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

[WalrusGuy]

Wow!!! It looks perfect to me, Robin! 

 

I also need to do homework on what it's used for, I thought it was just used for decorative purposes 😅

[Gahm]

In my opinion this is one of the most difficult parts of the Syren build, and you did a beautiful job!

 

Thomas

[Overworked724]

Really love how crisp your planked transom turned out. Very clean!  Think I’ll take your example and attempt to plank mine as well. It looks much more authentic. A lot of the builds that follow this look so much warmer than the preformed transom piece. 

[WalrusGuy]

1 hour ago, Overworked724 said:

Really love how crisp your planked transom turned out. Very clean!  Think I’ll take your example and attempt to plank mine as well. It looks much more authentic. A lot of the builds that follow this look so much warmer than the preformed transom piece. 

I agree Patrick, wish I also planked mine as it looks detailed whereas the preformed one looks kinda flat. 

[NovaStorm]

11 hours ago, Overworked724 said:

Really love how crisp your planked transom turned out. Very clean!  Think I’ll take your example and attempt to plank mine as well. It looks much more authentic.

When I saw Thomas's build I knew it was the way to go. The kit parts looked to much like sticking plywood onto the transom.   

The Admiral and I have escaped to Newfoundland for a couple of weeks R&R. I won't be working in the dockyard but watching out for moose. 

A couple pics from the rock!

 

[WalrusGuy]

On 3/21/2020 at 2:08 PM, NovaStorm said:

Time to start thinking about blackening brass parts, eye bolts, photo etched hinges etc. Got some brass on order to make the mounts for the carronades. Did up my first breach ring as a test. Used silver solder which might have been a mistake as I forgot to test if the casey brass black would blacken it and it does not! fortunately I got next to no run off so I can fix up the one. The 50/50 seems to blacken but I will do some more tests. Got a new toy the dremel vasaflame for soldering. I will have play with it a bit to get the hang of it. Darn thing gets hot fast and will melt small brass parts quickly lol.

Before blackening the brass the parts were first cleaned using Sparex no2 which was mixed with water into a warming pot bought from the second hand store. After 1.5 hrs they came out nice and shinny and were then placed into straight Birchwood Casey's Brass Black for all of 7 seconds. I used a bit of cheese cloth over the opening to drain off the casey's into a spare container so the cloth would catch any parts. This worked really well and the caseys was saved for the next time I would use it. The brass turns the Casey's a dark blue. After removing the parts it will clear again after sitting for a while. I have used the same little bit of Caseys several times now. You only need a small amount depending on the size of the pieces you are doing. This is my first time using Brass Black so your results may be better or worse but I found it worked quite well. I tried doing a bunch of little parts without acid washing them in the Sparex and they came out just fine to.
First pic the parts have come out of the Sparex cleaner and been rinsed off before going into the Caseys.

Second & third pic: after 7 seconds the Caseys was drained off into a second container and the blackened parts were rinsed off.

My new toy 306.23 kB · 0 downloads

First attempt at a carronade breach ring

 

I'm fairly happy with the results so far. It is my first time for a lot of this stuff. Happy to be at a point in the build where I can finally start adding some details.

 

This will be my last update for a little while. As I have finally managed to bring the log to the point where I now stand in the build. I expect to working a little slower now also because I am managing a very large group of mostly seniors and people at risk some in isolation though the present crisis going on in the world. As a result I haven't touched the ship in the last couple of weeks but will try and get my heart back in it and get going again. 

 

Last few pics, I started in on the outboard hull details, gunport lower covers, sweep port covers and the port fore and aft covers with hinges. Boarding ladder is installed and the bumpers and chesstree. Thanks to all of you who have come on board and left comments or likes, it really helped spur me on to getting this posted up here.

Stay safe all ~ Regards, Robin aka Nova

 

Hey Robin, I have reached the stage of blackening the brass parts. Was just wondering, did you blacken all the parts on the photo etched sheet (apart from the SYREN name)? Did you also blacken the belaying pins? Also, do you think I can use either nail polish remover or vinegar to clean the parts? 

 

Lastly, I'm having a bit of difficulty removing the parts from the sheet. Did you just use a hobby knife for this? 

 

Thanks!! 

[NovaStorm]

10 hours ago, WalrusGuy said:

Hey Robin, I have reached the stage of blackening the brass parts. Was just wondering, did you blacken all the parts on the photo etched sheet (apart from the SYREN name)? Did you also blacken the belaying pins? Also, do you think I can use either nail polish remover or vinegar to clean the parts? 

 

Lastly, I'm having a bit of difficulty removing the parts from the sheet. Did you just use a hobby knife for this? 

Hi sorry for the late response I am still away on holiday I blackened all the photo etched parts except the Syren letters, I also blackened the belaying pins using Casey's Brass Black. For these smaller parts you can probably get away without cleaning them, I tried both ways and as long as you don't overly handle them they should blacken fine. Smaller parts blacken easily as it tends to react with them quicker. You can reuse the blackening solution. I used it straight up. It will turn blue when you use it and remain blue for a while after you remove the items. Let it sit and it will clear off and can be used again. I think it takes longer with an older used solution to work so it may wear down a bit with usage.

Nail polish or vinegar should help in cleaning but as I said you can try it without on the very small parts I had no issues.

I used these by Tamiya to remove the parts, but if you have some good sewing, fly tying or maybe nail scissors they should work ok to. Probably better than a #11.  Hope this helps.

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks so much Robin!! This is my first time using brass parts so I had a bunch of questions 😁. Thanks again for the detailed response! 

[NovaStorm]

Little update since coming back from holiday. Added the swivel brackets for the carronades and then started adding lots of inboard bulwark details, pin rails, eye bolts and cleats. Used 1/16 pear for the pin rails then sanded it thinner toward in the outer edge, used cut off nails to pin everything for strength ... There are six pin rails per side.

Some picks

 

[NovaStorm]

Rigging carronades with the nylon rope that comes with the kit is not a lot of fun   So I took my worst carronade and sled to work with as a prototype. Working with the nylon took a lot of trial and error, trying to make rope coils proved fruitless for the first while. After trying several jigs I had seen with no success, because the nylon was just to springy. I sleep on it and the next day got surprising results with a quick easy jig I made up. Here are a couple of pics showing the jig and my initial coils. I think the coils are maybe to large so I will try making them a little smaller. Your opinion would be appreciated!

 

Two circles of thin plastic were cut out and a hole poked through the centers for a spindle. The rope starts out by being poked just through the opening of the hole in the first piece of plastic then the pin or tooth pic is inserted to hold the rope tight and in position. I then ran a bead of Fray Stop ( fabric store ) down the rope and put the second piece of plastic on and snugged it up on the rope. Now by just turning the tooth pic or pin the rope would wind around making a coil with out springing away and the fray stop actually glues it enough to prevent it from springing when removed. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Retired guy]

Hi Robin like the jig you made up for the rope coil, but just wondering if it would be better to get some nice looking rope instead of the nylon stuff which comes with the kit 🤔

Also what length are your belaying pins? kit supplied on mine comes with white metal and I want to buy some brass ones.

 

Regards

Richard

[NovaStorm]

2 hours ago, Retired guy said:

Hi Robin like the jig you made up for the rope coil, but just wondering if it would be better to get some nice looking rope instead of the nylon stuff which comes with the kit 🤔

Also what length are your belaying pins? kit supplied on mine comes with white metal and I want to buy some brass ones.

 

Regards

Richard

Hi Richard, I should have just bought the plans and gone scratch. At this point I am wondering if I can justify purchasing rope, since to date I haven't used any of the kit lumber. Even the hull planking I used leftovers from my Bluenose 😉 Decisions,  decisions. The nylon is almost useless to work with. I will consider purchasing rope for all the running rigging and use the kit standing.

 

My bluenose kit came with the same brass belaying pins as The Syren kit uses. Link: Here  they are 8mm and also available in 20 packs. MS now has a much better supply of belaying pins available though so look through all they carry, they now have some good looking boxwood & pear ones available in several sizes that look interesting.  Cheers  

[WalrusGuy]

On 8/3/2020 at 4:02 PM, NovaStorm said:

Little update since coming back from holiday. Added the swivel brackets for the carronades and then started adding lots of inboard bulwark details, pin rails, eye bolts and cleats. Used 1/16 pear for the pin rails then sanded it thinner toward in the outer edge, used cut off nails to pin everything for strength ... There are six pin rails per side.

Some picks

 

If it wasn't for this I would have missed the first pin rail closest to the bow, completely missed that on the plans 😅

 

Btw, did you glue the belaying pins or were they just dry fitted? 

 

Also the carronade looks really good! I wish the kit provided the guns you used. The ones they have are very skinny and not true to the plans. 

[Gahm]

You have done such a beautiful job with your Syren so far that you would be far better off using some good looking rope (see for example Chuck's Syren shop) instead of the kit provided nylon stuff. Most of the kit material I just use for prototyping 🙂 (and that even included the bass wood - for planking I bought new bass wood strips which I carefully selected for grain and coloration). In my opinion the main investment is not so much the money we have to spend now and again for good material but rather the time we invest in our models. 

 

Thomas

[NovaStorm]

8 hours ago, WalrusGuy said:

Btw, did you glue the belaying pins or were they just dry fitted?

I dry fitted the belaying pins because I learned a little trick while doing my Bluenose. Drill the holes so you can slip the rope in through it followed by the pin and have it hold tight.  When rigging feed the rope in through the top of the hole pull it out through the bottom and snug it up. The pin is now pushed in tight and holds the rope in position. You can continue doing the same as you rig without gluing the lines until you are satisfied with the layout and tension. If one gets a little loose or to tight simply lift the pin, pull or loosen the tension and reinsert the pin. Once you have a bunch and are satisfied you can add some glue to finish, snip off the extra and add any rope coils you want over the pins. Hope this helps bud, others may wish to add there methods but this one worked very well for me.  

 

1 hour ago, Gahm said:

You have done such a beautiful job with your Syren so far that you would be far better off using some good looking rope (see for example Chuck's Syren shop) instead of the kit provided nylon stuff. Most of the kit material I just use for prototyping 🙂 (and that even included the bass wood - for planking I bought new bass wood strips which I carefully selected for grain and coloration). In my opinion the main investment is not so much the money we have to spend now and again for good material but rather the time we invest in our models. 

 

Thomas

  I know Thomas and totally agree. I am going to bite the bullet I just have to decide if I want to make my own by purchasing a ropewalk (which I don't see listed on Chucks site anymore) or go with pre-made or both lol. Decisions decisions. 

Thanks for the kick bud I need one every now and then ~ 

[NovaStorm]

Having tried the kit supplied nylon rope I made the decision to purchase rope from Chucks, Syren Ship Model Company  Model Expo has a limited supply of rope for there kits so the supplied rope does not always fit to scale. I knew I had seen the info somewhere so after much searching with out luck through Dubz's Syren log, I was able to finally find the info which I had saved to my comp months earlier. Here is a reprint of what is required to fit the ship with the recommended rope sizes, posted by Chuck. I will reprint that info here for anyone looking for that information. 

 

whenever you see .021 listed in the instructions this should be changed to .025

 

whenever you see .028 it should be bumped to .035

 

Changes are as follows and only with standing rigging.  The running rigging is fine.  I went through the instructions and found what needs to be changed so you can upgrade your rope.

 

Breech line for guns - .025 tan

 

Standing Rigging Changes

 

Lower Shrouds .035

Topmast shrouds .025

lower pendants .025

Lower stays .045

lower preventer stays - .035

Futtock shrouds .025

Topmast stays .035

Topmast preventer stays .025

 

Here is what you would need to buy to rig your model if you decide to get it from Syren Ship Model Company.

 

Black or Brown standing rigging

 

.045 - 1 pack

.035 - 2 packs

.025 - 3 packs

.018 - 3 packs

.012 - 1 pack

.008 - 7 packs 

 

Tan running rigging

 

.062 anchor 1 pack

.025 - 2 packs

,008 - 12 packs

.018 - 2 packs

.012 - 4 packs

 

 

[Justin P.]

2 hours ago, NovaStorm said:

Having tried the kit supplied nylon rope I made the decision to purchase rope from Chucks, Syren Ship Model Company  Model Expo has a limited supply of rope for there kits so the supplied rope does not always fit to scale. I knew I had seen the info somewhere so after much searching with out luck through Dubz's Syren log, I was able to finally find the info which I had saved to my comp months earlier. Here is a reprint of what is required to fit the ship with the recommended rope sizes, posted by Chuck. I will reprint that info here for anyone looking for that information. 

 

 

Fantastic re-post of great info.   Thanks!  Also, Ive been away for a bit, but your progress is wonderful.  I love the details you are putting in. 

[NovaStorm]

26 minutes ago, Justin P. said:

Fantastic re-post of great info.   Thanks!  Also, Ive been away for a bit, but your progress is wonderful.  I love the details you are putting in. 

Thanks Justin, glad to see you are getting back to working on your Syren also. Cheers ~

[abelson]

On 8/25/2020 at 8:22 AM, NovaStorm said:

Having tried the kit supplied nylon rope I made the decision to purchase rope from Chucks, Syren Ship Model Company  Model Expo has a limited supply of rope for there kits so the supplied rope does not always fit to scale. I knew I had seen the info somewhere so after much searching with out luck through Dubz's Syren log, I was able to finally find the info which I had saved to my comp months earlier. Here is a reprint of what is required to fit the ship with the recommended rope sizes, posted by Chuck. I will reprint that info here for anyone looking for that information. 

 

whenever you see .021 listed in the instructions this should be changed to .025

 

whenever you see .028 it should be bumped to .035

 

Changes are as follows and only with standing rigging.  The running rigging is fine.  I went through the instructions and found what needs to be changed so you can upgrade your rope.

 

Breech line for guns - .025 tan

 

Standing Rigging Changes

 

Lower Shrouds .035

Topmast shrouds .025

lower pendants .025

Lower stays .045

lower preventer stays - .035

Futtock shrouds .025

Topmast stays .035

Topmast preventer stays .025

 

Here is what you would need to buy to rig your model if you decide to get it from Syren Ship Model Company.

 

Black or Brown standing rigging

 

.045 - 1 pack

.035 - 2 packs

.025 - 3 packs

.018 - 3 packs

.012 - 1 pack

.008 - 7 packs 

 

Tan running rigging

 

.062 anchor 1 pack

.025 - 2 packs

,008 - 12 packs

.018 - 2 packs

.012 - 4 packs

 

 

This is good info, thanks for posting. It would be a significant investment in rope. I'm at the carronade rigging stage, but have not yet begun. I want to experiment with the kit supplied nylon line before considering Syren rope. BTY, the ship is looking good - nice sharp detail.

[mtbediz]

What a wonderful job you are doing Robin. Congratulations.

[NovaStorm]

5 hours ago, mtbediz said:

What a wonderful job you are doing Robin. Congratulations.

Mustafa, thank you my friend. It is good to hear from you, take care and be safe  

 

On 8/27/2020 at 12:20 PM, abelson said:

This is good info, thanks for posting. It would be a significant investment in rope. I'm at the carronade rigging stage, but have not yet begun. I want to experiment with the kit supplied nylon line before considering Syren rope. BTY, the ship is looking good - nice sharp detail.

Thank you Steven ~ Hope this helps with you wit yours.

[NovaStorm]

Rigged my test carronade using rope purchased from Chuck. What a difference to work with some quality rope over the kit material. Night and Day. 

Couple pics again using my worst carronade and sled, which has taken a beating from all my experimenting.

 

Breach ropes, this time I have not draped the rope down to the deck surface. It looked to long to me, I did that with the kit material in the earlier post.  I think it looks the right length now for it's purpose.  I'm thinking of going a little smaller on the rope coils to. They are not glued at all, the coil is being held together with fray stop.  

 

If you look at the natural drape of the breach line it just shows how nice Chucks rope is! Try doing that with kit material.   

 

Oops another one of those newbie mistakes! I need to drop the breach line down one eyebolt and put the lower block up! Ahh the advantages of doing a test run  

 

[NovaStorm]

Ok here is the correct or rather corrected positions of the breach line and tackle. 

 

 

[Gahm]

Your carronade looks very good! And I agree, the Syren rope makes a big difference in the overall appearance.

 

Thomas

[NovaStorm]

27 minutes ago, Gahm said:

Your carronade looks very good! And I agree, the Syren rope makes a big difference in the overall appearance

Thomas your to kind and I thank you for giving me that kick in the back side. It encouraged me to replace the kit rope and I am sure glad of that. The carronades have been a bit of a struggle to sort out, my eyes are not what they use to be and I keep making silly mistakes. I will get though it eventually  

[mtbediz]

Your carronade looks very nice and realistic Robin. 

[NovaStorm]

Thank for all for your encouraging comments and likes. All helps to keep the juices flowing  

Almost have the breach lines on the carronades completed on the starboard side. I decided to go with a simple eye splice around the ring then seized with silk thread.

 

 

[Overworked724]

Fantastic, Robin.  I also purchased Chuck's rope - having experience with it from the Syren, I simply couldn't fathom using the nylon stuff.  It really does make a huge difference.  Looking beautiful!

[WalrusGuy]

It's looking great Robin!! 

Did you glue the carronades onto the deck? Or will you do this as you install the tackles? 

[NovaStorm]

20 hours ago, Overworked724 said:

Fantastic, Robin.  I also purchased Chuck's rope - having experience with it from the Syren, I simply couldn't fathom using the nylon stuff.  It really does make a huge difference.  Looking beautiful!

Thanks Patrick, I can't imagine fighting with the nylon rope after using Chucks. I probably would have given up!

 

5 hours ago, WalrusGuy said:

It's looking great Robin!! 

Did you glue the carronades onto the deck? Or will you do this as you install the tackles? 

Haven't glued the carronades or eye bolts yet.  But I probably will now that the breach lines are done and then install the tackles. My deck seems a to be a little bit narrower then the plans show with the guns in position, so I want to make sure that won't cause any issues before I commit   Thanks for looking I really like the job you did on your breach lines they look fantastic. I chose to go with the simpler eye around the ring because it was easier on my eyes. I've got cataracts and glaucoma and my specialist appointment was cancelled due to covid so I am trying to keep eye strain to a minimum. Not easy at this scale eh but is what it is... 

 

Couple more pics, Cheers ~

 

The carronades are not dead center in the port openings. For my first time doing them and using caulder craft guns instead of the kit supplied I can live with it. ~