USS Constitution build II - 35 years later

Been a tough year for getting much modeling done.  Lots of other commitments, mostly at work, but a few at home as well.  I also was appointed VP of the Midwest Model Shipwright's Club, which requires me to put together the online "Ships On Deck" portion of our virtual meetings every month.  Anyway . . . .

Starting laying on sails and hoisting yardarms, so the running rigging has commenced.  Headings on the images describe what I am doing, but I am trying to be as realistic as possible.  This meant using robands for the sails, as well as slings, jeers, trusses, lifts, sheet, clew, tack and bunt lines.  Lots of lines to figure out.  Tying to the sail & yard are the easy parts; finding the correct pinrail is another thing!

Enjoy:

Bob

Yes it does!  And two fingers of a 16 year old Balvenie doesn't hurt either. 

Bob

Hi!

       When you have a full schedule, the mundane things like Rigging and building Gratings has a tranquilizing effect on a person, doesn't it?

Happy to oblige, Evan.  Once my course gets going next week, I will have some time again to work on her.  I really look forward to building - even rigging - as it helps clear my mind for a few hours.  I get crabby when I can't build! 

Bob

So!

 I took over five for the Clipper, Eagle! No, not a plastic kit. I picked her up in Rota, Spain when I traveled through there for a Company called B.P./Shell. She was by a company that does not sell here in the States at all. Shoot they still don't, if they are still around. Anyway, you had to build ALL the Frames and the keel as sub assemblies and then, Put, not only the planks on her but also the Floors(Inner run of planking!.

 All hardware was provided by patterns and teensy blocks of some hardwood seemingly as hard as RedHeart Wood! Broke many a drill bit and dulled saws getting those holes in there and then cut to size. Rounded them by putting them in my rock tumbler with a cap of salt! Used the Tumbler for short runs of cleaning paint off old Tin Soldiers! Glad I had it!

Hello Bob -

Just dropping you a quick note to thank you for the excellent rigging tutorial and to let you know that I'm still puttering away on my build... Just had to slow things down while family life got busy during COVID days.

I will certainly leverage your insights when I get to the rigging of my build.

Awesome effort you have going!

Cheers

Evan

I teach in a medical school, and the prep time before my classes begins is grueling.  While most get the summer off, I am prepping bodies (yes, I teach gross anatomy & neuroanatomy), cleaning and restocking the lab, and putting together new lectures for the course.  In about 3 weeks, when the course actually starts, I will actually have some free time again.  I have been dabbling here and there, mostly finishing up the one set of ratlines I missed earlier in the build.  And whoever said to wait until most of the rigging is done to do the ratlines must have had one too many pints of grog.  Everything is in the way: sails, running rigging, standing rigging, my own nose even get in the way.

I have great incentive now.  Our IPMS club will be hosting the midwest regional next year, and Wisconsin will be hosting the Nationals.  So I would love to get it done by then.  Never fear, I will be inundating everyone with photos in a few weeks.

And thanks for the kind words.  Force9 really motivated me to push my build to the limit.  I can only hope that my work does the same for others.  And yes, we all have our own "vision" of how we want our finished ships to look.  It wouldn't be much fun if they all looked exactly alike!  Take care.

Bob

Hi Bob! It's been a while, where have all the Connie modelers disappeared to? We haven't seen any progress on Force9's excellent build in a couple of years now. Anyway, your build is coming along beatifully, I love the work on the anchors and cat heads, and while the work you're doing on the sails is impressive, I must admit I would rather see them furled up in the yards so the wonderful detail in the rigging is more visible. It is the way I will be rigging mine, but hey, everyone has a viewpoint on how she should look and that is what makes it so fun. I did Flying Cloud with full sails 30+ years ago and always thought it hid too much of the rigging detail, and that was OOB, so I did Cutty Sark with furled sails. At any rate, I am starting back on on Connie and hopefully will be posting some progress soon, your work has re-inspired me, beatiful work and I look forward toi your next post!

Dan

I am totally amazed . That is some fantastic detailing you are doing. You are doing a fantastic job on the whole thing. I am very impressed. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for the compliments.

The HiSModel sails are very close to the actual drawings of the sails from the Constitution Museum (with some allowances for the scale).  They are made of cotton batiste cloth, which looks amazing as a sail cloth.  His sewing is also impecable.  BUT - if you want ALL the details, as I am doing this time, you will need to add the bolt ropes, reef lines, cringles and clews yourself.  I start by making the top cringle into the rope, then attach it to the sail with a tiny dab of CA, then sew it into place.  I then measured down to where the corner clew would be and create that and finish sewing the bolt rope down the side and across the bottom of the sail.  When I get close to the other corner, I add the next clew, sew, measure for the final top cringle, and sew.  All cringles and clews have a drop of CA under them and are sewn into the corners.  Then I add all the other cringles and clews.  Finally finish up with the reef lines.  Adds a couple of hours to each sail adding those details, but the end product is very realistic.

Bob

Absolutely stunning work!  Definitely museum quality.

TJS

what a beautiful job , bob , you should be proud of yourself , his models sails , they look of a very good quality , are they ? so you have to add in all the , clues , wires , etc .

Started playing with the sails. I attempted to sew in bolt ropes with cringles & clews into the foresail.  Also started adding the reef lines, when I realized that the glue I was using might interfere with staining/weathering of the sails.  So I decided to stain them using Rob's method of dry tea granules to give a randomness to the staining.  To see his video, just click here.  THANKS Rob!  Worked out quite well as you can see.  Also added the first of four anchors.

Bob

Moving on to yard and mast tackle for full rig sail.  Most of the tackle for the gaff and boom are completed.  Moved to Formast jeer and slings.  Big tackle for holding up foreyard: 24" triple blocks.  Jeer is equally as large (9 1/2" rope), but leads to a bullseye.

Take care everyone.

Bob

Bob

Fantastic work. I am not a ship guy but that is very impressive. It looks almost real. Lets set the sails and go for a trip.

I think that it looks amazing!  Personally, I love to see sails on a sailing ship model but yours with just the standing rigging installed looks incredible and I'd probably just stop there if it was me.

TJS

Absolutely outstanding work Bob!   

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Well, I have reached a milestone: the standing rigging is now complete!

It only took me 4 years to get to this point, which kind of bums me out.  Makes me think I will never get this finished.  And then I look at how beautiful she looks and think that four years isn't too bad, considering I only get a few hours a week and the occassional weekend time.  So all in all, not really all that shocking, considering the amount of super-detailing I am doing.  As soon as I clean off the workbench (it is covered in little black snippets of thread & rope), I will take some pictures and post.

ON TO THE YARDARMS & SAILS !!

Bob

Completed most of the main & mizzen topmast standing rigging.  Shrouds, backstays, shifting backstays, and topmast stays & preventer stays.  A bit tricky getting down to those ringbolts at the base of the fore and main masts, but got it done.  Finishing up the footropes, and on to the topgallant masts.

Bob

Thanks Mr. Monkey!  Just trying to do her proud.

Bob

Looks great, Bob!  Really enjoying all the special work you've been doing.

Glad to be of service.  PM me if you get stuck.  I have a few other tricks I probably haven't taken a picture of.

Bob

Great work Bob,

I have an old Thermopylae and Alabama that need to re-masted and rigged, so I am archieving your thread for it has so many ideas to issues I was pondering on.  

Scott

Absolutely!  HiSModel sells a beautiful set of sails (link here) and also has just about any other add-on you might want for the Revell 1:96 Constitution.  These will be stained to look natural and then have the bolt ropes sewn on (probably by hand) before attaching to the yards.  But that is still a few weeks (or months) away.

Bob

Apologies if you've covered this already, but what are your plans for the sails? I saw some discussion on which sails would be in place and which wouldn't, but nothing about the material.  I remember being pretty unimpressed with the vacuform sails that came with the kit, so I'm guessing you have something else in mind.

Thanks Brhino.

My first one was pretty much OOB and followed Revell's directions almost to the letter.  And while she was an impressive model, I always knew that I could have done a much better job.  Some of the knots just didn't look right, and the inevitable warping of the mast tops really bothered me.  My wife liked it, but didn't really "love" it, and no amount of begging would allow it to be displayed in a prominent place.  When I picked up the box this time, I was fully invested in turning out a much more impressive piece, with tons of research, plans, and books to guide me.  Revell's plans are still in the box on the shelf.

Other than turning out a few more spars, all I have left is the rigging.  And there are virtually NO square knots this time!  I am trying my best to do the majority of the rigging the old fashioned way - with real seizings, fully turned wooden masts, multiple sizes of rope, and wooden blocks correctly sized to the scale (not just 2 or 3 like Revell provided).  It is slow going, but the results are amazing.  Pretty sure that most people will probably never really know the difference when looking from three feet away, but I want this one to be as authentic and accurate as possible. As you can see from the original post, I am coming up on the four year mark!  Ships like this are a labor of love and dedication. 

Keep building!

Bob

I just found this thread and it's an amazing looking build!

As a teenager, I attempted to finish this kit that my dad had started before me.  I never did... all the tiny ropework broke me.

Thanks, Bill & Tom.  With the masts topped out, she is starting to finally look like a real ship.

Bob

Nicely done, Bob.

Bill