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

[usedtosail]

Thanks Tim and George. Those are the medium size binder clips. I have already needed to start using the small binder clips in some places now.

[CaptainSteve]

Simply brilliant work on your planking, Tom !!!

 

Please keep the photos coming,

(Come New Year and I'll be trying to follow all that you are doing here)

[Cap'n Rat Fink]

VERY NICE TOM!!!

[scott larkins]

Planking is coming along well. Any ided how you are going to plank once the space get too small for those nifty paper clip holders?

[Guest Tim I.]

Tom,

 

Your hull is looking great, looking forward to your next update!

 

- Tim

[usedtosail]

Thanks everyone.

 

Scott - when those binder clips no longer fit, I will use small drops of CA to hold the planks along with pins pushed through holes drilled through the planks. I have already started to use pins on the extreme ends of the planks over the filler blocks.

[usedtosail]

I have finished planking belts A and C, and have taken the measurements of the gaps in belt B. Before taking these pictures, I gave the planks a preliminary sanding, mostly to take down the high spots and fill in some of the larger gaps with saw dust  .

 

Starboard side:

 

 

 

Port side:

 

 

 

A few thoughts on the planking so far. Some of the things I like about it:

 

No major clinkering of the planks. These planks are pretty narrow, so they edge bent easily. I did not have to spile these to get them to curve around the bow. When I planked the Beagle, I had some planks sanded so thin to remove the clikering, I thought I would go all the way through them.

 

Not too many gaps between planks. I was able to get a pretty good fit with the basswood since they were easy to sand.

 

Some of the things I don't like / would do differently:

 

The wales came too far down in the bow. I should have reduced the width of these planks more in the bow so that the gap would have been wider for belt A. I had to add a lot of drop planks to get these to fit.

 

Some slight clinkering between planks - I am pretty sure this is due to the glue build up of the previous plank, leaving the next plank raised slightly at the join. I will try to eliminate this in belt B by sanding down the bulkheads next to the previous plank before adding the next plank. In any case, this was pretty easy to sand off.

 

The thickness of the planks was a bit inconsistent, so I have some planks that are a bit below their neighbors. This requires the neighbors to be sanded down a lot, but I am able to use wood filler to fill these voids and avoid some of the sanding. Thankfully, the hull will be painted and coppered.

 

The width of the planks was just a little wider than shown on the plans, so I was not able to use the planking plan from the plans. The plans show no dropped planks, so I should have paid more attention to it. If I had run all the planking through a sanding drum to get them a little narrower I may have been able to use the plans.

 

I should have added some of the drop planks more toward the center of the hull, not just on the ends. This would have left the planks a bit wider toward the ends and reduced the number of drop planks. I am going to do this on belt B, so it will be interesting to see the difference.

 

Toward the end of belts A and C, I started marking the actual plank widths on the bulkheads, so I could see much better where the drop planks should go. I will also be doing this in belt B.

 

I should have added filler blocks between bulkheads B and C. The planks wanted to flatten between these bulkheads instead of curving nicely.

 

I also continue to work on the gun deck gun carriages. Here they are painted with the painted trucks in place. In most of these, the trucks are just pressed on. I will be adding the eyebolts and rings for the tackles and breech ropes next.

 

 

I will be glad when this planking is over, but I am enjoying it so far.

[usedtosail]

Thanks for the likes, guys.

 

Planking continues and is getting closer to being finished. I marked off the ends of the planks in belt B on the transom filler block, because it was the only way I could figure out what the widths should be here. I first marked off the plank widths on the last bulkhead, then drew a line across the gap closer to the keel and divided it by the same number of planks. I then drew lines between the two marks and extended them all the way to the keel to get the shapes and widths at the keel:

 

 

I found that if I fold the handles down on the binder clips, I can piggy back them to do two planks at once:

 

 

Here is the sweet spot - one clamp holds two planks at once:

 

 

The gap is getting pretty small, so other clamping methods need to be employed:

 

 

This weekend I also finished assembling the ME rope walk I bought in their the 40% off sale. I always wanted to try rope making and this was a low cost way to do that. I twisted up three strands of 0.012" diameter nylon thread and its produced a very nice rope, which is 0.025" diameter.

 

 

 

This just happens to correspond to 6 1/2" real world diameter at the Connie scale, so it is the perfect size for the cannon breech lines. I can untwist the rope slightly and fit it over the cassabel on the end of the cannon, instead of wrapping the whole rope around the casabel:

 

 

I also gave the cannon carriages a dry rub of raw sienna paint, which toned down the red a bit.

 

 

As always, thanks for looking in and please let me know if I can improve on any of these ideas. I really appreciate any advice or criticism.

 

 

[M. Pajulahti]

Looks you've been busy! Everything looking good. That rope walk seems to be very handy, guess I need to purchase one for myself.

 

Markku

[usedtosail]

Thanks Markku. Your Constitution build is coming along very nicely. It was nice to get some quality time in the basement this weekend between raking leaves.

[Carlmb]

Looks great Tom. I enjoy following your posts. I just bought the constitution from ME so that will be my next one.

[Guest Tim I.]

Looking good!

 

- Tim

[GLakie]

Lookin' mighty fine Tom. Mighty fine. Almost time to cut her loose from the slipways and see if she'll float.

 

Cheers

[usedtosail]

Carl - I think you will enjoy this kit. I will definitely follow along if you do a build log.

 

Thanks Tim - I feel like my planking is such a hack job compared to your planking work, as on the Sultana.

 

Thanks George. I know the answer to that one already - she would sink like a stone with all the planking gaps I have. I have already started to fill them with some wood filler in anticipation of the hull sanding.

 

I have a dilemma concerning the breech ropes. It turns out these should be 6 1/2" circumference, not diameter, so the ropes I made are too thick. The dilemma I have is that a 6 1/2" circumference rope would be about 2" diameter, which is about the size of one of the three strand in that rope. This would look way too small in my opinion, although in real life it makes sense as a 6" diameter line would be very big. So, the question is should I go with an accurate size even if it looks too small or go with something that looks better to me? I am sure I am not the first person to have this dilemma so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[CaptainSteve]

Carl - I think you will enjoy this kit. I will definitely follow along if you do a build log.

 

Thanks Tim - I feel like my planking is such a hack job compared to your planking work, as on the Sultana.

 

Thanks George. I know the answer to that one already - she would sink like a stone with all the planking gaps I have. I have already started to fill them with some wood filler in anticipation of the hull sanding.

 

I have a dilemma concerning the breech ropes. It turns out these should be 6 1/2" circumference, not diameter, so the ropes I made are too thick. The dilemma I have is that a 6 1/2" circumference rope would be about 2" diameter, which is about the size of one of the three strand in that rope. This would look way too small in my opinion, although in real life it makes sense as a 6" diameter line would be very big. So, the question is should I go with an accurate size even if it looks too small or go with something that looks better to me? I am sure I am not the first person to have this dilemma so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

Firstly, Tom ... may I just say that I take offence that you refer to your planking as a "hack job" !!!

Seriously ?????

 

(Personally, I think it is immaculate ... indeed, I am planning on using your work as a step-by-step.)

 

Secondly, regarding the rope diameters ... well, as I sit on the side-lines watching, all I can add is "your build, your choice".

(I await your decision)

Edited November 13, 2014 by CaptainSteve

[usedtosail]

Thanks Steve. I have to confess that the lower resolution of the photos shows the planking a bit better than in real life. For a hull that is going to be painted and coppered, it will be fine. For one that would show the natural wood, it would not do. But please use it as a guide and I am sure yours will be great.

[Guest Tim I.]

Carl - I think you will enjoy this kit. I will definitely follow along if you do a build log.

 

Thanks Tim - I feel like my planking is such a hack job compared to your planking work, as on the Sultana.

 

Thanks George. I know the answer to that one already - she would sink like a stone with all the planking gaps I have. I have already started to fill them with some wood filler in anticipation of the hull sanding.

 

I have a dilemma concerning the breech ropes. It turns out these should be 6 1/2" circumference, not diameter, so the ropes I made are too thick. The dilemma I have is that a 6 1/2" circumference rope would be about 2" diameter, which is about the size of one of the three strand in that rope. This would look way too small in my opinion, although in real life it makes sense as a 6" diameter line would be very big. So, the question is should I go with an accurate size even if it looks too small or go with something that looks better to me? I am sure I am not the first person to have this dilemma so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Bah, "hack job"? I think your planking looks great. I pre-sand all of my planks with 1200 grit sandpaper, soak them, attach with CA Glue, then sand again with 1200 grit. Gets rid of the fly away fibers.

 

- Tim

[GLakie]

I have to agree with Tim and Steve on the planking Tom. If mine turns out as well, I'll be a happy camper.

 

Cheers 

[texxn5]

Looks really nice Tom, I did the plastic version first, only took 45 years, but someday maybe I'll tackle the wood version. Keep it up, very nice indeed.

[usedtosail]

Thanks again guys for the encouragement. I am feeling a bit better about the state of the planking now that it is almost done. I am down to one plank section per side, which I should be able to finish up tonight. Those screw in planking clamps have worked really well on these small gaps. I bought a bunch of them a few years ago when Micro Mark had them on sale, so I didn't run out once on this build. They were a bit expensive even on sale, but they sure came in handy. There were even a few planks where I did not have a gap left that I just screwed the post through the plank to hold it, which I will fill the hole with putty now. I first tried straight pins, but they would not hold the planks flat to the filler blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

I am seeing some wavy-ness when looking down the hull, but I think that will be sanded out when I complete the sanding. That is going to be the next big task, one in which I always have a hard time. I think that I am getting close to being done, then look at the hull with light from a different angle and see all sorts of anomalies. And this hull is bigger by a lot than any previous planking that I have done. So, I just need to get at it and take my time and be generous with the wood putty (although most of it will get sanded off).

 

Since I am down to working one plank per side at a time, I have had some time to make all the quoins for the gun deck cannons. I also made all the ring bolts for them, which I have blackened along with the eye bolts for them. I have started making the hooks for the gun tackles, as well. I can do about 10 per night before my eyes give out, and I need about 90 of them. I started out trying to use a pair of pliers with round ends for the loops, but ended up using tweezers instead, which resulted in smaller loops. The hook part is made by bending around the end of a needle nose pliers. I do this all with the wire still on the roll, then cut off the hook and file the end somewhat pointy, although not as pointy as I would like yet. It is really hard to hold them still while filing, since they are so small.

 

 

I will post pictures of the sanding as it progresses. 

[Guest Tim I.]

She is really looking great, Tom. I know I have delayed my build some, but I hope to hone my skills before starting again.

 

Looking forward with great anticipation to your next update!

 

- Tim

[ScottRC]

The hull looks excellent Tom, I bet your kinda sad to be over this phase?

[CaptainSteve]

Beautiful work, Tom !!!!

[usedtosail]

Thanks again guys. The encouragement is really appreciated.

 

Well, after 11 months of working on the hull, a major milestone has been reached - all of the outer hull planking is on. I spent this weekend sanding and scraping the hull, adding wood filler where needed, and sanding and scraping some more. I am still only using rough sand paper, so there is still a lot of work to be done. Here is a picture of the various tools I am using to get the planks smoothed down.

 

 

The curved end of the large sanding block has really come in handy on the curved parts of the hull, especially in the stern. The handle with the straight razor blade I use as a scraper. That little block plane come in handy with planks that are raised from the rest.

 

Here are some shots of the rough planking before I started sanding:

 

 

 

And here are some shots during the sanding process:

 

 

 

 

 

These two shots are after some sanding but before any wood filler was added. You can see some of the gaps that have to be filled.

 

 

 

I am not sure how long it is going to take me to get to the point where I can start sanding with finer paper, but probably later this week. It always amazes me how much better this looks after some wood filler and a preliminary sanding. But, then it seems to take just as long or longer to get to a  finished hull, if there is such a thing. As I said before, I always find areas that could use more work and I don't expect this hull to be any different.

[Guest Tim I.]

Looking great! Congratulations on this major milestone!!

 

- Tim

Edited November 24, 2014 by Tim I.

[GLakie]

Looks great Tom! It may have taken 11 months, but it's been time well spent. I see a lot of perseverance and attention to detail and that's what matters. It's all about the end result.

 

Cheers 

[scott larkins]

Doesn't it feel great to reach the Milestone.  I know how I felt after I put on my last plank on my first ship.  It all looks good.  Make sure not to over sand though.

[Starboard III]

Hi, I will start planking around Christmas time, according to pest laid plans. Your work is inspiring. Thanks for logging.

Warren

[usedtosail]

Thanks Tim, George, Scott, and Warren, and the likes.

 

Scott - thanks for that reminder to not sand too much. I have had this problem in the past, especially where I had bad clinkering going on. I think filling the low spots with wood filler helps in this regard, as I can see how much is coming off as I sand it out, without trying to remove all the surrounding wood.

 

I spent a couple of hours last night getting the rough sanding done. I had a ridge along both sides where the hull planking met the bottom of the wales, but after some serious attention with the sanding block I was able to get this area to flow together. Here are some shots of the hull at this point, ready for the medium and fine sanding, which will have to wait until Sunday, after the holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it, and a nice weekend to the rest of you.

 

PS - after looking at the pictures in the preview pane, I think there may be a few spots that still need some filler, which I will address as I do the rest of the sanding.

 

[GLakie]

It looks just fine from this perspective Tom. Have a Great Thanksgiving.

Cheers 

Edited November 30, 2014 by GLakie