guitarguy687

Yep, nice start to another beautiful Syren Thomas.
 
Keep the updates coming.
 
Ben

Very Nice Start Thomas. Chairs for everyone!

Another Syren! Oh Goodie! Augie can I have that chair next to you?

Plank bending jig created today. First planks now drying. Not very pretty but it gets the job done.
 

 

Plank bending jig created today. First planks now drying. Not very pretty but it gets the job done.
 

 

Well have all the gun port and sweep port framing done on both port and starboard, and also did the stern framing. Just finished painting all the ports with model shipways red.
 
Everything is faired at this point, I am not really sure if I have taken enough off of the stern filler pieces. I have a picture of it posted below, so if anyone can give me any tips that would be great. 
 

 

 

I have gotten quite a bit done the last couple weeks. I am going back and forth between this build and my Syren. I have some additional rigging to do on the cannons, and quite a bit of rigging left to do on the mast. It is coming along nicely, I have definitely made some mistakes, but I have learned a lot from them, so that's whats important. 
 
Wow, can the rigging get tedious. It has really shown me that I need to get some new glasses! haha!
 
Dr. Manhattan chilling next to the victory cross section.

 
Wall patching in progress..

 
The corner of my Syren, that is where it gets stored while glues dry.

I am currently building the Corel Victory Cross Section. My experience is the wood quality is great, most fittings are O.K. (not great not bad). Many of the rigging supplies (blocks, etc.) are either trash or require quite a bit of cleanup, the rigging line however is decent quality. The plans for the model are pretty good, I would have liked a few more angles of certain things but they are workable. The written instructions however are trash. I think Corel hired a drunk monkey to write them with the intention of being vague. 
 
Assuming most Corel kits are set up similarly, I would recommend if you are primarily a visual learner. You have to be ok with plans, and going out on the internet to look things up in pictures, build logs, etc.
 
If it helps, the instructions remind me of a couple billings boats kits i have done, maybe something to compare to.  

Hello everyone!
 
Well as expected M.E. was awesome about the parts, and they arrived the next day. First thing I did was cut out all the parts, then obsessively organized everything into divided boxes, and the basswood strips into my wood organizer I made awhile back. I guess this is one good thing about O.C.D. 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Cleaned up the bulkhead former, all the bulkheads, etc. Cut and shaped down from the bearding line, installed the rabbet, the stem knee, then the keel, and false keel. I used rubber cement to temporarily attach the false keel as I did not have any double sided tape handy. Then dry fitted all the bulkheads to check for accuracy, squared everything up, and then permanently attached them all. After that it was on to the bulkhead filler blocks, used balsa wood blocks and formed them as well as I could without pushing anything out of square. That brings us up to where I am now, next is planking the platform between bulkheads 16 and 20, then bow fillers. 
 

 

 

 
 
I unlike a lot of people do most of my work at night during the week, and get very little done on the weekends. So see you all next week!

Slight change of plans.  Here is a photo update of just the main and fore topsail completed rigging:
 

 

 
Be a few days 'til the topgallants go aloft........darned summertime
 
 

Hello everyone!
 
Well as expected M.E. was awesome about the parts, and they arrived the next day. First thing I did was cut out all the parts, then obsessively organized everything into divided boxes, and the basswood strips into my wood organizer I made awhile back. I guess this is one good thing about O.C.D. 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Cleaned up the bulkhead former, all the bulkheads, etc. Cut and shaped down from the bearding line, installed the rabbet, the stem knee, then the keel, and false keel. I used rubber cement to temporarily attach the false keel as I did not have any double sided tape handy. Then dry fitted all the bulkheads to check for accuracy, squared everything up, and then permanently attached them all. After that it was on to the bulkhead filler blocks, used balsa wood blocks and formed them as well as I could without pushing anything out of square. That brings us up to where I am now, next is planking the platform between bulkheads 16 and 20, then bow fillers. 
 

 

 

 
 
I unlike a lot of people do most of my work at night during the week, and get very little done on the weekends. So see you all next week!

Well happy Birthday hope its good for you :)

Happy birthday and hope you have a great day....Looking forward to see your next built...Per-Olof

Happy Birthday from me to. Have a nice day

Hello Thomas,
 

 
Have a great day,
 
Anja

Yes, Balsa is very good for that

Hello everyone! 
 
Opened up my Syren kit yesterday  <-- VERY excited. 
 
Checked the parts list, checked for quality, and all that other fun un-boxing stuff.  Noticed some very good things, it had the correct carronades, I think this is the best out of the box instructions I have ever seen - props to Chuck! 
 
Most all the parts were there, was missing a couple things though, some 5mm cleats, also no rigging hearts were included (or on the parts list) but in chucks instructions it very clearly shows them being used in a couple places. Nothing to be used as filling blocks in the framing was included, maybe this is normal, not a big deal to pick some up. The one thing I did find which was very upsetting was a very large about 6mm thick crack down the laser cut sheet that holds the center keel and a couple other framing pieces were affected. Going to give M.E. a call Monday about that (see pictures). 
 
Otherwise everything looked to be in great shape, good machining, nice cast pieces, and all wood blocks, dead-eyes, etc were in really really good condition compared to what I have seen in some European kits. 
 
I am eager to get started on this build, but it will be a little limited until M.E. gets a new center keel sent out to me. I will keep you updated, AND to be expected un-boxing pictures!!! 
 
Center Keel Sheet I was speaking of. 

It's more difficult to see the damage from the camera. I tried to highlight it to make it more visible. It is not split all the way through but there is only about 1mm of material left in that large indent. It runs from about bulkhead H's slot all the way through the actual bulkhead P. 


The AMAZING instructions booklet, and my organizational attempt at some of the smaller little bits.

MMMM Blue Box

The rest of the laser cut pieces, the dowels, wood, etc all look great and pristine condition. I also purchased the Syren paint set which can be seen here.

 
More updates will be coming!

Hi Thomes.
Your Victory is coming on nicely.
Just watch out when you cut out the holes in the sides that you do not catch the decks with the drill or saw.
I will try and post a build log tonight... Did not expect to to build so quick
 
Regards Antony.

The shape of the Apostol Felipe is the perfect shape for a mod build. However it is such a gorgeous ship I would have such a hard time not building it to those specifications haha!! - Still no word on plans. I have found a couple basic pages through my search but not anywhere detailed enough to achieve the quality I am aiming for. 
 
I also did some research into these banned "companies" that were mentioned. I refuse to finance any companies that scam the legitimate quality companies that we all use.