USS Constitution by Model Shipways. - First Build Log

[mtbediz1]

Now I'm going to do battle with the bow and stem ornamentation with the fancy cheek knees and rails...

My friend, I played around with these back in May. If you check out my build log, you may get some ideas.

 

[rturcic72]

The most current update right now is that I'm about to begin making the cheek knees and rails. It is taking a little longer because the information from the Hunt Practicum and plans appear very limited and I've been studying what other builders have done to make these as best and close as possible. I will use the practicum as a baseline but follow and study what 3 of the builders that have survived this ordeal have done which does look pretty impressive. There is also some 3D thinking going into this instead of having to manipulate one piece of wood into three different directions, it looks like the best solution thus far is to build separate pieces, the ones that have to make their curve around the stem and headboard and then the base piece that starts at the hull and cathead. The last piece I'm debating is either using the polystyrene for the white striping, of another method, but first I want to make it past the head rails correctly so I can build out the rest of the frame from the bow, main rail, and stem. These rails seem to set the pace for the rest of it. Also, Model Expo finally sent me new grates for the deck coamings that I decided to rebuild and making them a good contrasting color to the deck. Originally, the ones I made originally seemed to dark and with a dark deck, wanted to lighten then up a bit which meant having to redo and re-stain them which I don't mind because these are not difficult to build. So, I'll be doing this also at the same time, so my next update could take a couple weeks based on the time I have available in my evenings after work.