USS Constitution by rvchima - Mamoli - 1:93

[rvchima]

I visited the USS Constitution ship and museum in Boston Harbor in 2017. I knew then that I wanted to make a model of the ship, but it took me a while to get around to it. 

There are a LOT of Constitution builds on Model Ship World representing kits by several companies in different scales.

Company	Scale	Length
Billings boats	1:100	36”
Bluejacket Shipcrafters	1:96	40”
Mamoli/Dusek	1:93	38”
Model Shipways	1:76	48”

I know, the scales x lengths don't quite add up. The Bluejacket numbers give a longer ship than the rest.

 

Most of the build logs on MSW are for the Model Shipways kit. It looks like an excellent kit, but I just can't deal with a 4 foot long model that would need an even bigger case. I decided to go with the Mamoli/Dusek kit, which was offered by Model Shipways but unavailable when I started looking. So I got on their daily email list. The Mamoli kit popped up eventually, and then before Christmas they offered all imported kits at half price. I snatched one up and gave it to myself for Christmas.

 

For your information, Mamoli models was a well-know Italian producer of model ship kits from the 1980s through 2014, when their company was completely destroyed by fire. Daniel Dusek from the Czech Republic acquired the license to produce all Mamoli kits in 2016, starting with the Mini-Mamoli line. There is an interesting thread by Mr. Dusek here.

 

Model Shipways / Model Expo recently took over production and distribution of the Mamoli/Dusek line in the US. Since Model Shipways already has their own kit of the Constitution, It will be interesting to see if they convert the Mamoli version to their own line.

Edited 10 hours ago by rvchima
additional information

[rvchima]

What's in the Box

There aren't many build logs of of the Mamoli/Dusek  Constitution on MSW so it might be useful to show some details of what's included.

Everything is tightly packed in a sturdy box with a nice photo on the front.

 

14 pages of double-sided plans and instructions, 16.5" x 11.75"

 

7 pages of single-sided plans 16" x 23"

 

2 full-sized drawings plans 46" x 33"

 

4 sheets of heavy laser-cut plywood. I've already used some and the laser cutting is perfect.

 

3 sheets of lighter laser-cut plywood. I think that the 30 small parts on the bottom board will make up into gun ports. The older Mamoli kit had cast metal gun ports which were unpopular with builders. These ports should be easier to  work with, and cheaper for Dusek to manufacture.

Several sheets of miscellaneous wooden parts

 

4 bundles of planks and dowels

 

A box of cast parts including the ships boats

 

Rigging line, blocks, deadeyes, and cannon. Here's my first concern - there is no black line for the standing rigging. Looks like I will be ordering black line eventually. I don't know what the gauze is for.

 

Some photo etched parts, flags, and a roll of copper foil. The older Mamoli kit came with a bag of green wood chips that were supposed to look like copper plates but looked more like shingles. The copper foil will look much better, but I already have three rolls of copper foil with printed nail patterns like I used on my Sphinx.

 

 

[rvchima]

Keel

The first few words on page 1 of the instructions say:

"Pin clown on a flat wooden board ..."

I looked unsuccessfully through all the parts for the clown, but finally realized that the instructions have some errors in translation. 

So I pinned down the keel parts and thought "That's still going to be a big model." But not much bigger than my Sphinx, at least until I add the bowsprit.

Incidentally, the actual Sphinx ship was about 167' long, while the actual Constitution is much bigger at about 305' long.

 

I added the 19 bulkheads and two longitudinal supports. The laser cutting was perfect but I did have to file the laser char out of all the slots for the longitudnal supports. It's pretty clear that Dusek has modified the internal structure but not updated the drawings.