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

[Der Alte Rentner]

There wasn't enough of the 2 mm square stock supplied by Constructo to be able to complete the remaining two masts. So, this morning I used some of the ample 2x6 mm sapele stock they provided and made my own 2 mm square strips.

 

Also, while my jig did produce a decently chamferred product, I wanted a quicker process to chamfer an entire strip. So, I rigged my belt sander to accomplish the task.  This worked surprisingly well, or so I thought..

 

Readying the bandsaw to cut 2mm strips.

 

Pass 1

 

Pass 2

 

Sander setup

 

Chamferring done in two passes.

 

Two steps forward, one step back? This looked promising, but the second pass yielded inconsistent results, causing me to consider pulling these last two photos. 

 

I couldn't keep enough downward pressure on the sapele to get an even bevel on both sides on the sander. It did a nice job for one side, so I only needed one pass with the hand plane and jig.  I'll take that as a win. After beveling one side on an entire strip, I cut the material to length, clamped it into the jig and chamfered the second side by hand.  This netted very nice fits.

 

The admiralty is calling me back to home base. More next week..

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 10:15 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Added photo

[Der Alte Rentner]

The hardest part is carving out the indentations for the mast cheeks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two down.  One to go..

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 02:34 PM by Der Alte Rentner
Added photographs - round 2

[Ronald-V]

That looks really neat! And indeed complicated  

[mtbediz]

Perfect work Peter. She is going to be a very beautiful ship.

[GGibson]

Wow!  Nice work, Peter! 👍🏆

[Der Alte Rentner]

At last!  Chafing fish adorn all three masts.

 

 

I'm not quite ready to move on to what Gregg calls the fun stuff 😆.   I still have to do the mast bands, the fighting tops and the bowsprit. Then the hilarity should ensue.

 

 

[mtbediz]

4 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

At last!  Chafing fish adorn all three masts.

 

 

I'm not quite ready to move on to what Gregg calls the fun stuff 😆.   I still have to do the mast bands, the fighting tops and the bowsprit. Then the hilarity should ensue.

 

 

Nice work on the chafing fish, Peter! Just a heads-up—the space between the main mast and the fife rail looks pretty tight in the photo. You’ll need room there for three stays coming off the mizzen mast, which get tied down to the deck with bullseyes. On my build, that gap was really small too, and I had a tough time securing the mizzen stays. Hopefully you haven’t glued the fife rails yet. Also, before you set the masts in place, it’s a good idea to get the eyebolts around them installed first.

Edited Tuesday at 03:33 AM by mtbediz

[Der Alte Rentner]

Thanks for the heads up, mustafa. I'm not worried because the Fife rails are not yet glued down. I was waiting for the right time to do so. Before I do,  I'll make sure they are where they belong, as well as the eyebolts on the deck.  I just staged the Fife rails for the photo.

 

Thanks again

Edited Tuesday at 04:26 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

Turning my attention back to the fore mast, it was time to tackle the mast bands. I had some spacers at the bottom of the mast so that it would sit properly at three degrees to the spar deck, but to get the formed bands slid up the length of the mast, I had to remove those and replace them afterwards.

 

The brass material that came with the kit - 1/64" thick by 1/16" wide, held its shape quite nicely after wrapping it around the mast. So, I didn't have to go through gymnastics to get the bands made. I calculated the length of the brass strip for each of the two locations where these would be installed - at the bottom of the mast, and between the chafing fish at the top of the mast. After cutting the pieces to length, I bent them around a dowel of the same diameter as the mast, trimming with a belt sander and file as required to get a good fit.

 

 

I did make a jig to help space the bands along the mast.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually made the band spacer before I went into production on the bands, after I remembered that I couldn't slide the bands onto the mast with the wedges at the bottom. Just explaining why the picture below left shows the wedges..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added back the wedges, applied a coat of poly, posted this log, and am now heading home. At the current rate of production, it'll be two more full days before I finish the main and mizzen masts.

 

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:15 PM by Der Alte Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

Two down.

 

 

That's the lot. (my apologies to those who have already seen and reacted to this post, but before I added this last photo.)

Edited 16 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner
Added photo with mizzen mast