USS Constitution by robnbill (Bill) - FINISHED - Mamoli - 1:93 kit - First Build - Bashed

[robnbill]

I completed the futtock shrouds on the main today. This completes the main and mizzen with the exception of the lower ratlines. I decided to add the Jacob's ladders to the top of the masts. These were not part of the Mamoli plans. I was not happy with the first try. I used just lines to create it. I know on the ship it has hard rungs, but at this scale that would be problematic. The first set compressed the ladder rungs since it came together at the top. This did not look good. So I took a small piece of guitar wire and added a hard rung to the top with rope rungs on down. This worked. The top hard rung keeps the ladder shape. I took the lower ends of the ladders through the tree by drilling small holes through the rear of the tree and threading them through and using a small amount of CA to lock them to the tree. I did have to remove and redo one of the forestays since they tie directly through the ladder and I built the ladders off ship. I will have to do the same on the foremast with one of the stays. After I took the photos, I did some shaping on the ladder rungs so they hang better and do not arch up. I also learned that I can tie the rungs so the knots cause them to hang the correct way. I learned this after I did the main masts ladder.

 

Next I will work on the foremast futtock shrouds and Jacobs ladder. After that I plan on dressing the main and foremast lower shrouds adding the staves. I am not planning on tying the lower shroud ratlines until at least the inner the running rigging is complete. So once the staves are added I will be ready to start with the running rigging. Whoo hoo!

 

 

[robnbill]

I have completed the futtock shrouds on all the masts as well as the Jacob's Ladders. Tomorrow I will do the final tweaking to the mast alignments and lock them down. Once I dress the lower deadeyes, I will attach the staves. This will leave the lower shroud ratlines to be done once the running rigging is complete. Next I will start working on the running rigging! 

 

 

[Mundie]

Wow!! Just found this log. Great job!! I'm inspired to continue my build.

[robnbill]

Thanks for all the likes and comments. She is coming together now. I passed two milestones today. I started the running rigging and I installed my first two belayed lines. Many more to come. It did enforce that my idea of not installing the lower ratlines was a good thing since many of the belaying racks are below them.

 

The first thing I did this morning was to fix the mizzen’s crows feet. I noticed last night that I had them attached to the lowest stay. They needed to be on the next one up. I completed the futtock shrouds on all masts as well as dressed the lower shrouds. The masts are now all in alignment. After dressing the lower shrouds I added the staves. I will not put on any of the lower ratlines until the running rigging is installed.

 

Today I started working on the running rigging. The Mamoli plans started with the bowsprit assembly so that is where I started. I created the rings for the jib stays. And installed the various lines. There will be more tomorrow as the Fore mast spars get installed. 

 

I did an inventory and sort of the spars. These were made months ago. Somehow I lost one of them. Luckily it was the simplest to redo. The upper spar on the fore mast. I turned down a new one and painted it today. I will add the blocks to it tomorrow. It has no other fittings. Yeah!

 

I also served the loop going over the lower fore mast spar as well as the hanger for it that gets served to the mast tomorrow. I did this in beige since that is what the plans called for. 

 

I learned a trick on the rigging today. When one end is a block and the other end attaches to a ring or other device other than a block, it is easiest to install the line and lace the block first. This allows me to match the blocks and put it in the final position needed then adjust the length of the line at the other end. I used this to match the port and starboard lines from the Bowsprit to the cathead.

 

I tried putting a white towel behind the Connie to get a bit better shots of the rigging. I need a bigger towel (or a sheet) she is a big girl.

[robnbill]

So the rigging slowed down a bit today. The first thing I did was clean up the bow a bit by adding secondary seizings and trimming. I completed rebuilding the top spar. I adjusted the lower spar hanger and mounted it as well as the jeers. I ran the lines from the jeers down to the deck and through the balusters but did not tension them since this would result in the spar rising until the jeer blocks touched. Once I add the counter lines to this, I will start tensioning them.

The next spar up was added and the jeer lines were run down to the side belaying plates. I added the remaining fore mast spars to the mast, but will continue rigging them tomorrow. I am running the lines actually down through the hole in the rack and gluing the pin on top of it. Then I do the lashings around the pin and trim the ends at the rail. Once the coils are placed over the pin, it will look like it was done that way. At least that is my hope. Gosh these pins are small!

I have added the other spars to the mast and will continue rigging them tomorrow.

I did have a mishap when I was moving around from one side to the other. I had my magnifying headset on and was focused in the rigging. I caught and snapped the tip of the Jib boom. Luckily, the break was not smooth but splintered. As a result I was able to effectively glue the tip back on with thick CA and thin CA. I used needle nose pliers to push the sides in together.

Then a quick light sanding and restaining the break area and it was all good again. I did adjust the bow lines a bit to ensure the tip was being held correctly and straight. I read of others breaking their booms and now I have done it. I do not feel the over powering need to ever do this again!

[robnbill]

I have continued to rig the fore mast. During this I learned I misinterpreted the Mamoli plans on the placements of the blocks. I had placed the upper end blocks forward of the stunsail booms. This is incorrect. So I am removing these blocks and reinstalling them correctly as I get to them. This cleans up the rigging well. It just looked wrong before. 

 

I have rigged and tensioned the lower two spars. I have started the rigging for the next spar up. I have found I can tension them once both sides are fully installed. 

 

I have attached a few photos of the ship from the bow aft and closeups of the lower spar rigging. I have to say, I am SO glad I did not rig any of the lower ratlines. They would have been in the way to the point I am sure I would have ended up messing them up. I may rig the ratlines as I complete the rigging for each of the masts. That would break up the ratline knotting sessions a bit. I have a couple of days to decide that.

 

 

 

 

[robnbill]

The good news is I made a bit of progress with the foremast rigging. The bad news, isn't there always bad news after a sentence that starts with "the good news is", my fix to the bowsprit is not holding well. I decided I need to replace the spar. So tomorrow I will start that process. It should not be too bad. I will take photos during the process and post them.

[robnbill]

I spent the morning repairing the Bowsprit. I cut the bindings at the base to the spar, then cut the spar on each side of the forward metal hoop. I soaked some acetone around the hoop then used a small drill to drill holes in the wood through the hoop. This allowed me to remove the remaining spar piece from the hoop. I used an exact blade and cleaned up the mid spar on the bowsprit in preparation of mounting the new one.

 

Then I cut a pice of 3mm dowel to the length required for the replacement. I marked the taper point on the dowel. I put the dowel into the lathe and turned it and used sandpaper to taper it according to the drawings. I then drilled the two 1mm holes in the end of the spar first by drilling .6mm holes followed by the 1mm drill.

 

I sanded and stained the spar. I took a heavy black line and dropped it around the end of the mid spar. This would be underneath the new spar and retain the spacing between the two spars. Once I was happy with the, I used CA to lock it in place. Then I continued to wrap the spar but this time including the but end of the new spar. I continued until I achieved the necessary wraps then locked everything with CA.

 

Next I started restringing the spar. I rethreaded the two lines going through the holes and replaced the rings between them. Then I related the remaining lines taking care to insure they were not tangled. I touched up the end of the spar with white paint. and moved on to the fore mast to continue the rigging.

 

I spent a bit of time reviewing the Mamoli plans to understand exactly how they were notating the end points of each line. Most of the lines I had installed were not locked in place yet. I then cleaned up the lines locking them with CA and trimming the loose ends off per the plans. I will have to go back to these later and add all the requisite coils.

 

The I continued working up the mast . I will continue with the fore mast tomorrow. Hopefully with the majority of that mast completed. I have attached photos of the spar repair before and after.

[robnbill]

Today I completed the rigging of the fore mast. There will still be a number of lines that will be run from the other masts and to the bow, but the main running rigging is completed and the spars are all in place. I was able to complete the ratlines as well. Breaking them up by mast is keeping this from being such an onerous task. I need to check on the main and mizzen mast rigging. If there are lines that tie off to the shrouds like on the fore mast, I plan on running at least one possibly two of the lower ratlines since these should be under the rigging.

[robnbill]

Thanks. She is beginning to take shape now. Tomorrow I plan on starting the rigging on the Main Mast spars. At that point she will be at her widest. The rigging has been fun so far, even the rat lines. Each set is different enough to keep it interesting. Unlike rigging the cannons where it was so repetitive that I wanted to stand in front of one before I finished.

 

There are a number of notations that Mamoli uses without explanation that I had to figure out. Once I did it was a piece of cake.

[HIPEXEC]

Very nice work. Do you wake up in the middle of the night dreaming your trapped in a spagetti factory?

[robnbill]

With lots and lots of sauce! Thanks Rich. Looks like there are two Connies getting dressed right now.

[usedtosail]

Nice work on the rigging Bill. I am impressed with your speed, especially the rat lines. They look great.

[robnbill]

I continued with the running rigging today on the Main Mast. The first thing I did was to run the first set of ratlines across the bottom since a number of lines get tied off over them. Then I served and made the lower boom hangers and rigged the Jeers. Next I attached the remaining spars and rigged the topsail yards and ties. None of these are terminated on deck yet. I added the rings to the fighting top and will complete the rigging for these tomorrow.

 

I spent a bit of time reviewing the rigging for the stern boomkins. The Mamoli plans do not show any bracing to the hull. The Connie actually has two, so I will add rings and tie these in before adding the rigging to the boomkins. Otherwise, since they are just glued on their ends to the hull, they would pull out if anything touched the lines.

 

The forward boomkins are more substantially tied into the bow and will not have the same issue.

 

No photos today. I will get some tomorrow as the Main gets rigged.

[robnbill]

I continued work on the Main Mast running rigging today. The first thing I did was to run the lowest Ratline across both sides of the lower shrouds. This is to allow me to attach the lines over the ratlines. Unlike the fore mast rigging, now that I know how the rigging is working, I am terminating rigging once I get a spar rigged. This way, The lower spars are static as I adjust the upper spar rigging. Last night I did notice that the starboard aft channel that I had moved was not holding perpendicular to the hull. Since this has a number of stays from the mizzen that attach to the aft end of the channel, it was pulling the channel up. To solve this, I pulled the channel back down to it's position and put glue in the holes where the chain plates came through. This fixed the issue since the chain plates are now holding the channel down.

 

I am happy with the progress so far. I am worried that I will run out of .4mm line before I am finished. As I get toward the end, I expect to run low on the various fittings. I have additional .4 line that I will use but it is a slightly different color than the current line (light beige vrs light gray. If I can get all of the fore and mizzen rigging done with this set, then I can use the new line in the fore and aft lines. This would look okay. 

 

Anyway, below is a closeup of the lower main spar rigging. I also have a shot slightly off the bow showing the ship as she is looking now.

 

 

[robnbill]

Today I rigged much of the main mast. However, the lines are mostly not terminated. I started working on the terminations this afternoon, but started seeing double. The lines have to be threaded down through the existing rigging in a manner that does not wrap around other rigging or obstruct anything. Tracing these lines is sometimes difficult given the number of lines running up and down the masts. This is what I really needed fresh eyes to do. So tomorrow morning that will be my project.

 

This is still quite fun to do. I will post more photos tomorrow once the main is complete. Once I finish the current set of rigging I will tie the ratlines like I did on the fore mast. Then it will be off to the Mizzen and spanker booms. I added some additional rigging to the spanker booms based upon the AOS. So I will have to account for these as well as the Mamoli rigging.

 

After the mizzen is installed and those ratlines done, I will need to evaluate the timing of installing the davits. I have held off installing the starboard and port davits since I know I would have knocked them loose on a number of occasions. This way, I hope to only have to install them once. I may do this before or after the remaining rigging. That is why I need to review the drawings to see what would be the best option. 

 

Once the remaining rigging and davit are installed, I will start the building of the the remaining ship's boats. These will be small projects themselves since I will be building them POF like I built the boat over the main hatches. The end is in sight. Still a ways off, but within sight.

 

I have started looking at case designs. I will build the case to fit the ship. Anyone have ideas on the best LED lighting for the case?

Edited December 12, 2014 by robnbill

[fletch944t]

Hey Bill. Things are progressing nicely. Not surprised that your starting to consider cases. I'm a long way away from that point but, I have started looking at LED lighting simply because I'm going to model as much of the gun deck as possible and I'm thinking about lighting the gun deck.

 

Anyway, I'm not sure how often you intend to use the lighting on the case but, that may determine what type of lighting you choose. Some systems supply the lighting via a transformer other are simply supplied by a battery. If you're going to use the lights a lot, I would look at a transformer supplied system. Otherwise, consider one supplied by a battery. Some LED lights will allow you to supply up to 50 LEDs with a 9V battery.

 

It would be a lot of work but, if you would somehow make a hidden channel up the entire length of the frame of the case, you could put lights up the length of each of the corner frames to illuminate the ship from all angles.

 

Just my two cents.

 

Fletch

[robnbill]

Thanks Fletch. I plan on having the lighting on during the evening hours as a normal mode. The plan is to install the case in our foyer. It really must have lights since there are no task lights that would directly be over the case where it would be placed. I have a full wood shop so making the case is no issue. I would need to route slots on the underside of the top frame for the lights as well as provide a channel in one of the corners to take the power up from the bottom. I have a pretty good idea on how to do all of that. I ordered a book on case construction as well as having done a bit of research on the web. There are a number of vendors that offer cases with LED lighting but none of them, at least that I have found, describe the LED lighting in any detail other than offering it as an option. 

 

The color of the lights can really affect what the model will look like. Some LED lights are really bright, but the light is a blue white that I would think would not look very good on the Connie. LED is really the way I want to go since it does not introduce much heat into the case and it lasts a very long time, thus reducing the need to open the case for light maintenance. So I was hoping there were others on the forum that have used LED in their cases that could tell me what specific lights they used and how they liked them.

[fletch944t]

Yeah, you're definitely going to need to go with a system supplied by a transformer. In retrospect, you may want to stick with lights just around the top of the frame shining down on the ship. If you run them up the sides of the frames as well, they might be shining in peoples eyes when they're trying to look at the model.

 

I know what you mean about light color. One of the things I've noticed is that white LED lights seem to be harder to find than colored lights. And, I couldn't agree more about the "color" of the white lights. Typically, the ones I've found come in "bright white" and "warm white". The bright white are the ones that have the bluish tint to them and I don't think would be appropriate for case lighting or lighting within the ship. The warm white has more of a yellowish or golden tint to them. Personally, the warm white is probably what I'll use for the case and for illuminating the gun deck.

 

I'll definitely be interested to see how other with more experience respond to what they've used and what works best.

 

Fletch

[robnbill]

Over the last couple of days, I have been able to complete the rigging of the main mast, including the ratlines. I have also attached the spars to the mizzen and have begun the rigging on those. I was able to add the jeers and the block set that goes below the spar to the lower mast. This is unique to the mizzen. I did not have room to add a ring between the mizzen mast and the ship's wheel, so I added the ring to the lower part of the mast. 

 

Tomorrow I will continue to work on the mizzen rigging. I did notice that the top spar has the blocks reversed, but that will be an easy fix. Once these spars are rigged, I will add the spanker booms and the ship will be fully grown. Then I will complete the rigging with the lines running fore to aft to control the spars. So the end is in sight. Given the remaining work, including building and mounting the three POF whale/ships boats from scratch, I believe I might be able to complete the ship by the end of February. We shall see how good my prognostication is. 

 

I moved the ship over to the table saw and hung a white towel behind it to help in seeing the rigging. I do promise to get better shots once the rigging is complete.

 

 

[usedtosail]

Your rigging really looks great, Bill 

[HIPEXEC]

Excellent work!

[HIPEXEC]

How are your upper shrouds anchored to the mast below the fighting tops and futtocks?

[robnbill]

I used a Bentinck Shroud configuration. All of the upoer shoruds tie into a ring and the ring then crosses to the opposite side of the deck and anchor to a hook set tied to a ring attached to the lower bulkhead. This follows the rigging on the current ship as well as what probably was on the ship during the 1812 period. Only the fore and main masts are like this. The mizzen all come down to a single catharpin.

Edited December 19, 2014 by robnbill

[robnbill]

I completed rigging the mizzen today. Tomorrow  I will start working the spar control rigging (fore to aft). This starts with the spritsail yard and moves aft ending with the spanker booms. This will include the rigging for the main hatch ship’s boat. Once these are complete I will rig the lower mizzen shroud ratlines. Given the interior rigging remaining holding off on the ratlines seems to make sense.

 

Remaining work will be the control lines running fore and aft in the spars then the three ships boats.

 

 

[HIPEXEC]

I'm really enjoying looking at your model.

[CaptainSteve]

I'm really enjoying looking at your model.

 

Amen !!!

[robnbill]

Thanks you all for your likes and comments. I have made much progress yesterday by attaching the control rigging to the Bowsprit Spar as well as creating and rigging the ships handling lines running from the main and fore masts. This is all in accordance with the Mamoli plans. I will continue the rigging today with the spanker booms and their associated rigging. I also noticed I forgot one of the mizzen spar lifts when reviewing the work last night. SO I will fix that first thing this morning.

 

I will take some photos of the work tonight once I complete it.

[robnbill]

I completed a milestone today. All of the spars are now attached to the ship and rigged. The last layer of rigging, those going to control the angle of the spars still has to be added. I also need to run the lower mizzen ratlines. I plan on doing the ratlines and starting the remaining rigging tomorrow. Once this is done, then I need to install the side davits for the two rear side lifeboats and build the three lifeboats. Then I need to add the many coils to the rigging to complete the ship!

 

Here is a quick photo I took of the ship as it sits tonight.

 

 

[GLakie]

She's turning out great Bill.

 

Cheers