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

[usedtosail]

Rich, I learned that lesson when I tried using nails to bend wood, a few models ago. When I saw you using those thumb tacks, I thought it was brilliant.

[MEDDO]

I am very much enjoying following along.

[pete48]

Hi Tom, Thank you, I greatly appreciate it

 

BTW, Pete, I love the natural wood of your models. I hope to aspire to that level of craftsmanship someday.

 

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[usedtosail]

OK, I had to show some planking progress. I am taking my time as best as I can and have gone back and removed some planks I didn't like, but progress is being made. These are all raw planking - no sanding or filler (yet). I started by planking the rows above and below the gun deck gun ports, so that these would be full width planks and have been filling in between the upper gun port plank and the plank sheer, and between the gun ports. Most of the work has been in the stern but I am also soaking and bending the curved planks in the bow, but can only do a few a night in the bow. Those short planks between the gun ports take a lot of time because there is a 1/32" gap between their ends and the sides of the gun ports, which means I can't sand them to length in place, so they have to be exactly the same to line up vertically for the edges of the gun ports. I will be glad when they are done. I could add a couple more rows of planks under the gun ports, but I may wait until after the other side is planked like this side, so that I can use those two rows to adjust the height of the wales between the two sides, if I need to.

 

 

 

 

 

I am having 10 yards of top soil delivered to the house today that my son and I will be spreading in the circle where the pool was that I took down earlier in the spring, so there won't be too much progress this weekend.

[pete48]

The Planking looks good Tom, 10 yrds of topsoil should keep you busy, you must have decent weather there, its Raining here

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[usedtosail]

Nope, pouring like crazy here. Supposed to be dry over the weekend, though.

[usedtosail]

Thanks Pete and others for the likes. I feel like an idiot this morning. As I writing the entry yesterday I was thinking - I know I have tools to make equal length strips, so why am I not using them?

 

This morning I cut five strips the same length using a Chopper with a stop set for the length, and planked between a gun port in much less time. I only had to get the first strip to the correct length, them used it to set the stop. I guess I didn't think this would work at first because previous builds did not have perfectly square gun ports, but these seem to be much more precise. Oh well, I am always learning, and some times relearning, with this hobby. isn't it great?

[pete48]

So true Tom, I am constantly learning new things , thats the beauty of this hobby

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[usedtosail]

OK, more planking "progress", but in this case it is really taking a step back. I started by adding a plank above the gun deck gun ports and planking down from the plank sheer. As that gap closed, I was having to cut thinner and thinner planks, and it got to a point that the planks were getting too thin and didn't look good to me. Of course, I could have avoided all this if I had worked out a planking plan from the beginning as I should have, instead of just winging it like I did. I have to complain a bit about the instructions at this point too, because the plan sheet I was using had the planks between the plank sheer and the gun ports the same width as the plank sheer, but on the next sheet, they are the next width up, so the really thin planks I started with for this area were too thin to begin with. The planks on the bulwarks are also too thin according to this second plan sheet, but I am going to leave these as is and will have to repeat it on the starboard side too.

 

Here is the area I didn't like, where the planks were getting to be less than 2mm wide. You can see the big difference between these thin planks and the plank above the gun ports.

 

 

So, I used the trusty Isoproyl alcohol to loosen the glue, then gently (well, mostly gently) pried them up using a dental pick and a micro chisel. I did not have too much collateral damage, just a few places where a couple of upper planks needed to be reglued at the ends, and one of the dummy gun port sides had to be reinstalled.

 

 

 

Here is a shot with some of the planks removed (I had originally planned to only pull out three planks, but I ended up pulling out four). I cleaned up the areas under the pulled up planks with some riffler files, to make sure they were flat again.

 

 

I could now replank in the new gap using three wider planks instead of four planks, and I am planking them in groups of three so that I can thin them down to the same widths before gluing them in. To me this is looking much better.

 

 

I love planking...I really do

 

 

 

[pete48]

Hi Tom , Looks like you got a handle on it , nice job on the planking refit . looks good

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[usedtosail]

So, there has been some planking progress lately, although a lot of life has gotten in the way.

 

I continued planking the port side around the gun ports, working toward the bow. I filled the gap between the top of the gun deck gun ports and the spar deck gun ports.

 

 

Then filled in the areas around the forward gun ports. Here I have soaked three planks and clamped them in place to dry.

 

 

And finally added the last two planks between the forward gun port and the stem.

 

 

Now I will give this side a first sanding and repeat on the starboard side.

[pete48]

Nice work Tom, She Looks Great

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Guest Tim I.]

Looking good!

 

- Tim

[usedtosail]

Thanks Pete and Tim.

 

I sanded the port side some but the final sanding will be done after all the planks are on.

 

 

 

The starboard side planking is well under way.

 

 

[scott larkins]

Tom,

 

That planking is coming along great. I too was nervous when having to remove planks once I put them on.  No great way to overcome the anxiety on that one.  That planking is clean and looks like it is fitting really tight.  I used the same paper clip method when attaching my planks for my Rattlesnake.  The biggest problem I had was when the spacing got too narrow to use the neat little clips.  Then my fingers, quick drying glue and a wing and a prayer were used heavily.  LOL

[usedtosail]

Thanks for the encouragement, Scott. I had the most trouble in that curved area around the bow keeping the planks tight. The use of wedges as the glue dried helped. The areas between gun ports were difficult to clamp, too, but the planks were so short I just held them in place until the glue tacked up. The wood glue I am using dries pretty quickly, so that does not take too long. I have not had to revert to CA yet for the planks, which I have used in the past as a quick clamping method. Once I start using that, it becomes a lot more difficult to remove planks. At least this area is pretty straight forward. Once I start planking under the wales I have to deal with bending and possibly spilling planks. That's when the fun really starts. Your Rattlesnake is very sweet. You are doing a great job.

[usedtosail]

Geoff, based on what you have done so far you shouldn't have any trouble. I am enjoying following along with your build.

[usedtosail]

A milestone of sorts...

 

The last two planks framing the gun ports have been installed.

 

 

I also gave the planks behind these a preliminary sanding.

 

 

I am going to have to use some filler as the faces of some of the planks are not level with each other and too far off to just sand. I didn't see any springy planks on this side like I did on the port side. I think I paid more attention to this as I was planking the starboard side. There are some gaps between planks that need some filling, though. Overall, I think they came out OK. I was really worried about the planks along the edges of the gun ports, but I was able to clean these up with a riffler file that I could run along the inside edges of the gun ports. The building jig I am using doesn't let me get a good view of the bow straight on, so I made sure to take the hull out of the jig to check the run of planks on both sides at the bow before filling in the area between the stem and the first gun port. Sure enough, I had to adjust the starboard plank under the gun ports at the stem to line up with the same plank on the port side.

 

Next up is the planking below the gun ports and the wales. I will mark off the locations of the top and bottom of the wales and check the fairness with some battens before adding more planks.

[Guest Tim I.]

Tom, 

 

Your Constitution is looking great! My build is on hold, as I am selling my house and moving about to the Finger Lakes region in NY State. Hopefully if things go as planned I will be able to resume my build in January. 

 

I am greatly enjoying following your build log, and living vicariously through your build. 

 

- Tim

[Geoff Matson]

Looking good Tom. Congrats on your mile stone. There will be plenty more to come!

[wemattson]

Tom,

 

Spectacular work!  Thank you for sharing this build with us.  I just got back into this hobby after a long absence and following your build is like an online tutorial.  Also, very inspirational.

 

Cheers,

Wayne

[usedtosail]

Thanks guys.

 

Tim - good luck with your move. I love the Finger Lakes area. Which lake are you going to?

 

Geoff - you got that right. I need small victories to keep me motivated.

 

Wayne - welcome back to the hobby. I hope this build helps others as I have been helped by those that have built or are still building the Constitution.

[pete48]

Hi Tom , Your Constitution is really starting to take shape . Nice work

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Guest Tim I.]

Putting an offer in on a Victorian house in Prattsburgh, NY near the western shore of Keuka Lake.

[usedtosail]

That is a beautiful area. I hope the new house has a nice workshop, or at least a room that you can use as a workshop. I am anticipating seeing your take on this ship.

[usedtosail]

Thanks Pete.

[scott larkins]

Wow, that is coming along well.  I can't wait to see further progress on this build.  Keep up the good work man.

[usedtosail]

I made some more progress this week on the planking.

 

In preparation for adding the thicker wale planks, I measured the locations of the top and bottom of the wales at each bulkhead off the plans and used a tick strip to transfer that measurement to the bulkheads. I used the plank under the gun ports as the reference, since I could lay the tick strip up against it on the hull.

 

 

 

I then placed a batten on these lines and made sure it ran true, and extended the lines to the stem and transom.

 

 

 

After I marked the wale locations, I added the remaining two thin planks that go under the gun ports above the wales. Since the wale planks will be thicker than the planks I already have done, I wanted to get the existing planks sanded pretty well so I don't mess up the wale planks later. I gave them an initial sanding then used some wood filler to fill gaps and low areas. I am using a Latex wood filler that is very creamy and sands very well. Here I am about half way through sanding the filler off. I just keep sanding until I can see the plank edges and there are no edges of filler present. I do put the filler on pretty thick at first, but it sands off easily.

 

 

I used a fairly course sand paper to remove most of the filler, than a finer piece to get pretty close to the finish I want. In this picture, most looks good but I did put more filler on the bottom planks towards the stern.

 

 

While waiting for the filler to dry in the bow area, I started cutting and shaping the first row of wale planks at the stern. I created a spreadsheet which uses the width of the wales divided by the number of planks to give me the dimensions of each wale plank at each bulkhead. I use these measurements to trim the planks in width. At the bow and stern, the wale planks taper down to the same thickness as the planks already installed (1/16"), so for that I used a sanding block. Here is the first wale plank at the stern, which is tapered in two dimensions - width and thickness

 

 

And here it is installed with the plank in front of it. This picture also gives a good indication of the sanded upper planks at this point. I will give everything a finer sanding before I paint the hull, too.

 

 

Of course, this is just on the port side, and all has to be repeated on the starboard side, which I will do after completing the wales on this side.

 

[pete48]

Looking good Tom ,Nice work , I use a similar clamping system ,( works pretty good

 

Best Regards,

Pete

Edited August 9, 2014 by Pete48

[OzSatyr]

Excellent work Tom.  Ingenious clamping setup