USS Constitution by Glen McGuire - BlueJacket Bicentennial Edition - 1/96 - Repair and Complete Construction

[Landlubber Mike]

I'll spare you the bullriding quips, but way to resolve that mast problem!  Looks really good.

[Keith Black]

 Great progress, Glen. You now have the model where it doesn't look like it got tossed up on the rocks, it now looks like a model ready to be completed. When you start rigging you gonna work front to back or vise versa?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

When you start rigging you gonna work front to back or vise versa?

Good question, Keith.  The first rigging job I'm going to tackle is the bowsprit and spritsail yard.  After that, I have not studied the rigging instructions in detail yet, but at first glance it looks like it goes lower shrouds from front to back followed by upper shrouds, front to back.  

[Keith Black]

58 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

at first glance it looks like it goes lower shrouds from front to back followed by upper shrouds, front to back.

I have found that going from stern to bow keeps the stays and running lines under tension better, something to consider. 

[gjdale]

I’m late to the party (again!) Glen, but just getting caught up. What a wonderful thing you are doing and what a fantastic job you are making of it! I’m here for the rest of the journey, though have had to settle for a seat in the back row.

[Glen McGuire]

6 hours ago, gjdale said:

I’m late to the party (again!) Glen, but just getting caught up.

Thanks, Grant!  So glad to have you on board.  No doubt I'll be running around in circles on this project, so your seat in the back row may end up being in the front row!

[Robert in Austin]

All, just wanted to drop everyone a line to say that I am following the build log. Though, frankly, I wasn’t expecting quite this level of action out of the gate! The work to date is, quite simply, amazing. And words can’t describe my family’s deep level of appreciation. I’m keeping my mom updated too. 
 

- Carson 

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, Robert in Austin said:

All, just wanted to drop everyone a line to say that I am following the build log. Though, frankly, I wasn’t expecting quite this level of action out of the gate! The work to date is, quite simply, amazing. And words can’t describe my family’s deep level of appreciation. I’m keeping my mom updated too. 

 Carson

 

 Your father's model is in very capable hands, Glen is a top notch builder. Those of us following along have a keen interest in this project and are willing to be of help and support to Glen in whatever way possible.  

 

   Keith

[Glen McGuire]

I got my parts finally delivered (bullseyes and blocks), which meant it was time to put down the bottle and get back to work on the Connie.

 
The next step was trying to figure out what the next step was.  According to the kit instructions, it was the lower shrouds.  However, Carson’s dad had begun rigging the bowsprit first.  I reviewed a bunch of build logs and found that some builders do the shrouds first and others do the bowsprit and spritsail yard.  So with no real consensus, I chose the bowsprit.

Here’s the other thing I learned from all the Connie build logs – they were all rigged differently, even among the same kits.  So I decided I would just follow the Blue Jacket instructions as close as possible.  This led to the second learning experience – the instructions are written in some kind of language that even Google Translator can’t help with.  It's even harder to figure out than "Let Stalk Strine" like @gjdale, @PvG Aussie, and @BANYAN introduced me to on the Banshee SIB!  Example:

B - 2”flying jibboom traveling guy: seized to flying jibboom traveling guy.  Through thimble on yard.  Set up to S on cathead with gun tackle.  Belay to small cleats on bow bulwark.
 

Or this one:

 

Jibstay (jib outhauler) – 3 ½”: long eye splice seated on foretopmast head.  Through roller (if fitted) on jib traveler ring through sheave at outer end of jibboom to 3/32” DB in end.  Set up fiddle block on bowsprit cap with tackle.  Fall is led through port bowsprit fairlead to bow pinrail.

 

It took waaaaay longer than I care to admit to crack the code and figure out what the instructions were telling me to do.  But the light bulb finally flickered on and I was able to move forward.  Actually, the first part of this exercise did have instructions – setting up the spritsail yard.  It was a just matter of making the yard, then adding the bullseyes and foot ropes.  My goal for the foot ropes was to make them as nice as the ones @Keith Black did on his Tennessee.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, it was following the instructions and setting up the guy lines that attach to 4 different points along the jib and flying jib.  The guys that tie off firmly to the jib/flying jib are anchored to the cathead with deadeye lanyards.  The guys that tie off to traveling guys attach to the cathead via gun tackle with the end of the rope belayed to cleats on the bowhead bulwark.

 

 

Going forward, I hope to get faster at decoding the instructions.  😃

 

 

 

Edited October 7 by Glen McGuire

[tmj]

5 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Going forward, I hope to get faster at decoding the instructions. 

I might have an old WWII Enigma machine buried in my garage somewhere... "Lemme go look!" 

[BANYAN]

Tis easy to decode Glen, just sample a few nips of good ol' Bundy Rum   You may even understand baby talk after that

 

BTW, your Connie is looking great, the rigging is looking nice and 'tiddly'.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Keith Black]

 Glen, that looks great! Are you going to go ahead and add the netting now? 

[Glen McGuire]

2 hours ago, BANYAN said:

BTW, your Connie is looking great, the rigging is looking nice and 'tiddly'.

There you go again, Pat.  I hope tiddly is something good!

 

 

2 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Are you going to go ahead and add the netting now? 

Netting?  I don't see any netting referred to in the plans.  Are you trying to confuse me like Pat?

 

[Keith Black]

 

 

 

Glen, this is the netting I was referring to. I left out that key word "bowsprit". If the instructions don't call for it I certainly understand leaving it off. I've seen discussions on trying to locate netting at scale and it seems to be a pretty hard item to locate. If I remember correctly Keith Aug's wife had to weave his netting.

 

Edited October 8 by Keith Black

[schooner]

Most of the big craft stores sell black netting like in the above photos, people use it in floral arrangements so it's probably in that part of the store.

[Glen McGuire]

Thanks Tim and Keith.  I had completely overlooked that netting on those broken pieces.  Interesting.  I went through all the pictures of the Constitution I could find in the Gallery and didn't see a single model with that netting.  So I may leave it off.  But I reserve the right to change my mind!

[Keith Black]

 None of the photos of the Tennessee show netting. A lot of period ship images show no netting. 

 

 

[schooner]

Come to think of it, I've never noticed netting in that area either but that mesh is handy for applying to the aft railings on the fighting tops should you decide to add it.

[BANYAN]

20 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

There you go again, Pat.  I hope tiddly is something good!

Hi Glen - just keeping you on your toes.  In sailor speak (well our navy at least) this was a way of saying 'neat and tidy'.  

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Ian_Grant]

Glen, I'm late to this party too. Thanks for the heads-up! You're doing a bang-up job so far and it's wonderful you are doing it for a family's memories.

 

Looking forward to seeing you decode more rigging jargon. Now you know how Bill97 felt trying to rig his Victory using Longridge's book. 😉

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

OK, Pat.  If you can say everything on this ship is tiddly after I'm done, then I will be very happy!

 

The next thing I decided to do was install the bobstays.  I figured it would be easier to do them now rather than try and get to them after rigging the martingale.  Three bobstays run from eyebolts on the knee to the underside of the bowsprit via lanyards.

 

 

Next step - the rigging of the martingale, which the instructions describe as an "intricate process".   At first glance, my thought was, "how in the world can anyone figure out this jumble of lines?"  But if you take it one line at a time (and can decode the instructions), it's actually pretty simple.  Tedious, but simple.  It's really just 4 lines on each side - a backstay and guy for both the jib and flying jib.  The only wrinkle is the guy which, according to the instructions, hitches at at the martingale, runs out to a single block at the end of the jib/flying jib, back through the martingale, through the bowsprit fairlead, and on to the bow pin rail.  This makes it look like there are 12 lines running from the martingale to the ends of the jib/flying jib.   

 

The first pic shows the martingale fully rigged.  In the second, you can see the guys running their courses as described above.  They start at the obvious hitch around the martingale.

 

 

 

Another look at the fully rigged martingale.

 

 

 

Next, I added the lifts to the spritsail yard.

 

 

 

After adding the lifts, I suddenly got the feeling that something was not quite right.   Sort of, anyway.   I remembered a detail from several build logs that I was missing - a fairlead on the bow bulwark that the martingale guys would pass through on their way to the bow pin rail. 

 

The instructions did not call for a fairlead on the bow bulwark, but I thought it was a nice touch.  And I figured a curved fairlead to fit the curve of the bow would not be too difficult to make.  Unfortunately, I had already secured (glued) the guys to the pin rails.  Which meant I needed to make each fairlead in 2 pieces, a top and bottom, so I could slip the bottom underneath the guys that were already in place and then add the top.  If that doesn't make any sense, hopefully pics of the process will.

 

I took 1 strips of 1mm x 1mm basswood and boiled them for 10 minutes before putting them in piece of high tech bending equipment.

 

 

After drying, I stacked the 2 pieces in a vice and drilled holes.

 

 

The I slipped the bottom half for each fairlead under the guy lines on top of the bow bulwark and finished by gluing the top halves in place.

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

Edited October 10 by Glen McGuire

[Glen McGuire]

14 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Looking forward to seeing you decode more rigging jargon. Now you know how Bill97 felt trying to rig his Victory using Longridge's book.

Thanks for joining the party, Ian!  I am not familiar with Bill97's Victory.  I will have to look that one up!  

[Ian_Grant]

Glen, you're doing a fine job on the rigging but (you can ignore me if you wish) your bowsprit bobstays look undersized to me. They're usually heftier rope than the martingales.

 

Just sayin'  🤫

 

Ian

[Glen McGuire]

1 hour ago, Ian_Grant said:

your bowsprit bobstays look undersized to me. They're usually heftier rope than the martingales.

OK, who invited this guy to the build log??  😠

 

Just kidding!  It's interesting that you pointed out the bobstay lines, Ian.  I could not figure out exactly what the instructions were telling me with those.  They say, "Bobstays - 3"-8" ".  The number is supposed to indicate the actual rope diameter and they provide a table to convert it to thread diameter at scale.  I thought they were giving me a choice of using 3" rope or 8" rope.  My box of kit goodies has a lot more 3" rope than it does 8" so I chose the 3".  And, yes, the 3" is the same as the martingale rope.

 

Looking again at other build logs now, I can see clearly that you are right.  All the bobstay ropes I see are thicker than the martingale rope.  I still don't know why the instructions are written the way they are, but the question is what to do about it.  Of course, the easiest fix is just deleting your comment and blocking you from the log 😃.  But I don't know how to do that.  So on to plan B where I think I found a good solution.  In reviewing @usedtosail's excellent build log for his Constitution, he doubled the lines for the bobstays.  I'm pretty sure I can do that and leave my current bobstays in place without too much difficulty.

 

All joking aside, I really do appreciate your eagle eye on catching something like that.  I hope that you and others will not hesitate to give advice and point out things I've missed.  That's one of the great benefits of doing a build log here on MSW!   

 

 

   

Edited October 10 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

 Glen, I just had a moment of brilliance. i often have these, just ask my wife.

 

 On a test piece of line, coat it with black acrylic paint and see if it thickens the line noticeably. By enlarging your photos and getting a close look at the line, I don't think you'll lose any twist definition. 

[Glen McGuire]

On 10/8/2024 at 2:51 PM, schooner said:

Come to think of it, I've never noticed netting in that area either but that mesh is handy for applying to the aft railings on the fighting tops should you decide to add it.

Thanks, Tim.  The netting on the aft railing of the fighting tops was already completed by Carson's father.  I didn't really look at it too closely until your note.  It's a lot finer mesh than the netting that he used under the bowsprit and, interestingly enough, it is metallic and not woven like a window screen.

    

 

 

I did some rummaging around inside another box of goodies that Carson had given me and found the source of this netting - Scale Scenics - which makes things for model railroads.  I had not seen this product before but I'm thinking it might be of use for some of my SIB work.  However, I bet I can't get it for anywhere near $2.95 now!

   

 

 

 

Now, back to the bobstay issue.  

19 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Glen, I just had a moment of brilliance. i often have these, just ask my wife.

 

 On a test piece of line, coat it with black acrylic paint and see if it thickens the line noticeably. By enlarging your photos and getting a close look at the line, I don't think you'll lose any twist definition. 

 

Keith, I do think your idea was brilliant, but I did not have the right paint or maybe the right painting skills (I'm definitely no "Paintin' Manning" like in the new commercial!).  I tried your idea out on a test piece of thread but I kept getting blobs.  So back to the double rope plan.  Which, in looking at some other Connie build logs, seems to be a popular method of rigging the bobstays.  I was able to add a line, as hoped, without too much difficulty.  Then I seized it up and down with knots as others have done.  I like how it looks now.  So thank you, @Ian_Grant!  You made me do some extra work, but I believe it was well worth it!

 

 

Edited October 11 by Glen McGuire

[Keith Black]

 Glen, your solution is way way much better than paint ever would have been. I've painted line before to eliminate the shine of CA or to change color but  have used very thin paint.  

 

 No Paintin' Manning me backside. Some of the painting you've done on your SIB builds has been absolutely remarkable.

[Robert in Austin]

The aluminum micro-mesh, $2.95 from G&G Model Shop, brings back memories. G&G was my dad’s neighborhood model shop in Houston that he walked to as a kid, and took me and my brother to when we visited my grandparents decades later. For model shop enthusiasts, here is the history of the shop, which looks like it may have reopened: https://www.gandgmodelshop.com/history.html. Glen, there’s even some history in that bag of aluminum micro-mesh!

- Carson

[Keith Black]

 Thank you, Carson.

[Glen McGuire]

11 hours ago, Robert in Austin said:

here is the history of the shop, which looks like it may have reopened: https://www.gandgmodelshop.com/history.html. Glen, there’s even some history in that bag of aluminum micro-mesh!

Thanks for posting about the model shop, Carson.  I'm sure that visiting it with your dad is a very fond memory for you.  The link on the history of the shop has a couple of great quotes:

 

"Freitag credits women employees with keeping the store neat."  Ain't that the truth!!  One look at the workspaces that most of us here on MSW keep will confirm that 100%!

 

"We try to make more friends than we make money"  That's got to be the best quote I've ever seen on how to run a successful local business.