ntmcd1

Everyone knows pirate ships flew the famous skull and crossbones, but was there any evidence of imagery of skulls or skeletons anywhere else on the ship?  You see stuff like that on fictional pirate ships all the time, like the one below.  The only example I've ever heard of something like this would be when the pirate Bartholomew Roberts captured the Governor of Martinique on his 52 gun ship and hanged him from the yardarm, and used the rotting body as a warning.  Must have been a scary thing to see!

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

Welcome to MSW.   As for your question about the windows... wander through the scratch area.  There's several different ways of doing them.   

 

The Constellation kit IS NOT the original frigate.  It's actually based on the 1850 sloop of war.   It doesn't have the hull lines nor much of anything else in common with the frigate.  There's at least one build of the Constellation (RC, scratch) of the original.  I took the AL kit and bashed it into the actual ship that AL based their kit on.  I do wish you luck on bashing the kit the way you want.....

The constellation kit I have seems to be based off of both.  I went on the modern constellation when I was younger, and the weather deck had no cannons, and no wide open area that leads to the gun deck

As opposed to:

The kit I have still has a rounded stern like the ship in Baltimore, however.

Also, I was wondering how you guys scratch-build the intricate little windows and window frames on the stern of most ships.  I'll probably use some type of clear plastic as glass, but I don't know how to make the little wood frames.

Hello guys,

I've always like to build models since I was a young kid.  My first model ship was an AL Virginia Schooner, which I built when I was in third grade.  It wasn't museum quality, but pretty good for such a young kid.  I built a very small solid hull USS Constitution when I was in eighth grade, and an AL San Francisco Galleon the following year.  The Constitution was pretty easy but the Galleon's plank bending proved to be quite difficult so i came to this board as a lurker to get advice.  Last year, I built an AL King of the Mississippi that is 99.9% done, I just need to put on a few extras.  

Now, I've started my biggest project, an AL USS Constellation.  I was disappointed by the model, especially the fittings, stern, and instructions, so I'm making a custom ship of my own with a square stern as opposed to the rounded one supplied, and mostly custom fittings (although I haven't got there yet).  I go off to college in a month so I'm in a bit of a hurry, but so far it's looking better than any of my other ships, thanks to consulting various build logs and planking guides on this site and others.  I'll post a build log here sometime.