Constellation 1856 by JerryTodd - 1:36 scale - RADIO - First Class Sloop of War

[dgbot]

Jerry, with everything that has been happening with me I missed your log.  My apologies.  If I had the software I could make a small fortune turning it into a book.  Titled the Journey of the Constellation, from concept to the Water.  I am learning many things about RC that I have never knew before.

David B

[JerryTodd]

Thank you David, if someone is getting something from all this, then this is worth the effort.

 

The mast steps are in post #10 

[mtaylor]

Crap... missed the mast steps.   Jerry, I think many of us, myself included, are learning a lot from the R/C builds even though we'll never build one. 

 

Now about the firing pivot guns....  a plan forming for that?

[JerryTodd]

I'm not interested in anything to do with guns where I have to bring the boat back to shore to reload them each time I fire.  I have a pile of sketches for multiple shot systems, the most promising based on a revolving cylinder firing light black powder loads (more for the smoke effect than sound) - but I'm not capable of the machining involved, nor can I afford to farm it out - so it's not on a back burner, it's not even on the stove.

Edited August 2, 2014 by JerryTodd

[JerryTodd]

I've been meaning to do this for some time.  I was in a craft store looking for modeling paint for the LST when I happened on a box of Rit Pearl Gray fabric dye.

A lot of modelers dye their sails to "age" them.  They use coffee, tea, wood stains, all of which are fine except they all tend toward the red/brown tints.  Flax sails, and military sailing vessels used flax sails,  tend to age into the grays.

I was going to try a tiny bit of black dye, but finding a proper gray was fortuitous.  Constellation's sails are made from white Supplex - bright white burn your retinas if you look too long white.  I want to gray that brightness down a bit, not necessarily make them look 10 years on blockade duty off Ushant gray - that I'll save for Macedonian. 

So, I filled a 12oz cup with hot tap water, stirred in a teaspoon of dye, and lowered a scrap of Supplex into the mix.  Stirred it around, took it out and placed it back in, and stirred it some more.  I gave it a full 3 minutes on a timer, and here's what I got.

This is photographed outside in bright sunlight after the sample had dried.   One of Constellation's t'gallants is there for comparison.

 

For Constellation and Pride I think I'll go for 1 minute in the vat, though I think this will be good for Macedonian and Gazela.

[JerryTodd]

I've been working on routing the braces below deck so they don't tangle and interfere with each other;  so they don't obstruct hatches and other operations, like the rudder; and in a layout that I can service the system when needed through the planned hatches without having to tear up the deck.  That's the plan for this spaghetti puzzle I've been working on.
  Fore & Main brace diagram showing how braces are routed below decks.

The port-side main brace will be rerouted so it doesn't obstruct the planned after hatch.

 

The gray riding bit beyond the winch servos is the brace fairlead bitt, for want of a better name.

The fairleads mounted on the winches keep the braces on the correct flange of the drum, the eyes on the bitt turn the braces to their through-deck destinations.

 

View from aft.  The bitt is made of white pine.  The knees are glued and screwed to the deck, not the servo-tray.  The cross beam is just screwed to the knees.

 

Red arrows point out through-deck fairleads of brass tubing.  Amidships are the foremast brace fairleads, and outboard are the crossjack fairleads.

 

On either side aft are the main brace fairleads, and forward (left) are the main tops'l yard brace fairleads.

 

The fore brace and the fore tops'l yard braces from inside the hull.  The foremast winch is on the right of the image.  The other winch operates the main and mizzen braces.

[JerryTodd]

Ordered some gold 5mm Times Roman dry transfer letters from Letraset in the UK a month ago - they just arrived yesterday and I wasted no time getting Constellation's name installed on her stern.

The clear coat hadn't dried so the hull looks a little glossy.

[Omega1234]

Hi Jerry

 

That stern shot, with the Letraset printing really looks the part!  Very nice indeed.  Would I be right in seeing a transparent rudder extension on the rudder, as well?

 

Not long to go before she hits the water?

 

Cheers and all the best!

[JerryTodd]

Thank you.

 

She's been in the water five times now; the first two as a bare hull, and the last three under sail, albeit, jury-rigged.  She'll very probably sail again before being completely finished, but her deck should be installed and with a little more sail set next time.

 

[Omega1234]

Hi Jerry

 

Many thanks for posting the photo as well.  I don't about you, but I was always impatient to get my RC ships into the water too.  I had jury rigged them and before I knew it, they were christened by salt water.  I look forward to seeing your ship coming to life.

 

All the best and happy sailing!

[JerryTodd]

Since the pipes for the fore-corse and tops'l yard braces go through the main pin rail, I need to make the thing to get everything properly lined up.

I recently made a sea chest for a reenactor participating in the event at Fort McHenry last weekend and have a bit of scrap "select" pine from it already cut to 3/16".  I printed and pasted the paper patterns for both fore and main pin rails, cut them, and drilled them with 1/16" holes for the belaying pins.  Some larger holes were drilled for the stanchions which will be fastened with wood dowels except for three or four that will have brass rod all the way through to the deck.  Four additional holes were drilled in the main rail for the brace pipes.

 

 

There's 13 total stanchions between the two pin rails all of which are turned and have two sheaves in their bases - they do not pivot.  They are 3/16" square and about 3/4" long (changing for the deck camber)

 

My lathe doesn't have a chuck; I have a big 4-jaw thing for it, but it requires shimming and balancing or it'll make the whole bench jump around the shop.  So I took a shot at turning a couple of stanchions on my drill-press.  That'll work, but I have to do one at a time rather than a stick of four or five.  I also need to get together some implements to get a better and sharper finished turning.

 

I did get some 1/16" ABS sheet to make the flanges for my new winch drums, being I can't find the set I made before I moved.  Now I have to find my sheet of 1/8" plastic for the drums themselves - which I think is in my storage unit.  I want to rig up the braces and test it all in operation before I epoxy everything down and lay the subdeck.

[qwerty2008]

Jerry: I use my drill press for turning as I don't have a lathe and found that if I clamp a board with a pointed metal rod thought it onto the table I can use it as a tailstock to stabilize longer work pieces.

 

 

Lextin.

[dgbot]

Tried and true and done by many.

David B

[JerryTodd]

Still working on the plumbing, added some blocking to support said plumbing; getting a little closer to permanent installation of the sub-deck.  I also stared at two paintings and a series of photos of the ship with sails set to try to figure out where jibs sheet and where the tacks and sheets run.  I think I've got it now.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2014 by JerryTodd

[Bill Hime]

Jerry,

What an interesting log to say the least! Thank you for a peak into an area I had no previous knowledge. What a great log!

 

Warm Regards,  

 

Bill

[JerryTodd]

There's five more tubes to go; two for the main tacks, two for the fore tacks, and one for the driver sheet.  There's potentially four more, for the fore and main trys'l sheets, but I'm not setting those unless I get more radio channels.  They're close enough to my hatches that it wouldn't be difficult to add them later.

 

I installed the aft boomkins.  They're made of this hard mahoganyish stuff that came from some shipping pallets.  They're glued where wood meets wood and two brass pins reenforce each of them, one into the hull, and one into the quarter gallery.  A small gap where they pierce the hull got filled with epoxy putty.  The main brace and main sheet both anchor here, and return to a block here, before coming inboard.

 

BTW: Lee's calls these boomkins, but references the first mention of bumkins as 1680, and they're also referenced as bumpkins.  I'm going with boomkins,

 

 

 

Again, staring at photos, paintings, and picture of the ship today to figure out how they were attached, shaped, and their dimensions.  The 1888 deck plan shows them at least, and that helped with dimensions, but the forward boomkins are another story.

 

The paintings and earliest photos seem to back up the size and placement of the forward boomkins as they are on the ship today.  Unfortunately they aren't something I can just walk up and measure, so this morning has been spent staring again, at photos from every source and angle, trying to extrapolate where they go, and how long they are. 

 

 

My best image with all sails set is fortunately a high res one as well.  Here's a version that's about 14% of the size of the image I'm working with:

 

From this image the main tack actually comes down to the deck inside the bulwarks almost at the foremast.

 

The fore-tack goes through a hole in the forward bulwark

 

For the fore and main courses on the model, if I set them, the tacks are the more important control lines.  The sheets merely hold the sail back against the wind, but the tacks pull that windward clew forward when sailing on the wind.  If it doesn't function, the sail will back.  This attaches a lot of import to the forward boomkins, especially in being strong enough to be up to the job.

 

Well, it's off to cut tubing and drill holes 

Edited October 3, 2014 by JerryTodd

[lambsbk]

Interesting research Jerry...through the bulwark has been contested by some.

[JerryTodd]

I was looking, and expecting, to find the main tack going to a block on the fore channels, and then through the bulwark.  My issue with that is that no such mechanism for getting it trough the bulwark is shown on the 1888 deck plan.  The plan does show the fore sheet sheave assembly through the bulwark, which actually is set up for two lines, and another aft of the main mast, though I have no idea what that one is for.

 

I just installed the tubes for the main tacks, and tried it out - it actually works quite well at that location.  Now there's only 3 more tubes to install.

[JerryTodd]

As I think I mentioned somewhere near the top of this thread, I'm building this model of the ship as she appeared when new, based mostly on a painting of her at Naples in 1856 by deSimone. That painting shows a signal hoist at the mizzen truck.

  That's something I'd like to include on the model except that I have no idea what the signal means.

I cannot find those particular pennants in any signal system I've been able to find.  One is a white pennant with a blue bar, the other looks like a white tapered swallow-tail with red borders top and bottom.  Pennant, flag, burgee, or anything else; I cannot find those patterns in any flag set - including modern.
I could just put that signal on the model anyway, but it may not really be appropriate.  It could mean "Send a plumber!"  or "My bottom is fouled" or "I have a lovely bunch of coconuts"   Who knows?  I don't.

 

The possibilities are 1. it's a private US Navy signal.  2. It's a private Kingdom of Naples signal, or 3. deSimone just made it up.

 

In another thread here on MSW, regarding signals, someone posted links to several editions of Captain Marryat's (RN) Code of Signals.  The system assigns numbers to every warship of the major powers of the time, and all the merchant ships registered with Lloyd's.  The Tenth edition, dated 1847 contains the number 564 for the American frigate Constellation.  The next edition available online is dated 1855, but the French stopped publicly posting the list of their warships, so this and later editions no longer contain numbers for warships other than British.

 

I'll assume the new sloop of war Constellation would take the number of the frigate she replaced, and not knowing what her private USN number was, or what the code in the painting was, etc etc etc - I'm going with Marryat's 10th edition.

 

To that end, Marryat says;

The Flags used in this Code of Signals should be six feet in the standing part and eight in the fly; and the Pendants four feet by eighteen.

 

So, I drew up the hoist for 564 to 1:36 scale, printed it on the color printer, and hoisted it up on Constellation's mizzen.  Yes, these are paper, I'll make a set from Supplex a bit later, I just wanted to see how it looked. 

 

 

Anyway, if anyone sees the model somewhere, and accesses the 1847 Marryat's on Google Books via their phone - they'll know what ship she is.

Edited September 26, 2014 by JerryTodd

[Richard Blevins]

Jerry,    The Constellation is looking great. thanks for the detailed build log with the rc set up. Ive been wanting to try something like this but had no idea for setting up servos for control, Then again I have a bad problem of leapping before I look and find water over my head. As i have not sailed any thing that floats.

2 meeter sail plane up to a pin point on thermos only. I'm sure that its not the same. Maybe I should start with a small pond sail boat and see how I like it. Any sugestions on a beginner sail boat to learn the fundamentals of sailing ? Any way Keep up the good work, and hope to see a video in full rig and sailing in open water.

 

Richard

[JerryTodd]

Google "how to sail" and you'll find a plethora of sites that purport to show you how to make a boat and a bed-sheet move through the water in generally the way you want it to go.  I know some real idiots that can sail, so how hard can it be? 

 

If you fly RC you can sail RC, just like if you drive a stick, you can drive an automatic.  Square-rig is a bit much to start with, you don't learn to drive in a semi, but I PMed you some info for a couple of sloop kits that I built when I was a teenager and are still available.

 

I think sailing's a bit more relaxed than flying - the consequences are usually a little less catastrophic.

[qwerty2008]

Richard: if you want something easy to start with I highly suggest a footy or something similar with only a single fore and aft sail. About the servo set up its easier to figure out when the model is already built, or at least in my opinion as I have a hard time planning things in advance. I don't want to hijack Jerry's thread so I will leave it at that.

 

 

 

 

Lextin.

[JerryTodd]

So now the fore boomkins are installed.

I had the sticks rough cut from that mahoganyish pallet wood, I made the aft boomkins from.   I had to get up the courage to cut a hole on either side of the head for them to go through.  The first one was really tense, but the second one was less so, if not easier.
I have no plan or measurements for these thing, or their position on the bow, so I stared a lot of photos.  One photo was at an angle where I could measure the boomkin was 70% of the length of the top-rail of the head, back from the bow.


I had to shape the boomkins.  The tip is basically a cube with the corners knocked off.  From there to the head planking it's 8-sided.  Then it's square right to the hull.
Once everything was shaped and fitted, I drilled a hole in the inside end and in the hull for a 1/16" brass rod.  On the ship today, they're merely bolted to the hull-no bracket, socket, or anything like that.


With everything checked for fit, I painted the portion inside the head white.  When that dried I CAed the rod into the boomkin.  I got some kneadable epoxy putty a while back and put a wad of it on the end of the boomkin that would attach to the hull, and a drop of CA on the brass rod, and installed them.


They seem to line up nicely with the fores'l tacks.

Edited October 3, 2014 by JerryTodd

[captainbob]

I have no plan or measurements for these thing, or their position on the bow, so I stared a lot of photos.  One photo was at an angle where I could measure the bumpkin was 70% of the length of the top-rail of the head, back from the bow.

 

 

Sometimes photos are the only way.  You did a great job.

 

Bob

[JerryTodd]

Thought I'd relax a little and make some spars.  These have been rough cut ever since I first made the  masts; today I shaped them; all the t'gallant and royal yards.

 

The nice thing about this time period is that the yards are round over their entire length, all the details are "iron" bands and eyes.  Macedonian's spars will be another story.

 

Edited December 4, 2014 by JerryTodd

[the learner]

Fantastic job on the construction, looking good!

[JerryTodd]

So, Saturday morning I go into the shop/garage to install the last of the fairlead tubes with the idea of starting to put down the sub deck on Sunday, when I notice the top of the mizzen topmast and it's t'gallant are lying on deck, and the main from the top up, is leaning at an odd angle.

 

Turns out the model's on it's bench under the garage door, and she's taller than where the door goes when the rig's up.  Hurricane Denise blew in and opened the garage door to put something in (despite being warned not to do that very thing).  The door struck the mizzen and main before she realized what was happening, and then blew off to the church yard sale before I got up.

 

Yes, I was upset, and the entire vocabulary of my sailing life came to the fore, but then I figured, feces takes place.  So I set to making repairs, or replacements, as the case may be.

 

The decapitated mizzen topmast.

 

The severed head of mizzen topmast.  Broke at the tops'l halliard sheave.

 

  A 2 inch brass rod reenforces the joint.

 

The brass rod was CAed in and the joint got epoxy putty squeezed in.

 

  A little sanding and paint and it's all set.

 

The sheared head of the mainmast.  It got a 4" brass rod and epoxy putty too, but that didn't hold in the flat break across the main's end grain.

 

The next day I put a pine Dutchman in the back side of the mast head.

 

Today that was reenforced with pieces set in on either side with their grain running vertically and straddling the break.

 

  Just before the clamp went on.  We'll see how it turns out tomorrow.  It may get another piece set in on the front face.

 

I had every intention of making a spare set of topmasts and some other spars - I just didn't expect to need them this soon.

 

No, I didn't get upset with Madam Guillotine, I just summoned up my inner Jew and used the power of guilt - my mother would be so proud.

 

[qwerty2008]

Sorry to hear about the break but glad to see you were able to fix it without needing to make new ones.

 

 

 

 

Lextin.

[Omega1234]

Hi Jerry.  Sorry to hear about Hurricane Denise and the damage as a result.  However, the repairs that you've done were masterful. I, on the other hand, wouldn't have had the ingenuity or skills to do the repairs as well as you've done.  Pretty informative photos too, by the way.

 

Thanks for sharing the photos and skills with us.

 

All the best!

[JerryTodd]

All fixed

 

Now, what was I doing before this distracted me?