usedtosail

Love those rails, Frank. They look great!

Jesse, those ratlines look so real. Seizing the ends to the shrouds to me is the real key here. I always have trouble with some of the ends coming undone if I just use a clove or a luggage hitch on them. Next time, I am going to use your technique for sure. Thank you. BTW, I used to think that tying the clove hitches was a lot of work, but I think if I counted the number of seizings I have had to do on the Constitution rigging, it would be a lot more than the number of clove hitches in the ratlines.

That net looks good to me, Popeye.

Mark, from experience, you will find those blocks that flew away when you are looking for something else on the floor. Dealing with those small blocks is challenging. I used 3/32" blocks for the Connie guns and am using them now in the upper running rigging. I was loosing a lot at first (which I think I have found most of since then), but was able to get a pretty good process down to stropping them. I just takes lots of practice.

Yep, that's how I adjusted the heights on my gun deck guns. I used a straight edge razor blade to make the cut in one push.

Thanks Jon. I do have a place in our new home to display her. Making a case for her is going to be quite a challenge, though. I have some ideas though. Just a quick note that the topGallant blocks for the lifts did stay in place when I installed the lifts through them and tightened them up, so all of the rigging for those yards is done, except for the buntlines, which I am working on now.

Thanks guys. Other pictures I found had some of the plastic models I built as a kid - mostly funny cars, but there was also the Visible Body, if you guys remember that, and a V8 engine model kit. It did bring back memories. Work has continued, mostly on rigging the topGallant yards. First a picture with just the lower and topsail yards, adjusted to my liking. Of course, with all the subsequent work they have come out of alignment somewhat, so I will wait until all the yards are installed before tweaking the lines to get them to all line up, if that will be possible. He the topGallant yards are all on but are hanging only by the halyards. The lifts have been seized to the yard arms, but are justing hanging for now. The sheets are also installed, but these are on the topsail yards. The reason the lifts are not rigged yet is because I have been having trouble tying the double blocks they go through to the thin topGallant shrouds. They keep wanting to slide down the shrouds. I think they are good now, as I used a thicker line to tie them with which I think gives the glue more surface area to adhere to. We will see when I start threading the lift lines through them if they stay in place. I am not sure what I will do if they keep slipping. It is also getting very crowded on deck, especially aft of the main mast. It is getting hard to get my hands in there to attach lines to the belaying pins along the deck in this area. I just ordered some longer tweezers today so we will see if that helps get in there. I have some other long rigging tools that I made with dowel and large needles that help. I have already had to make some repairs to installed lines, mostly due to blocks coming out of their stroppings because of pressure I have put on the lines. It is a challenge which I am ready to accept, though. This puppy will be completed this year, despite the upcoming move. I have designed a crate that I will build to hold the model in whatever state it is by June. Now I just have to build it. Of course, I'll include that in the build log.

No problem at all. I enjoyed this model a lot. I used the Anatomy of Ships book about the Beagle to do some kit bashing to it. Start a build log and I'll follow along.

So, there is a sheet 5 and 6, which are on one plan sheet of paper, with 5 on the front and 6 on the back, just like sheets 1&2, 3&4, and 7&8. Table A doesn't have anything on the back. I took pictures of sheets 5 and 6, so if you want to IM me your email address I can send them to you. They are all rigging information so I don't think you would need to take any measurements off these sheets.

Let me check tonight when I get home, as I saved the plans when I finished the kit. I'll let you know tomorrow.

I have completed the topsail yard rigging and have started on the topgallant yards. Dan, I have to really thank you for the tip of putting the lines through the belaying pin holes first. I was not able to do this with the thicker lines on the lower yards, as the holes were too small and I didn't want to chance splitting the pin rails, but it works great on the thinner lines for the upper yards. Plus there is less room to get my hands and tools in to maneuver the lines around the belaying pin rails now, so having them secured by the pins first makes it much easier to wrap the line around the pins. I got a kick out this - we were cleaning out the attic on Saturday in preparation for our move this summer and I was looking through some old photos I took in 1968 (I was 13 years old). As far as I remember this is is the only ship model I ever built back then, and it just happens to the be same ship I am building now. Just a bit different scale and level of detail...

Mike, I have the long bed lathe with the milling column, and just added DRO to them. It is easy to change between the lathe and mill setup, and the only draw back is the limited movement of the XY axes in the mill setup. For example, to drill all the holes for the jackstays on the lower yards, I had to remove the yard from the vice and move it to another location. While it wasn't too hard to get it indexed to the previous location, it was still a pain. I am thinking of getting the mill base, where I can use the same Z column I already have. Maybe if that goes on sale like the DRO did... I find I like the longer bed lathe for the reasons already given. I have not had a use for it yet that the shorter bed couldn't have worked. I mounted it on a pice of pine shelving with rubber feet that I clamp to the work bench. It seems very solid. With the vertical milling column on it is top heavy, so being able to clamp it down is important. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

Its great to see that a horizontal version is coming soon. I have been using your older model in a horizontal configuration for a while now and it works great that way.

Thank you J, Al, Popeye, Henry, and Art, and the likes. I have been moving slowly with the rigging but since it is so noticeable, I want to get it right.

Very nice looking gun deck, K

Steve, I found that I was able to straighten the deadeyes out when I added the sheer poles just above them. I used a piece of wood between the lashings and then lashed the sheer poles to the shrouds.

Great start. I built this model a few years ago and loved it. I am looking forward to following along.

Work continues on the lower and topsail yard installation and rigging. I tried to take some more detailed shots this time to show some of the details as I have been adding them. The mizzen topsail yard was the latest to be added, with its simpler halyard arrangement than the fore and main topsail yards. I have these rigged with the tackles down to the fore and main channels. Most of the lines for these yards are now wrapped around a belaying pin or cleat, but nothing has been fixed yet so I can adjust them to all line up right. Here are some shots of the clew lines and sheets for the topsail yards. I used hooks on the sheets and hooked them into the hooks on the clew line blocks. I doubt they used hooks for the sheets on the real ship, but I wanted to have a secure connection, since I am using the sheets to put some downward pressure on the yards to counteract all of the up forces on these yards, like from the lifts. Here is a shot of one of the parrels, showing the beads that I used. These are brown seed beans, which are about 1.5mm. Here is a shot of the truss lines with their tackles on the fore top. The tackle lines are tied to cleats on the top. I found this very frustrating getting these lines secured to those cleats. I could wrap the lines around them fine, but getting the loops twisted to secure them was a bit challenging. I was able to get them all done correctly though, although I could have just wrapped and glued them in place. I like doing them the right way because I can easily undo them to adjust the tension on the lines, although getting them back around the cleats is no fun. Here is the other ends of the truss lines at the back of the fore mast. Getting these knots tied in the right place so the blocks on the other ends were in the right place was also fun, but it was doable after a few attempts. Here is the tackle line for one of the fore halyards. The blocks sit up pretty high in the air because I have these yards in the lower position, since they do not have sails. I am curious how they lowered these yards to the deck, as there does not seem to be enough line to get them all the way down without the lower block on the halyard hitting the block on the mast. I wonder if they lowered it part way with this line then tie on a different line to get to the deck? Here are the mizzen crossjack and topsail yards, still in the process of being rigged. And is an overall shot of the model so far.

Thanks Dan. I have seen that method described before but never tried it. I'll have to give it a try. I would like to come to the joint meeting but have other plans that weekend that I can't get out of. Maybe next year.

Thanks all. In between shoveling out of Nor'Easters, I have managed to get a fair amount of work on the Connie done. First though, fairly soon after my last post, I was using the wooden end of the rope walk to make 4 strand rope and it just came apart violently. So, I modified the aluminum end with more eyebolts so now I can use it for either 3 or 4 strand rope. Here it is in action making some 4 strand .020 inch diameter rope, using the thread shown above. I have the fore and main lower yards installed, with the lifts and clew lines threaded. I am holding off on the sheets and tacks until later. This picture shows them earlier without some of those lines. I have been having all kinds of problems with the mizzen lower yard, mostly with seizings coming undone as I thread various blocks. I have had to replace these in place which is a little difficult but so far not too bad. It just takes time waiting for the glue to dry on the new seizings. I currently have the triple blocks threaded and the port truss line done, and still have to redo the starboard side truss line when the block on the mast cap is dry. I have the lift lines on the yard too. I also have the fore and main topsail yards installed, with the halyard lines threaded through the block on the yard. These yards are tied onto the topmast using line between eyebolts on the parrel saddles. When I made the saddles I drilled the holes for the eyebolts but I didn't glue them in, so I now have added them to all the topsail, topGallant, and royal yards. The plans or instructions say nothing about parrels on these lines, but I used some small beads I had for them and will use them for all these yards. Last night I seized the double blocks to the ends of the halyard lines with tackle lines that will go down to another double block on the channels. I had not added the eyebolts for these blocks or the other halyard blocks to the channels so I had to drill the holes behind the backstays, which was a bit of a pain. All the eye bolts are there now. I have also added the lifts for these yards but have not threaded them through the sister blocks yet. I made the sister blocks some time ago and now I need to tie them to a shroud. This looks like it could be a little difficult too. Here are some shots from last night with the latest progress. Most lines are not permanently attached yet, so you can se that there is still some adjustment to the yards on so far to get them to line up. I really admire you guys that rigged the masts and yards together off the model. I would have no clue how to keep all those lines from becoming a big tangled mess. Even adding them one a time is getting a bit sporting. I have found that seizing lines onto the model hasn't been a big problem for me. Maybe I should say not yet anyway. Getting the lines onto belaying pins is the biggest problem so far. It takes a steady hand and lots of tries, with a fair amount of cursing in between, to get them on with a loop that holds the line in place. I haven't added any new rope coils yet either, and in fact the few coils I had on I took off because they were in the way. I will add them all later as I fill up each pin rack.

From the Merrian Webster dictionary for point: one of the 32 equidistant spots of a compass card for indicating direction

That looks stunning, my friend. Nice work.

Yes it does, Art. I can see a tiny light at the end of what has been a very long, but very gratifying, tunnel.

Thanks Al and Popeye, and the likes. Popeye, making these ships look good standing still is hard enough for me, I can't think about making them move to. I do have a nephew that is into RC, so he brings his toys to the lake. It is fun watching him motor them around. He is into fast model boats. I continue rigging the spars, with the first of the yards now up. I started with the fore lower yard. I had tied the lashing between the sling on the yard and the sling that goes around the mast, and luckily I left the excess lashing on. This proved valuable in that I used it to temporarily tie the yard to the mast while I fished the lashing line around the mast and put the loose end through the loop on the other end. At that point I put a clamp on the sling line and untied the temporary line, and the yard was attached to the mast. Then I threaded the truss lines up through the top and through the blocks on the mast cap. I also threaded the tackle lines through the triple blocks on the yard and the triple blocks hanging from the mast, which I had put on earlier and set their height. Once everything was "wired up", I adjusted all the lines to get the yard to hang correctly, although this has been an ongoing process since I took these pictures. I then added the lift lines, after having to seize the lift and brace blocks around the yard. I had made these with loops that I could slip onto the yard arms, but I forgot to do it before putting the studding sail booms on, so they couldn't slip on anymore. It was not hard to seize them in place, though. Here is how the yard is looking as of this morning. I did a few more adjustments of the footropes and stirrups after I hung the yard to get them to look better than they did. I will add the clewline next but leave it loose until I add the sheet and tack later. I have the main yard ready to install next. I have also installed the spanker boom and finished rigging it and the gaff. Lots of lines on them pulling in different directions, but after many adjustments I am pretty happy with how they came out. I am making the larger size ropes (above .015" diameter), so all of these lower spars use a lot of it. I have found that by using the same thread with either 3 or 4 separate threads, I can make two sizes of rope that fit the bill for all of these lines. I had made the aluminum three line fixture for the rope walk a few months ago, but luckily I kept the wooden version I had replaced with it. I added a fourth eyebolt to the wooden one, so now I have one for three strand and one for four strand ropes. We are in the midst of a terrific wind and rain storm that is supposed to last into tomorrow. I hope we don't get snow too. Great weekend to all.

Thanks guys. Jonathan I have not thought much about how to transport the models, but I will document the process which should be in July or August. I am thinking of making a crate for the Constitution using the cradle that it is in now. Some of the other models I will transport in their cases, but those with cradles I will take out because in the past the cradles have proved to not provide enough support. I have been working on the running rigging at the bow, mostly the jib and flying jib lines - halyards, downhaul, tack, and sheets. They all meet at the block that would hold the top of the sail, and all are belayed at belaying pins. I have also been working on the spanker gaff and boom in the rear of the ship. I added the gaff using small beads for parrels, and rigged the peak and throat halyards. I haven't tied these to the belaying pins yet. I have also been getting the spanker boom ready to install. I added the lines for the topping lifts and the outhaul line with its associated tackle. I'll add the parrels and install it next. I have also added the sling and jeer lines to the three masts getting ready to mount the lower yards. I lashed the slings to the yards while they were still on the bench, so as soon as the lines with the triple blocks are all installed, these will be installed. Thanks for watching and have a good weekend.