USS Constitution by The Bitter End - Model Shipways - 1:76

[The Bitter End]

Gun Port Linings

Gun port linings next, It would appear that the constitution didn not have fixed(Hinged) gun port lids at the time of launch but rather removable split lids. There is no indication of port lids at this point on any of the paintings or drawings of her or her sister ships in the early years of their existence. There may well have been port lids on the forward most ports and possibly coverings on the aft most ports but I will get into that detail at a later stage. For now our only concern is gun port linings. 

The only place where we can see these linings to any real degree is from the 1812 Isaac Hull model and Perhaps the Corne 1803 painting. In these two sources the ratio of lining to openings seems fairly consistent. If we assume an outer port opening of 3ft 3 inches as indicated in the 1794 body plan by Joshua Humphreys then we can deduct that the inner lining of the port is 4inches wide(1.3mm at scale). 


The only other piece of Evidence that was vaguely relevant is the orientation of the joints. This detail is purely academic as the ports will be painted but it is worth mentioning that David Steel shows the port linings to be the exposed frame section with 2 horizontal upper and lower sills mortoised into them. This means what would be visible to the viewer is 2 horizontal joints at the upper edge of the gun port and 2 miter joints at the lower edge of the gun port once planking has been installed.

I bulk cut the 120 side to just slightly longer than their correct length, then bulk squared off one side of each plank and marked their correct length with pencil. I first installed the upper and lower sills and then squeezed the side sills in to seat them more tightly. I made sure that the edges were slightly too close to the outer planking and then tapped them to the correct depth using this little jig.  




Once all the sills were in i gave them a good buff with some steel wool and dragged a sausage of steel wool through each port to clean up the edges. I then made up a mix of wood glue and wood filler to make a gooey filler and used this to tidy up any little gaps between the outer and inner framing. This was applied with a small silicon sculpting tool.




This is the almost final result, These ports will be painted in red ochre but that is a task for another day.


Thats all for now. Next up is Quarter Galleries, an adventure on its own.

Cheers

 

Haiko

Edited 18 hours ago by The Bitter End

[Ronald-V]

That's neat work!

[Thukydides]

Very interesting @Marcus.K., I appreciate the amount of work you are putting into this research. As @The Bitter End said I also find the research process to uncover obscure details as much fund as building models themselves.

 

One thing that stands out to me with the vents is how many of them there are. I have found air vents on plans for HMS Camilla of 1776 (https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-83800) and also Daphne 1776 (https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-83787), but there are only 6 of them on each side. One for each cabin and then one near the bow. They are drawn in black pencil at about the line of the deck.

Edited 7 hours ago by Thukydides

[Marcus.K.]

33 minutes ago, Thukydides said:

One thing that stands out to me with the vents is how many of them there are. I have found air vents on plans for HMS Camilla of 1776 (https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-83800) and also Daphne 1776 (https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-83787), but there are only 6 of them on each side. One for each cabin and then one near the bow. They are drawn in black pencil at about the line of the deck.

Thanks for your kind comment, Thukydides. Are you sure we see air vents here? They seem to be higher than the deck? Is it possible that these are ports for oars? The ships seem to be smaller and may have been moved by the help of oars? For them these positions would fit - except: why not having more then ... 

 

Interesting comparison. 

[The Bitter End]

1 hour ago, Thukydides said:

Very interesting @Marcus.K., I appreciate the amount of work you are putting into this research. As @The Bitter End said I also find the research process to uncover obscure details as much fund as building models themselves.

 

One thing that stands out to me with the vents is how many of them there are. I have found air vents on plans for HMS Camilla of 1776 (https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-83800) and also Daphne 1776 (https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-83787), but there are only 6 of them on each side. One for each cabin and then one near the bow. They are drawn in black pencil at about the line of the deck.

Good evening(or something to that effect) 

Thanks for taking the time to comment, the matter of the exact number of air vents is a bit of a question and the layout seen in the 1803 Corne painting is not without confusing elements. This is definitely something I will continue to look at. Your referenced drawings are great but I must say I did also think that their orientation relative to the deck beams was a little surprising. Unless perhaps they are showing cuts into the timber to accommodate internal ventilation as shown here:

https://prints.rmg.co.uk/collections/ship-plans/products/ventilation-openings-for-three-deck-ships-of-war-j7328

A bit of a rummage around the archives brought up this equally confusing image. are these perhaps air vents?? And if they are then I would definitely say that this is a bit of an excessive amount!

https://arkivalieronline.rigsarkivet.dk/da/billedviser?epid=17149179#207980,39521461

Either way, your input is appreciated and I hope that you continue to share your views. 
 

Cheers

Haiko

[The Bitter End]

Oiling The hull - I realised that I failed to mention a pretty significant mistake from my initial application of Osmo Poly X and I felt that this warranted a repost incase someone made the same mistake as me.

When they say mix the the product prior to application, what they mean is MIX THE PRODUCT PRIOR TO APPLICATION! 
 

I failed to do this with my first coat and the product came from a tin which had been standing in my workshop for some months. This resulted in a very unsatisfactory finish which i had to try to remove with Mineral spirits, I think I got most of it taken off and the final result was still ok but the mess to get this resolved was less than ideal. 

all that being said ..... back to the original post

One of the best parts of the build. Oiling the hull.

The hull was sanded back to 400 grit until all scratches were removed(kind of) and then given 2 very thin coats of Osmo Polyx Oil 3062 Clear Matt , this is a beautiful product. My only tips are to apply it with a soft scouring pad, to work in circular motions and to be very conservative with quantity. 

I also applied this over the paint which dried well and gave a lovely satin finish.

I know I should really copper or paint this hull but the wood is special to me and I quite like this very unique effect, I hope you all do too and your feedback in welcomed. 

Cheers

 

Haiko

[Thukydides]

1 hour ago, Marcus.K. said:

Thanks for your kind comment, Thukydides. Are you sure we see air vents here? They seem to be higher than the deck? Is it possible that these are ports for oars? The ships seem to be smaller and may have been moved by the help of oars? For them these positions would fit - except: why not having more then ... 

 

Interesting comparison. 

I don't want to derail the conversation from your specific subject too much as my example is only somewhat related (British, smaller ships, earlier date etc...) That being said I am not 100% sure though I have trouble thinking on what else they could be. They can't be sweep ports as they are too low (most of them are just below the planking of the deck about the level of the beams. The contract for Perseus and Unicorn (ships of the same class) also make note of cutting scuttles for each of the officers cabins and the size quoted appears to be similar to that drawn on the plans. Only thing here that might be applicable to your modeling application is that the contract does note that they should be lined with lead.

 

Quote

Officers Cabin

To build cabins for all the proper officers on the lower deck according to a plan that shall accompany this, or as shall be directed and to finish the same with bedplaces, lockers etc. as usually done in ships of war, and to cut out a scuttle in each cabin fore and aft 9 in and up and down 5 in & to line them with lead.

 

27 minutes ago, The Bitter End said:

Good evening(or something to that effect) 

Thanks for taking the time to comment, the matter of the exact number of air vents is a bit of a question and the layout seen in the 1803 Corne painting is not without confusing elements. This is definitely something I will continue to look at. Your referenced drawings are great but I must say I did also think that their orientation relative to the deck beams was a little surprising. Unless perhaps they are showing cuts into the timber to accommodate internal ventilation as shown here:

https://prints.rmg.co.uk/collections/ship-plans/products/ventilation-openings-for-three-deck-ships-of-war-j7328

A bit of a rummage around the archives brought up this equally confusing image. are these perhaps air vents?? And if they are then I would definitely say that this is a bit of an excessive amount!

https://arkivalieronline.rigsarkivet.dk/da/billedviser?epid=17149179#207980,39521461

Either way, your input is appreciated and I hope that you continue to share your views. 
 

Cheers

Haiko

Yes this is the challenge of this, lots of confusing and sometimes contradictory views. If they are vents I suspect they must angle down (similar to the the example you showed), but they appear to largely be around the beams, just below the deck planking. One thought I had was maybe they run through the room and space between the frames.

 

The second example is from 1727 so I suspect given the number (and regular spacing) of them that those are meant to be sweeps. Many of the earlier smaller vessels had them.

 

 

Your planking is looking very nice. Well done.

 

[Ronald-V]

That hull looks beautiful with the oil! 👏

[Marcus.K.]

I was checking in my Robert Gardiner´s "Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars" .. and we can find there examples for

a) ships with ports for rowing the ship - like on page 16: HMS Hyperion (1806) .. here a view on her frames - and you see the ports for the oars being in the level of the gun ports:

 https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-82795?_gl=1*10vq9vc*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTM1NTE2MjQyOS4xNzYyOTc2MTQ3*_ga_7JJ3J5DBF6*czE3NjI5NzYxNDYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjI5NzYxNDYkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_4MH5VEZTEK*czE3NjI5NzYxNDYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjI5NzYxNDYkajYwJGwwJGgw

 

Here the inboard profile - including the ports for the oars:

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-82796?_gl=1*d508ay*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTUwNTQxMzg5MS4xNzYyOTc2MzMy*_ga_7JJ3J5DBF6*czE3NjI5NzYzMzEkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjI5NzYzMzEkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_4MH5VEZTEK*czE3NjI5NzYzMzEkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjI5NzYzMzEkajYwJGwwJGgw

https://collections.rmg.co.uk/media/2/440/699/j5940.jpg

 

The ports are much higher than what we see in Thukydides´s findings.. So the ports in HIS examples are very likely NOT for oars.

 

b) air vents .. there are ton´s of examples with air vents in the berth deck level. A lot of them having most of the air vents in the rear section of the berth deck - where the midshipman staterooms would be in case the officiers had their quarters on the gun deck - in front of the great cabin. 

 

there are examples in which we see air vents in the rear section - but also in the mid and even the forcastle area - on berth deck level. One beautiful example is on page 28. A profile drawing of a Lively class ship build in 1799. Another example is on page 156 - a painting of HMS Phoenix .. in which we see open air vents in the belly of the ship.. 

 

I admit - not too much examples .. One thing we may think about: in Constitution the crew was sleeping in the Berth deck - and 400 man need some air ! .. I am not sure about the sleeping area on smaller british Frigates? But for sure the first getting the luxury of fresh air would be the gentlemen in the staterooms, right? The ordinary seaman usually did not have to expect a lot of attention for his well being. That might also be a reason why we so often see air vents in the stern area - but not in the forcastle. 

 

Interesting...  

 

[Der Alte Rentner]

4 hours ago, The Bitter End said:

Oiling The hull - I realised that I failed to mention a pretty significant mistake from my initial application of Osmo Poly X and I felt that this warranted a repost incase someone made the same mistake as me.

When they say mix the the product prior to application, what they mean is MIX THE PRODUCT PRIOR TO APPLICATION! 
 

I failed to do this with my first coat and the product came from a tin which had been standing in my workshop for some months. This resulted in a very unsatisfactory finish which i had to try to remove with Mineral spirits, I think I got most of it taken off and the final result was still ok but the mess to get this resolved was less than ideal. 

all that being said ..... back to the original post

One of the best parts of the build. Oiling the hull.

The hull was sanded back to 400 grit until all scratches were removed(kind of) and then given 2 very thin coats of Osmo Polyx Oil 3062 Clear Matt , this is a beautiful product. My only tips are to apply it with a soft scouring pad, to work in circular motions and to be very conservative with quantity. 

I also applied this over the paint which dried well and gave a lovely satin finish.

I know I should really copper or paint this hull but the wood is special to me and I quite like this very unique effect, I hope you all do too and your feedback in welcomed. 

Cheers

 

Haiko

I believe you know what my vote is. 

Indeed!  Show off the woodwork!!!   Gorgeous.  This makes me even more upset I didn't know to use better materials when I started.  Keep up the good work.