Ryland Craze

Because I need a solid 12 hour stint to paint then use the weathering products, and paying the mortgage precludes that at the moment it's back to piecework. The linoleum decks are meant to be a flat brown, so with some preshading and highlights where the brass strips are required, i e done that but, they still need a coat of flat varnish 

Floquil were the very finest model paints known to mankind....then they screwed it all up. In England you could get them from Victors of Islington, dealers in all things American model railroad. They shut down.  So, next, I got my chum in Florida to buy and send me some. These, I noticed, had a different smell and didn't work so well. "Oh here we go", I thought, "unwelcome, unnecessary changes to formula".  Same as cellulose and now they're even trying to foul up our use of the only decent paint left, enamel.  I do use Vallejo for detailing figures as the pigmentation is denser than most and I can get it locally, but I hate acrylics generally.  The only thing that should be water based is orange squash.
 
I don't see why, when we have so much technology, we can't produce a "safe" replacement for the older paint media and damned water based muck is not it!  But of course it was always perfectly safe. My Grandfather made his own paints. He would grind white lead and mix with oils into a paint that he would guarantee for ten years when applied to a London house.  Try getting that these days.  He died of something completely unrelated at a goodly age.  My other grandfather, between cabinet making, restored old motorbikes and painted them with cellulose. He made his own wood stains and polishes. He too, died of an unrelated problem at a reasonable age.
I have used all the so-called "wrong" substances all my life and am also approaching a reasonable age.  I still spray cellulose from my dwindling supply and clean up all things with cellulose thinners, which, considering the lack of paint of that kind, is still freely available, oddly.
 
If we make the world any "safer", we'll all die of boredom as there'll be little to sniff with a satisfied grin, like cellulose, enamel oil paints, Castrol R, St. Bruno, Valor parrafin heaters, road tar,  etc. etc

The first Boxwood strake went on well and I think it is firm enough to continue.

7140
Although a little thinner than the provided Limewood, it has a much better finish, and I think it will need much less sanding, so it will probably work out much the same in the end.
The crushing and dinking element prevalent in Limewood is also not an issue.
I fiddled about some time working out a strategy for the second planks and had a couple of practice runs.

7139
I tapered the plank to 4mm at the bow, starting the taper quite a way back from just forward of Bulkhead A.
At the stern the plank was also similarly tapered from Bulkhead 12.
The planks will bend to follow the strake line plank, but to reduce tension, once the tapers had been made the strip was given the wet/heat treatment to impart the required curves.
The plank was then lightly bevelled on the back top edge, to hopefully get a tight join. A Pilot  marker was used to impart a caulking line between the strakes.

7138
I found it a fiddly and frustrating business to get the second planks in place, particularly at the bow area where getting clamps in place to hold the planks during glueing, and if I thought the second plank was frustrating to fit, the third plank has even more shaping involved.
Tapers are firstly applied towards the bow and stern, having marked the strips against the hull. I do this with the strip wet and cut the taper with a scalpel.
A shallow concave edge curve along the centre section of the plank, with shortish convex edge curves at the bow (b/hG) and stern (b/h11)where the plank meets the stem and transom.
The curve around the bow is then formed, all using the wet and hairdryer system.
So far so good, but then the plank across the first three bulkheads at the bow refuses to lie flat at the bottom edge, leaving gaps between it and the bulkhead.
Seem to be having trouble getting my brain around this build, and to cap a couple of tiresome days I managed to snap off the sheer plank extensions for the decorative  transom.
Joys of small boat building.
 
B.E.
 
 

Speaking of Douglas Brooks and the practice of traditional Japanese trades, he's back in Japan now building a cormorant fishing boat (and Ukaibune) under the direction of what I believe is the last of the builders of these boats. He's blogging about it now, which you can follow at http://blog.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com.
 
This project is being documented (measurements taken for CAD) by Marc Bauer of Tri-Coastal Marine and there's hint that there might be a publication in the works.
 
In the meantime, I'm trying to convince Douglas Brooks to allow the publication of specifications for a couple boats for ship modeling purposes. There are very few plans available for us to build from. Most are published in Admiral Paris's Souvenirs de Marine, and I'm kind of wondering about some of the details on those. Also, those plans are drawn based on western practices, and hard to use as you have to work to extract the information needed to build a model the correct way, based on Japanese practices. At least, that's what I find.
 
Clare
 
 

Plans/instructions want me to put pin rails up on the railing but it seems flimsy/wrong.  seems like the lower position would be better.  Will have to look at Hahn's model and see if I can tell what he did.
 

The only image I could find was from The Colonial Schooner 1763-1775 by Harold Hahn (Naval Institute Press) page 136.  Looks like they go right through the rail here.
 

Greetings to all,
 Thanks for the likes and replies.
 A bit of nomenclature confusion over the wheels. I used shrink tubing on the wheel hubs and not the rim iron tires. After assembly and painting,I did a web search looking for pictures of 19th century wagon wheels. The wheel hubs were wood with iron reinforcing bands to help stop them splitting. One was on the outer end of the hub and one was further inwards where the spokes join the hub. There was probably more on the inboard side too (no photo found). I ended up just doing the outers as it was impossible to paint or use the tubing for the spoke band without making a mess of it.
 

Hello Carl,
thank you for your very nice comment.
But my works are still not perfect.
I only take pictures of the perfect details ... 
 
In the meantime, I made the
topmast deadeyes and futtock shroud plates for the top of the main mast.
Here are some pictures of how I did it.
The parts are brazed.

My original plans did not look like that.  They should invest in a paper cutter.
 
Looking back, I should have just sent my Kit back. But, I figured I had gotten too far along on the build to do that. 
 
I still do not like  pink colored treated plywood. It chips and has weak hollow spots. I have already filled in some of the holes. Reinforced the Bulk Head stems with glue /water solution helps.
 
I will say that the planking material in the Kit looks real good. Best I have ever seen before.

Chuck, thank you very much for the pdf's I am certain they will help.
I am currently exchanging email with Mr. Mosko at ModelExpo with this matter.
The plans are not correct either.

How hard can it be for these guys to print those templates correctly for the kit......seems like the easy part.  Anyway.....hope these help.  Remember to set your page scaling to NONE when printing them.  And measure the scale bar for accuracy where each segment should be 3/16" wide.  If these dont match your plans then they probably printed your plans incorrectly as well.  Always measure the scale bar to find out.  That is why it is there.  These are the original files.   
 
Chuck
colorcodedtemplate.pdf
framingplan1.pdf
framingplan2.pdf
framingplan3.pdf
framingplan4.pdf
framingplan5.pdf
framingplan6.pdf
framingtemplate7.pdf
sternframingsyren.pdf

Is your Deck View template off too?
 
All of mine line up.  But of course I had the poor quality wood problems.
 
Model Shipways needs to hire a qualified Quality Control person. 

So, I had the template cut and joined.
Reading Bill in Lewistons build log he had run into a problem with them as the didn't line up.
I thought when viewing his picture that he hadn't lined it up properly, so I checked my template versus my warped false BF, and sure enough I had the same problem.
Then I checked the template versus sheet 2, and lo and behold they were different.
Placing the BF on sheet 2 we have a perfect match.
Then I measured with both a ruler and caliper. This between frame 4 and ∞
On the template the distance is 36.25mmm, while on sheet 2 distance is 37.8mm exactly the same as the physical BF.
My solution, scan the part of representing the template from sheet two and use that.
See inserted pictures.


 
Checking the deck plan, same problem.
 
I will post pdf files here for everyones use.
 

Well,
I didn't expected I would come to this point.
But here is my build log of the Syren.
I feel a presentation of the kit is not necessary.
 
Reklein and I are both members of PSSM, so this could be considered as a club build.
Our President has already started the build but has had the bit at a stand still for a long time.
 
I had started the kit, but the keel for BF was to warped and twisted to be used, even after two weeks of straightening.
I even tried with the inserted bulkheads and filler blocks to get it straight"er" but to no avail.
I contacted Mr. Mosko at ModelExpo via email and got a quick respons the following morning.
I have shaped the bulkheads, put the templates together and will do other work while waiting for the new BF to arrive.
 
The build jig is made and ready to go to.
 
The current BF and bulkheads are just put together without glue and I am using them to bend the planking.
Thought they could come to good use for that purpose.
 
Lastly, I would like to extend a big thank you to all other members who has build Syren, as your logs will provide a lot of extra information needed for the build and how to avoid pit holes along the way.
Now picture time
 

 

I've just planned for tapering the veneer planks. It looks like a minimum of tapering will be needed to fit all the planks at this stage.

First veneer plank starboard side keel.

Hey howya goin all, I said this Quote back in post 14 just before I was about to throw them in the rubbish bin I decided to take one apart
 


 
I had to grid the end to beable to take the handle part off of the bar
 

 
and low and beholed my suspicion on how they made them I was right, the first bar is made from different type of metal but that doesn't matter what matters is that it is rounded on one side and does not grip the bar like it should be doing, the other two metal bars where made the right way with sharp edges
 

 
so I replace the first metal bar with the second metal bar and put it back together and now they work like the ment to do.     

 
Why they where made like this is probably designed by someone who doesn't know how quick grip clamps work    
 
 

After nine months or so this project is almost complete. I just finished up installing the rudder.

The black red added, note to self, I will never use Vajello in my airbrush again, completely gunked up. 
 
Matt varnish next. 

Pre shading V1. My plan is to do up the lower hull firs, using a black red between the ribs at the bow and amidships then overspray a Matt varnish, then paint it over those sections with the chipping and wearing products, then paint it properly like I did on my Yamato, then run away in sections to reveal the damaged sections. Hope it works! 
 
The decks will will have the brown Lino sections that will be modulated before the brass bracing is added. 
 
Looks a mess now now but hopefully there is method to my madness. 

Cheers Steve, Michael, and Martin
 
I think William thought I had retired so he's not too impressed that I'm apparently fiddling with a Pinnace.
The Pinnace is 11½" long with a 3" beam, Martin, and these first strakes are giving me some trouble, far more rusty than I thought I would be.
 
I don't think in imperial currency now but that doesn't mean I have forgotten how many pennies in a pound,(240 if you're wondering) or our lovely old coins, silver sixpences, Half Crowns, and Florins, the Farthing with its Wren motif, the Ha'penny with its sailing ship. or the Thrupenny bit with its Portcullis.
 
Still reminiscing about our Imperial past won't get this Garboard Strake fitted...........
 
B.E.
 
 

Hello,
the construction of the tops is completed.


I will soon continue with the completion of the masts.

Finally, the port side gun ports have all been installed, sanded and filled where needed. All that's left to do is the final sanding and adding the red and black color to the appropriate ports.   I am going to wait for the color until after the starboard gun ports are at the same place. Maybe I will only have to do the color one time this way. Ever the optomist .   Now for some decisions regarding the dummy cannon: Should I blacken them or leave them brass? Should I mount them before I close up the lower hull? I want to use epoxy for this. Looking at the top view of the cannon, note they sit a little proud of the hull. I get this affect by not seating the mounting pin all the way to the rear. I actually like this look.   I know, my ship, my rules. But, some input would be appreciated. Might save me from making a mistake that will show further down the road.   Regards to all  
I'm will try to re-post photos 7222--7227 as well as the current group.

A better picture of the engine. It is funny to compare it with Vossiewulfs picture. My pushrods are thinner than what they said in the instructions. Instructions said to use 1,6mm thick brass rod. I used .8mm rod. I used .4mm rod for the wire from the spark plugs, but according to the picture should have used even thinner wire. Oh well, it is a learning process.

Two of the instruments, will get some gloss varnish over the "instrument" to simulate glass and to protect it. Control yoke painted according to instructions. Don´t worry about the missing paint on the yoke, I will touch it up when it is glued in place.

The same stuff, ammo drum to the right and spent cartridge can to the bottom. These will be sanded to a better shape and then painted either brown or grey. 

Remember to hook up spark plug wires! That's not hard to do. Plugs at top left of cylinder, wires were bare wire going down to a distributor at the rear center hub.
 

Pushrods are hard enough to see under a cowl to skip, but they're also not hard to add.