JerseyCity Frankie

My two cents: I’m not familiar with what ship your working on but I can point out the nature of a downhaul on a staysail, a line running from the head of the staysail down along the stay back to the bowsprit or jiboom, used to pull the sail down to the spar in order to strike it. The canvas of the sail itself necessitates the block in question to be on one side or the other of the centerline of the spar, since the line would have to run down one side or the other of the sail, along the luff. So your downhaul block should be near to but not directly aft of wherever the stay terminates on the spar. If the downhaul block was on the centerline of the spar and/or immediately aft of the block for the stay, the canvas of the sail, as it was being struck, would quickly smother the block. folds of canvas would get in the way while the downhaul was being used, and the downhaul  would chafe away at the sail. I would recommend locating your downhaul block at about a 3:30 or 7:45 position in relation to wherever your stay leads to in the headrig, or at any rate whichever point is under the tack of the sail as it is struck.

Never thought I'd say this but that's a good looking Kraken.  
 
 
Bob

Having a bit of fun with the pasta machine and an old rat

Here's most of the framing work, the dreaded hawse timbers as most of you will remember and the reinstallement of the port stills

Unfortunately construction is not shown from the beginning. However, I hope in a short time to fix it.

With a bit of twisted wire I propped the unfinished hull, freshly rigged with temporary toothpick masts, into the proper attitude of foundering. The unfired floppy arms are then draped over and around the hull and rig. After only ten minutes in the oven at 250 to 300 degrees, the kraken's embrace is made more firm as the sculpy hardens.   Now the ship is snared within the hardened arms. I will next have to cut the arms in strategic places in order to free the ship, but not tonight. Until next time.

"Mr Hooper drives the boat, Cheif"

I too want to put in a word for "artist" acrylic paint. In tubes or in small jars, manufactured by Golden, Liquitex or whatever. All of them are water based and can be mixed with other brands. Full strength or thinned to nearly nothing at all, acrylic can be anything from a stain to an thick opaque coating. Water is all you need to thin or clean up. The paint dries as fast as water dries and when its dry its no longer water soluble and will stand up to U.V. light, changing humidity and who knows what else? Acrylic artists paint is available in nearly any size, from a very small tube the size of your pinkie on up to gallons, and in every color. Its possible to find "student grade" acrylic colors and these will have a "hamburger helper" dumbed down pigment content but the artist grade paint will contain the best sorts of pigments available anywhere and the pigment content is listed on the container- something I suspect other hobby paints won't do for you. Note that the use of the finest pigments includes poisonous ones like cobalt and cadmium which should NEVER be used with a sprayer. Sometimes the "student grade" colors are better for what you have in mind and they cost about 1/3 less than the Artist Grade ones. You can't use Acrylic over unprimed metal though, nor any sort of smooth ceramic like surface. But it will stick fairly well to plastic. The shelf life of the paint is pretty good. If you leave a tube of acrylic paint sealed it will still be fine a year later. 

I too want to put in a word for "artist" acrylic paint. In tubes or in small jars, manufactured by Golden, Liquitex or whatever. All of them are water based and can be mixed with other brands. Full strength or thinned to nearly nothing at all, acrylic can be anything from a stain to an thick opaque coating. Water is all you need to thin or clean up. The paint dries as fast as water dries and when its dry its no longer water soluble and will stand up to U.V. light, changing humidity and who knows what else? Acrylic artists paint is available in nearly any size, from a very small tube the size of your pinkie on up to gallons, and in every color. Its possible to find "student grade" acrylic colors and these will have a "hamburger helper" dumbed down pigment content but the artist grade paint will contain the best sorts of pigments available anywhere and the pigment content is listed on the container- something I suspect other hobby paints won't do for you. Note that the use of the finest pigments includes poisonous ones like cobalt and cadmium which should NEVER be used with a sprayer. Sometimes the "student grade" colors are better for what you have in mind and they cost about 1/3 less than the Artist Grade ones. You can't use Acrylic over unprimed metal though, nor any sort of smooth ceramic like surface. But it will stick fairly well to plastic. The shelf life of the paint is pretty good. If you leave a tube of acrylic paint sealed it will still be fine a year later. 

With a bit of twisted wire I propped the unfinished hull, freshly rigged with temporary toothpick masts, into the proper attitude of foundering. The unfired floppy arms are then draped over and around the hull and rig. After only ten minutes in the oven at 250 to 300 degrees, the kraken's embrace is made more firm as the sculpy hardens.   Now the ship is snared within the hardened arms. I will next have to cut the arms in strategic places in order to free the ship, but not tonight. Until next time.

With a bit of twisted wire I propped the unfinished hull, freshly rigged with temporary toothpick masts, into the proper attitude of foundering. The unfired floppy arms are then draped over and around the hull and rig. After only ten minutes in the oven at 250 to 300 degrees, the kraken's embrace is made more firm as the sculpy hardens.   Now the ship is snared within the hardened arms. I will next have to cut the arms in strategic places in order to free the ship, but not tonight. Until next time.

Funny you should mention that lambsbk, as it was about this time the model got wet for the first time 
 
On October 4th 2009, I had taken my daysailer Lydia out and tossed Constellation in the truck.  When we got back I put the hull in the water for it's first float.  I forgot the rods that held the ballast on, so the closest thing that might be deemed a test was when I pushed the hull down to it's waterline.  No leaks.
 
 
On the 7th, wanting a better "test" I tossed her in the truck and took her to the end of my street to Sloop Cove - where else do you float a sloop of war, eh?
In total there was 50 pounds of lead on board; 42 in the torpedo, the rest in baggies placed in the hull.  There was also about 4 pounds more consisting  of battery, radio gear, and a couple of hand tools; plus her lower masts, which together don't weight half a pound.
She floated 2 inches above her load waterline.  I figure it'll take 12-15 pounds of internal ballast to get her down to waterline, that includes her running gear and battery.
   
 
Next up: Radio Control

Work Resumes
 
So, life went and changed things around a bit.  My wife and I went different ways and the farm was sold.  I moved into an apartment and the workshop and the plug went into storage.  In the late spring of 2008 I bought a house with a 12 x 29 shed that became my workshop, subsequently known as "The Damn Yankee Workshop."
 
 
With the shop set up, I began to work on the plug in earnest.  Those details needed for the mold still had to be added and the quarter galleries were a big part of that, so that's where I started.

 
These things didn't need to be very structural as the entire plug would be destroyed in removing it from the mold.
 
In the mean time I visited the restored vessel and learned some things.  The bulwark on the spar deck was actually planked up hammock stanchions.  When the ship was being "restored" as a frigate, they took off the hammock irons and tossed them into the bilges, the restoration recovered all but one and reinstalled them.
 
 
This changed the shape of the hull for me.  Instead of "solid" bulwarks continuing smoothly up to the cap rail, the hull stopped with a cap on top of the waterways, and had these stanchions mounted on top of that cap and covered with wainscoting.  So, I cut the plug down to the lower level at the top of the waterways.

 
The whole idea of the plug being destroyed when the mold was made began to nag at me.  There was a chance, a very good chance in my opinion, that the mold might not turn out and the whole thing would be a disaster and a major waste of time and effort.
 
Next: A Course Change

Something to inspire you...

I too want to put in a word for "artist" acrylic paint. In tubes or in small jars, manufactured by Golden, Liquitex or whatever. All of them are water based and can be mixed with other brands. Full strength or thinned to nearly nothing at all, acrylic can be anything from a stain to an thick opaque coating. Water is all you need to thin or clean up. The paint dries as fast as water dries and when its dry its no longer water soluble and will stand up to U.V. light, changing humidity and who knows what else? Acrylic artists paint is available in nearly any size, from a very small tube the size of your pinkie on up to gallons, and in every color. Its possible to find "student grade" acrylic colors and these will have a "hamburger helper" dumbed down pigment content but the artist grade paint will contain the best sorts of pigments available anywhere and the pigment content is listed on the container- something I suspect other hobby paints won't do for you. Note that the use of the finest pigments includes poisonous ones like cobalt and cadmium which should NEVER be used with a sprayer. Sometimes the "student grade" colors are better for what you have in mind and they cost about 1/3 less than the Artist Grade ones. You can't use Acrylic over unprimed metal though, nor any sort of smooth ceramic like surface. But it will stick fairly well to plastic. The shelf life of the paint is pretty good. If you leave a tube of acrylic paint sealed it will still be fine a year later. 

I too want to put in a word for "artist" acrylic paint. In tubes or in small jars, manufactured by Golden, Liquitex or whatever. All of them are water based and can be mixed with other brands. Full strength or thinned to nearly nothing at all, acrylic can be anything from a stain to an thick opaque coating. Water is all you need to thin or clean up. The paint dries as fast as water dries and when its dry its no longer water soluble and will stand up to U.V. light, changing humidity and who knows what else? Acrylic artists paint is available in nearly any size, from a very small tube the size of your pinkie on up to gallons, and in every color. Its possible to find "student grade" acrylic colors and these will have a "hamburger helper" dumbed down pigment content but the artist grade paint will contain the best sorts of pigments available anywhere and the pigment content is listed on the container- something I suspect other hobby paints won't do for you. Note that the use of the finest pigments includes poisonous ones like cobalt and cadmium which should NEVER be used with a sprayer. Sometimes the "student grade" colors are better for what you have in mind and they cost about 1/3 less than the Artist Grade ones. You can't use Acrylic over unprimed metal though, nor any sort of smooth ceramic like surface. But it will stick fairly well to plastic. The shelf life of the paint is pretty good. If you leave a tube of acrylic paint sealed it will still be fine a year later. 

I use artists acrylics almost exclusively. There are literally thousands of colors and they are cheap and easy to find at any craft store. Most brush and spray very well, but others are a bit more work. It seems the difficulties I have  are more color dependant than manufacturer dependant, so if Folkart's "fire-engine red" (just kidding Brian ;-) doesn't mix or spray well I'll try a similar color from anothe manufacturer.
 
I do totally agree, bright colors on a period ship can make an otherwise great work look "cartoonish". Dull down those bright colors guys!

I decided I would have the head of the kraken as one phase of the construction, the hull of the ship as another. The eight arms would be another phase. The Kraken and the arms of the Kraken will be segmented and have brass pins to aid their reattachment inside the bottle. The first two Kraken heads I made would have fit into the neck of the bottle but they would have made for a small Kraken of reduced grandeur, so I am electing to make a larger more fearsome Kraken with a head that is in two pieces, to be joined with pins within the bottle. The eight arms of the Kraken emerge from the head and I have decided to make THIS element a separate piece too, a piece made up of eight tentacle bases. This piece too will be in two sections in order to fit the bottle, and this part tucks into the “neck” of the Kraken- this is viewed in the second photo below. The rest of the legs and the hull of the ship will likely be suspended in the air above this assembly, which in turn will be bedded in the plastecine clay “sea”. The stumps of the legs will all have brass pins to allow the rest of the arms to fit into place. I anticipate a lot of confusion, multiplied by the number eight.

I decided I would have the head of the kraken as one phase of the construction, the hull of the ship as another. The eight arms would be another phase. The Kraken and the arms of the Kraken will be segmented and have brass pins to aid their reattachment inside the bottle. The first two Kraken heads I made would have fit into the neck of the bottle but they would have made for a small Kraken of reduced grandeur, so I am electing to make a larger more fearsome Kraken with a head that is in two pieces, to be joined with pins within the bottle. The eight arms of the Kraken emerge from the head and I have decided to make THIS element a separate piece too, a piece made up of eight tentacle bases. This piece too will be in two sections in order to fit the bottle, and this part tucks into the “neck” of the Kraken- this is viewed in the second photo below. The rest of the legs and the hull of the ship will likely be suspended in the air above this assembly, which in turn will be bedded in the plastecine clay “sea”. The stumps of the legs will all have brass pins to allow the rest of the arms to fit into place. I anticipate a lot of confusion, multiplied by the number eight.

I decided I would have the head of the kraken as one phase of the construction, the hull of the ship as another. The eight arms would be another phase. The Kraken and the arms of the Kraken will be segmented and have brass pins to aid their reattachment inside the bottle. The first two Kraken heads I made would have fit into the neck of the bottle but they would have made for a small Kraken of reduced grandeur, so I am electing to make a larger more fearsome Kraken with a head that is in two pieces, to be joined with pins within the bottle. The eight arms of the Kraken emerge from the head and I have decided to make THIS element a separate piece too, a piece made up of eight tentacle bases. This piece too will be in two sections in order to fit the bottle, and this part tucks into the “neck” of the Kraken- this is viewed in the second photo below. The rest of the legs and the hull of the ship will likely be suspended in the air above this assembly, which in turn will be bedded in the plastecine clay “sea”. The stumps of the legs will all have brass pins to allow the rest of the arms to fit into place. I anticipate a lot of confusion, multiplied by the number eight.

Thanks Mark.
 
Before commencing the final planking I figured that it may be a good idea to install the gun carriage tackles at I couldn't imagine how I would be able to drill blind holes from inside the bulwarks if I waited until the planking was finished. So I drilled through the hull from the outboard side while it was still just coverd by the primary planks.
 

 
The second "dreaded hour" had arrived and it was time to be getting on with the second hull planking. The first planks had been 5mm wide but these second planks were only 3mm wide, so in theory at least, they would take an additional 66% more time to fit !!! (I think my arithmetic is right?) . . .  and ~ I would have to take more care when fitting these as I definitely wouldn't be doing a third planking to cover any ugliness !
 
Initially I planked up from the main wale and tried to plank each side of the hull equally.
 

 

 
I got to about this stage on each side when there was a long lay-off period and for several months Leopard sat on top of the wardrobe wondering when I would again move her back into the shipyard.
 
When she at last came down from the wardrobe I resumed the planking until it got to about the stage shown below >
 

 
Another lay-off period followed, but now, I didn't cringe as I looked up at my Leopard on the wardrobe as all (or most) of that ugly early planking was now hidden.

The Rudder...
 
The kit provided version was noticeably lacking any copper plating so, just for yucks, I thought I'd build my own version of the rudder...
 
It has always struck me as odd that the Revell Constitution has a cylindrical rudder head instead of a squared one similar to other period ships.  My first thought was to replace that... But then I did some research.  It turns out that the good folks at Revell probably got that right!  We do see the cylindrical rudder head on the Hull model:
 

 
When Constitution was first launched she had a typical "rule joint" type rudder with the square rudder head.  This rudder type required a larger opening in the lower transom to allow for the arc of the rudder head as it swung back and forth during turns.  Howard Chappelle notes in his American Sailing Navy book that the US Navy had replaced all of their  rudders with the newer "plug" type by 1801 or thereabouts.  This new innovation utilized the cylindrical shape and moved the rudder head forward so that the center aligned along the same axis as the pintles.  This eliminated the arc pattern of the rudder head - instead it spun exactly in line with the pivot point of the pintles.  This allowed for a much smaller opening under the transom - and perhaps a tighter feel for the helm.  Learn something every day.
 
Here was my approach:
 
I glued together four strips of .100 x .156" styrene (Evergreen 177) and did the basic shaping on a small vice using a heavy file.  Next I carved a groove into some appropriate rod styrene (same as what I used on the Galley Stove pipe) and affixed that to the top - centered, of course, over the leading edge.  Once done, I came back along and notched in the locations for the rudder pintles:


 
Now I needed to copper plate the thing. I used .010 x .125" (Evergreen 106) for the plates.  I whipped up a quick jig (using some available scraps) to help align the "copper" strips while I rolled in the rivet pattern on one edge.  I used the smallest roller in my collection to approximate the pattern existing on the kit plating.  The rest of the bolt heads I did by hand using my trusty scribe tool.

 
Took me about an hour to plate each side:

 
Lastly I came along and added the various straps, spectacle plate, etc.
 
Here is the result:



 
BTW - It turns out, the kit provided rudder is actually pretty good.  As noted it properly represents the "plug" type version.  This is not surprising since it is based on the Campbell plan and he consulted extensively with Chappelle. The rudder edges also taper nicely from forward edge to after edge, and from top to bottom.  Ultimately, a very nice upgrade could probably be had by simply adding the copper plates.
 

 
Thanks again folks for wading thru my entries!
EG

Installment 12.


Port side view aft.


The Sura and Buaya in combat. My proposed counter carving for my ship. This is based on the statue in front of the Surabaya Zoo. As a youth I visited that zoo many times, we lived about half an hour walk away, a very nice part of the city.


Installed the haws protective plates and temporarily tacked in the hawse cables. Removed the catheads because they are in the way of installing the head railings.


After breaking a few boxwood strips trying to bend them I finally managed to get six bend.  Bending them against the
thin edge side was not agreeable with the wood. Here is the top one temporarily clamped on for a visual look.


Head railing pieces, for the starboard side.


Head railings installed, anchor catheads removed, new ones to be made to it.
 

Cheers,

Installment 4


Close-up view of planking port side. Ready for sanding.


Orlop deck cargo grating installed.


Captain’s cabin deck installed with two bed cribs and seaman chests and table.


Spar deck beams at the waist installed with carlings.


View through grate opening in spar deck to orlop with ladder.


Door hinge hardware.


Forecastle fwd bulkhead with door and hinges, early stage.


Forecastle fwd bulkhead with doors installed. Deck beams installed with LEDs. Fancy eyebrows over doors.

Cheers,
 

Hey Frankie, how about the monster having taken the top most parts of the masts down that are now hanging by their rigging lines?  One could even still be in one of the tentacles.
 
Love the idea, great suggested story line.
 
Cheers,