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JerryTodd

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Everything posted by JerryTodd

  1. JerryTodd
    Today I focused on the catheads. Relying on the 1888 spar deck plan to tell me where it was, the angle at which it projected from the ship, and how far out; I had to rely on photos to figure out it's steave. The simplest and most accurate way to make the slots for the sheaves was to laminate it. Fortunately, it worked out to being 7/16" square in 1:36 scale which was perfect to laminate 7 layers of 1/16" bass with 3 sheave slots. I didn't put in working sheaves, but used slices of walnut 3/8" dowel glued in place instead. For those of you following along with the possible idea of learning something - here's your chance - do this somewhere long before this during the construction. In this case the catheads are set into the hull at 60° from horizontal right at the hull/cap rail seam, which means I could have simply sawed a notch for it with a razor saw and been done with it. Now I had to bore a hole, and dig it out square keeping two angles correct. Even if I hadn't set the catheads before now, the hole for it would have been there, ready for it. As it turns out; slow careful work with a bur on the roto-tool got me to a good, snug fit. Now all I have to do is make and fit the starboard cathead.
  2. JerryTodd
    These bitts have a three pronged bronze crown on them. I'll probably wind up painting them with the green patina normally seen on bronze, but for now I just colored them with a bronze metallic Sharpie.
  3. JerryTodd
    There's obviously more there than just a hammock and it's rigging - blankets makes sense. Sailors had their sea chests and sea bags to stow clothes in. Each one has a man's name and his number stenciled on it. They're not bent into the 'U' or yoke shape - I don't see that you could as fat as they are. I initially thought they were 'bent' till I realized they were set into the rails in pairs, side-by-side. Navy hammocks were 70" long, curled into a yoke would make these this about 3 foot square. I think they are shoved in as deep as they will go. If you cover them with a tarp and cinch it down snug, they would probably compress to within the height of the end boards.
  4. JerryTodd
    Staring at the image of the Kearsarge I posted above, I realized the hammocks are not bent into a yoke, but simply rolled up into a sausage. They're put in the hammock rails side-by-side, pretty willy-nilly from the looks of things. An original US Navy hammock of the 1870's measured 39" (99cm) by 70" (178cm) so it's an easy guess at how long the rolls are. Going back to the sausage analogy, they're stuffed with something; I can't figure any other reason a simple 3 foot wide canvas hammock would roll up to be THAT bulky - they're nearly as large as a man's torso! I guess using elbow macaroni to represent the top of the "yoke" sticking out isn't going to work now. I'm thinking making the portion of these things that stick out of the rails and glue them onto the cap piece I already have installed. I can soak them with thinned resin to plasticize them and further fasten them down.
  5. JerryTodd
    It's connected while the sail is set. It's disconnected on a sail that brails - sometimes. Here's the version Pride of Baltimore had and I recreated on my model. Her mains'l was lowered rather than brailed and except when reefing, the clew pendant was hardly touched.
  6. JerryTodd
    I'd suggest meeting somewhere and sailing our 1:36 scale models together, but that might land us in Bogota or someplace.
  7. JerryTodd
    Based on the original image - it's a preventer tackle, to hold the boom out against a gybe. It's not shown connected as clew tackle would be.
  8. JerryTodd
    Running around town a lot today, so I only managed a little bit of paint.
  9. JerryTodd
    Finished making and installing the mizzen bitts. Built up the bow bulwarks and padding the bowsprit hole.
  10. JerryTodd
    I apparently misjudged the size of the hammocks - these buggars must have been used as tents ashore as well - they're big! Kearsarge 1880's
  11. JerryTodd
    Hammocks were covered with tarps probably as long as there were hammock nettings to store them in. Constellation's hammock cranes were originally meant to be covered with "weather cloths" ie: painted canvas tarpaulins outboard just as the original six frigate were originally designed with open bulwarks on their spar decks. I'm not sure why the hammocks weren't covered in those images, and I'm not sure yet how I'm going to deal with it. I kind of like the hammocks exposed, so I experimented with some hammock sized bits of cloth rolled and bent into a yoke. They seemed awfully small and lead me to think they were put in in two rows inboard and outboard. I could make a cap piece with the hammocks all protruding out of the top and cast several in resin. I think that would bend and curve enough to take the shape of the rails, save a great deal of work, and be a little tougher than gluing a bunch of bumps on the rail cap piece. Anyway.... The fixed bulwarks forward are shorter than they ought to be, so I started building them up. First I epoxied a sheet of 1/16" bass to the inside. When that was set-up I added another layer outboard and on top of the existing bulwark. Once this sets overnight I'll add more layer to get it to the correct thickness, then trim it to size and shape. I began installing eye's in the deck at the base of the masts according to the 1888 spar deck plan. Most of these are brass screw-eyes, but the two that will anchor the main stay are eye-spikes set into the deck at an angle roughly 90° to the stay. The forward and aft hatches also got three eyes each as shown in the plan. The images are: mizzen, main, and fore and forward is to the left in each. The brass rods standing nearby are for the bitts a rough-out version can be seen in the mizzen image.
  12. JerryTodd
    So, as I often do with this model, I've run into something of a dilemma. Looking through my images with the intent of figuring out what color the tarps over the hammocks should be; black or white; I found no tarps. The image shows the ship at various points in time pertinent to my depiction of her. Top to bottom they are, chronologically: Naples 1856 by deSimone (The painting my model is based on primarily) Naples 1856ish maybe by Roux - often misIDed as the Levant (I leveled and flipped the image to correspond to the others) Naples 1856ish another deSimone? Naples 1862 by deSimone Chesapeake 1871 earliest known photo In each of these images there are no coverings over the hammocks. In #3 and #4 she is underway, though in the harbor; in the other 3 she's at anchor. Interestingly, the hammocks lean different ways in the images (remember #2 is mirrored). I'm not aware of any other contemporary images of the ship other than an 1859 engraving where she's in dry-dock with nothing in the hammock rails, and an 1864 sketch, also in dry-dock. At any rate, I suspected the tarps were black and now I'm thinking I need to show uncovered rolled hammocks instead. PS: There is one more contemporary image that depicts the ship after 1871. There are no tarps, or even hammocks here.
  13. JerryTodd
    These hammock rails require a lot of work! Yesterday I added the mainsheet fairleads through them, and polyurethaned inside each compartment. I also extended the forward channels a bit. I made them too narrow years ago when I put them on, they're the right depth now. Today I added blocking to give the covers more glue surface and solidify the panels between the blocks. The first layer of balsa went on all around, capping off the hammock rails at last. And for kicks I sanded and polyed the deck again.
  14. JerryTodd
    So, I gave the deck a sanding and a coat of oil based poly. This reacted with the marker ink in the deck seams making them bleed a bit. It did give the deck a nice color though. When the poly dried I gave the inboard side a coat of white, including the waterways.
  15. JerryTodd
    Break time! All the hammock rails are installed, puttied, sanded, scribed, and even given a coat of paint.
  16. JerryTodd
    Still three weeks to water time Bob. I hope to get some very provocative poses then, and some video too. Today though, I plugged along on the hammock rails. I'm going ahead with closing up inboard and outboard sides, instead of leaving them open to paint inside. The uncut panels are clamped in place and marked inside. Then they're cut, trimmed, beveled, and glued in place. I put a coat of poly on the outside to harden the wood a little and scribed the vertical staving on. The port side is all together, trimmed, and scribed. There's some little gaps to close up, then I'll actually poly rather than paint the insides. Here the starboard outboard panel just got glued on.
  17. JerryTodd
    I've heard Lenthall took some pointers from the merchant ship builders who had been building world class ships for a decade by 1854. When Stad Amsterdam was in town I could almost see them side-by-side and see some of that clipper ship influence in Constellation. A couple more sexy poses for ye
  18. JerryTodd
    Continued on the hammock rails. Would have gotten more done, but I only have so many clamps that will work. All the lower panels are in, the inboard upper panels on the port side, and the outboard port side ones are fitted, ready to install.
  19. JerryTodd
    Kit-bashed is better said to use a kit as a base, using other kits parts, not kits parts etc..to make a model other than that the kit was meant to be. For instance, I could bash the Revell Arizona kit into the Arizona as she appeared in the photos when the pres was aboard; as she appeared when built with cage masts, etc; as she appeared on 12/7/41, even as she appears now, at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. All those kit-bashings are still making the kit's original subject, Arizona, but different versions that that kit does not allow for out-of-the-box.
  20. JerryTodd
    Next topic: "Museum Quality"
  21. JerryTodd
    Took off the clamps this morning. The tube is the guide that routes the fores'l sheet below. All this will get painted inside before I put on the outboard panel.
  22. JerryTodd
    I don't think I'll have grating figured out in time for her next sail at the N.S. Savannah on May 17th, so I made a temporary hatch cover for the main hatch yesterday, and today made choke to hold the boats. This is just so she'll look a little better on display. I began installing the covering boards on the hammock rails, starting with the lower ones first, inboard and outboard. Once these are set, I'll install the next panel up inboard. I need to put some blocking and brass tubing in where the through blocks for the fore and main sheets come through the bulwark. I'll also paint the insides before putting the outboard cover on. They look a bit like feed troughs with stalls for farm animals at the moment.
  23. JerryTodd
    Waterways and scuppers installed and all the bulwark blocks in place
  24. JerryTodd
    Ye know while you're melting all that plastic you could be making a Macedonian figurehead in 1:36 scale.
  25. JerryTodd
    The cap rail at the bow was installed: And I started making the blocks that will make the bulwarks. Here they're just sitting on the deck near where they'll be installed, and a sketch of how they work:

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