Hi, my name is Thomas Gahm. My build log disappeared as so
many others during the recent crash, and I just try to reconstruct as much as I
can.
Bulkheads and filler blocks are being glued in place.
Gun ports are framed and the fairing of bulkheads is finished.
Planking of the upper part of the hull with bass wood
strips. The strips were selected for homogeneous color and texture.
Treenailing using the wood filler based method described by
Chuck in the instruction book. During my last ship model build (Anfora kit
Ictineo II) the combination of the applied wood stain and the slight fuzziness
of the treenail hole edges led to a larger treenail appearance than initially
intended. To avoid this effect I drilled holes which were slightly smaller than
the intended treenail size of 0.5mm and I opened them up with a needle of a
slightly larger diameter (0.53mm). This led to well defined, round holes with
sharp edges, which once filled with wood filler gave me the intended
treenailing effect.
Planking of the lower hull with bass wood strips. As this
part of the hull will be covered later by copper sheaths I did not particularly
select the wood strips for texture or color.
Finished hull planking.
Lower part of hull planking. Two brass pipes were buried in
the keel to allow for the possibility to mount the model later via two brass
carriers inserted in these pipes. If these mounts should not be needed the
holes can be covered up via the false keel.
Stern view of the Syren. Mounting the Syren name turned out
to be a bit tricky due to the small size of the photo etched letters. The
following method worked for me: I painted the letters (white) while they were
still attached to the photo etch grid. After separating them from the brass
grid I arranged them to form the name “SYREN” on a sticky tape mounted on a
flat piece of wood with the sticky side up. Once I was satisfied with the
arrangement of the letters I covered them with a second piece of transparent
tape with the sticky side towards the letters. After turning the whole
arrangement upside down so that the first tape was on top and the second tape
underneath the letters I removed the first tape while carefully making sure
that the letters did not come loose from the second tape. Now all that remained
to do was to apply some superglue to the uncovered letter backs and transfer
the name as a whole in its final arrangement to its destination on the stern.
The use of a transparent tape allowed for precise positioning. Once the letters
were glued to the hull the tape could be removed.
Building of the stern transom. To form the stern transom I
modeled it first with a piece of paper which I then used to cut out the wooden
(bass wood) counterpart. This was then soaked in hot water and bent to its
final shape in a jig.
The formed transom is glued in place.
Finished transom.
Front view of the Syren. The planks are stained with a
mixture of 1 part Minwax Golden Oak and 2 parts Minwax Natural wood stain.
Stern view of the Syren.
Planking of the deck using selected basswood strips. The
planks were tapered towards the stern.
Finished deck planking with waterways. I painted the
locations of the future gratings black to prevent the possibility of the deck
planking to be seen through the openings of the gratings. The deck was stained
with Minwax Natural wood stain.
ronald305 reacted to augie in US Brig Syren by Gahm - Model Shipways