US Brig Syren by Redshadowrider - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64 - First wooden ship build

[RossR]

I sympathize with your struggles.   I am about to write a similar post about the stern in my USF Essex.  
 

good look with your cooling unit.   

[Dr PR]

There is a lot of hype and quite a bit of BS about the small "coolers" or "air conditioners."

 

These things are useless unless there is a way to remove the heat from inside the room (blow warm air outside). Without that they are no more useful than an ordinary fan - but way more expensive.

 

The Admiral's father wanted a "portable" air conditioner for his bedroom. It sat on the floor and had a flexible duct running to a window. Baffles in the window sealed around the duct so it could vent to the outside. It was only marginally useful for cooling the room, and could not prevent the temperature inside from rising as it got hotter outside. There are two significant problems with this arrangement.

 

First, the warm exhaust air heats the flexible duct, and it in turn serves as a heater to return the heat to the room. The longer the duct the more it heated the room. The second problem is if the house is sealed and has few air leaks. For every bit of air blown out of the house more air has to come in somewhere (otherwise interior pressure would drop and a window might implode). This really reduces the cooling effectiveness because warm air is being sucked in somewhere else.

 

Window mounted air conditioners do not have these problems. They recirculate interior air, so there is no problem with trying to force air out of the house. And they have heat exchangers on the outside that lose heat to the outside air.

 

There is a new type of heat pump air conditioner and heater coming on the market. It is being developed for high rise apartment buildings that typically have low efficiency heating and cooling systems (if anything at all). It fits in a window like a window air conditioner. But unlike most of these units the new device is built like an inverted "U" with a narrow part that fits over the window sill and the parts on the inside and outside hanging down. These operate off ordinary 15 amp 125 VAC wall sockets and are very efficient. One estimate said that if all the apartments in New York City had these installed and older heating/cooling equipment was turned off, one entire large electricity generating power plant could be shut down!

 

I have a friend who installs solar systems and other energy saving equipment and he has one of these prototype units in his house as part of a nation wide test program. The one small unit can heat and cool his house (he also has an air circulating system to move the heat around)!

Edited July 1 by Dr PR

[Redshadowrider]

Thanks, @Dr PR

What you indicate about the small coolers is exactly what I expected.  I work in a 3 car garage, so I don’t anticipate cooling the whole thing.  I have decided to do what I have done in the past.  Just work in the morning for a few hours and when the humidity is lower.  I could move inside my home office, but there is so much to move. I can make progress. As seen by my next post.  

Edited July 1 by Redshadowrider

[Redshadowrider]

Slow and steady as she goes…..

 I have made some progress over the last couple of days.  The single blocks have been installed on the flying jib boom, and the bowsprit cap.  They are a little difficult to see, but came out fine.  The open and closed collars are well along in their completion and will be installed when I get the loops in the lines figured out.  Then it’s a matter of adding them in the proper order.

 

Newbie notes:  I highly recommend the open and closed hearts that I got from the Syren Ship Model Company.  They are the 7mm size and are quite strong for printed parts.  If you want to work with the wood laser cut ones do not let me stop you.  However, if the wood is weak you can get pretty frustrated.  My opinion only…they should be included in the kit due to their size, but that’s just me.

 

[Redshadowrider]

Even In The Heat

It hasn’t been fun, but with a couple hours a day, I have completed the bob stays and stay collars.  Still have the installs to do, but at least, they are together.  Although, I will admit that looking at the space where they go, and how many there are, it’s going to be very tight fitting them all in.  It’s also flying season, and I have some maintenance to do on a couple of planes, but should get to the Syren this week.

[Redshadowrider]

Conglomeration of Rigging, and some Profane Comments & Newbie Note

It was like stuffing a size 12 foot into a size 8 shoe, but after some pushing, shoving, and appropriate encouragement I got the bobstays, and open heart rigging onto the bowsprit.  I am glad that it is black which helps to clean them up visually.  We had rain so the temp dropped some, allowing me to make a little progress….. now….a couple of warnings

 

Newbie Note

1.  Do not, repeat, do not attach the dolphin striker, or Ball Truck before this step.  
     I know the instruction booklet has them installed before now, but if you are like me, you will just have to replace them.

 

[PaddyO]

Hi Red,  I have started my own build of the Syren, and wanted to let you know that I have been following your build for the past few weeks and you have been an incredible resource for me.  I have really enjoyed your newbie notes and your comments on issues as they arise in the build - they have been a tremendous help, along with the information from NRG members such as Overworked, WalrusGuy and others. I will continue following and learning from you guys as I continue with my build.

PaddyO

[Redshadowrider]

@PaddyO Thank you for the comments as they are appreciated.  It’s exactly what I was hoping for when I started it.  This is my very first build, and I find that many steps can be organized in a different order, and some I have yet to completed.  I.E.  I still have the netting to complete on the fire rails and the bumpkins are next on my list.  
On this step I found that rigging the open hearts and bobstays very difficult.  Not because of the actual steps, but the space where the rigging attached under the jib boom.  If I had to do it over, I would put some thought into doing it differently.  I think the pictures showing before installation showed that I didn’t build them too big.  I have measured all placements with dividers so everything is placed correctly.  Unfortunately, this step is not very detailed in the manual or on the plans.  If I was to do it over, I would reduce the line sizes to conserve space.  Or, I would connect starboard and port lines differently.  
Here is a picture of the bowsprit glued in.

 

Edited Monday at 10:58 PM by Redshadowrider

[Dr PR]

Red,

 

You could have reduced the congestion at the bowsprit cap by combining several of the hearts/deadeyes on a single collar. Lever (page 21) shows two bobstays on a single collar. Marquardt (page 170) shows three on a collar for stays. Petersson (page 84) shows the bobstay and two jibboom guys on a single collar. So this technique was not uncommon.

 

 

However, making these collars with multiple attachments can be tricky. Getting the hearts/deadeyes/thimbles positioned around the boom with the correct spacing takes a bit of practice. You can see in this picture of the bottom side of the bowsprit that I really didn't get the collar tight enough around the spar.

 

The problem is that I tried to make the collar with a single turn of rope spliced together at the center deadeye. I should have created an open collar with eyes spliced in the ends - like you are doing. Then I could have drawn it tight to the boom with lacing. It works anyway but wants to pull over the side thumb cleats (the top one holds it in position). Live and learn!

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:01 AM by Dr PR

[Redshadowrider]

Thank you, @Dr PR After I completed the installs, I did think about how I could have done it differently.  However, after, doesn’t help much to resolve the issue.  Since the rigging is black, it is difficult to see how crowded it really is.  The only thing I am wondering about is if the closed hearts are in a good position for attaching the follow on rigging.  If not, I can see me redoing the whole section.  That, however, will be a last resort. I can see me doubling up the closed hearts to conserve space.  Thanks again for your comments and pictures.