US Brig Syren by _SalD_ – FINISHED - 3/16" scale

[_SalD_]

Almost finished with chapter five!!

 

The hull is sanded down and stained.  Reading through a number of Syren build logs here on MSW regarding staining the hull I decided to go with a 40-60 mixture of golden oak and natural stain.  I tried this mixture on some test strips and liked the shade however when I used it on the hull itself the color came out a little darker than what I was looking for. It’s not bad in fact the admiral really likes it so I guess it’s a done deal.

 

 

 

For the treenail layout instead of drawing lines on the hull I used something similar to what Dirk did in his build.  I used a transparent sheet to print out the reference lines denoting the location of the bulwark’s.  Holding this sheet on the side of the hull with clothes pins I was able to make small indentations into the planking by poking holes through the plastic sheet with a compass point held in a mechanical pencil.  To make the holes I used a pin vise with a 0.02 inch (0.5mm) drill bit and then rounded them out by inserting the tip of the compass point.  To fill the holes I first tried a dark shade (#8 minwax) blend stick but thought the holes stood out too much. I wanted a more subtle look so I went with a lighter shade (#3) blend stick.  The holes can be seen when you look at the hull at different angles so you can tell they are there, but they don’t over power the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

Treenails on left of the gun port are the lighter shade,darker to the right.

 

 

After marking the waterline (not one of my favorite tasks) I taped the hull ready for painting.

 

 

Almost forgetting, I finally glued the lower deck in place.

 

 

[patrickmil]

Great looking stain Sal! I look forward to seeing all of the treenails in place. I've always felt that it was a great detail in planking.

[Gahm]

Very nice planking job! Well done!

 

Thomas

[augie]

Fine looking planking there, Sal. I'm glad the Admiral is happy!!!!!!

 

Just curious ---- did you use any pre-stain on that basswood?

[_SalD_]

Great looking stain Sal! I look forward to seeing all of the treenails in place. I've always felt that it was a great detail in planking.

 

Thanks Patrick, the treenails are finished, that's a lot of holes!  You are right the they do add a nice touch to the appearance of the ship.

 

Very nice planking job! Well done!

 

Thomas

 

Thanks Thomas, I do have a few low spots in the planking you can't see in the pictures where the plating is going. I'm not sure if I should fill them in since they will be covered by the plates.  I do reference your build of the Syren quite often.  I used your drilling technique for the treenails.

[_SalD_]

Fine looking planking there, Sal. I'm glad the Admiral is happy!!!!!!

 

Just curious ---- did you use any pre-stain on that basswood?

 

Thanks Augie,  when the Admiral is happy life is good.   I didn't use any pre-stain.  You can't see it in the pictures but the finish is a little blotchy in places.  Not bad though.  I glad you and the others have posted your builds so I can learn from the best.  Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all for all the likes also.

[augie]

Just something to keep in mind for the future.  You've hit a major milestone so sit back and enjoy it.  She's really coming together beautifully.

[Gahm]

Sal, before putting on the copper plates I would recommend you make sure the hull is absolutely smooth. And if you have some low spots I would fill them out. The copper foil is so thin that you will see every uneven areas very clearly afterwards.

 

Thomas

[_SalD_]

Three coats of paint and I’m done with chapter 5. 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6 – The Stern

After sanding the stern to the required thickness I started to install the planking.  I decided to place all the planks to the full width of the stern and not in small pieces around the gun ports, similar to how I installed the upper outboard hull planking.  After installing the planks over the gun ports I cut a rough opening with an x-acto knife (Note to self: Don’t be so cheap! Change the blade once in a while.) and then sanded the edges to the proper width with an emery board.

 

   

 

 

After finishing the planking I cut the sheer plank and upper wale for the transom filler and fashion pieces. For the transom filler I used the 1/16 x 5/32 wood strip as called for in the instructions.  For the fashion pieces, after trying to get the correct shape with the 5/32 wide strip and not succeeding, I opted to use a 3/16 wide x 1/16 thick piece instead. This worked out better because with the extra width I was able to get the piece under the transom and to shape it into the correct form.  I also make the fashion piece(s) out of one piece of wood instead of two.

 

 

 

 

After all the pieces were glued and dried I sanded everything to the shape of the transom. 

 

   

 

Finally (I know it a little late now) I check my gun port position with the gun cutout just to make sure everything was in line.

 

[usedtosail]

Looks great, Sal.

[augie]

Great work, Sal.  Hull looks spectacular.  Transom shaping up.  Don't you just love the dummy canon idea?

 

If I recall, the cap strip over the top of the transom comes next.  Be very patient here.  May take one or two extra trys but it can be done!

[_SalD_]

Looks great, Sal.

Thanks Tom I appreciate you looking in.

 

Great work, Sal.  Hull looks spectacular.  Transom shaping up.  Don't you just love the dummy canon idea?

 

If I recall, the cap strip over the top of the transom comes next.  Be very patient here.  May take one or two extra trys but it can be done!

 

Augie, I've had the strip for the cap soaking for a week now  , do you think it's soft enough?   I will heed your words of advice and be patient.  Thanks

[augie]

A week?  Maybe ---- maybe not!!!  Just keep in mind that each piece of wood has it's own mind so if the first doesn't work, try another.  I know Dirk used something he called 'Bendable Beech' but I'm not sure it's from Earth.  

[_SalD_]

This is the only place on earth I could find bendable beechwood.  I think it might be a bit to far to go.  Modulor Material Total, Prinzenstr. 85, 10969 Berlin, U Moritzplatz.  But I'll keep on looking.  Thanks Dirk.

[_SalD_]

Doing a little researching I did find some interesting information on 'cold-bendable hardwood' (see links below).  It seems that you can bend this wood into any shape you'd like as long as it doesn't dry out (+20% moisture content).  Once it dries it will stay formed.  They only sell large sizes and it is expensive.

 

 

http://www.puretimber.com/

Edited February 5, 2015 by DrWatson

[_SalD_]

After chapter 5, chapter 6 seemed like a breeze.  I carved the groove in the molding strips using the method Chuck describes in chapter 10.  I don’t have a picture of it but to secure the strip while I carved it I sandwiched it in between to drafting triangles taped to the table top.  After carving them I made up a little jig to pre-form the strps to the correct curve.  Once they were dry I glued them in place.

 

 

On the second layer transom I needed to sand down the inside edge somewhat.  This is because when it was held in place it overlapped the upper outboard corners of both gun ports.  When sanding it down I took the liberty to shape it a little differently by increasing the width between the ports.  I thought it might help when placing the carving on it.

 

 

Next I attempted to bend the stern cap rail.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

First attempt.  Thought I could do better.

 

Second attempt.  Thought I knew what I was doing.

 

 

Like they say, third times a charm.

 

 

Satisfied with the cap rail I made the fashion piece(s).  Again like the first layer fashion piece I made it in one piece.
Glued it all together, filled the gaps with wood filler, sanded it, couple coats of paint and finished with chapter 6.

 

 

[_SalD_]

Caprail looks great!

 

Dirk

Thanks Dirk, it took me a few tries but patience and persistence pays off. 

[SgtSki in MI]

I'm looking at the Syren for my second wooden ship build because she is linked with a line in the Marine's Hymn ("To the Shores of Tripoli"). Of course, I'm sort of talking pretty big right now as I am yet to begin my FIRST build! (Niagara)

[augie]

There ya go, Sal.  Funny, took me 3 shots.

 

Looks super!

[CaptMorgan]

Looking really good DrWatson. I really like the way the second layer transom turned out.

Keep it up -- I'm still folowwing......

RR

[Gahm]

Well done, Sal! The cap rail can be a bit tricky.

 

Thomas

[WackoWolf]

Excellent work SAl.

[_SalD_]

Tom, Augie, RR, Thomas & Joe,  Thank you all for the kind words and thanks to all for the 'likes'

[Jimz66]

Looking good Sal. It was nice to meet you guys the other day. Keep it going. 

[_SalD_]

Thanks Jim.  I didn't put two and two together when we met at the meeting but then at home I remember you had mentioned you were from Winsted and then it clicked. It take a while for the old gears to mesh sometimes.  Welcome to CMMS. 

[_SalD_]

Just in case you missed this in the 'New to Hobby' forum I decided to change my screen name.  Normally when I sign up on a new website I never know if I’ll like it, or if it will have any useful information, or if I’ll ever return to it, so usually I’ll just pick a name out of the book that I am currently reading.  When I registered on this site, about a year ago, I was reading ‘The Complete Sherlock Holmes and the Complete Tales of Terror and Mystery, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and being that I wasn't crazy about using Sherlock Holmes I went with Dr. Watson.   Now that I use this site quite frequently I felt that with my old screen name of ‘DrWatson’ people might mistakenly think that I am in some way connected to the medical profession or have an advanced college degree.  Either of which are true, or close to it. So, in order to not to misrepresent myself I will, or have, changed my screen name to _SalD_.

[_SalD_]

Started chapter 7 (inboard planking) by thinning the bulwarks to the required thickness. Prior to sanding I placed the fillers strips at the stern per Chuck's instructions and also placed some filler at the bow, as Dirk recommended, to help with placing the planks in the bow.

 

   

 

After placing the first 3/16” plank I cut pieces to fit around each sweep.  While placing these strips I used a 1/8” spacer to keep all the sweep opening consistent.

 

 

For the remaining planks I used the pieces left over from the hull planking.  Being consistent, I planked over the gun ports and cut them out later.

 

    

 

I also made up the two sheaves located at the stern and cut the opening in the planking.

 

[augie]

Good progress.  I like the 'working' sheaves.  Wish I had thought of that.

[_SalD_]

Good progress.  I like the 'working' sheaves.  Wish I had thought of that.

Thanks Augie.  I need to give Dirk credit for the sheaves, if it wasn't for his build log I would have never thought of doing it. 

[_SalD_]

Finished the inboard planking and gave it a couple coats of paint.

 

 

I made the cap rail in one piece from a basswood sheet that was 3”x24”x1/16” thick.  I used a heavy card stock to trace the top of the bulwarks instead of the wood sheet itself because it was a bit more flexible than the wood and less expensive if I messed it up.  I cut the card stock pattern out, traced it on the wood sheet and then cut the rail out with an x-acto knife and sanded smooth.

 

 

While the cap rail glue was drying I made the 1/16” square molding strips that go along the outboard edge of the cap rail.  I pretty much made these strips similar to the smaller molding strips at the stern by using my drafting triangles to hold the strip steady, then scoring the wood with an x-acto knife and then forming the groove with the compass point held in a mechanical pencil.  The only difference was that for these strips I borrowed an idea from Richard’s (rtropp) build log and used a small piece of sandpaper folded in half to clean up the groove.

 

 

 

Before I start the decking I’m going to repaint everything (where's Earl Scheib when you need him)  .  The sheer plank, the stern cap rail and the upper wale got pretty beat up while installing the inboard planking and cap rail.  Now I know why Dirk recommended not painting the black until everything was installed.  Live and learn.