So now we get into an area that I fiddled with incessantly, out of inexperience, and that I will absolutely do differently the next time. That area is actually joining all of the shroud work to the masts.
I very recently discovered Lennarth Peterson’s book, Rigging Period Sail Ships, and boy do I wish I had had it a few months back when I was working on the shrouds. But I didn’t, so I just winged it.
The main effect I was interested in replicating is the “stack” of shroud lines at the cross-trees. This is something that is very visible in true sailing ships,but not accounted for in any of the pre-fab shroud/ratline assemblies in the kits I’ve seen, whether molded plastic or the coated thread included with such kits as the 1:96 Conny.
Anyway, I knew I wanted a stack of thread up there, and just decided that the easiest way to do that was to individually seize shrouds to both the port and starboard deadeyes, and then just tie them off up on the mast.
First, I glued the deadeye/channel assembly to the hull (if you peek past the shrouds in this pic, you can see I finally got around to dragging a little black paint across the shot in the shot racks):
Then I’d pull all the thread up to the mast and start layering and tying off. A mare’s nest ain’t in it . . .
Then, ratlines. And more ratlines. At this scale, I just dragged them thru some CA and held in place till they gripped. Then I came along and snipped the ends once everything was dry.
Bill–
Mostly because I’ve actually already finished the kit, and she’s up on the shelf!
I guess that that answers that!
The history of this ship is extremely complicated, and there have been dozens of controversial points. If you try to get everything “right,” you won’t (assuming you’re older than age ten) finish more than two or three ship models in this lifetime.
Your approach, I think, is excellent: try lots of ideas, and if/when one of them doesn’t quite work, don’t sweat it. Next time you’ll know that shrouds are rigged in pairs - starting with one deadeye, up around the masthead, down to the next deadeye. The results you got are far, far superior to what the vast majority of people get from that kit. In rigging the shrouds and rat lines at all you’ve gone far beyond te typical kit purchaser. That’s a mighty small scale for rigging ratlines.
When you start worrying about things like the gunport lids, you start sliding down a slippery, endless slope. It’s been pretty well established that in 1812 her gunports. were closed with removable wood shutters, not hinged lids. But if you want to build that kit in 1812 configuration you’ll have to gut the kit (starting by changing virtually every feature of the spar deck). Those two-part lids with the semi-circular cutouts are shown on the Navy plans that Revell used. They’re shown in mid-nineteenth-century photos, and they were certainly there - and painted white- the first time I saw her, in 1966 or thereabouts. In other words, the way you did it is consistent with how she looked for much of her career.
So, on to the ship’s boats. Here you see them, primed and laid out with their respective rails/seats. Note that this kit only include 4 boats, not the full complement, which I think clocks in at seven.
Most build logs seem to have a section just like this, and almost everyone seems to agree that working on these little guys is fun, and welcome diversion from some of the “sloggier” bits of work.
I was no exception. I turned to these in the middle of working on the shrouds and ratlines, and it was gratifying to be able to focus on and complete the work here. The first thing I did was to lift an idea I’ve seen in quite a few spots online, and create some duckboards for the boats, using cedar veneer (again from a cigar box):
This is for the larger of the boats; I believe it’s the launch, but could be wrong. Once I trimmed and filed this to fit, it looked like this in a test fitting:
Put it all together, along with a coat of glossy white on the hull, and it looks like this. FYI, I tried quite a few different paint jobs on the oars. At this scale, a simple coat of solid paint just made them look like in indistinct blob, since they’re molded all in one piece. I spent a bit of time using a number 11 blade to actually cut into the pieces in the crevices, then hit them with a dark rust color, and over-brushed with a couple of lighter wood tones.
Excellent attention to detail! And, John, I couldn’t agree more! Well said!
Bill
And here’s the finished launch, posing temporarily in the brackets atop the waist timbers:
Also, John, to pick up on something you mentioned, i.e., the proper way to rig the shrouds . . . one big issue I encountered was balancing the various forces at play on the mast, and keeping it relatively square and true.
I don’t have any pictures to help with this part of the story, but, if we break down the (incorrect) way I did it, you have a handful of things to contend with:
- The fact that I was tying off as many as nine port-to-starboard shrouds on a single mast meant that I had nine opportunities to pull the “yaw” of the mast out of true, and force it to list to port or starboard
- It also meant that I had to set relative tightness from fore to aft, with the aftmost shrouds being the loosest. Reason for this? Once I put the main stay in for each mast, it would pull the most forward, and if the aft shrouds were too tight, then the forward shrouds would hang loose. That’s probably hard to, um, picture without pictures, now that I read thru this. [:S]
In any event, I spent tons of time futzing around with all this, which gave me a much better appreciation with the elegance and hard-fought efficiency of doing things the right way.
Once I had finished the ratlines, on both the lower and upper shrouds, it was time to turn to the (simulated) rigging of the ship. I don’t have any individual pictures to show the work I did on the forward stays, but it was fairly straightforward stuff. I started with the mainstays for each mast, and then moved onto the bowsprit (you can see the fore mainstay in the photo below).
I should note that I made a pretty large error in the shot below. You’ll see it immediately, but I tied a loop/splice on a jib-boom line that should have been a pass-through. This was a combination of my ignorance on the matter, and the fact that I actually needed to do it this way to pull the yard back into true, since the glue had dried with it slightly off. Lessons, I’ve learned a few.
Here’s a shot from later in the build that shows the boomkins. Also, you’ll note that the anchors are mounted, and that I actually managed to work a gammoning around the bowsprit, even though the kit doesn’t account for that:
Here she is with the fore and back stays in place. Somewhere along in here, I actually got the yards onto the masts as well:
After this, it was basically down to lifts, and braces, hanging the ship’s jolly boats, and fine tuning.
I hung the jolly boats based on the rigging setup outlined in the instruction set for the 1:96 kit. The instructions in the 1:196 kit only include the lines attaching the boats to the davits, and leave out the lines running up to the mizzen mast.
I also adding the lashings holding the sheer pole to the davits:
I just realized you can catch the mainbrace in this shot. More on that later.
Hmmm. Photo didn’t come thru. Here it is again . . .
Here’s the boat hanging off of the stern davits. Sorry for the blurriness:
You can also see the stern chasers (with painted tompions) peeking thru.
This is a fairly close-in shot, showing the work on the lifts and braces. A few comments:
- I used light tan thread for the lifts, and used a heavier thread for the main yard lifts on each mast
- I used gray thread for the braces, and then dry brushed with black paint, very lightly, to try to add some visual dimension.
- I waxed the heck out of the braces, and held them across a hot light bulb, in an effort to really get the wax in there. I wanted to be able to reflect the natural hang or drape of the brace lines, particularly on a ship where the sails haven’t been bent to the yards.
- Oh yeah, I had decided to leave the sails off of the build. The pre-formed plastic ones that come with the kit just didn’t work for me, and I had no confidence in my ability to get the look/scale/feel of sails right on the first throw . . . particularly at this scale
We’re actually nearing the end, folks. Thanks for following along.
I mentioned the mainbrace earlier. In so many photos I’ve seen, I’ve been struck by the way the natural weight of the cable generates a graceful drape on lines that aren’t under tension. I really wanted to have this look on my Conny, and the place where it seemed most evident in the real world was the main brace.
So, for these lines, I literally went the melted-beeswax route. I melted the beeswax in a double-ramekin double boiler rig in the microwave, dropped the thread in and stirred it around, then removed and quickly dragged it across another wax cake to wring off the excess. I quickly placed on the model . . . in this case, from the stern bumpkin to the main yard . . . and molded the shape till it looked right to my eye.
I tweaked a bit, and then wrapped and glued to the model.
You could probably make a case that I over-did the drape effect, but to my eye, and at this scale, it felt right. I think it was one of those cases where you have to exaggerate the effect until it’s noticeable. Or something like that.
And it was at this point that I realized one of the most important lessons of all–the proper time to mount your ship to the pedestals and display board is as soon as you finish the hull.
The most nervous I’ve been in years was drilling the two holes in the keel of what was very nearly a finished model. You can bet I took my sweet time about it. I used the pin vise to start the holes, and stepped up thru 4 different drill bits before I was done.
So, here are some glory shots of the finished, mounted USS Constitution, 1:196 scale . . .
Thanks!
Charles
Charles,
I want to add my Welcome Aboard also. Your Constitution is coming along nicely so please keep uploading your work. I also built this ship any number of times in my youth and a year and a half ago with my oldest son. It was for a school presentation and he did an awesome job on the build and the presentation.
I love the finished Constitution and wonder what is on the ways next.
Steve
Impressive first build! I am more impressed by the lessons learned! What’s next?
Bill
Steve–what a great story of sharing this hobby with your son! Love that, and would love to see some pics of what his Conny looked like.
Bill–well, I currently have the 1:96 version of the Constitution on my workbench. So far, I haven’t done much more than stare at it, and re-read Evan’s and Arnie’s build logs on this site. [:D] I’m trying to figure out the best path forward for my current skill set. I don’t want to get so over-ambitious that I end up frustrated, but I do want to look for ways (as I did on this build) to expand and enhance upon a mostly OOB build.
I’ve ordered some styrene stock, and have decided to build up the gun ports and bulwarks on the inner hull. I’m also considering ordering the Bluejacket PE set for the Constitution, but part of me wants to see what I can accomplish with the parts provided, and continue to use all of this as a learning process.
I have decided that I will build the shrouds and ratlines from scratch again, mostly because I now know how to properly do that, and I want to correct the historical record!
Once I get started in earnest, I’ll post some updates in a new build log. I think. [;)]
And thanks again to all for the great feedback . . . I couldn’t have asked for a better welcome.
Charles