US Brig Syren by Jaggy - Model Shipways - 1:64

[rtropp]

your build looks very nice.  

I felt the same way about the basswood, soft and fuzzy.  The copper plates will hide much of it.  I switched to Boxwood after completing the hull and deck.  I wish I had switched sooner.

Richard

[Jaggy]

Sunday, busy Sunday...

 

Masking and painting.

 

Marking the waterline

 

Black on black...yeah, I could have been smarter, but I can see it, even if the camera does not. I wanted lots of black to cover any problem gaps in the copper, just in case. Probably silly, but oh well. Paint is cheap.

 

A little hello to the person who smashes the ship apart one day.

 

Sanding this down was no fun, I hated how it flexed. Ugh!

 

Paint is such wonderful stuff!

 

[mikiek]

Jaggy - is that the Golden Oak again on the bulwark exterior? I can't get over how nice that looks.

 

Richard - I couldn't agree more with you on the boxwood. I switched midstream on my Niagara. Looks better and works better. Oddly, I had just made a comment to that effect in my log, before jumping over here.

[Jaggy]

Yep, 2 more coats of Minwax golden oak (3 total). I have some replacement wood arriving tomorrow!

[mikiek]

Cool! - Hope you like it. It spoiled me very quickly. Now your kit wood can be used for experimenting.

[Jaggy]

Question for you all: what advice can you offer re: thinning down the interior bulwarks? I've spent quite a while at it tonight and have very little progress to show. Since the bulwarks rake in somewhat I cannot slide a sanding block along the lower edge, the deck surface gets in the way. I'm leery of trying to mow it all down with a Dremel lest I pick mark up the whole thing with irregularities. I've looked at a few of your build logs but it seems to be a topic that passes unremarked. How did all of you do yours? What did you sand with?

 

Thanks

 

James

Edited April 6, 2016 by Jaggy

[_SalD_]

James, here's a link that show what I used to sand the inboard and outboard bulwarks  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/8410-us-brig-syren-by-sald-–-model-shipways/?p=257875       it does take a bit of effort to get them down to their proper thickness.  

Edited April 6, 2016 by _SalD_

[mikiek]

Can your fingers reach it? Will plain old sandpaper work? I use Tamiya sanding sponges. They have grit from 180 to 1500. The sponge backing makes them a little less abrasive. Amazon has them and sometimes MegaHobby.

 

They are a little pricey, so I don't use them for everything. But they do have their place.

[Jaggy]

Thanks for the tips.   I've now sanded it down successfully:

 

 

[Jaggy]

More progress:

 

I found the carving tricky and had to make a few to get it right.   Having done so, and being very worries about the pressure of my clamps crushing it, I chose not to give it the camber of the deck.   

 

I think it looks okay, but now I'm second guessing that choice, I may rip it off and start over.

 

It's very red.

 

 

 

[mikiek]

Nice work!  I'm always complaining about that red as well - Niagara's trim has it. We're not building fire engines.

[Jaggy]

I redid the the trim piece, it now has the proper camber.

 

 

 

[Elijah]

Last night I learned why basswood is sometimes fuzzy. It is because the grain is delicate, and gets fuzzy when sanded against. I was wondering why my hull was fuzzy… now I know!

[mikiek]

Basswood is kind of famous for that. Even with the grain sometimes. I think some of it can be due to how well it is cut - or how poorly. Especially the thinner pieces. I've given up on it for most of the build.

 

Of course the response to that is - thousands of people have done thousands of gorgeous builds with basswood. So what is my problem?

[Jaggy]

Weekend progress: interior planking is under way.

 

 

[rtropp]

I felt the same way about the red.  I ended up mixing two badger marine colors to get a red that was a bit darker.

Richard

[mikiek]

Had a suggestion for red oxide - described as a brick or barn red. Probably, a more accurate color for the period.

[mrshanks]

When looking for that special red color used in period ships (i.e. red oxide), please consider the following paints:

 

Vallejo Acrylic - 985 - Hull Red (spec: FS30059 - RAL8017)

Tamiya Acrylic - XF-9 - Hull Red

Tamiya spray - TS-33 - Dull Red

 

These are all slightly different shades of this basic color.  Try it and see if you like any of them.  

[mikiek]

Mike thanks - I was trying to find the Tamiya version.

[Jaggy]

I thought it was supposed to be a bright red, to hide blood in battle. Surely the dark rust primers of 20th C warships are a new invention, why assume they belong here?

[mikiek]

The pigments to make bright red were not easy to come by. At least compared to others.

[jbshan]

The 'red paint hides blood in battle' thing probably belongs with the brass monkey ball losing thing.  They've redone Victory to a light off white as that's what they found deep below the red paint layers.

Pigments of the day were 'earth colors', ground up dirt mixed with oil (train or whale oil) and resin.  Blacks, dull reds and dull yellows predominated.  That's why barns and boxcars were dull reds, because it was cheap, dirt cheap if you will.

[Jaggy]

Ah, then perhaps this is the right shade:

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/HMS_Bounty_Crew_2.jpg/800px-HMS_Bounty_Crew_2.jpg

[jbshan]

Yes.  Compare the paint to the hats and tie the crew are wearing.

[mikiek]

I like that color!  Now you have me thinking about repainting the red on Niagara. I get some realism and it's a more pleasing color to my eye.

[Jaggy]

I've caved to peer pressure and tried out a new shade of red. It's still a bit wet in these images and I need to sand and apply another coat, but I think you will like the color now.

 

 

[Jaggy]

I have a question about what I'm doing next.

 

 

Chucks practicum instructs me to finish the stern rail and cap rail before doing the deck. I think I'd like to do the deck first, so I do not mar the rails which are going to be pretty soft (really not in love with basswood). Can any of you give me a solid reason not to do the deck next?

[Keith_W]

Just found your build - looks great! 

 

I can't think of a reason to do the rails before the deck. Have a good look at your plans and proceed. 

 

PS: love the Buddy Bradley avatar! Looks as if i'm not the only Peter Bagge fan around here! 

[mikiek]

I Like your red. Have same ordered and will probably redo my red as well.

 

I have not seen Chuck's plans - do you build the on the bulwarks (on the hull)  or do you build the deck outside the hull and then glue it to the bulwarks? I did the rails as the very last task for the bulwark sides. Figured it might give me a slight bit more room to move around and they wouldn't get beat up.

[Jaggy]

I used US Navy Norfolk Red 65A from White Ensign. I wish I had used a primer first, and responded before applying the color. As it is, I will res and tonight and apply another coat instead.