Force9

Chris - I was wandering the fields of Gettysburg during the big anniversary in 2013 and came across a guy in his Union Lieutenant uniform and struck up a nice conversation as we walked thru the wheat filed... turns out he was some sort of attorney involved with helping the Civil War trust reclaim battlefield land... In the distance we could hear cannon booms from the neighboring farms where the reenactment events were in full swing. Added an appropriate ambiance to my touring of the hallowed ground that day! Good to know you haven't sunk beneath the waves somewhere... hope to see some of your work posted soon! Evan

Cheers Frank and Popeye! Folks - I've reached that point in the build where there is nothing more I can do to delay the inevitable... I have to start accounting for the rigging and making sure that I've incorporated the necessary end points into the half hulls before I start to glue it all together. I consulted the usual suspects: 1. The Revell rigging plans 2. The Bluejacket kit manual and rigging plans - Larry Arnot/Tyrone Martin 3. AOTS USS Constitution - Karl Heinz Marquardt 4. CONSTITUTION - All Sails Up and Flying - Olof Eriksen 5. The Charles Ware 1817 Sail plan (National Archives) 6. The "Hull" model in the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) collection. I've been poring over these different representations of the rigging layout of Old Ironsides for many months and have started to form some sort of plan. For the most part I will follow the guidance of Olof Eriksen, but fall back on the Bluejacket plans in some cases. Eriksen's work is focused on her 1815 configuration, so I'll try to insert some 1812 era modifications wherever appropriate - mostly using the Hull model for corrections. Ultimately this is all going to involve a fair bit of guesswork and intuition tempered by the realities imposed by the Revell model itself. In some cases the molding of the hull will impose limitations that are more than I'm willing to modify - I'll just roll with what is there. Here is my first compromise: Some may recall that I eliminated the chesstree included in the kit and filled in the holes at the gun deck level that originally allowed for the Fore Sheet and Main Tack to enter and get tied off within... I just feel that by 1812 these lines would've been led to the spar deck to allow for better control and coordination. Eriksen shows the Fore Sheet entering thru a sheave in the spar deck bulwark just forward of the last carronade before the break in the bulwark at the waist. The Revell kit does not have much of a bulwark at that point. I couldn't widen it because the "entry port" is situated here with the cleats/steps leading up the side. I was not willing to move that stuff over with all that scratch building... Marquardt offers a solution. He shows a sheave added on the waist for the Fore Sheet to pass thru and tie off to a cleat mounted nearby on the deck. Do I think this is historically accurate? Nah... But it suits my purpose. The first eyebolt near the sheave is the tie off for the Fore Sheet. The eyebolt mounted forward on the waist near the fo'c's'le bulwark will eventually have a block mounted for the Main Tack to lead inboard. I still need to drill the hole just aft of the fore channel for the Main Tack tie off point. Here is the sheave I cut into the spar deck bulwark for the Main Sheet: I mounted a cleat on the inside to tie off the Main Sheet: More to come shortly Thanks for the interest Evan

I've pulled up my chair to the very front to watch this unfold. Fabulous approach. Evan

Fantastic. Looks like she fits right in with the rest of your beautiful home. Very well done. Evan

So... A couple of comedians! Don't people remember that she was called "Old Ironsides"???!! - She never absorbed any damage! Everything bounced off!!! Well, at least it all bounced off for my model. Here is the latest... It is amazing how many holes need to be drilled into a sailing ship model! I've been busy with the mini spiral drill and #76 bit for the past few weekends. It is also amazing to uncover the various nuances that go into these builds. I've been drilling the many small holes for the Jotika eyelets that will be installed around the interior of the gun ports. Most references indicate the breeching terminating on a ring bolt positioned near the trucks in line with the bottom of the gun port. The outhaul tackle, however, is often shown leading at an angle to an eyelet positioned about midway between the two guns. It would seem to me to be more efficient if this tackle ran more parallel to the gun barrel - no waste in lateral effort when hauling on the tackle. That would seem to be the arrangement on most of the contemporary ship models... An eyebolt for the outhaul tackle positioned about midway up on the gun port and near the opening. The ring bolt for the breeching rope positioned directly below in line with the bottom of the port. We can also see this type of set up on the remarkable War of 1812 wrecks of the Hamilton and Scourge that lie preserved at the bottom of Lake Ontario. Both were swamped by a sudden squall and lost at the same time. (Actually the wrecks were once remarkably well preserved but have now become encrusted with an invasive species of mussel): The boarding cutlasses are very cool. Here is the approach I took: None of these eyelets are glued in... Just a sample of positioning. I'll blacken them and glue the upper eyelets, but I'll attach the lower ring bolts to the breeching rope when I rig the cannon off the ship before attaching these to the bulwarks. Evan

Folks Today marks the 200th anniversary of Constitution's last great victory - defeating both Cyane AND Levant in a nighttime action. I'm busy drilling holes and should have something to show in a few days. Stay tuned! Evan

Jay It is likely that on the Constitution only the foremast had lower stuns'l sails. The Hull model and Brady both suggest no main stuns'l boom. The mizzen crojack yard does not carry a sail so no boom there either. Olof Eriksen suggests in his book that a lower main stuns'l would block the wind of any lower fore stunsl and is therefore omitted. Marquart agrees that both would not be deployed, but argues for only a main lower stunsl and no fore. The contemporary models, literature, and old photos would suggest otherwise. There is a lengthier discussion of this somewhere in my build log. Evan

Kilo Your kind note is very appreciated. I sincerely hope that others don't mind following along as I make deviations to explain my attempts to give some historical foundation for my interpretation of Old Ironsides. I really am trying to feel my way through the various sources to settle on a version of "truth" that at least feels right to me! I'll be back at it this weekend and hope to have more to post soon. Andreas - thank you for the added insight for finding online resources - I've bookmarked all of your provided links! Foxy - I've been following along with your Victory... Beautiful work!!! Henry - I hope you've been hard at work on Soleil since you're mostly buried under many feet of snow. (Pats Rule!) Thanks all Evan

Bill - VERY nice work on your Connie! A really special effort. It looks like you've got enough wood there to build a case, a table for the case, and chair to sit in to admire the result! Your mention of Sam Maloof triggers memories... I used to live practically next door to Mr. Maloof decades ago and would see his clients pull up in their convertible Jaguars and push and pull in consternation as they tried to tie down one of his incredible rockers in the rear seat. Sam's house was a treasure in itself and had to be relocated when the state finally decided to build out the freeway that bisected the city. I think he salvaged as much as he could and rebuilt his house and shop nearer to the foothills. A pleasure to have followed your build. Evan

Very interesting... That overview suggests (if I interpret correctly) that the practice outlined by Olof Eriksen didn't kick in until 1830. The Hull model, however, apparently shows the brace passing thru a block in front of the mouse and thence thru a block on the mainmast and down to the fife rail. The crew built that model in 1812. Go figure. It may be that the US Navy adopted this approach long before the RN. Evan

It struck me as a combination of the Petersen version and what Henry provided. I can certainly understand the need to keep things simple! Evan

Olof Erikson compared the Hull model to Brady and has the fore topsail braces rigged thus: "Hitch to the mainstay collar, and reeve the fall through the brace block on the yardarm, back thru a single leading block seized on the mainstay collar fore of the mouse, through the inner sheave of the double leading blocks on the mainmast bibs, thru the swivel in the main U fife rail and belay there" Whew! Evan

Closeup of Essex figurehead - Peabody Essex Museum: Evan

I think that is "the anatomy of Nelson's ships" by Longridge. A nice reference for general ship modeling. It is a detailed description of the authors effort to build his model of HMS Victory back in the 1930s.

Ahoy... Sorry folks for the very long gap between updates... Had to call a timeout for the holidays and some business travel. I've been fiddling with guns a bit in the background, but I also managed to lay down some black on the hull. I had several flavors of Vallejo Black in my collection: Grimy Black (too greenish), Engine Black (too much sheen), and regular "Black". I went with the latter - it lays down very flat and has a nice neutral tone. Still much to tune up and I have kept some of the masking in place until I paint the red linings of the spar deck ports, but here are some quick views: The final appearance of the yellow stripe took some thought and compromise... The Corne paintings show the stripe in line with the edges of the gun ports and finishing with a scalloped end after the most forward gun port: This is the path to choose if you're paying strict adherence to the Corne paintings. I have to admit, however, that I do like the wider stripe shown in the Thomas Birch painting of the Guerriere fight: This gives the ship a more robust look and sets off the gun ports nicely. I do think, however, that it would be too big a leap from the Corne paintings. The 1803 painting done by Corne for Commodore Preble provides a very nice compromise: This shows the stripe in line with the upper edge of the gun ports and extending just a bit below the bottom edge. This version also includes the scalloped front end. (of course, this has led some people to think that Corne copied this older version when making the 1812 series for Isaac Hull... I don't think so. Too many other differences and it seems likely that Corne had access to the ship during her late 1812 refit to make newer sketches and notes). Exercising a bit more artistic license, I've elected to use this for my model. Here is how I approached the scalloped front of the stripe: I rummaged around in my collection of spare washers and found one small enough for the purpose. After laying down two strips of Tamiya tape, I traced the outline of the washer with a hobby knife. I then transferred the tape to the model and masked off the rest of the stripe before laying down the black paint. Thanks again to everyone who follows along (and shows great patience between my updates!) Evan

That looks to be very intricate work at that scale. I'll follow along with keen interest... Evan

Actually, even with the styrene backing, I was thinking you might want to fill what remains with some additional styrene and putty. EG

Good start Sarge! You might try first filling in the port with some styrene before covering it with putty - sometimes the putty will flex/shrink over time if that is the only filler. Looking forward to following your Connie! Evan

Very nice work Bill... If you hustle on those boats, she can sail on the next tide!

Great figures Daniel! It looks as though some of the attendees are more interested in learning the finer points of trigonometry than others... (Perhaps the master would teach that course...) Excellent research as well! Evan

Hello Fletch... Your overview of the ships' boats for Constitution during the War of 1812 is terrific.The only thing we are certain about in this area is that we cannot be certain...! It does not seem likely to me that any whaleboats were in place during Hull's war cruise. The receipts seem to indicate purchases for these to replace cutters lost in the Guerriere battle and/or modifications to these new whaleboats for fitting rudders (instead of relying on the steering oar typical of this type of boat). http://usscm.blogspot.com/2012/09/whaleboats-for-constitution.html I'm not sure the absence of any mention of certain boat types in the ships logs is too meaningful... I don't think we can read too much into that. Certainly a specific mention of any boat types is useful, but otherwise it would be uncommon for any log to make mention of a boat unless it was lost or damaged. In fact, I don't think the Constitution log even mentions any of the lost boats after the Guerriere battle... We only know because of Midshipmen Baury's journal and the receipts for the replacement whaleboats. Here is the boat listing for the President circa 1806 (Chapell Appendix pg. 504): 1 Launch, sloop rigged 1st Cutter, lug rigged, 2 masts 2nd Cutter, settee rigged, 2 masts 3rd Cutter, sliding gunter rigged, 2 masts 4th Cutter, sprit sails, 2 masts Jolly Boat, lateen rig 2nd Gig, lateen rig I'll probably rig my Connie along these lines - perhaps throw in a punt just because I can. I would think, however, that 7 boats was a very likely layout during Hull's regime. I'm enjoying your research overviews and appreciate the approach you are taking to document your reasoning along the way. Thx Evan

Wonderful work on your Endeavour... Didn't I read something recently that suggested they were close to identifying the wreck of the great ship (nee "Lord Sandwich"?) amongst the fleet of thirteen merchant wrecks intentionally sunk off Rhode Island to prevent a French fleet entering Narragansett Bay? I think the article mentioned help being provided by Australian archeologists? Anyhoo... A very impressive build and I'm going to go back to your first post and catch up... Evan

Here is a link to Gunner John Lord's bag in the USS Constitution museum collection: http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/proddir/prod/496/11/ Interesting that the article suggests that the bags for common seaman were black because of waterproofing... The decorated bags were for warrant/petty officers, etc. Good topic! Evan

Bill - Very nice work. The crows feet are a nice touch... The Royal Navy had generally entered the 19th century with these phased out, but certainly there were old school captains who kept them rigged. The 1803 Corne painting I think showed them rigged on Constitution and his later series of the Guerriere battle also have them rigged. Neither version, however, shows Euphroe blocks in the mix. I may include these crows feet on my build to add some nice detail. Thanks for the great close ups of your rigging! Evan

You could also try John at scaledecks.com