USS Constitution November 3, 2011

Cannon of the USS Constitution

Thursday, November 3, 2011
I spent an hour deburring and adhering the cannon halves together.  All the cannon were painted flat black.  I painted one gun carriage but didn't like the pink result.   

Unpainted and painted carriage.

Gun Carriage with painted trunnion band and trucks.

There are several internet 'sources' that say the USS Constitution was armed with 30 24-pounders on the gun deck.  I understand that two additional gun ports were added toward the bow sometime after the battle with the HMS Guerrière, one on either side.  The number of actual guns at any time was at the discretion of the captain.  The Revell model comes with sixteen gun ports on the gun deck per side for a total of 32. I filled in both of the bow end gun ports using two of the gun lids with Squadron White Putty.  I shaved the hinges off of the gun port lids.  I also filled in all of the 'hinge-spaces' for the rest of the ports on the gun deck using the putty.  This procedure took 45 minutes to complete.  Corne's painting shows no gun ports and 'research' on the internet suggest that gun port lids were not used on the Constitution except during extreme weather.  

Shaving off the hinges of a gun port lid supplied by Revell.

Filling-in a gun port with a modified lid and putty.

Wednesday, November 9, 2012
The hull parts were adhered together using Testors Cement and various vices to hold the hull pieces.  While it was drying I applied a thick bead of PVA adhesive to the interior seam.  Having applied the same bead using Testors cement would have required a full tube and may have distorted the plastic in some areas. The filled gun ports were also painted black as a 'primer' for the painting of the hull later. 

Adhering the two hull pieces together using various vices.