New caps were made for the masts and bowsprit. 2 or 3 layers of 1/8" aircraft plywood wood laminated together for the mast caps, the bowsprit cap was made from red oak.
All the caps will get banding, some eye-bolts, and paint.
The mast caps will be attached by a 1/16" drift pin through the side and the top of the mast - no glue. That way they can be removed if the need arises.
The bowsprit cap, on-the-other-hand, will be glued and pined in place.
I decided to take a shot at building Constellation’s boats.
The method I’m using is very similar to how some full-scale boats are built, using a strong-back and molds. The Constellation model itself was basically built this way. While I’ve never built a model this small in this manner, I have been involved in building some real boats in a similar way and hopefully, that’ll get me through.
I acquired the drawings specifically for Constellation’s boats from the National Archives. They are marked “Norkfolk VA March 1854” and drawn at 1 inch = 1 foot, or 1:12th scale. I need them to be 1 inch = 3 foot, or 1:36th scale. The Archives scanned them to a CD for me, so rescaling them was a simple matter. Working with the scan in Paint Shop Pro 7, I cut each boat from the plan and saved it as a separate file.
Starting with the largest of the boats, the 31 foot 10 inch launch; I loaded the it’s drawing into Paint Shop and used it’s layer feature to trace the plan, profile, and each station onto a separate layer. The station’s were each mirrored to create a complete port/starboard station, and the plan (top-down view) was mirrored to show the full width of the boat. Each layer was pasted into a new drawing that laid-out all the components on one sheet to work from. I then repeated this for the 1st cutter. There’s a 2nd cutter, two quarterboats, and a double-ended stern boat I have to redraw this way.
I actually started with the 1st cutter for no reason other than it was the first plan sheet I picked up and started cutting. Each station was roughly cut-out of the plan and pasted onto some 1/8” balsa sheet, then cut out and sanded to the line. Each station serves as a building form and will be mounted on the building board upside down. In drawing each station, a “baseline” was added above it so when mounted on the building board it will stand at the correct height relative to the other parts of the boat.
The building board is a scrap of 3/4" white pine. Using the plan view, the board was marked with centerline and lines for each station at right-angles to the centerline. Each balsa form was then glued into its position on the building board.
The keel, stem post, stern post, and transom were cut from 1/16” basswood, assembled, and trimmed to size. This assemble was was dry fit to the molds and the molds adjusted by sanding so they all touched the keel together without gaps.
Using a roller cutter, I cut 1/8th inch strips for the frames from 1/32nd inch thick basswood. Each frame was dipped in water, wrapped around a small can, and held for a minute or two to preshape it. It was then dipped again and laid over its form. Instead of drilling holes in the baseboard to catch the end of each frame, I opted to place rubber bands on each form to hold each frame to the form.
With all the frames bent onto their molds, the keel assembly was checked for fit again and then glued to each frame and to the baseboard at the transom and the stem, taking care not to glue the frames to their molds.
With the framing complete, planking begins. The drawing states the depth and thickness of the thwarts, the thinkness of the planking, the dimensions of the futtocks, floors, and timbers for each boat – but doesn’t mention at all if the boat is lapstrake (overlapped planks like house siding) or carvel planked (edges butted together to make a smooth surface). It mentions that the launch is coppered, so I’m assuming its carvel planked, and I’m figuring all the rest are lapstraked.
The first strakes to go on are the garboards, on either side of the keel, and then I put on a second strake on each side. I’m planking the boat with 1/32nd thick basswood, but this is looking a bit thick to my eye. 3/4" planks in 1:36 should be .021” where 1/32” is .03. I didn’t think .009” would be so noticeable, but on a lapstrake hull, it just looks too thick - to me.
So - I’m going to hunt down some veneer that’s around 1/64” thick to plank all my lapstrake boats with. In the mean-time, I’ll go ahead with the launch which was carvel planked with 1” thick planks, .03 in 1:36 scale. I’m also going to use 1/8” hardboard, (Masonite), for its molds instead of balsa. The balsa’s been fine, but I had to be more careful handling it when I was bending on the frames or it would break along its grain-Masonite won’t have that problem.
I uploaded the pictures in order, but the forum seems to display them any which way it likes and won’t allow captions. They are named by the date and order they were taken, so 10Sep17 is September 17, 2010, and ordered a, b, c, d…etc.
con10sep14a: The pattern for the launch in 1:36 scale.
con10sep14b: Profile and parts for keel.
con10sep15a: Station patterns (molds) glued to balsa sheet.
con10sep15b: Plan used to mark centerline and stations on building board.
con10sep15e: Molds glued to building board.
con10sep16a: Frames bent onto molds.
con10sep16d: Keel assembly being glued to the frames.
con10sep17c: Garboard planks being put on.
con10sep17i: Spieling the second plank.
con10sep17l: 1st Cutter so far, with 2 planks per side applied.
Hello Jerry,
Where did you get those ENORMOUS clothes pegs from ???.
This is the other extreme, after building BIG boats, the small ones seem even smaller!!.
Amazing work.
John. 
Here’s some pics of the poor little thing being attacked by more giant clothespins!
The site is giving me a hard time attaching images, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to display them in the order I want them - so click the picture in my signature and look at my site.
Its been a couple months since your last post what happened?
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - all of which seem to get in the way of hobbies.
Actually, I tried posting here several times since October and it crashed me out. The set-up they have for attachments here in a word - sucks. I like the set-up at RCGroups.com the best of all the forums (on any subject) I’ve seen.
Anyway, the cutter’s getting close to done. I have to make some gratings, paint it, and make the fittings; oars, rig, etc.
The launch is started and has 7 planks on it as of 1/25/11. It’s bottom gets coppered and it gets a 12 pound howitzer on a pivoting mount in it’s bow with an iron field carriage in the stern sheets; as well as the usual fittings of oars, sails, etc.
In parallel, I’ve worked on the spars. The bowsprit has a flying jib-boom now and the strap that holds it to the cap. The bees are cut and fitted, the cap permanently attached, and some detailing done. I have to make bands around the bowsprit where the bob-stays attached, the heel strap for the jib-boom, some holes for forestays and such to pass through, and a set of spreaders and a dolphin striker and their associated hardware.
The mast’s caps got copper banding and some eye’s fitted.
Things are moving along. I’ve set a goal to have the model capable of sailing by the end of June, but since I’m away the first weekend in July, the first swim is set for the 9th.
Since the last update a lot of little things have been done, and most recently, with the above goal in mind:
The entire bowsprit was built up and is ready to rig. The quarter galleries have been permanently attached and some blocks under them called “drops” installed. A lot of painting was done. The channels were installed. A bit of deck framing around the main hatch installed. The sails she’ll need for her first sail have been worked on, as have the yards and other spars she’ll need for those sails. The trusses for the lower yards have been made; cut from aluminum plate.
She got new mast caps, topmast cross-trees, and trys’l masts made.
Fitting for bobstay chains installed.
Your patience and attention to detail is truly phenomenal - I especially admire the trusses for the yards, it would of been so much easier to ‘cobble’ something together with bits of string. As my grandfather used to say, if it’s worth doing, do it right.
Congratulations on an excellent build & keep up the good work. I look forward to reading about your progress, especially next month if you’re still on schedule.
Regards,
Row
Well, I didn’t make the 9th, wound up sailing her on the 10th - close enough.
Saturday, the 9th would have been better. The Northerly winds would have come, unobstructed, down the creek being more steady and blowing the model back to me, but I just wasn’t ready by the 9th.
Sunday, the 10th, the wind was Southerly blowing through and around houses, tress, and everything else. At 5 mph or less it was variable and unpredictable. I also got to the creek at high tide which running out while I was there - all working to take the boat away from me.
When the nice puff came along she sailed beautifully, till it shifted, caught her a-back, and then she sailed backwards just as beautifully. 
At one point she caught a little gust on a perfect close-reach and heeled a bit. With-out a deck on her I rated that at a pucker-factor of 3 or 4.
Everything worked great until the battery died and she parked herself at the end of a dock 50 yards away.
It being 90° with 80%+ humidity, I didn’t mind swimming after her all that much.
The copper bottom came through swimmingly. The jury-rigged braces and controls worked fine till the battery died.
Now - to lay a deck on her!
Hello Jerry,
The boat looks very, very good.
Bit dodgy sailing her with no deck, I liked the " pucker factor " bit though !!.
Have you noticed how BIG a boat is in the workshop, is still a BIG boat in the car, then becomes a much smaller boat when its in the water !!.
Lots of folk comment on how surprised they are when boats are brought ashore and then they get very large !.
Congratulations on you first sail, glad all went well for you.
John.
The lady taking pictures for me mentioned that - “It looks so much smaller when it’s wet!”
Somehow, sitting in my dining room right now, it looks bigger than when I took it out.
Rereading that I’m hoping it was the model she was talking about. 
Here’s another YouTube video showing the fun that can be had with shifty winds.
Moving on after the big sail, the next goal is to get the spar deck on. In itself that’s not a big deal (I hope), but there are some things that need to happen first. One of those things is the manufacture and installation of the chain plates.
The shrouds and back-stays on a ship like Constellation come down from the mast to dead eyes and lanyards - dead-eyes being blocks of wood with three holes in it that the lanyard is rove through and allows adjustment of the tension of that shroud.
The lower dead-eye is held to the ship by a set of iron straps and links. There are two drift-pins that basically rivet the whole assembly to the hull at the top and bottom of the backing-link (#5).
There’s five basic parts to the type of chain plates Constellation has:
[ol]
[li]A strop that wraps around the lower dead-eye and bolts to…
[/li][li]a link strap that lays against the channel and is connected to…
[/li][li]an oblong iron link that is connected to…
[/li][li]another link that’s shaped like a bent exclamation mark and pinned to the hull by a…
[/li][li]dog-bone shaped, half-round, iron backing-link that is riveted to the hull and spreads the load.
[/li][/ol]
click for a larger image
Building a model like this is always about how to make it look scale while making it strong enough to stand up to use, and actually function - so too with these parts.
Because this is basically how the rig is attached to the hull, I need it to be strong. To that end I intend to bolt the backing-links through the hull. That easier done before the deck goes on.
After determining the dimensions of these things, I set about making mock-ups using paper clips. This helped me get the process down and set up a bending jig.
click for a larger image
Then I was ready to start making them in earnest. There are 52 to be made, plus 22 of just a rod with an eye where some items such as the tops’l yard halyards are anchored on the channels.
click for larger images
making the pinched lower link
click for a larger image
How many channels does this use? I am working on a RC H.M.S. Sovereign Of The Seas and need an idea of how to use 4 channels to control it thank you.
My cordless keyboard just died so until I get some new batteries I have to type with the on screen keyboard 
I lost my cordless a while ago. I miss it. It’s buried in the yard next to the oak.
Constellation is set up for 4 channels, on a 6 channel 2.4g radio:
1: Rudder
2: Fore mast squares
3: Main mast squares
4: fore-n-aft sails (jibs and spanker) though these may be separated to
4: jibs
5: spanker and trys’ls
If you’re doing the Sovereign you need to look at the Royal William - just launched: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=611006&page=38#post19222383 - this guy also did a Victory, Vasa, and a Norske Love.
It’s been a while, and two other hulls were built in the mean time, but Constellation recently had some work done as well.
I’ve got many of the parts for the chain plates made, but I ran out of brass rod and can’t get any more at the moment - it’s a money thing, anyway I decided that instead of using bolts through the hull to hold the chain plates, I would use small wood screws. The point to this is I won’t have to have all the chain plates done to go ahead and put the deck down. I’ll glue in some oak strips for the screws to have something to bite into.
In the mean time, I decided to put something of a finish on the stern. I cut out the stern ports all the way through the hull and made window inserts to glue in from the inside. This way the windows are recessed into the ports. I didn’t use clear material because there simply isn’t anything inside the hull to see through them.
Ports cut out
Window insert made
Insert fitted
Inserts made and painted
Windows done
With the stern windows in place I started making the master for the three medallion decorations - a Constellation of stars. Each is a star has rays coming out between the points and flames coming out of the center which is a flower looking thing. This is all mounted on a 10 sided back board.
The actual medallions from 1854 still mounted on the ship today.
My first try was Sculpty clay (which hardens into a sort-of plastic when baked) on a 1/32" bass back board. That was OK for a folk-art project, but was to out-of-scale and clumsy for my tastes.
Next I cut a star from some box wood which got me a nicely finished star at a scale thickness. I mounted this on some Evergreen sheet styrene which was also much more scale in thickness.
Star cut from box wood
left: first try, center: second try, right: scaled photo of the real thing.
left: box wood star on styrene backer is much more scale than the first try; right.
The rays look a bit like an order of fries from the local fast food joint. There’s two layers stacked and carved to look like tapered rods bundled together. I tried Sculpty rolled into thin worms, but that deformed to easily. I baked the worms, but that didn’t work for me either. Fine brass rod was too costly a solution at the moment. I opted to carve each layer from sheet styrene.
first layer of “fries” installed
second layer of “fries” installed
Next was the circle in the center. Again, from the sheet styrene I cut a disk using a sharpened brass tube of the right diameter. I used the largest sized punch on a leather punch to cut the center hole. The center hole carved a flower motif into and glued in onto the center of the star. Then I glued the ring onto that.
Around the center circle are five circular flames, or, as I like to call them; balls-o-fire. These I cut out with the next size smaller on the leather punch, and then used the brass tube to take a bite out of it so it would perfectly fit against the ring. I rounded them and carve the wavy “flames” into them after gluing them on - it was easier to hold on to them that way.
Cutting balls-o-fire with the leather punch and brass tube
second try and scaled photo of the real thing
With all the parts together, I primed the thing with spray primer. Cleaned it up a bit, and pressed it into some modeling clay three times. Into these impressions I poured casting resin and in just a few minutes I had three cast resin medallions.
Three cast resin medallions and the master
These were trimmed, filed, cleaned, washed, and primed. I have no idea what colors these things were in 1856 so I went with similar decorations on other US ships of the day, and some architectural decoration styles of the day. Stars were typically displayed on a dark blue background, as opposed to black; and stars were commonly painted white, yellow, and more often if possible; gold leaf. I don’t have any gold leaf, so I used Testors gold and flat blue enamel paints.
Painted gold on blue
I attached them to the hull with gelled CA and gave them another coat of paint, also touching up the hulls paint around the stern.
Mounted on the hull and paint touched up.
I’m pretty happy with the result. The old girl now has a nice looking rear end. 
Well, it’s been a while,two years in fact, since the last post in this thread. Sorry for that, but there were extenuating circumstances. I lost my job of 18 years and I haven’t yet found anything like permanent yet. While the poles reversed in my world, the models got shelved and except for a little work on Pride of Baltimore nothing’s gotten done of any consequence.
Last weekend (May18th) I was invited to take Constellation to the Baltimore Port Expo, so I hurriedly jury rigged her to sail and plopped her into a pool too small and shallow for a vessel of her size. It was a nice little event, none-the-less.
I’ve been urged to drag the boats down to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels Maryland, so all three may get to go on an outing together.
Stuffed into a Ford Windstar
At the Baltimore Port Expo
Tug Delaware and a Chesapeake Bay Ram schooner
NS Savannah
A Forest Sherman class destroyer
Tug Delaware in 1:24 scale
Pride of Baltimore II
Into the pool
The long voyage to the other side of the pool
Sails filled and nowhere to go
The nimble Son of Erin sails effortlessly around the pool
Ocean going tug
Anchored in the windward end of the pool
May 31st I took all three model to St Michael’s Maryland to display at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Model Expo.
Folks seemed real interested in the models, even Macedonian’s bare hull. They were surprised to learn that the models were built from ordinary materials from scratch.
It was a fun little event, Constellation’s third time sailing now.
Constellation at my tent with Pride of Baltimore and Macedonian
Rush Hour in the pool
The pool was some 50 x 80 feet I guess, and a foot deep generally.
A Ram schooner shares the obstacle course
Constellation
In prep for the event, I installed a test set-up to handle the sheets on overlapping heads’ls.
The servo pushed one arm, or the other, drawing in the sheet attached to that arm. The other sheet stays slack. Meanwhile, the sheet for the driver is attached to the servo arm itself.
Here’s the set-up in Constellation
It worked fine, but it needs something to recenter the arms when the wind’s not strong enough to pull out the sheet. The real test will be this set-up in Pride of Baltimore with all it’s overlapping sails.
Jerry,
Good to hear that you’re still involved with the models and that they’re actually getting wet! The nearest my ‘Enterprise’ has been to water was a few weeks ago in my sons paddling pool, so you’ll get no sympathy from me when you complain about 80’ of water to play with!
Also, I’m sorry to hear that your job outlook hasn’t changed much in the intervening years - not that it’s any consolation, but for far too many it’s the same situation here. The UK allegedly has the fastest growing economy in Europe (@ 2.9%) and that may well be the case in London but everywhere else it’s pretty stagnant as it has been for the last 5/6 years. The only thing that’s really changed are a few bank shareholder revolts on renumeration issues but the boards still ended up with their multi million pay packets. A little off topic and rant over…
Well, here’s hoping that the 2nd half of 2014 brings you a little more luck on the job front which will hopefully result in a few spare dollars in your pocket to invest in Constellation.
Regards to you & yours,
Row
Extra: Really like your sheet control, a great lesson in thinking around the problem instead of just staring at it. For my overlapping headsails I’ve taken the easy option and gone with a pair of winches, the only clever bit being that they’re both controlled with just the up/down motion of one stick & a switch on the Tx - took rather a lot of head scratching to figure out the ‘mix’ programming sorted for that…
I wanted to let go the sheets when tacking, and haul the new sheet in after she passed through irons - like you would on a real boat, so I’ve been scouring the Internet, books, zines, other modelers, to find the one thing that would handle the heads’ls that way I wanted.
There’s the simple winch or arm that hauls them from one side to the other, but is always under constant tension and therefore doesn’t let you sheet out properly when on a reach or a run. The image here is Dan’s set-up on his 1:24 SC&H brig finished as the US brig Syren
I saw a heads’l sheet set-up that used an arm to haul the jib port or starboard and a second servo to move the first servo fore-n-aft to take in or let out the sheets. At left is that idea as it was posted on Model Boat Mayhem. It was interesting, but required another servo! I did not want to go THAT route with extra gear, channels, etc.
I tried to come up with a way to achieve the above, by having the servo’s own movement move itself and eliminate the second servo - I never got to really test the theory, and while I think it’ll work, it looked like it would be a pain to maintain and adjust inside a model. Too complicated.
A variant of the winch is the sheet that runs through the clew and has a stopper on either side to haul the sail over. This is still an option I’m looking at for a smaller, simpler boat. It may not require the usual tension if used with a captured drum winch or arm.
I’ve seen jib sheets run to the yards so the braces pull them one way or the other but with 3+ heads’ls it turns into a cats cradle and a real pain to get adjusted. It also doesn’t look prototypical in any way, and I’m a little fussy about that on my models. It’s great for non-scale models like bottle boats and Footys.
My first attempt at this semaphore system idea had the servo reversed, base on this idea posted in RCGroups. I liked how it would put no load on the servo to hold the sheet in place.
The problem was it put a huge load on the servo getting it started moving from center and the arms had to have a funny shape to get the most draw from them, and then it wasn’t enough. A friend and I spent a day in the shop cutting up scrap 1/4" ply wood arms trying to come up with a useful shape and length and all we got was disappointed.
On a square rigger, the fore-n-afts don’t need to sheet to the centerline, and seldom do on real vessels. Sheeting my heads’ls to the bulwarks instead should make the system work a little better too.