USS Constitution by Modeler12 - FINISHED - Model Shipways

[Modeler12]

Here is what it looks like using a double and a triple block for the jeer. The three lines to the right go around the spar and the one to the left goes down to the deck.

 

 

Now what I need to figure out is how to make a mirror image  And I mean a real mirror image, not just a picture image. 

Edited March 14, 2013 by Modeler12

[Geoff Matson]

Jay

 

That looks like a winner. Those dotted lines really helped. Thanks for explaination

[JeffT]

Jay

 

That looks like a winner. Those dotted lines really helped. Thanks for explaination

 

yep. it probably would be a good idea to lay those parts over the plan and draw reference lines on the part itself.

[Modeler12]

Good Geoff and a good idea Jeff.

BTW for us 'foreigners', do you pronounce those two names the same way? If I were learning English from scratch they would confuse the heck out of me.

 

I made my last comment about mirage images with "tongue in cheek' (another confusing idea). But when I actually made the new tackles I found that you really have to pay close attention to how the rope is laid through those two blocks. It is easy to get them threaded so they look parallel but to make a mirror image takes a bit of thought. 

No pictures this time.

[Modeler12]

Just after I said that I was not going to add the trusses to the jack and masts, I changed my mind. I guess I am allowed to do that at least once.

I had not yet stepped the foremast and decided to add the port and starboard trusses. I wanted to see what they would look like. To position them, all I had to do was add the little sheave block underneath the top. I am going to paint that block white and I think that by the time all the shrouds are put on, these blocks and lines will be hidden from view. I did use Floyd's 2.5 mm single and double blocks for the tackle. (correction they were 3 mm)
 

  

 

The main and mizzen have already been glued in place so I am not going to bother with them.
Perhaps only I will know the difference.

Edited March 15, 2013 by Modeler12

[JeffT]

Your masts look good Jay. We'll probably go ahead and let you change your mind a couple more times...maybe.

[Geoff Matson]

Looks great Jay. The sheave block adds a little character to things.

[Modeler12]

Your masts look good Jay. We'll probably go ahead and let you change your mind a couple more times...maybe.

Jeff, I don't care about you guys. It is the admiral who doesn't like it when I change my mind all the time.

 

Thanks to both of you Geffs (????) But now that I look at that sheave block I need to modify it slightly. The line should be a bit more aft so it looks like it actually goes around a wheel on the inside. A sliver of wood and glue should fix that.

Edited March 15, 2013 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Correction about the truss tackle shown above. The blocks were not 2.5 mm but 3 mm. But the line was still .015 inch diameter.

[Modeler12]

Someone suggested to do the rigging on the bench as much as possible. So I am continuing to add more lines.

 

Below is the mizzen royal/topgallant mast with all the lines I can identify. Notice the thin shrouds coming down from the top. They go through the tip of the topgallant crosstree (to me that is really a 'spreader', see second picture).

 

Yes, there will be more shrouds at the bottom, but those have to be attached later. I labelled the various lines and I'll make a copy of this so I can remember what is what.

 

 

 

[Modeler12]

You know, I am still surprised that I go through all of this confusion and still enjoy the puzzles.

 

[CaptainSteve]

Jay,

Absolutely loving your work and following closely every step of the way, although I remain approx 2 years behind where you are now.

 

I see you are approaching the rigging stage of this magnificent build.

Whilst having no idea how you plan to display your Connie, I did notice a tip you may/may not wish to consider ....

For sails "under wind", paint with a heavily diluted mix of PVA and water. Hang on a frame, or fix mounted spar to frame, in front of a household fan. Tie clews/corners off to create the effect you require.

Leave with fan on long enough for the glue to dry, creating a permanent billowing sail.

Edited March 18, 2013 by CaptainSteve

[Geoff Matson]

Jay  I finally got the bowsprit all figured out. Thanks to you and the other guys for their help. 

 

I am getting close to the rigging process and am thinking of how to approch it. I am not going to the rig the sails as you are so I should only have half the problems   I am seriously thinking of installing the masts, then do the ratlines, the the topmasts, and ratlines, etc. That way I won't have all the lines hanging in my way. I am also thinking of prerigging all the masts as you are doing, but only dry fitting the attachment points in place. Mark them and then when it comes to rigging, all I have to do is install them. That way I will have a baggy full of line reay to go. It will be a big thought process, but I will see what I can come up with.

 

I will be following your progress and that may help me in my decisions. Thanks

[Modeler12]

Geoff, just a couple of suggestions before you glue the masts in place. Take a hard look at some of the fittings that go onto the mast and decide if it would not be easier to do them on the bench rather than on the ship.

For example. There are a couple blocks and strops that go around the masts for some of the stays. Below you can see those that go around the main mast. They are for the mizzen main and preventer stays. 

 

Then there are three eyebolts on the tops for the main and foremasts that have stays attached (for the royal and topgallant mast tops). They are right behind the square part and would be difficult to reach later on.

I know I have gone overboard with all the lines, but I think I can handle that. For example, I have attached the backstays on the top parts of the masts and they would be easy to attached much later on. They go from the top to the channels.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Modeler12

[Modeler12]

Jay,

Absolutely loving your work and following closely every step of the way, although I remain approx 2 years behind where you are now.

 

I see you are approaching the rigging stage of this magnificent build.

Whilst having no idea how you plan to display your Connie, I did notice a tip you may/may not wish to consider ....

For sails "under wind", paint with a heavily diluted mix of PVA and water. Hang on a frame, or fix mounted spar to frame, in front of a household fan. Tie clews/corners off to create the effect you require.

Leave with fan on long enough for the glue to dry, creating a permanent billowing sail.

Steve I have seen that method and tried it on the first square sail I made. It is very messy and the two fans I tried were not strong enough to do the job. Then there was the issue of attaching all those reefing knots. I could not see myself doing that after or before filling the sails. In addition, I wanted to add the various lines (leech, reefing, bunt and sheets) and again would run into the same problems. I may try this method again on the two jib sails because they are stretched a bit out off shape after I attached the rings along the front edge. They should be easier to work with than the spanker and square sails.

 

If nothing else I know what will work is to fill the sails while the ship is lying on its side and then spray starch. I will let gravity do its work then.

I appreciate the suggestion and have watched your progress with great interest.

[Modeler12]

The mizzen stay and preventer stay are in place and I am now at a point where the mizzen shrouds can be added. I have pre-assembled them along with two pendants and swifters. I think what I will do is to attach them to the mast top but wait with threading the deadeyes until later. They should be easy enough to get to. Meanwhile I can go ahead with adding the top masts, etc.

 

Oh, notice that the peak halliard line is not long enough. It weaves back and forth five times and takes up a lot of thread. I can either redo it or splice on a section starting right at the top triple block. We'll see.

 

[Modeler12]

Adding the shrouds was easy. I had made sure the loop on them would slip over the mast part on top. First came the pendants (one on each side) then the six shrouds in pairs per the drawing, and finally the swifters, one on each side. 

 

I taped the lines to the side of the hull. Just in case I changed my mind again (and that happens a lot). And thus far it looks ok. 

  

The swifter lines had to be tightened a bit, but what I still don't like are the blocks for this. Since this part of the rigging will be showing from the viewing side, I want to replace them with better blocks later on (here I come again, Floyd!). Hence the line going down is really only taped to the side of the hull like the rest. It should be going up and wrap around the double block's strop.

 

Meanwhile the spanker is hanging loose, as are other lines in the background. But hopefully they will all come together some day.

 

[JeffT]

Question for you Jay. I saw the the chart you made for chain plates and was wondering how you knew which size deadeyes to use? Is it on the plans somewhere?

[Modeler12]

Question for you Jay. I saw the the chart you made for chain plates and was wondering how you knew which size deadeyes to use? Is it on the plans somewhere?

It is hard to find, but see sheet 7. It talks about the shroud sizes as well as the deadeyes. They vary in size not only for the three masts, but also their function.

[Geoff Matson]

Jay

 

Thanks for the information before installing the masts. I will really plan ahead before I do that. Lots of relationships to look at.

[Modeler12]

Jay

 

Thanks for the information before installing the masts. I will really plan ahead before I do that. Lots of relationships to look at.

Another one is the mizzen mast. Right behind it is the spanker mast with all those wooden rings. The two mast fit together at the top and fit into their own hole at the base. Be sure all the rings are in place before gluing the two masts together. That is the reason I started with the rigging of the spanker sail so early. It would have been more difficult if I had glued the masts in place.

[JeffT]

Thanks Jay.

[Geoff Matson]

Jay I got the rings and mizzen mast all ready to go. There are a lot of items like like. You relly have to be sure before you glue something on the masts. Thanks again

Edited March 20, 2013 by Geoff Matson

[Modeler12]

Moving right along (well, trying any way). I added the shrouds on the mizzen and main masts. Added various stays for and aft (including the main and preventer stays with the tricky snaking weave) and some pendants. The shrouds are bundled together and don't have the deadeyes in place yet. I want to hold off as I said earlier. However, I did have to put the shrouds around the masts in order to continue moving upwards.

 

  

 

I decided to add a thin line through the pendants and lashed those to the pinrails below the masts. I didn't think that having them loose and swaying in the wind was proper. In fact, a photograph of the USS Constitution in Boston shows those lines also. In the picture above you can see the light colored lines.

Also, I added a cleat on both sides of the mast, so there was something to belay the tackle for the truss lines.

Next come a couple more stays and the slings for the jacks. Then some day I will get to the bowsprit

[JeffT]

you're moving right along Jay. You make it look easy.

[Modeler12]

Jeff, rigging is fun. But, as Geoff mentioned, you have to really think ahead.

 

I don't know if I mentioned how I make rope 'coils', but here goes. It is really high tech and requires special tools such as nails, a hammer and some glue.
 

First of all I cheat. I belay the line around the cleat or belaying pin on the ship. I glue the end with a drop of CA and cut the rest of the line off.

Then I use some of the same line and wrap it around the nails as shown below. I dab on some diluted PVA glue and let it dry enough so I can still remove it from the pins. The plastic underneath is from a index folder and PVA does not like that.

The glue was still wet when I took this picture. But you can see what it looks like in an earlier picture I showed.

 

[Geoff Matson]

Looks like you are getting the rigging under control. Nice work on the pendant lines.

[capnharv2]

Jay,

 

Looks really good.

 

You make the point that rigging is fun, and you sure make it look fun. I was going to put my Connie aside after I was done with the topgallant rails and ships boats, and spend some time on the deck and chainplates on my Flying Cloud. Maybe I'll start into rigging the Connie instead.

 

hmmm.

 

Thanks!

 

Harvey

[Modeler12]

Looks like you are getting the rigging under control. Nice work on the pendant lines.

Adding the 'white' lines also helped to keep those things hanging straight down. They kept wanting to go sideways.

You'll see that there are numerous 'gotchas' as you go along, Geoff. But I just grin and bear them.

[Modeler12]

Jay,

 

Looks really good.

 

You make the point that rigging is fun, and you sure make it look fun. I was going to put my Connie aside after I was done with the topgallant rails and ships boats, and spend some time on the deck and chainplates on my Flying Cloud. Maybe I'll start into rigging the Connie instead.

 

hmmm.

 

Thanks!

 

Harvey

 

Food for thought, isn't it, Harvey?

But in a way you are ahead with your Connie. I skipped over a lot of other details. Haven't even undone the laser cut pieces for the ships boats, haven't done the carving of the bow decorations, and  . . . .