Syren by JesseLee - FINISHED - Model Shipways - scale: 1:64

[popeye the sailor]

agreed on all counts!  remarkable ingenuity Jesse.......rigged,  it will look very good.  most parts of the standing rigging is usually done with larger ropes anyways;  it will fit in nicely      super job my friend!

[JesseLee]

Thank you Gary, Tom, John, Steve, Carl, Scott, Zappto, Denis, Dave & Dave for the feedback on the netting.

Yes Carl, we are our own worst critics. I still don't completely like what I see but it shows up pretty good with the camera.

Popeye, I hadn't thought about the rolled up hammocks. I don't know much about them. Haven't found much info on them yet but you have sparked my curiosity. 

 

Thank you Dirk,it is an honor to be complimented by someone of your skill level.

 Piet, always good to hear from you my friend. I guess by the time all that other rigging is on no one will notice the thicker size of those two ropes.

Jeff, yes 2017 was a tough year. I think I was down more than I was well enough to do much work all year. I pray this year will be better.

Denis, still thinking about the rolled up hammocks. I must not be searching right, cant find enough on them to see what they are supposed to look like and how to do them.

 

Jesse 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2018 by JesseLee

[popeye the sailor]

look in some of the U.S.S. Constitution builds and even in Dafi's Victory project {look back in his log a bit for his take on them}.   you could even cut some light cloth........rectangles 10 mm X 15 mm {seems like a good size}..........paint them with diluted white glue,  roll them up and then fold them over {5 mm}....allow them to dry like that.  my proportions may be off,  so you might have to experiment a little.   look at Usedtosail's Constitution log - page 30....

 

 

[Sailor1234567890]

The more I watch your builds progress, the more impressed I am with your skills. Any idea what your next build might be?

[JesseLee]

Sailor I really don't know yet. I don't have much money for kits and running out of space for large models. Been thinking about doing some Ship-in-bottles again.

 

Denis, been Experimenting. Have no idea what kind of cloth this is, something I have saved for things like this. I mixed white glue and water with a drop of tan and black acrylic paint to give it a dingy look. Rolled it up after coating it with the glue mixture. When it dried enough I cut a few pieces out and folded them over. (Sorry for the horrible focus on that picture) I tried them in the hammock crane netting. I've seen them turned both ways online, tried fitting them both ways. Would like from feedback. What do they look like? Are they too big? Stick up too far? What should I try different?

 

Jesse

Edited January 9, 2018 by JesseLee

[popeye the sailor]

stick up to far would be the better assumption........I think the way the first two are set in place looks better too.   you've got the right idea    as long as they don't spread the netting out of shape,  they will look fine.  that looks like the same sail cloth that I got with the Gothenborg kit.   I may have to do the same thing when I get around to the United States and the Connie      what your doing passes muster in my book  

[Beef Wellington]

Lovely work Jesse, seems like I've missed a fair amount of progress.  Love the way the hammock nettings turned out.

[Sailor1234567890]

Have you tried soaking them in tea instead of using paint? Tea stains can look pretty convincing.

[JesseLee]

Yes I thought about that too. The reason I tried the paint is because i noticed my cup of water I rinse my paint brushes in had a faint tint to it like a wash when weathering wood. I used this method when weathering my sails on my Scottish Maid build and it worked very well. It is more like a very lightly tinted water than paint when it is this watered down. Since I had to mix the 50/50 water & glue anyway I used this paint tinted water. Still playing with it though.

 

Jesse

[JesseLee]

Been playing with them some more. Made them a little shorter. Are they still too high? I really don't know much about these.

 

Jesse

[JesseLee]

Meanwhile I've been working on the Bowsprit rigging. 

 

Jesse

[robdurant]

Wow! That's a serious Bowsprit - being so long must have really increased the sail area... The rigging and hammocks in the netting look superb to me.

[popeye the sailor]

they look fine Jesse........they give the sailors some 'duck'in' room.   mass produce at will!   bow spirit and boom looks super.   your mov'in right along...so good to see   

[cog]

2 hours ago, JesseLee said:

Been playing with them some more. Made them a little shorter. Are they still too high? I really don't know much about these.

 

Have a look at Nills' log of the Pegasus

 

Nice spearhead on your bow

[popeye the sailor]

same scale but different size vessel......still in the ballpark   

[fnkershner]

Remember that they were bed rolls. So if you want to do the math. How much is 6 ft in this scale. Personally I think they are fine.

[captgino]

Just catching up on your log. Great progress. It really like the work on the bow sprit. 

[fnkershner]

Jesse - There were 3 purposes for these rolls in the cranes as you have them -

1. They needed airing out. Things got pretty smelly below decks. So smelly that they would burn pots of Tobacco as a room freshener!

2. Since most sailors could not swim they worked as life preservers. they weren't very good at this. They would most often float for about 1 hr. but it was better than nothing.

3. As mentioned above they did help somewhat with splinters. More damage was done to human skin from wood splinter than from any cannon ball. They also would stop grape shot.

 

The bosun would require that they were rolled very tight and tied with a marlinspike hitch. This continued in the Royal Navy until the early 20th century.

 

PS if they didn't have tobacco available they would use pots of vinegar! Now imagine Vinegar as an air freshener?!

[GaryKap]

Jesse -

Here is a picture of a model from the Russian Naval Museum in St. Petersburg showing hammock rolls.  I don't know if the Russians rolled their hammocks differently than the Americans, but at least this might be of some help.  Your SYREN build is looking very nice.  How many times have you snagged your arm on that long bowsprit already?  I'm looking forward to more pictures etc.

 

<<Gary>>

 

 

[Tigerdvr]

Greetings JesseLee. While enjoying going over log I noted your interesting efforts storing the hammocks in the racks.

For some reason I always thought the hammocks were stored athwart the rack about 90 degrees from what your are showing.

I did some research but couldn't find much to show the proper storage method. I guess it could be based upon the

Captain's will like so many other variations.

Nice work on your Syren.

Regards, Harley

[JesseLee]

Thanks everybody. Tips and info are always welcome. This is something I know very little about so I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark with these.

 

Hmm, interesting Gary, I wonder? I tried to look this stuff up but find very little info so I've gone on the few builds here on MSW I could find.  (I've snagged the bowsprit only 3 or 4 times and make 1 repair so far!)

 

Harley, I wondered that myself, saw both ways on models on Google searches. My hammock cranes and netting are very narrow and they fit better this way. Another thing to consider that I have been thinking about today is how many are needed? I cant find a number on the crew of the Syren. More can be crammed in turning them the other way but on a ship of this size is that needed? Anyone out there know?

 

I have been tying them which is also taking forever and the whole time I'm wondering am I doing all this wrong somehow and will i have to do all this all over again?

 

Jesse 

[JesseLee]

Ok, now I found online that she had a crew of 120 Officers and enlisted. Not sure how many were officers but wouldn't that mean that less than 120 hammocks are needed? Do you fill the netting up with them even if it is more than needed?

 

Jesse

[cog]

If ypou know the type or rate of vessel you should be able to get that number. You will find it here

 

You posted just before me ...

Darn wrong syren, but the page might be useful in future

Edited January 12, 2018 by cog

[cog]

5 minutes ago, JesseLee said:

Ok, now I found online that she had a crew of 120 Officers and enlisted. Not sure how many were officers but wouldn't that mean that less than 120 hammocks are needed? Do you fill the netting up with them even if it is more than needed?

 

Jesse

 

Only those hammocks which are used are put in the netting, so the actual number of sailors and marines

[Heronguy]

Carl,  I’m afraid the link is to a different Syren than Jesse is building!

[GaryKap]

Jesse - Yeah, but I seem to remember when visiting HMS Victory being told that each sailor had TWO hammocks...one to use and one to air out .  Seems to me that the key thing is that you fill the netting with hammocks.  There is the famous quote that "all models are wrong; some are useful".  It was aimed at mathematical models but certainly applies equally to ship models.  Here is a link to a page of a book on model ship building that addresses hammocks and hammock netting.  The illustrations look very similar to the work you have done on SYREN.  This certainly is a learning experience, isn't it.  Here is the link:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=5nrXLkfLBGcC&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=hammocks+on+ships&source=bl&ots=HeLveDcnoX&sig=s3kiErMFCSs7m2EGNQAIm3Q2MSY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiB55Ox1NPYAhVlct8KHX1ED-oQ6AEIngEwFw#v=onepage&q=hammocks on ships&f=false

Edited January 13, 2018 by GaryKap

[popeye the sailor]

besides.....you never know......they could have friends over   

[Tigerdvr]

Regarding the hammocks, one source I read said each hammock had seven (too much work at this scale) lashings and then they had a gage that

the hammock had to fit through before it was stored in the netting otherwise the seaman had to retie it.

Wikipedia shows the correct brig with the same crew of 120.

Cheers, Harley

[Tigerdvr]

I just found this picture of a 1/64 HMS Victory built in Europe. Lots more pictures available. The model is magnificent. Check out the hammocks. Most of the rest of them are covered by tarps. That would be an easier way of simulating the hammocks.

Cheers, Harley

[JesseLee]

Thanks for all the input. I guess I'm doing it right enough to be ok. 

 

Jesse