USS Constitution by xken - Model Shipways - Scale 1:76.8

[xken]

I finished up the bentinck shrouds for the foremast and moved onto the futtock shrouds. After doing the starboard side offhand I realized there had to be an easier way to align the thimbles. I moved to the port side and tied off both ends first; then the center and finally the last two justifying the spacing at the stave. Next I used T-pins through the thimbles top and bottom to align them and then added the ratlines gluing each knot as each line was completed. The T-pins helped to hold the shroud lines in place when tying off and spacing the ratlines. Once all were completed I added CA at the hooks and rings to hold them then holding the stave tight to the shrouds I CA'ed them in place. Once all the excess lines were trimmed after the glue set all were painted with Ultra Flat Black spray paint. This gives them a uniform finish and stiffens the lines a little. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now on to the foremast.

[SawdustDave]

Hi Ken:

So glad to find your beautiful build log to add to my list of helpful resources.... also a scratch builder of the Conney.
Stunning work mate.

 

Dave

[Burroak]

Ken your ship looks great. You may have answered this before, but how do you add the words to your pictures. Is there a special software or program needed to do it? Thanks 

[xken]

Dave, yes I have checked out your build; keep up the great work you are doing!

 

Greg, I use Photoshop Elements to add the text. More cost effective than the full package of Photoshop. 

Here is a link: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html?promoid=DW3G16F3&mv=other

 

Still plugging away on the futtock ratlines now and will soon move onto the mast stay lines.

[xken]

Well I finished up the ratlines and futtocks for all the masts. Also had to take a break and do some fence repair and garden works with the admiral since she wanted to paint the fence. Since she wanted to paint it; who am I to get in her way so the repair work came first. 

 

I started with the main mast stay lines by first making the mice to fit the served lines. I have serving lines down pat with my Sherline lathe and served six inch lengths and 2 inch lengths on the shroud lines. After forming the loops and locating the mice I added the bull-eyes to the bow and added the cross brace to keep them aligned.

 

Once the lines were in place I tried tying the snake lines using different weights of threads and the knots at the shrouds just did not look right. So I fell back on my airplane building and took a length of Syren's .008" black line and soaked the line hanging with a weight to stretch and keep straight with a mixture of white glue and water. I soaked the line twice and allowed to dry overnight which resulted in a nice stiff line to work with. The sequence of pictures will explain better than words. Also having tied over 2,000 clove hitches was great preparation for tying the snake line in place. This does require knowing how to tie a clove hitch upside down and backwards given some of the locations around the foremast. With black thread, black snake line on black shrouds will also test one's depth perception.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to move onto the mizzen stays. My goal is to add as much as I can before adding the bowsprit which is more of a space restriction where I work in turning the model side to side.

[usedtosail]

Nice job on the main stays and the snaking, Ken. I am going to be making mine this weekend, but not snaking them yet. I will keep your method for snaking in mind when I get there.

[Geoff Matson]

Looking great. I am interested in seeing when you install the bowsprit. Once it is installed it will make for a really long model. 

[xken]

Tom, just FYI when adding stays pre-load the main mast by tying it to the foremast at the tops; then add the lines and when released will add tension to the stay lines.

[usedtosail]

That's a good tip Ken. What I did for the fore mast was to loosen up on the deadeye lanyards on the shrouds, added the stays, then tightened the lanyards back up, which put tension on the stays and pulled the mast into the correct rake angle.

[xken]

I have moved on to the topmast shroud lines; pretty much the same with the exception of the sheer poles which I used 1/32" rod which does not bend under shroud line tautness when tightening. The staves at the top were added and I used clamping tweezers to hold the lines flat while glue set. I also used a threaded line as a reference point while tightening the shrouds so as not to pull the masts out of alignment. I made sure the mast were tightly fitted at the deck when fitting them to the deck; however the top masts are indexed at the top and are more subject to moving when adding the shroud lines.

 

I am also adding the top mast stay lines while also working on the ratlines. This way I can move back and forth while waiting for glue to set.

 

 

 

Shroud lines in place; no staining until the end of the rigging is accomplished for all shrouds and ratlines.

 

 

Now back to rigging.

[xken]

Finished up the topmast ratlines and and then started on the ladders. I am assuming that there are ladders on each mast up from the crosstrees. What I am not sure of is how they are attached at the lower cross tree. Are they just attached at the lower eyebolts or if there is a block and tackle to tighten the ladder as it stretches over time? I cannot seem to find a detail that shows the lower end of the ladder. Hopefully someone can share the answer. 

 

 

Now to make a couple of more ladders.

[JSGerson]

Getting pictures that high up of the masts with any detail is just about impossible for the general public. I did some digging in my book library and I found these drawings in Olof A. Eriken's book, Constitution, All Sails up and Flying. I hope they are what you are looking for. The rope ladders it shows are a little different than yours.

 

Jon

Rope Ladders.pdf

[xken]

Jon, thanks for your time and effort in sharing these they are great. What is interesting is that in these pictures the Jacob's ladder is attached one level higher than on the plans which I have been going by. Again, these drawings do not show the lower attachment points. These drawings also show ratlines up between the crosstrees as well; which again are not on the plans. I can only assume that the plans are based on a later configuration. 

I do like the man rope up the skypole I wondered how they got that high. I think that I will just proceed with a rope attachment tied off at the eyebolts in the lower crosstrees and add the man ropes then move on. 

Thanks again Jon! 

[rwiederrich]

Interesting......I would assume the shrouds/ratlines at the top mast and those at the topgallant were sufficient and the Jacob's ladder was above that.  Not sure of the use of this rope ladder/

 

Hope you find out.

 

Rob

[JSGerson]

How the Jacob's Ladder was anchored bugged me, so I did some more digging. I found the following statement in Commodore S. B. Luce, U.S. Navy's Text-book of Seamanship. The Equipping and Handling of Vessels Under Sail or Steam, 1891 pg. 61:

 

"...the lower end [of the Jacob's Ladder] setting up to the afterpart of the crosstrees...and hook into eyebolts placed for that purpose."

 

I realize that the date of the book is almost a 100 years later that the commission of the ship, but I think this would not have changed much. So you are right in using the eyebolts.

 

BTY, this same paragraph in the book also gives a verbal description as to how the ladder is fabricated should you want that.

[xken]

Jon, thanks again it is good to have one's best guess confirmed. No need for the description I have them made already and just now need to lash them to the lower eyebolts. Here you can see I made the mizzen and the foremast at the same time. I found that a wood spacer really helped maintaining the distance until all the rungs were glued in place using thick CA. Once all the rungs were in place they were then stained and lashed to the rope. Slow and tedious but well worth the effort.

 

This shows the ladder ready to be lashed to the lower eyebolts.

 

Now to finish up the ladders and then onto the knotted rope up the sky poles.

[xken]

Finished up the Jacob's ladders and man ropes up the shy poles for all masts. I then started the stay lines for the masts. Now I need to make more ropes for the back stay lines this will keep me busy for awhile. I will be off line for a week as the Admiral and I are headed to visit our twin grandsons in NYC. Here is a sequence of the ladders and start of the stay lines. One nice discovery I made is that I can serve the blocks with extension lines using my lather setup. I also decided that I now need a larger background to take overall images....the ship is getting larger.

 

 

 

 

The royal stay lines are only tied for adjustment later if needed once back stays are in place; because of their size they are somewhat flexible. Now back to making ropes and packing.

[ca.shipwright]

Very nice indeed.

[xken]

Future ship builders waiting for the Constitution to be completed by grandpa.

 

[xken]

Back from visiting the grand kids and getting back to work on the Constitution. I reached a point where the bowsprit is needed for the rest of the stay lines to be rigged. I glued nuts to the strap indexing them on the holes drilled in the straps. I then opened the ends of small jack stays to form hooks for the chain. Chain was hooked on the port side stays and the hook closed on the chain. The chain was dropped down and I made a feed needle for the chain to fish the chain through the holes and attached them on the starboard side stay, closed the hook and carefully cut the chain. I may stain the chain later once the glue has set. In the meantime I found a size of key chain at Michael's that worked for the cannon balls. The chain was glued in lines and cut to rack lengths needed and glued to the racks.

Now onto the back stays and the bowsprit, but first a couple other projects to work on.

[xken]

Slow going on the rigging as I am making rope to size as needed due to limited space on work bench. And as Geoff has said the ship has gotten much longer now that the bowsprit has been added. I added all the back stays to all the masts three different sizes as they progressed higher. I again used wood strips to align the deadeyes to add the sheer poles as needed. This worked well on the ratlines.

Here is the main mast with the back stays in place. I am going to need a bigger background now as well.

Next I moved on to the bowsprit and will make and add lines working from the center out on the bowsprit. Learned this lesson from the Niagara build. First the bob stays were tied off at the bow and seized as double lines which the seizing on the plan view are represented by dots on the line drawing. Dead eyes were added on the ends with the line joint hidden under the top seizing with the deadeye. Another lesson learned in working with the rigging is to used diluted white glue on the seizing and lines to be cut to have clean cuts. Patience is needed to allow the glue to set which is slower than CA but much easier with no color change. Also the center holes of the bull's eyes had to be enlarged for the lanyard ropes to lay properly.

Here is an example of how I glued the seizing and lines being weighted down as glue set. 

Here are the finished bob stays in place.

 

Next I am going to add the fore stay lines with the hearts, keeping in mind of adding lines from the center out for the bowsprit. Found just a little oops when selecting the hearts to work on.

 

Now back to the fore stays,shaping and painting the hearts and making the rope lines to size. My modified and strengthened ME ropewalk is working perfect, as well as, the lathe setup for serving the ropes. 

[CDW]

What an outstanding model. Flawless work.

[xken]

After a couple of attempts to turn small mice out of various woods that I have on hand I gave up and turned them in brass. I actually like them better than the wood for their strength.

Next I finished up and rigged the open hearts per photos and bulls eyes. Once the fore mast stays were in place I snaked them this time by tying clove hitches. For those who follow I have found a thread that is great for seizing and serving lines in 40 and 50 weights. There is a limited color offering but it is quilting thread and I also make rope out of it as well.

Here is the fore topmast stay line attachment detail.

Here is more of a overall view.

 

Next I will move on to the traveler rings to finish out the bowsprit stays.

 

[MEDDO]

Wonderful progress.

[HIPEXEC]

Amazing work! I feel like I'm on the real ship when I look at your pics.

[xken]

The challenge in making the traveler ring was to get an oval loop on top and two round on the sides for guys as shown on the plans. So I thought the best way was to turn a flange on a ring, drill 1/32" holes and then remove the excess material around the loops. Here is a sequence showing the steps I took using my Sherline lathe.

Here the stained ring is rigged in place.

 

Now to make the smaller one using the same steps for the flying jib.

[xken]

I moved on to the foot ropes and tied off the knots by starting in the center of the rope and spaced them down to the end of the jib allowing the space for a clove hitch and more knots tied down to the eyebolt on the cap. Once one side was completed I duplicated the second side. 

 

Tied in place.

Now I added the bow sprit yard by turning the tapered ends on the lathe leaving an area for the chocks to be carved once the turning was completed. I used the combination slide which has a 2 inch travel enough to do the ends. I made an end holder out of brass rod to maintain a center when turning. Once turned and the chocks carved it was stained black, them the bulls eye guides were added per the plans.

 

 

 

Here is the finished yard tied in place ready for rigging.

 

Now to rig more lines now that the yard is in place.

[xken]

After studying the plans and ship photos I started rigging the bowsprit doing the central lines first before doing the yard lines. Here are some pictures showing some of the rigging details.

 

 

 

 

 

Now onto the yard lines. I think the bowsprit is the more difficult of the rigging to be done.

 

 

[DCooper]

Thank you Ken.

 

Thanks for taking both the time and energy to create both a wonderful model and a clear, educational and inspiring WIP.  I have the highest regard for both your skill as a builder and communicator.  One day I will stare in to the abyss of my skill base and take up my quest to finish my Constitution buoyed by a number of your informative WIP's.  You are a treasure trove of ideas and techniques and guide to just what a modeller can accomplish with knowledge, skill and persistence.  

 

Long may you continue to enjoy this hobby of ours.  

 

Dan

[usedtosail]

Nice work on the bowsprit rigging, Ken. As soon as I finish these !*#@! ratlines (should be tonight),  I'll be working some of this bowsprit rigging also.