US Brig Syren 1803 by Overworked724 – Model Shipways – Scale 1:64

[CPDDET]

Glad to hear all is well, except for a few minor flaws. I'm sure you're pleased to be up and running again. 

Dave

[Overworked724]

Man…I really don’t like the way the copper patina ended up after a year in storage. I’m seriously considering ripping off the copper plating and committing to a full redo. 
 

[CPDDET]

That's quite a statement. You may want to sleep on it. Can the copper be cleaned? Would you consider applying Renaissance Wax and leaving it bright after cleaning? Or cleaning and then using a different method to "age" it? Just wondering what options you have available. 

[Tim Murphy]

Your copper hull looks fine. Do not destroy all that hard work.

I volunteer at the Navy Yard in Charlestown. I have seen the coppering of Constitution up closed. Do you know the size of a coppering nail? I looks like a 

furniture tack. The smaller the head the better the job. If your twenty feet away from 

the hull and you look at the hull it’s hard to see the nail heads.

Work on the upper parts of the model that will require a great of detailing.

If the upper part of the ship looks as good as the lower half you’re going to have a great model.

Also, how far are you from Tokyo? The Tokyo Rope club is a great group of Ship

Modellers. Try to contact them.

All my best

Tim Murphy

[Overworked724]

Thanks @CPDDET @Tim Murphy.  I'm still sleeping on it.  I decided to start with a redo of the hinges on the sweep port doors first.  Slowly eek my way in to modeling again...so I will save the decision on repeating the coppering for later.  It just looks dirty...no prints but there were some blemishes from the packaging that simply will not come out.  Not certain how to clean it without tearing the plates up.  However, those plates are stuck on beautifully...they just aren't beautiful copper anymore!

 

@Tim Murphy I actually know many folks from the Rope and recently (just a couple weeks ago) visited their 48th Boat show in Ginza district in Tokyo.  We live on the southern tip of Kyushu at present...so it's still a bit of a hike.

[CPDDET]

There is a product made by Flitz out of Wisconsin. Supposedly spray on and rince, no scrubbing needed.

I have a very badly oxidized brass kick plate on our front door that hasn't been cleaned in 15 years. So I'm going to try this stuff. Brasso had little to no effect.

I'll keep you posted.

[Overworked724]

10 hours ago, CPDDET said:

There is a product made by Flitz out of Wisconsin. Supposedly spray on and rince, no scrubbing needed.

 

I'll keep you posted.

@CPDDET Thanks, Dave. Let me know. I’m coming in June for family business and plan to present at the MMS meeting. Are you able to attend that one?

[CPDDET]

Planning on it if the creek don't rise and I'm still on the green side of the grass.

[Overworked724]

Just a quick update to keep my thread alive. Shipyard is repacked. Moving again for (hopefully) the last time. If anyone has kept count…this will be the fourth time in the last year we’ve moved!  But our new house and my future little shipyard is around the corner!

[Quimp Slattery]

On 4/25/2023 at 1:41 AM, Overworked724 said:

Man…I really don’t like the way the copper patina ended up after a year in storage. I’m seriously considering ripping off the copper plating and committing to a full redo. 

 

I believe that after a few months at sea copper plating turns green, brown, anything but 'copper' coloured. 😏

 

Good luck with your latest and perhaps last move. Four in a year is brutal, I've done three postings in the same period so I know. 🙂

[Overworked724]

Believe it or not…I had to repack and unpack the shipyard…sigh. We are finally in our newly acquired home in Kirishima. I can thankfully restart my hobby without fear of having to move again. (He said hopefully)

 

My next post will be a progress update with pics … so help me God!

[ccoyle]

Hi! I hope you have finally had a chance to settle in for good and make some progress on your model?

[Overworked724]

On 3/22/2024 at 7:57 AM, ccoyle said:

Hi! I hope you have finally had a chance to settle in for good and make some progress on your model?

We’ve been doing renovations on our house and I’ve been learning how to drive on the left side of the road!  But ship yard is together and I’m starting to eek back into my build!! 

[CPDDET]

Always look forward to seeing your progress.

[Overworked724]

Yeah…once I get back to Japan!  I’m all energized after Mannitowoc!!!

[Overworked724]

Ok…been so long, I can’t remember what the heck I was doing on the ship before I packed her up to move. So decided to attack the gun port hatches. 
 

Decided to try to make the little rings with a simple hook hanger. Made a little jig to make the hooks, and a ton of rings using annealed wire. 
 

Effect isn’t that bad…still have to put on the metal straps and hinges. Not certain if I’ll hang them…figuring I’ll get them all setup and the holes drilled then put them on later with the quarter galleries. (I don’t trust myself not to knock the bloody things off when I’m fiddling with the chain plates/etc.)

 

Pics below…cheapie 3 min bending jig for bending the wire to form the ring hooks. 😎

 

 

Moving on…

 

Edited August 8 by Overworked724

[CPDDET]

Nice to see you're back in the shipyard. Great little jig with good results.

[Overworked724]

The practicum wasn’t as visually descriptive on finishing and mounting the doors. So I thought I’d give my little contribution. 
 

Took the metal straps, painted them, then bent them at 60degree angle. Makes it easier to handle and glue on the little suckers. 
 

Putting them on the doors was pretty straightforward. The metal from the hook makes an easy marker so I could put them on consistently. 
 

You can see I also filed a small point in the tip of the metal straps. I figure it will make mounting them in the drilled holes on the window sills a bit easier. 

Here they are. Made a couple extra. The metal hinges (bits of wire) are next. But here is the current progress. 
 

Moving on…

[CPDDET]

CA glue? No worries about having the paint adhered to the wood?

Just curious, I'm always interested in the thought process and techniques of experienced builders.

[Overworked724]

33 minutes ago, CPDDET said:

CA glue? No worries about having the paint adhered to the wood?

Just curious…

Hey Dave…good question. A couple reasons. 1. Viscous CA was easy to manage with these ridiculously small bits. 2. The back of the doors won’t be seen by anyone so I was going for quick and easy. 3. It’s all I had at the moment and I didn’t want to wait for a trip to the Japanese hardware store. 4. I really needed to start getting some progress on the ship as well as do something to take my mind off the recent earthquake. (Yeah…we are on the southern tip of Japan.)

 

😎

[CPDDET]

Thanks for the details! Stay safe.

[Overworked724]

In other news...after really taking stock of the Syren...having lain fallow for 2 years...I am now more comfortable with the copper patina.  It actually aged pretty evenly (for my first try).  So, I won't redo it.  Decision made.

 

Second thing...those sweep doors with he wooden hinges I made did NOT travel well.  I need to redo the sweep doors after I'm done with the gun port doors.  But I won't be too sad about it...I was never really happy with he sweep doors anyway.  So I'll be redoing them.  Decision made.

 

And that frees up my mind a bit.  Part of my hesitation in jumping back on the Syren was the question of whether I would need to backtrack and redo some things...the answer is No and Yes.  So...progress and pics to come.

 

Moving on...

 

  

[CPDDET]

Decisions can sometimes be difficult and at other times quite easy. 

[Overworked724]

So...redoing the sweep port doors.  Thought I'd try to remove the hinges from the old doors and put on new hinges/hingpins.  Destroyed one of the doors during hinge removal, but no biggy.  The remaining 7 are in good shape.   The inboard sides are already painted red and are test fit to their respective doors in the plans...so it helps me save a bit of time.

The hinges had been painted black...but since I wanted to try to trim down the width where the simulated hinge pins will be located, I stripped them down and then used a rotary sander to thin the arms up a bit similar to how Chuck did in his practicum.  Sadly, I don't have the manual dexterity to get them down as thin as he did, but they looked better versus their shape before thinning (see bottom hinge in pic below).

Also, rather than painting, I decided to try using a blackening agent for the hinges and pins I will be making (both are brass). JAX blackener was cut 3:1 and it worked nicely.  Hinges turned out much cleaner looking.

I was struggling how to make the tiny (0.5mm x 1mm) simulated hinge pins reproducibly.  Finally decided to use a scrap piece of 1mm thick basswood I had in my wood bin...drilled out some holes, and mounted it on another piece of wood with some double sided tape.  I used an end nipper to clip the wire after I pressed it into the hole(s).  After filling the template, I sanded the exposed end...figuring having one polished/square end would help align the look on the hinges.  I pulled up the wood and the little hinge pins stayed stuck (mostly) to the tape.  Some blackener and the pins were done and fairly clean and consistent.

 

So...the end result should hopefully look something like this once put on the sweep port doors.

Not bad...fingers crossed.   Moving on...

 

Edited August 14 by Overworked724

[Overworked724]

Got sidetracked by my handy dandy cheapie block tumbler. I think everyone has one. It’s a plastic bottle with sandpaper inside…a metal spindle with wooden flaps (covered in sandpaper) goes inside with the blocks…attach spindle to drill…press ‘go’ on the drill and magically, about 5 min later, you have more eye pleasing and realistically weathered and rounded blocks. 
 

Only problem is the damn thing-jig-doodad never worked. I tried it on the 2mm blocks I plan to use on the carronades and the wooden flaps exploded. So…since my little shop is limited in space and tools…and I need it…I decided to modify it a bit to see if I can make it a bit more user friendly. 
 

More later…my hope is I can get this tool working a bit more efficiently without worry of wooden parts cracking off…I mean, come on!  What a crap design. 
 

[CPDDET]

I modified mine the same way as shown here. Great improvement in results.

 

[Overworked724]

Awesome post, Dave. So, in essence, I’m not the only one seeing the ridiculous design of this wood block ‘shredder’. 

After mucking around with my Model Expo cheapie block tumbler…I think I could probably make my own which would work 100x better. But for now, just trying to get that thing to work at all. 
 

So here is what I came up with using 180 grit paper. Works…it’s stable…no stress. The plastic wings flex nicely so you don’t end up crunching the blocks to smithereens.
 

Moving on….

 

 

Simple and easy to use. 

 

Edited August 18 by Overworked724

[CPDDET]

Seems that if the plastic is flexable enough it should work great.

 

I know I had instruction on modifying the sanding drum. I think it was published by Syren but I'll have to dig around, at times my organization skills are lacking.

[Gregory]

And...  The results are?😁

 

FWIW, Here's my version.

 

Edited August 18 by Gregory

[CPDDET]

 

This was my mod. 150 grit paper with 3 pieces glued to each of the 4 wood blocks. The triple sheets give the needed stiffness. Can't recall exactly where I got this idea, but it was a reliable source.

 

Edited August 18 by CPDDET
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