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

[captain_hook]

Very nice! 

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you Captain Hook 

 

Today I finished the major makeovers (ie. paint and tung oil 😁). I made a major oopsie when painting the exterior as detailed below, but first, I cut out the stem and stern post from a 1/16 sheet. For the keel i used 1/16x1/16 strip. I also stuck in the upper inboard planking strip. 

 

Nothing major to report here apart from the stem not fitting perfectly. So I had to sand between each fit in areas touching the boat until it fitted flush entirely, then I cut out the outer portion. 

 

Now for the oopsie. I sealed the exterior using wood glue and sawdust mixture, but didn't do too good of a job sanding it smooth.

After applying multiple coats, I realized parts of the boat were very very blotchy. So, I had to sand everything out and make sure it was smooth then reattempt painting. The second round seems to be much better. There still are some areas of slight blothiness, but nothing in comparison to my first attempt. I didn't take any pics of the first attempt since it looked so bad, but here is where she's at now: 

After painting, I applied tung oil to all exposed wood: 

Next I'll work on the interior details. 

Edited January 2, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[BobG]

Wonderful!

[WalrusGuy]

Many thanks Bob!! And thanks for all the likes as well! 

 

I'm about halfway with the details. Everything was cut out from a 1/32" sheet of basswood. I had to sand some parts to be a bit thinner (the ones that needed some bending) 

 

The grating was made the same way as the ones for the longboat

Edited January 3, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Gahm]

Great progress on the jolly boat! It is coming together very nicely!

 

Thomas

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you Thomas! 😄

 

I'm almost done with the jolly boat. I'd say about 95% completed. Here is where she is at: 

Remaining bits are the knees, rudder, pintle and gudgeon, and oars. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[NovaStorm]

Fantastic job scratch building the boat man she looks beautiful  

[Gahm]

Well done, Harshil! She looks great!

 

Thomas

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you Robin and Thomas! It's been lots of fun building this little boat. I don't think I could've managed this (mini)project without referring to Thomas's log several times 😅

Edited January 4, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Justin P.]

What a nice little addition!   Beautiful.

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you Justin 😁

 

I finished the entire jolly boat assembly. For the oars, 1/16" x 1/8" were first roughly shaped with a #11 blade and then shaped with files and sandpaper. Here are the pics: 

Next I'll work on the rudder pendant, close the stern gun port lids, then I can finally hang the boat on the davits.. 

 

Also wanted to add, thank you all for the encouragement throughout my build, and especially for the jollyboat. When making the jig for plank bending I was thinking it would be impossible to finish it, and I may have also given up. But with the encouraging and motivating words I managed to finish the entire boat. So thanks!!! 😄

Edited January 5, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[abelson]

Excellent work on the jolly boat. A task well done. A nice addition to your build. You'll look back at it and say wow, I did that?

Edited January 8, 2021 by abelson

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks so much Steven!! Honestly, even now I'm kinda surprised I managed this. Thinking maybe it was just beginner's luck 😅

 

Anyways, before I close the gun ports and install the pendants, I wanted to see if the boat looked good at the stern. I used this link to help me strop a hook onto a double block. 

 

When I first hung the boat on the davits, it was off center by about an inch!! So then after many minutes of fiddling around, I decided to glue the ropes in specific sections of the boat align it better. I think it worked but wanted some opinions on it.. 

 

Here are the pics of the boat temporarily in place: 

Here are some pics with the oars and rudder: 

Also have some questions for you guys and gals: 

 

1) the boat still looks a bit off center. do you think it looks ok or more fiddling around needed?

2) Is it obvious that I glued the rope on the wood for alignment? Or is it hidden with the oars and rudder in place? 

3) at this position, is it ok for the gun ports to remain open? I like the look of them open, but also want to have an accurate representation 😄 

 

Any comments or advice would also be very much appreciated!!

Edited January 6, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[abelson]

Your jolly boat looks great. Yes, it's a little off center but on the original ship it probably wasn't exactly centered either. It gives your ship character.

[Mark-NS]

that looks great.  Fantastic job on the jolly boat.

[Gahm]

As your stern davits are a bit further apart one possibility would be to move the left ringbolt used to hang the jolly boat a little bit towards the bow. That will increase the distance between both ringbolts in the jolly boat, which will cause the takle ropes to come down more vertically and your boat is better centered. Of course, none of that is really needed as it already looks fine as it is 👍

 

Thomas  

[Justin P.]

I agree with others that it looks great as is.   In terms of accurate representation, I would say a perfectly hung boat would be less accurate.  And I can’t tell that you’ve glued the rope in any particular way.  I only question whether oars would have been stowed in the boat long term,  or just when about to be launched...  

 

[WalrusGuy]

4 hours ago, abelson said:

Your jolly boat looks great. Yes, it's a little off center but on the original ship it probably wasn't exactly centered either. It gives your ship character.

 

4 hours ago, Mark-NS said:

that looks great.  Fantastic job on the jolly boat.

 

3 hours ago, Gahm said:

As your stern davits are a bit further apart one possibility would be to move the left ringbolt used to hang the jolly boat a little bit towards the bow. That will increase the distance between both ringbolts in the jolly boat, which will cause the takle ropes to come down more vertically and your boat is better centered. Of course, none of that is really needed as it already looks fine as it is 👍

 

Thomas  

 

2 hours ago, Justin P. said:

I agree with others that it looks great as is.   In terms of accurate representation, I would say a perfectly hung boat would be less accurate.  And I can’t tell that you’ve glued the rope in any particular way.  I only question whether oars would have been stowed in the boat long term,  or just when about to be launched...  

 

Thanks so much for the comments and suggestions 😊.. Based on the feedback, I'll just leave it as is and finish up working on the hull. Too scared to change things up at this point 😅. Thanks again! 

 

As for the gun ports, I'm leaning towards leaving them open. I like how it looks this way, and not too sure if closing them will reveal the holes I drilled to insert the hinges. This way I can assume the boat was lowered as to be ready to fire the guns (hoping this was actually a thing done back in the days...). I may change my mind if you guys convince me otherwise (i.e. peer pressure 😁) 

[WalrusGuy]

The rudder pendants have been installed. I first cut the chain to the appropriate length (by eyeballing). I then removed the eyebolts from the rudder to secure it easily in the chain. Then they were chemically blackened. 

 

To secure it to the rope, I made a ring with some steel wire, then inserted the rope through it which was looped and held it in position with CA. The overlap piece was then cut at a slant and seized with 100wt silk thread (just bought this the other week, very much worth it!!). 

It was then installed on the ship. I also permanently mounted the jollyboat by applying a bit of CA at the hook and one of the holes on the davits. 

Also, just to note, in my case, the rudder pendants are very far off from the boat. So, I opted to go for this method than securing the chain with multiple eyebolts. I also checked how I attached the hinges for the gun ports, and the holes were a bit too low. So if I were to close them, I'll definitely see the holes. So it's settled; they'll remain open (to prepare for battle 😄)! 

 

All left to do is lay down the anchor cable and make a few rope coils, and the hull will be completed!! 

Edited January 7, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Overworked724]

What a great milestone!!!

[Cathead]

I'm no expert, but leaving the ports open (and the oars/rudder in the boat) seem like reasonable examples of modeler's license for improved visual appeal.  After all, in various other ways the model probably won't resemble the ship in an exactly accurate operational state, so why worry about these small details?

[abelson]

Looking reallllllly good!

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks for the comments and likes!

 

15 hours ago, Cathead said:

examples of modeler's license for improved visual appeal.

100% agree. At first I was having a rigid mindset on "this is how it should be", but I'm becoming more flexible with these changes. The more I work on the model, the more I feel like these little details makes the model unique in its own way. 

I made this beautiful jig to make the rope coils. I made sure to not put glue where the rope touched the toothpicks. Just waiting for them to dry. Hoping they turn out ok! 

 

I also layed down the anchor cable with CA glue at various spots. 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Keithbrad80]

Your jig is really nice! And your anchor cable is beautiful!

[JpR62]

Beautiful! It's really beautiful work.

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you Jean-Paul and Bradley!! 

 

I have glued in the rope coils. Do you guys think there is room for improvement? 

 

I don't think I can replace them since I stuck them already, but will try to improve for the other thousands of upcoming coils (once rigging is done 😁)

So, this then marks the end of the hull work. I'll be posting some more pics later in the day to mark this milestone of the build! 

Edited January 8, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[WalrusGuy]

As promised, here are some more pics of the hull's completion:

 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by WalrusGuy

[Gahm]

Congratulations, this is a great milestone! Hull is looking really good!

 

Thomas

[WalrusGuy]

Thanks so much Thomas!! 😄

[WalrusGuy]

Started working a bit on the bowsprit.

 

Instead of using a card/stiff paper for the saddle, I filed a scrap piece of wood with a round file, then stuck it and slowly chipped away then sanded the excess. This was done for both the layers.

 

Not sure if the bowsprit looks too skinny or ok. I just used the supplied 1/4" dowel. Also need to experiment a bit for the iron bands.