Hi me fellow Laddies,
This USS Constitution build is long in the tooth with many interruptions along the way therefore it is aptly renamed the USS Constipation. My wife got me this kit almost 35 years ago before we were married. It's a beauty of a kit that I said to myself that I would build it when my skills were better. I really only started this when we moved into our second home in '96. I referenced from a lot of ship builds to get my sea legs. That took part of 10 years of doddeling and fiddling with the parts and was putting the hulls together when the house got flooded. Water rose to just the edge of the table top so it didn't get launched from the slipways. It has since been shelved with occasional tinkering especially the ratlines but recently having seen Jim's cross section of Victory's deck got me fired up to tackle this mighty ship again.
Some of you may have seen it's progress in the last forum so here are some refreshed images and where I will start...
The state of the box show it's years being on the shelf and getting a bit wet from the flood.
The white strip along the gun deck still looks white in these images.I would soon regret not lightening the deck which you will see soon. The gun ports were just holes molded into the hull so careful masking was taken to create the thickness of the hull even painting the drawing in the joints.
You can clearly see the mud stains left from the flood. I didn't do a good enough cleaning of the stand. I only managed the rear of the hull after the flood by painting up the windows, lines, stars and the embossed lettering. The rudder comes solid attached to the hull with no gaps in between the hinges.
I weathered the lower hull copper plating with green streaks.
This is where I went crazy and decided that the given ratlines were too thick and redid them with a jig made from plywood and hundreds of nails patiently tacked into place.
It survived the flood although the corners threaten to peel off.
From this point on is current having masked the panels on the top deck only yesterday. I did this at the LHS while having a great get together with fellow modelers I haven't seen for some time.
By the time I got home some of the masking were popping up so just before spraying I pressed them down.
Results of the spraying today were satisfactory using Testors Enamels Radom Tan and Afrika Braun.
I chose these lighter shades so that when the dark washes are applied, the overall shade won't be too dark eventually.
At least now the green on the inner sides of the deck can be distinguished and everything else pops out.
Hope the constipation ends and this sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Hope to surprise my wife when she sees it on the mantle of the living room.
Cheers,
Richard
This USS Constitution build is long in the tooth with many interruptions along the way therefore it is aptly renamed the USS Constipation. My wife got me this kit almost 35 years ago before we were married. It's a beauty of a kit that I said to myself that I would build it when my skills were better. I really only started this when we moved into our second home in '96. I referenced from a lot of ship builds to get my sea legs. That took part of 10 years of doddeling and fiddling with the parts and was putting the hulls together when the house got flooded. Water rose to just the edge of the table top so it didn't get launched from the slipways. It has since been shelved with occasional tinkering especially the ratlines but recently having seen Jim's cross section of Victory's deck got me fired up to tackle this mighty ship again.
Some of you may have seen it's progress in the last forum so here are some refreshed images and where I will start...
The state of the box show it's years being on the shelf and getting a bit wet from the flood.
The white strip along the gun deck still looks white in these images.I would soon regret not lightening the deck which you will see soon. The gun ports were just holes molded into the hull so careful masking was taken to create the thickness of the hull even painting the drawing in the joints.
You can clearly see the mud stains left from the flood. I didn't do a good enough cleaning of the stand. I only managed the rear of the hull after the flood by painting up the windows, lines, stars and the embossed lettering. The rudder comes solid attached to the hull with no gaps in between the hinges.
I weathered the lower hull copper plating with green streaks.
This is where I went crazy and decided that the given ratlines were too thick and redid them with a jig made from plywood and hundreds of nails patiently tacked into place.
It survived the flood although the corners threaten to peel off.
From this point on is current having masked the panels on the top deck only yesterday. I did this at the LHS while having a great get together with fellow modelers I haven't seen for some time.
By the time I got home some of the masking were popping up so just before spraying I pressed them down.
Results of the spraying today were satisfactory using Testors Enamels Radom Tan and Afrika Braun.
I chose these lighter shades so that when the dark washes are applied, the overall shade won't be too dark eventually.
At least now the green on the inner sides of the deck can be distinguished and everything else pops out.
Hope the constipation ends and this sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Hope to surprise my wife when she sees it on the mantle of the living room.
Cheers,
Richard
