Charles' Revell 1:196 USS Constitution (Finished)

I hope some of you still receive updates from this thread, because I wanted to thank you.  I built the 1:96 Constitution 45 years ago, with illuminated gun deck and hand-laid wooden spar deck, but she got destroyed in a cross-country move when life seemed more important than the model.  In my dotage, and after visiting her while she was being refit, I wanted to do it again but despite a bigger house, knew that I'd never find room to properly display that scale and so have bought the 1:196.  With your encouragement, I've already decided to cut out the hatches on the spar deck, and bought polystyrene to build a false gun deck underneath those, and will be starting soon.  I've bookmarked this thread, and will be returning often, i'm sure, to tap your experience and expertise.  Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Any suggestions on painting th white stripe on te hull after assembly.

Thank you!

warshipguy

Charles,

Have you done anything with that La Flore/HMS Surprise conversion?

Bill

 

Bill--

Sadly, not much beyond what I last posted.  I got stalled on it for quite a bit of time over what felt like a silly couple of reasons--paint colors and when to paint some of the smaller parts, i.e., before or after mounting--and by the time I kinda sorta picked a path forward, we decided to sell our house, so everything's packed up.

Sigh.

I do plan to get back to it on the other side of the move, which will hopefully wrap up in the next 3-6 months, and when I do, I'll come back to, the boards.

Thanks for checking in!

Charles,

Have you done anything with that La Flore/HMS Surprise conversion?

Bill

I don't see Charles around lately. Those look like these...

http://www.bluejacketinc.com/pedestals.htm

Hey Charles, what did you use for the pedestals on your display mount? 

GM--

That right there is very good advice!  At this point, I've gotten things as close as they're going to get, and I've glued all four hull pieces together.  With the exception of the gap (he says) everything fits together pretty nicely, i.e., nothing I can't file smooth.

Also, my measurements are right where Sumpter said they should be, so I think I made the cuts in the right places . . . I just muffed up the line.  I really like your approach, and will use it the next time I do something like this.

As for next steps, filling the gaps will be the key.  I've backed everything with styrene strips, and I've begun the process of puttying everything up.  I'm going to take my time and carefully sand and re-fill as I go.  I have high hopes of getting everything ship-shape over the next couple of days.

Once I get this part done, and it's something I'm not embarrassed to show others, I'll open up a build diary and post some pics.

Charles

Generally when I perform that kind of surgery, I do the following:

Say that the hull is dark brown plastic. I very carefully mask the edge of the cut with the tape on the "keeper" side. Then I spray a contracting color on the "scrap" side, like white.

Remove the tape and careful make your cut about 1/8" into the white.

Tape a big piece of medium sandpaper down on something flat like a glass table top.

And slowly draw sand the part. Test fit as you go doing both parts at the same time, until the white is gone and the pieces fit together well.

It's often a toss whether to glue the front halves together and the back halves together, or do all four parts individually.

Thanks Bill.  I also found a copy of Lavery's Surprise book at the local library, and I'm picking it up tomorrow.

And, I began work on the Lindberg/Surprise conversion yesterday.  I'll start another thread at some point, but I got the saw out yesterday, and cut the hull into pieces. It was the first time I'd tried something like this, and I got mixed results.  On the port side, I lined up the cuts perfectly, with a clean join up and down the hull . . . but the hull features don't line up quite right (as Sumpter250 noted in one of these threads).  On the starboard side, everything lines up a treat, but I somehow got the aft-most cut slightly out of line.

Clearly, I need to work on some skills development.  

So, I'll spend the next couple of days gluing up, filling, sanding, touching up, etc, till I'm happy with it.  

Charles,

I hope that you find it useful.

Bill

Bill, you're very kind.  I found a used copy last night on Amazon for $4.50, and I should have it by early next week.  Thanks!

John,

That is the book I have been recommending. I have extra copies if Charles wants one.

Bill

John/Bill--

Thanks for the book recommendation.  Sounds like a winner.  I also downloaded, and have read Ship Modeling Simplified, by Frank Mastini, and Rigging Period Ship Models, by Lennarth Peterson.  

Mastini's book seemed like a solid primer to me, and Peterson's book seems indispensable to me.

Charles

I don't know whether that book's been mentioned in this thread before, but it's Th Neophyte Shipmodeler's Jackstay, by George M. Campbell. I also recommend it highly. It was published by Model Shipways back in the sixties as a general-purpose manual for the solid-hull wood kits that were all the firm  made in those days. In terms of materials and techniques it's obviously dated, but it's crammed with good, reliable information about basic techniques and sailing ship technology. A person who learned everything in that little book would be well on the way toward knowledgeability in the subject.

It's available through ModelExpo at a very reasonable price. One of the best bargains in the hobby.

Sultana is a beautiful little ship. Make sure that you get "Jackstay". It can help on so many levels.

Bill

I didn't realize that Sultana was in the discussion. I heartily recommend that one, purely on hearsay but I'v built similar kits from the same source and they're great.

I don't disagree. But do see if you can get hold of that Alavert book. It sounds as though you may live near a university; maybe its library has a copy (or could get one through Inter-Library Loan. The book will let you know what you're getting into.

Don't get the notion that plastic and wood modeling are mutually exclusive. The fact that you've built a plastic ship shouldn't discourage you from trying a wood one -  IF the particular ship appeals to you.

Model Expo is pricing its Sultana at $69.95 - this week. There's a good chance that it'll be on sale next week.

Think a bit more about which model you really want to build. Then go at it hammer and tongs, and don't let anybody stop you.

GMorrison

Oh, do both. You probably should start with the smaller one, but you'll get sick and tired of the bigger one if it's all you have going.

And there you have it . . . 

Charles_Purvis

 Right now, I'm kinda torn between a La Flore/Surprise project (which would challenge my bashing/scratchbuilding skills) and the 1:96 Constitution (which would challenge my determination and patience for the longer, more complex work plan). 

Either way, it'll be fun.

PS--I'm also watching eBay, as Bill suggested, for a Sultana.  

Professor--

Thanks for the comments, and I find myself in complete agreement with your points.  Just for clarity, I was posing the issue not as "wood versus plastic."  As long as you end up with a ship you can proud of, who cares?  Even in my own little project, I used wood in a few spots--the false gun deck, gun deck hatches, duckboards in the boats, etc.  

I was posing a question, as a newcomer to ship modeling, as to what a path of learning might look like.  I've had it in my head that a sensible path would be to move upwards in complexity thru plastic model kits, and then make the jump to wood kits.

I don't claim to have based that on anything more than intuition (and a risk-reward on the cost side, perhaps) basis.  

As I've engaged with this community, and listened closely to feedback and suggestions, I'm re-thinking all of that, with the operating principle that there's no right or wrong here . . . it's just an interesting exercise, at least for me. I suspect that, ultimately, I'll be drawn to whatever feels more exciting/fun at each point.  Right now, I'm kinda torn between a La Flore/Surprise project (which would challenge my bashing/scratchbuilding skills) and the 1:96 Constitution (which would challenge my determination and patience for the longer, more complex work plan). 

Either way, it'll be fun.

PS--I'm also watching eBay, as Bill suggested, for a Sultana.  

That's quite literally true - as anybody who's seen a POW model from the Napoleonic Wars can testify.

Hope to see you week after next, Bill.

John,

Haven't you said many times that one can make an excellent model out of a soup bone? I couldn't agree more! Also, I am looking forward to seeing you soon!

Bill

Well, I looked up "Venn diagram." I had of course seen such things many times, bot I didn't know the name for them.Learn something every day.

I've been through the "wood versus plastic" argument so many times that I'm frankly sick of it. Both materials are useful for many tasks in model building, and which one a modeler uses for a particular purpose is the Modeler's business.

My own approach is to use whatever material seems best for a particular job. My little scratchbuilt Hancock contains lots of styrene, lots of wood (of half a dozen species), and at least a dozen other materials ranging from brass (guns) to silkspan tissue (furled sails) to Milliput epoxy putty ("carvings"). To me, learning to work with all these materials is one of the pleasures of the hobby.

Two materials are on my no-no list: lead, because it's one of the most unstable substances on earth, and balsa wood, because I hate it.

In my opinion many model builders shoot themselves in the feet by insisting on using one material for everything. There used to be a widespread attitude among model railroaders that anything made of plastic was somehow inferior. And I've known lots of ship modelers who literally turn up their noses at styrene. ("We don't let plastic modelers in our club. They've got their own clubs.") And too many people who've been raised on plastic kits seem to think they have to make some magic leap in order to make something out of wood. They act almost like they're scared of it.

I'm not a plastic modeler or a wood modeler. I'm a ship modeler.

Charles,

First, I would recommend the Lindberg so-called pirate ship series as a way of gaining experience with plastic sailing ships. As John rightly states, these are old but they also represent (to a degree) real ships. One is a decent, small-scale Wappen Von Hamburg. Another represents the French Saint Louis, another the British Sovereign of the Seas, and you have already mentioned La Flore. Several of these models include full gun decks instead of the little platforms found on the Revell Constitution. None have the molded-on spar deck gun carriages found on the Revell kit. These Lindberg kits can be said to be more advanced that the Revell kit. Just get rid of the "pirate" stuff.

I agree that there is nothing to fear with wood kits. I would get a copy of Model Expo's how-to book called "Jackstay". It will introduce you to the world of wooden ship model building in an easy to understand manner. I actually have several copies if you would be interested. I will send it as a gift.

Finally, I also agree with John in that the Model Expo kit of the Sultana is a beautiful beginner's kit that is quite satisfying even for more experienced builders. Also, check eBay's listings for Model Expo and Bluejacket kits; sometimes you can find a nice kit cheaply.

Bill Morrison

GM--thanks for posting those pics, I get exactly what you're saying now.  I was over-complicating things considerably.  I may end up moving forward using styrene, simply because I've already purchased the strips, but I'll check Hobby Lobby and Michael's on my next trip for basswood.

Evan--you're very kind.  Thanks for stopping by, and for the words of encouragement here and on your own diary.  You guys are helping me build the determination I need to take on the 1:96, and I'll get started--and post a new diary--here shortly.

Cheers!

Charles_Purvis

Thanks GM.  I think I may be a little turned around, but I'm not quite able to visualize what you're recommending.  You sound enthusiastic about it, so I want to make sure I get it right!  

I've been envisioning some modifications along the lines of what Evan and Arnie have done, by building up the gun ports on the gun deck, and the bulwarks (complete with rivets) on the spar deck.  I note that Evan also laid in the ship's knees on the gun deck, and has also cut out some reveals on the spar deck to show the timbers underneath.  

What you're describing sounds more like that rendition, but I got a bit lost.  If it's not too much trouble, can you help me understand your vision here, either on the board or in a message.

Thanks again!

So yes Evan does his exposure thing, beyond my abilities.

Here on Victory I made width measurements of the ribs from the drawings in Longridge and used three sizes of basswood. Basswood btw I believe is the generic term for Linden. In any case it's great stuff.

Charles  - A wonderful effort on your Connie build... (Okay - that was just to pull Tilley's tail a bit!)

Very few folks actually complete an entire sailing ship model including rigging. Well done.

Evan