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

[GGibson]

Looking good, Peter! 👍🏆

[Der Alte Rentner]

Thank you Gregg.  Any thoughts on whether to put a couple of coats of poly on all the brass?  Or let them age?  

[GGibson]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Thank you Gregg.  Any thoughts on whether to put a couple of coats of poly on all the brass?  Or let them age?  

 

Never really thought about any coverage on brass, Peter.  But, referring to an expert, especially when it comes to brass work in ship modeling, I looked at my copy of Ken Foran's (@xken) book Modeling Building with Brass - 2nd Edition.  When discussing cleaning parts, on page 113, he states that "parts that are to remain a natural brass finish can be clear coated, using lacquer or urethane spray can finishes intended for this purpose."  

[mtbediz]

9 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Another decision made - pin rails before tackles and breech lines. It seemed to me I would have a difficult time positioning the rails once the carronades were glued into place.  So, after I completed fabricating the breech lines, I fabricated and installed the pin rails. 

Yes, I guess with that thought, I also mounted the pin rails in place before the carronades.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Now, why didn't I catch this last month?  XKen may have an absolutely brilliant approach to stropping blocks! 

In my idle time, I'm going to try this myself to see if it's as clever as it looks..

 

I'm researching how best to make chainplates.  Since I won't be painting them black, I'll need an approach that keeps the brass looking good.  Anyone with links to methods that might fit the bill, please chime in..

 

.. and as long as I'm soliciting opinions, thoughts?

I think I like it. But I'm not 100% sure. Plan B would be to paint the wrinkled part of the eyebrow flat black, leaving the brass colored arch. Plan C would be to try to use the same stain I used for the dark planking.

Edited yesterday at 03:14 AM by Der Alte Rentner
Added another question and picture, to keep the page count down?

[Der Alte Rentner]

One more decision to make. Which belaying pins to use? I spent some money and got delaying pins from Syren. Here's a close-up of the Model Shipways version up against the Syren pin.

 

In the close up, Syren pins looks more realistic. But to the naked eye, the Model Swipways pins shine (pun intended).

 

 

If I go for the latter, I'll have to order more, since I hit the supply pretty hard for the quion handles.

 

Edited yesterday at 03:14 AM by Der Alte Rentner

[GGibson]

My $0.02 worth of opinion... Syren. 🤷‍♂️👍

[JSGerson]

Knowing how you like to say "oooh shiny!"😲 I figure you'll pick the brass. Whatever your choice, either one works well.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

50 minutes ago, GGibson said:

My $0.02 worth of opinion... Syren. 🤷‍♂️👍

Purely in terms of scale, I have to agree.

[Der Alte Rentner]

🤔 eyebrows? If so, which ones? Or pass?

 

This one is a definite fail. I used the same stain that's on the planking behind the curtain, but it doesn't take well to the primed metal. 

 

I don't like the black underneath the gold rim. Maybe if I switch to the brown paint on the one below?

 

Chocolate brown spray paint. Not half bad actually..

 

But brass paint looks better.

 

Gold paint.

 

Borrowing a technique from Mustafa, this is Boxwood stained the same as the planking behind the curtain.

 

Unstained..

 

None of the above. (To be honest, I'm leaning towards this option.)

 

I'll think about it on my ride back home..

Edited yesterday at 03:11 AM by Der Alte Rentner
typo

[JSGerson]

Let’s go back to the basics. You are building a model of a real ship albeit stylized with your choice of color palette. The real ship is black with a white gun stripe. It also has “eyebrows” and gun port hinges. Your model is stained dark where the actual ship is black, light-colored wood, where it is white and has brass for all the metal parts. the The "eyebrows" on the real ship are black and the hinges are painted white. Therefore, following that color palette, the color for the “eyebrows should be included on the model and match the dark stained wood, and the hinges should be brass. Granted, there will not be any contrast between the “eyebrows” and the hull, but neither is there any on the real ship. If you are not consistent, I fear the model will lose some of its handsome character. Just my personal thoughts.

 

Jon

[GGibson]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Borrowing a technique from Mustafa, this is Basswood stained the same as the planking behind the curtain.

 

 

 

Excellent way to test how it would look with various stains/paints, Peter.  Good work.  And very good analysis by Jon.

 

Along those lines, my vote is for the "similar to planking" stain above.  I recall you invoking the KISS principle previously.  This stain choice keeps everything subtle, IMHO.

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 7/24/2025 at 5:29 PM, GGibson said:

..my vote is for the "similar to planking" stain above.  I recall you invoking the KISS principle previously.  This stain choice keeps everything subtle, IMHO.

Gregg, I agree with you about KISS principle.

(..and with Jon, about consistency of color.)

 

My problem is, I think my wooden eyebrows are still too thick. I don't know if I can get them down to 1.4 mm in total thickness. So, I'm going to the paint store now to see about getting the exact same brown as the stain, and painting the Britannia parts that color as my final test. It might actually be quicker for me to deal with metal then mess around with 30 wooden curtains on the milling machine.  

 

P.S. had I known that my choice of going with a "natural" finish was going to pose this many problems, I might have opted for the black/white theme, like everyone else. Oh well..

Edited yesterday at 12:22 AM by Der Alte Rentner
what else? typos!

[Der Alte Rentner]

The experiment with the paint was a complete failure. I'm not going to bother with photographs on that.. I revisited the Boxwood curtains (meaning I fabricated another 30 plus blanks, this time 1/16" (1.6mm) thick) and got almost spot on to the dimensions of the Britannia pieces.  The bit was perilously close to the vise on the final cut, but production begins after I post this entry.  

 

They will be stained to match the planking behind them.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again to Mustafa for sharing his technique.

 

Edited yesterday at 03:13 AM by Der Alte Rentner
sigh, more typos

[JSGerson]

Here are a few images of the eyebrows. I have not seen anywhere what they are made of, but they look either like painted canvas or copper plate for water proofing. That being said, the flat wrinkly part looks very thin while the lip bordering it is just an inch or two.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

4 hours ago, JSGerson said:

Here are a few images of the eyebrows. I have not seen anywhere what they are made of, but they look either like painted canvas or copper plate for water proofing. That being said, the flat wrinkly part looks very thin while the lip bordering it is just an inch or two.

 

Jon

 

 

I was wondering if I should try to emulate the concave curves on the bottoms of the eyebrows.  That's how the parts in the kit are shaped, as is the curtain in the bottom photo you supplied, Jon.  However, the top photo suggests that I can leave well enough alone, as that curtain bottom is quite straight.  

 

P.S.  I was glad to see that the gun deck cannons are protruding well out of the closed lids.  I was thinking perhaps they looked odd that way on my build.  Now I'm considering producing red plugs with stars in the center.  Geez, do I have too much time on my hands?

🤔

 

Lastly, I didn't include the first photo you provided above, but that one shows the chain plate, deadeye, and channel details quite nicely.  These are on the to do list for the coming weeks.  

Edited yesterday at 12:46 AM by Der Alte Rentner

[GGibson]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

However, the top photo suggests that I can leave well enough alone, as that curtain bottom is quite straight.  

 

Yep, agreed.  Pretty small variance from a 1:76.8 viewer's perspective.  Looks good, Peter.

[mtbediz]

I left the bottom straight without thinking too much about it. Since the lids would be open anyway, they wouldn't be visible

[Der Alte Rentner]

Eyebrows fabricated.                                                                              Belaying pin decision made. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner
struggling to figure out how to place photos..

[JSGerson]

Good choices

 

Jon