole I drilled in the block. Only 79 more of these to go for the tackle.  

 

 

I had hoped to be able to wrap one of the Jack stays completely around the block but there's not enough material there to cover the circumference.  And frankly, experimentation has shown that it's too difficult to do anyway.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:37 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Changed the narrative..