USS Constitution by usedtosail - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale 1/76

[DanO]

Tom,

 

Sure looks great.

 

Dan

[GLakie]

You're doing an awesome job on her Tom, and she looks splendid!  

 

Cheers

[usedtosail]

Thanks George and Dan.

 

For the tapering of the deck planks at the transom I did end up using the tapering jig on the Byrnes saw. It worked great. I set the jig to a 1/2 degree angle and set the fence so that the end of the plank would end up at 2mm. I couldn't run the plank all the way through because the jig has a piece that pushes the plank, which would have hit the blade. I used a piece of tape to mark the location I needed to stop the jig, and then I used a sanding block to remove the little nub at the end of the plank. I like this set up because I can cut the planks to length first then put the taper on them.

 

 

 

I replaced the two wide planks in the center with three regular width planks, and I like it much better. I tapered all of the planks that go to the transom so far. These are edge bent slightly at the transom and the joints look pretty tight, so I am happy with this method.

 

 

 

Oops, I forgot to cut the planks for the mizzen mast hole. Simple fix.

 

 

I will be using a three butt shift with around 20 cm long planks, like I did on the gun deck planking. I have to figure out where to start this with the planks I have already cut.

[GLakie]

Nice work Tom! I've been waiting to see someone using the Taper Jig for tapering planks. 

 

Cheers

[Jparsley]

Looking mighty fancy Don't know what a taper jig is but please educate me

[usedtosail]

Thanks George and Jp, and the likes.

 

Jparsley - you can see the taper jig in the first two pictures of my last post, on the saw. It is basically a sled that has an angle adjustment that rides along the fence of the saw.

[usedtosail]

Dry fitting the planks is one thing, but actually getting them all back in place and glued down is another thing entirely. I first had to figure out in what order to glue them down. Should I start from the center and work out, but then the tight fit along the coamings may not come out right. Should I glue the planks along the outsides of the coamings first, but then I have to make sure I have the ends at the right place on the transom, since they bent in. I chose the second option, but first I put a piece of masking tape on the transom and marked the locations of the middle and two outside planks before removing all of the dry fit planks. I almost screwed this up because I had added one plank outside of the planks along the coamings, which I caught a little too late but not late enough to fix. Once these planks were glued down, it was just a matter to fill in the planks between them. A few of the very middle planks needed a bit of sanding along their edges to fit into the remaining space, but not much.

 

 

 

I use a Sharpie to mark one edge of each plank as I glue them down. I don't use it on the ends of the planks, though. I used this technique on the gun deck planks too, which you can see in some of the pictures. Once the planks are leveled and sanded, the effect is not as dramatic as these seen on these raw planks.

 

I then used the same method on the bow area. This picture was taken the other night with just the two outside planks glued in. The rest have been filled in, but the picture is still on the camera.

 

 

I am not sure how interested the next few posts are going to be, just more planks being added until I fill up the spar deck. It keeps me motivated to continue to record the progress, but feel free to skip them until I get to more interesting stuff, like the deck fittings and carronades.

 

 

[Guest Tim I.]

Tom,

 

The deck planking looks really good.

 

- Tim

[GLakie]

The deck planking is something I've been hashing over in the back of my mind trying to figure an easy way to put them down, but so far, no cigar. It'd be easy if they ran straight but the tapers at the stern and bow are going to be fiddly. I'm looking forward to seeing how you're doing yours.  You're doing great so far Tom. 

 

Cheers

[_SalD_]

Dry fitting the planks is one thing, but actually getting them all back in place and glued down is another thing entirely.....

I know what you mean Tom. When I dry fit things it always looks great then add one drop of glue and I'm all thumbs.  Your decking looks terrific.

[usedtosail]

Thanks Tim, George, Sal and the likes.

 

The planks are only tapered at the stern, so that does make it much easier at the bow. And they are not joggled either, just cut at an angle to the waterway. Here are the plans for the bow and stern and you can see what I mean.

 

 

 

I continued planking on the starboard side of the bow. I was a bit worried about where the planking would end at the edge of the main hatch coaming, but I got lucky and it ended right at the edge of the coaming, almost as if I had planned it.   The heights of the planks along the front edge of the hatch coaming are a bit uneven in height so will require some sanding to even them out.

 

 

 

[GLakie]

The bow not being tapered makes that a lot easier.  Don't have access to my plans for around another week or so, so I couldn't check them for reference.

 

Cheers

[Modeler12]

Just a suggestion about tapering the aft planks.

When I got to that point I decided to use a small wood-plane mounted up-side down in a vise. I then shaved off what I did not want from the planks. A bit of sanding helped, of course.

I found that even if they are not all tapered the same amount, it does not show in the long run. The main thing is that they fit together.

 

You can calculate the amount of tapering, but in the long run it is still a hit and miss situation. The eyeball is still your best guide.

One more thing. Keep the plank next to the waterway constant (in width) and don't end up with a sharp pointed plank at near the stern. 

Edited August 10, 2015 by Modeler12

[usedtosail]

Jay - Thanks for the advice on tapering. So far I have been using the table saw with the tapering jig which has worked really well. I am sure I will be eye balling things as the space gets filled up.

 

For the planks along the waterway, I started filling those in on the starboard side last night. I got to a point where they were getting very pointy, so I decided that a nice hook scarf joint was needed. I used a wider plank, fit it to the waterway at the front, then used the table saw to cut the rest of the plank back to 1/8" wide. I would not attempted this if I had to do it by hand, as getting a nice straight edge over the length of the planks would have been difficult. I did have to cut the ends of these planks at the hook scarf by hand, because I did not want to get my hands too close to the blade (see current posts on this subject).

 

 

 

 

I am happy with the way these came out, even if they may not be historically correct for the Constitution. My feeling is that the decks have been replanked many times so just because they don't have hook scarfs now doesn't mean they didn't back in the day. Of course, if one of you knowledgeable folks tell me that the US at the time never used them, that is a different story. Nothing is glued down yet. I may use some of these hook scarfs near the stern too, as these side planks could get very narrow. At least it is an option.

 

I sanded the planks near the front of the main hatch coamings to even them out some, and they will get more sanding as I do the rest of the planks later.

 

 

In this shot we can start to see how much of the gun deck details will be able to be seen after the spar deck is planked. The stove is just about completely hidden now. Good thing it has that big stack on the spar deck to show where it is.

 

[thomaslambo]

This has been one of the more educational build logs for me.  I really like Jay's suggestion for tapering planks...it sits well for those of us that like doing things by hand and using the eyeball

 

However, with that said, I'm pacing myself to hit hull planking just after Xmas (the Admirals been given a link to the Byrnes site with specific instructions) 

 

The main deck planking is shaping up nicely Tom   

Edited August 11, 2015 by thomaslambo

[GLakie]

Your planking looks great Tom, and as far as being "historically correct", and as sketchy as the info is on any given date, I wouldn't worry too much about whether or not the deck had different joints after re-fits, because they probably did at one point or another. 

[TheDutchShipBuilder]

Nice work Tom. I posted one post at the beginning of yout topic. Since then you have made some big and nice progress! Keep up the good work

[usedtosail]

Boyd - I agree with you on Jay's suggestion for tapering planks. Up until recently I was doing most everything by hand and I still do a lot by hand. I know I will be using that technique in the future.

 

George - my feeling exactly.

 

Welcome back Nick and thanks.

 

Planking the spar deck continues, albeit slowly. I am gluing each plank, clamping it and letting it dry for about 15 minutes before adding the next one, so only about a half dozen planks per night. That is after I shape each plank to begin with. No hurry though, since it has already been a year and a half. I won't be working on it at all for a week or so due to other commitments.

[usedtosail]

Back at work this week after a week off at the lake. It was a nice vacation.

 

Still planking the port side bow and added a few planks to the port side stern. I cut planks at the stern to the edge of the main hatch coaming and it looks like I have another good fit there, as I did on both sides at the bow. I haven't tapered these planks yet at the stern but it looks like my tapering scheme will work out.

 

 

 

I have to thank Danny for the idea to use these hair clips as clamps. They work super in certain situations, such as this. I have also seen others use them by bending them into different angles and shapes.

 

 

Planking continues...

 

 

[GLakie]

Hair clips ---huh - never would have thought of that one. That'll leave a great view of the gun-deck Tom, and nice work on the planking. 

[Guest Tim I.]

The deck is looking great!

 

- Tim

[billt]

It's looking really good.

[Modeler12]

One more comment about using a small plane to taper planks.

I dug out this picture when I was doing just that three years ago.
i would like to point out that if you go this way, you should have some block or other way to guide the part.

It is very easy to rotate and loose control of the sides. 

Watch your finger tips!!

[usedtosail]

Thanks George, Tim, and Bill, and the likes.

 

Jay - thanks for the picture and I see what you mean about using the blocks. Somewhere back in this log I show a clamp I made out of two pieces of angle aluminum to hold a plank at an angle so I could taper it with a plane or sanding block. It worked OK, but the tapering jig on the Byrnes saw works the best for me for these deck planks.

 

I completed the bow planks on the spar deck and gave them an initial sanding. I have to add the tree nails to them give them a final sanding, but I will probably wait until all the deck planking is completed then do them all at once.

 

 

I continue planking the port stern side and reached the edge of the main hatch coaming last night. I came up about 1/32" short of the corner, so I will have to notch the next plank to get a tight fit at the corner.

 

 

 

I totally spaced on the hand rails for the two ladders I will be showing, so in between planks last night I experimented with making stanchions for the hand rails from brass. I silver soldered pieces of brass tube to a thin brass rod, then used the belt sander and files to thin down the brass tube and remove excess solder. They still need more cleaning up and either blackening or painting, then I have to figure out how to rig them and get them in place. The ladder from the gun deck to the berth deck is accessible through the main hatch opening, but it is still going to be tricky.

 

 

 

 

Silver soldering is the way to go I have found. I have tried this sort of thing with soft solder, but it is usally a pain to get teh solder to flow nicely and the joints usually don't hold up well to lots of work on them afterward. These joints held up through all the sanding and filing no problem and the soldering itself was fairly straight forward. I used the solder that comes with a bottle of liquid flux with a butane pencil torch, and as long as you use the flux the solder flows nicely. I do have to learn to not use too much solder though, as you can see in the pictures. I did redo a couple of joints that were heavy on the solder.

[usedtosail]

The planking along the port side was getting a little wonky, so I stopped and remeasured the remaining gaps at each bulkhead and came up with a plank count and width for the planks that will go all the way to the transom. I did end up removing a few planks to redo them with less width in places.The tricky part, I found, was setting the tapering jig to these widths, but I eventually just cut a plank by hand using a straight edge, then used that plank to set the taper jig angle and distance from the saw blade. This worked well and I was able to cut a bunch of planks using the saw. I dry fit all these and adjusted an area that was a bit too wide by sanding each of the planks, then glued them in place.

 

 

Time for some wedges:

 

 

In between planks, I continued working on the hand rails for the stairs to the berth deck. I first blackened the supports I made using Birchwood Casey and they blackened nicely, even in the solder areas.

 

 

I was able to remove the ladder from the hatch with a little tug, then I glued two hand rail supports to the sides of the ladder at an angle, like this picture from the current ship.

 

 

 

I tied some line to the supports and glued the ladder back into place. I then drilled holes in the hatch coaming and glued the two top supports in place.

 

 

When these dried, I tied the lines to them using a little glue to hold the knots.

 

 

 

Now I have to make four more posts for the ladder from the spar deck to the gun deck.

 

Edited September 4, 2015 by usedtosail

[GLakie]

Looking good Tom!  It won't be long before you're crossing over to the "Dark Side", and scratch-building. 

[usedtosail]

Thanks all. George, I do hope to get to scratch building in the future, but for now I have at least one more kit I want to do. Maybe someday I will do an admiralty model like EdT's or Dan V's, but that will have to wait until after I retire.

 

Some more boring planking progress to show. I filled the port side and ended up with some thin planks along the back edge and transom, and a couple of hook scarfed planks along the sides. Not bad, but I am trying to do better on the starboard side. I am measuring the remaining gaps more often and adjusting the tapers as I go, which so far is yielding much more consistent plank widths. I am still going to have the hooked scarf joints along the sides so they will match port to starboard.

 

 

I continue sanding the planks that are already in place. I filled the gaps along the forward hatch coamings that run athwart ship by first painting on some thinned white glue then mixing in basswood saw dust and pushed this into the gaps. I scraped it with a razor blade and will sand it after it dries. It filled the gaps nicely and I am hoping that after sanding I can still get even staining when I stain the deck later.

 

 

Finally, another view into the gun deck through the main hatch, just for fun. There is some dust getting down there which I am not happy with, but I will take of that after the spar deck planks are sanded. The hatch coamings help to keep dust from falling into the hatch, but I am going to have to carefully blow the dust out later.

 

 

 

[usedtosail]

Thank you for the likes. We are almost done with the deck planking so hang in there. A couple more along the starboard side bulwarks to add.

 

 

You can see I added a piece of manila folder over the main hatch opening to try to keep the dust out while sanding the spar deck planks.

 

In between planks, I opened up the mast holes. I used a circle template to mark the holes on the deck, then a small round file to get the holes close and a large round file to finish them. I checked the mast rake and alignment of the three masts as I went and adjusted the holes accordingly. I will finish this off with mast coats later when I install the masts. I had added the tenons to these three mast dowels before and made sure they fit in the mast steps. I was worried that I would not be able to get them back into the steps after the deck was planked, but I had marked the tenons with the directions that the dowels should go into the holes, and they went into the steps without a problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have some more initial sanding for the decks then I will mark the rest of the plank end joints and add the drill and fill treenails, like I did for the gun deck planks.

[HIPEXEC]

Beautiful work!

[GLakie]

The planking looks great Tom!  Definitely a mile-stone. Well done!