It seems that building the Revell 1/96 scale U.S.S. Constitution has become something of a “Rite of Passage” for ship modelers. Everyone, or just about everyone, who builds model ships has done this one or has it lined up to do. There are numerous build logs for her on this site and other sites to attest to this, and so I guess it’s my turn.
I had originally planned to build this straight out of the box, but after following Force9’s current build of her I decided to duplicate some of his modifications (particularly the gun deck bulwarks) and will no doubt continue w/ more as the build progresses. (once you start making changes it's hard to stop)
I also found a hearty discussion there not only of the mechanics of the build, but the history and controversy of accurately depicting the ship, as well as the characteristics of ‘ships of the period’ that piqued my interest to start doing my own research (in part just to understand some of the terminology being used) and as a result have now spent a considerable sum in acquiring reference and reading materials of my own.
My original plans for an OOB build have changed to the following:
Where ever possible, to make any ‘doable’ (ie… within my skill level) modifications that add to the accuracy and detail of the models representation of the Constitution. [I will do my best to justify as I go]
[Adjunct to this, I plan to try to depict her just after her 1858 overhaul by mounting her on a slip way, ready for launch, with new decking, plate, etc. It seems reasonable that she would still have had many of the characteristics of her 1812 fittings allowing me to justify using the models transom as is. ]
To do a complete and accurate as possible rigging, including constructing from scratch the masts from the top mast up along with replacing the models shrouds and deadeyes and chainplates. I have purchased the Bluejacket plans for their model of the Constitution to help me with this, as well as an amazing (to me) book by Lennarth Peterson that illustrates every line and how it was attached and belayed.
I had not planned on posting this until I had gotten farther along, but friends have been asking me how things are going and I figured this was an easy way for them to keep track. I anticipate this build to take a considerable amount of time, so there will no doubt be large time gaps between posts. With all that said:
Progress to date:
Hull is painted and assembled with some detailing to finish on the galleries and hawse holes.
Hull modifications:
I built up the gun deck bulwarks using Force9's idea w/ some modifications of his steps by using 0.01" sheeting for the planking inside the gun deck which I scribed and then glued on. I only did a section that would be visible through the spar deck hatches. As it turns out, it was pointless since about all you can see is the but end of the gun carriages once the spar deck is on. I did enjoy the challenge tho, and don't regret having done it.
I used the same method for doing the spar deck gunwales and added the riveting w/ a potters awl that I filed down the tip just enough to give me the right sized rivets. There was just no way, to my satisfaction, of depicting the correct number of rivets across each panel (14 by my count) without it looking like a shotgun had been taken to it. These took a lot of time, but came out pretty damn good.
All guns painted and assembled w/ some minor touch ups yet to do, and the tramsom has been detailed
[ possible re-do on this? Stupidly used Tamiya flat black from the bottle on the transom and Tamiya flat black from the spray can on the rest of the hull naively thinking they were the same color]
Gun deck has been assembled w/ veneer decking and placed in hull.
I haven't decided wheter or not to glue it in place. Seems not to need it. Any thoughts on this are welcome, especially if it means not gluing it in will cause me problems later.
The veneer decking is from Scaledecks.com and runs the whole length of the deck so I did not have to worry about the seams from the deck coming in three parts. It's also less that 1/100 of an inch thick so I did not have to make any modifications to the hatch coamings or mounting pads. I tested some background colors and the 'tint' of the deck changes w/ what color you use. Green actually works pretty nice, Red not so much. I just left the background color as primer grey in the end. I did not add a butt pattern (a test came out looking like bricks instead of planks laid out) and am letting the color variations "imply" the butts.
Captains quarters painted and ready for gluing.
I didn't bother with detailing this very much. All the pieces were riddled w/ gate marks for one, and I used Kristal Klear on the windows for the transom, so you really cant see a darn thing. Could have painted it all purple and you wouldn't be able to tell.Well..maybe not purple.
Trail boards and hawse holes.
The detailing on the boards came out fairly decent considering that when you are painting white over black, it means 5 or 6 coats (finger cramps and eye strain!). I will be changing out the hawse holes. They just looked sloppy to me and I found these pics from the 1858 and 1927 overhauls that show them as much larger and more or less perfectly round.
top pic is 1858 (supposedly first photo ever of the Constitution)
Okay... That's pretty much all for now. I welcome questions, coments and criticism (constructive). It's summer, so I tend to get outside as much as possible, which means it may be a while before I have anything new to post.