I would like to share with the members of this forum what is, to me, a most valuable and authoritative resource on the appearance and rigging of the USS Constitution. It is the step by step instruction manual for the building of the Constitution by BlueJacket Ship Crafters. (The full name is: USS Constitution, 1812 - 1815, Bicentennial Edition, 5th Edition, by Lawrence Arnot, BlueJacket Ship Crafters, Searsport, ME, 2000.)
It is much more than an instruction manual. Two chapters/sections were wrtten by CDR Tyrone Martin, USN (Ret) in which he specifically addresses topics such as paint scheme, stern ports on the spar deck, bulwark height etc. In section 3, CDR Martin is critical of the 1963 Smithsonian plans by George Campbell.
Other topics, such as quarter boats, bridal ports, gunport lids etc. are addressed in the body of the text. The author, the late Lawrence Arnot, was an expert on the Constitution and did a great deal of original research for his work. The bibliography is quite impressive with over 50 entries.
Almost as if it were an added bonus, the BlueJacket model is 1:96 scale, which is the same as the Revell model. The 4 sheets of plans are full size. Especially helpful to me is the rigging plan, which is very well done and as easy to follow as a complicated rigging plan can be.
This resource, along with the standard reference, A Most Fortunate Ship by CDR Martin, have answered the majority (but not all) of my questions regarding the appearance and rig of the vessel.
Perhaps this has been of some help