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

[popeye2sea]

Glen,

The drawing above is not wrong. The question is what to do with the tackles? Which way do they go? Straight down to the deck or to another block under the top.

Constitution has hers rigged with a block under the top so that the tackles lead upwards from the yard.  Then the single hauling part of each tackle comes down to the deck to be belayed at the foot of the mast or the fife rail.

 

Regards,

Henry

[Glen McGuire]

On 3/4/2025 at 9:38 PM, popeye2sea said:

Constitution has hers rigged with a block under the top so that the tackles lead upwards from the yard.  Then the single hauling part of each tackle comes down to the deck to be belayed at the foot of the mast or the fife rail.

I went back and reviewed other build logs and I can see where some rig the truss pendants just as you describe.  When I read the description and look at the picture from the BlueJacket instructions, I still don't see the the rigging going upwards to the mast top and then back down.  But what you describe makes sense, so I will go back and see if I can reconfigure what I've already done.

 

In the meantime, I got the main lower yard hung (which means I will need to reconfigure 2 sets of tackle) and started work on the fore topsail yard.  The topsail yards are hung with different rigging than the lower yards.  Rather than a sling, the lower yards have a double block in the center of the yard with 1 line tied off above the crosstrees and the other running through 2 single blocks on each side of the mast just below the trees and then down to the deck.  Here's the picture from the instructions.

      

 

 

 

The yards is secured to the mast with a parrel which includes a double row of trucks.  I assume these trucks act as rollers to facilitate the yard being raised or lowered.  

 

 

I'm using 2mm beads for the rollers with the dividers made from 1mm thick basswood.

 

 

 

Here's the fore topsail yard hung with the parrel in place.

 

 

And the front view.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 6 by Glen McGuire

[Coyote_6]

Wow - the trucks and ribs look just perfect on the model.  Very nice!

[SaltyScot]

5 minutes ago, Coyote_6 said:

Wow - the trucks and ribs look just perfect on the model.  Very nice!

 

I can only second that!!

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, SaltyScot said:

I can only second that!!

 I third that!

[BANYAN]

OK, I'll continue the thread - fourth!

Seriously, nice work Glen, looks really good, especially the proportions.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Ian_Grant]

Very nice parrals, Glen. 👍

[Javelin]

I think I'll make a half-hearted attempt at 4 frames of a ship and then go to Glen in despair and ask him to finish it for me 😁. 

I know, the starting point here was by no means half hearted, but if Glen can do it better, why make the effort...😆. 

 

Joking aside, regardsless of some historical accuracy issues (perhaps), you're doing a marvellous job here!

[Glen McGuire]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words on the parrel.  The biggest challenge was making 1 of those dang ribs and then trying to make 30 more that were identical.  So don't look too closely at them as I don't think I quite achieved 6 sigma in my process variation.  In the middle of it all, I started thinking about @Ian_Grant and the way he's been using 3-D printing on his WW1 Battle Cruiser Restoration.  Hmmmm!   

[Keith Black]

1 minute ago, Glen McGuire said:

I started thinking about @Ian_Grant and the way he's been using 3-D printing on his WW1 Battle Cruiser Restoration.  Hmmmm! 

 Hu oh, the cows are gonna have to get used to a new hum coming from the main house. 

[SaltyScot]

2 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

and the way he's been using 3-D printing on his WW1 Battle Cruiser Restoration.  Hmmmm! 

 

I am an advocate for that, Glen. I fully intend to enhance my next build, the Endurance, with 3D printed parts!

[FriedClams]

Beautiful work, Glen - and now I know what parrel beads are.

 

Gary

[Glen McGuire]

On 3/7/2025 at 5:57 PM, Keith Black said:

Hu oh, the cows are gonna have to get used to a new hum coming from the main house. 

They are already accustomed to a lot of colorful language coming from the house during these builds, so they might appreciate that new hum!

 

 

I was in Boston the past few days retrieving my SIBs from the ship model show after it concluded at the USS Constitution museum.  Olha Batchvarov, who is a superb ship modeler with a great youtube channel, took part in the show/competition and put together a very nice video highlighting many of the models in the show.  If you want to take a look at it, here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1sGeEI7xfo&t=10s

 

Winter is an interesting time to visit the Charleston Navy Yard, where the USS Constitution is docked.  All the yards, top masts, top gallant masts, royal masts, and things above are removed from the ship and you can find some of them lying around the yard.  It's a great opportunity to have an up close look and get a real perspective on how large they are.  Plus, some of the rigging is still attached, which is helpful to me for the stage I'm at with this build. 

 

Here are a few pics I took while wandering around the area.  The first is either the main yard or the fore yard.  The jogger gives you a good idea of how long and large the yard actually is.  The Constitution museum is the boxy gray building in the background on the far left.

 

 

There was a discussion earlier in this build log about the slings that hold up the main yard and the fore yard.  The question was whether the rope was eye-spliced or looped around an iron ring.  Fortunately  for me, the sling was still attached to that main (or fore) yard so it gave me the the opportunity to take a close look at how it was configured.  As you can see in the pic below, the rope for the upper part of the sling is looped around an iron ring with a throat seizing.  The rope for the lower part of the sling is double-stacked around the yard and another iron ring.  This is basically the way I configured my slings (except I did not double-stack the rope for the lower part), so I feel good about what I've done.

 

 

 

Here's a trailer holding some assorted smaller yards and what I believe is the gaff (painted black) because it has that block in the middle which I would think is for a lift.

 

 

The next couple of pictures are helpful for what I was working on right before I left for Boston - the saddles and single-row parrels (single-row meaning one row of trucks) for the top gallant yards.  There were 2 things I was trying to figure out from the BlueJacket instructions.  First, the drawing showed 2 eyebolts, but I was not sure exactly where they belonged.  Second, I could not tell from the drawing if the single-row parrels had ribs in between each truck.  Based on these pictures, the answer is no.  WOOHOO!!  I was not looking forward to making 50 more of those tiny things!

 

 

 

And then there's this.  It appears to be a freshly painted section of the bulwark including the gun port.  I can't see them cutting out a section of the actual bulwark on the ship and inserting this, so I'm not sure what it's purpose is.  Maybe it will be put in the museum?

 

 

And finally, some very large timbers lying around.  I'm curious to know what's in store for these giants, but there was nobody around to ask.

 

  

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Glen McGuire

[SaltyScot]

Wow, that is some concrete confirmation right there. How fantastic is that to find just what you needed AND be able to get up close and personal with it. Nice!

[Coyote_6]

Thank you for sharing this!   What wonderful access you have given us!!

[popeye2sea]

Glen,

The large yard in the first photo is a topmast yard.  The lower yards are considerably larger in circumference and length.

The gundeck section was built as a display and the crew sometimes conducts gun drills for the public. It stays out in the yard year round.

 

Henry