Old Ironsides - Revisiting the classic Revell 1/96 kit

Hello Force9! I have been following your build with a measure of awe and inspiration. I built the 1/96 United States back in the late 70's (Thermopylae before that) and just completed a badly damaged Cutty Sark 1/96 that had been sitting with just standing rigging and backstays completed for 18 years. I am now doing my duty and paying homage to the Revell 1/96 Connie (vintage 1976 kit) and I am blown away by your attention to detail.

If I might pick your brain for a  moment, I either missed it or you did not mention the specific color you used for the yellow ochre, Model Master has a dark yellow that is close but not what you pics represent, did you mix your paints? Same question regarding your bulwark green and the gun carriages, did you use insignia red for the carriages? Japanese Imperial Navy green seems close for the bulwarks but I am concerned it might be too glossy.

I have yet to start on her as I am still mapping out my plans for modifications however your build is truly inspiring and while I simply do not have the time for the detail work you are doing, I am positive I will follow your version of her as it is when she was in her glory. I will be furling sail (sorry Professor Tilley) as  believe when in port for short stays, unless maintenance or refit was required, the sails would have remained furled in the yards, I have done so with somewhat decent effect on Cutty Sark and as this model is undamaged like she was, I should be able to pull it off. The rigging is what I love to do the most but your hull and spar deck have made me rethink my priorities.

One last question, I will be ordering pins and eyelets from Blue Jacket and I am curious what size you used and did you use CA to cement them?

Thanks in advance and I am looking forward to you mast and rigging photos!

Dan

Hello Dan!

I think most of the info is imbedded somewhere within my build log..  For the stripe I used Vallejo Interior Yellow with two thin coatings of sepia wash to add a deeper tone.  There is a yellow ochre available from Vallejo that might suit as well. The inner spar deck bulwarks were painted with Vallejo Gunship Green. I have not yet painted any gun carriages. I may go with a rust red.  I'll confess that I'm not a fan of mixing custom colors. I never seem to make enough for large areas and the next batch never quite matches. The alternative is to mix way too much and endure a lot of waste. Vallejo and others make a wide enough spectrum of colors that I generally go with the nearest off the shelf color.

The Bluejacket pins are part no  119 (1/4").  The eyelets are various sizes... Jotika in England makes very small PE versions that I use extensively. They come in sheets of 250.

Glad to have you aboard and eager to see another build started!

Evan

I can attest Vallejo Yellow Ochre looks nice for gun stripes.

Evan, I also bought gunship green for the bulwarks on my Connie, but I thought it looked a bit off when comparing it to present day pictures (a bit too olive-ish) and ended up using plain dark green with a coat of van d yke brown oil wash, then a slight dry brushing with the gunship green... have you altered the gunship green in some way?

Roberto

I did cover the Gunship Green with a dark green wash and wiped it down. This deepened the tone and helped to "pop" the rivets for more dimension. I thought this was close to the green bulwarks on the Hull model.

I should note that I use some sort of wash on nearly every surface. The use of washes is a matter of personal taste - some prefer a dramatic effect with lots of weathering while others go with a lighter touch. I'm in the latter bucket. I don't weather my builds - I just add washes for tone and dimension.

Evan

Thanks Evan,

I did actually see you used the 119 from BJ after I posted, as well as the Jotika  eyelets, I will be replacing all the Revell eyelets and belaying pins with these items. I am building my pin rails from 80X250 evergreen because it is substantially thicker and wider than the Revell pieces and will allow me to have more surface area to attach to the bulwarks as well as larger hole to anchor to, plus I agree with what seems to be the consensus here and will be adding a couple more pinrails.

I have always weathered my build as the "shiny" look takes away from the realism I try to achieve. I weathered the copper hull with a very thin greenish black wash on my Cutty Sark to good effect and believe I will do the same here. The spar deck is a problem for me, your approach produced amazing results and I leaning that direction however scaledecks.com's version is very appealing, I will be aging the deck regardless of the route I choose with the tried and true wood tan over a flat black base.

The problem with "over aging" a Naval ship is that no self respecting Naval officer, even months at sea, will allow too much deterioration, therefore a fine line must be walked to get the look right. I will be using the gun placements as outlined in the kit however I am still undecided on port cover usage.

The real big issue for me is the pathetically flimsy top masts Revell provides. I still get shivers thinking what horribly useless items they were in my UUS United States build nearly 25 years ago. It strikes me odd that they are so much more robust (relatively speaking) on Cutty Sark and my Thermopylae build in '75  and I still spent countless hours attempting (and failing) a decent looking repair on her broken main and fore top masts, I had to settle for "that'll have to do" and leave it at that. I do not know what your plan is to address them when the time comes, but I am think of an unobtrusive as possible splint of either styrene strips or oak doweling. If it doesn't work I may build my own out of oak doweling as I am a decent wood worker and always love such challenges.

I think your coloring of the gunstripe is very nice and will give it a try, I am leaning heavily toward the Japanese Imperial Navy green for bulwarks and coamings as it is very deep in my test sprays after a light wash is applied to dull it out.

Any suggestion on top mast reinforcement from you or anyone else would be appreciated

Dan

Dan

The flimsy spars should all be replaced with something sturdier.  Wood makes good sense, but sometimes a flimsy wood version is a poor substitute for a flimsy plastic version.  Brass is often used, but many of these spars need cleats and straps, etc. added and brass does not lend itself to taking glue.  I have been experimenting with styrene tubing with brass rod inserts as a compromise.  Still a long way from anything final.

Evan

I agree regarding flimsy wood vs flimsy styrene Evan. However, I would be using nice oak doweling which is infinitely superior to basswood or pine. My other thought is Evergreen .80 strips, either as a splint or possibly to replace the mast altogether, might try both and see which one I like best. It's far enough in the future I can ponder different options. Right now I am in the middle of making pinrail and fife rail pieces to accept the 119 BJ belaying pins, using .80 Evergreen at 250 width and discarding the weak Revell pieces, plus adding 4 more rails to accommodate all the rigging, rigging is my favorite part of the build and I will be rigging clew and sheet lines with sails furled in the yards. I always rig from the pins up, it gives me more control and my 55 year old eyes see better up top anyway.

Will be posting pics as soon as I figure out FSM's shall we we say, unnecessarily complicated photo  insertion method.

Happy modeling!

Dan

Brass is certainly a possible alternative for making small spars. Styrene is a lousy material for small spars; the same attributes of flexibility that made it excellent for hull planking pretty effectively rule it out for spars.

At the risk of sounding blunt, if a wood spar is flimsy it's because it's made out of the wrong kind of wood. Basswood is out of the question; too soft. I think I can say that few serious modern modelers like oak. (Too splintery, and the grain is way out of scale.)

The woods that, I think it can be said, veteran American ship modelers like best are boxwood, pear, holly, and cherry. Unfortunately all of them are pretty hard to find (with the possible exception of cherry). Those are all hard, stiff woods that take a nice finish and won't bend significantly under the strain of the rigging.

For my models of H.M.S. Bounty (  http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/155394.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=1 ) and the Continental frigate Hancock ( http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/155391.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=1 ), I turned the spars out of degama (aka lancewood). It's an extremely dense hardwood that refuses to bend. (It is, however, willing to break. I found that out the hard way several times.) I used my dear old Unimat SL lathe; for the first few passes I used a metal-cutting tool bit in the cross-slide to get the stick down to about 1/8", and fine sandpaper for the rest of the job. Some of those spars taper to well under 1/32" in diameter.

Whatever material you use, it's extremely important to get the taper right. David Steel's Elements of Rigging and Seamanship, or James Lees's more modern The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War, 1620-1860, will show you the rules.

Unfortunately the dealer from whom I bought the degama went out of business about 35 years ago; I have no idea where to get that species today. For my last wood-sparred model (the Model Shipways Phantom) I used cherry. Woodworking supply companies sell cherry dowels down to 1/4" in diameter. It's a little dark to be ideal, but really nice stuff to work with.

Hobby shops and places like Lowe's sell dowels in three species: oak, maple, and birch. Of those, I vote for birch. For years I've read stories about birch warping, but I've been using it for a long time and have never found that to be a problem. Maple is good stuff too, though pretty brittle. As I mentioned earlier, I don't recommend oak. Unfortunately the dealers often don't specify which species of dowel is in a bin. Birch and maple can be hard to tell apart.

Model Shipways says the dowels in its kits are beach, but I have yet to buy one with spars made of anything but birch.

Hope that helps a little. I know I've expressed some rather strong personal opinions; take them for what they're worth.

Here is the latest...

It is amazing how many holes need to be drilled into a sailing ship model!  I've been busy with the mini spiral drill and #76 bit for the past few weekends.

It is also amazing to uncover the various nuances that go into these builds.  I've been drilling the many small holes for the Jotika eyelets that will be installed around the interior of the gun ports.  Most references indicate the breeching terminating on a ring bolt positioned near the trucks in line with the bottom of the gun port.  The outhaul tackle, however, is often shown leading at an angle to an eyelet positioned about midway between the two guns.  It would seem to me to be more efficient if this tackle ran more parallel to the gun barrel - no waste in lateral effort when hauling on the tackle.  That would seem to be the arrangement on most of the contemporary ship models... An eyebolt for the outhaul tackle positioned about midway up on the gun port and near the opening.  The ring bolt for the breeching rope positioned directly below in line with the bottom of the port.

We can also see this type of set up on the remarkable War of 1812 wrecks of the Hamilton and Scourge that lie preserved at the bottom of Lake Ontario. Both were swamped by a sudden squall and lost at the same time.  (Actually the wrecks were once remarkably well preserved but have now become encrusted with an invasive species of mussel):

The boarding cutlasses are very cool.

Here is the approach I took:

None of these eyelets are glued in... Just a sample of positioning.  I'll blacken them and glue the upper eyelets, but I'll attach the lower ring bolts to the breeching rope when I rig the cannon off the ship before attaching these to the bulwarks.

Evan

Don't get me wrong. Oak is a beautiful, essential wood. But for ship model spars, if you try birch or cherry I'll bet you won't go back.

If your lathe's out of commission, you can do a perfectly satisfactory job by chucking the dowel up in an electric drill. Use a soft rag in your free hand as the tailstock.

Good luck.

Nice work Evan! I agree, doing a build other than OOB really requires a lot more work to prepare the hull, but the end result is so worth it. I take it you will be adding your belaying pins down the road as it looks as if you've already mounted your pin rails, I also noticed they're green as opposed to brown, I intended to do the same regardless as it will be much easier to airbrush that way.

The shipwreck shot really tells you a lot about pin placement, I guess my pinvise will be getting another workout, really surprised those cutlasses are still in place and not pilfered, or maybe they have been by now.

Did not mean to hijack your thread with my silly questions, but the responses have pointed out things which will be very useful in this build. I will be posting pictures on my thread I started hopefully some suggestions there will improve my technique, 18 years is a long time to take off from this craft to just jump back into a build like.

Dan

I agree on Cherry John, just so expensive is all. Besides, as I said spars are coming from the kit itself, it is the mast tops that give me pause, I've done the dowel in drill thing before on larger pieces for fine frame work for home trim and and such not related to modeling but never to the scale required here, I suppose I could give it a try using my router to shape the wood, thanks for the suggestion, the scale is what kept me from considering it.

Dan

Don't want to keep hijacking your thread Evan, you can see my progress as I start on this kit here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/164251.aspx

A very nice start on yor build!

Folks -

I've reached that point in the build where there is nothing more I can do to delay the inevitable... I have to start accounting for the rigging and making sure that I've incorporated the necessary end points into the half hulls before I start to glue it all together.

I consulted the usual suspects:

1. The Revell rigging plans
2. The Bluejacket kit manual and rigging plans - Larry Arnot/Tyrone Martin
3. AOTS USS Constitution - Karl Heinz Marquardt
4. CONSTITUTION - All Sails Up and Flying - Olof Eriksen
5. The Charles Ware 1817 Sail plan (National Archives)
6. The "Hull" model in the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) collection.

I've been poring over these different representations of the rigging layout of Old Ironsides for many months and have started to form some sort of plan. For the most part I will follow the guidance of Olof Eriksen, but fall back on the Bluejacket plans in some cases. Eriksen's work is focused on her 1815 configuration, so I'll try to insert some 1812 era modifications wherever appropriate - mostly using the Hull model for corrections. Ultimately this is all going to involve a fair bit of guesswork and intuition tempered by the realities imposed by the Revell model itself. In some cases the molding of the hull will impose limitations that are more than I'm willing to modify - I'll just roll with what is there.

Here is my first compromise:

Some may recall that I eliminated the chesstree included in the kit and filled in the holes at the gun deck level that originally allowed for the Fore Sheet and Main Tack to enter and get tied off within... I just feel that by 1812 these lines would've been led to the spar deck to allow for better control and coordination. Eriksen shows the Fore Sheet entering thru a sheave in the spar deck bulwark just forward of the last carronade before the break in the bulwark at the waist. The Revell kit does not have much of a bulwark at that point. I couldn't widen it because the "entry port" is situated here with the cleats/steps leading up the side. I was not willing to move that stuff over with all that scratch building... Marquardt offers a solution. He shows a sheave added on the waist for the Fore Sheet to pass thru and tie off to a cleat mounted nearby on the deck. Do I think this is historically accurate? Nah... But it suits my purpose.

The first eyebolt near the sheave is the tie off for the Fore Sheet. The eyebolt mounted forward on the waist near the fo'c's'le bulwark will eventually have a block mounted for the Main Tack to lead inboard. I still need to drill the hole just aft of the fore channel for the Main Tack tie off point.

Here is the sheave I cut into the spar deck bulwark for the Main Sheet:

I mounted a cleat on the inside to tie off the Main Sheet:

More to come shortly

Thanks for the interest

Evan

Evan your work is fantastic! I have decided to follow your plan regarding the decking. After much work and a couple of adult beverages, I have managed to clean up the gun deck enough to be serviceable, I plan on spending much more time on the spar deck but it is nowhere near as warped as the gun deck so it should go well.

it seems to me I saw on someone's blog here that they used split rings on certain eyebolts, was it you or someone else? and if you, I can't seem to find the size you or whomever used for the .3mm eyebolts, let alone where they were purchased, ring any bells?

Looking forward to your next entry.

Dan

Thanks Dan!

I think you'll find the deck scribing much easier than it first appears... I got into a nice rhythm and really appreciated the amount of control I had over the result.  Just be mindful of the pattern for the planking butts... It is not random.  I used a four butt layout, three butt is also common. The planks should meet over an underlying beam.  Those positions can be derived by paying attention to the edges of the hatches.

(You should not show any plank butting in between hatches - those would be continuous planks.  I think I included some on the gun deck - oops!). 

Both the Spar deck and gun deck had some warpage on my kit that was easily remedied by glueing some thick styrene stock underneath with some firm clamping as it dried overnight.

Here are the small eyelets and rings I used on my deck:

Don't let Prof. Tilley catch us using this stuff - He'll admonish us with a reminder that these are easily made with thin wire and moderate dexterity.  With the same adult beverage close at hand and a good game on TV, you could crank out many dozens...

Evan

Thanks Evan,

Already have the butt ends laid out so no problem there, a nice stiff straight edge jig like you used and I can work it out pretty quick I think.  I had already ordered the eyebolts, now I know which split rings you used. A nice single malt (or 2) and an evening of listening to the next set of songs we have to lay down and you're right, I can knock out a bunch of eyelets. You're not using the split rings on all of them are you? Just the deck and bowsprit I would think. I don't disagree with the good professor, I just don't have the luxury of time to do all the wire work.

I am still curious about your decision on the top gallant masts, you mentions spars which are simple enough to turn to the correct taper but the top mast is a little more challenging. Still a ways to go before I get to that but I try to think ahead a little

Dan

Pretty much it goes equal number of butts to the beams; butts to the fore and aft,

In other words using a 20 foot long or so plank, have a joint on every beam at fourth wide, and have a joint on every plank front to rear no less than four ribs,

But here's the deal. Deck beams are attached to hull ribs, and gun ports are the tell on where ribs are as they naturally occur between them.

So if you care, set up the hull geometry based on what Revell gave you.

When you seriously get into it the plank butt scheme has something like 12 possibilities and we will never know what the Constitution was built with, but be consistent and adamant and you wont go wrong.

Tried your suggestion GMorrison and the geometry drove me to an "adult beverage" (like I needed an excuse).

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/p/164251/1803023.aspx#1803023

I think I got it pretty close, well, close enough for me, I studied your photos Evan and tried to follow that same pattern, you really did some nice work. My scrolling tool got away from here and there, but overall I can live with the results, it is so much better than the oob molded deck planking in terms of visibility. I will be doing a black base coat tan top with a very slight aging on the decks. It worked well on my Cutty Sark and I prefer a weathered look as opposed to nice and shiny.

Thanks again for your blog, it is really helping with this build!

Dan

So this is my version, as you can tell, I like a weathered deck

Incredible build here Force9!  I'm in awe of the detail. Will be following for certain!

I have a question perhaps you could help me with. I just ordered this kit and was hoping to order various items to improve on it. I'm totally new to ship modeling so it's going to be quite a learning curve and I know I'll be following your build for guidance. I'd like to order some dead eyes so I can rig the shrouds. What size (sizes) should I be using on this kit? I suppose I could wait til the kit comes in and measure what diameter the molded ones are (assuming they are accurate) but I'd like to order as much as I can in advance to save on shipping cost. I'm not overly concerned with an exact time period as long as it's during her fighting years. Any help would be much appreciated.

Bill

Hi Bill,

Welcome to the world of ship modeling! That having been said, I couldn't help but notice you said you were "totally new to ship modeling", if that statement is accurate, you might want to consider scaling back your learning curve to an easier build than Revell's 1/96 Constitution, it is not for the novice, especially if you plan on a doing anything other than OOB. Of course, if you want to tackle it and you have experience in other modeling genre's go for it, but be prepared to have plenty of "distilled encouragement" on hand, because as rewarding as a job well done is, frustration and tedium are a huge part of a project as complex as this.

I have built models for most of my 55 years, including 3 Revell 1/96 sailing ships, Thermopylae, U.S.S. United States, and Cutty Sark; and am currently building the Constitution ( http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/164251.aspx ). As much experience as I have, I could not even begin to emulate what Force9 is doing here, or for that matter Arnie60, the best I can hope for is to copy technique and hope for the best. Might I suggest a simpler model to enter this arena? Not trying to bust your chops but this ship is tough enough OOB, and if you try to copy Force9's work you will be an alcoholic before it's finished LOL, I think even Professor Tilley might agree with me here.

However, it's up to you and if you start a blog of your build I am sure I will follow with interest, anyone willing to dive into the deep end of the plastic ship model pool has my respect!.

Dan

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the welcome and the cautious advice. I should clarify my statement in that I've never seriously tried to tackle a large scale ship model with full rigging. I've built the 1/96 Constitution twice before in my youth and did a little better each time but that was over 30 years ago when I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I've also have recently been working on the Zvezda 1/72 Black Swan model (first sailing ship since my teens) and am using that as a test bed for learning rigging techniques. I mainly build spacecraft and aircraft subjects and do have some scratch building experience so I THINK I'm up for the challenge. But I also have a healthy respect (read fear) for what might lay ahead. And if I never finish so-be-it. I'll have hopefully learned something along the way and had a fun time and good distraction from daily stresses of life.

Thanks again for the welcome.

Bill

Dan is offering excellent advice. Only a tiny percentage of those big Revell kits ever get finished.

I've been preaching this sermon for many years, and of course I usually get ignored. Part of the problem is that there are so few sailing ship kid that DO make good newcomers' projects-and so many of them are long out of production. Quite a few folks have started with the Pyro/Lindbergh Revenue cutter Harriet Lane, which has been reissued recently. Two others I highly recommend are the Revell Viking ship and the Zvezda/Revell Hanseatic Cog.

The Japanese company Imai used to make a fine series of ship kits that made excellent starter projects. (Our Forum friends Docidle and DavidK have posted quite a few times about Imai projects.) unfortunately Imai went out of business about twenty years ago, but the kits do turn up on e-bay.

In support of my last post, I'd like to call everybody's attention to three things about Force 9's model. One - it's a superb model. Two - he's been working on it for almost thee years. Three - it's about halfway finished.

Folks -

Sorry for neglecting my log for so long...

Dan - your deck is looking terrific... Getting the planking pattern correct is a tricky business and I like the effort you've put into it.

Bill - Welcome aboard and your timing is impeccable... I'm just now giving attention to the deadeyes. Arnie achieved a great result using deadeyes from Model Expo and I think Chuck Passaro offers some nice alternatives via his Syren Ship Model Company.  I elected to go with the Bluejacket versions... They are scaled for our model and come nicely cast with stropping in white metal.  It took very little effort to clean them up and get them ready for painting and fitting.  I'll post some progress pictures soon.  Here are the sizes I ordered:

3/32" Item# F0202 (Stropped)

1/8" Item#F0203 (Stropped)

5/32" Item#F0204 (Stropped)

3/32" Item# F0320 (Scored- Upper)

1/8" Item#F0321 (Scored- Upper)

5/32" Item#F0322 (Scored- Upper)

I also included some 1/8" Triple blocks (Item#F0368) for use on the forward shrouds (Main and Fore only) for the "Swifters" - essentially adjustable shrouds.  More to come on that.

Depending on the rigging plan you choose, you can add up the needed amounts.  These are sold by the dozen. The 1/8" deadeyes are for the backstays on the channels as well as the deadeyes on the topmasts.  The 3/32" deadeyes are for the upper mast backstay deadeyes.

Bill - regarding the complexity of the kit... I will say that ANYONE can do what I have done - and to some extent I've tried to show my methods so that others can follow the same path (or make improvements!).  Nothing I have done is hard.  What IS hard is overcoming the repetition and tedium that inherently accompanies a sailing ship model of this size. I've tried to take the approach that many other fine modelers on this and other sites have done - break the beast down into smaller bite sized components and tackle each with equal attention to detail.  This is not one model I'm building - it is 101 small models that collectively will represent the US Frigate Constitution when I am done. None of these smaller models is hard to make - anyone, for example, can modify the kit cannon to produce a very fine miniature model of a 24 pounder gun.  But now I have to make 29 more of them. And 24 Carronades...And eventually rig many dozen ratlines...  If you have a passion for model building and an abiding interest in this subject and you are game for pulling up a chair to spend many evenings making a few dozen of the same thing (or hand drilling many dozen small holes as I have done in the past few weeks), then I think you'll do fine.

Clearly I have not been in a great hurry.  As the Prof points out, I started this build many moons ago.  But I should point out that I don't work on it very often.  As anyone following my build will quickly realize, the updates come in fits and spurts - much like my workshop time.  Many weeks can go by when I don't touch it at all.  Other times I'll spend most of a rainy Saturday head down with glue and styrene and airbrush.  If I worked on this even an hour or two every week I'd be halfway thru the rigging by now.  I probably average much less than an hour per week over the past three years. Much less.

All that being said, I very much enjoy working on my model in between other life stuff... When I'm not out making a living, I have kids that play sports and a wife that keeps all of the family active in neighborhood social life, charity work, and school projects and I fit my modeling time in between the seams - as many other modelers do...

So don't look to me to discourage anyone from jumping in on a big project like this - I'm the poster child for someone who started with limited modeling skills and has enjoyed improving as I get deeper into this project.  But certainly take a deep breath first and open the box with a full understanding of what it will entail to come out the other side with a completed kit that meets your expectations: patience, passion, and multiple hundreds of extra dollars if you want to bring it to a level beyond what Revell provides.

I hope I can look forward to following your progress and do not hesitate to ping me for any input or clarification along the way.

Happy modeling!

Evan

Fair enough, Evan. But please don't try to tell us that anybody could do what you've done. I'm not at all sure I could.

Evan, Do you have a feel for about how many of each of the deadeyes that you will need for the connie? I have one sitting on the shelf!  Thanks!

3/32" Item# F0202 (Stropped)

1/8" Item#F0203 (Stropped)

5/32" Item#F0204 (Stropped)

3/32" Item# F0320 (Scored- Upper)

1/8" Item#F0321 (Scored- Upper)

5/32" Item#F0322 (Scored- Upper)

I agree John, Evan's modesty is commendable but his work speaks for itself, I am not even attempting the level of detail he is putting into this build, and not because I don't want to, I simply don't think I have the skill, at least not at this point, to accomplish it.

On that note Evan, I am not particularly happy with you or Arnie right now. Arnie for making me think about handmade shrouds and deadeyes in the first place. He sells himself short by criticizing what he built, it's beautifully done and I was ALMOST inspired to emulate his effort, but decided time wasn't on my side and that I was going to stick to the kit provided pieces and assuage my guilt by turning my own top masts and yards.

Then you come along and start listing the BJ deadeyes you plan on using! I knew you were not going to use the kit parts all along but just when I had talked myself out of that level of customization you go an wreck the whole thing LOL!

All kidding aside, I have relied very heavily on your and Arnie's blog, for technique refinements and ways to improve the overall look of the ship, I wish I knew all this back when I built my United States all those years ago. It came out nice but was strictly OOB, I reflect back on how the spar deck looked compared to what you inspired me to do with Connie and I just shake my head  IF you could give me a run down of quantities you ordered from BJ I would appreciate it as I am clearly being forced to turn it up one more notch.

Happy modeling!

Dan