1/196 // REVELL USS CONSTITUTION
on the Constitution using superglue. The boat at the very aft of the ship was hung from its supports using the rigging rope supplied. I installed the flags by cutting them from the supplied sheet, folding them around their masts or the appropriate rigging, and adhering them with white glue. I found that the large national ensign caused the rigging to deform when installed, so I reinforced the section of rigging with superglue after attaching the flag to it. With the build nearing a close, there were multiple places on the model that needed some minor paint touchups. Once completed, I once again highlighted most of the model’s details through a series of washes and dry brushing using various colors of acrylic paint and oils. The sails required a light wash to add some life: I applied brown and gray oils thinned almost 10:1 with thinner and brushed on with a large, flat brush. I then immediately used the same brush, loaded only with thinner, to remove most of the applied wash. After everything was dry, I applied a flat acrylic varnish to most parts of the ship, including the sails, and a shiny gloss acrylic to the copper plates on the hull. To finish the base, I painted it a wood-brown color.
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Scale Modeling Quarterly Spring 2015 // SMQmag.com
I’m planning to eventually put this model into a dynamic water scene, but until then, the kit-supplied base will serve to display the model.
A YARE BUILD Overall, Revell’s Constitution builds up into a nice model. It’s a great kit to experiment with, and if you fancy building a wooden sailing ship one day, I’d highly recommend this kit as an initial practice step; it provides plenty of rigging experience. Although it is possible to craft this kit into a top notch model, it will require a lot of patience along with some significant effort thanks to the flash, mold seams, ejector pin marks, and more present on this perennial kit. Although I certainly could have spent more time trying to achieve a contest winning fit and finish, I enjoyed building Constitution. It was a fantastic return to modeling sailing ships, and I had the chance to practice my skills and learn a few new ones! I also took the build as an opportunity to learn more about the history associated with Old Ironsides. I think my next kit will be something moderately more complicated, and I’m excited to see if it will be as fun to build!