Chuck

Just an FYI guys... Many of you have noticed that the store is shut down for maintenance. I am actually recovering from a bad flu that really knocked me on my butt. I am gonna need a few more days to get over this one. I will reopen as soon as I can get some of my energy back. This one really knocked me out. I am out of bed today so its progress. Chuck

Beautiful...and done pretty quickly also. Well done.

Todays shop critters…its hard getting used to being out of metropolis. Too many critters out here. Dinosaurs!!!

Lovely work!!!

Still working on deadeyes and straps. Made a little more progress. The starboard side is complete. Now to complete the other side.

You are welcome…what really helped me save money and pick the correct colors was simply to pay the extra 10 bucks and buy the Guttermann color chart. Made with the actual thread. I have it and the colors are spot on. Its still hard to pick a color though.

Choosing the right color…its a very personal choice. Here are a couple of choices. I am seriously considering NOT going dark brown for standing rigging on Speedwell as I mentioned earlier. But rather than use the same Tan color I usually use for running rigging, my thoughts were to go slightly darker with the tan. Considering it will be used for both and after looking at so many models rigged in this style I am making some test rope and will choose one. Eventually. Here is my normal tan alongside one that is a shade or two darker for this style of rigging. Too dark? Or is the light one ok? You are correct to ask which color but in the end it is a very difficult choice. Excuse all the dust on the model. That happens so quickly. I am selecting my test threads based on this model...I like the color used here very much and it isnt very light at all. The Mara colors… dark left and light right. Note how similar they look below yet after laying up the rope they are quite different. The 265 color appears much lighter after laying up the rope so this is why testing is needed which takes time and money unfortunately. I am leaning towards the darker variety... For dark brown I use # 682.

Its workshop weekend at Syren Ship Model Company!!! So not much inventory being made but it will be fun. A dozen fellas over at the shop for a little model fun. If this interests anyone else close by, let me know and I can schedule more!!! Its cheap...free except for a small fee to cover breakfast and lunch. I am always opening up the shop for folks and thought I would ask for anyone close by. Todays workshop (completed and it was fun) ....Intensive Rope making...soup to nuts. 5 hours give or take with a break for lunch - Selecting material (natural or synthetic) Not all cotton is the same...different results for different types of poly thread. Some poly looks too plastic and shiny and slippery. Mara vs E-threads. Silk and linen too!!! 25 minutes - Selecting the right color...so important. 15 minutes - Basic rope making demo on Syren ropewalk. 3 strand, 4 strand, left and right hand twist. 1 hour - group rope making...get on the factory floor and make your own. 2 hour - How to make your own recipes so you have all the sizes you need for your models....lets make 5 five sizes (.008, .012, .018, .025 and .030 rope) - Using smaller size thread multiple strands vs large thread and less strands to make the same size rope (uh what?)...one just looks better. 30 minutes - Making small ropes vs large ropes and cables - Rope fuzz...yikes...how to get rid of it...NO BEESWAX PLEASE. 25 minutes - Working with your ropes after you make a bunch...gluing, serving/seizing, How to get it to hang naturally and shop storage....NO wrapping around those small cards please!!! 1 hour Tomorrows workshop... Introduction to Painting miniature figures....5 hours give or take with a break for lunch Get ready for painting miniatures for nautical scenes. Lets get started!!! It is important to use matte paints because a shiny finish will make any figure look like a toy. Use a wet palette. This will keep the paint from drying out while you are painting. Acrylics will dry on a palette quite quickly. If you have to remix a color, it will be difficult to get it exactly right. Having it on the wet palette means you don’t have to re-create a color. Acrylic paint will dry on your brush very quickly. It is important to clean your brush constantly. When paint dries on your brush it will spread your bristles and you’ll not be able to form a point. Dried paint will also contaminate the fresh paint you are applying. When you have finished rinsing your brush in the cleaning cup dry it on your paper towel. You should not see any of the color on the towel. If you do, clean it some more. Use 2 cups of water. One cup is for cleaning your brush, the other cup is for thinning the paint. If you use the same cup, the dirty water will contaminate your colors. Thin your paints before using them. It should take two or three coats to completely cover the primer. This will prevent brushstrokes and buildup in nooks and crannies. At this scale, and for these purposes, our basic goal will be to have three shades on every part of the figure. There will be a basic tone, a highlight tone, and a shadow tone. The general procedure is to apply the mid tone and then the shadows, and finally some highlights. The procedure will change a little bit when we are painting flesh. When painting the hands and face, we will start with a dark tone, go over with a medium tone and pick out highlights such as the nose, ears, forehead, and fingers with the highlight tone.The highlights will appear where light is most direct on the figure and the shadows will be placed where light in general does not reach. At this scale, some exaggeration will produce a realistic effect. White and black are particularly difficult to paint. There is very little pure white and very little pure black to be found in nature. Only use pure white for the very tiniest of highlights and pure black for the very deepest shadows. Do not attempt to paint eyes. Unless you are relatively close to a person, you will not see the white part of the eye. We will paint a shadow in the eye sockets, and then a lighter area in the deepest part of the socket, and then a dark dot to create the impression of an eye. This will look quite convincing. The brass buttons, ribbon on the hat and hilt of the officers sword will be painted with brown, yellow, and white to create the impression of shiny metal. I will also bring some brass paint for those who don’t like that effect. This is meant as a starters guide. Everyone will find their own style and procedure. First attempts do not frequently result in a satisfactory product. Fortunately, acrylic paint comes off relatively easily with paint remover, and these figures do not suffer from this procedure if it is not applied too aggressively. (Yes, I’ve tried it.)

Excellent!!!

Wonderful work as usual. I am finishing up the mfg of more chapter 4 packages as we speak. Then I will immediately start working on Chapter 5.

On the bright side though...One bobbin will literally last you forever. Get both the tan and the dark brown for serving and seizing and you will be set for life. Chuck

Not in the USA...unfortunately. But these guys carry it along with even smaller stuff. UK distributor. Most are in Europe for the oddball sizes. https://www.williamgee.co.uk/product-tag/mara/

That is looking so good. You can instantly tell it is made with so much care with each piece.

Just a heads up guys... I sold my last two rope walks today...at least for what I hope will be a short temporary hiccup. My supplier in Europe for the hubs, bearings and gears is temporarily halting shipments to the USA because of the T-Tariffs. I really dont want to spend the time to source new products in the USA and do a redesign just yet. This version works so well. I am hoping this situation will resolve itself in the short term and not be a 3 year halt on ropewalk availability. But who knows. If it seems like it is going to be a while, I will reconsider sourcing the items in the USA and doing a redesign. But unless someone magically started making this stuff in the USA over the last few months, its probably not gonna happen. My guess is that even if shipments resume soon, the price will be dramatically higher for these parts. Along with the Alaskan yellow cedar from Canada, these tariffs are making it hard to keep prices at Syren from increasing. But I promise I will try to keep prices the same for as long as I can...if I can even get the stuff that is.

Well so much for that idea. I have bought custom puzzles in the past. In fact I just ordered two for myself. But the prices are insane for 1000 piece puzzles of good quality. I think this is a dead idea....Oh well I tried. They want anywhere from $35 to $45 for each puzzle. Those that are reasonable have a 250 puzzle minimum for each design. So much for that idea...I should have checked first. Anyway, if folks are still interested they can contact me and I will email them the larger hi res image and you are welcome to order one on your own. I use Shutterfly or Ravensburger for my one-off puzzles. Sorry folks...everything is just so expensive these days. What a shame...I thought this could be a fun side project to offer folks. But at these prices, after shipping I would need to charge at least $55 to $60 per puzzle which is insane. Chuck