When I visited the Constitution back in the 60s, I seem to remember support pillars at each corner of the hatch beside the ladders. That is if my memeory isn’t fading on me. If my memeory is correct, then you could make use of those pillars or columns as spreaders.
Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately with the spar deck already installed, I am limited regarding the kind of modifications I can make.
I have purchased from Bluejacket some very narrow ladders. I will try playing with these to see if I can work something out.
Jose
Are these the support pillars you are referring to ? I never know these pillars existed on that ship.
Those are quite common on 18th- 19th C warships. They are removable, and part of what would be "cleared for action.
As for the ladders in place now, as per museum ships they are sized and placed to get tourists in and out.
compliment is what you were paid…the I is correct for receiving accolades.
Yes they are. I seem to recall some at the hatch corners though that may be a “mismemory”.
Hi all,
I did add these "stanchions " to the model, see my previous post from 4-1-2018, the last pic in the post. The stanchions are visible through the main hatch on my May 20, 2018 post and March 26, 2019 post, as are the anchor cable and messenger.
As Bill noted, these are removed during battle, and are probably too flimsy to support the stress presented by the anchor cable and messenger during the raising of the anchors.
Also, the messenger and anchor cable should not be separated by the ladder, since during anchor raising the two are lashed together.
I have decided to use the narrow ladders I ordered and received from BlueJacket. They are made of white metal and I’m having difficulty trimming off the flash. I will post pics shortly.
Jose
I think the Constitution went from hemp to chain anchor cables in the 1830s. They had the route to the orlop deck just forwardof the hatch, dropping down through what looked like mini hausers in the gun deck, through the berth deck down to storage in the orlop deck.
If you haven’t fixed the cable and ladder problem yet, that might be a solution.
I messed up my second Connie. I got my dremel out and routed out where the pin rails were going, then without a second thought, painted the bulwarks. Now I will have to follow Bill Morrisons suggestion and pin them using wire. The glue isn’t holding. I think Revell should have put a warning about glue and paints in there right up front, but it probably would not have done any good!
My first Conni is going well, installing guns now. Waiting on anchor rope as the kit doesn’t provide enough if you are planning on rigging the cables and messengers.
Rick,
I had also previously painted my bulwarks before trying to add the pinrails. I knew the glue wouldn’t hold AND I had created the bolt pattern by adding a thin layer of styrene which I had pushed a dulled T-pin into, creating a raised bolt pattern on the other side. So I had to scrape off the paint and the “raised bolts” before gluing. Never trusting the CA to hold forever, I also pinned them all through the hull with wire. Documented it all in my thread. So I feel your pain. Luckily I have lots of surgical tools at my disposal, so I was able to find an 1/8th inch cuvette which easily did the trick of scraping down to bare plastic.
Good luck with yours! Pinning is the way to go. Doing it also for all the channels as well.
Bob
I got a copy of Constitution plans, must have been for the 1830s or later as the plans show chain anchor cable. There is the gun deck, spar deck, rigging, transom, cannons and hull.
It shows two stern bulkheads, for the Commodore as well as the captain, shot storage on the spar and gun decks. The last two long guns were in the Commodores quarters.
I will put pix on Fotki and see if I can send tham to FSC. I dnot know how clear they will be.
Probably they weren’t when the Commodore was on board. It was also common in the era of Nelson to have a big piece of canvas stretched on the deck with some type of floor pattern painted on it.
Useless piece of knowledge- those are spurling pipes.
These plans show 15 25 pounders on each side of the gun deck.
I went to bed, today I will try to post them on fotki.
They are to big for one pic so there will be a couple of pix for the spar deck and gun deck.
The rigging sheet is massive.
I think I’ll see if Minute Man Printing can do anything with them. There is no copyright date on them.
They are from an old Model Expo kit.
still can not get pix from album into FSM. Can not find reply window in FSC.
Model Expo plans are in album in Fotki.
These are posted in my fotki forum to share with anyone who wants them.
They are not Model Expo plans, they are Model Shipways plans, my bad.
They are old.
I am not a pc guru. Sorry about that. I’m lucky I can thurn this thing on!
Looking up spurling pipes!
I can not believe how dumb I am regarding things nautical. Looking up names and terms…sculley, galley, scuttle…a scuttle refers to a hold? Good grief!
I have the Model Shipways Constitution plans. They are nothing like Revell plans.
Revell shows 16 guns per side on the gun deck, Model Shipways shows 15. Where the 1st gun on each side on Revell plans, is water closets for warrant officers, etc,on both sides in place of the guns. On the farm our water closets were called “outhouses”;they were tough in the winter, you would stick to them! I can only imagine what using them was like for the seaman ordinary on the bowsprit!
We bought our farm in 1947 after WWII. We had no plumbing or electric until 1953. The farm house was 12 rooms and was built 1n 1842. The biggest body of water we had was two creeks that ran through the lower (southern) fields through 40 acres of woods we had bordering our farm and the one next to us. We had a 10 foot skiff for fishing the creeks and to us that was a “big boat!” powered by two oars… The creeks were 80 feet to 150 yards wide, 8 feet deep at the deepest spot, trout fishing was amazing.
So what you have here is a die- in- the- wool bewildered landlubber trying to build the USS Constitution. Learning the nautical terms is like learning a new language. I am building (or attempting to build) the Constitution because I love American History, my country, and that ship has always been special to me.
Working with wood in no stranger to me. I built the house I am in now with my own hands because we couldn"t afford to purchase one. But about all I know about ships is that they float in water…God willing!
Hi all!
I’ve installed ladders for the main hatch at the forward end. A couple of adjustments - 1. I used narrower BlueJacket ladders that I ordered to replace the Revell-provided ladders; 2. I ran the ladders from the aft side of the gun-deck hatch rather than on either side of the gun-deck hatch.
20200223_223833 by Jose Gonzales, on Flickr
20200223_223845 by Jose Gonzales, on Flickr
20200223_223941 by Jose Gonzales, on Flickr
I temporarily placed the cutter into the boat cradle to make sure the boat wouldn’t interfere with the ladder access, since the ladders are a little closer together because of the anchor cable and messenger cable.
I also added rope rails and brass stanchions made from 1/32 diameter brass tubing topped with brass eyelets.
Cheers,
Jose
The placement of the guns on the gun deck is a major problem with the Revell kit. They are not spread out enough; the result is an extra gun on each side. You can see this at the midship position (between the bulwarks on the main deck); Revell has 4 guns on the gun deck. According to the Hull model, there should only be 3 guns at that position. The Revell lay out is all wrong, and just about impossible to fix! On my Connie, I refused to use 16 guns per side; so I installed 15 guns and closed the front port on each side!
That is what I have done too. I considered altering the bulwarks but do not think that is a practical option. I Glued the kits gunports in the closed position and filled with putty, then extended the gun stripe to hide the alteration.
On the Model Shipway plans where the number 1 guns are on the Revell kit, MS shows two water closets for Warrant Officers and Midshipmen. RHIP!
You can add a sty up forward of the bitts as well.
A sty? As in hog sty???