Old Ironsides - Revisiting the classic Revell 1/96 kit

Jayman - I tend to think the ammunition/powder estimates were reasonably accurate.  The math suggests that these numbers are in line with the expected output of a six week old crew firing double-shotted rounds every three minutes or so... I bet they kept good records of the powder and ammunition usage based on barrels used and remaining inventory.  There is nothing to suggest that these are way out of whack...

Nobody will know the entire truth except, as you say, the Constitution demolished the Guerriere.

For those who may not have seen this on the Constitution Museum website:

Old Ironsides endured the "Polar Vortex" along with much of the USA...

Thanks Force,

That is probably the one book I have not replaced since Katrina - they ain't cheap. In reading the history, Dahlgren modified his design for long range AND accuracy.  The Paixhans guns  has the power, but you could not guarantee exactly where they would hit - I bet wherever they hit, the damage was massive.

"Paixhans had so far satisfied naval men of the power of shell guns as to obtain their admission on shipboard; but by unduly developing the explosive element, he had sacrificed accuracy and range.... The difference between the system of Paixhans and my own was simply that Paixhans guns were strictly shell guns, and were not designed for shot, nor for great penetration or accuracy at long ranges. They were, therefore, auxiliary to, or associates of, the shot-guns. This made a mixed armament, was objectionable as such, and never was adopted to any extent in France... My idea was, to have a gun that should generally throw shells far and accurately, with the capacity to fire solid shot when needed. Also to compose the whole battery entirely of such guns." -  Dahlgren

Cheers Jake - I'll need to learn more about the evolution of the Dahlgren guns... (Cottage Industries Models makes some nice resin versions for the Revell Kearsarge and Alabama kits...)

Jayman -  Regarding the use of sheet lead cartridges...

I confess to always being a bit perplexed about this claim and the relative advantages.  The implication of this is that the American gun crews somehow skipped the sponging step.  That certainly can't be the case - there could still be burning embers and powder residue in the tube that would need to be swabbed out.

We also see spongers still listed for the gun crews on Constitution under Bainbridge's command:

(This is interesting in that it also shows the gun crew divided into rotating teams so that the rate of fire can be maintained without everyone getting exhausted.  Also interesting is the designation of certain crew for the boarding parties - indicated by a B next to their names)

Constitution's log after the Guerriere battle notes the death of Robert Brice "through want of precaution in not sponging his gun being blown from the muzzle piece..."  If lead sheet cartridges were in use, it didn't help Bob.

It may be that normal gun crews had to sponge out the barrel multiple times between discharges and the American crews only needed to do it once, but I don't really know... It just seems that either lead cartridges were not actually in widespread use, or they didn't offer much of an advantage for the extra cost.

Evan

being blown from the muzzle piece.... ohhhh bet that left a mark!

I'm watching this topic with intense interest. Excellent work thus far! I love the research you have done.

I envy you for being able to actually visit the Connie in person. I was stationed in Groton, CT awhile back but never had the opportunity to visit her myself.

I'm looking forward to further updates!

Smitty -

Thank you for popping in and following along... Hopefully you'll see some ideas that will inspire you to take some chances with your own build - I see you've begun your fourth!

I've been making steady progress with the painting of my gun deck - almost done.  I figure I'll get everything done before posting my progress - just have to blacken the brass details and position them on the decks (as well as glue a few more cannon balls into the shot racks).

Stay tuned!

Evan

Paint!

Folks -

Apologies for the long gap between updates - I just got caught up in the flow and haven't paused to add to my log.

It may be hard to believe, but I've actually begun to smear some paint over some of the plastic...

I've got the gun deck and associated furniture mostly done with a few minor touch ups needed here and there:



Spare Anchor:

Camboose:

Capstan:


Chain Pumps:

I was a Floquil paint guy in the past, alas, we know how that has gone. I'm now trying Vallejo paint and I'm becoming a big fan.

Thanks for looking in
Evan

This was well worth the Wait Evan. Superlative!

You said you used Floquil paints on this? Wondering what the "brown" is called. I haven't tried them yet, but have heard good things, and that brown is precisely a color that I have been looking for. Love the way the deck came out. Is that a trick of the camera or did you variegate the coloring of the planks? Highlighter or pencil for the caulking? And the stanchions around the hatch, scratch built or after market? If so, from where? I can hardly wait to see what you do w/ the spar deck.

Hello Arnie!

Glad you like the result.

The long awaited update was definitely worth the wait, Evan. Phenomenal job! You and Arnie both make me feel like my work is paltry in comparison, but it forces me to push myself even further. Keep up the impressive work! She's going to be a beauty!

Quick question for you, Evan. How did you make the ropestops on the bitts and the rings on the deck for the cannon tackle? I've been wanting to add those to my build as well, but haven't quite figured out how to make them yet. Thanks in advance!

Jack

I must have missed something.  What's a ropestop?

I think Jack is referring to the ring bolts on the riding bitts that have a small length of line tied to the anchor cable to secure it from paying out..."stoppers"

Jack - I'll try to post a description of my ring bolts ASAP

Smitty -

Regarding the ringbolts...

I used a combination of the small Jotika PE eyebolts and the 3/32 split rings available from Model Expo:

Slightly pull apart the split rings with the blade of a hobby knife and insert the PE eyelet, then squeeze the split ring back together with your tweezers.  I was particularly bad at this in the beginning - I think it took four or five minutes to do each of the first five or so, but then I found my rhythm and I clipped along at a fair pace.  All were dipped in a quick bath of acetone and then spent a few minutes in a pool of Blacken-It for color.

I cringe at what Prof Tilley will think of this... The truth is that creating your own eyelets and split rings is an easy exercise and can save a needless expenditure of hard earned cash.  Pour a glass of your favorite beverage and settle down in front of your TV and before you know it you'll have dozens of each.  I happened to have a stash of the split rings at hand from a fire sale years ago and I've got tons of the Jotika PE eyelets after having stocked up for my Heller Victory build (since suspended in favor of Constitution) and I thought the small time savings was worth it to regain momentum on my build.

Hope that helps.

Evan

Folks -

I thought I'd turn some attention to the half hulls... Up next was the tedious task of filling in the holes for the port covers. I won't be fitting gun port covers on my build. I filled them in with .040 x .040 Evergreen strips cut oversized for ease. I then came along next day and snipped them cleanly along the edge. I'll cover with filler and sand flat before painting:

I also decided to improve the air ports along the berth deck. The Revell kit comes moulded with some small oval ports, but the credible sources suggest small scuttles instead. Note the air ports in the Corne painting:

Chappelle notes in his American Sailing Navy book that " the frigates were all fitted with air scuttles on the berth deck... The scuttles had solid covers hinged at the fore side..."

We know from Constitution's log dated September 1810 that the air ports were added:
"Caulking gun deck -- cutting air ports for the berth deck."

I simply glued some .010 x .080 strip over the existing ovals and added some of the small Jotika eyelets as hinges. The hinges are a bit too fiddly at this scale, hopefully these will look fine after primer and paint:

All fun stuff.

Evan

Evan,

Beautiful work as usual!  I would love to see some of the Victory photos if you have them.  I like your idea using the brass eyelets and split rings which I think I'll use to finish my Nina/Pinta/Santa Maria builds.  I also have an Imai Chebec that DavidK and I started together and I need to finish sometime this century.  Anyway, I always learn something new from your posts so thanks!

Steve

Cheers Steve!  I think you can search this forum using keywords Force9, Heller Victory, etc. and find my dormant log.

A bit of mindless fun:

A few months back I was having another look at the historical deck plan of the US Frigate United States and I noticed an interesting detail on the gun deck:

The items labeled "B" are listed in the legend as "Round Houses". Hmmm... I generally think of those as something external on larger ships a la Victory... I did a quick google search which found an article by Cmdr Tyrone Martin on the USS Constitution museum website that mentioned these in more detail. http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/constitution-resources/the-captain-speaks/the-guns-of-constitution/

Apparently the crew referred to these as "Spice Boxes" (presumably because they resembled a common household item) and they were commonly included on the larger frigates for the convenience and privacy of the ships officers. It is tough to determine how permanent these were... You'd think they were flimsy screens that were easily removed when clearing for action. It seems that they might've been more solid fixtures... Captain Stewart ordered them removed prior to the battle with Cyane and Levant to give better clearance for the forward gun crews. They were not reassembled after the battle - probably because they were removed with an axe. On the cruise home the British officers began to grumble and get very vocal about the lack of private facilities for the gentleman. They felt that it was very undignified to have to relieve themselves using the leeward channels like common sailors. One of the American Lieutenants finally got fed up and remarked loudly to one of them something to the effect that the prisoners were well positioned to attest that American officers cared more about their gunnery than about their round houses... Presumably that ended the trouble.

I decided that including them would be a waste of my limited Units of Effort since they would not be visible once the spar deck was positioned. But just a few weeks later the Log Lines blog on the Constitution Museum website had a great article on these same round houses. http://usscm.blogspot.com/2014/01/head-lines.html I took this as a sign from the Goddess of Ship Models that I should include these in my build for thoroughness. There would be one on both port and starboard, but since I do not know if these were removed before the battle with Guerriere, I decided to only include one and split the difference.

More details soon.

Thanks again for following along.
Evan

Folks

I've made some more progress on the half hulls.

I could not find any contemporary reference that verifies the presence of the chesstrees that are included in the kit. The Corne paintings don't show them and neither does the Hull model:

I've elected to fill in the attachment points and smooth everything over:

I have also enhanced the hawse pieces around the hawse holes and filled in the sides of the knighthead. The kit uses a flimsy piece that has molded rings fore and aft. I think these could be a weak point and otherwise look like molded plastic. I'll insert my own rings or perhaps replace the entire knighthead assembly with something scratch built:

The hawse holes are a bit oversize and are molded in the wrong direction, but I've not tried to correct them yet...

I've filled and sanded the gun port hinge openings and the forward bridle ports. I'll hit these with some light primer to expose areas that need extra attention and then lightly scribe some planking lines.

Up next I'll need to start evaluating some of the rigging plans to determine appropriate openings, etc. that need to be added (or deleted) on these hull pieces. I'll also give consideration to adding the pin rails and cleats on the inner bulwarks with appropriate reinforcement for strength - I'll drill thru the bulwarks and insert some reinforcement pins.

Lots to think thru going forward...

Thanks for looking in...

Evan

Evan

I went ahead and used the Revell knighthead (after debating on replacing it as well) and it has worked out just fine so far. I haven't run the mainstays to it yet, but it worked out fine for the martingales.

I notice that you filled in two of the eyebolt holes of the cheeks, and I was wondering if you did so to replace them with brass ones or are planning to run the bowsprit shrouds to the stem as illustrated in Marquardt?

Looking forward to your next post.

Arnie - I will move these eyelets a bit further back using guidance of Olof Erksen's book.  I will also fill in most of the other holes and reposition them slightly...

Some not very glamorous progress...

The pin rails have been added to the spar deck bulwarks.

I do not have a drill press with enough precision for micro pin holes, so I needed to do these by hand. First, a simple jig was cobbled together to encourage consistent results... I made starter holes with a simple push pin, then came back with the micro-drill. I had to remember to place the holes on the outboard edge of the strip and attempt to drill straight with a steady hand (not always successful, but darn close).

I laid in some small support ledges underneath to increase the surface area in hopes of a solid connection to the bulwarks. I also drilled small holes so that I could insert thin steel pins for additional strength:

It was not easy to determine the proper layout for all of the pin rails - no two sources agree. It does seem obvious, however, that there does need to be more rails than provided by Revell. My solution is a combination of the Bluejacket guidance and Olof Eriksen's version with some allowances made for the reality of the kit bulwarks. I elected to not include rails over the knighthead above the bowsprit... I probably have a few more pins than needed, but better too many than too few.

Some additional progress on the channels:

I should be ready to mount these after a bit more cleanup and filler in some of the small seams.

Evan

Evan,

Thanks for posting the update.  She is coming along beautifully.

Steve

I do hope you've added some sort of powerful reinforcement to the pintails inside the bulwarks.  If you rely on adhesive, the rigging lines are extremely likely to pull them loose - and, in accordance with Murphy's law, the line that gives the decisive yank will be the last one you rig.  I'd suggest steel pins through the bulwarks.

I did much the same mods to the channels as you, but I did not add that curious little brass flange(?). The one that sticks out and has an up curve to the end, what is it for?

Thanks Steve for following along.

Prof. Tilley - I have heeded your sound advice and there are small steel pins inserted thru holes pre-drilled thru the outer bulwark and secured with CA.  Hopefully that last line will NOT pop everything loose!

Arnie - I've begun to mount the channels... This affords the opportunity to show why I added those brass brackets to the channels.  Per an earlier post regarding some research - the spare topsail yards are stored on brackets hung from the main and mizzen channels:

I rather like the effect.

I needed to break up the tedium of the pin rails, so I started in on some of the boats. Here is the smallest boat (punt) outfitted with the keelson (.040 x .040 Evergreen) and ribs (.030 x .030). I had some small half-round .040" Evergreen that I stretched around the outer gunwale for the rub rail:

The transom was built up with .040 x .100 Evergreen and shaped with a few strokes of the file.

Thanks again for keeping track of my build
Evan

Evan,

Amazing work.  I have a question about the tie down rings around the bow grate in the Officer's Jake picture.  I might have missed it in an earlier post, but I was wondering how you made them?

Thanks,

Steve

Steve - thanks for the kind notice.

Back up one page and towards the bottom you'll see an entry about making the ring bolts.

Cheers!

Evan

Evan,

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.  I cannot believe I actually missed it.  I also wish that I had seen that post before I finished the Thomas, I would have used it on the cargo hatch.  I ended up drilling holes at the tail end of the molded rings and then used brass jackstays that were blackened and then bent, inserted and glued.  Not bad, but your method is so much better.

I have to say that I love the interior of your small boat, if you don't mind, can I swipe the idea for one of my future builds?

Thanks again,

Steve

Steve - I'm glad you like my progress on the small boat.  Please feel free to incorporate something similar in your future builds... Heck, I'm sure I stole that idea from another modeler (or two)!

Hello all...

I have the basic painting and most of the details done on the spar deck - just a bit of touch ups and fine tuning remain.

Here are some sample views:

The spar deck was given a base coat of aged white (no tinting like the gun deck) and individual planks were picked out with Vallejo Wood mixed with Vallejo aged white, Vallejo Aged White mixed with Microlux Reefer White, and straight up Vallejo gray wash. After 24 hours everything then got a quick smear with Vallejo Sepia wash that was immediately wiped down with a soft clean cloth leaving a nice wood tone and coloring the seams between the planks.

Nothing is glued down and the brass is yet to be blackened, but I can now move on to painting the half hulls.

Hope folks are still following along!

Evan