USS Constitution by GGibson - Model Shipways - 1:76.8

[GGibson]

22 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Then, by all means hold off fairing until the bulkheads are solidly in...

 

11 hours ago, mtbediz said:

I only faired the first bulkhead in the bow before gluing it in place...

 

Thanks for the input, fellas!  Yeah, it seems like that is the proper thing to do.  I may look at "pre-sanding" some of the "end bulkheads", i.e. Bulkheads A, B, Q, R, that will require a deeper sanding than others to eventually fair properly but otherwise will hold off on the detailed fairing until all bulkheads are in and I can test them with a planking strip.  Appreciate the reminder, gentlemen!

 

Last night I did give each of the bulkhead tops a nice, thin coat of Titebond glue to help strengthen them, as I know I am bound to snag one or two of them during this build/install process.  Hopefully. a nice topcoat of this glue will toughen them up to prevent any serious *SNAPS*... 🤷‍♂️😬

 

Before I begin securing the bulkheads to the keel, I am thinking this would be the best time, if I am going to do it, to drill holes in the bottom of the keel in order to insert brass rod and tubes to help hold and provide additional support for the ship on whatever type of pedestal/cradle base that is eventually made for its display.  Although other builders may have done this, I do know that Jon Gerson described his process of doing this very well in his build log.  Thanks, Jon! 🏆

[JSGerson]

Quote

I do know that Jon Gerson described his process of doing this very well in his build log.  Thanks, Jon!

Your welcome Gregg. I am always happy when my successes and/or mistakes helps someone else.

 

Jon

[GGibson]

Another (I’ll try to be) quick update on this Constitution build.  In my mind, this feels like one of those “…small step for model builder man, giant leap for Gregg-kind” type of accomplishments.  I’ll take the baby-step wins when I can get them, because I know a ton of “what the…?!?”s will cross my lips ultimately in this journey, as well.

 

First thing I wanted to get done was what I had mentioned at the end of my last post… and that is to insert some brass tubes up through the keel and into the bulkhead former a bit in order to provide additional support for when this ship is placed in a permanent base.  Several builders have done this on whatever ship they were constructing, and I mentioned that Jon gave an excellent tutorial on what he did early on for his Constitution, so… I had to follow suit.

 

I decided to place the two support holes about 12” apart, approximately at the F & N bulkhead locations.  Using just a pin vise and drilling holes by hand, I had to accurately drill straight down through the rabbet and keel in order to insert a 3/32” tube at each spot.

 

 

I started with a #60 micro drill bit and carefully worked my way up through larger drill bits so as to not tear out the hole.  So, a #60 drill bit, then a #54, then a #50, then 5/64”, then finally a 3/32” bit so that I could tap in the small tubes.  Sweet!

 

 

I had also mentioned in my last post that I was considering making some cuts into the appropriate bulkheads and keel locations in order to have visible ladders going from the detailed gun deck down to what would be the berth deck.  I looked at what others had done to the bulkheads and bulkhead formers to accomplish this visual.  Some had made the cuts at this stage, others had made cuts into the frames after the bulkheads had been secured to the center spine.  I decided to do this before attaching the bulkheads.

 

After reviewing several previous build logs and several USN documents, I made the following cuts in the center keel…

 

 

For the fore hatch going down to the berth deck, I cut out the center keel 19.34mm back from the Bulkhead F and 1” deep.

 

For the main hatch going down to the berth deck, I cut out the center keel 37.12mm back from Bulkhead I, which removed all from between Bulkheads I & J and went back another 12.44mm from Bulkhead J.

 

For the after hatch (the one that will be just in front of the capstan), I cut out the center keel 19.43mm from between Bulkheads L & M, beginning 9.78mm back from Bulkhead L.

 

For the companionway hatch (the one that will be just behind the capstan), I cut out the center keel 19.43mm from between Bulkheads M & N, beginning 14.52mm back from Bulkhead M.

 

  

 

 

In addition to the cuts made to the center keel, cuts also need to be made to a couple of the bulkheads that will be in the way in order to accommodate the “ladders to the berth deck” illusion.  So, the gun deck beams from Bulkheads I & J were removed now (other gun deck beams will be removed similarly later) as well as some deep cuts.  According to the USN plans (and looking again at other builds), it appears all of the gun deck hatches going down to the berth deck are 5’ wide, which translates in our 1:76.8 scale to 0.78125”.  So, the openings in these bulkheads were made that wide.

 

   

 

And, yes, the beams that are being removed will be saved in order to use as templates for when the new beams are added back in later on in this build process.  And, yes, I am still worried about snagging and breaking off at least one of these bulkhead extensions at some point during this build process! Uggghhh...

 

So, all in all, a good start to the first major bashing in this project.  I believe, then, that the next task is to get the Lego blocks out and, after a bit of initial fairing on a few of the bulkheads, secure each of the bulkheads to the center keel.  Then, begin on the filler blocks.

 

Thanks, as always, for peeking in.  Appreciate the likes, comments, advice and criticisms.

Edited July 17 by GGibson

[JSGerson]

I always feel trepidation when I do things outside of the instructions/guidelines because once done, some things can't be undone. You have to make doubly or trippily sure you got all the measurements right. So far it looks like you've done everything right.

 

Jon

[GGibson]

19 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

So far it looks like you've done everything right.

 

Great to hear that acknowledgement from you, Jon.  As I said, I'll take the baby-step wins.  Thank you, sir!

[mtbediz]

Everything is going well, Greg.

[GGibson]

Well, we’ve had a spell of extremely hot weather in the Kansas City area, with recent “feels like” temps over 100^o, so it’s good to spend some time in my cool shipyard.  Therefore, another small update…

 

BULKHEAD PLACEMENT

 

After doing what I can to the bulkheads and the bulkhead former to prepare for the bulkhead placement, it was time to get them secured in their spots.  So, I got the obligatory Legos back out and, beginning with Bulkhead A, went through the slow process of painting a thin strip of Titebond glue on the contact points and then sliding each bulkhead firmly in its slot, matching the reference lines and securing the Lego blocks for the 90^o placement while the glue dries.  Then moving on to the next bulkhead.

 

 

At the locations where I will be installing the ladders going from the gun deck to the berth deck, I wanted to have small “landing areas” for the ladders to rest on, so using some thin scraps of strip wood, I glued some support strips and small sheets at those ladder locations as I was permanently securing the applicable bulkheads.

 

       

 

 

Also, in order to provide additional support and strength to the bulkheads, I measured and cut (using my small bench top cut-off saw) some scrap 3/8” square dowel to use as struts between each bulkhead.  This gave me the opportunity to make sure the distances between bulkheads on the port and starboard sides were equal (or as close to equal as possible when measuring in hundredths of millimeters).

 

 

A view of the full ship at this early stage and it’s shaping up nicely…

 

 

COUNTER & STERN FILLER BLOCK

 

The Model Shipways kit provides a couple of large basswood blocks to use for these pieces.  First, let’s work on the counter.  The plans suggest a block size of 5” x 1¾“ x ½“, but I started with a 6” x 2” x ½“ block.  I used a thicker block so that, in order to drill the hole for rudder stock at a slight angle, I would have room to place a ¼“ dowel underneath the block as I was drilling the 5/16” hole.  That worked out well.

 

 

Once I had the rudder hole placed and drilled, I then repositioned the cut-out counter drawing on the block to trace the outline.  I could then, using my scroll saw, cut down the shape of the counter to a more manageable size (less cutting and sanding required).  The only recommendation to do differently is to reduce the thickness cut from ½“ to somewhere between 7/16”-11/32”.  More on that in a bit.  But the initial cuts and sandings had the counter thickness at just about 7/16”, it looked “ok”, and a quick test-fit of the counter and the rudder was successful.

 

 

 

       

 

I then moved to working on the two stern filler blocks.  As suggested in the plans, I cut the blocks to 2-3/4“ x 2-3/8“ x 1-1/8“ sized pieces.  I fit the blocks against Bulkhead R and traced the rear profile for the required cuts.  I then used the scroll saw again for the initial curved cuts.

 

     

 

Then, using the plan and profile lines on the Stern Filler Block Detail 2-H plans, I drew the shape lines on each block piece to help me with the sanding and shaping and… made a whole bunch of sawdust!

 

 

Using just my Dremel with the sanding disks (went through several of the disks in this process) and my hand-held sanding block, I was able to shape the two stern filler blocks to their required shape.  What helped me in gauging the shapes needed were two thin and flexible 0.51mm brass rods that I cut to the lengths shown on the Detail 2-H “plan view” for the C & D waterlines.  The A & B waterline marks were so small I could gauge those by eyeballing them to shape as needed.  But on the larger curves, the brass rods definitely helped me get to the curvature and shapes needed.

 

 

As a side note, I really do like the hook & loop “velcro-like” sandpaper sheets and sanding block I have been using.  I bought the assorted sandpaper grits that come in rolls in a box and you can cut off what is needed to place on the sanding block.  Works really well, and much more convenient than the sanding block I was using previously that I had to measure and cut strips from full sheets.

 

So, as I was once again test-fitting the stern filler blocks and the counter and seeing how everything looked placed against Bulkhead R and the counter sitting on top of the sternpost, I noticed a height level difference between the top of the counter (which will serve as the floor of the Commodore’s cabin) and the rest of the gun deck level on all of the bulwarks.  The Commodore’s cabin floor is going to be higher than the rest of the gun deck.  Well, crap, shouldn’t these obviously be at the same level?!?

 

When I made the decision to have a detailed gun deck, I followed the lead of others who have done this previously with the Model Shipways kit, and I trimmed 3/32” from the bulkhead former and bulkheads, but I did not trim the section of the bulkhead former directly behind Bulkhead R, where the sternpost attaches.  I don’t recall any of the other builders commenting on that piece specifically, but maybe it was just assumed that when you trimmed, you trimmed everything.  So, I trimmed that section off, as well.

 

 

Even with that piece now trimmed, though, the counter was sitting a bit too high.  That’s when I gave a shoutout to one of my fellow Constitution builders, Jon @JSGerson, to ask his advice, since it looked like in his pictures, his transom counter sat flush with the gun deck.  Jon, confirmed for me that, nope, there actually is a height difference and his photo made it appear to be an optical illusion.  Magic…..!  Once the front wall (including the buildout for the sofa area) is fully constructed, you can’t see the difference.  Very interesting, Jon!  Thank you!!

 

He did, though, remind me that Bob Hunt’s practicum does emphasize the importance of getting the transom counter thickness down to that 11/32” point.  So, I continued to sand that block until I got to that measurement (with a little more on each side to account for the deck curvature) and, ya know what?  I think once we add the gun deck base sheet and the deck planking, the cabin floor should be right at the same level as the rest of the gun deck.  Sweet!  Sorry for the long explanation but thought it might be worthy of documenting my perils.  My concern now is what I might have done to the sternpost in bringing that down the additional 3/32” and will that cause problems with aligning the hull planking, the stern frames, the quarter galleries, etc.  The rudder still fits in its eventual place just fine.  I guess “we’ll cross that bridge…”.

 

When I was making the cuts into some of the bulkheads and the bulkhead former to allow for the ladders going down to the berth deck from the gun deck, I failed to also make a cut into Bulkhead R prior to placement for the sofa area buildout.  According to the US Navy plans, if I am measuring the small scale plans accurately, that buildout area looks to be 8’ wide, which at our 1:76.8 scale, converts to 1.25”.  So, I cut that area out of Bulkhead R.  I did make a couple of notched cuts at the top of that extraction so that, when necessary, a new support beam can more easily be placed at the top of that cabin wall.

 

 

With that opening completed, I think I was ready to permanently secure (glue) the two stern filler blocks.  Of course, additional sanding and shaping will be necessary once the planking is placed, but I think we’ve got the stern area about where it needs to be for now,

 

 

While I placed the counter on top of the stern filler blocks for looks, I have not glued the counter in place yet.  In looking ahead at the work I am going to be doing with the transom frames and their locations, it may be wise to keep the counter loose for now, so that it will be easier to cut the slots in the counter where the frames will be seated.

 

 

For now, though, I think I will move to the bow filler blocks, the knightheads and the timberheads.

 

I hope I am doing things well.  I certainly have a treasure trove of available insights and information from prior build logs.  Thank you!  And thanks to all for reading, following, commenting, advising and criticizing!  You are all appreciated!

[JSGerson]

Looking good. Gregg

 

Jon

[GGibson]

49 minutes ago, JSGerson said:

Looking good. Gregg

 

Jon

 

Thanks, Jon.  Appreciate your guidance.

[Der Alte Rentner]

18 hours ago, GGibson said:

Sorry for the long explanation but thought it might be worthy of documenting

I, for one, appreciate detailed explanations. 

You're off to a great start.  Keep it up.

[GGibson]

37 minutes ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

I, for one, appreciate detailed explanations. 

You're off to a great start.  Keep it up.

 

Thanks, Peter!  Always a bit easier following fellas like you who have experienced what I like to call the "triumphs & tribulations" of the Constitution.