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| USS Constitution - Model Shipway’s Kit No.: MS2040 | ||
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Moderators: Winston, aew
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| Author | Post | ||
| Jonathan G |
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  Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | Looking at the pieces to be cut, I began to wonder if they (especially the knee) would even fit on my boat shell. Using a contour gage, I took the profile of the transom. Not only did my transom not match the plans, it wasn’t even close. My boat transom contour better matched the outer surface of the knee than anything. I needed to remove more material in the bottom corner where the knee was supposed to fit. If you look at the boat’s plan above, it shows the transom to be 1/32” thick. That is paper thin if you carving it, which I was. The only way I could achieve that thickness would be to slice off the transom and rebuild it with 1/32” planks. My Byrnes saw can only cut at best 1” thick pieces. I wouldn’t attempt this with a hand saw even if I had one. Due to the confined space in the bottom corner of the transom, as best I could, I removed as much material as I dared using my rotary drill. I used a ball cutter for the wholesale removal and various shaped diamond tipped metal grinding heads for finer removal. The grinding heads removed material slowly for better control. Putting the shell up to the light, I could almost look right through the wall. Bob Hunt in his practicum actually wore right through his boat and had to make repairs.  | ||
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| Jonathan G |
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| Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | I checked the contour again and it was very close to what the plans required, so I cut out the knee and apron with my 40-year-old Dremel scroll saw. One of these days I’m going to get a new one that doesn’t vibrate so much and is a lot quieter. With a few minor adjustments with a file, they fit!!! I felt a whole lot better now that it was done right | ||
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| Jonathan G |
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| Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | Moving on, I thought I would make the stem and keel parts while still waiting for the styrene strips. It was at this point that my good feeling sank a bit. Looking at the practicum, my pinnace shell looked very similar to what was shown. However, when I looked at the plans to make the templates for the keel and stem I found another problem. The aft end of the boat angled up. See the pictures below. I checked other build logs and those with images of the pinnace that showed the bottom of the boat, all agreed with the plans, not the practicum. So, I have a bit more carving to do. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still a novice when it comes to reading ship lines on plans.      | ||
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| Jonathan G |
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| Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | I got out the rotary tool and put the sanding drum on it and sanded down the stern to match the plans, added more filler to smooth out the minor imperfections, and then applied the three coats of Minwax Polycrylic to the newly exposed wood again. | ||
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| Jonathan G |
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| Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | OK, back on course, if pardon the nautical reference. My styrene arrived and I proceeded to start the ribs. Having looked at several build logs, this didn’t appear to be too much trouble to do…riiiggghhht. I started by drawing a center line down the middle of the inside of the boat shell to ensure that when I glued the apron, keelson, and the stern knee, it would be properly positioned. Then I marked the position of the center rib. Using CA glue, I cemented the rib in place a bit at a time. I was using clothes pin clamps and I didn’t want those to get glue on them. When I was done, I saw that the rib had shifted a bit so it was not perpendicular to the center line. This was important because all the other ribs would be position off this rib using a spacer block; so it had to be right. When I tried to lift the rib from the shell with very little pressure with an X-acto blade, it snapped. The CA glue had made the flexible styrene brittle. So when gluing these ribs, they have got to right the first time. Another thing I noticed while reviewing other build logs where they have documented their ship’s boats construction, is that no two pinnaces were built the same even though MS provides a detailed plan based on the US Navy plans. I can understand when the actual ship and or plans no longer exists so the builder has a lot of room for interpretation. Well, I guess I will find out why as I progress through the construction of this beautiful little craft. Following the construction process of the practicum, I used a “spacer” to maintain the separation of the ribs as each one was glued into place.  | ||
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| Jonathan G |
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| Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | The practicum showed that Mr. Hunt had glued all the ribs in place and then glued the apron and knee on top of them. Both the MS plans and the US Navy plans show the apron and the knee glued directly to the shell with the ribs butting up them. This is what I did. Both plans show the keelson notched for the ribs and footings (which have yet to be installed) so it can be glued on top of the ribs and footings. | ||
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| aew |
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Arthur  Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 3024 | How big is that boat Jonathan? The scale's comparable to Vanguard but the boat looks larger and more detailed than mine. (But I do have four).  | ||
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| Jonathan G |
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| Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | The pinnace is 5 1/2" x 1 1/2" while the other 3 boats are about 4 1/4" x 1 1/8". The kit's plan for these boats are directly based on the US Navy plans for the Constitution's boats. If fact they are almost identical, hence all the detail. Jon | ||
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| aew |
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| Arthur Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 3024 | Thanks Jon. Similar size - and quantity! | ||
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| Jonathan G |
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| Registered Member #4155 Joined: Thu Mar 14 2013, 09:01pmPosts: 1199 | In my last post, I had forgotten that I had taken some shots of the notched keelson (they were still in the camera) so here they are. BTY, you can see where the styrene broke. Luckily, all of this will be under a couple of coats of paint and nearly hidden once the boats are completed. So unless you know they are there and have very good eyesight with proper lighting, it will be hidden.  | ||
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