I really like the idea of using screen door material for hammock nettings on this scale. It would have been too coarse for my 1/128 Hancock model, but on 1/96 (or 1/100) it looks just about right. And the nylon (or vinyl, or whatever it is) that's used nowadays to replace old-fashioned metal window screens is nice, workable stuff.
The covers over the stowed hammocks were called hammock cloths. They frequently were painted - usually black in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, to match the bulwarks. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries they sometimes were painted red. Some English warships of that period were fitted with "arming cloths," which looked similar from a distance but apparently were intended primarily for decoration. They were simple pieces of fabric, painted red or some other bright color and hung on stanchions around the bulwarks and the tops.
Eventually (I don't know just when, but sometime after the Napoleonic Wars) it became customary to replace the hammock nettings with "hammock troughs" made out of boards. The Constitution had that configuration for many years. In many photos, including those taken when she was serving as a museum ship, prior to about the mid-1970s, her bulwarks are higher than they are in the Revell kit, and she has bulwarks in her waist. What we're looking at in those photos are the hammock troughs. LATER ADDENDUM: I think I oversimplified that a little. I'm pretty sure that at some time in the nineteenth century - I don't know when - the Constitution's bulwarks were rebuilt and the tops of what had been the hammock troughs were covered with wood rails. The bulwarks in the waist also were planked up, so the bulwarks ran (except for the entry ports) all around the ship.
Regarding exposed hammocks on a model - I don't take on model projects of that sort without doing my homework first. Plenty of contemporary illustrations depict the hammocks in the nettings with and without hammock cloths. It would make sense that the latter would be used in rough weather, and left off during fine weather so the hammocks could air out a little. (Sanitation, as we would define it, wasn't high on the list of concerns in the days of the sailing warship, but that hammock, with the sailor's modest bedding rolled up inside it, must have been pretty rank.) Contemporary models rarely show either hammocks or hammock cloths. Sometimes they just show the stanchions, and no nettings; sometimes they omit even the stanchions (along with the guns and various other pieces of equipment.) For a modern model any of those configurations can certainly be justified.
There were indeed regulations regarding the number of turns that were to be taken around the stowed hammocks. It sticks in my mind that the prescribed number was seven, but it's been a while since I read it.
Hammock stanchions (sometimes known as "hammock cranes") came in quite a variety of styles. Sometimes an iron rod was fitted over the top of the U-shaped stanchion to restrain the hammocks at the end of a rail; sometimes a simple piece of rope served the same purpose. Sometimes one "leg" of the crane had a smaller u-shaped fitting forged in with it, rather than an eye; the fitting held a wood batten to which the netting was secured. And sometimes the netting was worked into a shape that would restrain the hammocks at the ends as well as the size.
Revell's rendition of the Constitution's hammock netting stanchions - i.e., with a pair of simple, horizontal ropes rather than nettings - isn't necessarily incorrect. That's how the famous Isaac Hull model is rigged, and contemporary illustrations confirm that such a configuration was indeed used sometimes - though the ropes most likely would have gone through holes in the stanchions rather than be wrapped around them, as the Revell instructions suggest.
I had an interesting conversation once with an old friend who'd served in the U.S. Navy during the period of transition from the hammock to the steel-framed bunk (shortly before World War II). Having slept in both, he said he strongly preferred the hammock. He found it easier on his back, and far easier to sleep in when the ship was rolling.
Powder Monkey - your offer regarding photo-etched parts is, I'm sure, deeply appreciated by many of us. I just may take you up on it eventually. I've been thinking about ordering the photo-etching outfit that MicroMark offers (for about $100), but I suspect the equipment at your disposal is far more sophisticated.
L Hill - Beautiful avatar. It's mighty small on my monitor, but it looks suspiciously like the Elizabeth 2. Does that imply that you're located in North Carolina? If so, please consider joining our ship model club, which meets at the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort. We're on the annual summer hiatus at the moment; the next meeting will be on the last Friday in September, at 2:00.