Observation of Sails on USS Constitution

This is USS Constitution, still afloat after Hurricane Sandy. The reason I'm putting it here is for reference to its sails. Sails on model ships have bothered me and part of it may have been the way they were coloured.

Observe in this picture that the sails are darker near the top and fade to almost white at the bottom, or they are darker where attached and fade to a lighter colour at the edges furthest from where they are attached.

Arranging sails on a model the way they are set in this picture might be an attractive option, since a ship with a complete set of sails tends to hide much of the detail and work done with relation to the rigging.

Bill Williams