To Constitution and beyond ...

[dafi]

I'll come back to the Battle Station later to still add some life. But it was time to do some stretching.

First off, built a sturdy stand.

Then came bondage. The hull is unfortunately so warped, that here rougher force in the form of tight lacing had been necessary.

The lacing allowed me to spread the load better. Still, later the hull partially burst open again, so the rougher tools came into play. Result was that it finally lasted ...

... but as collateral damage the hull had become quite wavy. Later on, the insertion of the upper deck will be a even-ing challenge ;-) (Mark the bun!)

The next step was to double up the ship's side. This makes the difference between the appearance as a classic plastic kit and upscale modeling appearance. Built up a small stop to do the doubling.

Then glued inside 4 mm battens against the stop.

Then inserted the sills at the top and bottom, making sure that there is enough overhang in each case. The space between these port frames was also filled with battens.

If there is too much protrusion of the sills, this is first minimized them with a sharp tool.

Then cut a flat batten to sand down the remaining overhang at the top/bottom, with minimal undersize in the sanding area and slightly more on the opposite side port. Taped 240 grit sandpaper to it with double sided tape, that fits well with my rather soft battens.

The strip is passed through the port on the opposite side, this gives an even horizontal angle.

Then sanded the sill on top ...

... turned the batten over and sanded the bottom sill.

Prepared another sanding strip for the sides ...

... especially in the bow area at the idle ports, some rework is needed because of the strong bend.

And this you get as comparison: original version Revell ...

... and the revised version

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

After all the battens were mounted, the cleaning up really started. Rough overhang was minimized with the scalpel, then the top and bottom were filed with the sandpaper battens as already described.

I also made a small tool for the inner surfaces.

For the bow area there was something more shorter and rounded.

After everything was smooth enough we went to the spirketing. A 1 mm thick polysterol strip at the bottom, 0.5 mm Polsterol between the ports, and another 1 mm above that.

And the fit sample.

Fits

To fit the lower strip, press it well inside ...

... on the outside, score the lower edge of the port with a scalpel ...

... make the scribe visible with paint, i.e. color it and wipe away the paint on the outside so that only the depth of the scribe remains colored ...

... and cut off the overhang based on these marks and glue this adap´ted stripe in. Between the ports, orient the 0.5mm strip to the height of the ports. If you have worked evenly when filing the ports should be always the same height.

And the one side is ready.

Now the other side and then the head area and the side galleries areas.

XXXDAn

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Great work! It seems as if working with plastic is as much fun as working with wood. Building all the sills and lentils in plastic is just as much work as wood. Great work and looking forward to more gun station posts.

 

[dafi]

Yupp :-!

No matter the material, the basic idea is the fun. I anyway do prefer "mixed media", as each material has advantages. And if I paint the stuff anyway, I am free in my choices.

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

In order to get a little more structure into the few possible views into the lower deck, I have printed the characteristic triple knees of today's Constitution. Whether these were already in place in earlier eras of the ship or if they were only installed during later conversions is beyond my knowledge. I would have instinctively guessed the classic use of 3 separate knees for the early phase of the ship. I would be happy to take any hints on this.

Due to the kit, I can't work with deck beams because the ship has to be pressed into shape by the upper deck. Therefore, I have to skip the upper part of the knees too.

Placement check with guns.

And in the end it's all about such a view anyway

XXXDAn

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

The photos really define the quality of your work. What plastic do you use to make parts for the kit?

 

[dafi]

All standard materials from the usual suppliers. Polysterol/ABS sheet, Evergreen, ...

XXXDAn

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Thanks Dan, I ordered some samples and will start playing with them when I complete the Indianapolis.

 

[dafi]

In the meantime, the bow is paneled. After the "take photo without card lock" of the camera was turned off, I am missing the pictures of the open subconstruction ...

First as usual the frame imitations inserted, then the whole thing was paneled.

Since the anchor cable hatches are also misaligned, those were closed up right away as well.

XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

And then it was time for the doll's house in the rear. First of all, the width was determined.

Then the reminder that there is still a lot to squeeze together in the back. So the width must somehow remain flexible, more about that later.

The cabins in the back are represented in the kit, but not the front bulkhead to the wardroom.

The passages into the side pocket is also a bit sporty in size.

So a quick replica in the right thickness.

And in place. The door was hinged on the outside of the hull and aft like Boudriot.

After that came some paneling.

And since that was still a bit too rough for me, a printing test.

Even if the bottom fit is not yet matched it is already a bit finer in texture

XXXDAn

 

[Will @ Trilogy]

Love the paneling its very realistic

 

[dafi]

I already mentioned the problem of the bulkheads to the officers' mess and the captain's cabin. Because I still have to press the hull shells together at the top, I don't have a clean connection to the ship's side.

So I marked the beginning of the bulkhead ...

... and made a small slot in the hull. Then the bulkhead can slip in when pressed together and everything is clean

Then up to the next adventure. Window bars were cut out of the rear windows.

And the first two print tests went right off the bat. I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

And then the full width, even with the minimum curve upwards in the center.

On the inside the frames between the windows also were applied, but I still need to adjust the length properly.

Next were the side galleries. The starboard side even fitted on the second try.

Port side took me two more tries, I had measured stupidly once when trying it on the first time. Probably I held the part upside down. Meanwhile I have a mark on it, so that something like that can't happen.

The paneling of the aft cabin is also a bit more accentuated, below the first try, above new.

The bench seat under the stern windows has been panelled, once it looks better and also hides the base of the planks.

Here then the ensemble, the bulkhead between officers mess and captains cabin is missing. It is only indicated by the small tail. This time I left a slot in time, one can learn. Sometimes at least ;-)

Cheers, XXXDAn

 

[dafi]

Thanks for the clicks and comments to the gentlemen and of course the ladies

At some point I noticed again the dark hole to the orlop and also how painful I still have to suffer on my Vic because of a similar omission ;-)

So I prepared two matching blocks, took out the big tweezers ...

... and sank the blocks from above through the hole into the depth, with huge amounts of glue positioned underneath. In addition, also fixed supports to sides, so that they do not end up later as shaken goods.

Of course, there was a stowaway right away ...

.... which my little brave sailor had to drive away with death-defying courage.

Then prepared the deck ...

... for this purpose photographed a piece of deck and printed it out tiled.

Colorwise I could have done some corrections, of course, but for this purpose it does quite well. I'll put a grating or something similar over it later anyway.

But how to get the parts in there? The prepared piece of deck was fixed with a little double-sided tape to a long ruler ...

... luckily I had spotted the small gap in the tail and with a loud *yikes* rammed it inside ...

... and pressed it into the right place into the glue waiting there, aligned properly ...

... and let the gentleman of the quality control look over it

Was accepted so, luck!

XXXDAn

 

[Rokket]

Looks fantastic. Really enjoying your build. Nice details, makes all the difference.

 

[dafi]

Thanks Rokket!

 

[dafi]

At the weekend was "Dafi home alone". As children are, there was again goofing around to be done.

On the agenda was the doll's house in the back. In the kit there is only the bulkheads to the captain's cabin. But contemporary sources still show the bulkheads of the wardroom and the pantry for these two areas. Since the Constitution seems to me like a mixture of French and English influences, I looked at the various templates in the Boudriot as with all the England girls.

Also interesting is this Englishbeauty from the NMM, one of the few contemporary models where you can see the internal bulkheads.

The adaptation of the vertical structures to the inclined ship's side is very nice, but I ended up going with the classic vertical version. Interesting also the change of the height of the subdivision: at the ship's side at the level of the lower edge of the gunports, otherwise almost in the middle.

The first print came out quite usable.

The basic layout looks like this, the bulkheads in the captain's cabin are still missing.

And here are just a few impressions of what can be done. Focus on the bulkhead to the captain's cabin.

And here are a few pictures of the forward bulkhead and pantry.

Now it's on to the right fitting

XXXDAn

 

[europapete]

Yeowzer! You are certainly getting the hang of this 3D printing Dan. Well done!

 

[europapete]

It looks soooo quick n easy on the build forums like this, but I am sure there are many hours of computer work behind the parts we see.

 

[Rokket]

Excellent sdtuff. Taking notes and photos for my own Constitution build...

 

[dafi]

Thank you guys!

But not to forget the basics besides all the fascination of printing. The next step was the stern cabins layout.

Since the sources about the position of the cabins are quite "soft", I took another look at the situation. In the galley runs the mast and in front of it the rudder ropes. And food preparation should also be there. According to most sources, there is a cabinet with a worktop there, consequently the front edge has been pushed forward and the space for a small cabinet has been created.

Fits just so with the grating, although I do not know to what extent this opening is historically documented.

Inside was now the necessary place for food preparation. And doors and guns don't get in each other's way either.

The back of the captain's cabin is also nice and cramped.

For the bed, I did away with the lattice structure and provided a curved entrance in the French style.
The sofa is also now in place.

A little side note: I had already mentioned that the lattice structure gets a nice belly when printed, which almost disappears again when cured under UV light.

XXXDAn