Chuck

Coming soon.   Resin cast barrels.
 
I have three sizes of cast resin barrels that will soon be available on my site.  Currently I have the 11/16" tall and the 1" tall barrels.  I am waiting for my casting guy to make the third smaller size.  I may even make a fourth smaller size later as well.
 

 
I have the two smaller sizes and I am waiting for the last larger size not shown. They are cast in white resin or a light tan like my carvings for the ship models I make.   This makes it so much easier to prepare than building my laser cut versions.   Those will still be available but these resin versions will give you guys more options.   These can be prepared in minutes...
 
Just clean whatever flashing which is minimal.   And remove the small vent hole plugs with a sharp #11 blade.   
 
Then brush on some gel stain...in my case pictured,  I used General Finishes Fruitwood gel stain as usual.   I have one coat of stain on these.  You can add more to deepen the color as you see fit.  Then I just used a black sharpie to color the raised iron hoops.   You could use any color you want for those as well.  You could use a copper leaf pen for example.   It isnt difficult....and takes just a few minutes vs. a much longer time to build my laser cut versions.
 
Each size will be sold two per package.
 
Its unfortunately too late for me to add these in the hold of Speedwell....but when you need to make a dozen or more barrels for the hold its nice to not have assemble them one at a time.
 

 
And Buckets...crates...and other items will soon follow.   And whatever else I can possibly think of...please let me know if you guys fancy something in particular.

Coming soon.   Resin cast barrels.
 
I have three sizes of cast resin barrels that will soon be available on my site.  Currently I have the 11/16" tall and the 1" tall barrels.  I am waiting for my casting guy to make the third smaller size.  I may even make a fourth smaller size later as well.
 

 
I have the two smaller sizes and I am waiting for the last larger size not shown. They are cast in white resin or a light tan like my carvings for the ship models I make.   This makes it so much easier to prepare than building my laser cut versions.   Those will still be available but these resin versions will give you guys more options.   These can be prepared in minutes...
 
Just clean whatever flashing which is minimal.   And remove the small vent hole plugs with a sharp #11 blade.   
 
Then brush on some gel stain...in my case pictured,  I used General Finishes Fruitwood gel stain as usual.   I have one coat of stain on these.  You can add more to deepen the color as you see fit.  Then I just used a black sharpie to color the raised iron hoops.   You could use any color you want for those as well.  You could use a copper leaf pen for example.   It isnt difficult....and takes just a few minutes vs. a much longer time to build my laser cut versions.
 
Each size will be sold two per package.
 
Its unfortunately too late for me to add these in the hold of Speedwell....but when you need to make a dozen or more barrels for the hold its nice to not have assemble them one at a time.
 

 
And Buckets...crates...and other items will soon follow.   And whatever else I can possibly think of...please let me know if you guys fancy something in particular.

Coming soon.   Resin cast barrels.
 
I have three sizes of cast resin barrels that will soon be available on my site.  Currently I have the 11/16" tall and the 1" tall barrels.  I am waiting for my casting guy to make the third smaller size.  I may even make a fourth smaller size later as well.
 

 
I have the two smaller sizes and I am waiting for the last larger size not shown. They are cast in white resin or a light tan like my carvings for the ship models I make.   This makes it so much easier to prepare than building my laser cut versions.   Those will still be available but these resin versions will give you guys more options.   These can be prepared in minutes...
 
Just clean whatever flashing which is minimal.   And remove the small vent hole plugs with a sharp #11 blade.   
 
Then brush on some gel stain...in my case pictured,  I used General Finishes Fruitwood gel stain as usual.   I have one coat of stain on these.  You can add more to deepen the color as you see fit.  Then I just used a black sharpie to color the raised iron hoops.   You could use any color you want for those as well.  You could use a copper leaf pen for example.   It isnt difficult....and takes just a few minutes vs. a much longer time to build my laser cut versions.
 
Each size will be sold two per package.
 
Its unfortunately too late for me to add these in the hold of Speedwell....but when you need to make a dozen or more barrels for the hold its nice to not have assemble them one at a time.
 

 
And Buckets...crates...and other items will soon follow.   And whatever else I can possibly think of...please let me know if you guys fancy something in particular.

Maybe but it looks pretty good to my eye from the pics.

Maybe but it looks pretty good to my eye from the pics.

Yes just knock the corner off a bit.  I would continue the taper lower a bit…not much by maybe a 3/4”.

Yes just knock the corner off a bit.  I would continue the taper lower a bit…not much by maybe a 3/4”.

Post 17
The Journey resumes.
 
My Medway Longboat has been quietly maturing on the stocks for the past year whilst I have been building Indefatigable.
 
Time to get back on the job, eh Gromit.

4646

4648
With a year away from the build I need to re-acquaint myself with the current stage before I begin, and a re-read of Chuck’s  log and other excellent group builds is where I start.
 
B.E.
13/05/2024

That is looking so good...👍

That is looking so good...👍

That is looking so good...👍

Yes just knock the corner off a bit.  I would continue the taper lower a bit…not much by maybe a 3/4”.

Thanks guys...There are a lot of things I could work on next but I am eager to get the decks planked.   So next up I will make all the coaming and gratings down the center line so I can plank around them.   Once that is done I will add the waterway and start on the fun bits.   It should come together rather quickly once I plank the decks.  A quick look at sheet 5 still being tweaked which has all of those details.   
 
 

I've continued to work on the keel. I pulled the parts from the billets and prepped them. Chuck has mentioned that the wood is so thick it's pushing the laser cutting to the extreme. You can see the wedges and how the laser cut tapers. It doesn't cause any issues though. The wedges were assembled, cut to match the plans and added to the lower apron. Next I will be adding the rising wood and working on the deadwood and wedges that go on the deadwood.
 
 

This marks the start of my Syren POF Speedwell! I’ve been dealing with some medical issues and am now close to being 100%, so here we go! A POF has been a bucket list build for a long time as I’ve admired this style of model. Most of the offerings out there just didn’t appeal to me with the scaffold type of construction. Enter Chuck with his Speedwell, Bingo! I’m a huge fan of Chuck’s designs and all the help he (and the other MSW modelers) provides, it gives guys like me a lot of hope. I’ve built Chuck’s Medway (my first wood build) and it came out awesome. Thanks Chuck! I’ve started Cheerful but a POF build has extreme attraction for me. I’ll probably work on Cheerful when a break is needed. Last month at the New London Conference I got to meet Chuck (and Rusty, Ryland and Olha and several others! Awesome to meet you guys!). Had some great conversations and it was nice putting a face to the name. Also, I got to eyeball Chuck’s Speedwell, pictures in the build thread don’t do it justice. A real beauty! Anyway, here we go! When Chuck said there was a lot of wood in the 1st 2 chapters, he wasn’t kidding! The laser cutting is the best I’ve ever seen in a model. A lot of the parts had fallen out of the billets, so I took some time to place them in their proper place and used some blue painters tape to hold them in place. Because the thickness of the wood, I see a lot of billet sanding to remove surface char in my future. Here’s a picture of the wood. Stem will be started tonight.
 
Best Regards …. Rick

Looking forward to your build Rick.  You surely picked the number one kit maker for our hobby, bar none.   One of the best things about the Syren model kits is that Chuck thoroughly researches each offering, confers with experts in ship modeling, then builds the model so he can work out any small issues before going into big production.
Allan

Thank you all for the likes.
 
Stern Post
 
While most of the keel parts were glued on a flat surface, this proved problematic for the stern post.  With the rising wood protruding and the stem taper, the assembly is no longer flat and it is difficult to proceed the same way. To keep the stern post perfectly vertical, centered and aligned to the stem, I rather used squares to keep the whole assembly vertical and aligned. See photo.
 

 
I applied a couple thin coats of WOP on the completed assembly.  I show  close-ups of the stern and stem below (note the knee of the head finally glued on).  
 

 
After application of WOP the wood got a bit darker than expected.  Does WOP have a limited shelf time when opened? In the past I have used nitrocellulose sealer.  This is great stuff. It does not change the wood color, gives a nice satin finish and dries almost instantly (70% of the content is VOC!). It is however a pretty nasty chemical and it is hard to find (banned in North-America?). I got mine from the UK many years ago but nowadays suppliers will not ship this abroad.  I find WOP a good alternative.
 
Building Board
 
This has been covered by others and I essentially followed their foot steps.  The MDF boards I could find in hardware stores were not flat. I resorted to a melamine board and glued my plan with repositionable spray glue.   It is now time to work on the frames. Stay tuned. 
 
 
 

I am just about to post an update with those...LOL
 
The gratings for Speedwell are different but the same basic concept.  They are a different scale to reflect the larger size needed.  They will have 1/16" square openings which at 3/8" scale would be a 2" hole.  Just right and exactly the same number of holes as the contemporary model.
 
These will all be included in the chapter along with the jig needed.
 
I will have construction pics really soon.
 
I have been distracted lately with the topic on the SOS where the staff and admin are trashing this project relentlessly....but its a lot fun to watch.   Many of you guys have sent me messages alerting me about it.
 
I have to thank Ben however for being a brave soul to have something nice to say about it knowing he will get the wrath for it.   I must be the worst kit designer in the world if you read some of that stuff over there.  But seriously...dont put yourself out there because if you do say anything positive about Syren or any of my projects on SOS they will lambaste you.  So no worries.   Dont put yourself in that position.  Its not worth it.   Most folks know its all nonsense.  And I am well aware.  But thanks for the positive notes of private support.
 
Anyway...back to building gratings.

That looks very good.  You can extend it a bit further down the stem if you like.  But its very nice.  Same with the thickness at the figurehead area.  Not much though.  
 
Dont be afraid to sand the gripe smooth at the keel
intersection as well.  There is plenty of meat on the bones yet.

No I wont be selling a wood package.  I just dont have time to mill wood and sell lumber.   I work directly with Joe at MS.  We are old friends that go way back...he mills and supplies me with all of my wood at Syren.   In fact we are hoping to go to a yard to pick up a whole bunch of cedar really soon.  We are currently very low on it.
 
Chuck

Thanks for saying....

Hello everyone,
the deck is finished and has all the iron nails in place, now it's time for the bulwark planks.
 

 

 

 
 

Lower/Upper Apron
 
The pre-cut curved rabbet is a nice feature which avoid the headache of bending and adjusting a straight strip and gluing it to the stem. I had to tweak the curvature at the stem to get a tight fit between the lower and upper apron.  I found it tricky to  optimize the seam on both sides at once. A lot of back and forth was required here.  The final result is shown below. 
 
The Rising Wood
 
Before gluing the rising wood sections, I realized that the strip supplied for the rabbet was a touch thicker than the curved section.  I fixed this easily using my Varitas mini-plane. The rising wood then went on with no particular issues. Care should be taken to insure that the position of the rising wood is not shifted with respect to the plan. For this I used a plan that I had printed at my local printer. 
 
The Deadwood
 
I followed the instructions with no particular issues here. Gluing the angled wedges is easier than at the bow.  The completed assembly is shown below. 
 
 

It’s just a pre- announcement of a ‘copy’ being pieced together now by some Chinese hack. 😳
 
I just read it as well (as a guest, I was kicked out long ago). Interesting how some members are complimentary while the staff and admins work hard to disparage Chuck at every turn. This comment by a member “ I emailed Chuck with updates and progress pictures and found him to be very personable, interested and encouraging. A much more personal investment of his time and interest than one might otherwise expect from the head of a commercial venture.“ must have really hurt.
 

No I wont be selling a wood package.  I just dont have time to mill wood and sell lumber.   I work directly with Joe at MS.  We are old friends that go way back...he mills and supplies me with all of my wood at Syren.   In fact we are hoping to go to a yard to pick up a whole bunch of cedar really soon.  We are currently very low on it.
 
Chuck