...concerning the 1/96 Constitution (plastic) lower masts

Farmboy

Farmboy

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The 1/96 Connie has raised hoops encircling the entire lower circumference of the lower masts...cheeks and forward pieces included. Is this correct? I'm sure there is a post somewhere saying one way or another with an authoritative tone why this is so but I have yet to stumble on it. I see builds in wooden ship models where the cheeks and front piece (the word 'fish' I think is in there?) are not encircled. This I think is the right way to go. The smaller 1/196 Connie has the hoops stopping and not encircling the cheeks and front piece, but it has jackstays molded to the yards, so, did the hoops actually encircle the whole thing in earlier days? Just curious.
 
If you think about it logically, the piece on the front of the mast is there to provide a smooth surface for raising the Main/Fore yards, so having the hoop encircle it seems to defeat the purpose. I believe the bands actually were beneath the frontpiece (sorry, I don't remember the correct name for the part and all of my references are in the basement)
 
Thanks much Coastie. I concur that the hoops should not be on the front piece (the part name escapes me as well), I guess I was wondering if this front piece was always a part of the ship. Paintings are usually under full sail or viewed from the stern. I'm going to either a) file away the band from the front piece on all the masts, or b) remove said piece all together and replace it with a scratch wooden one.
 
The lower masts were made of multiple pieces (vertically). As a result, they used bands of rope (Woolding) to help hold them together. Here is a section of page 95 from the book "Anatomy of the Ship" on the Constitution. Hope it helps!
1712872127114.png
 
Farmboy said:
That answers a lot of questions Corsair, my thanx to you.
Click to expand...
My pleasure. That series of books is a treasure trove of information. Some of them have become quite expensive, but I think you can get the book on the Constitution still pretty reasonable.

Jeff
 
I was looking thru my copy of the Constitution "Anatomy" book and saw what Corsair posted above. I was going to make a copy and comment, but........the book is in the basement and the scanner is upstairs. Also, I knew someone in the Group would do it, so it was just a matter of waiting. :)

But I will also chime in again. I have a printout of a monograph called, "Constitution, CLOSE UP: Minutiae For The Modeler and Artist by Commander Tyrone G. Martin, U.S. Navy (Retired) A Timonier Working Monograph February 2003 TGM" This pub is a wealth of minutia about the "Constitution". Any serious scale modeler of the "Constitution" should have a copy of this monograph. For example: concerning your question about the hoops, here are a couple of entries from the "Masts, Spars, Rigging, and Sails" Chapter:

"As completed in the spring of 1798, 'Constitution' was equipped with a bowsprit and three masts. Each was composed of several sections, each successive section of smaller diameter and length, and each section made from a single tree........'"

Thereafter follows contemporary data concerning various dimensions of the bowsprit and masts.


Then we have the following: "a listing of bowsprit dimensions noted in 1806 for the "Upper Tice[sic]; Lower Tice [sic]; Upper Side of Larboard fish; Upper side of upper fish) with the following paragraph, "This confirms the fact that the shift, noted in 1801 in "Constitution's" case, had been made from all pole masts to only the Mizzen being a pole mast......."

There are also excerpts from various contemporary sources listed. They appear to be from logs and letters and reports. Here are a couple pertaining to your question:

"14 July 1800 -- The new mainmast, a "made' mast, is to be 101' 6" tall"

"Aug 1801 -- Iron hoops were purchased for the fore and main masts and the bowsprit.

"11 Jun 1803 -- 'The main Mast.... is a made Mast consisting of 28 pieces"

So, the answer to your question is: It depends. It depends on what date or time span you want you model to represent. From launching to July 1801- no hoops; after 1801 (i.e. War of 1812)- hoops.
 
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Darn notebook locked up so I had to post the rest here separately. Thank you for the info Coastie. I think I actually have a download of that Up Close essay on my other computer, while Corsair's diagram answered my question concerning the hoops. I'm wondering why Revell chose to make them stand proud of the paunch as they did. Seems a pretty important detail to get right. Historical accuracy isn't a priority with me for this build, and before I posted anything about it, I was going to leave them as is, paint them black and add wolding just for visual interest on the other lower masts . I still might as I think it would add to the Ocher lower masts. I actually found Ocher acrylic paint! Thank you again for being helpful and sharing knowledge. I hope someday to be able to return same to some degree.
 
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