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Thank you George and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you too.

Continuing on with the bowsprit rigging I did the Inner Martingale Stays next. As with the bowsprit shrouds I installed the stays opposite to what's described in the instructions by running the lanyards through the eye bolts at the bow and the bullseyes at the end of the line, then threading the line through the fairlead and dolphin striker and ending by seizing it to the end of the jibboom. For me, I found it easier to do this way because then I didn’t need to worry about determining the correct length of line if I ran it the other way. Instead I used the seizing at the end of the jibboom for final adjustments. Hope that makes sense. The bullseyes at the end of the stays were made as described in the manual which were a lot easier to make before the line was tied to the ship. After installing the stays I glued on the splash guard. Moving on to the Outer Martingale backropes I again tied the lanyards first but decided not to tie the other end of the line to the bottom of the dolphin striker just yet. Thought it would be easier to install the Outer Martingale stay lanyards first so I wouldn’t need to work around the backropes. The stays were installed at the bow and then threaded through the fairlead, dolphin striker and finally through the blocks at the end of the flying jib. Then the backropes and stays were then seized to the bottom of the dolphin striker. The foot ropes were installed as described in the manual except that I tied the knots in the line before putting them on the ship. After they were installed the lines were coated with a 50/50 solution of water and white glue. The glue was left to dry and three or four coats of glue were applied. Clips were added to shape the line and the final coat of glue was left to dry for that mystical time, ‘overnight’. Here is my sophisticated lanyard measuring device to keep them all the same length.

Nils, she's beautiful, what can I say that hasn't all ready been said. You did a magnificent job. I like the crew too. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years

Richard, from the drawing it sticks out about 3/4" from the outside edge of the cap rail. When I get home tonight from work I'll measure it and let you know what mine is. Richard, I measured my cathead and it extends out 13/16" from the outside edge of the cap rail and the total length of the top is 1-3/16".

J, I believe Nils was referring to this picture showing the sweeps (oars) secured to the gallow bitts.

Richard, I use a jeweler's saw to cut the tubing to the approximate size I need. In a piece of scrap wood I drilled a small hole the same diameter as the tube, to a depth of the final sheave thickness. Then I put the tube in the hole, which will hold it in place, and use a file to file the tube down to it's correct height and if I need to make it thinner I just keep filing the tube and the wood together. Hope this makes sense, I included a picture that might help explain.

Thanks Thomas, I was hoping you would pick up the pace a bit, I liked watching you do it before I had to. Thanks ca. I had thought about how to make them adjustable but that would have required more thinking . You can vary the distance a bit though depending on where you clamp the piece. Thanks Nils, I figured I put the split rings there so I might as well use them.

Richard, nice job on the catheads. Have you ever tried copper or brass tubing for the sheaves? I usually cut a small slice of tubing and then file it down to fit.

Thanks Elijah I really appreciate the comments and I'm glad you like the way she coming along. Richard, thank you too. The clips worked out quite well for me. And thanks to all for hitting the likes button.

Thanks George, I hope they make sense.

Thanks Bob, I think I need to put some caution tape up all around it.

Big step..stepped the bowsprit, no going back now. A heads up about the splash guard. The manual says that the laser cut pieces were suppose to be cut with the grain running top to bottom, which makes sense to make them easier to bend around the jig. The pieces on my sheet, however, were cut with the grain running lengthwise or perpendicular to the way described in the manual. With the grain running in that direction the pieces seemed too stiff to ‘dry’ bend around the jig without breaking so I soaked them in hot water for about an hour. Not only did I soak them but I used a hand steamer to really soften them up. I formed them around the jig provided, bending one piece at a time. I let them dry overnight and then glued them together, clamping the pieces back onto the jig. The gammoning for the bowsprit was next which was straight forward enough but awkward working in such a tight area. First casualty while rigging, I knocked the dolphin striker off. This was probably a blessing in disguise because I hadn’t thought that it was very secure from the beginning. This gave me the opportunity to add a pin to its back in order to secure it better to the bowsprit cap, hard to see the pin. Before starting the bowsprit rigging and after studying the plans I came up with a procedure that, for me, seems to work. I decided that in order to keep the lengths of the lanyards between the hearts consistent that I would tie those first. To do this I made a little jig that would hold the hearts at a set distance apart so I could lash them together. The jig is made of two smooth jawed alligator clips, soldered together with a piece of copper wire. I don’t have pictures doing the bobstays because I was seeing if this method was going to work but I do have them doing the bowsprit shrouds. Hearts held in position Adding the lanyard. I didn’t tie the lanyard in place I just glued the ends to the line adjacent to it. The shroud was then looped around the heart, tightened and seized. The hooked end of the shroud was already hooked to the hull. Early Christmas present to myself, Dr. Slick 3 1/2" scissors. works well.

Robbyn, you're most welcome, glad to help. The following link shows how I did mine if you'd like to see. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/8410-us-brig-syren-by-sald-–-model-shipways/?p=285045

Thanks Ken and Tom and for all the likes.

Robbyn, there are two different layers of fashion pieces. The first two are filler pieces and the second two cover them and are blended into the mid-wale. The picture, below, from the manual shows the first layer of fillers. The lower filler piece is sanded down almost to nothing. The red and green lines that I drew denote the final cap rail and fashion pieces that go over the top of the fillers. The other pictures show how I tapered the top fashion piece into the wale. I also found it easier to make the fashion pieces out of one piece of wood instead of two. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Great job Nigel, I love the sails, they really make her stand out.

Tom, Having done this for the first time myself on the Syren I can better appreciate all the work that goes into doing the head rails, great job.

Thanks Thomas, I used brass strips for the three iron bands. I think it looks more realistic and the tape that came with the kit is white so i'd probably have made a mess of the mast trying to paint it black. Thanks Nigel, I really enjoyed making it.

Thanks Elijah

Now that my phone is charged here are some pictures of how I tapered the jibboom and flying jibboom which was similar to how I did the bowsprit. First, from the drawing, I determined the required diameter of the boom at its ends and at the ¼ points. Then I transferred these locations onto the appropriate size dowel. I chucked the dowel into my drill press (no lathe) and set my calipers to one of the predetermined diameters. Then, with the press running, I used the jaws of the calipers to cut grooves into the dowel at the mark locations to the corresponding measured diameters. After all the grooves were cut in I used different grits of sandpaper to taper the dowel using the grooves for depth guides. For the iron bands that hold the two booms together I decided again not to use the pinstripe tape but make the piece from a brass strip. The travelers were made from 28 ga. wire as in the instructions. The open and closed hearts are very delicate and need gentle handling. I found that not removing the char from the side of the hearts helped me see cutting the groove along the sides. Making the eyes at the ends I used the same jig I use to make zip-seizing. The drawing shows a doubled line around the closed and open hearts but the photo shows only a single line around the closed hearts. I went with the single line for the closed hearts because I thought using a double line for all the hearts would make it too crowded. Completed bowsprit and booms. I did have one 'OH SH*T' moment when after I tied the blocks on the end of the flying jib and as I was patting myself on the back for doing such a nice job I realized I forgot to put the traveler ring on. Well after pondering how I can get this tiny ring on without removing the blocks I finally bit the bullet and removed the blocks and slipped on the ring, a very humbling moment. Back tracking a bit I finally lashed the sweeps to the gallow bitts using the eye bolts that were installed in the chocks and then lashed the long boat down.

Have safe flight back Joe. I'll see you at the February meeting, going to be away for the January meeting.

Thanks Greg, Elijah and Thomas. I'm a little nervous about mounting this on the ship all I can envision is bumping into it and breaking it. Thank for all the likes too.

Thanks George & Ken the kind words are appreciated

Thanks Dirk, and I'm glad it wasn't just me.

Jay, I have a mouse sander as well and use it all the time. I just recently used it to sand down the outer hull of my long boat and it worked great. I prefer using it with the finger detail attachment, it gives me a better feel and I can get into tighter areas.