Overworked724

Got sidetracked by my handy dandy cheapie block tumbler. I think everyone has one. It’s a plastic bottle with sandpaper inside…a metal spindle with wooden flaps (covered in sandpaper) goes inside with the blocks…attach spindle to drill…press ‘go’ on the drill and magically, about 5 min later, you have more eye pleasing and realistically weathered and rounded blocks. Only problem is the damn thing-jig-doodad never worked. I tried it on the 2mm blocks I plan to use on the carronades and the wooden flaps exploded. So…since my little shop is limited in space and tools…and I need it…I decided to modify it a bit to see if I can make it a bit more user friendly. More later…my hope is I can get this tool working a bit more efficiently without worry of wooden parts cracking off…I mean, come on! What a crap design.

So...redoing the sweep port doors. Thought I'd try to remove the hinges from the old doors and put on new hinges/hingpins. Destroyed one of the doors during hinge removal, but no biggy. The remaining 7 are in good shape. The inboard sides are already painted red and are test fit to their respective doors in the plans...so it helps me save a bit of time. The hinges had been painted black...but since I wanted to try to trim down the width where the simulated hinge pins will be located, I stripped them down and then used a rotary sander to thin the arms up a bit similar to how Chuck did in his practicum. Sadly, I don't have the manual dexterity to get them down as thin as he did, but they looked better versus their shape before thinning (see bottom hinge in pic below). Also, rather than painting, I decided to try using a blackening agent for the hinges and pins I will be making (both are brass). JAX blackener was cut 3:1 and it worked nicely. Hinges turned out much cleaner looking. I was struggling how to make the tiny (0.5mm x 1mm) simulated hinge pins reproducibly. Finally decided to use a scrap piece of 1mm thick basswood I had in my wood bin...drilled out some holes, and mounted it on another piece of wood with some double sided tape. I used an end nipper to clip the wire after I pressed it into the hole(s). After filling the template, I sanded the exposed end...figuring having one polished/square end would help align the look on the hinges. I pulled up the wood and the little hinge pins stayed stuck (mostly) to the tape. Some blackener and the pins were done and fairly clean and consistent. So...the end result should hopefully look something like this once put on the sweep port doors. Not bad...fingers crossed. Moving on...

In other news...after really taking stock of the Syren...having lain fallow for 2 years...I am now more comfortable with the copper patina. It actually aged pretty evenly (for my first try). So, I won't redo it. Decision made. Second thing...those sweep doors with he wooden hinges I made did NOT travel well. I need to redo the sweep doors after I'm done with the gun port doors. But I won't be too sad about it...I was never really happy with he sweep doors anyway. So I'll be redoing them. Decision made. And that frees up my mind a bit. Part of my hesitation in jumping back on the Syren was the question of whether I would need to backtrack and redo some things...the answer is No and Yes. So...progress and pics to come. Moving on...

Hey Dave…good question. A couple reasons. 1. Viscous CA was easy to manage with these ridiculously small bits. 2. The back of the doors won’t be seen by anyone so I was going for quick and easy. 3. It’s all I had at the moment and I didn’t want to wait for a trip to the Japanese hardware store. 4. I really needed to start getting some progress on the ship as well as do something to take my mind off the recent earthquake. (Yeah…we are on the southern tip of Japan.) 😎

The practicum wasn’t as visually descriptive on finishing and mounting the doors. So I thought I’d give my little contribution. Took the metal straps, painted them, then bent them at 60degree angle. Makes it easier to handle and glue on the little suckers. Putting them on the doors was pretty straightforward. The metal from the hook makes an easy marker so I could put them on consistently. You can see I also filed a small point in the tip of the metal straps. I figure it will make mounting them in the drilled holes on the window sills a bit easier. Here they are. Made a couple extra. The metal hinges (bits of wire) are next. But here is the current progress. Moving on…

Ok…been so long, I can’t remember what the heck I was doing on the ship before I packed her up to move. So decided to attack the gun port hatches. Decided to try to make the little rings with a simple hook hanger. Made a little jig to make the hooks, and a ton of rings using annealed wire. Effect isn’t that bad…still have to put on the metal straps and hinges. Not certain if I’ll hang them…figuring I’ll get them all setup and the holes drilled then put them on later with the quarter galleries. (I don’t trust myself not to knock the bloody things off when I’m fiddling with the chain plates/etc.) Pics below…cheapie 3 min bending jig for bending the wire to form the ring hooks. 😎 Moving on…

Yeah…once I get back to Japan! I’m all energized after Mannitowoc!!!

Take a look at my build for the Syren. I left the waterways off my Sultana for the same reason you mentioned. But I found an elegant way of making them diagonal for my Syren.

We’ve been doing renovations on our house and I’ve been learning how to drive on the left side of the road! But ship yard is together and I’m starting to eek back into my build!!

Believe it or not…I had to repack and unpack the shipyard…sigh. We are finally in our newly acquired home in Kirishima. I can thankfully restart my hobby without fear of having to move again. (He said hopefully) My next post will be a progress update with pics … so help me God!

Just a quick update to keep my thread alive. Shipyard is repacked. Moving again for (hopefully) the last time. If anyone has kept count…this will be the fourth time in the last year we’ve moved! But our new house and my future little shipyard is around the corner!

@CPDDET Thanks, Dave. Let me know. I’m coming in June for family business and plan to present at the MMS meeting. Are you able to attend that one?

Thanks @CPDDET @Tim Murphy. I'm still sleeping on it. I decided to start with a redo of the hinges on the sweep port doors first. Slowly eek my way in to modeling again...so I will save the decision on repeating the coppering for later. It just looks dirty...no prints but there were some blemishes from the packaging that simply will not come out. Not certain how to clean it without tearing the plates up. However, those plates are stuck on beautifully...they just aren't beautiful copper anymore! @Tim Murphy I actually know many folks from the Rope and recently (just a couple weeks ago) visited their 48th Boat show in Ginza district in Tokyo. We live on the southern tip of Kyushu at present...so it's still a bit of a hike.

Man…I really don’t like the way the copper patina ended up after a year in storage. I’m seriously considering ripping off the copper plating and committing to a full redo.

My tiny shipyard and Syren have finally been unpacked! Good news…the copper plating is still holding fast. The bad news is the new penny look is gone. A few spots on the copper got marred during shipping, and the patina isn’t weathered as evenly as I’d hoped. But other than that…all else looks ok. A few bonus pics for fun. No more excuses now…I have a functional office and semi functional shipyard. 👍🏽

I don’t know, Dave…I think you need to go smaller. 🤣

Wish I had some pics. Sorry. 😔

Yes. 🤣 The garboard was a bit of a pain. I ended up creating some ‘cushioned’ clamps to attach to the keel and keep external pressure on the garboard planks as the dried. I basically cut some wood clothes pins and wrapped the jaws in rubber bands so they wouldn’t bruise the keel when I attached them. The other side of the garboard was held in place by some binder clips clamped to the bulkhead sections.

Looks great, Bob! You’ll be extremely happy you added those full piece fillers. The additional surface area will be a huge boon during your planking. 👍🏽 You are right about the bending jig. I ended using a plank bender, but the best result I had was pre forming wet steamed planks on the ship and letting them dry to shape. It was long and tedious but made for relaxing planking.

And...progress update for my mini-shipyard (just keep my thread alive and kicking)...finally ordered a simple desk to use as a mini-work bench. Space in our new apartment is a bit limited, so I am being careful to try to utilize what little space my wife gave me to good use. It will have to do until we have a house (a few years from now....date TBD). But I am itching to get back to work on my Syren. Sabbatical almost over...a few more weeks and shell be in her new home...and Ill be posting again.

Brilliant works on those chucks! Love your detail, Dave. 👍🏽

Well, the upsweep of the planking towards the stern is a crinkle, but not a bad one. If you have symmetry on both sides, you can run up your bulwarks and then simply trim them down to the appropriate height above the deck per the plans. That might look a bit odd from the exterior, but I’ve seen it happen on other models. The end result still looks beautiful and you’ve done a great job laying in the hull planks thus far. The only option to ‘correct’ the upsweep would be to remove the planking near the stern and do some additional adjustment on where the wales will be. That’s a bit more time but the planking would then line up more closely with the deck lines. Either way, doing a great job so far! Enjoying your build! Pat

Looking mighty good! I know you’ve probably started this already, but you should be clear on how you want to mount your ship before you get too far in the build. Same for the mast holes. I got those ironed out very early and was glad I did. Great job on the hull thus far!

The stern was a fear of mine too. Until you get your external planking on above the wales they’ll be a concern. After that, it will feel solid as a brick. Enjoying your build!!!

Oh yeah…Following you with great interest!! 👍🏽😁