Overworked724

Slow day...decided to added the transom trim piece. Looking ahead to the transom cap rail. Pics not shown but I trimmed down the minimal excess overhang via sanding and dry fit the two trim pieces which bracket the ship name. I realized I didn’t like the dissymmetry between the two pieces since I had created one who a single depression and the other with two. So I remade the two trim pieces using some of my precious boxwood stock! I went for my double depression scraper. I think they will match well with the cedar. Next question...how am I going to present the ship name. 🤔 Details...details....while I continue to sand interior bulkheads. 😷 Moving on...

That's excellent. Chuck is probably THE authority and great source for advice for the Syren. Regardless, hope you are enjoying your build! You are doing great!

Yep...I had the same problem as did most. There may be a slight discrepancy in the printout vs the actual physical frame. The frames themselves are 'true'. You can consider this as you try to line up the template against the frame - but for me, the most important thing was getting that batten aligned correctly and at the right height. Everything evolves from the first batten - as your lower sills (gun port height above the deck) are based upon it. Your gun port sills will evolve from the level and sweep of the batten. If your frames are squared properly, you should be ok. I found lining up the template from the stern frame first was more helpful for me as mine didn't fit perfectly either. The template is 2D from the side only - so the curvature at the bow is not included in the printout (at least that is what I am led to believe!) - so if you try to line up the template across the curve of the ship at the bow then the template doesn't line up and will come up short...at this point, I eyeballed some of it and relied on the measurements, as well as an understanding of where the gun ports exist in relation to the masts. That's one reason why I put in the mast holes first - so I could pop in my faux masts and confirm my view of where I was putting in the upright sections which form the ports. If you observe the plans, the positioning of the gun ports are most critical at midships, where you need to account for the channels and the chain plate interference. If the gun ports near the masts are offset, you could have some difficulty with the chain plates crossing in front of the gun ports. If you ensure symmetry of the port locations on both sides, and rely on the plans to ensure consistency in the location versus the masts, you can be pretty confident you won't have issues - I found the template useful in clarifying how the gun and sweep ports are built and aligned - but again, used it as a guide and not the rule. Not sure if that helps.

A bit of good progress today. Got the shear strakes (top plank) of 1/32" cedar on the exterior bulkheads put in without much hassle. Once in the upper strakes were in, I realized I needed a bit of an additional sill for the sheave blocks to sit on...so just added a bit of interior wood to support the blocks when I glue them in...as they will need to be 'set' when I finally start putting in my interior planking. At least, that's the way I envision it...so I put in a few bits of wood in the interior wall under the blocks. And finally, I dry fit my blocks on both sides to see how the look, as well as gauge how much additional wood I need to remove during my interior bulkhead sanding. So far, they don't look too bad... I may consider setting in the blocks and using a bit of filler if needed to plug the minor gaps. (I think the fit of the block was pretty good considering I had to drill those rectangles out by hand! Lesson learned...future ships I'll think about this before I lay down a single plank) But one thing I am now starting to think about...is the deck and the exterior colors. I was originally planning to keep my exterior bulkheads their natural color...and the deck made from boxwood. Now I am considering rethinking the stain on the exterior bulkhead, and making the deck from cedar...because I have really enjoyed working with cedar! The jury is still out on this one... Moving on...

Might have been me...but I’m sure folks on the forum have a whole series of sanding sticks! Painting stirrers are a mighty useful tool!!!!! Lookkng good, Red!!!

Robin, your attention to detail is great. Thanks for sharing those pics on real ships. Your end result looks so realistic! Love your build!

Putting in the missing trunnel. My ship looks like it has a pimple. 😜 Also thought I’d share my opinion on something. Although I’m inexperienced, the Minwax color matched wood filler in a tube is some awesome stuff. You can use a q-tip or your finger to fill in difficult creases/seams/corners and it sands down smooth without a ton of mess. Find it incredibly simple and easy to use...perfect for a beginner like me who needs filler! Moving on...

Sanding and a preliminary stain was done (just for visibility sake). Trunnels turned out pretty decent. I’ll do better next time, but not a bad result. Just showing port side since starboard is identical. Well, actually the port side has one error...which miraculously popped out after sanding and a quick stain. I miss one trunnel at the bow beneath the first gun port. 😭 Crapola...I’ll fix tomorrow.

Well...I nearly gave myself a heart attack. I completed the trunnel clipping and decided to sand down the transom first. The original: Then sanded down after trimming: It looked so clean that I had wondered if the cedar nails in the cedar planking would be too invisible. So I couldn’t resists slapping some natural stain on the transom to see the effect. After natural stain (I’ll do a coat of tung oil after the planking is fully completed): And there they are...😅. The trunnels are going to come out nicely but without too much contrast. Moving on....

Hi Brad! Thanks for the feedback. Actually, I have some flathead trimmers (End nippers) like the one you showed above, but I didn’t find them very helpful for fine/small parts or angles which you mentioned. The spru cutters I am using are perfect for trimming the trunnels. The ones I use are from Minushima and are excellent for getting a clean surface cut, especially at an angle. They are also incredibly sharp. Here are some pics: The cuticle trimmers work even better at angles and also give a clean surface cut. These are exceedingly sharp and I ended up using these for close cropping knots on the rigging! They still work well for this type of small diameter wood nails. Here are some pics: You can see they get into tough spots very easily. These were the best tools I could find, but like everyone else, I’m always looking for alternatives!!!! ⛵️😊⛵️

Got the last of my itty bitty trunnels put into the bulkhead. Moved on to giving them a haircut...am currently using a spru cutter but cuticle clippers work perfectly, too...I tried both. Then it’s back to sanding sanding. I consider this process practice for the deck! One bonus pic of haircut in progress. 😊 Moving on....

Decided to take a short detour and make a temporary building board. I've been using my keel clamp to good effect and will continue to use it...it's nice to be able to flip it on either side and orient the hull the way I wish...but at some point very soon I'll want a solid base. Thought about it a little bit and decided to make some cut outs of 1/4" walnut scrap for frame H and 12, sanded them down, covered them with felt, and then bolstered the base with a couple sections of 1/4" square wood for added support (which I'm sure it doesn't need - but what the hell). The stem socket I made using 3 separate sections of 1/4" walnut glued together in order to make a simple slot at the same angle as the stem where it meets the socket - then glued felt inside the slot. The felt is more for my sake of mind...I thought the thicker felt (my thanks to the admiral for her donation) would make the fit a bit nicer (it does) and also prevent accidental bruising of the wood. Bonus pic time!!! 😃 And one little tidbit of interest. I added a 1/8" strip of wood between the keelson rails (made from 1/4" square basswood dowels) in order to elevate the ship a bit so the rails don't rub or bruise the wood where the garboard strakes connect to the keelson. Also, I haven't added a temporary false keel to the model because I've been using the keel clamp to attach the wood block connected to the keelson through the mounting holes with nuts/bolts. But for this temporary building base, the lack of a false keel may leave some risk of damage to that little 'edge' on the keelson near the bow where the false keel begins. To prevent this, I put an additional 1/32' strip of wood on top of the 1/8" base strip between the rails...so the ship sits square between the rails, with a comfortable margin of space just below the top of the keelson across the entire length of the ship. Moving on....to finish up the bulkhead trunnels!!

That is bloody awesome!!! No greater end to a model story than to see one bringing honor and remembrance to our servicemen and women. Well done!!!! God bless you, sir! And thank you for your service!!! (And um...ahem...Go USAF! 😎)

That’s an awesome plane! What a great hobby!!!!

Yep. The middle bulkhead frames need very little fairing. Keep in mind the char on the frames if left there can lead to less stable glue seals. The char can ‘come off’. Some folks sanded the char to ensure solid glue surface.

Hey Bill. Yeah, that’s a tricky setup. Difficult but not impossible. You put the filler blocks high and up near the sills it looks like. You will need to sand down the gun and sweep port blocks anyway...so the technique you use here you will repeat with that step. I found my best sanding tool for this was not my rotary tool. It was a trimmed and folded sheet of the self adhesive sanding pad for my disk sander! I used a 160 grit pad, folded it in half to make it stick to itself so I could use either side. You can shape (cut with scissors) the round edge so you can reach the lower inboard sills. The manual process will actually work pretty good. Failing tha, you could remove them and preshape them before gluing in. Just some thoughts.

I really appreciate the compliment, Abe! I enjoy watching your inspiring build as well. I think the fellow builders on this site really push you to achieve your best results as well as enjoy the hobby!

Brilliant job! The attention to detail truly shows!

Yeah...old horror movie. The main bad guy has nails all over his head! 🤣

If you look on my Sultana build log I’ve got some swatches which show that exact effect with darker stains. Staining with a natural stain (which is what I use beside tung oil) isn’t an issue.

Still putzing with the bulkhead trunnels. Kind of fun...oddly relaxing. Got transom and port side done. Working on starboard side...then it’s time for the haircut and sanding. Reminds me of the movie Hellraiser... Moving on...

I have tried both. Tung oil offers a nice benefit in that if you have some glue blemishes it won’t matter. Stain is always a risk if you have any unwanted glue spread.

Will, she’s coming along. Nice work on those fenders! You said those were basswood?

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Hi Dave I measured with a digital caliper and they are exactly 0.53mm in diameter