Constitution by Geoff Matson - Model Shipways 2040 - 1/76 scale

[JSGerson]

I don't know anything about guns or how to maintain them, but I did see something about using Birchwood Super Blue for blacking. Do you know if this stuff is the same thing as Birchwood Perma Blue?

[Geoff Matson]

I have used both on guns as well as the chain. This is just a little stronger medium. I got his one from the gun area at Walmart. Another benefit of living in the country. It looks good and I find it easier than painting. When I mount the bow sprit I will post a picture. I am holding off on the bowsprit for as long as I can. I am afraid I will break something. Once I get to the stays I will have to mount it. 

[KurtH]

Thanks for the tip.  I will continue to follow your build.

[Geoff Matson]

I am getting close to installing the foremast. I was often confused about whether to clue it or leave it loose and let the rigging keep it in place. I know if I glue it, I will break it and be screwed. If I just set it in the mast hole and let the rigging hold it in place, it will twist, and I will be screwed. I came upon another method that I am going to use. It is a product called Quick-Stix remove-able wax. I purchased it on Amazon for $5.00 .My wife has a friend who builds miniature doll houses and uses it all the time. It is a soft wax that sticks to what it is applied too. It holds the item firm in place. If you need to remove it, ok. If you need to tweak it, ok. I feel it will be great on the masts and bowsprit. Just put a little ball of the wax on the bottom of the mast and stick it in place. It will hold them in place, while the rigging is done. If you have an accident, you can remove it. You could use it in many instances while modeling. 

[Landlubber Mike]

Cool idea.  Thanks for sharing Geoff!

[J T Lombard]

Quote

 

Geoff I can't seem to find this on Amazon. Can you help with a link?

Thanks

J

Edited November 10, 2018 by J T Lombard

[Geoff Matson]

Try this https://www.amazon.com/s/?keywords=quick Stick Holding Wax   The name may be confusing. Hope this helps>

Edited November 10, 2018 by Geoff Matson

[J T Lombard]

Thanks Geoff. That works & I ordered some.

 

J

[Geoff Matson]

I made a little progress today. I have the swifter lines on the foremast roughed in. I rigged as much of the foremast off the ship to make it as easy as I could. When I did this I needed a way to hold the rat nest of lines off the model and not get snagged on anything. I picked up a couple of those plexiglass picture frames that you stick the pictures it. They work great keeping the lines from getting caught on the model. 

 

[Geoff Matson]

I got my feet wet over the weekend on the starting of the rigging the lower foremast shrouds. All in all, it went pretty well. My plan is to finish the lower formast shrouds by the weekend. I used my (quik stik) to set my mast. It works well and lets me tweak the mast when necessary. My deadeye spacer is working well. I made all my line with the Byrnes Ropewalk. I chose cotton thread. All my line is tied with actual knots. The knots are then set with diluted white glue. The cotton thread lets the glue soak in. Once everything is set and the way I like it I trim off the whiskers. 

[lambsbk]

Geoff I do not have my sea legs on the shrouds yet. Are they paired starboard to port or port to port and starboard to starboard?

[Geoff Matson]

Dave:  In the picture, the line with the double and triple block is called the swifter. There is one on the port and one on the starboard. They are single.  Then you have the first pair of shrouds on each side. They are paired, two to the starboard side and then two to the port side. I started from the stem and worked aft. Keep pin mind as you work aft the shrouds do get longer. Hope this helps. 

[lambsbk]

It does Geoff, thanks.

 

Dave

[Geoff Matson]

I made some progress this week. I finished the foremast lower shrouds and added the shear pole. Every things was tied and then the knots set with diluted white glue. I was really amazed how the shear pole firmed everything up. This week I will attempt to get the lower main mast and shrouds installed. This whole process is very tedious and I try to work on about one hour sessions and then take some breaks. I am getting pretty good at tying knots with tweezers. 😁

 

 

[MEDDO]

Looking real nice

[usedtosail]

Get used to doing everything with tweezers soon. Get yourself some long ones to reach through the rigging once you start on the running rigging. Your shrouds look great.

[jfinan]

Beautiful work, Geoff!

[jfinan]

Beautiful work, Geoff! Is the copper plating part of the MS kit?

[Landlubber Mike]

Beautiful work!  Very clever idea with the picture frames.

[Geoff Matson]

jfinan:   The kit supplies you with a roll of copper tape. It is up to you figure out what to do with it. Since I started the kit years ago I went with the ponce wheel and tape. I think the ponce wheel is over kill. If I were to do it over I would just do the plain blank plates. At a scale of 1/76 I don't think you would see the bolts. But at the time I thought it looked cool. In the future I am going to try and stay with 1/4 inch scale. That way I think the details will look more realistic.  Thanks for the interest.

[Geoff Matson]

Here is  my latest progress. I have finished the lower main mast shrouds. Things are going well. I have posted two pictures. One has all the threads attached before trimming and the other is the finished product. Now it is on the to the mizzen mast shrouds.

 

 

[lambsbk]

...sweet.

[Geoff Matson]

Here is my progress for the week. All the lower shrouds are finished. Some were easy and other parts really kicked my butt, but I got them finished.

[Geoff Matson]

Well, I ran into a planning problem I did not think of. I need to install the chain gammoning to the bowsprit. I checked some of the other build logs and came up with a plan. The main problem was how to get the chain thru the  two small holes in the stem. ( I should have wondered what went there )  So, I will let the pictures show how I did it.

 

 

 

 

[JSGerson]

At first glance, it looked like you had the gammon chain coming through the seat of ease, but upon closer inspection it turned out to be a shadow. Nice job.

 

Jon

[Geoff Matson]

I am now working on the bobstays. I had already rigged the bobstay collars on the bowsprit. i like to do as much rigging off of the model as I can.  Again I will let the pictures do the talking. Once I was happy that all would work out as planned, I discovered a potential problem. All the bobstay rigging would be in the way of rigging the fore stay hearts. I decided to stop at this point and work on the forestay hearts.

[Geoff Matson]

I have my open hearts made and placed on the bowsprit. It worked out adding them now and not having to fight with the bobstays in the way. The thin line running to the foremast is just a place holder for now. Now that I have this done, I will go back and finish the bobstays.

[Geoff Matson]

Here is my latest update. Having the open hearts in place on the bowsprit made attaching the bobstays a lot easier. I attached them from the top down. 

[KurtH]

This is a really wonderful model!  I am almost ready to begin masting and rigging, which is where your log begins.  Your log will be both instructive and inspirational for me.

[Geoff Matson]

I am back after four years of avoiding rigging my Conny. The more I looked and researched it the harder it looked. Well, I finally decided I could do it and with winter coming to Northern Illinois I can now allow some time to work on it. I have backed my Conny out of dry dock and am ready to proceed. I am following Bob Hunt's course on building the Conny. I have gotten this far with the course and will follow along to the end. I have made all of my modeling scale rope with the help of Jim Byrnes Ropewalk and numerous kinds of cotton threads. I went over all the rigging lines with Plan 7 sheet of the plans. I have labeled all the line sizes and what I need. I feel. like this took all the four years to get this far. I have all the lower shrouds rigged and am progressing to the top shrouds.