nfafan

I have several plastic Connies; one each of the 3 known/different scales of Revell's offerings, an Aoshima/Imai/Monogram kit, and one of the small 1-pc-hull Monogram kits. My hope is that one of them is suitable to backdate to the Barbary pirates duties, another for the 1812 period, and one for the post-war Percival days in the red/white livery. In any event, FWIW, here are some notes on colors I took from reading the "A most fortunate ship” book by Tyrone G. Martin... hth. Page 45 – “blacking the yards and tarring the rigging”. “Above the yellow ochre gun streak the ship was painted black. Below it, it was smeared with a mixture of pitch and lamp black”. Page 67 – “The earliest known artists rendering was about 1803 by Michel Felice Corne; the earliest model of the ship dates from 1812.” “Constitution’s hull originally bore a broad yellow ocher band from the vicinity of the hawse pipes to the quarter galleries, the outer surfaces of the gun port lids being the same color. This band extended approximately from the level of the channels down to the top of the main wales. Below, in the ‘bends”, the ship was tarred; above, including the quarterdeck bulwarks, she was painted black. Whether or not there was decorative painting other than this on her sides is unknown, Corne shows a yellow ocher “pin stripe” on the moldings at the spar deck sill level.” Topping the cutwater at the bowhead was a Heculean figure, Corne’s painting looks to have this in all white, and with possible white trim. Page 68 - “The stern is more dimly seen. There is a general feel that there were 6 windows in the transom with pilasters separating them, but the Corne’s 1805 painting shows 8, including one in the after bulkhead of each quarter gallery. Decorations included a spread eagle high up in the center of the taffrail just above the shield of the USA. The shield was flanked by 2 figures, which in turn were flanked by a pair of unmounted cannon barrels. Above and on the outside of each outer window was a figure facing the center grouping and holding a wreath in extended arms towards the center.On each quarter gallery’s after outer section were the classical figures of Liberty and Justice. Framing the whole was an entwinement of rope. The name was below the windows probably in Roman Intaglio script. All this distinctive decoration was picked out in a distinctive color, probably yellow ocher, maybe white.” “The guns were probably painted black, their carriages may also have been black, although red, brown and green were in common use. These colors were equally popular for deck fittings (coamings, etc.).” Page 69 – “The Corne painting hints that the inner and outer thirds of the bowsprit were black or brown, while the middle third - together with the jib and flying jib booms – are yellow ocher.” “The masts – lower, top, top-gallant – were yellow ocher with blackened doublings. Bands on fore and main masts are also black. The yards are brown or black.” “The sails had a streaky, mottled tan appearance of woven flax. In the sun at full furl they appeared white.” Page 70 - “The fighting tops of the masts for the Marine snipers were in natural wood, with brass swivel guns on each side for shooting at decks.” “A number of boats were carried, possibly 6 to 8. One carried in davits astern, one on each quarter, and the rest nested on two sets of chocks across the main hatch. Most were painted white, but it was not uncommon to have several colors for identification from a distance. The belief is that one of the boats were painted in blue around this timeframe (pre-1812). “ Page 99 – The Barbary Wars period, 1804. “In Constitution, Preble had carpenters improve protection for his gunners on the spar deck by planking up the waist of the ship “from fore-chains to the main mast”. “Gun ports were then cut in these new bulwarks”. (a painting by Corne’ that was done sometime between June and August of 1803 shows that there were no bulwarks forward of the main mast.) Page 116 - The Barbary Wars period, 1804. After a collision with sister ship USS President, the Hercules figure head was destroyed and the remains removed to a plain figurehead. The damaged/worn areas were repainted; black hull over a yellow gun-streak with the hull below the streak to the waterline was tarred black. The inner planking of the spar-deck bulwarks and the guns were painted a light yellow. Page 117 - The bow head area was repaired and the upper area planked off to give more protection to those using the toilet facilities there. A new, plain billet head was added back on. Also the topmost piece of decorative taffrail was removed from the top of the transom. Page 132 – Hull has command, 1810; in September, Hull had crew paint one of the cutter boats green, along with the spar-deck ceiling planking. The bends were blackened and the berth deck and steerage bulkheads were whitewashed. Air ports were cut in the berthing deck to improve ventilation. Page 141 – The “split” dolphin striker was installed. A trysail mast was installed and skypoles were added to give more and taller sails. Page 185 – Feb 11, 1814, Capt Stewart had the gun streak painted yellow to confuse the British. Page 245 – Capt Elliot added the Andrew Jackson figure head in 1834 – which was beheaded by vandals. Page 247 – The Andrew Jackson figure head installed by Capt Elliot in 1834 was repaired in 1835. Page 270 – “Mad Jack Percival’s world cruise; in August 1844, he had the crew paint the hull white and the gun streak in red due to brutal sun and heat.

First build of anything??? Yowza - your'e off to a fine - and brave start! Be sure to stick with ships - the more of us there are, the more the mfgs will answer the demand for more kits!

This country doesn't spend on badly-needed mental health support for the masses, let alone historic one-offs. Maybe Carnival Cruise could do better sailing this after getting it refurbed.