US Brig Syren by Hipexec - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:64 - building as USS Argus

[Nirvana]

Richard, that's awesome.

Did you get those plates etched?
Nice touch to the final ship?

[HIPEXEC]

4 minutes ago, Nirvana said:

Richard, that's awesome.

Did you get those plates etched?
Nice touch to the final ship?

 

4 minutes ago, Nirvana said:

Richard, that's awesome.

Did you get those plates etched?
Nice touch to the final ship?

I finally broke house arrest and got  brass plaques made to finally finish this build. Hallelujah! I plan on offering this ship to the Marine Corps Museum for display. How I'm going to get it there is another question.

 

A  local trophy shop made them.

[HIPEXEC]

The Marine Corps Museum in Quantico VA loved the display but its charter doesn't allow hand crafted gifts, so they suggested I ask the Marine Corps heritage Foundation, which I promptly did. Now I'm just waiting for a reply.

[HIPEXEC]

Display pic

[HIPEXEC]

The US Marine Corps decided to put my US Brig Argus on permanent display at Quantico Virginia!!!   UURRAHHH !

 

I'm having a custom crate built to pack the ship. I'll post photos when I finish showing the whole process. It's complicated.

[JesseLee]

Cool!

[Overworked724]

That is bloody awesome!!!  No greater end to a model story than to see one bringing honor and remembrance to our servicemen and women. 
 

Well done!!!!  God bless you, sir!  And thank you for your service!!!

 

(And um...ahem...Go USAF! 😎)

[HIPEXEC]

1 hour ago, Overworked724 said:

That is bloody awesome!!!  No greater end to a model story than to see one bringing honor and remembrance to our servicemen and women. 
 

Well done!!!!  God bless you, sir!  And thank you for your service!!!

 

(And um...ahem...Go USAF! 😎)

Thanks!

Thank you for your service! ✈️

[GuntherMT]

Cool Rich, I'm glad you found it such a great home!

[Nirvana]

What a treat for you!

100% bragging rights!

Congratulations!

[HIPEXEC]

Here's pics of the ship being crated and UPS shipped to Quantico! 

[Overworked724]

I truly hope they give you some great pics of it standing in it's final resting place!  

[GuntherMT]

Hope it makes it completely intact Rich!

[HIPEXEC]

 

 

The crate was opened and the ship is intact!!!! 

argus out of box.jfif

[GuntherMT]

Glad she made it intact Rich!

[HIPEXEC]

The USMC build this fabulous display case for my Argus! It'll be on display in Quantico VA .  (See pics below)

Edited January 13, 2021 by HIPEXEC
no pic

[HIPEXEC]

USMC Display case 2.jfif USMC display case 1.jfif

[HIPEXEC]

[HIPEXEC]

[GuntherMT]

Very nice Rich.  Is it in a classroom?  Reflection looks like a large room with a bunch of desks or something.

[HIPEXEC]

They tell me it's in a place where hundreds will pass by it.

[GuntherMT]

Would be cool if you got to go visit it in place!

[HIPEXEC]

17 hours ago, GuntherMT said:

Would be cool if you got to go visit it in place!

I will in the near future.

[GrandpaPhil]

Congratulations!  Well done!

[Daysail]

Good afternoon,

I have been reading with great interest Rich's outstanding log of his build of the US Brig Argus. I am contemplating building her so am looking at all who have preceded me to be sure I have the skills and patience to undertake such a project. 

 

The Argus is of great interest to me in that she was captained by an ancestor of my family when captured off England by the HMS Pelican. The oldest ship to serve during WWII DD 66, was named the USS Allan after Master Commandant William Henry Allan, the Argus's skipper. She was also at Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941---I am fortunate to be the current custodian of her wheel from the bridge as well as several other articles from the ship. I have made a model of the Allan as she was at Pearl. It would be fitting if I can successfully make the build of the Syren with the changes that make her into the Argus.

 

Thank you Rich and all the others that have posted information and suggestions on the "how" to build such a model---all your efforts will help mr decide whether to mve forward.

[TomShipModel]

Good afternoon,

 

I am currently building a 1:96 scale Argus.  Have you read the book about your ancestor?  It is a very good read, and I recommend it.  I was intending to use the Syren kit as a base for Argus, but having built a 1:64 Wasp, space dictated a smaller scale.  The other reason is that my comparison of the Argus lines with those of Syren show that they are very different.  If you are contemplating building Argus from the kit of the Syren, please reconsider.  While both were built about the same time, excepting that they are both brigs and similar overall dimensions, the hull form is very different.  The Argus was reputed to be a much better sailor than Syren.  She also had much less tumblehome than Syren (for example, her upper hull at midships is more vertical than Syren).

 

I am using plans by Howard Chappelle and a large-scale model of Argus that was the subject of an article in the Nautical Research Journal as a starting point.  The NRJ article includes a detailed listing of dimensions for masts and spars of Argus when she was inspected after her capture and a deck plan with deck furniture, pin rails etc.

 

While the Chappelle plans and that large model show a billet head, a merchant captains report to the captain of the Pelican noted that the brig had yellow sides and a bust for a figurehead.  The question is a bust of whom?  I know that a carving of the figurehead of Argus does exist, and I have seen it at the Naval Academy, but it has since been returned and I lost the photo that I had taken of it.

 

If you wish, I can provide a few more references to Argus.  I would be very interested in any information that you may have discovered.

 

Best to you,

 

Tom