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

[Marcus.K.]

Wow - THAT is a very impressive and educational build !

I´ll follow you with highest interest ...

[usedtosail]

Thanks Rich.

 

George, thank you too, and here is the real milestone, the last plank is in! 

 

 

Markus, thank you and welcome. I am happy to have you follow along.

[_SalD_]

Seems like you found that plank you were looking for Tom...the last one.   Deck looks terrific nicely done.

[CaptainSteve]

That really is a gorgeous job of planking, Tom !!

[GLakie]

I have to ask Tom - Is that the "kit-supplied" strips you used for the hull and deck planking? If so, you've managed to make it look really good. 

[usedtosail]

Thanks Sal and Steve, and for the likes. This part seems to me that it is taking a while, but it has been enjoyable. I am looking forward to moving on, though.

 

Some progress this week, but first I had a small side project to take care of. Our old kitchen sink faucet let go and dumped a bunch of water under the sink  . It took out the particle board cabinet floor. I had a plumber replace the faucet but I replaced the cabinet floor with some sanded plywood. I got to use the big boy tools so it was fun  !

 

Here is the new faucet, which my wife picked out:

 

 

And here is the new cabinet floor. I just put on a coat of poly so it looks a bit uneven. I have one more coat to go:

 

 

(that flash is sure a harsh light, shows how bad these cabinets are, but that is a job for another day, or the next owner whichever comes first  )

 

Back to ship modeling. I gave the planks a good sanding with medium sand paper to get them all even. I had a few more small cracks that I filled with sawdust filler. Then I marked the plank end butts. I used long planks when I did the planking but I wanted to show them at the appropriate lengths with a three butt shift. I first marked the planks with pencil, using a strip of manila folder to get a straight line. I then indented the planks at the pencil marks with a 1/8" angled chisel. Because it was angled, I could use it on the planks that were less than 1/8" wide. To get an even indent across the planks, I made one indent, then turned the chisel 180 degrees and made another. I still have to make the indents on the stern planks, they are just penciled for now.

 

Planks after sanding but before marking:

 

 

Bow area planks indented:

 

 

This is the chisel I am using for this step. It came in a pack of chisels from Micro Mark (I think):

 

 

We are home this weekend so I should have this step competed tomorrow, then start drilling and filling for the tree nails.

[usedtosail]

George, those deck strips are the 1/8" by 1/16" strips from Model Expo. There was a bunch that came with the kit, but because I used a lot of them for planking the gun deck, I did order another batch from ME, so these are a mixture of both. I actually ran out of these strips near the end, but I used the Byrnes saw to split some 5/32" by 1/16" strips that came with the kit into two 1/8" wide strips. The hull plank strips were straight out of the box. I sanded each strip on all four sides before gluing them in place, but in most cases they were in really good shape out of the box.

Edited September 25, 2015 by usedtosail

[GLakie]

Nice work with the sink and the planking Tom. Thanks 

Edited September 25, 2015 by GLakie

[usedtosail]

I finished marking the butt ends and started drilling and filling. Here you can see the steps I use - the raw drilled holes on the right, the holes after I clean them out with an awl in the center, and the filled holes on the left. I use a wood putty for the filling.

 

 

I then scrape the excess putty off with a razor blade, X-Acto chisel or smaller chisel, and end up with this:

 

 

I am about half way done with this step, so more drilling and filling tonight.

[usedtosail]

Thanks for likes, guys.

 

I finished drilling and filling the treenails, and gave the deck planks a good sanding with medium then fine sandpaper. I also scraped down a few high spots. I wiped the deck with a tack cloth and gave it a coat of pre-stain, wiped off the excess, and gave it a coat of Oak stain. I also gave the coamings and bitts another coat of stain.

 

 

 

 

I was glad to see that the spar deck color matches the gun deck pretty well. I may give the spar deck planks another coat of stain though to even it out some more.

 

I am going to use a different finish for the spar deck, though. I used Tung oil on the gun deck, but will use Wipe On Poly for the spar deck. The Tung oil was a bit blotchy and took a long time to harden up. When I checked my almost brand new can of Wipe On Poly, it was a solid mass  . It looks like the plastic cap popped open at some point (or I forgot to close it the last time I used it? - nah!  ) Instead of buying a new can, I decided to make my own by mixing 50% Poly with 50% mineral spirits. This way I can make up just as much as I need when I need it and store the Poly in a regular can. More to come on that later.

[Guest Tim I.]

Looking good!

The kitchen sink looks great too! 

 

- Tim

[usedtosail]

Thanks Tim, and those likes too.

 

After a light sanding and clean up, I gave the spar deck planks two coats of wipe on poly. I used a fine piece of plastic "steel" wool between coats with a very light touch. I like this finish a lot, much better than the Tung oil I used on the gun deck. I used it on the coamings, bitts, and gratings too.

 

 

You can see that there is some paint damage to the bulwarks from sanding the deck planks that I need to touch up.

 

 

Before I do that though, I went through the plans and found a few more details to add to the deck first. I used 1/32" strips for the doubler planks around the mizzen mast, as shown on the plans. This was fortunate because I had elongated the mizzen mast hole slightly to get the mizzen mast to sit straight vertically side to side. Although the mast coat would have hidden that, I can now get the hole more rounded. These are the raw planks as glued on last night. They still some sanding and finish. I do have to be careful sanding them, however, because their thickness shows along the edges, not like the other deck planks.

 

 

I am also going to be drilling holes for the scuppers in the deck planks, and fill them with some brass tube painted grey. Then I will clean up the bulwarks paint.

[CaptainSteve]

Beautiful work there, Tom, I must say !!

Your gun-deck will most definitely give added detail to your build !!

 

Whilst I don't plan on replicating the stunning job you have done to recreate that gun-deck, I do wish to thank you for giving me an idea which (I hope) will simulate the gun-deck cannons on my own build.  

(It won't be as good as yours, but I plan on adding painted red sections to each false gun-port to show off the cannon carriages that little bit better.)   

Edited October 9, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Guest Tim I.]

Tom,

 

Maybe you covered this earlier, and if so I apologize. What stain are you using for the deck?

 

Thank you,

 

Tim

[usedtosail]

Thank you Steve. That sounds like a great way to simulate the cannons on the gun deck. I can't wait to see how it turns out for you.

 

Tim - No worries. It is Minwax Oak stain, straight out of the can.

[Burroak]

Your ship is looking amazing! I have a Conny on its way but it was back ordered. I read your post about Chucks cannon carriages and was wondering where to order those. If I missed your post on it, I apologize. Thanks so much

 

Greg

[usedtosail]

Thanks Greg. Those extra cannon carriages I used came from Model Expo. They sell a complete set for the gun deck. I think it is on the same page as the Constitution kit on their web site.

[Burroak]

Thanks a lot. I will definitely be watching your mastery of the Conny.

[usedtosail]

Hardly mastery Greg. But it is fun.

 

Had a great long weekend in the Florida Keys last weekend, so not much work done on Connie this week.

 

I did finish the doubler planks with oak stain and wipe on poly.

 

 

I also touched up the green bulwark paint along the edge of the deck. I used short pieces of masking tape up against the waterway to keep (most of ) the paint off the deck planks.

 

 

I cut short pieces of brass tubing to line the scuppers, which I blackened then painted the ends grey. I drilled the 8 scupper holes, but still have to glue the linings into the holes.

 

 

Next up is to attach the fore mast pin rail which I made earlier, then start making and adding the rails on top of the bulwarks.

 

 

[usedtosail]

To continue with the scuppers, to install them I first opened up the drilled holes with a piece of the tubing I used for them:

 

 

I then inserted a scupper piece half way into each hole using a hemostat:

 

 

I then added a small amount of thin CA glue along the sides using a piece of wire:

 

 

And pushed the scupper flush with the deck using a piece of wood

 

 

And here is the result:

 

 

Luckily, I made 9 of these pieces for the eight that I needed, because the first one I pushed in with an awl instead of a piece of wood and it went right through into the hull where it remains today since there is no access to that area of the hull.

[usedtosail]

I then added the fore mast pin rail to the deck. I had made this piece a few months ago and used a piece of wood to hold it at the height of the planked deck, for alignment with the fore bitts. When I took that plank off the pin rail, I had a nice template to drill the three holes for the wire I had placed in the bottoms of the center and two outside supports. After test fitting the rail in the new holes, I removed it and place medium CA on the wire and bottoms of the supports and slipped it back into place. I then attached the two side rails to the bitts using CA glue. The whole assembly feels pretty solid now, so hopefully it will hold up during rigging.

 

 

 

I then had to add the two pieces that sit on the deck (I am having a brain fart and can't remember what they are called). These had to be notched to fit around inside of the two middle supports. I used a square file to make the notches, then glued these to the deck and the bitts.

 

 

 

Now I am getting ready to make the rails that sit on top of the bulwarks. I first test fit the supplied laser cut bow rails and taffrail. Neither of these fit well, so I will be making new ones to fit. I made up manila folder temples of the bow rail and fore rail sections, which took a while to get right. I made these slightly oversize so I can sand the rails to the final fit. The bow rail pieces have straight sections that the rails to the stem fit against, so I needed to make sure the angle was correct for them. I made the fore rail template long to fit all the way to the edge of the open waist, then figured out where I could use a straight piece of wood, and cut the temple into a scarf joint between two gun ports, so the joint would not be directly over a gun port.

 

 

 

I flipped these templates upside down and test fit them on the port side, and it looks like they will work on that side too. Tonight I will use them to cut out the rail pieces.

 

[GLakie]

Looking good Tom! She's taking shape. 

[usedtosail]

Thanks George and for those likes too. They are much appreciated.

 

I traced the rail templates onto some 1/16" basswood sheet and strip wood and cut the pieces out oversize on the scroll saw. I sanded the edges down until they fit correctly with a slight overlap on each side of the bulwark. I didn't put a design into the edges but did round them slightly. The widths of the middle pieces were adjusted to be the same as the width of the bow piece plus the piece that goes to the stem on the front, and the back of that second piece was adjusted to the width of the straight strip wood used for the third piece, which will also be used for the rails behind the open waist. The scarf joints were cut in using an X-Acto knife and cleaned up with a small diamond file.

 

 

 

I drilled small holes through the rail pieces into wood supports in the bulwarks, and put in some 28 gauge wire pieces, just to hold them in place while I fit them and their neighbors. I don't know if I will use the wire when I glue these in place after priming and painting them black. I may use the wire to position them then take it out if they look like they are attached well enough, which I suspect they will be. The joints are OK between pieces, but I know I will be adding a little wood filler and repainting the tops of the rails after they are installed, since these rails are painted. They are good practice for when I build something that I won't have paint to fall back on.

[usedtosail]

I made up the stern rails this weekend, then gave them all a few coats of black paint.

 

 

While they were drying, I thought about how to hold these down while I glued them. After some experimentation I came up with this approach, which is just rubber bands threaded through some metal blocks, that I can hook over the ends of some planks to hold the rail on down. These worked pretty well, but there were a few rails that I held with my fingers for a while until the glue set, to make sure they stayed in the right place. I started with the bow rails and the traffrail, then worked my way to the waist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the rails was a bit too short, so I ended up having to remake it, so it is being repainted now. Here is how the rest of the rails came out.

 

 

 

I need to do some touch up of the paint around the rails, but the joints came out better than I expected, so no filler is needed yet. I know I will need to use some when I add the rails to the stem, which go in those areas that are still left rough near the bow.

 

I bent a piece of wood for the fairleads at the bow and drilled a series of holes by hand with a pin vise. This piece is also getting a few coats of black paint so no pictures yet. Next up are the catheads.

[Jparsley]

Looking nice my friend Can I see a close up of your transom and aft cabins The rest of her looks great

[usedtosail]

"Can I see a close up of your transom and aft cabins" - Here you are Jay. This is how the transom looked when I finished adding the decorations months ago:

 

 

And sadly here is how it looks today. I was really pleased with those details at the ends of the arms and now they are gone due to handling of the hull. I am going to try to recreate some of those details and reattach them, but I will be waiting until much closer to the end of this build so I don't mess them up again. I have not touched up the black paint under the rails yet, either, but will do that after the last rail piece is in place.

 

 

 

 

 

I (somewhat) bravely drilled a series of holes through the port side bulwark for the cathead. This took a lot of syching myself up to do it and it was not easy due to the angle of the bulwarks and the angle of the hole needed. I started using a small drill that I drilled from the outside almost straight into the bulwark, then used larger drills at more and more of an angle. I finished the hole with square files to square it up until the cathead fit, and notched the bottom of the cathead to fit over the waterway and plank sheer.

 

 

 

Now all I have to do is replicate this on the starboard side - same position, same angle, same depth. How hard can that be? I am not too optimistic that I can pull it off, but I will give it a go tonight. Wish me luck. Oh and I have to fix some planks around the port cathead hole that started to come up during the drilling process. I need to add some support behind them, which may be wood filler as the hole is too small to try to get a piece of wood in there. Oh and I also took a closer look at the scarf joints on the rails, and they could benefit from some wood filler, so I added that last night. And I have to clean up some scratches in the deck planks from the filing process. I should have put some masking tape down before I started drilling and filing, which I will do on the starboard side.

[Jparsley]

Good luck Looks like a hard angle to get but I'm sure you can do the other side without too much difficulty

[usedtosail]

Thanks Jay. Well, I did drill the hole on the other side for the starboard cathead, and let's just say it is a good thing this hull is painted. The catheads look symmetrical but there was a little hull patching to take care of, but once painted over it is all good. Again, I really admire you guys and gals that can work in unpainted wood with such good results. I drilled holes to simulate the sieves in the ends of the catheads and will be painting them black before installing. I also touched up the black paint on the rails, but no pictures today.

[CaptainSteve]

Arr ...

None of us are in in any doubt that you will pull this off, Tom !!

[Guest Tim I.]

Tom,

 

I really enjoy watching how your ship is coming along.

 

- Tim