Old Ironsides - Revisiting the classic Revell 1/96 kit

Hello Ron

Welcome to the forum and welcome back to ship modeling. 

Thank you for your kind remarks and I'm glad you chose the Constitution for your project. You can see that the kit stands on its own, but can be further enhanced according to your own comfort level.

I have not had many hours for my project lately, but have been slowly progressing on the dead eyes and chains. Hopefully I can post some progress soon. 

Feel free to fire away with questions as you make your own progress. 

Evan

Hi Evan,

Thanks for the welcome ! I have tried to "get going" on my build now that the holidays are over, but it's hard to get going lol.

Hopefully I'll be off and running tomorrow night after work. So, how is your progress going ?

Ron

Hello!

I just purchased the Conni 1:96 Scale and have read this thread from beginning to now and will be using and following along with the rest of the crew.

Thank you Evan for the work and advice you have put into this very interesting and helpful thread"

So...

Airbrush or hand paint to give the ship that texture of being repeatedly repainted over and over by the hands?

My guess would be yes to hand painting, the copper sheathing being left to airbrushing to avoid any kind of brush texture??

Also what year or phase in time "OOB" did Revell design this model from? It is obviously from late in the life of the ship and my thought is to do the build in the time frame that Revell has it coming OOB...but I'm not firm on that just yet.

Thanks,

Ch.

As is my custom, I plan on building the Connie when she was a receiving vessel.  So much history and surely hardly ever modeled.

Evidently the system has changed and I do not understand how to attach photos via this new insert tab. Any ideas?

Rob

Can't import images from Facebook like I used to do?

Rob,

I'm not sure if you have an account on Photobucket or not and I can't help you with posting pictures to this site via Facebook, but, for what it's worth, have a look at my tutorial (two posts) in the Testing Forums on this site.

See here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/feedback_help_and_testing/f/43/t/169689.aspx

Mike

Thanks Mike...During my struggle I did indeed go to your tutorial....I think I might have to open up a photobucket account.  Up to this point I always used my FB account to draw from for this forum...what changed I wonder?

Thanks

Rob

I think this works for viewing.

http://s1070.photobucket.com/user/rwiederrich/media/constitution_zps5vb8a98v%20as%20receiving%20ship_zpsvqf4xjlw.jpg.html

http://s1070.photobucket.com/user/rwiederrich/media/IMG_5611_e2_zpshwex1zlx.jpg.html

Still working on getting images here directly.      

So...

Airbrush or hand paint to give the ship that texture of being repeatedly repainted over and over by the hands?

My guess would be yes to hand painting, the copper sheathing being left to airbrushing to avoid any kind of brush texture??

Also what year or phase in time "OOB" did Revell design this model from? It is obviously from late in the life of the ship and my thought is to do the build in the time frame that Revell has it coming OOB...but I'm not firm on that just yet.

Thanks,

Ch.

Hello force,

I stumbled across your thread a while back and have been completely amazed by your attention to detail. You are doing a fantastic job. Keep up the great work!

I had been wanting to build another connie (this will be my third) for some time now. My first was destroyed by the family cat. My second I lost interest in due to a failed attempt. I had all the rigging complete and most of her sails on. I was very disappointed with the "fake" look of the sails and gave up on it. It sat in my wife's beauty shop for the last few years taking damage and collecting dust. I started getting the urge to start over and found this thread. Essentially I took apart my second one and turned it into a shipwreck diorama for our fish tank. I plan on starting over and building a case for my next build. I look forward to seeing more of your progress. 

Um, I thought that this was a NEW thread! However, I only want to add that I'm loving that copper finish, and that Teak comes from Hawaii, and pacific islands, and is BROWN in colour rather than a light yellow colour. But that was an electric guitar body that I saw that was more of a mahogany colour which is more of a brown/pink colour where is was bare. There is a light coloured teak, but that's not traditional to what is used to carve their totems from. I'm really enjoying this thread so far. I also love the little canons - they're so cute! I'm learning a lot that you never get to in school, or even from T.V. shows. It's about time that there was a revival, or renaissance for the maritime ships of old.

~ Cobra Chris

Whereas the original materials for deck, ceiling, and deck beams of the Constitution were specified to be "best heart pitch pine", in 1992 Douglas Fir was used.This particular ship didn't ever have any teak, except perhaps as ornamentation.

I wonder just how much of the Constitution's original fabric is left. She's been stripped of her hull planking at least twice in my lifetime, and has had at least two new sets of spars during that period.

I think Captain Martin said that, if there are any original timbers at all left, they're probably below the waterline near the stern. If I'm remembering that correctly, virtually nothing the visitor sees today is "original." Maybe some of the guns - but I'm having trouble remembering whether the ones we see today are real ones or fiberglass copies (to save weight). I'm not sure about that one.

I am sure that she had all of her guns removed during her period as a recieving ship.

I honestly don't know. Receiving ships got a really low priority in those days; the Navy may have figured that removing the guns wasn't worth the trouble. Or maybe they got stored on board the ship. In a couple of photos from those days I think I can see something in a couple of open ports, but I can't tell what.

I do know that, one time years and years ago when I was touring the ship, one of the sailors told me that the gun I was looking at was original. And Capt. Tyron Martin, somewhere in his book, A Most Fortunate Ship (which I don't have in front of me)tells an anecdote about a visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip while Martin was in command. He pointed out the cast iron British coat of arms on the barrel of one of the 24-pounders, after which - he swears - the queen said "Philip, we really need to speak to the minister about foreign aid."

I'm sure somebody else knows the answer to this question off the top of his head. I don't. If I have a chance today I'll do some digging; I've got a couple of books that may well have a clear answer.

There must be several versions of the that story about the queen and the guns.  When I visited the ship 5 years ago the tour guide qouted that all of the guns on her reproductions of british guns which accounts for the royal quests.  The tour guide told me about the queen's visit and the queen said  that when she got back to England she was going to have an inventory of the armoury done.

CH

At this scale I would suggest using an airbrush to preserve the detail and provide an even finish. I'm not sure the effect you are hoping for would translate very well. I think many observers would think it was a poorly applied paint job. Interestingly, I airbrushed all surfaces, but came back and hand painted the copper plating with micro brushes to get the varied effect. Good luck on your build. I hope to get back to mine in a few weeks.

The model generally represents Constitution's 1812 "Glory Years" appearance. Her "later years" saw some significant changes that are only now being undone with recent refits.

Evan

Hello Eric!

Thanks for your kind post. I think you are among a few modelers who've indicated that "third time's a charm" with this kit. I think there are many advantages to building this kit these days - not the least of which are more builds posted online to inspire and the proliferation of more info on the internet for historical research.

Please consider posting your progress and letting us all encourage you along the way (as many have done for me).

Evan

Well at long last, the connie has arrived at my doorstep! I still have a lot to acquire before I really get involved with it. After reading this forum and watching YouTube videos of making ratlines  and deadeye lanyards, I am fully committed to getting the bluejacket manual and PE parts. If I can even get mine to look half as good as yours I will be pleased.

I tried attaching a photo of my last attempt, which now lies on the bottom of my fish tank. I can't figure for the life of me how to attach a photo. So you'll have to take my word for it as it comes along.

Oh and as an after thought for anyone who is still debating the lanyards and ratlines. Search tying ratlines as well as shrouds on youtube. There are a few well worth watching videos of a couple gentlemen making it look easy.

Looking forward to more of your posts force.

Eric

I will be ramping up again on my build later this month and hope to finally get some progress posted.

Good luck with your build.

Evan

Good day Evan,

I'm very interesting in Your project, yesterday several hrs were spent for reading your building story from the begining(couple of them spent for works with el.dictionary ,for better understanding ,what did I read :))) !) Very impressed and liked your way ,how You work with the model, with all those historical facts, nice!

saved link to yuor bulding report on my tablet for future refrence...

funny things, several years ago, when I both model of Constitution,SR,Victory,CSark..I thought - Well!

now I have kits with historical accurate models, good scale for working,and to have good models will be need only open the boxes ,and to assemble them! thats all !!! ... Ha! ....

All The Best!!!

Kirill

ps

guess to have all those kits mentioned above ,planned to be assembled...a little bit too much for the rest of my life...one of them only ,looks will be enough :))) consider all those modification need to be dano to original kit and my  modelling " speed" :))) still busy with this damn galleon since 2009 :((( :)))

Dear Force9,

Let me add myself to the chorus of your well-wishers and fans!  I only got into modeling in late January of this year.  I started with two small plastic tugboats.

Being inspired by this very thread, I took a big leap and bought the 1:96 Revell Connie kit and I've been working super hard on it since late Feb. I have clocked 103 hours thus far not counting the time it took me to build a display case for her (which is 95% done).

Being my first significant build, I haven't put customizations and details like you've shown in your beautiful, amazing work.  I'm doing it "out of the box".  So far, I've finished the basic assembly as well as the standing rigging (yards in their lowered positions) and I've put up a significant portion of the running rigging as well.  I considered adding furled sails, but ultimately decided I would need more skill than I currently possess to make it look anything other than crappy and I decided at the start the sails with the kit just wouldn't do.  So I'm proceeding sans sails. I haven't decided how much to include  in terms of sheet and clew lines and leech and bunt lines, but I plan to follow the rest of the rigging faithfully.  I've got the jeers, halyards and lifts up as well as the lower sheets and tack lines. 

I'm terrifically slow at rigging to the belaying pins--takes me forever to secure each line, but that's what Miles Davis and beer is for---smooths out the ride and keeps me from getting frustrated.

I'll be watching your progress with tremendous interest this summer!!! Keep up the incredible work! 

On a personal note, it is odd for me to take up an entirely new hobby at age 42, but between this and my other new hobby (fly fishing), I'm a very happy girl these days. So relaxing!!!!  I wish I'd found this earlier in life!

That's it; I just wanted to thank you for being, quite literally, my inspiration to take this on.   

Your fan,

Heather Trout

Evan,

I have just read through this entire thread and cannot believe the overall high quality of workmanship you are bringing to this model!  There is an exceptional discussion about the three original American heavy frigates over on the www.modelshipworld.com website. I believe that I saw a post or two from you. If not, the discussion is quite enlightening. You might find interesting reference material there.

Also . . . "Bump!"

Bill

Ditto all of the above.

Heather, I'd love to see your model. If you've put 103 hours in and are installing running rigging- thats really quick. Nice job.

I don't know if you've tried this tip. Secure the lines to the pin and set with a shot of glue or a knot. Cut off the excess. Then makes a little coil of rope and hang it over the pin and glue it. Looks perfectly convincing.

No sails is a good way to go too.

FORCE 9 and all,

Kind of late to this forum, but I have gotten a ton of ideas for my Connie.  In my research, I came across the pretty high res scan of the rigging plan for the '27/'28 refit showing line sizes, etc.  Maybe everyone already knows all about it but I did not.  If anyone would like it, let me know and I'll put a copy up somewhere. 

John

Heather,

I second GM's request. Please post!

Bill

Heather,

I'll second GM's request.  Please post.

Bill Morrison