JerryTodd

The building board that Constellation had been attached to since 1999 and the Pride of Baltimore was built on, was showing it's age.  It had it chips and dings repaired, holes filled, was sanded, and given a couple of coats of flat white paint.  It was then marked with a center-line and lines for each of Macedonian's stations.

 
Each plywood form was attached to a strip of wood to allow it to be stood up and attached to the build board at it's station line.

 
It wasn't really clear to me how the stern came together based on the drawing, but studying several of the fully framed models here on MSW helped me figure it out, and how to deal with it in my particular, and peculiar construction method.  Forms were devised for the construction of the stern and the aft perpendicular form was discarded.
 
 
A keelson was cut from 1/4" plywood and corresponding notches were cut in each form to receive it.  It isn't glued or fastened to any of the forms as it will become part of the model where the forms will be removed.

 
The edge of the forms are taped to prevent the planking from being glued to them, and a batten was nailed to the lower diagonal to steady everything.  Planking then began with 1/8" x 3/8" pine strips starting at the sheer strake.  I used 3/8" common nails to hold things in place.  I used smaller nails on Pride of Baltimore that were almost like straight-pins, but these bent so easily they became quite frustrating.  The next strake was glued to the sheer strake, and pinned and clamped in place.  This, basically, is how all the planking was installed; each strake glued to it's predecessor and finally to the keelson, stem, sternpost, and counter forming a wooden shell of a hull.

 
 

Channels, Quarter Galleries, and Paint
 
The channels were made from pine and their shape, position, and size were taken from the 1888 spar deck plan, as will be many other deck details.  The Archives listed an 1854 spar deck plan, but it was, and still is, missing from their files.
 
 
It was time now to repaint.  Painting up to this point has only been  a quick job of spray painting, now I was going to finish the gun stripes properly, and get into some nooks and crannies.
 
 
 
 
I don't know what these things are called, the only name I've seen is "drops," so, I made them of sheet balsa laminated into blocks which also meant the quarter galleries were finally and permanently affixed to the hull with epoxy and the screw that had held them since their beginnings.  The insides of the quarter galleries had been thickly painted in resin some time ago, in case any moisture managed to get inside.
 
 
The gun stripe now went through the head as it should, and the masts and tops also got some fresh paint.

 
Course Yard Trusses
 
Constellation's course yards are attached to the lower mast via a set of iron trusses.  These are really quite impressive items that will be as important in the operation of the model as they undoubtedly were on the ship itself.  Unlike the trusses on the clipper ships and most modern square-riggers; Constellation's pivot out further from the mast where the more common type pivot at the mast and hold the yard off on a post.  This allows the yard to be braced further over and allow the ship to sail closer on the wind.  Constellation's truss design also allows the top masts to lower through them without having to disturb the yard in any fashion - something that will help me lower the rig on the model for transporting.
<= Stad Amsterdam  <= Constellation
 
It's very fortunate to have the actual ship available to reference, and that so many of her original fittings survived the attempt to make her into a frigate - these trusses for instance.  Using a photo of a truss on the ground and my own photos taken from on deck, and using the diameter of the masts for proportion, I designed a set for the model.

 
I ordered a sheet of 1/8" thick aluminum online and began cutting out my parts on a band-saw with the narrowest blade I could get.  I'm not really set-up for working with metals, but I trudged along.
 
 
Cutting out the parts was tough enough, making the bows made that seem easy.  The bow's center bulge was vertical and swelled to as much as a 1/4" while the ends were horizontal.  I opted to get this shape by heating and twisting the ends.  First I drilled them, then I heated them, then carefully twisted the ends 90°.  Most of them worked out very well, but a couple broke and had to be remade.  With some filing you can see they're twisted at all.
 
 
 
 
The remaining part to make were the clevis'.  This was made from some aluminum rod, drilled, slotted, tapped, and shaped with files to match the iron clevis' of the real thing.
 
 
Here's a shot taken a bit later showing the top mast lowered through the truss:

I'm a big fan of C. S. Forester's Hornblower stories and consider them to be far superior to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series.
 
I found Hornblower to be a much more rounded and believable character with his shyness and personal struggle with his self-perceived shortcomings compared to the two dimensional Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. I thought while reading O'Brian that he could have used elements of those two characters and combined them into one much more three dimensional, and more interesting, protagonist. I don't believe that O'Brian had the ability to do that and developed the two characters to make up for that shortcoming. I thought Stephen Maturin to be a more complete character than the cardboard cut-out that was "Lucky" Jack Aubrey.
 
After reading several of the Aubrey/Maturin novels I found each more formulaic than the preceding. In several, O'Brian takes the reader to the beginning of a sea battle then just skips ahead to the outcome. In others, I got the strong feeling that I had already read that battle even though it was my first reading of that particular book. It seemed to me that O'Brian couldn't come up with very many different ways for battles to proceed. My second reading of the series reinforced these first impressions.
 
Hornblower stories are set in a sound historical context. One of his exploits, his first as a post captain, involves him in a clandestine operation that partially brings about the chain of events leading to Nelson's victory at Trafalgar. He then is given the duty to organize and carry out Nelson's funeral procession on the Thames during which he prevents Nelson's funeral barge from sinking. Later, Hornblower gets caught in a serious dilemma after carrying out orders to secretly sail into the Pacific and aid a megalomaniac rebel overthrow Spanish rule. He captures the one Spanish ship in the region and turns it over to the madman, El Supremo, then learns that during his long voyage to the Pacific, Spain switched sides to become a British ally. He is forced to find and re-capture or destroy that ship. Later in the series, Hornblower is influential in Tsar Alexander I of Russia's decision to resist Napolean's advance into Russia and then assists in the defense against the siege of the city of Riga. The Hornblower stories are so solidly set in an historical context that the fictional "biography" of Hornblower by C. Northcote Parkinson has frequently been taken as the biography of a real Horatio Hornblower. C. S. Forester is also noted as a naval historian, particularly for The Naval War of 1812 (published as The Age of Fighting Sail in the US) and Hunting the Bismarck (adapted for the 1960 film Sink the Bismarck!) as well as his other historical fiction novels.
 
The first six books of the Aubrey/Maturin series covers the entire span of the Napoleonic Wars with reference to historical events in that time period, from 1800 up to 1 June 1813 with specific mention of the Shannon vs Chesapeake. The next twelve novels enter a fantasy period from June to November 1813 with a series of exploits that would require the passage of six or more years to occur. In The Yellow Admiral, the Duke of Wellington's invasion of France from Spain, which occurred in November 1813, is mentioned followed by Aubrey's exploits lasting several months and then the coming of Christmas 1813. The series then returns to an approximate, but distorted, context inside the scope of historical events. Patrick O'Brian readily admitted to these distortions and his creation of a fantasy time to accommodate his stories.
 
I'm not saying I don't enjoy Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, particularly the puns and fractured metaphors. I've read the entire series twice, but I found them to be just a substitute for the "real thing" so to speak, of Forester's Hornblower. Kind of like a heroine junkie getting by on methadone.
 
I enjoyed the movie "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," but if it was playing opposite "Captain Horatio Hornblower," (from a screenplay written by C. S. Forester) on TV I'd choose Hornblower in a heart beat.
 
Ernest Hemingway has been quoted as saying, "I recommend Forester to everyone literate I know." Winston Churchill stated, "I find Hornblower admirable."
 
I used the Wikipedia articles "Horatio Hornblower" and "Aubrey/Maturin Series" as references for the historical context portion of this monologue to supplement and verify my own memory of the respective series. The two quotes directly above are quoted in the Wikipedia Hornblower article.
 
Edited for typos. 

The building board that Constellation had been attached to since 1999 and the Pride of Baltimore was built on, was showing it's age.  It had it chips and dings repaired, holes filled, was sanded, and given a couple of coats of flat white paint.  It was then marked with a center-line and lines for each of Macedonian's stations.

 
Each plywood form was attached to a strip of wood to allow it to be stood up and attached to the build board at it's station line.

 
It wasn't really clear to me how the stern came together based on the drawing, but studying several of the fully framed models here on MSW helped me figure it out, and how to deal with it in my particular, and peculiar construction method.  Forms were devised for the construction of the stern and the aft perpendicular form was discarded.
 
 
A keelson was cut from 1/4" plywood and corresponding notches were cut in each form to receive it.  It isn't glued or fastened to any of the forms as it will become part of the model where the forms will be removed.

 
The edge of the forms are taped to prevent the planking from being glued to them, and a batten was nailed to the lower diagonal to steady everything.  Planking then began with 1/8" x 3/8" pine strips starting at the sheer strake.  I used 3/8" common nails to hold things in place.  I used smaller nails on Pride of Baltimore that were almost like straight-pins, but these bent so easily they became quite frustrating.  The next strake was glued to the sheer strake, and pinned and clamped in place.  This, basically, is how all the planking was installed; each strake glued to it's predecessor and finally to the keelson, stem, sternpost, and counter forming a wooden shell of a hull.

 
 

The building board that Constellation had been attached to since 1999 and the Pride of Baltimore was built on, was showing it's age.  It had it chips and dings repaired, holes filled, was sanded, and given a couple of coats of flat white paint.  It was then marked with a center-line and lines for each of Macedonian's stations.

 
Each plywood form was attached to a strip of wood to allow it to be stood up and attached to the build board at it's station line.

 
It wasn't really clear to me how the stern came together based on the drawing, but studying several of the fully framed models here on MSW helped me figure it out, and how to deal with it in my particular, and peculiar construction method.  Forms were devised for the construction of the stern and the aft perpendicular form was discarded.
 
 
A keelson was cut from 1/4" plywood and corresponding notches were cut in each form to receive it.  It isn't glued or fastened to any of the forms as it will become part of the model where the forms will be removed.

 
The edge of the forms are taped to prevent the planking from being glued to them, and a batten was nailed to the lower diagonal to steady everything.  Planking then began with 1/8" x 3/8" pine strips starting at the sheer strake.  I used 3/8" common nails to hold things in place.  I used smaller nails on Pride of Baltimore that were almost like straight-pins, but these bent so easily they became quite frustrating.  The next strake was glued to the sheer strake, and pinned and clamped in place.  This, basically, is how all the planking was installed; each strake glued to it's predecessor and finally to the keelson, stem, sternpost, and counter forming a wooden shell of a hull.

 
 

The lady I'm with comes from the land-locked country of Oklahoma, and doesn't really get things maritime.  I did have to take up square-dancing though, but then those are the sacrifices we make for our hobby.
 
I wanted to do the Baltimore Clipper in 1:36, but there just wasn't enough room in the hull for the controls, or much else, so I went with 1:20 scale, which makes the overall model about the same size as Constellation and Macedonian.  This is about as large a model as will fit in a van or SUV with the rig lowered, though I hope to eventually make a trailer for them so I can keep them fully rigged in transport.

I first set foot on board the Constitution when I was 7 years old, and I was hooked on sailing ships ever since.  My elementary school library had C S Forester's The Captain From Connecticut which I loved and led me to Forester's other work, namely Hornblower.  In fact, the 16 foot daysailer I've had since 1979 is named Lydia.  I spent my teens and twenties working under sail and power, from barkentines to tugs.
 
I've built several of the 1:96 scale Constitution/United States Revell kits, two of them were RCed; but I always wanted a sailing model of the ubiquitous British frigate, and no one made that kit.
 
I finally decided to build one.  Already deep into building an 1850's American sloop-of-war, and with a Baltimore Clipper schooner already planked up, I began a third model of the HMS Macedonian.  I chose Macedonian because I could easily get Chapelle's drawing of her from The American Sailing Navy from the Smithsonian, and she was interesting.
 
  Macedonian by Gardner
 
Macedonian was a Lively class frigate rated at 38 guns, another of Sir William Rule's designs.  Launched in 1810, during the War of 1812 she had the misfortune to meet the American frigate United States, a Constitution class 44 and was captured.  She was taken into the American Navy and served until 1828 when she was broken up and replaced by a new ship.
 
Lively     Bacchante
 
The story of Macedonian is well told in  Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian, 1809-1922 by James T deKay  and I've posted a fair history of the ship on my page

 
There's lots of data available on how the British built and out-fitted their frigates, and even Macedonian's figurehead still exists, but I never have found any reliable information on what her stern looked like.

 
What I've come up with is my own conjecture based on the sterns of other Lively class frigates.  The mounted figure is from a statue of Alexander that existed when Macedonian was built.  The round object is the "Vergina Sun" found at ancient Macedonian sites and dating from the time of Alexander's father.  Symbology available when Macedonian was built and while this is my own guess, it's at least a logical guess.  I considered using Alexander's profile from a coin in place of the mounted figure, but his face is already on the bow - given the choice, I'd think an English builder would choose the horse. 

 
When the drawings came in from the Smithsonian, the first thing I did was have them digitally scanned.  I then rescaled them from 1:48 up to 1:36 mostly so this model would be the same scale as my Constellation.  That done, I made up a sheet with each station drawn full-sized, and printed that on my plotter.

 
At this scale, the model should be;
Length: 59" taffrail to Alexander's nose
Beam molded: 13.3"
Draught: 6.87" without the removable ballast keel
Her length over the rig will be about 7'
and she will stand from keel to truck, about 4'.
(I'll update this with more accurate numbers and metric equivalents at a later date)

 
These paper patterns were used to rough cut the wooden stations from 3/8" plywood.  Each paper pattern was then glued onto it's station
 
 
close cut on the bandsaw, and then fined up on the beltsander where some bevel was put into the forward and after stations.
 
 

The lady I'm with comes from the land-locked country of Oklahoma, and doesn't really get things maritime.  I did have to take up square-dancing though, but then those are the sacrifices we make for our hobby.
 
I wanted to do the Baltimore Clipper in 1:36, but there just wasn't enough room in the hull for the controls, or much else, so I went with 1:20 scale, which makes the overall model about the same size as Constellation and Macedonian.  This is about as large a model as will fit in a van or SUV with the rig lowered, though I hope to eventually make a trailer for them so I can keep them fully rigged in transport.

I first set foot on board the Constitution when I was 7 years old, and I was hooked on sailing ships ever since.  My elementary school library had C S Forester's The Captain From Connecticut which I loved and led me to Forester's other work, namely Hornblower.  In fact, the 16 foot daysailer I've had since 1979 is named Lydia.  I spent my teens and twenties working under sail and power, from barkentines to tugs.
 
I've built several of the 1:96 scale Constitution/United States Revell kits, two of them were RCed; but I always wanted a sailing model of the ubiquitous British frigate, and no one made that kit.
 
I finally decided to build one.  Already deep into building an 1850's American sloop-of-war, and with a Baltimore Clipper schooner already planked up, I began a third model of the HMS Macedonian.  I chose Macedonian because I could easily get Chapelle's drawing of her from The American Sailing Navy from the Smithsonian, and she was interesting.
 
  Macedonian by Gardner
 
Macedonian was a Lively class frigate rated at 38 guns, another of Sir William Rule's designs.  Launched in 1810, during the War of 1812 she had the misfortune to meet the American frigate United States, a Constitution class 44 and was captured.  She was taken into the American Navy and served until 1828 when she was broken up and replaced by a new ship.
 
Lively     Bacchante
 
The story of Macedonian is well told in  Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian, 1809-1922 by James T deKay  and I've posted a fair history of the ship on my page

 
There's lots of data available on how the British built and out-fitted their frigates, and even Macedonian's figurehead still exists, but I never have found any reliable information on what her stern looked like.

 
What I've come up with is my own conjecture based on the sterns of other Lively class frigates.  The mounted figure is from a statue of Alexander that existed when Macedonian was built.  The round object is the "Vergina Sun" found at ancient Macedonian sites and dating from the time of Alexander's father.  Symbology available when Macedonian was built and while this is my own guess, it's at least a logical guess.  I considered using Alexander's profile from a coin in place of the mounted figure, but his face is already on the bow - given the choice, I'd think an English builder would choose the horse. 

 
When the drawings came in from the Smithsonian, the first thing I did was have them digitally scanned.  I then rescaled them from 1:48 up to 1:36 mostly so this model would be the same scale as my Constellation.  That done, I made up a sheet with each station drawn full-sized, and printed that on my plotter.

 
At this scale, the model should be;
Length: 59" taffrail to Alexander's nose
Beam molded: 13.3"
Draught: 6.87" without the removable ballast keel
Her length over the rig will be about 7'
and she will stand from keel to truck, about 4'.
(I'll update this with more accurate numbers and metric equivalents at a later date)

 
These paper patterns were used to rough cut the wooden stations from 3/8" plywood.  Each paper pattern was then glued onto it's station
 
 
close cut on the bandsaw, and then fined up on the beltsander where some bevel was put into the forward and after stations.
 
 

I'm using brass rod for the topmast fids, but I drilled and inserted some brass tube into the topmast heel to strengthen the fid hole.  Metal plate will be put on the bearing surface of the trestle-trees.
 
 
 
 
The caps I made were just rough outs, so I made a new set from laminated aircraft plywood and one of oak for the bowsprit.
 
 
 
 
The caps got some eyes installed, and the tops got blocks for the heads of the trys'l masts, then everything got painted.
 
 
The bowsprit started with a bit of research.  The paintings of the ship in 1856 and 1862, the earliest known photo from 1871, and the rigging documentation of the period all agreed closely enough.  I basically used "Plate 51" from Luce's Textbook of Seamanship 1891 edition along with the 1871 photo as my guide's.
   
 
The heel block for the jib-boom and the bees got things started.  The heel block is notched into the bowsprit, glued, and pinned - I think it'll stay there.  The jib-boom was notched to fit

 
The cap was banded with some of the copper tape used on the hull's bottom, and some eyes.  It also got some copper strap glued and pinned to take the notched heel of the flying jib-boom.

 
A "wythe" was made from copper and it was glued and bolted to the shouldered end of the jib-boom.  The flying jib-boom slides out through this and steps into the strap on the cap.

 
Banding for the bob-stay chains, fore-stay, and the heel strap for the jib-boom were all made with copper sheet.  The heel strap is also bolted through the heel-block.  The forestay bands are anchored with a copper nail under the bees and wrap under the bowsprit and through the bee on the other side.  The holes in the bees for the t'gallant fore-stay are sheaved with 6mm brass sheaves.
 
 
The bees were permanently attached with 4p finish nails as pins, brass nails through the t'gallant fore-stay sheaves, and glue, of course.  A set of spreaders and a dolphin-striker were made from maple, fitted with hooks, and everything was painted and stained.
 
 
 

I first set foot on board the Constitution when I was 7 years old, and I was hooked on sailing ships ever since.  My elementary school library had C S Forester's The Captain From Connecticut which I loved and led me to Forester's other work, namely Hornblower.  In fact, the 16 foot daysailer I've had since 1979 is named Lydia.  I spent my teens and twenties working under sail and power, from barkentines to tugs.
 
I've built several of the 1:96 scale Constitution/United States Revell kits, two of them were RCed; but I always wanted a sailing model of the ubiquitous British frigate, and no one made that kit.
 
I finally decided to build one.  Already deep into building an 1850's American sloop-of-war, and with a Baltimore Clipper schooner already planked up, I began a third model of the HMS Macedonian.  I chose Macedonian because I could easily get Chapelle's drawing of her from The American Sailing Navy from the Smithsonian, and she was interesting.
 
  Macedonian by Gardner
 
Macedonian was a Lively class frigate rated at 38 guns, another of Sir William Rule's designs.  Launched in 1810, during the War of 1812 she had the misfortune to meet the American frigate United States, a Constitution class 44 and was captured.  She was taken into the American Navy and served until 1828 when she was broken up and replaced by a new ship.
 
Lively     Bacchante
 
The story of Macedonian is well told in  Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian, 1809-1922 by James T deKay  and I've posted a fair history of the ship on my page

 
There's lots of data available on how the British built and out-fitted their frigates, and even Macedonian's figurehead still exists, but I never have found any reliable information on what her stern looked like.

 
What I've come up with is my own conjecture based on the sterns of other Lively class frigates.  The mounted figure is from a statue of Alexander that existed when Macedonian was built.  The round object is the "Vergina Sun" found at ancient Macedonian sites and dating from the time of Alexander's father.  Symbology available when Macedonian was built and while this is my own guess, it's at least a logical guess.  I considered using Alexander's profile from a coin in place of the mounted figure, but his face is already on the bow - given the choice, I'd think an English builder would choose the horse. 

 
When the drawings came in from the Smithsonian, the first thing I did was have them digitally scanned.  I then rescaled them from 1:48 up to 1:36 mostly so this model would be the same scale as my Constellation.  That done, I made up a sheet with each station drawn full-sized, and printed that on my plotter.

 
At this scale, the model should be;
Length: 59" taffrail to Alexander's nose
Beam molded: 13.3"
Draught: 6.87" without the removable ballast keel
Her length over the rig will be about 7'
and she will stand from keel to truck, about 4'.
(I'll update this with more accurate numbers and metric equivalents at a later date)

 
These paper patterns were used to rough cut the wooden stations from 3/8" plywood.  Each paper pattern was then glued onto it's station
 
 
close cut on the bandsaw, and then fined up on the beltsander where some bevel was put into the forward and after stations.
 
 

I'm using brass rod for the topmast fids, but I drilled and inserted some brass tube into the topmast heel to strengthen the fid hole.  Metal plate will be put on the bearing surface of the trestle-trees.
 
 
 
 
The caps I made were just rough outs, so I made a new set from laminated aircraft plywood and one of oak for the bowsprit.
 
 
 
 
The caps got some eyes installed, and the tops got blocks for the heads of the trys'l masts, then everything got painted.
 
 
The bowsprit started with a bit of research.  The paintings of the ship in 1856 and 1862, the earliest known photo from 1871, and the rigging documentation of the period all agreed closely enough.  I basically used "Plate 51" from Luce's Textbook of Seamanship 1891 edition along with the 1871 photo as my guide's.
   
 
The heel block for the jib-boom and the bees got things started.  The heel block is notched into the bowsprit, glued, and pinned - I think it'll stay there.  The jib-boom was notched to fit

 
The cap was banded with some of the copper tape used on the hull's bottom, and some eyes.  It also got some copper strap glued and pinned to take the notched heel of the flying jib-boom.

 
A "wythe" was made from copper and it was glued and bolted to the shouldered end of the jib-boom.  The flying jib-boom slides out through this and steps into the strap on the cap.

 
Banding for the bob-stay chains, fore-stay, and the heel strap for the jib-boom were all made with copper sheet.  The heel strap is also bolted through the heel-block.  The forestay bands are anchored with a copper nail under the bees and wrap under the bowsprit and through the bee on the other side.  The holes in the bees for the t'gallant fore-stay are sheaved with 6mm brass sheaves.
 
 
The bees were permanently attached with 4p finish nails as pins, brass nails through the t'gallant fore-stay sheaves, and glue, of course.  A set of spreaders and a dolphin-striker were made from maple, fitted with hooks, and everything was painted and stained.
 
 
 

After completing the copper on one side of the hull, I took a break in the form of making the mast tops.
 
As with much of this vessel, I had to figure out what would be right for the ship as she was when new.  I looked at the restored vessel, but I've already found things they've done that weren't right for the period they say she's representing, and I would find the tops were no exception.  While they appeared from below to match the standard practice of the day...
 
 
From above they did not. 
Standard practice called for "sleepers" that sandwiched the very thin and light platform between them and the cross-trees and trestle-trees below, as can barely be seen in a 1914 photo of the maintop (left) and which are absent in the image of the restored ship (right):
 
 
I had made the cross-trees and trestle-trees back before I fiber-glassed the hull and had worked out the proper size of each of the tops from rule-of-thump combined with proportions derived from photos of the ship like the one above.  Now it was time to make the platform.
 
The platform of the top is basically a rim under which is laid the decking of the platform, you're seeing the underside in these photos.  I built mine up, then trimmed the inside edge to shape.  I laid the decking with slight gaps between them as seen in the oldest photos of the ship.
 
 
The decking was trimmed back just inside the finished edge of the top...
 
 
Another rim was bent around the edge of the decking under the top-rim that basically covers the end-grain of the decking.  The untrimmed excess of the top-rim gave my cloth-pins something to hold on too as they clamped this piece in place.  Once set, the platform was trimmed to it's final shape, the hole for the yard sling made,  and the sleepers and compression cleats added.
 
 
 
 
After painting, the platform was screwed to the cross-trees with countersunk brass screws, they were not glued.

 
 
Next: The Bowsprit

Brace Winches
 
The winch drums were cut from pine planed down to 1/8 inch thick.  Each pair of drums was the diameter determined for it's yard and each had a slot cut in it so the brace could be threaded and knoted inside the drum.  Each drum was separated by a flange made from compact discs, CDs.
 

When the drum was assembled, a 1 inch hole was bored in it's center, and a servo horn was mounted at the bottom of the assembly.  The forward drum (right) is the main & mizzen mast winch; from the bottom up, in pairs, are the main-corse, crossjack, and main-tops'l.  The aft drum is the foremast winch with the fore-corse and fore-tops'l braces.
 
 
To the right top of the winches in the photo you can see some silver colored cylinders; those are the springs that will maintain tension on the braces.  There are 5 on each side.  The large servo at the right of the photo will control the fore-n-aft sails; heads'ls, spanker, etc.
 
Steering
 
The rudder head is very close the to stern of the ship, just as the real one is; so I don't have the space to mount a T type servo arm with hard push-pull linkages to steer the model.  Instead, I mounted a tiller on the rudder and will mount beams with blocks to route the tiller rope to the steering servo; a high-torque, metal geared type.  In the images you'll see some cup-hooks in wood blocks hot-glued to the hull to test the theory.  Beams will be epoxied in place and the tiller rope guides will be mounted on them, that way it won't pull off the the hull.
 
 
With the servo hard-a-port, and hard-a-starboard.
 

I'm using brass rod for the topmast fids, but I drilled and inserted some brass tube into the topmast heel to strengthen the fid hole.  Metal plate will be put on the bearing surface of the trestle-trees.
 
 
 
 
The caps I made were just rough outs, so I made a new set from laminated aircraft plywood and one of oak for the bowsprit.
 
 
 
 
The caps got some eyes installed, and the tops got blocks for the heads of the trys'l masts, then everything got painted.
 
 
The bowsprit started with a bit of research.  The paintings of the ship in 1856 and 1862, the earliest known photo from 1871, and the rigging documentation of the period all agreed closely enough.  I basically used "Plate 51" from Luce's Textbook of Seamanship 1891 edition along with the 1871 photo as my guide's.
   
 
The heel block for the jib-boom and the bees got things started.  The heel block is notched into the bowsprit, glued, and pinned - I think it'll stay there.  The jib-boom was notched to fit

 
The cap was banded with some of the copper tape used on the hull's bottom, and some eyes.  It also got some copper strap glued and pinned to take the notched heel of the flying jib-boom.

 
A "wythe" was made from copper and it was glued and bolted to the shouldered end of the jib-boom.  The flying jib-boom slides out through this and steps into the strap on the cap.

 
Banding for the bob-stay chains, fore-stay, and the heel strap for the jib-boom were all made with copper sheet.  The heel strap is also bolted through the heel-block.  The forestay bands are anchored with a copper nail under the bees and wrap under the bowsprit and through the bee on the other side.  The holes in the bees for the t'gallant fore-stay are sheaved with 6mm brass sheaves.
 
 
The bees were permanently attached with 4p finish nails as pins, brass nails through the t'gallant fore-stay sheaves, and glue, of course.  A set of spreaders and a dolphin-striker were made from maple, fitted with hooks, and everything was painted and stained.
 
 
 

After completing the copper on one side of the hull, I took a break in the form of making the mast tops.
 
As with much of this vessel, I had to figure out what would be right for the ship as she was when new.  I looked at the restored vessel, but I've already found things they've done that weren't right for the period they say she's representing, and I would find the tops were no exception.  While they appeared from below to match the standard practice of the day...
 
 
From above they did not. 
Standard practice called for "sleepers" that sandwiched the very thin and light platform between them and the cross-trees and trestle-trees below, as can barely be seen in a 1914 photo of the maintop (left) and which are absent in the image of the restored ship (right):
 
 
I had made the cross-trees and trestle-trees back before I fiber-glassed the hull and had worked out the proper size of each of the tops from rule-of-thump combined with proportions derived from photos of the ship like the one above.  Now it was time to make the platform.
 
The platform of the top is basically a rim under which is laid the decking of the platform, you're seeing the underside in these photos.  I built mine up, then trimmed the inside edge to shape.  I laid the decking with slight gaps between them as seen in the oldest photos of the ship.
 
 
The decking was trimmed back just inside the finished edge of the top...
 
 
Another rim was bent around the edge of the decking under the top-rim that basically covers the end-grain of the decking.  The untrimmed excess of the top-rim gave my cloth-pins something to hold on too as they clamped this piece in place.  Once set, the platform was trimmed to it's final shape, the hole for the yard sling made,  and the sleepers and compression cleats added.
 
 
 
 
After painting, the platform was screwed to the cross-trees with countersunk brass screws, they were not glued.

 
 
Next: The Bowsprit

Paint!
 
Painting the hull was more of a primer job than a finished surface.  I had sprayed some Krylon black and some copper on the hull a while back to see how it held up to handling; that's what appears like a scorch mark on the hull during the float test.
 
I sanded the hull and washed it with dish-washing detergent, then wiped it down with degreaser.  I masked off the white stripe and sprayed it with flat white then, when it had set, masked over the stripe leaving the gunports uncovered, and masked the waterline about 1/2 and inch above the LWL - this is the top of the copper.  The hull was then sprayed flat black.
 
 
The bottom was sprayed with the copper

 
and the quarter galleries were painted to match

 
As I said, this wasn't meant to be a great paint job, but more of a primer coat, and she was looking a bit like a log to me.  I painted the bottom copper with the idea that if any of the tape came off, it would expose the copper color, as opposed to black or white.
 
From a log to a copper bottomed pot
 
I got three rolls of the 1/2" wide copper tape.  I calculated it would take two rolls to do the hull and got the third roll to be safe.  I did wind up going a few inches into the third roll.
The tape came from The Tape Depot and has an acrylic adhesive; just peel the paper off and stick it on.  I don't recall now, but I think I got the "conductive" version.

 
I made a pair of stamps from some sheet aluminum (one for port side plates, the other for starboard side plates), using a nail to create the protrusions.  This was attached to a block of pine and pressed into the face of the tape against an eraser.
Coppering is attached to the hull with nails that have countersunk heads, like a wood screw, into pre-punched holes.  The effect is NOT the riveted appearance most modeler's apply, but more the opposite.  The dents made in the copper are push back out when it's pressed onto the hull and gives more of a countersunk nail appearance.  I pre-made 20 or 30 plates at a time, then began applying them.
 
 
 
 
I began applying them from the keel at the rudder post, upward, and forward so each plate overlapped the ones below it and behind it about 1mm, like scales.  Each plate was burnish with an eraser.  I also used my finger, but wound up with a lot of little cuts from the edge of the tape.
 
 

 
Examining photos of the ship in drydock at various points in her life, where I could see, it seemed she wasn't coppered in any specific pattern, but simply from the keel up and finished with a girdling belt at the waterline.  That's the pattern I went with.
 
 
The rudder was coppered as well, and when both sides were done, the keel got plated and the hull was complete.
 
 
I'm pretty pleased with the effect of the coppering.  At this scale I couldn't just ignore the nail marks, but I didn't want that ridiculous round headed rivet effect I see on models so often.  I never actually counted them, but I imagine there's some 2400 plates on the hull, counting the rudder.
 
After one side was done, I, and my fingers, needed a break from all the peel, stick, and rubbing - so I took a break by working on
 
The Mast Tops

By-the-way, in that 1859 drawing of Constellation in drydock, I have no idea what those round objects are between the stern ports.  I'll wager your first guess is port lights, but they are drawn 3-dimentional and the port side ones are shaped all wrong if they were ports.  If fact, if they are protruding, then they appear to be pointed out-board from where they are; if they are inset, then they appear to be pointed directly aft.
 
They also appear to be connected by a cross-bar with a vertical bar running through it, right where the boat davits are - which were iron and slightly curved, but I believe pivoted up and down on an upright bar that allowed it to also swing from side to side.  I thought maybe these were some sort of fender to keep the boat from banging against the stern, but the boat would still hit at the center of the stern on the medallion?  But they appear to be just that in the photo taken in the 1880's.
 
So, what are they?
 
 
 
I'm simply going to leave them off for now.  If I can determine what they are for sure, I can add them at any time.

By Constellation's time, the split gunport was in common use, with a hole in the center to grasp the muzzle of the gun which poked through a short way and had a tampion in it.
I decided not to model the gundeck to keep things simple and a bit more water resistant.
 
I cut out each gunport, but only the outer glass and the resin/wood batten layer, leaving the mat layer inside. 

 
 
 
After a few tries, I managed to make a form that I was ok with and pressed it into some clay.  This became a mold to make 20 lids with muzzles and 10 plain lids without muzzle holes.  There would be three plain lids on each side and 4 on the stern.  The stern lids would be cut and mounted in the open position later.
 
 
Each lid was set in it's port with epoxy thickened with fine sawdust to act as a filler as well as a glue.

 
 
 
I decided I was actually going to copper the bottom, and order a couple of rolls of peel-n-stick copper tape from The Tape Depot.  That tape came in and I realized it was time to...
 
Paint!

Constellation's head was always enclosed and from her launch till the 1880's she had a white stripe painted straight through the head, except maybe for a short time during her Mediterranean cruise during the Civil War when it's mentioned that she was painted all black for a short time.  The model, will, of course, have an enclosed head and carvings, painted as she was in 1856.
The detail of the carvings are beautiful and it's hard to imagine they were painted through the first 25 years of her life - Beyond the fiddle-head, I wonder why they put carvings on her trail boards at all.
 
  When the ship first returned from restoration, her bow carvings, all original to the ship, were done up in gold leaf.
 
  The ship is allegedly supposed to appear as she did during the Civil War, so the gun strip was painted through the head.
 
There is, up here, a head; the "seats-of-ease" as it were, with a chute on either side of the bow to take the waste down to the waterline.  This set-up was on the ship right until she came to Baltimore in the mid 1950's to be "restored" as a frigate.
 
 
 
Replicating these carvings on the model is going to be quite the challenge.  I tried using Sculpty clay and it could probably be done, but I wasn't getting anywhere with it.  Someone suggested gluing string and cord to a trail board and painting it thickly. This didn't work out either.
 
 
 
 
What I'd like to do is have a set photo-etched, in two layers on each side to get the detail.  Further detail can be scribed and filed in, or added with Sculpty.  We'll see where this ends up someday.
 
As for enclosing the head on the model, I first had to figure out how it was done on the real ship.  There's surprisingly little information on the actual structure of this enclosure beyond it's being simple "old-style" head rails wainscoted over.  So, this is the approach I took...
 

 
Using pine, I made a keel, of sorts, on top of the head knee, to catch the ends of the stanchions, or ribs.  There are 5 ribs on the ship now, one of which is attached to the hull planking.  The upper rails are just sheet bass scribed to represent wainscoting.  The ribs are planked in straight runs on the restored ship, so I followed suite with more sheet bass.  It all got a very thin coat of water-putty, and then a wash of diluted white glue to help seal everything up.
 
 
 
 

 
Next up: The Stern

Now, we move aft...
 
I only have one image of the stern of the ship that was done when she was in Boston for a refit in 1859, that shows how the stern appeared.  It is really nothing like any image of her afterward in that the upper curved moldings disappear.  Another painting of the ship at Naples in 1856 shows the stern somewhat, but I've never found a clearer image, nor one in color, where I could actually make out any detail other than the white stripe doesn't wrap around the stern.
 
 
With that little ammunition in hand, I wrapped some paper around the stern and marked where things were; the backs of the quarter galleries, the bottom of the stern, the stern ports, etc, etc.  Removing the paper, I connected the marks and basically drew the stern's details on the flat sheet.  This I scanned so I could work on it in the computer; adding moldings, the medallions, and other details.
 
 
Printing this and cutting it out, I used it to mark where everything went on the model itself.
I used an old utility knife blade to make a molding scraper

 
and proceeded to apply moldings with epoxy.
 

 
The quarter galleries also got a dose of detailing, in the form of posts and window mullions.

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

Now, we move aft...
 
I only have one image of the stern of the ship that was done when she was in Boston for a refit in 1859, that shows how the stern appeared.  It is really nothing like any image of her afterward in that the upper curved moldings disappear.  Another painting of the ship at Naples in 1856 shows the stern somewhat, but I've never found a clearer image, nor one in color, where I could actually make out any detail other than the white stripe doesn't wrap around the stern.
 
 
With that little ammunition in hand, I wrapped some paper around the stern and marked where things were; the backs of the quarter galleries, the bottom of the stern, the stern ports, etc, etc.  Removing the paper, I connected the marks and basically drew the stern's details on the flat sheet.  This I scanned so I could work on it in the computer; adding moldings, the medallions, and other details.
 
 
Printing this and cutting it out, I used it to mark where everything went on the model itself.
I used an old utility knife blade to make a molding scraper

 
and proceeded to apply moldings with epoxy.
 

 
The quarter galleries also got a dose of detailing, in the form of posts and window mullions.

Constellation's head was always enclosed and from her launch till the 1880's she had a white stripe painted straight through the head, except maybe for a short time during her Mediterranean cruise during the Civil War when it's mentioned that she was painted all black for a short time.  The model, will, of course, have an enclosed head and carvings, painted as she was in 1856.
The detail of the carvings are beautiful and it's hard to imagine they were painted through the first 25 years of her life - Beyond the fiddle-head, I wonder why they put carvings on her trail boards at all.
 
  When the ship first returned from restoration, her bow carvings, all original to the ship, were done up in gold leaf.
 
  The ship is allegedly supposed to appear as she did during the Civil War, so the gun strip was painted through the head.
 
There is, up here, a head; the "seats-of-ease" as it were, with a chute on either side of the bow to take the waste down to the waterline.  This set-up was on the ship right until she came to Baltimore in the mid 1950's to be "restored" as a frigate.
 
 
 
Replicating these carvings on the model is going to be quite the challenge.  I tried using Sculpty clay and it could probably be done, but I wasn't getting anywhere with it.  Someone suggested gluing string and cord to a trail board and painting it thickly. This didn't work out either.
 
 
 
 
What I'd like to do is have a set photo-etched, in two layers on each side to get the detail.  Further detail can be scribed and filed in, or added with Sculpty.  We'll see where this ends up someday.
 
As for enclosing the head on the model, I first had to figure out how it was done on the real ship.  There's surprisingly little information on the actual structure of this enclosure beyond it's being simple "old-style" head rails wainscoted over.  So, this is the approach I took...
 

 
Using pine, I made a keel, of sorts, on top of the head knee, to catch the ends of the stanchions, or ribs.  There are 5 ribs on the ship now, one of which is attached to the hull planking.  The upper rails are just sheet bass scribed to represent wainscoting.  The ribs are planked in straight runs on the restored ship, so I followed suite with more sheet bass.  It all got a very thin coat of water-putty, and then a wash of diluted white glue to help seal everything up.
 
 
 
 

 
Next up: The Stern