scasey88

Peter, your Syren is looking great!!

Looking Good Floyd, I started on my planking above the wales this weekend, its going pretty slow, but going well so far, I guess I am going to have to get my update posted too.

Peter, your Syren is looking Great! Nice job.

I glued down the upper wale, it looks much better than the previous picture, I hope it comes through in the pic, but its definitely not parallel with the gun ports and dips down in the middle.

Hi Peter, yes, I see what you are saying, however, the way the plank is sitting is not permanent, it is not lined up with the marks i made on the bulkheads, i used the reference marks, and made very small adjustments and then i was moving it around, so when i do glue it down it should be alot better as you are right it ended up not being parallel to the ports, but thanks for looking out for me though

5/32" upper wale plank fitted, its getting exciting to start planking here soon, hopefully by this weekend.

Painted the gun ports, picked up a panavise the other day, they manufacture them here in my town Reno, Nevada but i could not find one here anywhere, and they are basically wholesale only, took a road trip to Sacramento and picked it up at Fry's electronics.

I  have been a little slow lately, I hurt my hand at work. But I have managed to get the transom piece done along with the stern filler blocks

Wow, that is a bummer about the shapers Floyd, I really only tested on a scrap piece and did not try an actual trim piece for the Syren, some of the profiles looked really tiny so I did not give it much thought.

Floyd, not sure if you have figured out the cap rail and margin planks yet, but I went through Chapter 7 and had to reread it a couple of times, and I think you are right about them being margin planks, the instructions do say that you will have to test fit, before gluing it down because each Syren model will vary, so it will probably have to be shaped to get the proper fit. also it said that the cap rail will need to be cut from 1/16" sheet, but did not specify this as a laser cut part, so I am assuming this will need to be purchased? I did not notice any 1/16" sheets in my kit, unless there is room left on one of the laser cut sheets after cutting out the rest of the parts, to make the cap rail.

Your stern is looking much better after repairs, good job! last night I just put down the first 5/32" plank below the gun ports and fitted the transom piece against that plank, I still need to cut the gun ports out though.

Ok the AL micro shapers came in today, they came like photo etched pieces and needed to be cut away from the frame, my first impression was they were a little thinner than I thought, but I tested them out on a piece of basswood strip. a bit fuzzy, but they work alright, might get better results on a harder wood like boxwood.

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Floyd, yes it is been frustrating looking for a suitable carronade, I saw the ones from Bluejacket, Sal D used them but he also had to modify them a bit, and I think Bob (Rafine) used the Bluejackets as well, not sure if he had to modify them or not. besides that they are casted and not turned brass.. 

8 hours ago, alde said:

I think these are the carronades that most Syren builders are using. The 18 pounders are the ones that match the plans. I plan to order a ship set for my kit as it's next on my list after the longboat and Glad Tidings. They are a bit expensive though.

http://www.model-dockyard.com/acatalog/caldercarft-Gun_Barrels.html

Hi Al, I have been contemplating whether or not to order those, over $80.00 before shipping, and then I look at how tiny they really are, and I was hoping to find a supplier in the u.s.,

so right now I am leaning towards making the kit carronades work, and putting that 80.00 towards rope and rigging supplies from Chuck, If my Syren turns out real good though, I might decide otherwise and order those carronades.

5 minutes ago, alde said:

Permission to come aboard? Looks like your off to a great start. 

Permission granted, thank you sir

8 minutes ago, Derek C said:

Looking very good Shawn

Thank You Derek, I appreciate it.

Looks great Derek, the sails really top it off, I love it

4 hours ago, fnkershner said:

Jim Great Idea! I will order a set.  Thank you.

 

Shawn - On the Syren there is Molding on the cap rail from stem to stern on both the port & starboard sides. There is also the 2 rows of molding on the stern above and below the name. I am also suggesting that there should be molding on the aft end of the stern cap rail. This will tie in nicely with the 2 rows mentioned here. and finally there is all the fancy work on the bow. So I see lots of opportunity to use these scrapers.

Floyd, I went ahead and ordered a set of those shapers this afternoon, i will post some test results when i get them.

Jim, those are cool, could come in handy for the trim pieces and the waterway etc., I might have to get some of those too.

Okay Thank you Floyd, that is good info, I think I will plank the transom for the strength, but hold off on the counter for now and look at other builds and give that some more thought as I saw the difficulties that you encountered in your build log.

Well the framing of the transom was very straightforward and much easier than I had anticipated, I did not break anything, and I am pleased with the way it turned out, not much to report here which is a good thing, so I will move on to sanding and shaping etc. Now I must decide on whether or not to plank the counter and transom at this point like I have seen done in some builds, I am leaning towards doing it this way to give that area the extra strength, Anyone have any thoughts on this? pros or cons?

Welcome to the Syren club John. My bulkhead former had a slight curve too, after wetting and clamping, it was straight and then went back to curved, but you are right, the filler blocks took care of it, and its nice and straight now

My order of wood came in from Wood Project Source finally, very nice stuff, and even though it took a while to get here they were very generous with the quantity's of wood.

I really like the Alaskan yellow cedar and will use it for my deck planking.

Started framing the transom, feels good to move on from the gunport framing.

Finally finished framing the gunports and sweep ports, took a lot longer than expected, just a little final sanding left, broke the frames several times where the bulkheads were .cut and had to rebuild.

Hi Eric, I am only on my second build and chose the Syren, it is well designed and has great instructions and many build logs and people to help out, I am really enjoying this kit, I just noticed you are in Reno too, Howdy neighbor

nice! have fun with it.