US Brig Syren by WalrusGuy - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64 - Second wooden ship build

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks Hamilton! And thank you all for the likes! It is much appreciated!

 

Sanding of the lower port sills has been completed. This was all done by hand which was not easy to say the least, especially the inner section. Here is the result so far:

 

 

 

[WalrusGuy]

The gun port lintels were installed today.

 

To do this I first looked around the house for any objects that were 15/32" (0.469")  high. To my surprise I found an eraser with very close dimensions (just a bit thinner than what I needed), so I glued a piece of its wrapping onto it and got myself a spacer. If I were not to have found this I would have cut a piece of one of the strips provided in the kit.

After making two of these spacers, I cut the 1/4 x 3/16" strips and dry fitted them before gluing them. While gluing each piece, I used the same technique with the ruler (from my previous post) to make sure they were completely horizontal:

All the lintels were glued using this method and will be ready for sanding tomorrow:

 

 

[WalrusGuy]

The lintels were sanded today. I used a dremel to make things a bit easier and then finished by hand.

I am not 100% sure on how to sand the top side of the lintels since some bulkheads are very slightly angled causing the bulwark heights to be a bit different on each side. So I will leave this until later and will instead continue onto the green framing.

Edited April 9, 2020 by WalrusGuy

[NovaStorm]

Hi Wally it is looking really good. Don't sand the top of the lintels or the nubs that are sticking up above them. You may still need those spots for gluing planks and you won't really know until you plank both outboard up from the wale and inboard. They are just fine the way you have them for now. Your doing a great job! Cheers, Robin ~

[WalrusGuy]

1 hour ago, NovaStorm said:

Hi Wally it is looking really good. Don't sand the top of the lintels or the nubs that are sticking up above them. You may still need those spots for gluing planks and you won't really know until you plank both outboard up from the wale and inboard. They are just fine the way you have them for now. Your doing a great job! Cheers, Robin ~

Thanks Robin! I may have lightly sanded the tops before reading this 😅 but nothing major. The lintel shape looks unchanged from my last post.

[Overworked724]

Looking fantastic!

[WalrusGuy]

Almost finished Chapter 3. The green frames have been installed and are ready for sanding. 

To make sure the gunports are square to the bulkheads, two strips of wood were clamped as shown:

To line up the first two gunports with their respective angle, this eraser spacer was used which was approximately 15/32" wide:

Here is the result so far:

I'll post more photos once I finish sanding.

[WalrusGuy]

Sanding finished quicker than I had expected. I just hope I have not gone too far and made the bulwarks too thin...

[WalrusGuy]

The framing for the sweep ports have been installed and awaiting sanding which will then mark the end of Chapter 3.

 

I used one of the supplied 1/8 x 1/8 inch strips to act as spacers between the frames:

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by WalrusGuy

[NovaStorm]

You are really progressing along, keep up the good work The lines are looking good!

[WalrusGuy]

24 minutes ago, NovaStorm said:

You are really progressing along, keep up the good work The lines are looking good!

Thanks Robin! 

[Ronald-V]

Nice clean build and photo's to! You are doing a great job

 

[WalrusGuy]

Many thanks Mugje and thank you all for the likes. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter break!

 

I finished sanding of the sweep port frames, and with that, Chapter 3 is completed. Here are some photos:

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by WalrusGuy

[captainscott]

Looking good, nice work.

[WalrusGuy]

Started working on the stern framing today. I installed all the frames and will start sanding tomorrow. Here are some progress photos:

 

I taped a spacer between the first two frames to ensure they are parallel:

After the glue dried, I dropped one of the clamps on the framing and the starboard side frame cracked due to my clumsiness 😣

Fortunately nothing else was touched and was able to glue it back. Didn't want to take photos of the disaster but the rest of the photos were taken after I glued everything back.

 

I had to install the port sills lower than the laser scribed lines on the bulkhead due to the positioning of the canon on a 1/16" decking strip.

 

Some filler pieces were also installed:

 

 

[WalrusGuy]

Chapter 4 is almost completed. Today the stern was sanded and faired. Only the tricky part left, sanding the filler strips at the bottom.

 

[NovaStorm]

That looks great! Nice work your moving right along

[Voyageur]

Beautiful job so far! 

[Retired guy]

You got the shape looking very good 👍

 

Regards

Richard

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you all for the encouraging words and the likes!

 

I managed to also finish sanding the filler strips today. Wasn't as bad as I thought. I just needed to rest the hull upside down on a steady surface and sand away. I am thinking majority of sanding is finally done *phew* and can finally start the planking (seems very daunting...)

 

Still deciding whether or not to use wood filler in the small space between the filler strips. I am leaning on skipping it.

Also, the dark patch on the stern is just filler to correct the stern shape from a slightly off positioning of one of the frames. Forgot to mention this in my previous post.

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by WalrusGuy

[WalrusGuy]

Made a bit of progress today. The gun ports and sweep ports were painted. First a layer of primer was applied before two coats of red paint. The paint was purchased together with the kit from ModelExpo.

Getting more nervous about planking as I progress towards it... 

[Cathead]

One trick I've found very helpful personally, choose a "good" side for the model (the primary display side) and always do uncertain tasks on the other side first. For example, if you plan to display the port side, plank the starboard side first so any initial mistakes are less visible at the end. Same for anything else that has a "side".

[Voyageur]

22 minutes ago, Cathead said:

One trick I've found very helpful personally, choose a "good" side for the model (the primary display side) and always do uncertain tasks on the other side first. For example, if you plan to display the port side, plank the starboard side first so any initial mistakes are less visible at the end. Same for anything else that has a "side".

Excellent advice! I never thought of that.

[WalrusGuy]

6 hours ago, Cathead said:

One trick I've found very helpful personally, choose a "good" side for the model (the primary display side) and always do uncertain tasks on the other side first. For example, if you plan to display the port side, plank the starboard side first so any initial mistakes are less visible at the end. Same for anything else that has a "side".

Wow thanks for this! Will definitely be using this tip. 

 

Also I have a question before proceeding. I noticed some other modellers who installed sheaves in their models. Is this purely for aesthetic reasons? In the sheet eight plans they don't have any belaying notes corresponding to them. 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by WalrusGuy

[WalrusGuy]

After seeing JesseLee's build log, I realized the sheaves can be added just prior to the last plank being installed but I am still not sure what exactly they will be used for.

Again a bit of progress today, the battens were installed to mark the location of the first wale.

 
A relatively simple jig was also constructed for plank bending.

I had to change a bit of the curve at the bow so that one the end of the plank can be inserted easily into the rabbet at the stem. The test plank from the above photo kept slipping out from the slot due to its angle.

[Overworked724]

Great job on transom and sanding!  She’s looking extremely fine....hope I can come close to your work.  You are really taking great care and it shows!

[WalrusGuy]

6 hours ago, Overworked724 said:

Great job on transom and sanding!  She’s looking extremely fine....hope I can come close to your work.  You are really taking great care and it shows!

Thanks so much Pat! Your build is also coming along very nicely. Looking forward to see how she progresses! 

[WalrusGuy]

The upper wale was installed today. I started by first gluing the plank at the bow then working towards the stern as shown:

From most angles, both sides of the hull look completely symmetrical as shown here:

But when looking a lower angle, the plank in the starboard side looks every so slightly lower than the port side plank as shown below. Maybe I am nitpicking about this but really not sure if this would affect the planking above the upper wale.

I am now confused on whether I should fix this or leave it and see how the planking progresses. I should note, the distances from the top of each gun port lintel to the plank on both sides were measured and were consistent in both sides with differences less than 1 mm. So it is probably just the natural curvature of the wood causing the discrepancy. Any advice on how I should proceed with this is very much welcomed!

 

Anyhow, here are more photos of the completed install of the upper wale:

Edited April 18, 2020 by WalrusGuy

[NovaStorm]

5 hours ago, WalrusGuy said:

But when looking a lower angle, the plank in the starboard side looks every so slightly lower than the port side plank as shown below. Maybe I am nitpicking about this but really not sure if this would affect the planking above the upper wale.

Port side on the photo does not seem to be glued in yet and is sticking out a bit. Otherwise you look to be doing a great job! I would want it as even as possible starting out. Just remember you are your worst critic    Don't be afraid to take your time and not rush. Redo if you are not happy with what you are seeing otherwise it will bug you even more once you finish. Keep up the good work.

Edited April 18, 2020 by NovaStorm

[WalrusGuy]

9 hours ago, NovaStorm said:

Port side on the photo does not seem to be glued in yet and is sticking out a bit. Otherwise you look to be doing a great job! I would want it as even as possible starting out. Just remember you are your worst critic    Don't be afraid to take your time and not rush. Redo if you are not happy with what you are seeing otherwise it will bug you even more once you finish. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Robin! I know it would bug me in the future so I took apart the starboard strip at the bow and adjusted. Here is the result. I think this look much better and more symmetrical:

I'll now start to work on the planks above the upper wale, ie. the scary bit...

Edited April 18, 2020 by WalrusGuy