Constellation, the sloop of war c.1856 in 1:36 scale for R/C sailing

Got three new trucks today!

The truck's a ballish thing at the mast head with sheaves for flag halyards in it, not what my ozzy friends call a "ute."

These were made from slices of a mahogany dowel, and I only made holes for one flag halyard in each.

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That done, I finished installing the hooks on the halyards and clews of the mizzen t'gallant and royal that make those sails easy to strike or set.
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Gun circles and spar deck outdoors
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I've been trying to figure out controlling the tacks of the courses. I ran a line from the tack of the main course to it's block on deck, back to the main brace block and up to the main yard. In theory when the yard is braced, it pulls the line pulling the tack of the sail as well - it's just a simple loop - but it's not working and I'm still trying to figure out why which is ticking me off because it would look like the main brace and operate the tack all at once. If it will work, I won't need rods in the bottoms of the courses either.
 
May 18th the models went to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's Model Boat Expo.
I rented a UHaul trailer to transport them with the least amount of break-down required.
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First and last time I did this event in 2014, we got LOTS of visitors, but this year we didn't get many at all, despite it being a beautiful day.
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Access to the creek was by three ramps all between two piers full of boats. The wind was blowing straight back on shore, making getting out difficult. In the afternoon it lightened and became variable, so I chanced putting Constellation in. I brought a camera and tripod to get pics and video, but my camera kept telling me the batteries were dead even after putting 4 sets of new batteries in, so this is all I managed. (turns out there was a bad connection inside the camera which I've fixed since.)
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It was difficult getting her out in the open, and even more difficult getting her back with the wind blowing off the docked boats and going every-which-way.
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Sunday was spent at Baltimore's Port Expo for National Maritime Day at the N.S.Savannah dock.
Again, hardly any visitors and the wind was blowing hard all day, funneled between the Savannah and the Liberty ship John Brown.
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Some folks took pictures and said they'd send them to me, but none have come in yet.
 
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Haven't touched a model since that sail last year (5/19), but I have been working on a parallel project. Getting a 3D printer back in April I've been printing cannon for Macedonian. To print anything else means making the 3D models to print and for Constellation I've been trying to make the carvings on her trail-boards.
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Unfortunately it hasn't been going as I'd like, so I decided to pop out something easier so I could say I did something. I decided on the turned stanchions that hold up the pin-rails at the base of the fore and main masts. These measure 13/16th" tall and 1/4" square. I printed 15 of them and surprisingly they came out right on the first try.
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Next is something a bit more complicated - the boat howitzer for the ship's launch.
Here's what I had after a couple of hours using Anim8or 3D modeling software.
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So, the launches of frigates and sloops generally carried a 12 pounder howitzer on a sled that could be mounted on pivot points in the bow or stern. An iron field carriage would be in the stern sheets if the was intent of using the gun ashore. My intention is to model this set-up in 3D modeling software called Anim8or in 1:36 scale for Constellation's launch.
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This is what I'm modeling...
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and here's an original that mine is mostly based on...
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The last post has a pic of the beginnings of the 3D model, here's after some progress...
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and then I added some textures to give it color and work continued...
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The point being to print this on a 3D printer, I've done a couple of printed that didn't turn out so well, or at all in the case of the wheel spokes, but helped me spot issues toward getting a good final print...
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I've been detailing the howitzer; fixing some surfaces on the model that were "wrong-way-out" or missing, correcting things like the ammo box rack and a trunnion-hole (?) under the gun so it can be printed separately.
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The next thing involving the gun will be the pivot fittings that attach to the launch; one in the bow, two different ones on either side, and another pair back aft. I can only guess what these things actually looked like, but they'll be small enough that I suppose a guess will do.
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I also started detailing the 3D model of the pivot gun I made years ago. Eyes, pivot plates, and the clamp that locks down the carriage to the slide are done so far, but there's lots of plates, rings, axles, and other details to go. I'm hoping to print these (there's two of them) as a single piece because they serve as handles to open the access hatches they're attached to. I considered modeling all the gun's tackle on the 3D model, but I think not. I will most likely be modeling the shells for the blocks at any rate.
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I started modeling the boarding steps, but don't care much for what I have so far. There's surprisingly little detail online of what these things really looked like, especially in Constellation's time period.

Some may be thinking printing all these parts may be something of a cop-out on a so-called "scratch-built" model, but I am digitally modeling these items myself, from scratch, and besides the very nice detail I couldn't manage myself otherwise, this is a working model that's handled a lot; if something is broken, or lost, I can fairly easily replace it by printing another. This idea struck me as very important when I was thinking about printing Macedonian's figurehead.
 
Nearly done with detailing the pivot gun 3D model; all that's left is the elevation wedge and associated hardware.
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The plans used are from the National Archives for a Pivot carriage for a 10" shell gun of 86 CWT for the US steam frigate Mississippi - June 23 1855. drawn in 1/10th scale, scanned and resized to 1:36 scale for Constellation.
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A first try at printing the pivot gun didn't do so well. Besides some things not printing, like the carriage trucks, the gun detached from the elevation wedge. Some details came out very nicely, so I tweaked the model with better attachment to the gun, and fixed a couple of minor things, then tried again.
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This time the model detached from the supports, and did it again on the third try. So I need to figure out how this thing needs to be supported to get it to print.
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In the meantime, I made some more of the models on my list; like the anchor and boarding steps. I'll need to print 4 anchors, and 24 boarding steps (the ship gets 12 on each side).
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I printed boarding steps.
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