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

[Der Alte Rentner]

I finally finished the starboard side channels and chain plates. Well, almost.. I had to do a little trimming on the channels, which required a little touch up with stain, which in turn requires 24 hours to cure. So, putting a couple of coats of matte poly on them will have to wait a day or so.

 

While I contemplate next steps, (the remaining three items in chapter 12 of the practicum - steps, anchors and rudder), I'll update the build log with a few new photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, the belaying pin replacement count was an even dozen.  I repeat my earlier advice, don't glue in the belaying pins until you're ready to use them. There's almost no way to work on chain plates and channels without taking them out.

 

Edited November 6 by Der Alte Rentner

[GGibson]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

I finally finished the starboard side channels and chain plates. Well, almost.. I had to do a little trimming on the channels...

 

...don't glue in the belaying pins until you're ready to use them. There's almost no way to work on chain plates and channels without taking them out.

 

 

Nice work, Peter.  Your ship looks great!  Quick question, though, to show my ignorance.  How are the belay pins getting in the way of the chain plates and channels?  I'm not visualizing the concern.  Wouldn't the work for each be on either sides of the rail?  I can see, though, having the belay pins in before working on the shrouds so they are easier to secure in their place without the rope lines in the way.  Just a curious question... 

[Der Alte Rentner]

2 hours ago, GGibson said:

 

Nice work, Peter.  Your ship looks great!  Quick question, though, to show my ignorance.  How are the belay pins getting in the way of the chain plates and channels?  I'm not visualizing the concern.  Wouldn't the work for each be on either sides of the rail?  I can see, though, having the belay pins in before working on the shrouds so they are easier to secure in their place without the rope lines in the way.  Just a curious question... 

Picture yourself holding the channels in place while gluing them in, or fitting and gluing on the caps.  The problem is that your fingers tend to curl around the rails while you're working in the vicinity.  As careful as you think you're going to be, when one or more of the pins snap, you realize that, Doh! I forgot again.

[Der Alte Rentner]

I returned to the shipyard yesterday, not much progress given multiple coats of primer, paint and poly.  Although I did fabricate the rudder out of boxwood instead of using the basswood piece supplied with the kit.

 

 

I have found that the brass strip material that I'm using does not adhere well to wood. I've tried both 5 minute epoxy, and C/A glue. (I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had to reapply adhesive to those brass bands around the anchor stock.)

 

As such, I'm afraid of attempting to glue the gudgeons to the hull. Today I am using the kit's rudder in experimenting with gluing on brass strip. If that turns out to be dicey, I may opt to drill holes and attempt nailing gudgeons and pintles to hull and rudder. Here's another instance where, having chosen the standard black/white paint scheme instead, I could have hidden any glue runs.

 

In retrospect, I'm regretting not having stained the anchor stock. That may yet come to pass..   (on second thought, no, it won't.  That would require my sanding off the coats of poly to apply stain.  I can't loose more ground to Mustafa, so am standing pat.)

 

Also wrapped some .8 mm (1/32") wire around a 6.31 mm (1/4") rod, expanded the coil to 7.67 mm (5/16") per plans for the anchor rings.

 

 

 

 

A question for those at this stage or beyond..  The kit’s plans suggest that the bow anchors are stowed without chains.  I’ve looked at several builds for guidance.  It seems that XKen has his anchors hanging, Kmart hasn’t gotten that far, neither has Mustafa.  I don’t like the copper chain that came with the Model Shipways kit (geez, is there anything in that kit I like?).  The kit comes with three anchors as well.  Yet several builds exclude this one.  Jon, I’ve seen all your photos on this, so please don’t resend them here.  I’m just looking for a consensus view.  How are you planning to display your anchors?

Edited Thursday at 04:34 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Added picture and commentary. On 12-4, I added additional comment re Anchor stock.

[Michael Mash]

Those gun barrels, and all the other parts with that beautiful finish are impressive.

[GGibson]

3 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

I have found that the brass strip material that I'm using does not adhere well to wood. I've tried both 5 minute epoxy, and C/A glue. (I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had to reapply adhesive to those brass bands around the anchor stock.)

 

As such, I'm afraid of attempting to glue the gudgeons to the hull.

 

Peter, in a shipbuilding zoom meeting I participated in yesterday, a gentleman suggested using 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200 for adhering copper plates to the hull of a model ship.  It sounds like that would work well with brass to wood, perhaps, as well.  Several others chimed in and said they've used it successfully, too.  Perhaps worth a go? 

[JSGerson]

My mental concept is to displayed one anchor hanging from a cathead with the double linked chain I bought on the web some years past, one anchor also hanging on the other cathead but with the cable, and the third stored on deck alone. I don't know how accurate that is, but does show off the various possibilities.

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

21 hours ago, GGibson said:

3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200

I checked this out at Amazon (see print screen below).  This does not appear to be available in a clear.  Black, White, Brown and Tan are the only options.

I may resort to giving this a try, if my experiment with drilling holes in the gudgeons and pintles and attaching these with nails fails.  There is also the option to skip the installation of these entirely.  😁

 

Thanks for the suggestion,  Gregg

 

 

Edited Thursday at 04:43 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

20 hours ago, JSGerson said:

My mental concept is to displayed one anchor hanging from a cathead with the double linked chain I bought on the web some years past, one anchor also hanging on the other cathead but with the cable, and the third stored on deck alone. I don't know how accurate that is, but does show off the various possibilities.

 

Jon

I think I'm going to skip the chain, and the third anchor.  I just don't care for the look of the dangling anchor.  Initially, I had hoped the Constructo kit had brass (vs Model Shipway's copper) chain, but their plans show rope - not chain, but now, I think I've convinced myself to pass on the chain all together. 

 

Thanks for your input Jon. 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Okay, no glue. Well, except for a tiny droplet at the pointy end of the nails I use to secure the gudgeons and pintels to the hull and rudder. 

 

I tried bending some brass at 90°, so I could make a U-shaped piece, but this brass was so brittle that it broke. In the end I decided it didn't matter. Because any pins wouldn't be seen anyway. So I'm taking a bit of a shortcut.

 

Anyway here's the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 09:58 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Added one more picture.

[JSGerson]

Very nice looking. From what I can see, the rudder will not move on your model, but then again it doesn't have to. It's a static model. I made mine moveable strictly as a challenge of my skills. Once my model is in its display case, my rudder won't move either. You save a lot of work and got beautiful results. Well done!

 

Jon

[Der Alte Rentner]

Right you are Jon. I never had any intention of having the rudder move. And you're right, once it's in the display case it's not moving, even if it could.

 

So, when you say you're planning on having yours move, do you mean that you're going to rig things so that you can turn the wheel and the rudder will move?

 

Port side done..

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 11:17 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Ronald-V]

Nice clean work! Those angles and curves higher at the stern section are not easy to get right  

[JSGerson]

I think you misread my post. I have no intentions of rigging the rudder to be activated by the ship's wheel. Once the rudder is in position in the display case, that's it, I'm done.😁

[Der Alte Rentner]

1 hour ago, JSGerson said:

I think you misread my post. I have no intentions of rigging the rudder to be activated by the ship's wheel. Once the rudder is in position in the display case, that's it, I'm done.😁

Not so much a case misreading, as a misunderstanding - 

"I made mine moveable strictly as a challenge of my skills. Once my model is in its display case, my rudder won't move either. " 

I was just curious how much  you had challenged your skills. 

 

Happy St Nicholas Day all..

[Der Alte Rentner]

8 hours ago, Ronald-V said:

Nice clean work! Those angles and curves higher at the stern section are not easy to get right  

Coming from you, that is high praise indeed!  Thank you kindly.  

 

As far as "clean" is concerned, zooming in on the photos above, I see some glue residue that needs to be scraped off before I cover all with poly..   Thanks again.

Edited Saturday at 04:21 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[GGibson]

8 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

...zooming in on the photos above...

 

Your rudder work at the stern looks awesome, Peter!  Excellent!  And... as we have all said at one time or another on each other's build logs... while we all strive for perfection and see the "little oops" in our own work, no one is going to be taking a magnifying glass to your work once it's completed and in the display case. 

 

The picture view you are sharing with us is what everyone will see once completed.  I'm not saying don't fix what you are seeing, but... ok, nevermind... we're all going to fix our "little oops", anyways.  CARRY ON, SIR! 🤷‍♂️🤣🏆

[Der Alte Rentner]

Slow going on finishing up the rudder.  When I started working on the starboard side, I realized that the rudder was narrower than the stern post on that side. So, I had to chisel away enough material to render the rudder flush with the stern post. That meant applying a new coat of stain, which took a day to cure. Then more poly needed to be applied.

 

I also lost one of the gungeons. I spent a half hour sweeping everything within 10 ft of my chair in the workshop, and cleaned everything off the work table, but couldn't find it. I'm sure it will turn up - someday..  😁

 

Then I fashioned the chain iron out of another strip of brass. I'm debating on whether or not to invest in a Dremel to make the part the chain fits through narrower. But perhaps not. As Gregg  said, no one is going to be peeking through the glass on the display case with a magnifying glass..

 

On page 63 in chapter 12 of the practicum, Hunt says that the kit comes with three different sizes of chain. "You will use the smallest size", he says.  The parts list that came with the Constitution does indeed indicate that the kit comes with three different size chains, but I can only find two. Interestingly, the chain pictured on page 64 of the practicum looks to be the middle sized one, which is the smaller of the two I have.  Since I have eye bolts of different sizes, I could use this and be done with the rudder.

 

To those of you who have done this, did you in fact have the 42 link per inch chain, part number WP0516 in the kit? And, did you paint it black, as Hunt instructs, but doesn't demonstrate?

 

 

 

Once again, in the photos I see that some cleanup will be required.

Edited 15 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner

[GGibson]

3 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

To those of you who have done this, did you in fact have the 42 link per inch chain, part number WP0516 in the kit? And, did you paint it black, as Hunt instructs, but doesn't demonstrate?

 

Of course, you know that I'm nowhere near this point (ha!), but I did check my inventory and have all three chain links in my kit.  I'm happy to share if you need the smallest size.