Revell 1:96 USS Constitution

First time I ever did a model ship. Took me 3 weeks, not including the sails. My next model will be wooden, though!Used Hammered Copper spray for the bottom and stand. Found a small shelf the right size for the stand and drilled out the logical holes in the hull and attached with couplings. I think this looks so much better than the included stand.At 62 (woman at that!) I had to use a magnifier. Found this one on Amazon that worked perfectly (after a few adjustments, of course.)SE MH1047L Illuminated Multi-Power LED Head MagnifierThank you, Michael Larson, for suggesting to glue and winch the lower deck. This worked perfectly! (and probably saved me undue frustration).The front rail was too flimsy and disintegrated before I could assemble it. Made my own railing out of wire.I used wood stain on the deck to give it a more natural color. Looks more like wood.The u sections of the railing were equally flimsy. Had to make half out of wire again. And many of the ones that made it during the roping broke during the rest of the construction. Perhaps one should replace these with a metal part.There were not enough eyebolts. Had to buy brass ones.The manual was a little off in places. Found myself having to put eyebolts in very hard to put places after the fact. Maybe read the rigging manual before to see if all the bolts are in place.My boyfriend loves how it looks and now it displays beautifully in our living room.

Awesome activity to do with grandparents!

If you love building models and have time and patience, this is the model for you! This is my second time around building the same scale model. The first time was way back in my younger years. Flash forward many moons to present day, I wanted the challenge again of building this model. Make sure you have the right tools to build this model: Hobby knife, magnifier, sand paper, hobby glue, bees wax, pair of tweezers, rubber bands, clips, and of course paint. I would also recommend toothpicks to help with glue management. I spread a little glue on wax paper, dip the tip of the toothpick into the glue and place that on pieces/part to fuse together. Also different sized paint brushes, (some of the areas are really really small that needs to be detailed). Have notice the tread spools are now color coded to help with what type to use for the rigging.Revell does give you the option to build your model a couple ways. And for those that are really into model building, you can make some of your own changes to enhance the ship. Have fun, but have patience. Tie, glue and let set before moving on.This isn't a model that you can rush through and expect it to look good. This will take time and patience. Tie this, glue that let it set.

I got this to compliment my 1776 Theme for my living room. I've already built the other scale, 1:196 model when I was much younger. This is not an over nite model. Special considerations call for a model of this size and how you want to present it. Patience and time must be considered to get the results that you want. The ship itself has undergone numerous changes and modifications during all of it's upgrading s through it's years of being the only ship in the United States Navy as still in Commission Status. It still floats and represents us. I did away with the plastic-formed ratlines, they were unrealistic and tacky. I got books on the USS Constitution which shows me how things were or were detailed on certain items and structures. I'm making my own sails out of stained handkerchief cloths and only using about one third of the sails while the ship is in port. Cover all of your threads with beeswax to prevent tensions during the climates. Would not recommend trying to float this thing in water. It's just too much trouble. But just have fun with this project and be patient. Think through how you want the ship to look like. Mines In Port by the pier.

As many have already written, this is not for beginners or those with little patience. Classic model and many of the small pieces (and there are many of them) break when you try to cut them from the form. Instructions are not very clear, but extremely challenging to build. Even if done perfectly, do not expect the final results to be show worthy, Many pieces have plastic overflow, but considering how many times the manufacture has used the forms to make this ship, not surprising. If you have a lot of time on your hands and a room that you can keep this in while building, then it is worth the money. Stand is worthless if you are trying to use it to build the model, so plan on making something that will securely hold the model while you are trying to put it together.

Love the model. The original I purchased from Toybugs was missing parts. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at working with Toybugs I returned the item. Bought another from a second Amazon vendor. The second one was perfect. I would not recommend Toybugs. The model gets five stars, Toybugs gets one, average therefore is three!

This is a great product. I really love it. I wanted something that would take a lot of my time, and that would be big. I know that I am going to really enjoy putting this model together and that’ll take Me a long time to do it. The box was packaged really well. And the box with the model and it was wrapped. I would really recommend this to anyone who likes to build models.