Revell (Monogram) 1/96 USS Constitution

Hi Mike,

caught your post and I have exactly the same question!! I'm where you were at 8 years ago. What did you ever end up doing? If you can remember? lol

Those are probally too big for the scale but it what I had at the time. I've been making up them with small diameter wire as I go right now.

Brother Big Jake, I love those premade eyebolts.  They revolutionized my plastic ship modeling world!

Mikeym us,

Well, I just touched all the lines and can't say they're too tight. However, if the A/C over the summer has a different effect than the forced air heating has had over the winter, I'll be somewhat taken aback. Then again, being retired, I might just build her again (with the knowledge of how I've screwed up thus far it might be a better build

Mike S.

The rigging on the foremast looks good but a tad bit tight this early on into your rigging. What you are seeing in the pic is not lense distortion but actual bending of the foremast if you made it slightly loose

you could rig your masts and still allow for the eventual tightening and slackening due to humidity. As it stands now once you finish rigging your ship you could come back and find all of your masts snapped due to tension.

1943Mike

Thanks for the encouragemen LeeTree.

Here's a picture of how she sits just now. I think the distortion in the lens makes the foremast look as if it's leaning forward. It's not - or not by more than a millimeter or two. I think after I rig the backstays all the masts should be OK.

Mike

MIke,

I'm in the middle of building a Connie right now for a customer.  In rigging the blocks to the various parts/sections, I try to see how the real ship would have been done.  I think we can all agree that most blocks were either fixed to an etebolt or tied off with several wraps of lines.  IN rigging the connie the inst. tell you to "tie" the blocks to the mast and other parts, but I find if I can use pre-made eyebolts or (make them smaller myself) and drill a small holes int eh parts and fix the eyebolt with teh block attached to that point, Make a much neater look and is correct 99% of the time (see pics)  When doing this I'll either drill a small holes and fix an extra eyebolt or rig a block

BTW I have a webshots build album with over a hundred pics for your review and use if needed.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/579191039SNookZ

I should have used smalled eyebolts but my eyes have been bothering me lately and I got lazy.  Hope this helps. 

Lonski,

Thanks for the encouragement to show our mistakes. I discovered yesterday a major mistake in my Connie. I never seated the mizzen mast properly which is why the trysail mast was too short! And why I jury rigged some extensions. The mizzen mast is about 5/8" too high - how embarrassing!

However, I will trudge on and finish her as best I can. All the pleasure this ship has given me over the very cool, wet winter here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon has been priceless - even if she's not perfect.

Just to let all of you know what a glutton for punishment I am, I've won the bid for a 1974 Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark and that will be my next build.

Thanks again to all of you who have given me more confidence and allowed me to feel good about the time I've put into this hobby even with my ridiculous mistakes!

Mike Stolting

Gads Mike, looks good!  Okay, please understand what I'm saying when I say the following.  And the rest of you should not be offended either.  As far as not wanting to show any mistakes here, this may be a forum of some of the finest gentlemen and lady mistake makers in the world!  Sometimes we cut it off twice and it's still too short, that type of thing.  Sometimes it's the kit parts or the kit itself!   But we have each other and that's why I'm here!  Modeling as well as assembling ships in full scale is a little less perfection and a lot more artistic license.  I know, that's my real job.  If we were perfect at it, we wouldn't have 1" of excess on assemblies for fitting them together.  Just watch the ships being assembled on some of those TV shows.

By the way, my Connie kit is gathering dust on the shelf.  

1943mike:  Very nice.  I have one of these kits half finished in a box in the stash, some day i wanna rig it with sails deployed and all!!!

Thanks for the encouragemen LeeTree.

Here's a picture of how she sits just now. I think the distortion in the lens makes the foremast look as if it's leaning forward. It's not - or not by more than a millimeter or two. I think after I rig the backstays all the masts should be OK.

Mike

Mike,

I haven't built a ship in some time and haven't participated in the ship threads...but...

...mate - there are no stupid questions.  If you don't know, then ask.  Nobody points and laughs.

Also...show pics of your work...whether WIP or finished works...you'll only get constructive criticism here.  How can you learn if you don't ask?  I've become a better modeler by having others point out errors or give advice.  It's what we're all here for....to learn, and have a bit of fun.

Can't wait to see your Constitution.

Goodness180,

Thanks, but not until I've gotten back into this a bit more. I'd really be embarrassed to show all my mistakes to this crowd!

I moved from Pasadena, CA to Salem, OR last September and the weather during the winter has been a real shock to me. (It's not like I've never seen rain - I spent my first 29 years in NYC and going to school upstate NY) but it's the inverse of southern CA. In Pasadena we might expect 10 or 20 days of clouds and rain at most ALL YEAR! Here in Salem - since the second week in November, 2010, there may have been 20 days of sunshine - the rest cloudy, or mostly cloudy and/or rainy. I don't really mind since it's so beautiful here in the summer and fall. At any rate that's why I bought the model - to kill some time. It's becoming a very enjoyable experience however and I may have to try another 1/96 like the Lindberg Sea Witch if I ever get the Connie done.

Maybe on my next project.....?

Mike Stolting

1943Mike, you should have joined the Shiver Me Timbers Ship Group Build.  Here is the link the starter page if your interested

/forums/t/131974.aspx

Thanks Jose, that was very helpful!

Mike Stolting

Yahoo - someone's building a sailing ship model!!!

Here is a link to some great photos of the USS Constitution at the Smithsonian taken by Steve Larson. This model is the basis for the Revell 1/96 Model. The pix of the stern in this set are identical to the Revell:

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/sail/constitution-48-sm/con-index.html

If you look closely at the pix of the boomkin, it is a straight spar, not the wavy one that is on the Revell model. I don't know where they (Revell) modeled theirs after. Most boomkins of the period were just straight spars. Both the guys supporting them and the running rigging were usually simply looped and tied around the boomkin - no eyebolts required.

I used all 3 holes (front and back eyebolts and the hole at the end) for the 3 guys, and debated whether or not to use any of them for the running rigging - I ended up tying the tack lines onto the boomkin without using any of the holes for that.

There are lots of resources available regarding the rigging of the ship; all, some, or none are to be believed. Also, what's cool about rigging is that if you change your mind about anything, unlike the plastic parts, the rigging can simply be removed (snipped off with a pair of scissors) and redone.

Good luck on your build!

Jose Gonzales

Here, I hope, is a picture of what I'm trying to say.

http://michaels.0catch.com/1050929---for-finescale.jpg

Mike Stolting

Thanks Bill,

I've already strung the guys but I am curious about the "double duty"  the eyes in the boomkins are supposed to do. Like I said, I'm not sure about the drawing for manropes and boomkin guys. It seems confusing to me.

Mike Stolting

Sorry Mike . . . I just saw this thread.  I will check the plans to see if I can help this evening.

Bill Morrison

P.S.  Ditto . . . the only stupid question is the one not asked!

A good source for rigging the Constitution is The Anatomy of a Ship : The 44 Gun Frigate USS Constitution by Karl Heinz Marquardt. I have heard some complaints about the book, but not about the rigging diagrams.

Hope that helps,

Pete

LAP, Thanks for the reply.

I ended up using the forward  eyehole in the boomkins to thread through enough line to tie to the two eyebolts on the hull that are most forward based on the instructions. I wrapped some thread around the most rear of the eyehole projections on the boomkins (I used the actual eyeholes to tie the AA blocks to) and ran the thread (guy line) to the sternmost of the eyebolts to be used for this on the hull (the topmost of three) as illustrated in the instructions. It may not be what I'm supposed to do but I'm definitely not building a masterpiece here. I do not have the talent that many of you on this site have so I'll just hope that anyone visiting my condo - when I finished it - will view it from more than 5 feet away

Mike

Mike:

I am building the same model although it was in my stash for 6 years. I am at work but will check the plans this evening and see if I can help you with this.

LAP

Thanks Buckeye, I appreciate that you chimed in.

I'm just a little suprised that others on this site - many of whom I'd assumed had built the 1/96 Connie - have not offered an answer to my question. I guess maybe there aren't as many 1/96 Connie builders watching this site as I'd thought.

Anyway, it's not going to hold me back from continuing the standing rigging or, for that matter, going on the the running rigging if I can't figure it out. I suppose I could either drill out the eyeholes in the boomkins a little to accommodate two thicknesses of thread - or - wrap the thread for the guys around the outside of the eyeholes on the boomkins and leave the holes for the block and the lower sheet and tack line of the foremast.

In any case, thanks again for piping up and letting me know someone actually saw my question.

Mike

Sorry, can't help you but there are no stupid questions here.

Can anyone help here? Please?