With my shop complete and Scharnhorst's refit nearing completion, it's time to start on the next project. I've had a few of these kits sitting on the shelf for a long time, and I've been itching to build one. So I cut open one of the boxes and started pulling out lovely sheets of laser-cut plywood. About a half-hour later, I stopped in confusion. I had two of some major parts (keel parts), one of other major parts (subdecks), and none of other major parts (other bits of keel, subdeck, and ribs). What was going on? I had two boxes, so time to open up the other one and inventory it. Another half-hour later, I had my answer. Turns out I had ordered a total of three kits, and whoever filled the order split them between two boxes without checking which sheets went where. Now that I've got that sorted out, here's what I have: The first five sheets The other seven sheets I glued the rib halves together, along with the main keel and subdeck. Then I went out with a bunch of my shipmates for a Veteran's Day Free Food Tour. I just got back, and did a rough test assembly of the hull. First impression: Words cannot express how BIG this thing is, and I'm just looking at the hull. It seems like there is so much space inside. Then I got out a few parts for test-fitting, including a cannon, a 9oz CO2 bottle, and a 20oz CO2 bottle. Suddenly it didn't seem so big anymore, as I was left wondering how it would all fit together. I'll take some more pictures tomorrow, and post some thoughts on what to do. I've already got a few ideas, but arming this monster will not be easy.
Well I spent some time test-assembling parts and thinking about armament. Nothing is glued yet. I also spent a couple hours with a sander shaping the bow and stern. Unfortunately all I have is fine-grit, so it still needs some work. More on that later. Armament-wise, the Constitution is allowed up to twelve cannons and 600 rounds. That's twelve units worth of firepower, more than any Fast Gun ship ever built. The general rule of thumb I've heard for CO2 is approximately 1oz per unit of cannons, so I need to squeeze in at least 12oz worth of CO2. I have a couple of 4oz bottles from Mikasa, a couple of 20oz bottles from Tegetthoff and Prinz Eugen, and a 24oz bottle from Gascoigne, so I did a bit of test-fitting. If Connie was a traditional warship, any one of those would fit with no problems. The problem is that she's a sail-powered warship, and that means I need room for the guns to compensate for at least some heeling. And anything the diameter of a 20oz bottle (3.5") is too big. The smaller bottles I have are all 2", and they fit just fine. They just don't have enough gas. Does anyone know the dimensions of a 12oz bottle? My google-fu is weak Anyway, I'm sure you all want PICTURES! So here you go. A few overview pictures with the 20oz bottle, followed by a size comparison with Scharnhorst, then my whole collection. Constitution (1:96), Victory (1:96), Santa Maria (1:96), and Cutty Sark (no idea what scale).
According to this Amazon page, the 12oz Spider tank is 2.5" x 10". I am not posting this to promote Amazon or Spider, just as a reference on the size of a 12oz CO2 tank...
I ordered a 12oz tank from Amazon, and I am quite impressed. The bottle fits much better than the 20oz I tested earlier, with much more room to spare. I wish I could get a long, skinny 12oz bottle so I have even more room for cannons, but this will have to do. Alas, the bottle itself is unusable. Although the exterior looks fine, I hear something loose rattling around inside. Since I have neither the tools nor certification to remove the pin valve and clean everything, I have to return it. I will get a replacement, however, and hopefully the next one will work. In other news, I have begun gluing the structure together. I started with just the keel clamped in a vise, then placed the ribs and sub-deck in place. This allowed me to square up the ribs quite nicely, neither tilting side-to-side nor twisting forward and back. I tacked the base of each rib to the keel, then installed the water channel rails. This was tricky, as the tolerances from laser-cutting are very tight. Once the water channel rails were in, that helped lock down the ribs even more. The last major structural step was the sub-deck itself. Constitution doesn't have a truly flush deck, it curves slightly upward at each end. I had already made a number of stress-relieving cuts in the subdeck to allow it to flex, as recommended in rcengr's fantastic guide, so the subdeck went on fairly easily. I did go through and individually press each section of sub-deck down against its rib, glue it, then hold it for almost a minute while the glue dried. This ensured that the entire frame was as square as possible. I had to stop, however, at rib 14. These would have to remain loose until after installing the deck, because the top of these ribs actually angles back inward. The inward curve at the top means that the rib itself has to flex outward in order to install the deck railing. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the process for installing the deck, because I had wet glue and was in a hurry. That said, the deck plates went together quite easily, and I clamped them in place for several hours for the glue to dry. While I waited for that, I turned my attention to the stern, and my first major deviation from rcengr's wonderful kit. The AOS rules specify that the stern gallery be penetrable from 3" above the waterline down to the bottom of the gallery. I haven't measured 3" on the model, but I know that Constitution's main deck is 3" above the waterline at its lowest point. Therefore, everything below the main deck should have a penetrable window. The rules also say the window should extend to within 1/2" of the sides. So I grabbed a pencil and ruler and sketched out the window. Fifteen minutes of bandsaw work later, I had a penetrable stern gallery. Well, almost. Technically the bottom of the gallery plate extends about 1/8" up into the penetrable window. I had to leave it in place for strength while the glue dries, but I will sand that off with a dremel later to bring it into spec. With a steady enough hand, I may even be able to replicate the smooth, lightly-burnt appearance of laser-cut wood. All the work in this area drew my attention to a part of the kit that was overlooked in the instructions. Specifically, there is a 1/4" gap between the solid stern piece and the bottom of the gallery/servo plate, and nothing addresses this in the instructions. I compared this to photos of the real ship and my other model, and it looks like this area is supposed to be a fairly flat section of stern planking that transitions between the neatly faired underwater sections and the boxy stern gallery. I am not sure exactly how I will resolve this. Right now I am thinking of filling the gap with balsa wood, sanding it smooth, and fiberglassing it along with the rest of the bottom. Speaking of bottom, I also need to figure out a more detailed plan for that. I have several blocks of 1/2" x 3" balsa, but not enough to completely fill in every space in the Constitution's belly. I can at least do one complete layer, so I can keep the nice wood-and-brass look of the interior. The question is what to do after that. Should I take the time to order more balsa wood and wait several weeks for that to arrive? Should I fill in the rest with expanding foam? cut blue foam? No matter what I choose, it will get fiberglassed and painted over in the end, so it's mostly about what is easiest. I also need to do something to reinforce the keel fin. The fin itself is fine, lots of strength there. My concern is how easily the keel flexes where the fin is supposed to join it. I need to lay down some reinforcement there. I haven't decided on the specifics yet, but I still want to adjust the fin forward and back afterwards, because I don't know how it'll handle on the water. I have also started preparing for my other major departure from the kit as-designed. The plans rcengr used are based on its final sailing configuration, which has a fully enclosed cutwater. As such, the kit comes with the parts to make that enclosed cutwater. I want to build this ship in its 1812 configuration, with open cutwater. This is the version that the full-size Constitution has been restored to, and you can see its skeletal, highly decorated bow today at the Constitution museum. I have another set of plans that shows the 1812 configuration, and specifically the extra ribs needed for the open cutwater. The last thing I did tonight was to scale these plans and print off the extra ribs. I should have more to show in a few days. edit: forgot to mention. I also need to order magnets for the deck hold-downs, but I have no idea which ones to get. Any recommendations for size/location/mounting?
I believe there is enough space for a 1/4" diameter x 1/16" thick magnet in each one of the tabs. You can use a Forsner bit to drill a flat hole for the magnets. I'm looking forward to seeing one of these on the water.
glaizilla has the prototype as well as a second kit. He and his father are working on it. Last time I talked to him, I think they some of the rigging done but it hasn't floated yet that I know of.
Made some progress on reinforcing the keel fin attachment point. As mentioned earlier, I am concerned about the amount of flexing the 1/4" thick keel demonstrated when simply clamped in a vice sitting on my table. It is probably strong enough as-is, but I spent 10 years at Castano shipyards learning the fine art of over-engineering everything. So I now have a pair of 1/4" reinforcement plates, that extend from the bottom of the water channel down to the tip of the keel fin joint, to add as much stiffness as possible. One is currently clamped in place with glue drying, the other will be glued on tomorrow. Pictures tomorrow once it's all ready to go. I also printed off plans for the 1812 bow, test-fitted everything, and determined how to proceed. I think I can keep the railings as-is, but the subdeck extensions will have to be cut off. The 1812 bow doesn't actually have solid planking there, it's an open framework with a netting deck around the heads. BTW the heads *will* be included, and will be functional. Not that I ever expect any 1:48 people to ever need to use one, but it's one feature that my "high quality" 1:96 plastic model got completely wrong, and most other model ships I've seen leave them off too. And it's so simple to do, why not? All I have to do is cut a pair of _/ shapes from 1/4" ply and drill eight 3/16" holes. They'll probably be among the most bulletproof details on the whole ship. I am also thinking about how to handle all of the fancy scrollwork on the bow. I would love to 3d print it, but my skill with CAD is sorely lacking and my 3d printer is currently down for repair. Fortunately I just got replacement parts in, but that doesn't do anything for my utter lack of skill at all things CAD.
Not much progress on the ship today, because I was working on something else. A fancy new workbench! The new work bench has a 6' x 3' perfectly flat building surface, a large lower shelf for storage, and two upper shelves for additional space. I will be adding a series of clipboards to hang plans, but I ran out of time and energy today to put it together. The other two pictures are what I did yesterday and what I'll be working on next. First up is the keel reinforcement. I carefully fitted one 1/4" thick plate on either side of the main keel. Each one extends the full length of the fin attachment, and extends up to the bottom of the water channel. The added rigidity is very noticeable. Again, I am sure that the original keel is strong enough under load, I am just a firm believer in over-engineering. The last picture is the bow area, my next focus area. I will probably be able to keep the upper railing, that seems to line up pretty well with my 1812 version plans. However, the subdeck extensions will have to go. It'll be tricky cutting them off, because my normal dremel cutoff wheel is too big to fit into the gap. I've also included details from the plans I'm using for this area. You can clearly see how there are five ribs at this time period, not the two included in the kit. They also are not vertical. Instead, they are leaning forward, and rib five isn't even perpendicular to the keel, it is angled forward to rest on the hull itself, rather than the cutwater. The ribs themselves are fairly straightforward. I will cut these from six-ply 1/8" for strength. The bottom of each rib is actually scrollwork, and that part will be built separately. I know a guy who is VERY good at detail carvings like that, so hopefully I can make a nice-looking set to make molds from. Then comes the ribs themselves, with slots for the fancy-looking rails. Up top is the flat, planked-over head area. I guess Americans in 1812 preferred a little more privacy when using the head than other nations did. Either way, these planked walls completely block the possibility of deck-level forward chasers. Even the forward-facing "gunports" on the main gun deck are actually not intended for guns. How the heck was she supposed to chase anyone? Then again, I suppose Constitution was expected to spend a lot of time getting chased by British warships, and she was fast enough that she didn't really need bow chasers to slow down an opponent... edit: oh yeah, forgot to mention earlier. The picture of the new work bench also shows some of the balsa I've been cutting up to form the ship's bottom. I have a ton more balsa on order, to finish it up. Next time, though, I think I'll put in the effort to lower the water channel rather than fill up so much space with balsa.
OK Folks, I need a little advice here. I'm using West Systems epoxy to seal the decks and other wood pieces. Hopefully this will prove more watertight than the sealers, stains, and varnishes I've tried in the past. Unfortunately, my test run on the underside of the deck hasn't been entirely satisfactory. After two coats of epoxy on the underside, I am left with what I can only describe as spots. It looks like bits of sawdust or splinters or something got stuck in the epoxy and, rather than laying smoothly on the deck as I ran the brush over, these tiny pieces stuck vertically instead. The result is a rough textured pattern that stands out as... less than optimal. I am tempted to sand this surface with fine-grit sandpaper to remove this rough texture, and then lay a third coat of epoxy over the top. My question is, how good is epoxy at filling in and covering the scratches and marks from sanding previous layers?
I normally apply a generous first coat of West, sand, and then apply a second coat to get a nice holiday finish. I have found that I get what you describe as dust sticking up or a sand paper like texture if I try to be too stingy. West will fill in scratches and low spots well so long as it can't keep flowing out.
Use a flat scraper to level the bumps (utility blade will work), sanding will take longer and prove less flat. West system will fill all the scratches with the second coat, but you have to clean off the first coat with solvent (De-natured), then squeegie on the second coat with a plastic bondo squeegie. You should be good after the second coat, if not do it again.
BIG UPDATE! I may have been quiet online, but I have been busy in the shop. First, I made good progress on the 1812 bow. The rib framework is almost done, now I need to do the fancywork and other bow features. Interesting fact, the plans I have note that the middle section of the forward platform is actually supposed to be open. Not even the ribs crossed, so I actually had to cut a couple ribs apart to keep that area clear. Last week I spent several full 8-hour days in the shop cutting and shaping balsa to form the solid bottom of the hull. Major comment: When I eventually build my other two Constitution kits, I will lower the water channel by at least 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Not only will this significantly reduce the amount of balsa I have to cut and shape, it will give me far more room to slope the sides of the water channel. With the water channel at its stock height, the amidships section is almost at the same height as the impenetrable bottom. This leaves no room to slope the sides of the water channel. Not normally a significant issue in an electric boat, but this is a wind-powered ship that I expect to regularly heel by up to 10 degrees. Alas, I had already glued together the frame by the time I realized this, so it is too late to make the change on this model. That said, this is the first time I have carved balsa blocks for a ship bottom, and it was quite a learning experience. I tried a variety of different methods, and made a bunch of mistakes along the way, but overall it has worked out rather well. The inside retains its clean wooden finish, and the outside will soon be fiberglassed. I also spent some time finishing the wooden decks. I think I mentioned earlier, but each side got two coats of epoxy, a good sanding, then a third finishing coat of epoxy. The result is a very smooth, waterproof, glossy finish that looks quite nice. I also liked the look of the sanded decks, without the gloss finish on top. That looks more like a hollystoned deck. But I can always return to that look with a quick buzz from my sander, if I so choose. The pictures don't show it well, but the laser-cut planking lines look amazing. Each deck has a number of 1/4" dia x 1/16" thick rare earth magnets embedded under the epoxy. Magnets are another new thing to me, since all my previous boats have had flip-levers, interlocking tabs, and other mechanical tricks for hold-downs. As such, I ended up making a rookie mistake when doing the magnets in the sub-deck. Being a silly n00b, I chose to use 1/4" dia x 1/4" thick magnets for the subdeck. This should provide plenty of adhesion strength for the decks. Unfortunately, it does not leave enough wall thickness when drilling magnet holes in the subdeck. I was aware that there may be issues, so I started slowly reaming out the laser-cut pilot holes, 1/32" at a time. The 1/8" pass was fine. The 5/32" pass was fine. The 3/16" pass was fine. The 7/32" pass had a little trouble, with a few edges getting torn up, but I thought I could glue the pieces back together and it'd look as good as new. Then I went through with the 1/4" drill, and every hole seemed to explode. large chunks of wood got ripped out from every magnet hole, and one even got ripped completely open. The damage is pretty bad, and it's not something I think I can repair. Fortunately the damage seems mostly limited to the sticky-outy bits, so I may have a solution. If I cut off the sticky-outy bits and leave each magnet hole as a half-circle, I can sand up the inside edge and erase almost all evidence of error. That still leaves plenty of surface area for glue, and I might even be able to lay a thin strip of lightweight fiberglass along the inside edge for strength. Anyway, lesson learned. Next time, use 3/16" diameter magnets for the subdeck. Lastly, I returned the first 12oz CO2 bottle I ordered because it had unknown debris inside. The replacement arrived, so now I can resume planning hardware layout. The last two photos show the stock CO2 bottle yoke, neatly slotted into the balsa wood bottom. There is about 1.5" of space between the CO2 bottle and mainmast right now, but I can move the bottle aft and place the regulator in the yoke instead. Upcoming tasks: fiberglass the bottom, waterproof the hull, make masts, install gun ports and gun deck.
I would have thought the Forsner bit would have worked fine on opening up the holes on the subdeck. I'll make a note to put a little more area on the tabs in the future. These are hybrid tabs - supposedly good for either studs or magnets. When I make a kit for myself, I generally cut the 1/4" hole with the laser so I don't have to open up the holes - so the hybrid type is not as thoroughly tested as it they should have been.
The problem here is that, due to the height of the magnets, he had to drill all the way through the sub-deck. With no wood backing up the sub-deck from underneath, the tear out was nasty. In the future, try to clamp or temporarily glue sacrificial wood under the part being drilled. This will minimize the tear out.
Perhaps that was my mistake. I used a standard set of split-point drills, not a forstner bit. That would have probably worked much better.
Well I have family coming to visit this weekend, so I won't be able to do anything for a bit. Still, I spent a little time assembling some of the bits and pieces. The gun decks are together now, along with the gun ports and sail winch servo trays. I also cut all the masts to length. This ship is really starting to look like a ship now. I also looked at some of the other parts, like the fighting tops. There is a neat-looking jig included that helps with assembling the masts, but I honestly have no idea how to use it. I can see how it goes together, but I cannot see any other details about using it. Speaking of confusing, the gun ports took a while to puzzle out. Previous pictures did not reveal two important details. First, the 1/4" frame is not the same size as the 1/8" plate that goes behind it; the 1/8" plate overhangs a bit at the top. I have no idea why the overhang is there, and it took me a bit to even figure out that was the reason everything wasn't lining up right. Second, the actual opening in the gun port isn't supposed to be centered on the 1/4" frame. It's supposed to be higher. THIS part took a while to figure out, because I could see it in the picture but had no idea why. I actually stopped the project entirely, temporarily mounted the gun-decks and set up some wooden dowels as mock guns, and tested cannon elevation range of motion. Now it makes sense. Having the opening higher than the frame itself does not restrict range of motion any, and reduces the opening for water ingress in case of a gust/knockdown. Also, since the Constitution has a fair amount of tumblehome, the gun ports actually slope inward, so the effect is less noticeable from the outside. Very neat!
I use a brad point drill bit to drill my magnet holes. They are stupid sharp, and leave a minimal exit wound, but I still recommend backing up the exit area with a piece of sacrificial wood. I usually clamp my decks on the subdecks with a piece of sacrificial wood below the subdecks so I can drill through both the deck and subdeck at the same time, allowing for perfect alignment of the magnets. The only drawback to the brad point bit is that you have to go right to size, since they have a centering point and cut on the periphery, but that is typically not a problem because they cut so cleanly. Like most any drill, they work best in a drill press, but can be used in a hand drill as well.
Another progress update. The bottom of the hull is fiberglassed. I still need to go back and epoxy a few more spots, especially the very forward section of the bow and the keel fin attachment point. I also installed the gun ports! That was a huge step, and I spent several hours measuring plans, test-fitting components, and finally lining up wooden dowels as dummy barrels to help align everything. First comment: Dangit RCENGR, your gun platforms are not parallel with the deck! I think they were designed to be parallel to the waterline, but that is not historically accurate. The real ship's gundeck followed the profile of its main deck, so all the gun ports would be the same distance from the main deck. Since the model's gun platforms are flat, I know it's not possible to be 100% scale, but as it currently stands, the forwardmost gun port is noticeably lower than the aftmost gunport. On future models I will try to raise this up, but it was too late to correct on this one. Speaking of gun platforms - here's how I mounted them. The gun platforms themselves have a set of pivot arms with pre-drilled through-holes for #4-40 screws. The ribs to which the gun ports are mounted each have a pre-drilled tap hole for a #4-40 screw. So I tapped the holes in the ribs, and installed three 3/4" long #4-40 stainless threaded rods. 1/4" of that is in the rib itself, 1/4" of that is in the gun platform pivot arm, and the last 1/4" is for a stainless locknut. It needs to be tight enough to securely hold, but loose enough to freely pivot. The rib closest to the mainmast has servo mounts specifically for elevation control. The gun platforms and gun ports were positioned to provide maximum downward elevation, with some upward elevation as well. I intend to install an automatic-leveling system that will keep the guns level as the ship heels; I expect to need more downward elevation control to support firing on the windward side of the boat, but some upward elevation will be needed as well so I'm not hitting the water too close when firing on the leeward side of the boat. And if I cannot get an automatic-leveling system working, I will disable any positive elevation for safety reasons. You'll notice I have a couple of cannons for test-fitting. These are NOT the cannons I actually intend to use, they are borrowed from another project and will need to be returned. The cannons I use will need shorter risers, and much shorter barrels. I hope to 3d print a set of cannons, but that means I have to stop working on this and start fixing my printer... ha! This is too fun, and I'm too easily distracted... Moving aft, here are a few other features to notice. First are the sail winch servo mounts. These are on sliding rails, and will have spring tension to absorb any slack as the yards move through their full range of motion. I have a bunch of standard-sized sail-winch servos, so I built the servo mounts for standard-sized servos. The kit also includes an option for more powerful Hitec sail winches, but I don't think that much torque will be necessary with square sails. Since I have no idea how much slack may be need to be taken up while moving the sails, the rails themselves are quite long right now. It is also possible to use a high-torque servo with an extra-long arm, to control the sails with a parallelogram rig. That is the setup I used on my smaller square-riggers, and it worked quite well. I went with winch servos to try something different. If my standard-sized servos prove satisfactory, and the required motion small enough, I may re-build the servo mounts to be small enough to put both on a single set of rails, saving room for other hardware on the other side. The next feature is the aft servo tray. Now this I like. RCENGR put three mounts, one centerline and two offset. This gives lots of options for arranging your controls. You can use a dual-arm rudder control with the centerline servo mount, or you can use a single-arm rudder control with one of the offset servo mounts. The other two spaces can be used for a wide variety of tasks. I could use one spot for a firing servo, if I don't use solenoids and an electronic firing board. I could use one for a mechanical pump switch. I could use one for another sail control servo, this time for the F&A sails. If I'm feeling REALLY fancy, I could attempt to build an RC mechanism to raise and lower the topgallants and royals. Not likely of course, but I have heard of it being done. Still, lots of space for lots of options here, and I like that. If you take a good look at the bottom of the boat, you can see where the brass tubes for the masts are supposed to go. The kit's sail mounts are *mostly* spot-on. My only comment is on the mizzen mast mount: when I was sanding the bottom of the ship, I found that the base of the mizzen mast extended beyond the hull bottom. I had to raise the mizzen by 1/2" in order to get it properly inside the hull. I still need to cut off 1/2" from the dowel, but other than that it was an easy fix. If you take another good look in the bottom of the boat, you'll notice a number of large open areas below the level of the water channel. These were areas that I didn't fill in with balsa because I ran out of energy to cut and shape balsa. I will instead fill them in with epoxy, pouring in my leftovers every time I epoxy something for the next week or so. There's still plenty of stuff left to epoxy, including ribs, subdeck, deck rails, magnets, masts, and more. The biggest thing to watch out for is heat generation: large epoxy pours generate a lot of heat, which may cause deformation, discoloration, or even cracking of the epoxy. The trick is to go a little at a time, between 1/8" to 1/4" depending on how large of an area you are filling in. Normally I would avoid filling areas like that until the very end of construction, after ballasting so I can get lead as low in the boat as possible. In this case I am not worried, because all of the lead will go in a bulb on a fin keel far below the hull. The last picture I took today shows a neat little brass tubing bender from Dubro. It makes very tight bends, which I intend to use for routing all of my running rigging.
Hey folks, quick update here. I made the masts! OK, I actually made them a couple weeks ago before I went on leave, but I forgot to take pictures so I couldn't post anything. I now have pictures, so here you go. The mast dowels are from the local hardware store, all oak except for the 7/16" sections. No place had anything oak in 7/16", so I used the basic dowel. It'll probably be fine, the masts will be supported by stays and I've never seen a 7/16" dowel break when shot. Another issue I encountered was that not all of the dowels were straight. Due to low stock at the hardware store, I barely had enough wood for the masts. I only checked the first few pieces for straightness. This came back to bite me later, because the first time I assembled the mainmast, it ended up with a 5 degree bend to port because I wasn't paying attention. I noticed the issue the moment I test-fitted the mast, and then had to visit several hardware stores to find superglue remover so I could dissolve the few drops of glue I used to tack it together. I then re-glued the mainmast, with the bend going forward and aft. I figure fore/aft is less noticeable, and also easier to correct using stays. Each mast, including the bowsprit, will be seated in a brass tube. My next step is to epoxy these in place and cut them down to size. I intend to trim them flush with the railings. This will leave about 3/4" above the deck, which I will wrap in rubber to protect it from dents. I'm also less likely to scratch up the deck while cutting the tube. Lastly, once I start attaching yards, I will also put an alignment pin in each mast, to keep everything square.
