popeye2sea

Unfortunately, the rigging instructions for this kit are full of errors.  For instance there are no block and tackles employed on any line: there are no halyards listed: there are no sheets and tacks for the lower sails.  Most of the other lines are run incorrectly.  There are no belaying pins and not enough belaying points for the rigging.  And the plan seems to imply that most of the rigging leads to the base of the main mast.

Personally, I scrapped the entire plan and rigged the ship per the description in Harold Underhills book Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier, covers ships of that time frame.

Rigging the ship to this plan necessitated adding additional pin rails, eyebolts and cleats to appropriate points about the ship.  I also had to change the whiskers and martingale on the bowsprit to accommodate the additional rigging..

If you are going to use the plastic sail they will have to be trimmed down quite a bit in their vertical dimension in order to fit and you should glue in a bolt rope around each one in order to prevent the rigging from ripping out of the sail.

I purchase probably 100 or so 2mm single blocks and about 40-50 2mm double blocks to complete the rig.  I also layed up several sizes of three strand stainless steel wire rope to use for the standing rigging.

I bought some very fine chain to use for the bowsprit stays and shrouds and anchor chains.  I also used chain for the fore and main lower topsail sheets.  The upper topsail sheets and some of the other rigging should be chain also, but at this scale I could not get any chain that would work.

Overall, I would have to say that making this model was fun due to the research and challenge of reworking the entire rig. But I am only somewhat satisfied with the quality of the result. The very small scale prevents an accurate depiction of the ship.

If you have any specific questions about the rig feel free to ask.

Regards,

Henry 

Great question.  My sense is that it is a modern safety feature, but I do not know how far back they started to use them.

Depending on the time period you are modeling they may be included or not.

Regards,

Henry

The origins of the topgallant rail and bulwarks on the Constituion are some time around the 1927 refit, I believe.  At that time the Navy decided that the bulwarks all around the ship should be raised and to have bulwarks at the waist installed to the same height.  You do not see them, obviously, in this photo but they were done completely around the ship.

I forget which year it was, but during the refit before this last one the decision was made to bring the ship more in line with her 1812 configuration.  To that end, the bulwarks in the waist and the topgallant rails were again removed, as you see in your second photo.  Also at this time the proper camber was built into the deck, the thick planks (or king planks) were put into the deck, and the diagonal riders were installed in the orlop.

Regards,

Henry