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

[CaptainSteve]

A perfect Connie hull ... that's definitely something worth giving Thanks for !!!

[scott larkins]

Almost looks like I can reach out and feel the smoothness of that hull.  Nice.

[usedtosail]

Thanks all. After a fine Thanksgiving break I am back to work. I am excited to have the hull planking finished, at least for now. I did some more work on the wales to get them as smooth as the rest of the hull, so here it is after a medium and fine sanding of the whole hull.

 

 

Scott - I hope I didn't make it too smooth. I know when I prime it, I will find that I have more blemishes to fill and sand out.

 

Now it is on to more interesting work. Planking the inside bulwarks is the next task, with all those rivets to show. My original thought was to try using small drops of CA glue to simulate the rivets, like I have done on pintels and gudgeons in the past. This works fine on metal, but on wood the CA just soaked into the wood. OK, I thought, how about if I put some wipe on poly on the wood first. This slowed the soaking down, but eventually I had the same result. Time to come up with a new method.

 

I had seen other builds where they bought individual rivets from a model railroad company, but when I priced these out they seemed a bit expensive. So, I came up with my own way to make rivets. I drilled some holes in a strip of wood, dipped the end of a wire into CA, then pushed it into the hole. I cut the wire off and repeated in the next hole. The wire was sticking up a bit, so I trimmed it flusher to the wood, then used a ball peen hammer to gently tap the ends down, which also mushroomed the wire just enough. I was happy with the look and the process wasn't too bad, so I made up a jig to help. Here is the story in pictures:

 

First, here are the tools I used for this. That cutter does a good job but does not cut the wire completely flush, which worked out to be a good thing. You can see the jig I made up, which is just two strips of wood with offset markings to show where to drill the holes for the rivets. I am drilling two rows per strip, offset by half the distance between rivets, which is the pattern on the current ship. I am not yet sure if I can fit two rivets at the end of each strip, but I may try that. Most of the strips go between the gun ports, so they will be short.

 

 

Here I have a planking strip in the jig and am drilling the holes. On my first attempt, I glued the wire into the holes with the strip still on the jig, but when I pulled the strip off a few of the wires stayed glued into the jig. I now drill the holes then take the strip out of the jig before gluing in the wires.

 

 

I dip the end of the wire in a small puddle of medium CA. You can see my patented CA glue holder using small cups from my daughters contact lenses. I have a lifetime supply of these.

 

 

Then I push the wire into a hole and cut it off with the cutters.

 

 

I can get into a pretty good rhythm this way. After I fill a bunch of holes, I go back and trim the wires again to get them closer to the wood and here is how they look at this stage.

 

 

I then use the file shown to gently file them down a little bit more and brighten the ends.

 

 

 

At first I was going to use them like this, but after sleeping on it, I decided they were too sharp and still too high, so the next day I found this ball peen hammer and tried tapping them to see if they would flatten out a bit. I used this jewelers block that I had to keep the wires from pushing through the back of the strip.

 

 

And here you can see the final result on the right, the wires on the left have not been tapped down yet.

 

 

I was a bit worried that the tapping would flatten the wood out too much, but you can see from the side that the wood is still in pretty good shape. I will cut out a few strips and see how they look on the bulwarks tonight, but I think they will look good. Its a bit of work but not too bad, relative to all the other work that still needs to be done. This is such a prominent detail that I don't mind taking the time to make these strips.

 

I don't yet know how to handle the curved planks at the bow. I think I will have to bend them to shape before adding the rivets, then add the rivets before gluing them to the bow. I think trying to bend the plank with all those holes would just break it.

 

I am also in the process of designing a cradle for the model but that is a story for another day. I did measure the contour of the hull in the two places that the cradle will support, since this seemed like a good time for that before I start coppering the hull.

 

[Guest Tim I.]

Looking good, and interesting idea. I look forward to seeing the result!

 

- Tim

[GLakie]

I like the jig Tom. Looks a whole lot easier than trying to drill and install those rivets in place. 

 

Cheers 

[HIPEXEC]

It's a shame to paint over that beautiful planking job. Great work!!!

[M. Pajulahti]

Interesting idea to make the rivets! End result looks good.

 

Markku

[usedtosail]

Well, here are the results. I planked a few sections of the inner bulwarks with the riveted planks. I still need to trim the ends to be flush with the gun ports. Not as precise as I have seen other modellers create these rivets, but I think the overall effect is what I was after. It will be a while before they are painted, so I am curious to see what they will look like then.

 

 

 

 

[Guest Tim I.]

Tom, 

 

This is looking great. I hope you don't mind if I borrow something similar to this when I finally get to my Constitution build.

 

- Tim

[usedtosail]

Tim, I don't mind at all. That is what I love about this site. A year ago I would have had no idea how to tackle something like this.

[Guest Tim I.]

Tim, I don't mind at all. That is what I love about this site. A year ago I would have had no idea how to tackle something like this.

 

Agreed! This site and collaboration with such a large community of modelers has also been invaluable for me.

 

- Tim

[CaptainSteve]

Tom, 

 

This is looking great. I hope you don't mind if I borrow something similar to this when I finally get to my Constitution build.

 

- Tim

 

Tom,

Please put me down for a cupful of plagiarism when the time comes ....

   

Edited December 4, 2014 by CaptainSteve

[usedtosail]

You got it Captain. Take all you want. I'm flattered.

[usedtosail]

Well, another major milestone, but not a good one. A major foul up, and when I say foul I mean something else. I was so happy to finish the inner bulwark planking on one side that I had to sand the sides flush with the gun port sides. They looked great from the inside. But then I had to go and turn the ship around. While sanding the sides of the planks I had also managed to sand some of the planking below the corners of the gun ports. Oh, I thought, I'll just sand these out if I can. Well, they sanded out but then when I looked back inside the bulwarks, I had sanded the plank sheer down under some of the gun ports, one so much it was half gone. At first I thought I would have to replace the plank sheer, but that would have been too disruptive. So on the worst one I cut out only the portion of the plank sheer under the gun port and replaced it with a new piece of the same wood I used to make the original plank sheer. I will fill in the joints with wood filler, so this should look OK when painted. Here you can see the damage under the gun port on the left and the cut out plank sheer under the gun port on the right:

 

 

I then realized I would still need to add a thin strip on the bottom of the gun port to make up the other material that was sanded away, which I did. Then I realized that I could just file the other damaged plank sheer sections square, and add a wider strip of wood over the bottom of the gun port and the plank sheer, which is what I did for the rest. Here you can see the two types of repairs:

 

 

 

They are all drying now so the next steps will be to sand these down (much more carefully) and fill the cracks with wood filler to try to make everything look like one piece. We shall see how this turns out.

[patrickmil]

Tom, your method for the interior bolts is absolutely genius. I'll be stealing that idea one of these days as well.

[usedtosail]

Thanks Patrick, although it is an idea that came from watching others on this site like EdT, with much less precision than his approach. And thanks for the likes too.

 

Well, I am pretty happy with the repairs to the starboard gun ports and plank sheer. Here are the results from the outside and the inside:

 

 

 

I am not totally happy with the squareness of the bottoms of the gun ports, so I will square them up a bit more with a rectangular sanding stick.

 

I continue planking the inner bulwarks on the port side. Just a few more sections to plank then I have to clean up the gun ports on this side. I will be doing that much more carefully so I don't have to repair them too.

[patrickmil]

Looks good Tom! The nails really add great detail and are a testament to your skill.

[usedtosail]

Here I go redoing things again. First of all I did make up a rectangular sanding stick with some medium sand paper and cleaned up the bottoms of the spar deck gun ports somewhat, so they are looking better.

 

Yesterday, I came across a Constitution build log on this site by galf, where he used WHITE GLUE for the rivet heads on the inner bulwarks. Now, if you remember my first thought was to use CA for these which I tried with no success. All the time I was doing that experiment, the white glue was sitting right next to the CA glue bottles, and I never thought to try it! Doh! Last night I took a wood strip and added dots of white glue to it using a toothpick. They looked nice and round and did not stick up too much from the plank, which was just what I had envisioned when thinking of using the CA. When the glue dried, though, the dots disappeared since they turned clear, but after giving the strip a quick coat of paint, there they were in all there round glory. So here I got crazy and pried off half of the wire riveted strips on the port bulwark sections, then I made up two long strips using the white glue method. I did add some grey paint to the white glue before I did this, so that the rivet heads would be visible after they dried, so I could line up the pattern when installing the strips. I cut sections from the long strips and replanked the bulwark sections that I removed, and I really like the results better than the wired method.

 

Here you can see a comparison of the old strip (above) with the new (In the jig) and the greyed white glue and toothpick that I used.

 

 

And a closer view of the strips:

 

 

And here is a comparison on the model, with the new strips on the left section and the old on the right sections:

 

 

It took a little while to get the hang of this and get the dots somewhat consistent. After a while, the glue got too tacky and was not sticking to the strip well, so I made up a new batch of grey glue, which made more consistent dots. Another nice feature of this method is that I can add or touch up dots on the planks after they are installed, like I did for a few that were too small.

 

After I took these pictures, I pried off the rest of the old planks on the port side and replaced them with these new planks. It went very quickly the second time, as did making the strips. Next week I replace the strips on the transom and starboard sides.

[patrickmil]

Looking good Tom. That sounds like a much easier method to placing nails.

[usedtosail]

I finished replacing the inner bulwark planking with the glue drop riveted planks. I sanded the spar deck gun ports on the starboard side so they were square. I used a sanding stick for the sides, but this time I did not sand all the way to the bottom of the gun ports. I cleaned up the bottom of the sides with a riffler file that did not have teeth on the sides, so I didn't sand into the sill like I did the first time. I then finished the interior of the gun ports with a smooth emery stick. I also used the sanding stick to get the tops of the bulwarks flat. I still have to do this on the port side, but that will have to wait a few days. Here is how they came out:

 

 

 

 

While planking the bulwarks, I had some time waiting for the glue to dry, so I made up some of the gun tackles for the gun deck cannons. I had cleaned up the blocks and made some hooks, so I wanted to put them together to see how they would look and to gauge the size against the gun carriages. Here is a shot of the tackles:

 

 

I used this picture from the present Constitution as a guide:

 

 

At first I thought the hooks might be too big, but they are about the same length as the small blocks, which is about right. Also, they are about as small as I can make them. The length should be OK too, as long as I put the eyebolts in the bulwarks in the middle between the gun ports, as the current Conny has them.

 

Have a very merry Christmas everyone.

[GLakie]

She's taking shape quite nicely Tom. I hope you and yours have a great holiday too! 

 

Cheers 

[CaptainSteve]

Looking very good indeed, Tom !!

   

[patrickmil]

Tom, the rivet detail is going to pay off huge. It's one of the details I love seeing in builds of the Constitution. Very nice work.

[usedtosail]

Thanks Captain and Patrick and the likes.

 

Patrick, I agree that the rivet detail really adds to the model. The other builds I have seen on this site that have added it really blow me away. I had to add it too.

[GLakie]

I like the rivet enhancement as well Tom, and would like to find out if you used the point of a pin or toothpick, or a hypo-needle set-up for the glue application, to get each drop so even-looking? 

 

Cheers 

[usedtosail]

Thanks George. I used the tip of a toothpick, which I blunted a bit. I had to keep wiping built up glue off the tip as I went, or the dots would get bigger.

[usedtosail]

I finished cleaning up all the spar deck gun ports:

 

 

I then drilled the hole for the bowsprit in the bow. I got a little carried away though 

 

 

The outer plank ends were a bit splintered so, I took them off and will replank there to plank around the bowsprit. I cut the tenon into the end of the dowel that will become the bowsprit so it is centered correctly and I can take it in and out and get it back to the same place. I took the inside planks off because they were not bent enough in the center and the bulwark was too thick at the bow. I will bend new plank sections there, again cut around the bowsprit, then add the rivet heads before gluing them in. it will be a little slow because I can only do one plank at a time on each side.

 

In the mean time, I want to clean up the spar deck waterways and sheer plank a bit, as they are rough in spots, especially around the curve of the bow. Then I will paint the insides of the spar deck gun ports black, then mix up some green paint for the inside bulwarks and paint them. Luckily I have a few days off from work, so maybe this will all get done by early next week.

 

 

[usedtosail]

Oh, and Happy New Year everyone.

[patrickmil]

Ouch, I hate that when that happens. I always hate drilling into model ship planking because of the tendency for splintering. Maybe it's just the basswood. I'm sure you'll get it turned around in no time though. Happy New Year to you as well! 

[GLakie]

Mishaps and oops' are inevitable with this kind of construction Tom. Not a big deal though. The bowsprit looks like it fits real nice and she'll be ship-shape in no time.

 

 

Cheers and

I hope you and yours have a Happy New Year also