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

[Keith Black]

3 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

Had I know more what about I was doing

 Glen, I'm pretty sure that's the motto for the majority of us. You're doing excellent work, keep the faith. 

[Ian_Grant]

8 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

It was a bit tricky tying the lanyards inside the tight confines of the fife rails, backstays, shrouds, etc.  Had I know more what about I was doing, I might have done some things in a different order.

It's easier to rig such lines "in reverse" i.e tie them off at deck level at the start of rigging, then coil them neatly while doing other lines, then pass them up and tie off aloft.

[Glen McGuire]

23 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

It's easier to rig such lines "in reverse" i.e tie them off at deck level at the start of rigging, then coil them neatly while doing other lines, then pass them up and tie off aloft.

I think that's good advice, Ian.  The even trickier thing, which I did not mention above, was drilling tiny holes in the deck for the eye pins inside the fife rails at the base of the masts.  Even my small pin vise was really difficult to position and work inside those tight confines.  I guess what I should have done is read the instructions backwards at the start.  Then I would've known where all those tie off points for the rigging are and could have put the eye pins and lanyards in place first.  Too late now!    

Edited February 15 by Glen McGuire

[Ian_Grant]

Yes; if you ever build a Heller Victory there is much extra prep work before starting the rigging. For example, Heller's instructions have no means of holding the yards to the masts; in the case of the lower yards you need to add blocks at the feet of the masts for truss pendants. As you say this is much easier before the masts are even stepped.

 

The Heller Victory instructions are diabolically bad.

[Glen McGuire]

Well, I got to the end of my rope on this project.  Literally.  I ran out of cord for the stays, so I had to order more from BlueJacket.  While waiting for the new line to arrive, I circled back to the yards and installed all the foot ropes.  I've seen some people use thread for the stirrups and others use small eye pins.  I particularly like the way the foot ropes look on @Keith Black's Tennessee so I decided on eye pins.

 

   

[Glen McGuire]

Well, I took another look at the mast and spar diagram and realized the lower 3 yards on each mast have these little mini-foot ropes on the ends.  I did a quick search and found that they are called Flemish Horses.  Hmmm.  Had not heard of them before.  So I did a quick add.

[Knocklouder]

Glen she looking beautiful. More horses?, those are fun to do. I noticiced no crowsfeet lines, or did I miss that part.

 Man it's going to be hard to let this one go, Just a fabulous fix . 

Bob M.

Edited February 18 by Knocklouder
Guessing typos lol

[Keith Black]

Those are some peachy yards, Glen. The foot ropes turned out really well. 

[Glen McGuire]

36 minutes ago, Knocklouder said:

Glen she looking beautiful. More horses?, those are fun to do. I noticiced no crowsfeet lines, or did I miss that part.

I think they should be called Flemish Longhorns rather than horses.  But what do I know! 
As far as the crow's feet, the BlueJacket plans don't call for those so I didn't install them.

 

 

29 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

The foot ropes turned out really well. 

Thanks, Keith.  My goal was to make them look as good as yours on your Tennessee.  

[Keith Black]

9 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

My goal was to make them look as good as yours on your Tennessee.  

I think you succeeded, Glen. The look better than mine. 

[Glen McGuire]

I have reached a major milestone on this project - all of the standing rigging is complete!  WOOHOO!!!  

 

The stays are taut (all 52 of them) and the masts are straight and aligned.  That calls for another round!  

 

 

 

Next up is attaching the stuns'l booms to the yards, which means it's time to cozy up to the soldering iron.

 

[Ian_Grant]

You're making a beautiful job of her Glen!

[Thukydides]

Great job. That is a major milestone.

[SaltyScot]

You are a champion, sir. What a wonderful thing to do for that family. Like you said in your first posts here, the model does look to be in good shape overall. I too look forward to following this build, she is a beautiful vessel. I like your "do no harm" approach very much!

[BANYAN]

Great milestone Glen, one which I thinks not only deserves that drink BUT also an extra Rum Issue (break out the Bundy).  All looks great, nice job!

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Robert in Austin]

On 2/21/2025 at 9:06 PM, Glen McGuire said:

I have reached a major milestone on this project - all of the standing rigging is complete!  WOOHOO!!!  

 

The stays are taut (all 52 of them) and the masts are straight and aligned.  That calls for another round!  

Everything looks amazing. Quite simply, amazing. Thank you for your hard work, Glen. Love the updates. 

[Glen McGuire]

On 2/22/2025 at 5:22 PM, BANYAN said:

I thinks not only deserves that drink BUT also an extra Rum Issue (break out the Bundy). 

Well Pat, in the absence of Bundy here in central Texas, I settled for a few tots of Ol' Sailor Jerry's fine spirits!  

 

 

23 hours ago, Robert in Austin said:

Love the updates.

Glad you are checking in, Carson!  Slowly but surely the team here is gettin' it done!!

 

 

And now on to the studding sail booms (I always thought they were called yardarms but I seem to have been mistaken about that).  There are 8 yards that have studding sail booms - The lower 3 on the fore and main masts, and then the 2nd and 3rd lowest yards on the mizzen.  The crojack yard is not so equipped.

 

The booms are offset forward at a 45 degree angle to the vertical plane of the yard as it hands from the mast.  Each boom is held in place by passing through 2 rings called studding sail irons.  The inner iron looks like a figure 8 with a portion of the bottom cut off forming a saddle that rests on the yard.  The outer iron is a simple ring attached to a rod bent at a 90 degree angle that feeds into a hole in the end of the yard.  I used brass tubes and wire for my irons.  I started with brass tubes of various inside diameters.  Of course none of them quite matched the diameter of my booms, so I had to drill out each of them to fit.   The rings below are for the fore mast yards.

 

 

 

Next, I cut pieces of brass tube in half to make the lower half of the inner iron that will rest saddle-like on the yard.

 

 

Next step - soldering the top and bottom half of the inner irons together.

 

 

Next, I soldered a small piece of brass wire to each ring for the outer irons.

 

 

Here's a closeup of 1 pair of irons dry-fit (before I bent the wire on the outer iron).

 

 

Here are the foremast yards with the booms and irons in place and the irons painted black.

 

 

And a final closeup.

 

 

The fat end of the boom will be lashed to the yard, which is next on my to-do list.

 

 

 

[Keith Black]

 Handsome studding sail booms, Glen. 

[Bryan Woods]

I’m no where near ready for a build like this, but you are doing a wonderful job of preparing me. I would have never figured out what you were doing by the words you were writing. But your pictures teach me well:-) thank you Glen!

[SaltyScot]

I like the look of that, Glen. Nice work on those soldered pieces, very clean and precise.

[Glen McGuire]

58 minutes ago, Bryan Woods said:

I’m no where near ready for a build like this,

I call BS on that, Bryan!  I've seen your work and it is high quality with great attention to detail.  Don't underestimate yourself!  

 

 

12 minutes ago, SaltyScot said:

Nice work on those soldered pieces, very clean and precise.

Thanks, Mark.  I could not solder a lick before I started ship modeling a few years ago.  I continue to be amazed at how many different skills you have to learn to be able to do this hobby!!    

[SaltyScot]

6 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

I continue to be amazed at how many different skills you have to learn to be able to do this hobby!!    

 

True statement right there!

[FriedClams]

On 2/27/2025 at 9:43 PM, Glen McGuire said:

Here are the foremast yards with the booms and irons in place and the irons painted black.

 

 

Fantastic work, Glen!  Great soldering and well - everything else too.  Clean, crisp and as Keith said, handsome.

 

Gary