USS Constitution: a work in progress

[Capn Frank]

Constitution Index

Updates

07JUL07 Crew

16AUG07 Carronade Vig

04SEP07 Crew

07SEP07 Carronade & Cannon Vig

11SEP07 Hull V1

13SEP07 Hull V1

29SEP07 Hull V1

25OCT07 Crew & Capstan

13NOV07 Mast

15NOV07 Hull V2

17NOV07 Hull V2

18NOV07 Hull V2

14DEC07 Hull V2

17DEC07 Flags by Col. Whipstick

16FEB08 Hull V3

16FEB08 Hull V3

20FEB08 Hull V3

24FEB08 Hull V3

26FEB08 Hull V3

05MAR08 Cathead & Hull V3

08MAR08 Camboose

20MAR08 Bow and Capstan

27MAR08 Crew

14APR08 Stern

28APR08 Hull V3 & Carronades

26NOV08 Cutter

28NOV08 Hull V3

01DEC08 Hull Accessibility

12DEC08 Hull V3 & 2 Landing Craft

13DEC08 Carronades & Cannons

08JAN09 Hull V3

11JAN09 Kurt's Stern Idea

03SEP10 Hull V4 Started & Carronades Complete

27SEP10 Anchor thanx Blacky!

Related Topics

Captain's Gig

The USS Constitution phred�s version

I�ve had the idea of making a Lego version of the USS Constitution before I saw Ben Fleskes� version.

It�s been up until now that I�ve gotten enough of a start on it to post something.

the link to where Ben�s MOC is discussed at EB and the link to Ben�s website

If my version of the Constitution turns out at least as good as Ben�s, then this�ll turn out to be a great MOC. *y*

Anywayz,

Right now I�ve only got the MLCAD model of the 20 32-lb carronades found on the top deck.

Here�s what I�ve got so far:

I�m not too sure how to do the sliding carriage yet, but I like how the carronade turned out *y*

Here�s a thumblink of the actual carronade for comparison:

I should have some of the crew done before this weekend.

Some links of interest about the USS Constitution:

The official homepage of the USS Const.

Wiki Article

P

[Bonaparte]

It's always nice to have an early progress thread.

Those carronades look pretty good. Did you also make one with real bricks?

Well, I'm most interested to see how this project will evolve.

Do you plan to make customs for the crew?

[ZCerberus]

I am glad you have finally started on this ship.

The United States could use more ships on this forum.

Happy Birthday USA!

I will be monitoring this thread closely!

[Mister Phes]

Is this is a Work In Progress thread?

[Capn Frank]

It's always nice to have an early progress thread.

Those carronades look pretty good. Did you also make one with real bricks?

Well, I'm most interested to see how this project will evolve.

Do you plan to make customs for the crew?

No, i haven't made them out of real bricks cause i don't have almost all my bricks with me 8-|

(they're half way across the state right now)

I currently have the bricks to make 5 of the 20, need to get 15 more black barrels.

The 55 US Marines and 12 Officers are all going to be customs. Just need 7 dark blue torsos and 39 shakos.

So far, for the custom crew.

I know the enlisted personnel don't have uniforms (which is most of the 450 crew),

so i can use most pirate minifig types for them. *y*

...

The United States could use more ships on this forum.

...

I agree X-D

Is this is a Work In Progress thread?

That it is Mr. Phes.

So i'll change the title a little to ease confusion.

P

Edited July 5, 2007 by phred

[ZCerberus]

I like the design, but practically speaking, how easy is it to get black barrels from BL or a similar source? They must be fairly rare and needing 20+ must cost a pretty penny!!

Edited July 15, 2007 by phred

[El Bucanero]

Your carronades look mighty fine Mr Phred, and I would really like to see them aboard your version of Old Ironsides. Something tells me this will be a fine ship.

I like the design, but practically speaking, how easy is it to get black barrels from BL or a similar source? They must be fairly rare and needing 20+ must cost a pretty penny!!

Only the best for the ships eh!

Mr Tiber

[Quarryman]

Your carronades look mighty fine Mr Phred, and I would really like to see them aboard your version of Old Ironsides. Something tells me this will be a fine ship.

Only the best for the ships eh!

Mr Tiber

Sure, 50 USD is nothing when it's for such a nice vessel, eh? ;-)

Edited July 5, 2007 by Quarryman

[Capn Frank]

I like the design, but practically speaking, how easy is it to get black barrels from BL or a similar source? They must be fairly rare and needing 20+ must cost a pretty penny!!

Sure, 50 USD is nothing when it's for such a nice vessel, eh? ;-)

I have made some small orders to get some black barrels at the cheaper prices.

I have 5 right now, and need 15 more.

I won't be able to get this ship done nearly as fast as Z's phantom,

so i've got time to make putzy small orders.

The main reason they're so expensive is because of my brother duke >:-(

He bought 30-50 of them from one person that was selling them all for $2.50 each.

The reason he bought so many was to fill his HMS Victory with 32 lb long guns in one of his gun decks.

If my Constitution gets completed before his Victory, I may have to "borrow" some of his barrels ;-)

I'll get the amount i need...

...eventually X-D

P

Phredit ( :-D ):

Got as complete as possible on my custom crew so far for the next week or two :)

Thanx to Mosana for creating these torso designs also *y*

Here's the captain and his headless, legless officers so far :skel1:

(Need 4 more officer torsos)

The officers (including the captain) appear to wear bicorns instead of tricorns, from what i've seen from pics online.

Here's 50 of the 55 US Marines so far.

The Marine with the yellow epaulets is sergeant and the Marine without the white cross straps is the marine officer.

All the enlisted marines are supposed to have shakos, but i don't have any with me at the moment |-/ .

Soon as I have a complete custom-fig (CF), I'll post an individual pic of each CF for demos of the torso library.

Edited November 26, 2008 by Phred

[Fordo]

Cool this looks like a great project, especially the nice army of Marines you'll have there can't wait to see them all on your fine ship. *y*

[ZCerberus]

Nice looking Torsos! Mosana sure has been helpful hasn't he!

Shakos, however, will be very hard to come by on bricklink, you may have to buy some off Ebay!

I recognize the face on the captain... are you sure this ship isn't going to go Pirate on us?

*see this guy is a notorious Pirate!!*

Edited July 15, 2007 by phred

[Mosana]

Those figures are looking really nice. Can't want to see them finished.

[Capn Frank]

Cool this looks like a great project, especially the nice army of Marines you'll have there can't wait to see them all on your fine ship. *y*

Thanx,

I can't wait either X-D

...

I recognize the face on the captain... are you sure this ship isn't going to go Pirate on us?

*see this guy is a notorious Pirate!!*

8-o You're right it is the same face!

The new, fledgling US Navy needed an experienced captain of frigates

at the same time he was looking for a more legal career X-D

It was a perfect match *y*

But really, This... fig

was the only fig i brought with me when i moved to central wisconsin for the summer.

Otherwise all the other bricks i have with me at the moment are from BL orders since then. :)

Those figures are looking really nice.

...

Thanx Mosana *y*

P

Edited July 15, 2007 by phred

[Capn Frank]

I've gotten a book from the library about the USS Constitution

This book describes and gives drafts of every floor and many cross sections of the uss constitution

It also lets me know that i don't need as many Lieutenants that i thought and that the carronades currently on this ship are the first versions of the carronade and not the type of carronade that i'd like from around the war of 1812.

Also, the stern is A LOT different from what it looks like right now.

Here's what it currently looks like.

Here's some pics of my crew that i've completed so far.

It's a 1st Lieutenant on the left and a Captain on the right.

Here's my first squad of 5 of my marines with a marine Lieutenant in front of them.

P

[Grand Moff Viceroy]

There was a set once for that ship, a ucs, did'nt get it though. Good work!

[Capn Frank]

There was a set once for that ship, a ucs, did'nt get it though. Good work!

It was the USS Constellation that was a legend, not the Constitution ;-)

There's a Thread on that Set's right here. *y*

I was home for the weekend and was able to make a quick vig on the carronade.

As i may have mentioned already, the version of the carronade currently on the Constitution isn't the same type of carronades used in the War of 1812.

This type of carronade is supposed to be mounted to the ship at the front instead of being on a four-wheeled carriage.

(in case ppl can count, this isn't exactly a vig cause it's on a 8x9 plate X-D )

P

Edited August 20, 2007 by phred

[Bonaparte]

This one is not the same as the carronades you've put in your first post, isn't it?

So I guess you didn't design this one first in MLCAD.

How much of these would you need on your ship?

Edited August 20, 2007 by Bonaparte

[Capn Frank]

This one is not the same as the carronades you've put in your first post, isn't it?

So I guess you didn't design this one first in MLCAD.

How much of these would you need on your ship?

I never made a MLCAD model of this cannon.

Just kind of tinkered with my bricks and used a black R2D2 body with a black barrel for the carronade.

Need 20 of these guys for the Spar Deck.

This probably isn't the final version though.

P

[Capn Frank]

Well, I'm back home from my summer internship;

now i can start actual construction on the USS Constitution *wub*

I've completed the custom figs (the officers and marines) as far as i can right now:

Also, since the construction of the DDW has been halted at her near completion, I've sent my brother's French forces back home in dukeschunke's lego room X-D

Feels good to be back to all of me bricks >8-)

I can now begin some serious construction of the Constitution!

P

Edited September 4, 2007 by phred

[El Bucanero]

I've completed the custom figs (the officers and marines) as far as i can right now:

Immpressive crew Mr Phred!

Feels good to be back to all of me bricks >8-)

Yes it really does! I always feel the same after coming back from holidays. X-D

I can now begin some serious construction of the Constitution!

P

Great, keep us op to date!

Mr Tiber

[Capn Frank]

...

Great, keep us up to date!

...

Will do *y*

Here's as up to date as possible...

Less than 15 minutes ago,

I quickly built this larger "vig" so i can see the height differences of the spar deck (the one with the carronade) and the gun deck.

The gun ports are 6 to 7 studs apart. (which is really close to what diagrams of the Constitution show)

With that much room between cannons, i can see how there is up do 14 ppl manning a cannon at once. ;-)

The gun ports on this vig (and on the ship) are little bigger than they're supposed to be,

but to have a swinging door on the top and bottom wouldn't have worked otherwise :-$

This is supposed to be a "typical" portion of the ship. The slopes are going to be different at each portion of the ship.

On an off topic note:(since it is "my" topic ;-) )

What's up with Mr. Tiber's and B's new avatars?

Why aren't they piratey? X-D

P

Edited September 7, 2007 by phred

[Scouty]

If you haven't checked, it's for the new mystery: Mystery Ship !

The progress on the ship is looking good!

(Can't you use a 1x2 plate with a hinge on it to make a smaller door on it?)

[Capn Frank]

...

(Can't you use a 1x2 plate with a hinge on it to make a smaller door on it?)

Oh yeah, I was going to mention something about that in my last post :-$

I already am using 8 of those hinge plates for each porthole cover.

If you check out this pic on my MAJ...

In someone else's model of the Constitution shown above, you can see that the porthole covers are two small doors on top and bottom. So having 2 2x4 doors seems to work the best *y* (hopefully :-/ )

P

Edited September 7, 2007 by phred

[El Bucanero]

That ship's gonna be massive! Nice vig Phreddie, I never knew the wall was that high. I even checked the site before I believed it! (no offence mate)

It looks good to me.

Mr Tiber

[Capn Frank]

That ship's gonna be massive! Nice vig Phreddie, I never knew the wall was that high.

...

Are you talking about the wall height on top where the carronade is?

Here's a couple of updated pics:

Since i don't quite have the bricks needed to work on the stern or bow,

I'm working on the "squarest" portion (or middle) of the the ship.

Where there aren't any carronades, the spar deck walls are shorter with hammock netting along the side.

Thinking about using the same netting for the tops of walls where carronades are instead of lattice bricks.

I think this netting may work better.

Where the 3 tan 8x8 lattice plates are is exactly half the width of the ship.

There's going to be another 3 8x8 plates for the other half of the gangway.

P

Edited September 11, 2007 by phred