Ship's boats - Revell Constitution

To refer to the boat colors, I too have come across data refering the captains gig to be a dark green, or maybe black. Also, I am seeing that some boats are natural wood with a black stripe, or white with either a dark green or black stripe. All the interiors have been natural oiled wood.

Tillers and free boards may have been stowed or mounted, my guess would be they would stow any movable parts in the boat to prevent these items from becoming obstructions when moving the boat out of the water and when the boat is stowed.

My speculation would be that a captain may paint the boat for identification purposes. Since the cutters would be sent into ports where cutters from others ships would be tied up, it would help determine what boat went to what ship. Same would be for battle, when the boats are sent over the side.

Scott

I don't have any information specific to the boats of the Constitution, but I can offer a few general comments.

he boats in the Revell kit (if I remember correctly; it's been a long time since I looked at one) are basically sound in terms of shape but don't have much detail. They almost certainly should have floorboards - along with keelsons, frames, gratings in the sternsheets, masts, furled sails, and all sorts of other stuff. They probably, but not necessarily, would be stowed with the rudders attached. A boat's rudder could be manipulated by either a wood tiller or a "yoke," a roughly semi-circular piece of wood attached to the top of the rudder post with two holes in it for "tiller ropes," which would be worked by the coxwain. At least one of the boats on board a good-sized ship probably would be fitted with a windlass, for handling the ship's anchors.

I recall, from more years ago than I want to think about, having a conversation with Cdr. Tyrone Martin, who was the Constitution's commanding officer at the time, in which he told me that he'd found a reference in one of the ship's logs from the War of 1812 to "the green cutter." To my knowledge there was no standardized rule for the painting of ships' boats at the time; that was a place where the captain could express his originality. I have the impression that black was the most common color, with white seen fairly frequently as well.

Effort spent on a ship model's boats is rarely wasted. The modeler usually comes to them late in the building process, and it's a temptation to get them out of the way in a hurry. But they inevitably are centers of attention on the finished product. Well-detailed boats are a sign of a really determined modeler.

Hope this helps a little.