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

[abelson]

 My approach was to cut the joggle in a plank,  trace the shape onto the margin plank, notch out the shape with an x-acto knife, and file the notch to get a relatively clean edge. I used the first joggled plank as a template for planks 6, 7 and 8. Thereafter, the diagonal part of each joggle gets longer as you work aft along the margin plank, so each joggle will be different. I rather enjoyed this part of the build. I think once you get into it you'll enjoy it too.

[Overworked724]

A joggling I will go...

 

[Overworked724]

A joggling I won’t go....a joggling I won’t go. 😣 

[WalrusGuy]

Peter, if you have not glued the margin planks, I'd say you should try it out. From your build so far, you definitely have the skills. I was feeling iffy to attempt it on my model, and was glad I tried it out. It turned out ok, but was really fun to do it. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, so it was both thrilling and satisfying. Kind of like watching a good thriller movie 😁

 

Only reason I say if it's not glued is cuz you can replace it with another if you make a mistake. I did not glue it on mine for this reason, up until all the locations were joggled 

 

Here is where I started the joggling: 

 

Edited January 12, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[WalrusGuy]

I should mention, replacing the joggled margin plank might be harder since you'll need to redo all the previous notches. So it's your call! From what I can tell, it'll turn out spectacular either way!! 

[Overworked724]

Well....that’s the problem. I joggled 3 planks on either side a bit and I was doing pretty good, but my margin plank was glued in. Lesson learned. It was at joggle #4 that I noticed the spacing on either side was off. I think when I glued in my margin I had created a slight shift in alignment. If the margin isn’t symmetrical on both sides, the joggling is asymmetrical...something I was NOT really aware of. Again, some good experience and useful for next build. 
 

Honestly, I could rip it all off and start over, but I’m so close to done, I’m curious to know what it will turn out like. 😊

[Redshadowrider]

Between changing the carronades, the sculpty, and not joggling  the planking,  you sure keep me thinking. 😊. I may not go the same direction, but it does keeps me considering other ways to build.  On the 3D products, like the carronades, I have had some experience with them too.  I tried a 3D printed headset for one of my scale pilots in one of my planes.  It was so brittle that it broke into pieces just in assembly after painting.  You ship is looking great and I am wishing mine could be as clean looking.  Although, I am leaving some minor clean up until later.  Next step for me is the thinning of the bulwarks and onto the decking.

Edited January 23, 2021 by Redshadowrider

[Overworked724]

Still plodding along. Taking my time on the deck due to work conflicts but making steady progress. Thinking ahead to the haws holes and prepping the rudder pintles and gudgeons before I jump into coppering. 
 

Also thinking into how I want to make the carronade blocks which hold up the carronade. Those little laser cut pieces are not homogeneous...I think I can do better. 

[Overworked724]

9 hours ago, Redshadowrider said:

 You ship is looking great and I am wishing mine could be as clean looking. 

Your build is looking fantastic!   I find myself sometimes comparing my work to other builders whose work I could only dream of...it doesn’t stop me from loving this hobby or the modelers on this site!  Everyone is so supportive and the feedback always positive and constructive. It’s the community of builders who will always help you progress...and put wind in your sails with a kind word!  👍🏽 I think you are doing great. 

[CPDDET]

Couldn't agree with you more, Pat.

 

I've learned so much from the other model shipwrights on this site, both from their successes and their mistakes. Knowing I will always find acceptance, help and support enables me to post my failures. And, hopefully, my successes will help others along their journey.

 

Life has taught me there will always be others who are more gifted, or more experienced than myself. But that doesn't mean I'm not making my best effort. If anything, their accomplishments challenge and inspire me. 

 

Carry on, mates!

 

[Overworked724]

Thought I’d post the obvious thing. Nibbing and joggling is actually pretty fun if you have a good method. But the two sides are only as good as the symmetrical alignment of your margin plank. Which is why I decided to stop after 3 joggles. I knew I couldn’t keep the port and starboard sides evenly aligned as I proceeded down the margin plank. Next time I do this I won’t be so nervous...but I will take additional care in laying down the margin. 
 

But...it’s not to say I didn’t learn something. I got a good reference from a shipmate...so here’s how I attacked the whole process. 
 

1. Made a stencil using 2 planks. Trimmed down one edge to a needle point and glued them together. This allows to slide one edge as close as possible to the edge of the margin to be cut. Made one for port and one for starboard. 
 

 

 

2. Make but don’t glue the two planks adjacent to the joggle to be cut. It will ensure when you cut your joggle you won’t end up bruising/cutting the adjacent plank. Slide the template up against the unglued plank until it meets the edge of the margin. The proud side of the template will slide over the margin Where it meets and will form a squared edge. Trace the top and side of the edge with a sharp pencil. 
 

 

3. Remove the stencil and the unglued adjacent planks. Then mark the exact center of the top line. This is the 1/2 plank width.

 

 

4. Using a square Exacto chisel blade, slowly cut from the 1/2 plank mark to the bottom edge of the stencil mark.  After the cut, simply use a fine eraser to remove the pencil lines.
 

 

5. Cut/sand the top end of the plank (nibbing) to fit the joggled cut. 
 

 

So...it’s a bit easier than I’d thought. But my margin plank kind of screwed me. If I were retired and could spend more time, I’d have gone back and repeated the margin..but as I want to build my ship (it’s my release) I’m not really looking for perfection. I can keep the lesson learned in a box in my head and can use this for my next build. 
 

Moving on...slowly. 
 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Overworked724

[CPDDET]

Lesson learned and moving on, I like that!

[Justin P.]

Very clean!   I wish mine came out like that.   Seems like no matter how hard I try I can never get my cuts or joins that clean!    You've got it!

[Overworked724]

1 hour ago, Justin P. said:

Very clean!   I wish mine came out like that.   Seems like no matter how hard I try I can never get my cuts or joins that clean!    You've got it!

 

Wish I could say I did....stopped after 3 joggles.  But I get the process and the limitations in setting the margin unevenly...bad medicine!  LOL

[Overworked724]

Well...my deck planking will be done this weekend.  Thank GOD!!!  Work and family stuff really got in the way these past couple months...and work is stressing me out so bad I’m taking muscle relaxants prescribed by my doc! 😴. But these days, every day is something new, but yesterday my shipyard had 4 new LED spots installed!  Oooooh...yeeeeah!!!  Light!!! 😎

 

Pics of my imperfect yet completed deck planking to come. 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Overworked724

[Overworked724]

My extremely slow motion build continues!  I've learned a lot about wood, using a table saw, margin planks, nibbing/joggling, and beer - since I started this portion of the build on New Year's Day.

 

Wood:  I had originally cut Castello boxwood planks for the deck (and had made the faux deck from this) as it was clean and uniform.  However, a buddy had offered to sell me some old boxwood he had in stock.  He had some aged English boxwood which had been sitting in his basement for 16 years and I could not help but mill it and use it for the deck.  It has some figuring, but the warm yellowish tinge is beautiful.  The problem was that I failed to consider the fact I had no way to mill pieces wider than 1/8" (which I found I needed when planking near the bulkheads).  So I ended up having to use the same Castello boxwood I used for the margin planks for these last couple of planks near the bulkhead...no biggy, but it does stick out to my eye.  I hope when I stain/tung oil that the different woods don't contrast too harshly.

 

 

Margin plank:  The symmetry and alignment of the margin plank in relation to the center line is critical  to ensuring the joggling pattern is symmetrical (aligned bow to stern) as you joggle/nib port and starboard.  Mine was not...whether this is due to asymmetry in the bulkheads between each side, or whether the margin was slightly thicker on one side vs. the other...the fact was I could see after I completed my third joggle that the two sides were started to drift...had I continued, the joggling would not have been even (aligned) between the two sides and it would have driven me crazy.  The pic above shows the disparity between the two sides - the last plank at the bulkheads was 4mm thick on starboard, and 5.5m on the port side...so you can imagine the joggle 'creep' as the joggling progressed down the margin plank.  My solution was a (nautically inaccurate) compromise...I simply stopped after 3 joggles on both sides and shaped the remaining planks to fit against the margin plank - which is not easy.  It's funny - I started this part of the build terrified of cutting the margin and messing up - and the procedure I described in the earlier post really gave me confidence...good procedures instill a sure hand - but in the end, I found my joggling curtailed by my lack of symmetry of my margin...live and learn.  The same reasons I stopped joggling the bow were why I avoided joggling the stern portion of the margin.  Pic below...

 

 

I still have sanding and trunneling to do before I can put on a layer of tung oil...and that will take some time. Here are the remaining pics of the deck, such as it is - unfinished, but not a bad result. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now I have some considerations.  The waterway is easy - but I think I might want to drill in the haws holes for the anchor cables before I do that...but I have not seen any real good descriptions on how those are done - even in the practicum.  I've looked on other ship blogs but no one really goes in detail.  If I can't find a reference - I'm problem solving again.  Waterways themselves are easy - and I already have the boxwood strips ready for install - but I want to make sure I don't make things hard on myself later....

 

While I'm doing work on the trunnels/sanding the deck, I will start banging out my copper plates and thinking about how to attack my pintles and gudgeons.  I might also start finishing up the basic work on the carronade sleds to get them ready.  

 

So...that's my update!  Moving on.....

 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Overworked724

[Keithbrad80]

Very nice work so far! 
 

For the hawse holes; I measure out my spot for the center of the hole and use a center punch to leave a small indentation where the drill bit will sit. Drilling the hole isn’t hard but measuring the angle might be, your plans should make a reference to the angle in which your hawse holes are drilled. I start with a small drill bit and drill by hand and very slowly, making my way to a size just under the final dimension of the hole. I then use a circular metal file to file the hole to the correct circumference. Hope that helps a little bit!

 

Bradley

[CPDDET]

Looking very nice, Patrick.

[Overworked724]

A-trunneling I will go....A-trunneling I will go...🎶

[CPDDET]

🤣

[Overworked724]

Trunnel holes drilled....

 

 

And trunnels in...letting glue set. 👍🏽 
 

 

Haircut, sanding, staining a bit later. 
 

Moving on.......

[Overworked724]

I’m seriously thinking of getting the hawseholes drilled before setting in the waterways. Doing it after working on deck fittings and stem details seems like it would create a bit too much pressure for me.  So I’ll plan for them after I’ve trimmed and sanded the deck trunnels. 

[Justin P.]

1 hour ago, Overworked724 said:

I’m seriously thinking of getting the hawseholes drilled before setting in the waterways.

Reading this is giving me an anxiety attack.   I should have done this too...    

[Red Rhino]

Patrick: Your Syren is looking superb! You mentioned you got some new LED spots for you workshop. What style or brand did you get? I need to improve my lighting as well.

 

Dave

[Overworked724]

51 minutes ago, Red Rhino said:

Patrick: Your Syren is looking superb! You mentioned you got some new LED spots for you workshop. What style or brand did you get? I need to improve my lighting as well.

 

Dave

Got 4 of them put in the ceiling attached to a dimmer switch. My shipyard literally shines like the sun now...these were installed by a friend who is an electrician. Great lights.  3 different light quality selections!
 

[CPDDET]

Lighting is often overlooked, especially by newbies like me. But it's very important.

 

Congrats on your new lighting!

[Overworked724]

Waterways...was a bugbear for me on the Sultana since I couldn’t figure out how to make them. Well, I’ve seen a couple folks show their method (kind of)...and frankly, I didn’t want to over think this on the Syren this time. So here is my method...and it works for me, and very very simple. 
 

The waterway strips are 1/16” square. I cut about 6 of them (24” long) from boxwood so I would have spares...and just for giggles.

 

I made a simple jig using some 1/8” copper rods (6” long sections) ... but 1/8” wooden dowels would work just fine, too. Then I used some CA gel to attach them to a support base (1/8” basswood scrap about 8” x 2”).  Then I bordered both sides of the copper rods with 1/8” square basswood dowels...since sanding will stress the glue joint and I wasn’t sure how much I could trust a metal-wood CA joint. 
 

Here is the jig...

 

 

 

Here is the jig with a square dowel sitting in the seam between the two rods...

 

 

And then I simply used a 180gr emery board to shave off the exposed 1/2 of the square dowel. 
 

 

The dowel remains tightly locked I place and the sanding is easy. You can see by eye where you need to sand more...but you can’t over sand (provided your dowel is close to square). 
 

Ok...that’s how I’m making my waterways sections...which is like 90% of the challenge...trying to make a good triangular section can be a real head scratcher. 
 

Moving on... 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Overworked724

[CPDDET]

Ingenious!

[WalrusGuy]

That's an awesome jig! I'll make sure to remember that for next time

[Keithbrad80]

Your jig is awesome! What a simple but effective design. And your build up to this point is excellent, very nice work all around!

 

Bradley