USS Constitution by GGibson - Model Shipways - 1:76.8

[GGibson]

Nothing really to update on my Constitution build.  Since my last post, I have been assessing where the gun deck cannons will be placed in order to prepare for the cannon framework and, as a follow-up to Mustafa's critique after my last update, determining where exactly the new spar deck beams will be placed so I can get the old beam stubs out of the way.

 

What I have been working on, though, diligently over the past week or so is my annual Christmas tree hanging walnuts project.  Back when I was a young child, my father would carefully crack open walnuts, dig the walnut and other pieces out of the shell, place money back in the shell, glue it, put a hanging bow on it and paint it so it hung on the tree on Christmas Eve.  I carried on that tradition with my children and now with my grandchildren.  Every year I come up with some new combination of ribbon and walnut colors in order to identify whose walnuts are whose.  Most of the walnuts have some denomination of currency folded and stuffed inside them, but some just have a few pennies in them just to tease them. (Even the ones with currency in them also have a couple of dimes in them so they rattle when shaken.)  Here's a picture of one of them.

 

 

Each of the five grandkids have a dozen walnuts this year, so with five grandkids, that's... 60 walnuts!  It's a bit of an organizational challenge as I complete them all (and keep them identified for whose are whose!), but I do enjoy it and the kids all look forward to "Papa's Walnuts"!

 

Here's to a Happy Holiday season to all of my MSW friends! 

[tmj]

That's a very clever idea! I like it! 🙂 

[hamilton]

My grandfather would do exactly the same thing when we were kids - I was always mystified about where he found walnuts with money in them - a folded up Canadian 5-dollar bill...felt like a fortune at the time...Merry Christmas!

hamilton

[Der Alte Rentner]

What a wonderful Christmas tradition!  

 

Thanks for sharing, and of course,

Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

 

Best

DAR

[mtbediz]

On 12/19/2025 at 1:34 AM, GGibson said:

What I have been working on, though, diligently over the past week or so is my annual Christmas tree hanging walnuts project.  Back when I was a young child, my father would carefully crack open walnuts, dig the walnut and other pieces out of the shell, place money back in the shell, glue it, put a hanging bow on it and paint it so it hung on the tree on Christmas Eve.  I carried on that tradition with my children and now with my grandchildren.  Every year I come up with some new combination of ribbon and walnut colors in order to identify whose walnuts are whose.  Most of the walnuts have some denomination of currency folded and stuffed inside them, but some just have a few pennies in them just to tease them. (Even the ones with currency in them also have a couple of dimes in them so they rattle when shaken.)  Here's a picture of one of them.

Life becomes more beautiful and meaningful when such traditions are kept alive.

 

Happy new year!

[GGibson]

First off, Happy New Year to all, especially those that have provided guidance and critique in the early stages of this Constitution build of mine.  Like many others around this past holiday season, I took a bit of a break from the shipyard, not doing much actual work on the ship, but I did take the opportunity to review and plan some critical “next steps”, as they will affect how I am able to continue forward in this build.  My thanks to Mustafa for pointing out his concerns regarding how I removed the spar deck beams and some potential hurdles I might face.

 

With that said, I did decide to cut back the spar deck beams back to the recently installed waterways strips.  I would have had considerable difficulty placing the gun deck bulwarks and the various horizontal and vertical knees.

 

    

 

By placing the scale-size gun deck plans onto the false gun deck, I am able to see where the cannons will be placed for the gunport framing, which I will be working on next.  I wanted at least one mock-up of the 24-pound gun deck cannons and carriages in order to also test the placement of the framing.  While I really wanted to test my skills at making my own carriages using my mill, I chickened out and decided to at least try using Syren’s 3D printed black resin cannon and carriage assembly.

 

   

 

The cannon length of 1-23/32” (42.84mm) converts in scale very close to the actual 10’-5 3/4” length.  After assembling the carriage and doing some painting, the cannon looks pretty decent!  In accordance with the US Navy Plan #35810 painting schedule, the gun carriages are painted a Venitian Red color.  So, I got a tube of Utrecht Venetian Red acrylic paint.  I like the color!  And it looks fairly accurate.  This mock-up does not yet have any of the bolts and eyebolts added to it for rigging purposes.

 

So, what's next?  I still have to paint the two deck’s waterways and then begin the gun deck framing work.

 

As always, thanks for the likes, comments and criticisms.

[TerryPat]

It's looking really nice!!

[mtbediz]

That was a good decision, Greg, you now have a much more comfortable workspace on the gun deck.

[mtbediz]

That was a good decision, Greg, you now have a much more comfortable workspace on the gun deck.

[GGibson]

3 hours ago, mtbediz said:

That was a good decision, Greg, you now have a much more comfortable workspace on the gun deck.

 

Thank you, Mustafa.  I appreciate the concern you raised.  It will definitely be easier to work with the gundeck level bulwarks, knees, etc.  I have also been taking note of where the new spar deck beams will be placed.  

 

Working now on painting the waterways and beginning to place the gundeck gun framing.  I am noticing that some of the cannon placements, according to the plans as they are laid onto the false deck, are very close to some bulwark extensions.  I want to look at some of you gentlemen's previous work to see how you addressed the framing spacings.

 

I have a busy "papa week" scheduled, so may not get back to shipyard until later in the week.  Again, Mustafa, thanks for the feedback.  Appreciate everyone's input! 

[Der Alte Rentner]

Hi Gregg,

Just checking in to see how the build goes, and would have left things alone with the "like" a couple of posts back, but noticed the new profile photo and had to comment.  Very nice. 

Enjoy your papa week.  

[GGibson]

2 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Just checking in to see how the build goes...  noticed the new profile photo and had to comment.  Very nice.  

 

Thanks, Peter!  Yeah, I had forgotten that my wife had taken this picture as we were waiting to take the Constitution tour that day.  As you can sort of tell in the background, it was a cloudy day that day, off and on drizzle, so much of the spar deck stuff was covered.  Bummer!  I'm tempted to take a 1-2 day quick-trip to Boston this spring just to get back on it on a clear day for good pictures.

 

As I mentioned somewhere, I'm starting the gundeck gun port framing now.  I measured and cut the bottom frames last night, so will glue those in today, I hope, before grandkids are over here.  Then work on finishing each of the gunport framings later in the week.

 

Thanks for checking in, sir!  Your ship is shaping up nicely!  You're getting to the fun rigging stuff now! 

[Der Alte Rentner]

1 hour ago, GGibson said:

... You're getting to the fun rigging stuff now! 

Are you sure about that being the fun stuff?  😁

Edited 9 hours ago by Der Alte Rentner