usedtosail

Get used to doing everything with tweezers soon. Get yourself some long ones to reach through the rigging once you start on the running rigging. Your shrouds look great.

I am glad that worked for you Lou. I love that sign too but can't show it to my wife, ha ha. The arches look great.

After nearly 5 years and many hours in the workshop, my Constitution is completed. In the course of building her I lost my brother and my father, so this build has been dedicated to them. I hope they were following along wherever they are. I really had fun building this kit and for $300 or so that I spent on it I sure got my money's worth. I am going to leave this build log open, as I plan to take some glamor shots of the model soon, as well as build a case for it when the weather warms up again next year. In the mean time I will build a poster board cover to keep the dust off it. Here are some quick shots I took of the completed model. I really appreciate those of you who have been following this build, especially the comments and advice. I could not have built this without the logs of those who came before me or started after me and finished before me (yes, I'm talking to you Ken). I hope this build log will be helpful for current and future builders of this great kit. Thank you all.

Thanks Popeye. I really enjoyed the rigging as there was so much to do, but it was very satisfying. Overall I am very happy with how she came out. The davits are all rigged and the anchors are all attached, so the last step was to make and install the flags. I am putting a large US flag from 1812 on the flag halyard on the mizzen gaff, and a blue commodore's pennant on the main mast flag halyard. I made these using white tissue wrapping paper (the kind inside present boxes) which I printed on using an ink jet printer. This is the method that Chuck uses and it works really well. After shaping them I tied them to the halyards. You can also see that I finally took the model out of the ugly but effective working stand and put it on the display stand I made a few years ago, I think. It has been stored in a plastic bag to keep the dust off it.

Good luck with the surgery, Jon.

Thanks Captain and Jon and the likes. It will be 5 years in January that I have been working on this model and I am ready to complete it and move on to a new one. It is a good thing that there are others like you Jon that are continuing to build this great model. There will always be new challenges or new ways to solve old ones. Captain I just found your barge log and will be following along with it. I was able to re-strop both boom topping lift lines and the sheet block on the boom, so no need to replace any of those lines. I do have to replace the spanker outhaul since it ended up underneath the topping lift loops around the boom. I glued the metal brackets on the starboard quarter davits and it looks like they are holding well just being glued on. The rest of the rigging on the davits hold them pretty well so they don't move hardly at all. I just have to not knock into them as I finish things up.

I am getting close to completion now. I am still rigging the quarter davits, but I have also started rigging the whaleboat on the aft davits and the three anchors - two at the cat heads and one on the starboard anchor brackets. I have the starboard quarter davit completely rigged, and just need to add the metal brackets to the top davit brackets. I have the port quarter davit mostly rigged, but still need to add the davit blocks and lines, and the rope coils and metal brackets. For the aft davits, I first added the davit blocks and tackle lines through the sieves on the davits, then hung the whaleboat on them using the ring bolts in the boat. I made gripes from some black thread I had, as these are straps, not ropes. This was the closest thing I had on hand to simulate these. I made larger hooks and seized them to one end of the gripes, then measured the lengths and seized a thimble to the other end. I tied a smaller line through the thimble, which I tied to cleats on the davits. I still need to tie off the davit lines to their cleats, which I am keeping pressure on with the alligator clips. In the process of doing this, I hit the boom a little too hard and popped the seizings on the topping lifts and boom sheet block. I was able to re-seize the starboard lift line around the boom, and I think I will be able to do the same with the port one. I had to re-strop the boom sheet block, which I will tie around the boom, so overall not too much rework. I may still end up re-rigging the topping lifts depend on how the repaired ones look. The two bow anchors are installed using a line that runs through the anchor ring and is tied to a cleat on the bulwarks. Inside the bulwarks, there is a line that wraps around the fluke of the anchor and is tied to two ring bolts on the waterway. The starboard side anchor has a bracket with eye bolts that the anchor will be tied to. I seized two lines to these eyebolts to tie around the anchor, and a similar line will be used inside the hull to hold the anchor fluke in place. I have the anchor hanging off the hull until I can tie it to the bracket. After these items are installed, all that is left is to make and add an 1812 US flag and do a final clean up of the model. Of course, there is still the case to make too.

You are just traditionally outside the box. Really nice work on those manifolds.

Thanks Popeye, Dave and K. I just followed the planking as shown on the plans, which showed the tapering. I ended up going with the clew lines tied to the lower yards, so I finished installing the fore and main sheets and tacks. I added all of the rope coils to the belaying pins and cleats for the new lines, which was a bit challenging around the main mast because of all of the lines there. For the large cleats, I just added rope coils to the deck after gluing the loose ends of the actual lines to the deck. I am now in the process of adding the details and rigging to the quarter davits. I lashed the davit rails to the davits using the lashing shown on the plans. I also made brackets from brass strip to hold the davits up, and blackened them. I am going to wait until the davits are rigged before adding them, as I am not sure of the exact angle yet, which changes the size needed. I am also not sure the best way to attach them, as I think if I just glue them on they will come off easily if the davit its moved. I may just wait until I am ready to put the model in the case before adding them. I have been stropping the blocks needed for all of the davit rigging and will be adding the lines to the model next.

Nice Popeye. Another build of yours to follow along. I've lost count now, but they are all terrific.

Gald to see you back at it Geoff. Rigging is challenging but a lot of fun too. I'm sure you will do a great job.

I finished adding rope coils for all the running rigging that has been installed to date. It was more trouble making them consistently then getting them in place on the belaying pins. Those long tweezers I bought last Spring really helped a lot. I had made all the ropes for the fore and main sheets and tacks in the old shop, but I had to strop blocks with hooks and loops for them. I then added the sheets and tacks to the model. Since I am not adding sails, my plan was to hook the sheet and tack blocks to the clew line blocks hanging from the main and fore yards. When I did this, the sheets were right up against the shrouds which did not look good at all. I had a couple of options at this point. One was to leave the sheets and tacks off, but since I had already made them I didn't want to do that. The instructions pretty much say to do that if no sails are attached. They also suggest attaching the clew blocks to the reef tackle blocks, which would support he clew lines along the yards. Well, I had not added reef tackle mostly since I did not have enough belaying pins for them. But this gave another idea, which is shown here dry fitted: It is hard to see in these images as it is hard to focus on individual lines, but what I did was support the clew lines further out on the yards using a simple loop of line around a jack stay stanchion. This moves the clew line block out so that the sheets and tacks are away from the shrouds and other lines close to the hull. I doubt this would have been done on the real ship, but I am only doing it for display purposes. If this is really a bad idea, please let me know and I'll try something else or leave the sheets and tacks off. Thanks. I am also installing the quarter davits which I had made a while ago. I glued the two support pieces to a piece of wire that is through them and the davit. I was able to glue them and the davit is still able to rotate in the supports. I then glued the supports to the mizzen channel and hull sides. I have the upper bracket pieces to glue on next. As you can see in this picture, the main braces and sheet get in the way of the davits rotating up and down, especially the braces. I don't know how they dealt with that on the real ship. Maybe they loosened the braces when lowering the boats on these davits? Anyway I think I can get them installed around the lines, especially since I am not putting boats on them. Thanks for looking in. The list of things to do is getting pretty short now so maybe I can finish her this calendar year - not that I am in any hurry though. I will probably have to wait until the Spring to make the case although I might be able to build some of it over the Winter. We shall see...

Thanks Kurt. I know I have seen them on other models but I don't remember which ones. Not too many have modeled the gun deck. There are a few build logs that are in the process of doing it, so they will probably add them as well.

You got that right, Dave. Good luck with the new project.

That's a great project Dave. I am sorry you are on hold with the Connie, but this looks like a good diversion. Good luck with it.

Another idea Steven would be to glue up four pieces of wood using wood glue, shape them like you did the solid piece, then soak them in Isopropyl Alcohol to separate them. Hopefully the pieces you already made can be cleaned up to your satisfaction, though.

Maturin, Thanks, and I am glad you are still at it and you were able to get the cannons at the set price. I hope your health issues are in the past too. Dave, I'm intrigued on your new project. Please elaborate. Ronald, there are only two cannons on the spar deck, which have carriages with wheels. The rest are carronades, which have shorter, thicker barrels and ride on sleds that have two small wheels underneath them and are attached to the bulwarks at the other end. You can see these in pictures of the current Constitution to get a better idea what they look like, although the current ones are a bit different than what was on the ship in the 1800's, which is what I modeled.

Thanks Ronald. The kit came with complete cannons and carronades for the spar deck, but only dummy cannon barrels for the gun deck. These go into box structures to simulate the guns on the gun deck. I added a portion of the gun deck that shows through the open waist of the spar deck, so the extra cannons were for this portion of the gun deck, so I could show complete rigged cannons on the gun deck. I bought the whole set from Model Expo, which were more than I needed, but it was still cheaper than buying the exact number of individual cannon sets that I needed. The last time I looked, it appeared that ME no longer sells the cannons as a set, though, but you can get them as individual kits.

Yes, cloth coverings on the aft gun ports. I also think the netting is a modern safety feature.

Braces are all done now. At this point I want to make and install as many of the rope coils as I can, before adding the main sheets and tacks, which will limit access to the pin rails. I modified the way I make rope coils after I saw how Ed T. is doing his for the Young America. I use a 3 pin jig to make each coil, loop the line around the two pins, then make a hitch under the coil to hold the loops together. I then make another hitch, looping that one over the pin on the top of the jig, so when I pull it tight and fix the hitches with glue, it all holds together. I have added these to the port pin rails, and have started making the coils for the starboard side.

Never say never, Dave.

Ozark, scratch building is where I would like to end up but I think I have a ways to get there. all of the repairs are completed and I am making progress on the braces. I have the fore and main lower yard braces in place and have started on the crossjack yard and topsail yard braces.

Just stunning Dan. The display case finishes the model beautifully. Great job!

Thanks Popeye. Ozark, I made the flying jib boom from a piece of 1/8" dowel that came with the kit. Some of the dowels in the kit were warped, which I replaced with new dowels that I bought online. To make the boom, I first drilled two holes to simulate the sieve in the forward end. I then used a small hand plane to taper the dowel towards the ends, then chucked the dowel into my Sherline lathe and used sandpaper to round then out again. I used a small file with the dowel in the lathe to make the shoulder on the forward end, then a small chisel to connect the two holes to finish simulating the sieve. You could also chuck the dowel in a hand drill if you don't have a lathe.

Thanks Rob, and for the likes. I am back in business and it feels great to be back at it. I started by making a new flying jib boom - well really one ad a half as the first one broke when I was half way done. I then carefully undid the rigging from the broken flying jib boom to see if I can salvage any of the lines that are looped over the end of the fjb. A few of the seizings had come undone due to the pressure on the old part, so had to remake the inner martingale stays and the sprit yard parrel. I also had to cut the flying jib stay, as it ran through the sieve on the end of the fjb. I added a new line for it around the fore mast and put the seizings on in place, which is always fun when you are wrapping thread five feet off the floor. I put the flying jib boom in place, after adding the traveler and lines with loops on the end. A few of the lines need to be replaced to get the tension right but the rest look OK. I added a pin to the inner end of the fjb which goes into a hole in the bowsprit cap, and glued the fjb to the cap. A few more lines to fix up here and then I can start on the braces. It looks like I will be starting back to work part time next week but will still have a lot more time in the shop then I did when I worked full time.