Another USS Constitution Question From A Ship Newbie

I haven't looked at the kit for a good many years, but I'm fairly confident that the colors are generally correct. Revell, however, has a habit of making the color callouts on its instructions kind of sketchy. The "barbor pole" carvings between the windows should, for instance, be painted in red and white diagonal stripes.

Gold was not nearly as common a color in early-nineteenth-century ship decoration as it was in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Gold leaf existed, of course, but it usually was applied only in small areas. (H.M.S. Victory, for instance, has scarcely any gold paint on her. It's confined to the figurehead, some of the carvings at the top of the transom, and some details of the canopies over the entry ports.) As I recall, Revell suggests painting most of the head rails at the bow and the scrollwork between them gold. That may be right, but I'd be more inclined to paint most of those parts yellow ochre, and reserve the gold for the most elaborate of the carvings.

The truth of the matter is that we aren't sure exactly what colors the Constitution was painted. A good deal of research has been done in the past few years, but there are still quite a few gaps. The Revell 1/96 kit represents her as she appeared in 1814. (Some folks have questioned some of the details, but I think the Revell rendition - which is based on a set of plans commissioned back in the early sixties by the Smithsonian - is pretty close.) In that year it's extremely likely that the stripe on her hull was yellow ochre rather than white (though it had been white in 1812). I think the insides of the bulwarks probably were green and the lower masts were black; white actually doesn't seem to have been a popular color during the War of 1812.

There are, of course, quite a lot of books about the Constitution. For modelers the best may be the most recent: Old Ironsides, by Thomas Gilmer. The color illustrations, by the excellent marine artists William Gilkerson and Tom Freeman, are worth careful study. Those gentlemen know what they're doing.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.

Here's an excellent site for information about the Constitution:

www.polkcounty.org/timonier

The site is operated by Capt. Tyron Martin (Ret.), who was the ship's commanding officer during the big restoration project of the 1970s. His book, A Most Fortunate Ship, is probably the most definitive published account of the ship's history. (My emphasis on the Gilmer book in my earlier post was due mainly to its illustrations.) Captain Martin's website contains lots of info on the ship, reproductions of several of Mr. Freeman's paintings (you can print them out), and links to other good sites. Highly recommended.

Excellent Jtilley, I see there are no easy answers when it comes to the Constitution. This is my first sailing ship and so far its been a relaxing change from my overstressed aircraft building.

Hopefully a few others will chime in. Thanks!

Jtilley wrote :
In that year it's extremely likely that the stripe on her hull was yellow ochre rather than white (though it had been white in 1812).
John, could the stripe be white, and tar under under the white paint give it an offwhite look?
Michel

Michel -

Anything's possible, of course, but my understanding is that (a) the yellow ochre stripe was in pretty general use in the U.S. Navy at the time; and that (b) the Constitution was unusual in having a white one. Apparently she only carried it from shortly prior to the War of 1812 to the time when Isaac Hull turned over the command of her to William Bainbridge, who ordered the stripe painted yellow.

I should confess that I've never dug into the primary source documents about this subject myself. Several other people have, but I don't know enough about it to separate the reliable information from the "urban legends." One story I've heard is that Bainbridge ordered the white replaced with yellow in order to make her look more like a British frigate. That makes sense, but I honestly don't know whether the story is based on primary, documentary sources or on inference. I note that Mr. Freeman, in the paintings that are reproduced on the website I mentioned above, seems to follow that general conception of the color scheme: narrow white stripe at the beginning of the War of 1812 (including the fight with H.M.S. Guerriere, yellow stripe from late 1812 through the end of the war, white stripe postwar.

To be honest, I built my first model of the Constitution (from the old Revell kit) when I was in elementary school, and got thoroughly burned out on that particular ship as a modeling subject at least twenty years ago. She's a magnificent subject for a model, and anybody wanting to build an accurate scale model of her has my very best wishes. But personally - no thanks.

Hello all!

The Revell 1:96 Constitution was based on the Smithsonian Constitution. Here is a link to some photos of that model:

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

There are a few differences in the colors on the stern, but in general it is nearly identical to the Revell model. As for its accuracy, well, I'm not enough of an expert on it, but I sure do like the way it turns out when you follow the directions on the kit. Compared to photos of the Bluejacket Constitution kit, which paints the stern decorations white, the Revell's are refreshingly colorful.

By the way, does anyone know who the guy in the top middleof the stern decorations is supposed to be?
Jose

Excellent Jose! Those photos answer a lot of my questions. Great color photos of the stern and bow. The Revell color call-outs instructions are poor at best.

Thank You!

Jose,
Thanks for providing the link to the Smithsonian Constitution pictures! They are great and lot of help in answering my questions about Revell's 1/96 model. I first made this kit in 1965-was a birthday present for my 15th birthday. Shows you how old I am and how long I have been making models.
I am at the beginning stages of my current Revell 1/96 Constitution-probably my 7th or 8th one. Your pictures are helping me to get the stern painting more accurate. They are also giving me more insight into this incarnation of the ship. While this kit may not be 100% accurate, I still consider it one of the best around. I have 2 wooden kits of the Constitution in the waiting room- a Blue Jacket and a Marine Model. Both are similar in external appearance and painting.
I doubt if anyone really knows what the Constitution looked like at her launching and during her active career. That's why I like having several versions of her around.