jablackwell

That looks very good, Jesse!
 
Thomas
 
 

Attention Syren Builders!! I may have solved the Carronade issue.  Read below -
 
As many of you know I have been working to find a solution to the terrible Carronades that are provided with the Syren kit. Well as you will see from the pictures below. I have a low cost solution. I have been working with several others to create a CAD drawing for the these carronades so that they can be 3D printed. Many of you may know about Shapeways.com.
This is a web site that offers 3D printing services. There is a section for model ships. The number of available parts is amazing. I was able to make contact with one of the designers of the parts offered there and share with him the plans for the Syren Carronade. He already had USN Carronades to offer, but they were the wrong scale and had slight differences. I explained to him what I wanted and he has now created a set that is exactly what is called for in this kit. He has drilled to hole for the elevation screw, added the eye for the breaching rope, and had the pivot mount as part of the design. He charges $12.80 for a set of 8 carronades that are 1:64 scale. I have just received mine yesterday. I cleaned them as instructed and I have painted 1 set. I am very pleased with the result. You can see for yourself below.
 
They require a very little amount of sanding after the cleaning. As you can see the paint needs some touch up. but I am excited about the results.
 
 

I see another modeler using pill bottles for Chuck's parts! I have an idea, why don't we all ship our pill bottles to Chuck so he can fill them up.  Just kidding.

Thank you all for the words of encouragement. We had Abby for about 12 or 13 years. I'm gonna miss her a lot.
 
Worked on the deadeye strops. likns, preventer links, etc. that are involved with the chain plates. Made the standard jig using different size nails and pins. Did the way the instructions showed. I would rather solder the joints but I am not set up soldering much so i had to settle for dabbing each spot with CA glue and hope it holds well enough. Got them all in the channel slots and got the molding over the ends. It is all still in a rough state. Still need to sabd paint, and touch up the glued spots on the links with gun metal enamel paint.
 
Sorry for the out of focus pictures. My camera was dropped a few years back and the screen is mostly black now so you cant tell how the picture is focused or centered until you put the card in the computer to look at.
 
Jesse

Thx Piet
 
And a small update. I finished the decoration on the star board side. I will start with the port side now. The decoration of the bow I will do last.
 
 

Thanks Peter.  I spent time today experimenting with the wood I had around here (no bending beech to try out though).
 
I certainly got some better results today using the brief soak and planking iron with SLOW bending - not too slow though as each of these took 2 or 3 minutes
 
The wood in order from the top of the photos are Swiss pear, jatoba, basswood, walnut and cherry.  After bending I clamped them together (hence the variation in size) and left them for a a couple of hours except for the Swiss pear.
 


 
The Swiss pear I clamped to the stern of the Syren and let it sit for a few hours before taking it off for the photos
 

 
I expect the Swiss pear will end up being my stern rail cap.
 

I planned to finish this about a year ago but I don't like the way that the nets turned out and I haven't go back to the build.  Maybe by acknowleging my frustration I can move on - maybe.
 
The white netting provide with the kit was not large enough to cut the net pieces.  Off to the fabric store and I came back with some black tulle.
 

 

 

 
And there she sits waiting for some renewed entusiasm!
 

Here are the final pictures. I want to make a special note to Ron at http://www.grandpascabinets.com/model-display-kits/
His display case is awesome. The fit and finish are first class.
If you ever need a display case I highly recommend him.
Thanks again for following me through this project. I hope it has inspired others to not be afraid to take on a large project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got them all done and glued in place. I'm glad this was suggested, I wasn't going to add these as it wasn't in the instructions but I like the way it looks.
 
Jesse

Made another yard. Slow but steady progress. 
 
But HEY!!  Here is another pic of my Ship with BALLS!!!  
 
(Yeah, I said it. The Admiral didn’t laugh either.). 
 

The standing rigging is getting closer to be completion.
 
I think I can remember what I've finished so far!
 
Both the Fore and main top mast backstays, top gallant shrouds, top gallant backstays and royal backstays.
 
You will also notice that I put a temporary fore royal stay to help steady the fore mast royal while rigging the back stays. Also lines have been tied off but not completed and coils placed until I'm sure I won't have to re-tension them.
 

 

 

 

 

As the Graphite, I went to an art store and bought a pencil made 100% of graphite. I have found that depending on the amount of caulking I was spending lots to time sharpening that #2. The other benefit of the art pencil is you can try different hardnesses to suit your taste. Good luck and enjoy the Syren. I am just beginning the copper plating. I will be posting an update once that is done.

John,  For what it's worth I used a marker on one edge of my Syren planking.  I have used pencil and didn't like the mess of the powdered graphite getting all over. 
 

This marker has 2 different tips - I used the bigger one and ran an edge of the a strip before I cut it to length for each plank.  You have to be careful at the ends as it will wick up if you're a bit heavy with the marker.
 
Here it is on the Syren - note the "golden oak"  stain!

 

John
 
i also tried inks (think I may have posted one of my attempts on my Sultana log).  Ink bleeds...especially if you plan to stain the wood after or even use tung oil.  Graphite was sort of the landing spot for me.  Looking forward to your findings as well!
 
Happy building, brother builder!

Quote:  "A little time today spent on the build. Taking it slow and carefully.... Placed the simulated lower deck in place today. The edges of the planks are rubbed with a pencil graphite at a 45 degree angle. This tends to slightly reshape the long edge of the plank and show some darker edging nicely. Once glued in place, the planking was stained with Golden Oak. Funny thing, though, my golden oak looks less golden and a bit darker than others'... I wonder if my stain is old or something. M'eh. ;-) "
 
OK.  A couple of things. 
 
- I have Golden Oak, too...and it is also very dark after drying...almost like is was aged antique oak.  It's quite beautiful, but much darker than I supposed based upon pics from Chuck's practicum on the Sultana.  It's not you....it really is the stain and the type of wood.  Not certain whether other woods might come out looking slightly less darker...but worth a short search.
 
- Pencil lines for deck planks.  I love that effect!  But I tried multiple ways on scrap planking until I realized a truism...no two seams will be the same, and the effect or darkness of the plank lines (tar lines) may in fact be too much or too little based upon your desire.  As for me, I found that taking a #2 and rubbing a single side of the plank joint (i.e. only marking one 'facing' side of only one of the two planks which form the seam) provided me with a fairly consistent and effect across the entire deck.  Also, when sanding, you run the risk of rubbing the graphite into the wood grain if you leave too much residue.  So I found that coloring one side (one the flat of the face, and not at an angle where I could bruise the soft basswood strips I was using) gave me consistency, without too much reside which would 'bleed' out of the seam upon sanding once I went the even out the deck.
 
Take my two 'pre-school' tips at face value.  I'm just learning myself but like you, I am always doing a lot of 'trial and error' before I pull the trigger on the build itself.
 
Loving your build!
 
Best
Pat
 
 

and I just saw the post above mine which basically said the same thing...LOL.  Sorry John.

Thank you for your commentary and suggestions, Jim. I am not going to place the filler blocks out to edges of the bulkheads, as I am prepping to get to the planking in as difficult a way as possible. I find that the challenge helps me with later builds. I totally appreciate your methods, though, and accept them as useful. I also like your choice of woods for an un-coated woodwork view.... adjectives fail me, I am afraid... maybe "unpainted" is a better term? Anyway, nice work. 
 
Today I continued with the filler block gluing process. I am taking it one day at a time, and one or two bulkheads at a time. Not much to show for that, so no images. Syren builders have seen this a lot on the forums here, so I am saving some bandwidth.  It came to my thoughts today that I am unlikely to present very much of anything new to Syren builders on MSW, but my log will be a series of "HELP I am stuck" kind of situations ;-)  I hope that is ok with everyone. This is my first PoB build, so I am likely to get into some messiness as I move forward. With a new semester coming up in a few days, I am also going to slow down a lot on the build, as I pick up on getting back to teaching astrophysics (my profession). Such is life.... then again, the holidays are coming up... :-)
 
Cheers All,
 
~john
 

I started off the week by making the gaff and two yards for the foremast. I then mounted and rigged the gaff and did the rigging for the headsails.
 
The gaff was made from a dowel, tapered and shaped at both ends. Cleats were added, made from strip wood. The jaws were cut from strip and shaped to fit the mast .The parrel is made from beads strung on a piece of wire and glued into holes in the jaws after mounting (not correct, but a good simulation and the best I can do at this point). None of the gaff rigging is finally tensioned or permanently tied off at this time. 
 
The plans show rigging for a forestay sail and a jib, and reflect the halyards and downhauls, and those are what I've done. As with the gaff rigging, these lines are not finally tensioned or permanently tied off.
 
Next up will be mounting and rigging the two foremast yards.
 
Bob

Thanks John for you comment and also for your invaluable help without which I don't think I could have done it.

Nicely done, Mike: she is a lovely model.  Display with pride.
~john

Nicely done, Mike: she is a lovely model.  Display with pride.
~john

Nicely done, Mike: she is a lovely model.  Display with pride.
~john

Hi Harley,
Thanks for the kind words. And thank you for the suggestion: one side! I should have thought of that. Indeed the caulking in the below deck was made by running the graphite along both sides of each plank.... and it does look too heavy. I was not concerned (yet) as this is all pretty well hidden below decks, but it will matter much more on the top. Thanks!  I will rig a test bed and see how it looks.
 
In the meantime, I am headed to Wash.D.C. for the week: work trip to the American Astronomical Society annual meeting. Should be interesting, but will keep me away from building this coming week.
 
~john

Making headway on the filler blocks now. Peter's advice was perfect: Make them slightly larger than needed then sand down to size for a perfect fit. The slight bowing of the bulkhead former is coming out. I am gluing the blocks in one pair at a time from stern to bow. There's no reason to the direction.... I just decided to start that way ;-) 
 
~john

Thanks, Kurt!!  Will use CA. Many thanks.