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

[Der Alte Rentner]

40 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

There is always the layer-cake alternative, the method I used for my catheads. Although, I too would prefer just to drill them.

 

Jon

Jon,

Too late for creating layer cakes from scratch, mine are already baked, and the only option I have is slice into the cakes that're already done.  

😁

 

BTW, I did check XKen's build.  He seems to have used a thin saw blade, cutting three parallel grooves up from the bottom of the stanchion.  I suppose, I could  use a scroll saw to do the same, but I'm not confident I could get clean parallel cuts - and I certainly don't want to make another batch of stanchions.  The band saw would be a better bet, if I had blades anywhere close to a workable thickness.  I don't.  Skip?  Or find a novel approach..  TBD

 

For what it's worth, not even XKen used these sheaves for his rigging, begging the question, why bother with holes at all..

 

 

Edited September 13 by Der Alte Rentner
added photo from XKen's build log.

[JSGerson]

Quote

begging the question, why bother with holes at all.

You might even get away with painted vertical lines!!??

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

1 hour ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Mustafa, what tools did you use to make your sheaves?

I used my mill with 0,6mm cutter to make the sheaves.

[Der Alte Rentner]

3 hours ago, mtbediz said:

I used my mill with 0,6mm cutter to make the sheaves.

You have all the best toys!

 

I'm not even going to try to find a 6 mm cutter. I've opted for another option, perhaps a little bit more involved than just painting the black stripes as Jon suggested, but resulting in a reasonable facsimile of a sheave.

 

 

Edited September 13 by Der Alte Rentner
Added photo of stained stanchions.

[mtbediz]

6 minutes ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

You have all the best toys!

 

I'm not even going to try to find a 6 mm cutter. I'm working on another option, perhaps a little bit more involved than just painting the black stripes as Jon suggested, but maybe resulting in a reasonable facsimile.  Back soon..

I bought 0.5-0.6-0.7mm cutters from Ali Express. They're not expensive, so I recommend them. You might need them again.

[mtbediz]

20 minutes ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

You have all the best toys!

 

I'm not even going to try to find a 6 mm cutter. I've opted for another option, perhaps a little bit more involved than just painting the black stripes as Jon suggested, but resulting in a reasonable facsimile of a sheave.

 

 

 Clever solution.

[woodartist]

23 hours ago, mtbediz said:

I'm not even going to try to find a 6 mm cutter.

These cutters that mtbediz is referring to can be found on Amazon, I have bought the .05-09 mm bits in a 10 pack and they were perfect

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 9/14/2025 at 11:37 AM, woodartist said:

These cutters that mtbediz is referring to can be found on Amazon, I have bought the .05-09 mm bits in a 10 pack and they were perfect

Since I ready faked the sheaves, not just on the stanchions, but also the ridding bitts,

 

I'm in no immediate rush for round cutters less than a millimeter in diameter. That doesn't mean I'm not going to shop for them, while I'm looking for something that'll cut a square hole 2 mm across for the wooden post that passes through the top of the ridding bites. (Hunt uses round brass stock, which I may resort to if I can't fit a square piece.)  Mustafa, if you are reading this, how did you manage to get square posts into your ridding bitts?

 

For larger woodworking projects, I have a tool that's a combination chisel/drill. Great for cutting mortises. I doubt I'm going to find anything small enough to work here..

 

Since I posted this response to Woodartist, I've taken a different direction. See proof of concept below:

 

 

 

 

I plan to put a 1/32" inch thick brass cap on top of the ridding bitt to finish it off.  

Edited September 19 by Der Alte Rentner
re-ordered photos

[JSGerson]

Quote

how did you manage to get square posts into your ridding bitts?

Drill a round hole in to vertical bitt no wider than the width of the horizontal post. Cut two pieces of square stock to the length that will exposed horizontally plus an addition length that will fit into the drilled hole. Round off one end of the horizontal post so it fits into the hole. Do the same for the other side. Thus you have a square peg in a round hole and it looks like it passes completely through.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

8 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Drill a round hole in to vertical bitt no wider than the width of the horizontal post. Cut two pieces of square stock to the length that will exposed horizontally plus an addition length that will fit into the drilled hole. Round off one end of the horizontal post so it fits into the hole. Do the same for the other side. Thus you have a square peg in a round hole and it looks like it passes completely through.

 

Jon

I admit that I gave that more than passing thought. But that meant setting up the lathe again.  Since I already had the milling machine more or less ready to go, I opted for the approach outlined above. Since I knew I was going to be adding a brass cap, I wasn't worried about the look of the top after the woodworking.

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, JSGerson said:

Drill a round hole in to vertical bitt no wider than the width of the horizontal post. Cut two pieces of square stock to the length that will exposed horizontally plus an addition length that will fit into the drilled hole. Round off one end of the horizontal post so it fits into the hole. Do the same for the other side. Thus you have a square peg in a round hole and it looks like it passes completely through.

 

Nice work on everything here, Peter.  Looks great!

 

Could one also accomplish the same visual by just using a brass rod (similar to how we secure items to the deck or the side of the hull) by drilling a hole the size of the rod thru the vertical bit, hand-drilling holes into the horizontal post sections, and inserting and securing the horizontal posts in the brass rod, pressed firmly against the vertical post to create the desired visual?

[JSGerson]

Quote

I opted for the approach outlined above.

That works too

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

12 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Mustafa, if you are reading this, how did you manage to get square posts into your ridding bitts?

I did it exactly as Greg described. 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Ridding bitt construction is done. 

 

 

Next up, staining and Fife rail assembly.

[JSGerson]

Beautiful pieces or work!

 

What method did you use to add the brass caps on the posts?

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

On 9/17/2025 at 9:10 AM, JSGerson said:

Beautiful pieces or work!

 

What method did you use to add the brass caps on the posts?

 

Jon

Sorry, I just now realized I didn't take any photographs of the process. 

 

I used the Proxxon mill and the dividing attachment on a quarter inch round piece of brass stock. If you look back to previous posts, you will see how I square off  round dowl - see pinnacles...

 

With the dowel in the dividing attachment, first I cleaned off the end, then repositioned the mill above the dowel and took off roughly half millimeter slices at 0, 90, 180, and 270° of rotation until I got square stock roughly the dimensions of the top of the ridding bitt. Mine weren't entirely square, so I made them a smidge oversized. (Only you and I will know that..  🤫).  Then I shifted the cutting bit 1 mm in from the end, and started taking off half millimeter slices every 45°. Eventually I just hand rotated the dividing attachment to fashion a circular nib of about 1mm in diameter to serve as locating pin for the cap to facilitate centering it on top of the ridding bitt, on top of which I had drilled a 1/16".  Finally I used a hacksaw to slice the cap from the dowel. Rinse, repeat

 

While the cap was still attached to the rod, I polished it using 1000, 3600, 6,000 grit sanding discs. I have a machine (Work Sharp), which I use to sharpen chisels and such, that allows me to do this kind of polishing.

 

Edited September 18 by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

Construction of the fife rails is finally completed. Like Mustafa with the chain plates and channels, this task took much longer than I expected. And I still need to apply poly and glue the rails to the deck.

 

Before you ask Gregg, I forgot to drill holes for nails at the bottom of the reading bits and stanchions. I guess I'll be doing this the old fashioned way - masking tape and careful positioning..

 

This was mostly just finicky busy work, and several times I broke things and had to redo them. Let me just say, I'm glad I'm finally done with this.

 

Oh, and once again, I was disappointed by the kit and the plans.  The knee that was attached to the ridding bitt/fife rail assembly for the foremast, ended up leaving a space much narrower than the outside diameter of the mast wedge/boot. You guessed it, I had to redeploy the lathe to shave material off the latter.

 

 

Assemblies in position, but not yet glued in..

 

 

 

 

 

[JSGerson]

Your fife rails look great.

 

I don't have a milling machine so I'll have to work out another method to fabricate the brass caps. Off the top of my head, I suppose I could buy a 5/32" (I think that's the proper dimension) square brass bar and slice off 1/32" pieces, like cutting a loaf of bread, to make my caps. Worst case, I could just paint the wood tops brass color. Time will tell.

 

Jon 

[Der Alte Rentner]

11 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Your fife rails look great.

 

I don't have a milling machine so I'll have to work out another method to fabricate the brass caps. Off the top of my head, I suppose I could buy a 5/32" (I think that's the proper dimension) square brass bar and slice off 1/32" pieces, like cutting a loaf of bread, to make my caps. Worst case, I could just paint the wood tops brass color. Time will tell.

 

Jon 

If you plan to do any more model building, I highly recommend getting the proxxon mill. It's a Time Saver on so many fronts. Absent investing in another tool, you are correct. Try to find a 5/32 square piece of stock and cut slices from the loaf.  I believe, if memory serves, that you've already painted some components brass. If that's the case go with the wood cap and paint option.

[JSGerson]

I painted the small connector blocks on the brass railings which are barely visible. The caps are larger, more prominent, so yeah, I would like to use brass. We'll see when the time comes.

 

As for buying major modeling equipment, I don't think so. I figure I've got a couple more years on the Conny and most of the woodwork is done save for the masts and yards. I turn 79 this November, so I will be in my 80's by the time I'm finished with her. I'll probably start thinking about reducing the stuff I accumulated over the years.

 

Jon

[mtbediz]

The Fife rails look great. Very clean work as always.

[Der Alte Rentner]

18 hours ago, JSGerson said:

so I will be in my 80's by the time I'm finished with her.

Me too, at the rate I'm going.  I'm approaching my mid seventies as well, but, I'm going for, he who dies with the most toys wins!  

 

For what it's worth, the Hunt practicum calls for copper on the ridding bitts, not brass.   

 

If you can get some 1/4" brass or copper dowel, you can file an end of it  down to get you close to square.  Then use a disk or belt sander to clean up the end, slice off a narrow strip with a band or hacksaw and epoxy the clean side to the top of a ridding bitt blank.  When the epoxy has cured, fine tune the filing to flush up the edges.  Finish off the tops with 400, 600, 1200, etc. sand paper to get a nice shiny surface.

[Der Alte Rentner]

To those who are at or past the installation of the fife rails, when is the best time to glue these to the spar deck?  I'm thinking that gluing in the masts and their wedge/boots  may be problematic once the fife rails are permanently affixed.  Comments/advice, anyone?

[mtbediz]

10 minutes ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

To those who are at or past the installation of the fife rails, when is the best time to glue these to the spar deck?  I'm thinking that gluing in the masts and their wedge/boots  may be problematic once the fife rails are permanently affixed.  Comments/advice, anyone?

I installed the fife rails first, but now that I think about it, it makes more sense to put the masts in place first.

Edited September 19 by mtbediz

[JSGerson]

Now that you point it out, I checked my pictures of the actual ship and those caps are made of copper. I hadn't paid much attention since I'm not working on fabricating those yet. I can buy a Uxcell 1Pack Copper Flat Bar, 5/32" T x 3/8" W x 10" L Copper Bar from Walmart. Hopefully, I should be able to slice that up that softer metal easier than the brass.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Today is being spent doing research on chainplates and channels. 

 

In my reading (mostly HipExec's Constructo build), I've learned that I may already be in hot water in that I didn't pin the pin rails to the bulwarks.  Probably too late to do anything about that now, sigh..  I hope the C/A glue holds up during rigging.  And this leads me to conclude that I am going to have to figure out how to get pins into the already constructed fife rail stanchions.  But I digress..

 

Chainplates and Channels:  Because I don't want to do any soldering (Hunt method), can't figure out what XKen did to connect his deadeyes to the chainplates, would like to be able to use the kit provided chain plates, and am lazy by nature, I'm looking to find an easier but effective method of tackling this problem.  I may have hit upon a simple technique of securing both deadeye and chainplate to the channel.   Here's what I'm thinking,

 

Bend brass rod around the deadeye similarly to how HipExec did this:

 

 

 

 

but bend the straight portion of it 90 degrees to make a hook.  The hook would then pass through a hole in the chain plate and be sunk into a hole drilled into the channel.  If the channel is pinned into the hull, this looks to be a very solid way to anchor the deadeyes. 

 

(pardon the sketchy sketch - pun intended😁.)   Ignore the split in the ring on the left.  If I did that, I'd probably have to make my own chain plates, which would be wider than the kit provided hardware, to accommodate a slot instead of a small hole.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Edited yesterday at 03:11 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[JSGerson]

I sent these images to Mustafa as well. It shows what the actual connections look like to help guide you. In my opinion, your idea should work better if you use the stronger boxwood for the channels instead of basswood.

 

Jon

 

[mtbediz]

I think it's a good solution, but don't forget to glue the strops to the deadeyes.

[GGibson]

Hey Peter!  I returned from my Boston trip last Saturday and visited the Constitution on Thursday.  It was a cloudy and misty damp morning that day, and had rained harder earlier, so a lot of the spar deck was covered when I visited (groannnnnnn).  But here are some of the exterior, including the deadeyes and channels.  Probably not too much different than Jon's pictures but hope they help some.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

22 hours ago, mtbediz said:

don't forget to glue the strops to the deadeyes.

I'll decide after I see just how snugly the strops hold the deadeyes.  I think it might be beneficial to be able to rotate the deadeyes a bit when it comes time to actually do the rigging.  I'll experiment with my hook idea the next time I'm in the shipyard.  Weather is too perfect this time of year to spend much prime daylight time indoors. 

 

Best