USS Constitution by Modeler12 - FINISHED - Model Shipways

[Modeler12]

Here are some more pictures of the spanker and jibs.

 

I decided to use some aluminum tubing for the leading edge of the jibs. That way I hope it will look smoother than what I can do with a bunch of rocks. It would be nice to have the sails look like they did on the Hawaian Chieftan when that last picture was taken.

I might add here that all my sails have a steel wire in the bottom edge (or foot). It was embedded when I made the seams. That helped to shape part of the sails, but not all of it.

 

   

[Modeler12]

The result was not perfect, but better. It is hard to show the shape of the jibs, but here goes.

  

 

Next comes the netting on the rails, attaching the boats and finally to raise the flags.

[GLakie]

Looking mighty fine there Jay! I've been thinking about whether or not to do sails on mine but, haven't decided yet. 

 

Cheers

[CaptainSteve]

Spectacular job, Jay !! I am in awe of this ship every time you update.

[Modeler12]

Thanks George and Steve for you comments.

Yes, adding sails to this model was a real challenge. Even without sails the rigging is tremendous. Would I do it again? Probably. I have a friend in New Zealand who thought I was crazy to do all that rigging and add sails as well. For me that was another incentive to prove him wrong.

As you know there are many, many lines on this ship. That means many, many blocks, eyebolts, etc. I can appreciate the fact that most people choose not to add sails. The extreme would be to add all of them, which I think would be impossible while doing justice to this model. 

I chose to add the six sails rather than more or less, because it is my understanding that those were the sails most often used during a battle. They also were used when the real USS Constitution sailed the Boston harbor a couple years ago. The gun ports are open and the guns ready for action. The only things missing on the model are the crew and the enemy ship.

 

For me it was a real learning experience about how those ships were rigged. It is a bit too early, but I must thank so many of our MSW members who gave me good advice and suggestions. That kept me going.

Perhaps when I am really done, I might go over a few points that I did wrong (or well   ).

BTW raising the flags will entail adding two more blocks 

[Modeler12]

I almost forgot. The studding sail booms.

Quite some time ago I made the two studding booms that have the fancy name 'Fore Lower Swinging Studding Sail Boom'. They mount along the sides of the hull with brackets that hold it against the channel and hull. The three brackets are shown below.

The one on the right has an eyebolt (epoxied in place) where the hook of the boom fits. The other two have saddles (silver brazed). Since the boom is tapered (left end not shown) the saddle of the left bracket is smaller.

Once the epoxy is completely cured that part will be cleaned up and trimmed. Then all three will be blackened and the boom mounted to the hull. Two of the brackets have eyes for the lashing cords.

What about the other studding booms?

When I made the spars I did include the loops on the end of the spars as well as the one further inboard. However, I am not sure I want to attach the booms. The whole thing is busy enough and studding booms were not used very often. The two along the hull, I think, will add some pazzaz.

[Modeler12]

Studding booms done!

 

 

 

One more picture:

Edited February 8, 2015 by Modeler12

[capnharv2]

Nice! If mine turn out half as good as yours, I'll be thrilled!

 

Thanks too for posting the pics of the fittings. Mine kept falling off and got all twisted, so I'm going to redo them. Your pictures help a lot.

 

Harvey

[GLakie]

Nice job Jay! I'm going to echo what Harvey said. Thanks for posting!

 

Cheers

[Modeler12]

Nice! If mine turn out half as good as yours, I'll be thrilled!

 

Thanks too for posting the pics of the fittings. Mine kept falling off and got all twisted, so I'm going to redo them. Your pictures help a lot.

 

Harvey

I must admit that I made the one at the right a lot more difficult. I tried to mount the eyebolt as part the fitting (hence my use of epoxy).

 

What turned out to be a lot easier is to install the fitting without the eyebolt and after that is all aligned (using the boom to be sure the three are ok horizontally) then add the eyebolt by drilling through the fixture and channel. Use epoxy at this point to add the eyebolt as a separate piece.

Because the eyebolt I installed actually broke; that is how I ended up doing it over again. 

 

FYI   I used some 5 mil thick brass to cut out the X and drilled a hole in the center of the X. Then I bent the legs to fit around the channel. The spacer inside could be anything, as long as the whole thing lines up.

 

One thing is not clear to me. This boom served the fore mast studding sails, what about the mizzen and main studding booms? I guess they were stored until needed. Question for the general forum? 

Edited February 8, 2015 by Modeler12

[capnharv2]

I read about this somewhere Jay. I think, that because studding sails are mainly downwind sails, that a main studding sail would mess up the downwind balance of the ship. Since there's no lower mizzen sail, and because it would probably cause adverse weather helm, I suspect mizzen studding sails would not be helpful either.

 

That's what I recall at least.

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[Modeler12]

You know, Harvey, that makes a lot of sense and I will go with that. 

Here are a couple pictures that show exactly what you are referring to.

 

 

 

Nevertheless, both Marquardt and Petersson refer to a 'main lower studding sail' as well as the 'fore lower studding sail' as if the two are at the same level. 

Just curious.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Modeler12

[robnbill]

 

One thing is not clear to me. This boom served the fore mast studding sails, what about the mizzen and main studding booms? I guess they were stored until needed. Question for the general forum? 

 

The Mamoli Connie has both the Fore and Main Studding sail booms attached to the side of the hull. There was no mizzen studding sail (at least on my plans). Here is a photo of mine with the studding sail booms in place.

 

[Modeler12]

Thanks Bill. That also helps to clarify where that main boom was stored. 

As others have said, the use of the fore mast lower studding boom was predominate and I am not aware of pictures showing that the lower main studding sails were used or in place. But I am not an historian about a lot of details. I will leave the subject of studding booms as it stand now.

 

BTW you have one beautiful model, my friend. I am following your progress with the display case with great interest. 

For mine, I have put the drawings together and am ready to start buying oak and make some sawdust. It has been a while for that.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Modeler12

[capnharv2]

Jay,

 

Seamanship in the Age of Sail by John Harland has an entire chapter devoted to studding sails. It sounds like studding sails on the main course fell out of favor around 1800, although there are some interesting sketches of a furled main course and studding sails set outside of it.

 

Interesting reading. I strongly recommend it.

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

 

BTW Bill, your Mamoli Constitution is magnificent!

[Modeler12]

Seamanship in the Age of Sail by John Harland has an entire chapter devoted to studding sails. It sounds like studding sails on the main course fell out of favor around 1800, although there are some interesting sketches of a furled main course and studding sails set outside of it.

 

Thanks Harvey, it reinforces what I have learned in the last few days from all of the member's input. 

 

In fact, when I look at the first photograph above, how can anyone argue that the lower fore studding sails may

take all or most of the wind? With a wind direction from around six o'clock, a studding sail aft would cause some steering problems, I am sure. It reminds me of difficulties when a spinnaker sail goes too far aft on a modern sailing boat.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Modeler12

[capnharv2]

Note the painting shows the headsails billowing, but the picture shows the headsail flat? Harland notes that, when running dead downwind,

the headsail will almost always be blanketed by the square sails and studding sails.

 

I've been fortunate to never have a spinnaker go that far aft on me. Sounds like a broach waiting to happen . . .

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[Modeler12]

Installing the netting on top of the rail is delicate work as well as for the final product. That is why I held off as long as I did.

First come the stanchions. They are provided in a sheet as etched parts. 

 

Here is a trick that I learned when putting the hinges on the gunports lids. Don't cut off all the trim; use it to hold or install.

In this case I left the long piece attached to the bottom of the stanchions and drilled a hole in the rail to keep it in place with a drop of AC.

 

 

I'll be making the netting as Bob Hunt showed in his practicum using masking tape on top and bottom instead of the wire that the plans call for. In fact, the plans are so detailed with tiny hooks, etc. that I think it would be almost impossible to reproduce the actual.

[JSGerson]

Jay, I recently visited the Constitution last Thanksgiving just as she was being taken apart for her move to dry dock for her next 3 yr renovation. All of her deck guns were removed and well as the yards. However, I just happen to take some close up images of the hammock netting and thought you might need/want another look/see.

 

Just realized the last image (from the dock) is not mine, I got from the internet somewhere

Edited February 9, 2015 by JSGerson

[Modeler12]

Thanks JS. Nice pictures and do help to see what the netting looks like.

It is my understanding that the wooden rail is there for the visitors and was not part of the ship's 'furniture'. The netting there is also much higher. Probably also to keep little guys from getting hurt.

My guess is that this area would be kept low since cargo and the large pinnace would be going through this spot when brought aboard.

I also got a kick out of seeing the studding boom lashed to the hull and the brackets that hold it there.

[jbshan]

The wooden rails in the tops of the brackets was one variation used, according to the literature.  Loops or eyes with rope was another as seen on some of your photos.

[Modeler12]

Here is how I made the netting. Mr. Hunt's idea is great, but he did not explain in detail how he made it except to say he used masking tape on top of the netting material.

The pictures below are just for my records. I took the black mesh (from a fabric store), smoothed it and held it with pieces of tape on top of an old piece of matting board. Then I stretched strips of masking tape on top of this, keeping the edge as straight as I could. The second piece of tape was next and spaced just under 1/4 inch apart. To stiffen the edge I went ahead applied the black paint.
 

Using a very sharp blade in my knife and a steel ruler, I cut through the tape and netting such that there were very narrow strips of tape left on the netting. Then the back side was painted also.

 

The result is a strip that is very fragile and feels like a wet noodle. The black paint helped, but not very much.

Now comes the tricky part. Installing this inside the stanchions, one on each side of those little guys.

[jml1083]

Hi Jay,

 

Fabulous work as always!

 

I can't begin to count the number of things I've learned from your log. Thanks for such detailed posts.

[robnbill]

Jay,

 

When I was getting ready to install my netting I reviewed tons of photos on how ships did this. The primary reason was I wanted to know if they should be installed inside or outside the stanchions. I ended up installing them  on the outside. However, if you look at the photos above (which I did not have at the time), you can see the Connie's are outside. 

[Modeler12]

Thank you Jim for that comment. 

As you may have gathered, I am rather verbose and love to include pictures whenever possible. Quite often I see things in those close ups that I would have missed otherwise. It is also a good record of what I actually did (a couple years ago, for that matter).

 

Bill, I will put the netting inside the stanchions if at all possible. I did one and it is hard on my clumsy hands. I am also using a piece of thin wood to go inside between the two nets so I can apply a little pressure during the bonding of the second strip. No photo yet.

But here is a copy of part of plan #4. There are actually lots more details on that page.

The drawing does show the netting on the outside, but all the pictures I have seen of the actual ship in Boston, has the netting on the inside. Considering that the hammocks would be stuffed in between the two, having the support inside makes more sense to me.

 

Notice the details about using .005 inch wire and all those small hooks on the rail. No way for me.

[GLakie]

Hi Jay

 

   Were you considering putting the rolled-up hammocks in between the netting? If so, maybe they could be used to more or less hold the netting in place while drying. 

 

Cheers

[robnbill]

I thought the same. In fact I tried putting it inside first just because I thought it made more sense. However, with the Mamoli brackets, the space inside ended up being way too small to put anything, much less the hammocks.  

 

However, the photos that JSGerson posted above from his recent trip to the Connie show the netting laced to the each of the outsides of the frame. THis was also haw the Mamoli plans showed it being done, but they certainly are not an authority. However, they are ships and the Connie's history, if nothing else, teaches us that almost everything was changed time and again based upon the times, and the captain's whim. What I know is based on your builds, however you do it, it will look beautiful!

[Modeler12]

Hi Jay

 

   Were you considering putting the rolled-up hammocks in between the netting? If so, maybe they could be used to more or less hold the netting in place while drying. 

 

Cheers

You know, George, that is not a bad idea. Instead of the piece of wood I mentioned, hammocks make more sense. 

 

With this and Bill's input above, I have to rethink this whole thing. I am still continuing to make those nettings, but will hold off installing them until I can figure out a nice way to make hammocks. To have a 'rigid' inside (smelly, sweat stained lumps of canvas) would make installing the netting to the outside a bit easier.

Thank you guys for keeping me thinking. I love those inputs.

 

Let me add the picture below of my first try to install the netting on the inside. It is far from pretty and I will have a heck of a time with the rest.

 

Edited February 12, 2015 by Modeler12

[robnbill]

The netting looks great!

[Modeler12]

I'll come back to the netting a bit later. I felt like making some sawdust, besides I was running low on rigging line.

With the help of my wife, we coated a bunch more rope (both standing and running line). That also meant adding some spools to my old spool rack.

Instead of doing that I decided to make a better and somewhat larger rack as shown below. I can have up to 20 spools but right now only use 14 plus four spools of sewing thread. One side holds the running lines and the other is for the 'Sepia colored' standing lines.

 

I have found this a handy gizmo and can carry it around from place to place.