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

[WalrusGuy]

I finished rigging one of the yards with the stirrups and footropes. For this I ended up using the rope, and the rope held its shape with diluted acrylic matt medium. Here are some pics:

Used wire to shape them while the matt medium dried:

As usual, any comments or suggestions are more than welcome! 🙂

Edited April 15, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[niwotwill]

Looks great I like the natural drooping hang on the foot ropes. The stirrups look fantastic.  The wire is a great idea to hold the shape while drying. 👋

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[desalgu]

Love your rope coils, and they go on the belay pins so much easier and hang naturally compared to what I did.  I was using a method from a book that wasn't very good or accurate, and of course, I struggled with it.  The coils were easier to make, but I could never get them to hang right.  Yours look so good, and good job matching the color.

 

I had the same problem taking pictures of rigging.  The tan lines don't show up well.  I still haven't taken a bunch of "good" pictures yet, because I'm trying to find a good place and I've been a bit lazy about it.  Plus I want to do focus stacking and that takes a bit of a setup and processing.  I have an off white wall I'm going to try, hoping the lighting will make it look a little gray and rigging will show up.

 

The blocks you are using are so much better than the ones in the kit.  I struggled with them, but got better as I went along.  Your's look great with the hooks and everything.  I'm surprised at how fast you're progressing, although once you get the hang of rigging, it goes faster than you expect. 

 

The foot ropes look great!  Real ropes instead of wire is a great look.  You're always going the extra mile, and it shows.  I'm so impressed with your ability to make the eyes, knots, and little details with rigging thread.  At my skill level, I was doing good to make foot ropes with wire.  Once all finished, they look fine, but yours look so much better in closeups!

 

You're getting close.  First couple of yards take some work, but it gets easier with repetition, and as you work up, they are a little simpler.

[WalrusGuy]

Many thanks for the nice words Will and David!!! Thanks all for the likes as well!

 

Progress unfortunately slowed down this week. It's the end of the semester so was busy with exams and reports. Most of the work is done so I got some time and got back to finish the foot ropes on all the yards. Here is a picture of where they are at

And here is the solution I used to make them. I just used a drop mixed with two drops of water then applied on the ropes

Next up I'll work on the boom irons that attach on the spars, then the blocks 

[BobG]

Wonderful work and a superb build log!

[niwotwill]

Again the foot ropes drape is great and thanks for the liquitex medium formula.

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[Justin P.]

Just catching up!  Everything looks really great, those yards especially.   

[WalrusGuy]

On 4/19/2021 at 10:03 AM, BobG said:

Wonderful work and a superb build log!

 

On 4/19/2021 at 5:18 PM, niwotwill said:

Again the foot ropes drape is great and thanks for the liquitex medium formula.

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

 

On 4/19/2021 at 5:32 PM, Justin P. said:

Just catching up!  Everything looks really great, those yards especially.   

Thank you Bob, Will, and Justin! And thanks all for the likes and interest as well 😀

[WalrusGuy]

It was another hectic couple of days wrapping up the semester. Got a few more hours of free time so I got to complete the boom irons

 

I just followed the instructions to make these. Here are all the tools I used:

Back then I was a bit nervous on how I would complete this step without power tools since it was dealing with metal. But somehow I managed it with the above.

 

Here are a couple of pics of the irons freshly cut and holes drilled:

And some photos of them installed on the spars and painted:

I also did not simulate the hinges on the iron. I thought they looked a bit over scale, so I opted not to include them. Next up I'll be attaching all the blocks to the spars, then will finally get to rig them!!

[desalgu]

Just checking in.  Every time I look at your photo's I say "wow!".  Love the boom irons.  Looks like you used brass tubing.  I used aluminum tubing because it's softer and easier for me to work with, plus I had some laying around.  Yours always come out cleaner and more precise than mine.  Very impressive!

 

I'm making slow progress on 18th century longboat.  It's much needed practice for me, and hardly a beginner's model.  Display case is on hold waiting for warmer weather to work in garage.  Shouldn't have to wait long, but in you never know in Kansas.

[BobG]

18 hours ago, WalrusGuy said:

Here are all the tools I used:

Nice job! What is that tool at the bottom left of your photo?

[WalrusGuy]

On 4/22/2021 at 10:16 PM, desalgu said:

Just checking in.  Every time I look at your photo's I say "wow!".  Love the boom irons.  Looks like you used brass tubing.  I used aluminum tubing because it's softer and easier for me to work with, plus I had some laying around.  Yours always come out cleaner and more precise than mine.  Very impressive!

 

I'm making slow progress on 18th century longboat.  It's much needed practice for me, and hardly a beginner's model.  Display case is on hold waiting for warmer weather to work in garage.  Shouldn't have to wait long, but in you never know in Kansas.

Thanks so much David! Yes I used brass tubing for the irons. They were a bit difficult to cut. And some of them were cut a bit larger comparing to others, but it's hard to spot once they were all installed. I'm really eager to see your model in the case!! 

 

13 hours ago, BobG said:

Nice job! What is that tool at the bottom left of your photo?

Thank you Bob! That's a compass to draw circles. I used the pin end to indent the brass tubing so the drill bit doesn't slip. I drilled the holes before I cut the irons out since I could hold the whole tube more easily. 

 

Also, I didn't notice how many blocks there were on the yards until I started installing them... 😅 It will probably be a couple of days work of attaching the blocks and finalizing the yards. I'll post some pics when they are all done. I'm very much looking forward to finishing this tedious stage. They just don't seem to end! 

Edited April 24, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[abelson]

Nice work on the boom irons. Did you drill them with the push pin drill and did you score the tube. BTW, your photography is superb. This is not germane, but are you an Oilers fan?

Edited April 24, 2021 by abelson

[WalrusGuy]

19 hours ago, abelson said:

Nice work on the boom irons. Did you drill them with the push pin drill and did you score the tube. BTW, your photography is superb. This is not germane, but are you an Oilers fan?

Many thanks Steven! I first scored the tube as suggested by the manual, then used the pin from the compass to indent the center. I then used the pin vise to drill the hole (starting with a smaller drill bit then the larger one to fit the wire in).

 

I don't watch much hockey 😬, but I used to watch Aussie football back in Australia. I'm a bit of a fan of West Coast Eagles! 😀

 

[WalrusGuy]

I finally finished up attaching all the blocks and items to the yards. I thought it would never end! Here is a quick photo before I start pinning them to the ship: 

[niwotwill]

Nice work on the yards and again the footrope droop is excellent. 

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks Will! Thanks for the likes as well!!

 

So now it's really starting to look like a ship with some of the yards in place. Here are a couple of pics with them pinned and lashed in position.

 

I'll next start rigging them 😀

[niwotwill]

You're right it looks like a ship. Wonderful work and not long now to complete.

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[Gahm]

Yes, that makes a big difference! It looks really GOOD! And your building speed is amazing!

 

Thomas

[Justin P.]

1 hour ago, Gahm said:

And your building speed is amazing!

Indeed!   It seems like this build is moving along at a faster pace each week!   Its really looking great. 

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks so much Will, Thomas, and Justin! The comments are very motivating!! 😄

 

Here is another couple of pics of the ship in the messy "workshop". As you can tell from the amount of photos I've been posting, I'm really loving the look of this ship. Everytime I see it I can't believe I've reached this far. 

 

I guess as I continue with the running rigging progress will slow down. It's already starting to get difficult with the limited amount of working space for my hands. 

[WalrusGuy]

I finished rigging the lower yards (except for the braces etc which might come in the way). Threading the ropes through the blocks was a bit tricky, but its very satisfying seeing how it all comes together

I also tied these ropes on the topping lifts as I saw Chuck did this too later on in the build. I think its to tighten the boom sheet as mine was a bit slack before.

Edited April 30, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Matt D]

That looks great, WalrusGuy!  Nice work!

[niwotwill]

Moving fast. Hard to believe you can accomplish such fine work in such a short time. Fantastic !!!

 

Stay Well and Stay Safe

Will 

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks so much! I took a week off after finishing the semester so got a bit of extra time to work on the model. So next week I'll take it slow and enjoy the process even more. Thanks again for checking in!! 😁

[Bill Gormley]

I've been following your progress, just not commenting much.  That is absolutely beautiful work and a fine goal for me to work toward with my own build.

[CaptMorgan]

This has to be one of the finest builds of the Syren I've seen.  Hard to believe this is only your second build.  Congratulations on a fantastic build.

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks so much Bill and Steve!! 😀

 

I finished rigging the top sail yards. I have not put any rope coils yet since I found they came in the way when belaying the lines. I might make some after the topgallant yards have been rigged.

 

I was again playing with the lighting to show the lines better:

 

[Justin P.]

Looking fantastic!  You are inspiring me to carry-on with mine!

[Gahm]

Beautiful work! Your Syren looks great!

 

Thomas