Chuck

Just wanted to give you guys an update. I actually have 12 barge kits all made.......that is all except for the castings. These take such a long time to do by hand. I was all set to start casting them when out of the blue one of the companies I had contacted got back to me. I had contacted dozens of firms to outsource the resin casting for the kits but most would not take such a small job. But this year is already looking up!!! One such company has decided to cast my pieces and I am very excited about that. This is a huge development for me, I would hardly be able to spend time developing new stuff if it took so much labor to make every part on my own. I just couldnt handle doing this work manually. As wonderful as the news is, it means that these 12 barge kits will be just a bit longer before I can offer them for sale. I am sending the masters down to these folks and they promise a quick turn-around. As soon as these guys deliver the castings I can release these kits and make many more so much quicker now. It took me 3 or 4 days to cast all the parts for six kits by myself. It just wasnt doable. And these guys are professionals who do this all the time. They cast and design resin figures. So these parts should be great and better than anything I could make. Sorry for the continued delay but I want everything in these barge kits to be just perfect. Chuck

Just an update....Hoping to have a bunch of barge kits available in about one week to ten days. In addition, the entire 3 part assembly guide is now complete and you can download it from my website. https://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/royal-barge-kit.php Unfortunately for the time being, the accessory sets for those NOT wishing to carve those seven decorations will not be in stock for few more weeks. I just need a bit more time to prepare and make the molds for these seven additional decorative carvings. and cast them So if you really want to order everything at the same time, you will need to wait until the accessory sets are ready. I am working overtime to get everything ready as soon as possible. But while you wait, please do read through the instructions and dont hesitate to ask me any questions.....and Merry Christmas.....and have a very happy New Year.

The Syren Rope Rocket is now in stock.... Make your own rope!!! This is the very same machine we make all of our rope with at Syren Ship Model Company. This ropewalk makes rope virtually any length. You can make 3 strand and 4 strand rope. Make left or right hand rope. The Syren Rope Rocket can quickly make tightly laid up rope. Each ropewalk kit comes with one ball of thread you can use while following our online video lessons. Made of sturdy laser cut Cherry wood and steel and stainless steel parts. The rope rocket comes with Delrin gears for a long life. US patent 5232168-28 - With registration in China pending just in case!!! Don't buy Chinese fakes, support your hobby and buy the original. Click here to view the ropewalk page on the Syren website and download the assembly instructions. Online video rope-making lessons will be uploaded very soon!

Giving this a bump!!!! If you havent taken the poll yet. Please do. Lets capture more data for folks making a decision on which kits to buy.

For a hull like Victory I would recommend at least one drop plank under the lower wale. This would reduce the total number of planks that need to run to the stem rabbet. In addition as you can see below, not all 25 planks will make it to bulkhead one....or even bulkhead two really. Therefore you need to reduce the number of planks you divide that bulkhead into. Considering that you will most likely have to add that drop plank as mentioned. You will probably only have far fewer planks along bulkhead 1 as you thought. BUT, before you even get that far, find the run of your wales from bow to stern and use battens, thin tape or even string to lay them out on the hull. The positions for the wales can be taken from the plans. It is very important that you find the run of your wales first and once you find the run for your lower wale you will probably need to start the whole process of lining off below them over again. This includes planning for a drop plank. I can not see where you show the run of the wales on your hull. Also see this

Ryland.....hope you are doing well. We need at least one update on this model before 2017 is over. Say hello to Pam and have a merry Christmas!!!

Tom is absolutely correct. Chuck

Just giving this a bump, as a few folks have been deleting their topics in error recently. New screen shots below. We changed the text for the buttons which will hopefully make this clearer. It wasnt very clear to some that there were actually two buttons. Each has very different purposes. One is for taking action (deleting) your topic while the other was for taking action (deleting) your post within that topic. The changes are..... To delete an entire topic you started.... The button used to say "Moderation actions". and appeared on the top and bottom of every topic you started. You will not see this on topics that other people started. It probably wasnt the best wording choice. The button now reads "Topic Actions (user & Moderators)" and if you select it, you can delete your entire topic. You will only see this button on topics you started. Moderators have many additional options (or actions they can perform) hence wording. When you select this I believe you guys will only see one option which says "delete Content - Be careful" If you select that you will see a warning message....Are you really sure...check what you are doing...blah blah blah. If you say yes, the entire topic will be deleted. If for some reason you do this in error, you will now have 90 days to contact us to let us know, and we should be able to restore your topic. After that it will be gone forever. So please be careful To delete a post you made there is a different button. It appears at the bottom of each post you made.....and you will NOT see this on posts that other members have made. You will only see this on your posts. see screen shot below. Previously this button just said "options" with no indication that it was for topics or for posts inside a topic. By renaming them consistently, we hope the difference between the two are much clearer. Moderators and Admin will once again have many more "actions" they can take on a post and you will only see one I believe. This time it says..."Delete Content - Be careful" . If you select this you will get one additional warning. It says "Are you sure you want to delete this post". If you select this.....your post will be deleted. I hope this makes it clearer and will help some members from accidentally deleting their build logs.

Don If you dont mind the suggestion...your rope looks as though it is laid up too loosely. Not enough initial twists to hold a tightly laid up rope which is what you want. Take a look at Gregory's photo or below and you can see how much tighter that rope is laid up. Hope you dont mind me saying as tightly laid up material resembles rope rather than string. Ropewalks are very simple machines in principle but there is still an art to it. Experimenting to find out how tightly to twist the strands individually at first so they will build up enough energy to hold a tightly laid up scale rope together when finished is the key. If I were to guess.....double the number initial twists. Then it will hold a much tighter lay when finished and after hardening. Chuck

She looks sweet.....almost done. And I might also mention....what a neat workbench!!!! Chuck

Jeez Jack....I am so sorry to hear that. My condolences. Heading back out to the hospital right now.....I am hoping for a good outcome. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

That does look wonderful. Great job putting it together. I hope you have a lot of fun with it. I do agree with what you said as well. These tools should be fun to use and hopefully fun and interesting to look at. I am using the same style on my "Syren Rope-Rocket". I just finished up some retooling of the design and have been subjecting it to rigorous testing for the last week or so. I am hopeful that I will be able to get this on my site for sale by the end of the year. I didnt bother cleaning the laser char off it but I should have in hindsight. But this one was really the prototype to abuse for a few weeks. This latest version is all cherry as well and will handle 3 strand and four strand rope. You just need to switch out the wheel on the one end and switch and move the smaller gears on the other end to change the configuration. This is easy to do and just requires the loosening of a set screw. It was important to me that it look FUN to use.....but it also has to work well....which it has. This particular rope walk has already made more rope than the usual model builder will make in ten years. I will let everyone know when its available.

Hopefully soon. But I have another hit of bad luck. My mother in law who lives with us had a stroke yesterday. Found her on the floor in the bathroom yesterday. So all production is once again coming to a halt. Its been and awful year for the family with stuff like this. So for the next few weeks or so everything is up in air. I will however be fulfilling and shipping orders as usual or at least as long as the stuff stays in stock. Not sure when I will be able to get back in the shop to start making stuff again. When it rains it pours ......sigh. Sadly, Many of you guys know how this stuff goes.

Greg....FYI...you need to delete some of your Private messages. Your mailbox is full. You wont be able to get any new messages until you delete some of your old ones. Chuck

Looking really good Rusty!!!

Actually I do plan on developing my rope walk further and possibly marketing it. I just this week had a conversation with an engineer to figure out how to improve it for production purposes. I am shooting to make it available by the end of the year and create some video practice lessons. Chuck

Everyone has been suggesting that I include all resin castings and offer the boxwood carving blanks as the add-on. I just might do that but it will increase the price and take a couple of weeks more. I am curious as to what most of you think about that. If most of you would prefer to have the resin castings set complete as part of the standard kit let me know. Its no big deal but that just means 7 more castings per kit to make. The resin castings are shown below as opposed to carving your own. But I do hope that many of you will at least give it a try. While I am in Florida at the conference I did manage to update my site with a page for the kit....including part one of the two part instructions for download. Part two will be added in about two weeks just in time for the first production kits to become available. https://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/royal-barge-kit.php

Should have it posted on my site shortly after the NRG conference. Chuck

I am just wrapping up the MFG for the first 13 barge kits. All of these kits are already sold. They will be going to the San Diego club as they will be building this as a group. I am waiting on a new delivery of wood to make the next batch and they will be placed on the site for sale. I just wanted to keep all of you guys in the loop on my progress. In addition, and this is good news all around.....after making the first 13 kits I was able to get a better handle on the time and $$$ for their cost. Based on this info I am happy to report that my original price of $245 per kit was a bit high as I can produce them a bit cheaper than originally thought. Therefore when they are released the price will actually be $225 per kit. Shipping in the US will be just $7.50 while International shipping will be $22.50 which is the actual cost for most countries while a few others are even higher but I will cap it at $22.50 regardless. Chuck

That looks really nice Alan. Its good to see that model again and I have caught up with your progress. Chuck

They were never a sponsor but they are a great supplier. I just placed a huge order for Cherry from them. You cant go wrong with Ethan. I am hoping to get them on board as a sponsor soon. Make sure you tell him you found them through MSW and mention my name....it will help. http://www.ocoochhardwoods.com/scroll_saw_lumber.php

The additional carving pieces will be around $10. If most want them instead I will probably just include them straight away. But rather than hold up production more I will concentrate on releasing it without them. The castings are what take the longest amount of time to produce. I am actually looking to try and find someone to do the casting right now so I dont have to. It takes days to make the castings for just six kits doing them on my own. If you guys know anyone....let me know. Chuck

I dont think so. Beyond some of the parts being fragile it really isnt a difficult model to build in my opinion. BUt I am not a good gauge of whether his should be considered an advanced kit or intermediate. I would be very interested to hear from folks who buy it and build it for a a more fair description. Its probably easier to build than the pinnace kit and longboat kits I designed because the planking is spiled and only a few planks are shown. Chuck

Almost there.... This photo shows the contents of the kit. I am just finalizing a few more things. The kit is made from all cherry with some additional boxwood accents. You get the resin casting set minus the seven items you will be carving. But the seven items will be available later as an option for those that dont want to carve them. I hope everyone at least tries. You get two sheets of plans and printed friezes for the panels and sweeps. The pedestals and sweep racks are also included. There will be no printed instructions in the box to keep costs down but the full set will be available as a download on my site as usual. There are 25 laser cut sheets of cherry and boxwood that range in size and thickness. The planks are pre-spiled and laser cut for you. The real fragile stuff is carefully packaged in bags rather than being left in the laser cut sheets like the etched panels that are inboard. They are boxwood and very fragile. This kit contains everything you need to build it just like I have straight out of the box including pre-printed flags on tissue paper. It is a fully framed model with floors and toptimbers just like the contemporary models and will retail for $235. It will be available real soon and just in time for Christmas. Let me know if you have any questions. Chuck

Check out the poll of kit MFGs.