Hello Jerry,
What a great job you are doing on your Sails !!.
Really convinced me to try some Supplex for my new sails for the J Class.
Like the lines drawn onto the sails rather than stitching them, looks very nice,
sewing the seams would have made the sail look very wrong.
Good work AND good photos !!, fabulous !.
John.
www.john-dowd.co.uk
Finally got a few free moments to work on the model:
I jumped the gun a little, but I was dying to see her painted and looking like a sloop-of-war instead of a log with the bark stripped off.
So the model got a base coat of black and white primers, and copper paint below the waterline. I actually have copper foil tape and have begun applying copper sheathing to her bottom - I’ll post some pics of that operation later.
Copper foil tape was purchased from The Tape Depot. This tape is peel-n-stick and comes in 36 yard rolls of various widths. It also has conductive or non-conductive acrylic adhesive - I got 1/2" width non-conductive. 3/8" would have been more scale, but the extra 1/8" gives me some wiggle room when overlapping the pieces and will take slightly fewer rows of plates to cover the bottom - which, you will not, is going to be a tedious job.
I very roughly estimate it requiring almost 140 yards of tape, about 4 rolls. It would be cheaper to get wider tape and cut it into strips, but then you have to deal with cutting it into strips. I’ll probably go that route with Macedonian, a model that will greatly benefit from all my errors on Constellation. 
Way back in 1999 I cut a scale pattern for the copper sheets from some aluminum sheet I had lying around. The nail marks were made by lightly tapping it with a blunted 4 penny nail. The face of the cut piece of foil tape is pressed against the raised dimples of the pattern between your fingers and voila!, a sheet of copper with a nail pattern embossed on it. I’ll likely make up a jig to speed up this process a bit.
The real copper sheets were applied over a tarred felt padding to seal behind them and act as a shock absorber if something bumped the sheeting. They were nailed with flat-headed counter-sunk copper nails and are set just slightly below the surface of the copper, so the nail pattern doesn’t have to stand up, or out, just be seen as a pattern of marks.
The plates are applied from the stern forward, and from the bottom up with each plate overlapping it’s neighbors by about 1mm. That way the common flow of the water won’t tend to lift the plates at the seams. There’s a specific pattern of belts of plates devised to cover a round and curving hull with flat, rectangular sheets. I’ll post more on that later.
As you can see from the pics - there’s a long way to go to be finished. You may ask why bother, I already painted the bottom copper colored, why not leave it at that? #1. I’m nuts, #2. The model will likely be put on static display at various times and is is a “scale” model and the real ship’s bottom was coppered.
A few more sheets applied, a zillion more to go.
Getting close to finishing the starboard side - then there’s the port side to do!
Did I mention this was gonna take a while?
Coppering as of 6/20. The stern is done up to the waterline. If you look close at the left side of the image you can see where I left off.
June 23rd and the starboard side of the hull is coppered. On to the port side!
Hello Gerry,
What you are doing is not modelling, it is ART WORK !!.
Never seen anything to compare it with, it is fantastic !!.
I am in awe of your workmanship and your total dedication to the job before you.
Most people would not even attempt such an undertaking, never mind making such an excellent
job of it.
You say " now to do the OTHER SIDE", I shudder at the thought of all the work still to be done !!!.
John. 
Thanks JayDee on that note, I coppered the rudder today.
Hello Gerry,
Will you have to seal the Copper Tape when finished, with Varnish ?.
Or will the tape withstand being under water, dont risk any tape coming off !!!.
A clear Matt Varnish could be used - - but TEST it first !.
John.
The tape has an acrylic glue and is supposed to be for outdoor use - but you and I know outdoors is not underwater.
Intend to seal it with something, I was going to try spar varnish, and some spray-on clear coats on some test pieces and see which did best.
3 rows of copper into the port side I needed a break from peel-n-stick, so I decided it was time to make the tops - the platforms at the top of the lower portions of the masts.
It seems every can I open is full of worms.
This being a “scale” model, and I being the fellow that I am, there’s an amazing amount of information about the tops and how they’re constructed I have to figure out. Constellation being built in 1854 comes from a period that isn’t as well documented for modelers as say, the 18th and earlier 19th centuries, so it’s come to reading masting and rigging books of the period, Naval regs on the subject, and looking for photos of the ship and her contemporaries that might give me a glimpse of some detail. What’s interesting is the ones on the actual ship don’t quite match the regs or the photos I’ve found - they’re missing some structural pieces.
The attached sketch is what my research, so far, tells me the TOP of the tops should look like. There may be 3 or 4 “spokes” like those on the sides, in the rounded nose of the top not shown in the sketch - I’m trying to nail that down.
The tops are structurally independent of the cross-trees and trestle-trees, already made. They sit on the trees and are bolted down through the “top-cross-trees” you can see in the sketch - basically sandwiching the platform between them.
So far, I’ve ripped the floor-boards or “battens” from 1/8" basswood and have to make the top-cross-trees and other framing pieces. The next post here will show the construction of the things.
The attachment manager won’t let me put the images in order, even when I upload them in order it seems to resort them as it see’s fit.
The top is made of 1/16" basswood.
con100703a: First the top rim is built up from pieces in order to best use the woods grain.
con100703h: The longer battens (planking) go onto it. The top-cross-trees go on and then the shorter battens, completing the planking.
con100704b: The battens are trimmed and the bottom rim is bent on.
con100704c, con100704d, & con100704e: Almost done, the top is placed on the mast for pictures.
The main top fairly complete, received a coat of primer. (con100708b.jpg)
The cross-trees for all three masts got some blocking installed which prevents them moving fore-n-aft, etc (see arrows in pics: con100708b.jpg, con100713a.jpg, con100713b.jpg).
The fore-top was started and is nearly completed. (con100713b.jpg)
All three mast tops made.
The upper masts are held up by iron spikes called fids set into holes at the base of that section of the mast. The model’s are done, basically, the same way. The hole is sleeved with brass tub and the fid is a length of brass rod.
Ok, just look at the pictures.
con100717a: Drilling the hole
con100717e: Brass sleeve glued in.
con100717g: Brass rod fid in place.
con100717i: All three top masts fidded.
A bit of painting and staining on the masts
The cross-trees painted, and the tops attached with 4 brass screws each, it’s back to the bottom and applying copper.
A little more than half way done the port side (starboard side is done you’ll remember) and about 1/3 of the keel done - I should have the bottom finished by the end of the week.
I also scaled up the 1888 deck plan I had and printed it. Some details of the deck arrangement changed from 1856 to 1888, but many things did not, and this plan will help me accurately locate them when it comes time to put these details in. They include items like pin rails, hatches, ring bolts in the deck, the channels, and the sheaves through the bulwark for the fore and main course sheets.
The application of copper to Constellation’s bottom is complete!
I’ll let it sit for a while and hopefully it’ll dull on it’s own a little. I want to keep it copper colored, but loose the gleam - as pretty as it may be.
I’m trying to find something here in the states that compares to G4 which is a varnish for metal and GRP.
Hello Jerry,
Your Hull is fantastic, Congratulations on a wonderful job !!.
John.