I’ve been off this forum for about three plus years - mostly because I didn’t have time or space to work on models. Anyway, I got my 1/96 Revell Constitution out to finally get back to work on it. I’m building it up to resemble the 1812 configuration. So far I only have the cannons and carronades done (just barrels). I have the hull put together and the rudder is in. I’m about to start on the decks and of course putting together all those little gun carriage assemblies. I’ve gone back and done some searches, even reviewing my posts from three plus years ago regarding building this kit. However, the search function seems a bit difficult to navigate through. I’ve saved a few pics here and there from some other builds of the 1812 configuration I’ve run across, but I’m looking to see if someone can post a link to a nice comprehensive build along of the 1812 configuration. I’m an experienced modeler from YEARS ago, but haven’t built anything in literally about 20 years. I’ve never built a rigged sailing ship either. So, I’d like to keep this a mostly out of the box build but if I can do some minor detailing here and there I will as long as it’s not too crazy. I know one thing that was mentioned last go around was that the plastic deadeyes in the kit should be discarded in favor of something more sturdy, either diy wire ones or from a company like Bluejacket. If I go the Bluejacket route just for laziness-sake, which size of deadeye should I be getting? Any other suggestions regarding this build? I’ll try to post pics as well as I get into the process. I’m planning on making this ship with the sails since I want the option of doing it as a water line diorama model at some point. I was planning on just using the kit sails as well since I’d seen a couple that had been done with the kit sails and didn’t look too bad.
Now for my second question. For a future project I’d like to tackle building a replica of the Aubrey/Maturin Patrick O’Brien HMS Surprise. I remember seeing a nice build along of someone’s kit bash of the Lindbergh ‘Jolly Roger’ (La Flore), frigate. However, the search function being what it is, I can’t seem to find that post. I remember it showed how the builder modified the stern gallery, decks, etc. That would be a project of course for after I finish the Constitution but I dearly loved the O’Brien books and would love to build a Surprise. Also, I’m wondering if anyone has ever built a plastic kit replica of of any of the ships that Horatio Hornblower served on. I’ve read a few of the Hornblower books and generally enjoy them but I don’t like Hornblower nearly as much as Aubrey as far as main characters go. So, any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.
Matt…You should visit the web site www.modelshipgallery.com and see the step-by-step process of how Don Ferguson kit bashed the Lindburg, Jolly Roger 1/130 scale kit into an impressive H.M.S. SURPRISE of the Patrick O’ Brien series of novels. Some of the photos of his work is pictured above. Hope this helps you.
Montani semper liberi ! Happy modeling to all and every one of you.
Just getting into the hobby an I’m doing just aircraft right now, but one day I have to do a Surprise to put next to my Aubrey-Maturin books, Favorite books, you have superb taste.
if you ever get a chance you should get down to San Diego. The Maritime Museum has the HMS Surprise from the movie Master and Commander. My avatar is me standing at the ships wheel.
Thanks! I’m pretty sure that Don Ferguson kit bash is the one I saw a few years ago. I’ve got it bookmarked now. I’ll set aside some time to go through it and save the photos to my computer in case the website goes away or whatever.
That’s definitely one of the builds I’ve seen, however it doesn’t appear to be complete. There was a build I saw somewhere that I could swear showed how the modeler scratch built the stern gallery and put it on amongst other things he did to the model to modify it to more closely resemble the Surprise. I’ll have to keep looking around some more. Does anybody have advice about the dead eyes for the Constitution? I read about either making them from wire or buying ones like from Bluejacket. What size would I use for the Constitution if I was buying from Bluejacket. And, if I was making them myself what gauge would work best? Maybe 22 gauge or smaller?
Matt…Rather than make your own deadeyes, it would be best to save time and effort to buy them ready made from BlueJacket Ship Crafters. I tried making my own deadeyes, which turned out to be a huge pain on the sitdown. Bluejacket deadeyes are made from cast britannia metal, a kind of puter, which can be painted. Write, phone or e-mail and ask for their catalog and compare the picture size in the catalog to the kit deadeyes.
The address for BlueJacket is: 160 East Main Street, Searsport, Maine 04974, or 1-800-448-5567, online: www.bluejacketinc.com
If you prefer wooden deadeyes, contact… ModelExpo, at 3850 North 29th Terrace, Hollywood, FL 33020, or www.modelexpo-online.com phone: 1-800-222-3876
Hope my information can help you. Be sure to post online your project for Forum members to see.
Montani semper liberi ! Happy modeling to all and every one of you.
The pictures are good enough that you won’t need to brush up on your Czech.
Her 1812 configuration is a bit dicey and can lead to some acrimonious debate. It comes down to two camps - white stripe or yellow? I think it is generally accepted that Charles Stewart painted a yellow stripe on his cruise late in the war. How she looked when she first burst into glory against Guerriere is where it gets interesting. The famous “Hull” model is the best place to start. This model was created by the crew and presented to captain Isaac Hull as a parting gift when he gracefully resigned to allow the more senior Bainbridge to assume command - and to attend to family matters. The model shows green bulwarks and a white stripe. One would assume this is definitive. One would probably be wrong… Turns out captain Hull himself commissioned the noted marine artist Michel Felice Corne to paint a series of scenes from the battle. Presumably Hull guided the details…
My personal theory is that the model represents her post-refit state as she left on her cruise with the threat of war looming - Constitution probably looked like the model during her famous escape into Boston from Broke’s squadron at the opening of the war. While he was in port, I think captain Hull put her on a war footing by painting yellow over the white stripe (possibly at his own expense) - a common ruse de guerre - and quickly put back to sea before he could get orders for him to hand the ship to Bainbridge. The paintings show the ends of the ship still trimmed in white with the stripe and lower masts painted yellow ochre. The stern cabin window frames are red (a common British practice - note the Guerriere stern in the painting) as is the “shutter” trim on the quarter galleries. The boat dangling from the stern davit is green. If I were painting a model I’d follow this scheme with the green bulwarks and coamings of the Hull model incorporated.
I’d be in the minority - most folks would go with the white stripe.
You bring up some interesting points. I had already started out with the white stripe painted on the hull based on my earlier research. I had intended to paint the bullwarks green as seems to be the accepted color for the 1812 configuration. I’ll have to do some more reading and ponder those paintings a little more closely. I like the Czech build as well. I was able to pop the url into the Google translate feature and even though the translation is lacking in a lot of places I can still get the gist of what the discussion is about and what the modeler was trying to achieve. His model looks VERY nice! Anyway, thanks for the links and the info. Also, I’m definitely going to just buy the dead eyes from Bluejacket rather than have to make them all by hand. If I had to make them all by hand I think it’d probably keep me from doing as much work, or would make me work more sporadically.
I’m not sure if this is the post you were looking for, but I brought “HMS Surprise, The movie version” back to the top. It is over two and a half years since last posting, and you’d have to go to “sorting and filtering”, and select “show all”, then apply and save to be able to search for it. That would get you to every mention of “HMS Surprise”, then you’d have to find the specific thread. This way, it’s current.
