Revell USS Constitution 1:96 build log

I think everyone knows I intend to put a wooden deck on my plastic USS Constitution. I need a recommendation: should I just use one long strip and make it look like the strip is cut (by drawing a dark line across it), or should I actually cut the strips? I bought two packages of 10-minute epoxy so I should get better adhesion.
Hi John. Personally, on the gun deck, I would draw lines across remembering that the boards are staggered as they hit cross beams. It would be a one-piece deck with holes cutout for masts. Every other board hits a cross beam in a different spot. On the spar deck I would cut them since they are more visible. Only my opinion.
 
Hi John. Personally, on the gun deck, I would draw lines across remembering that the boards are staggered as they hit cross beams. It would be a one-piece deck with holes cutout for masts. Every other board hits a cross beam in a different spot. On the spar deck I would cut them since they are more visible. Only my opinion.
Thank you.
 
Need input. On the upper gun deck my instructions call for gunales (sp)?) To be painted white, but pictures of the USS Constitutions show that they are green. Should I go with white or green.
I have been out of action for a couple of years and just getting back to my models. As you are probably aware I am doing a plastic and a wood of the Constitution.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving
I've always gone with green topside. White would serve for the gundeck. Gunwales is the correct spelling, but it is pronounced as "gunnels"

Bill
 
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Why they picked green, I have no idea.
Many old foliage green paints contained a pigment called 'Scheele's Green, which was actually made by combining copper and arsenic, which made it a very effective rot-proof and bug-proof coating. The hull was a mix of white oak and live oak from Georgia and wouldn't need this, but much of the internal joinery was southern white pine, which would probably benefit from a coat of fungicide. Copper Arsenate paints were understood to be toxic to nearby humans by the end of the 19th century and were no longer used with abandon, but they are still found in old houses in England, often buried under layers of more modern paint.
 
I agree with Bill and Kurt: green for bulwarks and white gun deck. I always look to the Hull model. It has "complications" shall we say, but it is contemporary and by the actual crew.
 
It's easy to conclude that green and white are the appropriate colors for the ship as she has appeared for the past hundred years, but were these the appropriate colors for her appearance during the War of 1812? I know that the Revell 1/96 kit shows her as of her 1924 modifications, the Model Shipways kit represents the ship today, etc. The only kit of which I am aware that represents her 1812 appearance is the Bluejacket kit. But, I haven't seen her color guide.

Bill
 
The Hull model (yes, some weirdnesses) was built in 1812 and presented in 1813, so I'm going with the model colors.

The only things that are really strange - no wheel, possible odd rigging (it was "restored" by Prisoners of War), and the stern windows are waaay too huuuge (each pane is about a department store display window), just 4 panes. No wheel could be it's missing or too much trouble (these were sailors, not modelmakers), who knows about the rigging with its muddy history, but just use all the other sources to rig as best as possible. I've 3D printed new windows (a work in progress), going to 6 panes, possibly 9, instead of just 4. Most ships (from drawings and paintings) seem to have 9, a few 6 or 12, none 4 because the panes would be beyond the tech of the time.
 
It's the nature of the fate of things that go obsolete. Look at the Egyptian pyramids or the Roman Coliseum. They've looked better. Which items get thrown millions of Euros/Dollars/Rubles/whatever and heaps of human effort to preserve is impossible to predict, and time eventually eats everything. HMS Victory will probably never sail again due to hull frame damage from improper storage. All we can due is enjoy what was saved and appreciate it. Once that appreciation is lost, so is historical artefact. USS Constitution is one of the few pieces of history chosen for restoration several times, and is still full functional, although they don't actually place her under full sail on the open sea because it is deemed too risky, perhaps because there aren't enough sailors skilled enough to even man the ship at full crew levels. Wooden ships were risky by today's standards, and no replica vessel is even allowed to see water without many concessions to contain modern safety related upgrades, like motorized power, electrical lighting, anchor winches, life rafts, radios, and navigational equipment. Maritime law would never allow a 100% accurate square rigger to sail, and that is also depressing.
The replica of HMS Bounty did sail from southern Connecticut in an attempt to escape from a hurricane a few years ago. She foundered, but her crew was rescued. However, sailing ships do sail today. I remember the Tall Ships of '76 as they sailed up Narraganset River into Newport. The USCG Eagle (formerly Horst Wessel of the Kriegsmarine) is still used by the US Coast Guard Academy. HMS Rose left Bridgeport, CT enroute to San Diego, CA to be converted to HMS Surprise.

Yet, the Bounty proved that these Historic ships are much too valuable to sail. Tis a pity!

Bill
 
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