JerryTodd

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.
 

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

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 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!

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.

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

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.

That's just the stock servo Bob, I hadn't gotten that far along in the design for handling the heads'ls.  On my Pride of Baltimore I have two heads'ls, an overlapping fores'l, running backstays, and running main fore stays to handle - if I can figure out a way to deal with all that - every other model will be a walk in the park.
 
I've got a couple of ideas in mind that I need to mock up and test - the one I'm hoping will work will use a large cross-arm on the servo and also slack the sheet before pulling it across.  I'd rather not use a winch if I can stay away from it.
 
I haven't gotten to it yet, but the tensioning system for the braces is being changed as well; to a setup where the winch servo itself slides fore-n-aft against springs instead of the brace being pulled against a spring.

The next step was the removable ballast keel...
 
The ballast would attach to the hull by means of two stainless steel threaded rods that would run through a pair of tubes from the spar deck, through the keel.
The forward rod would be disguised with the galley stack, the after one hidden by the skylight that was part of the model's battery hatch made up of the skylight, companionway hatches, and the capstan.
 
 
Initially I wanted to cast a flat lead bar about 3/4" thick that would bolt onto the keel and weight about 50 pounds,  I made a wood mockup but I've never casted that much lead before, so I opted to fill a 2" PVC pipe with lead shot that weights in at about 42 pounds.
 

 
The model will still require some internal ballast, which will be in the form of lead filled "bean-bags" that will attach with Velcro tabs, like the battery.  Then it can be moved to trim the model as needed. 

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.
 

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.
 

The next step was the removable ballast keel...
 
The ballast would attach to the hull by means of two stainless steel threaded rods that would run through a pair of tubes from the spar deck, through the keel.
The forward rod would be disguised with the galley stack, the after one hidden by the skylight that was part of the model's battery hatch made up of the skylight, companionway hatches, and the capstan.
 
 
Initially I wanted to cast a flat lead bar about 3/4" thick that would bolt onto the keel and weight about 50 pounds,  I made a wood mockup but I've never casted that much lead before, so I opted to fill a 2" PVC pipe with lead shot that weights in at about 42 pounds.
 

 
The model will still require some internal ballast, which will be in the form of lead filled "bean-bags" that will attach with Velcro tabs, like the battery.  Then it can be moved to trim the model as needed. 

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

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.
 

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.
 

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

Setting up a model square rigger to actually sail by remote control isn't especially difficult, unless you're trying to maintain a scale appearance - then it becomes a challenge.
 
There's two major geometry issues to deal with; the yard braces, and any sails that overlap each other or a stay, such as the heads'ls.
 
The usual way of dealing with bracing the yards is to put the widest set of arms on the brace control servo that will fit in the hull.  The braces are run up to the yards and attached the same distance out from the center line on the yard as they are out from the center of the servo arm.  This basically forms a parallelogram where everything moves evenly.  The problem is, this isn't how the braces run on a real ship; they are run out almost at the end of the yard, out-board of the side of the hull.
 
The best way to deal with this is to use a winch on a servo designed to rotate multiple times, a winch servo.  I intend to directly control the braces for the fore and main course yards, the crossjack, and the fore and main tops'l yards.  The other yards will be pulled along by the sails below them.  I also intend to control the fore mast braces separately from the main and mizzen masts so I can back the fore when tacking ship.
<=- The braces will be controlled by the left stick on the radio transmitter.
 
This means I need two winch drums for each controlled yard for a total of 4 for the foremast and 6 for the main and mizzen.  The problem is, again, geometry.  The fore course yard is longer than the fore tops'l yard (measuring between the points where the braces attach.  The winch rotates 3.5 times.  If the drum were the same size for each yard the braces would be pulled more for the shorter yards than for the longer ones - I want them all to come around evenly together.

 
The simple answer is different sized drums for each yard, but nothing is ever simple.  When the yards are squared across the hull, the braces are at their tightest.  As the yard is pulled to one side, the opposite brace is fed off the winch at the same rate and goes slack.  Bracing the other way the braces both go taught as the yard squares, then the paying out brace goes slack.
Slack lines on a remotely controlled model are not good.  They tend to snag and catch on things, and the brace paying out could actually run off the drum and tangle.  To deal with this I intended to run each brace through a block (pulley) on a spring that would keep tension on each brace all the time.  Initially I also planned to put some bungee else where in the circuit to be sure, but in the end I felt only the springs were needed.

 
The winches would be mounted on a pallet that would fasten to the mechanical deck in the model, so the entire control system could be removed as a unit if required.  They would also be offset vetically so they wouldn't interfere with each other.


 
More on braces and rudder control next:

Setting up a model square rigger to actually sail by remote control isn't especially difficult, unless you're trying to maintain a scale appearance - then it becomes a challenge.
 
There's two major geometry issues to deal with; the yard braces, and any sails that overlap each other or a stay, such as the heads'ls.
 
The usual way of dealing with bracing the yards is to put the widest set of arms on the brace control servo that will fit in the hull.  The braces are run up to the yards and attached the same distance out from the center line on the yard as they are out from the center of the servo arm.  This basically forms a parallelogram where everything moves evenly.  The problem is, this isn't how the braces run on a real ship; they are run out almost at the end of the yard, out-board of the side of the hull.
 
The best way to deal with this is to use a winch on a servo designed to rotate multiple times, a winch servo.  I intend to directly control the braces for the fore and main course yards, the crossjack, and the fore and main tops'l yards.  The other yards will be pulled along by the sails below them.  I also intend to control the fore mast braces separately from the main and mizzen masts so I can back the fore when tacking ship.
<=- The braces will be controlled by the left stick on the radio transmitter.
 
This means I need two winch drums for each controlled yard for a total of 4 for the foremast and 6 for the main and mizzen.  The problem is, again, geometry.  The fore course yard is longer than the fore tops'l yard (measuring between the points where the braces attach.  The winch rotates 3.5 times.  If the drum were the same size for each yard the braces would be pulled more for the shorter yards than for the longer ones - I want them all to come around evenly together.

 
The simple answer is different sized drums for each yard, but nothing is ever simple.  When the yards are squared across the hull, the braces are at their tightest.  As the yard is pulled to one side, the opposite brace is fed off the winch at the same rate and goes slack.  Bracing the other way the braces both go taught as the yard squares, then the paying out brace goes slack.
Slack lines on a remotely controlled model are not good.  They tend to snag and catch on things, and the brace paying out could actually run off the drum and tangle.  To deal with this I intended to run each brace through a block (pulley) on a spring that would keep tension on each brace all the time.  Initially I also planned to put some bungee else where in the circuit to be sure, but in the end I felt only the springs were needed.

 
The winches would be mounted on a pallet that would fasten to the mechanical deck in the model, so the entire control system could be removed as a unit if required.  They would also be offset vetically so they wouldn't interfere with each other.


 
More on braces and rudder control next:

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

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

as you requested

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

A couple of simple changes but here are the revised pics. I am hoping it is right but if not it is easy to change right now. Once the anchor cable is rigged rightly I'll work the rope and give it a little gravitational effect.
 
From here...it's back to the never ending canons and a try at the tackle hooks and blocks.
 
 
 

The next step was the removable ballast keel...
 
The ballast would attach to the hull by means of two stainless steel threaded rods that would run through a pair of tubes from the spar deck, through the keel.
The forward rod would be disguised with the galley stack, the after one hidden by the skylight that was part of the model's battery hatch made up of the skylight, companionway hatches, and the capstan.
 
 
Initially I wanted to cast a flat lead bar about 3/4" thick that would bolt onto the keel and weight about 50 pounds,  I made a wood mockup but I've never casted that much lead before, so I opted to fill a 2" PVC pipe with lead shot that weights in at about 42 pounds.
 

 
The model will still require some internal ballast, which will be in the form of lead filled "bean-bags" that will attach with Velcro tabs, like the battery.  Then it can be moved to trim the model as needed. 

All the deck beams didn't go in at once.  Some would have been in the way to do other work in the hull, but the basic framework that provided the main hatch, battery hatch, and mast partners was in place.  Below beams were set that carried the mechanical decks where the servos, battery, and other operating mechanics of the model would be mounted.  The battery was initially going to be stood up on the keel in a thin plywood box, but at the suggestion of a friend that was sailing a 1:24 HMS Surprise around, I laid it on it's own little deck with Velcro tabs to hold it in place; getting the weight lower in the hull as a result.
 
 
On a visit to the ship I acquired from it's director a box of pieces of live oak removed from the ship during it's restoration.  One was stamped USS Constellation 1854 and will have the model's completion date and my name added to it, then it'll be mounted inside the hull so in the future folks will know what lunatic built this thing. 
Other bit of live oak were fashioned into the three mast-steps and fastened to the mechanical decks with brass screws.
It's really nice to incorporate wood from the original ship into the model.
   
 
I then focused on the rudder.
First I drilled the 1/2" hole in the counter for the bass rudder tube.  This would stick out through the counter and approximate the sort of cowl the ship's apparently always had.
 
 
 
This tube would be filled with JB Weld epoxy with a 3/16" i.d. brass tube suspended in it.  The epoxy would form a top to keep the rudder from riding up.  The rudder itself was cut from 1/4" Plexiglas with a larger surface than the scale rudder.  Two cheek pieces of 1/8" plexi, cut to the size of the scale rudder, were attached to each side - these would be painted, etc, while the over sized portion would remain clear.  The rudder's post was an 3/16" brass rod glued to the back edge of the rudder, with 3/23" brass rods drilled through the post and into the rudder as drifts.
 
The head of the rudder was made from a maple dowell that only reaches into the rudder tube about 1/8" and is the bearing against the JB Weld and inner rudder tube that keep the rudder from riding up.  The post rod extended into the hull and has a tiller attached via a steel collar.  It extends below the rudder about 3/8" where a gudgeon plate is attached to the hull to hold the bottom of the rudder to the ship.  Removing the tiller and gudgeon plate allow the rudder to be removed if the need arises.