BLACK VIKING

Congratulations on ten years!  Best of luck for the next ten!

Yes its crazy….if I really push it and do a 12 hour day I could prob make about 2000…..of the smaller sizes.  But its not fun work.  So 1000 or even 1500 will have to do.  
 
I have tweaked my process as I learn the technologies.  I am sure other mfg’s can make them quicker but I think I now have a solid technique and process.
 
it does mean however that I must redo the cad files I use for the blocks which takes forever, but I only need to do that once for each size.  Each size also needs its own jig and hold down device…designed…laser cut and built.  
 
But again,  I only have to do this once and then its pretty routine.

The new process is quicker and produces a cleaner well shaped block.  Believe it or not, the idea came to me one night around 3am when I couldnt fall asleep.  I sprung out of bed and made some notes…worked on it the next day.  And to my surprise it works a treat and makes it easier for me once the initial setup is completed.  
 
The craziest stuff pops into my brain in the wee hours of the morning.  Its nuts.
 
 

I fully agree.
But, the advantage of the MRNS book is that I have a lot of drawings on a scale of 1/100. And it is easy for me to enlarge them to a scale of 1/50.
So I'm going to make the sections of MRNS and place them next to the current bulkheads. And then see what makes the most sense.
 
I promesed this build would be a long way to a finished model. I'm doing this well, haha 😇

And I put it in a diorama setting.  Figure from Aerobonus, oil drums, ladder and wheel chocks from Brengun.  Thanks to everyone for your help and support on this build!
 

I made a bucket using the same method.
 

I used a false-bucket structure.  

So I got a lot of warping but once I got my head around what I need to do I but the bullet and made a start. This set is so cool. 

Wow,
Big difference in the quality of the metal bits!
 
Nice work as always,
 
Frank

Very impressive and beautiful work Micheal

Hello,
 
Alex-Ks1 -- big thanks 
 
Here are some updated images of the continuing work with the stern gallery outer faces. I like how the outer windows turned out. Certainly more historically accurate (haha – this kit has nothing to do with historical accuracy).. though I am a bit regretful, in that all of the previous work (interior floorings, gold trimming on upper and lower inner window frames, and gallery planking are now totally hidden from view - oh well.
 
FYI: Last image offers a comparison of current kit's metal bit compared to vintage kit's solid bronze bits.
 
Regards,
 

 
 
 
 

I am starting a new topic as the last one just got huge....over 2000 replies.
 
Its fitting that I would do so today actually.   Today marks ten years since I have started Syren.  Its been a long and interesting journey.  Ten years and miles and miles of rope made and thousands and thousands of blocks sold.   Here's to the next ten years.  Maybe not that long, LOL.
 
For a bit of news....I have finally received the parts to maintain my CNC Mill.  So blocks are on tap over the next few weeks.  In fact I have already started.   3/32" singles and doubles are now in stock.   More will follow. Although half of the 3/32" singles already sold out.  UGH!
 

 
Onward and upward as they say.
 
Chuck

After more years than I want to think about the hull is finally, finally planked. 
 
Finally. 
 

It isn’t perfect, but the worst crimes are below the waterline where I can hide them with paint. All in all I’m pretty happy with it. Some scraping and sanding will clean it up nicely and it shouldn’t need much filling. 
 
Next up is the rubbing strakes then I can start remodeling the deck. 

Hello again everyone, first of all, apologies for my absence, or not giving news, but my spirits and health did not help me.
After a long time in which I have had many serious health problems and some personal ones, it has been a long and hard time that has kept me away from many of the things that I liked and wanted the most. Now they have retired me due to my health pathologies, although I am still young (52 years old) I hope that now, after finishing treatments and achieving stability, a very tough judicial process with the SPANISH STATE to achieve retirement, now I am retired and with time for me, my family and my hobbys, with my health is good, of course,  as I said, I hope to have more time to dedicate to the things that I feel like doing, take care of my health, logically,  reading, watching movies, and learning to make ship models is something that I always wanted to do, I have a lot to read and see to catch up, I will do it little by little.
I reiterate my apologies, but really, this has been a very difficult path for me and my spirits were very low and I didn't want to do anything other than think about being able to recover.
PS I'm replying again in this thread because I don't think it's necessary to open a new one.

And the tractors 

Yes!  I just finished posting the video that your First Mate requested.  
 
Apparently I am unable to build anything with greater than a zero margin for error.  The insertion process went pretty well, but it took a while.  The oars and tips of the stem post were scraping along the neck of the bottle as I pushed each half of the hull inside.  I ended up bending a few of the oars but they can be straightened without too much difficulty.  

I got the hull pieces in pretty quickly.  The time consuming part was getting the rigging threads out of the way (while making sure they did not slip into any of the small epoxy blobs) and then lining the hull pieces up and pressing them together.  The whole process took about 10 minutes but felt like an hour!  Long video link below.   
  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqDFXTSlX2s&t=116s
 
 
 

Hi Ian - for the ships of the 1670s and 80s, where the beakhead is more elongated, elevated and Dutch-like, the gammoning tends to be a little more removed from the waterline:
 





Towards the end of the century, though, the head configuration changes, and the beakhead sweeps down closer to the water:
 

Thanks everyone for your interest 
 
A dummy plywood "keelplate" is made.
This showed that the mutual distance between the bulkheads was too great. So everything has been disassembled and the intermediate supports have been made 3mm narrower.
The new arrangement is now in proportion to the keel, stern, stem.

The shape of the front and rear bulkheads don't look right on sight (i think). I used the drawing from the book Anatomy of the ship (AOTS) and It looks if these are "taken" from MR Noblest Shippe (MRNS)
The AOTS scheme has 12 frames.
The MRNS has also detailed  "sections" and frames.

 
That is why the drawing of the sections (MR noblest shippe) has been enlarged by 200%. I spent a few hours at work today at the engineering department...😇
The intention is to make masters with these to check if the shape of the bulkheads matches with the sections.
This will also help to determine the position of the decks more easily. The deck of the cannons is open (a real deck, no holes in the hull with dummy cannons)

@Ondras71 This is indeed going to be a large model.
 
@Veszett Roka
The keel will consist of 3 pieces from 2 different types of wood. The idea is to install it first. 
 
 
 

Then there is this little problem solver. If you are under 6 years old, it's not recommended . Ah! Those were the days

Evening all,    got  some more  time on the bench  with  my  little figures,  I thought my  last Two  55th  Voltiguers deserved some attention  -   just some basic  colours  applied.
 
OC.

Evening all,   I mananged a couple  of hours  on my little  ones  today  -  I  started off  by  making  Two  2nd  Life Guards  from my old  light  cavalry  spru and  gave  then a  primer,   they  will  be sat on my  already made  ex Hussar  horses  that  just need their  facing colours  chsnged.  I also  decided  to dig  out  of  my trash box  a  few  2nd  KGL  that I had  put a side  because  I did not  think they were  molded  well  enough  -  so  I  gave  a  few  primer  and  the others  some  paint,  I did the same  with  Three  more  French  that I decided  to  have a re  make  of  - primed  and  some  basic  paint on  -  faces and hands/belts and  other bits of colour.
 
OC.

The fore topgallant mast shrouds, lanyards and stay are completed and there will be no ratlines, this was quite a fiddly process to say the least to make everything look right at this scale and while I'm not overly happy with results the up close camera shots provide,  the model as a whole does look pretty good to the naked eye. Up next I need to fashion the topmast and topgallant parrals,  topmast shrouds and lanyards. Thanks for looking.
 
Michael D.

Great progress Alan - looking very good.  Even though you've still more work to do on them, shaping the towers and adding the fill already makes a big difference.  And thanks for sharing the Welsh castle photos.  Beautiful countryside.
 
Gary  

I'm working along the next wall and round tower. One more round tower and I reach the part of the wall that is partly covered by the hillside so it doesn't get completely covered in brickwork.
Today has been spent playing with ideas for the lighting and mapping the wire runs in the main structure. The upper floor is complicated and I was thinking about adding the cardboard formers before placing the upper floor in place but I think that might cause problems because I think some of the walls have to be covered in blocks before other walls are added. That part of the build is going to be very interesting.
Today more wall building but I also continued shaping the towers and added a filling mix of sanding dust and diluted white glue to the gateway. This now needs to be rubbed back to bring the blockwork back into view but it already looks better. The arch needs more tidying but I will probably wait until the other side is in place so it can be matched.


Thanks for looking in and all the likes and support
To borrow @mtaylor tag line The wood might be patient but the stones are glacial
Sorry Mark
Alan

I'm still working slowly along the outer walls, The round towers tend to slow things down as most of the blocks require sanding to fit. Only two more round towers to complete on the outer walls.  Today I reached the main gate, The kit has preformed keystone shapes for the arch but they still need a bit of filing. The gateway was quite fiddly and not helped by the limited access caused by the adjacent towers. The stones above the arch are a bit ragged but they will look better after some attention with a sanding dust / glue mix. At least the tiers remained level as they crossed the archway. 

I'm starting to plan out the lighting. That looks like it might be a bit more complicated that I first thought but still very workable as long as its planned in advance.
So work to date

And to break up the tedium of watching the walls slowly grow. This is Dolbadarn Castle in North Wales. A medieval Welsh castle at the head of the pass into the mountains


 
 
 

Thanks for looking in and for all the likes and comments
Alan

Having decided to light the castillo  decided I needed to get a sense of how the model was all going to look as a whole and where the lights would go and how many etc. So I built up the cardboard formers for the mian structure. 


This is the first level. Another level will go on top but the lights will need to be installed before the roof is added. There is plenty of room to cut a hole in the floor for wires to run through. Having not done this before I am not sure how many leds will be needed and whether I should try to build some interior walls to separate some of the lights. I will get a handful and experiment. There is quite a bit of time before we get to that part of the build. I have read a lot of lighting builds having problems with light bleed through. I think it could be possible with this if there are chinks in the blocks in the wrong place so I think I might tape all the joints and then spray the interior with black primer.
I placed the main castle in its approximate place on the base and it shows there will be plenty of room to route the lighting wires and also the amount of landscaping that will be needed


The main castle will have the blocks added as a separate module so I can work on that on my usual bench which will be more comfortable especially if summer has arrived by then.
Meanwhile the walls are creeping forward. I am turning the corner at the next round tower onto the next section of wall. I started sanding the first round tower and its taking shape as the edges of the blocks sand away.
Thanks for looking in and all the likes and helpful comments
Alan