US Brig Syren by Desalgu - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:64

[desalgu]

I'm going to do a build log even though my model is nearing completion.  If nothing else, it will remind me of what I've done, both good and bad.  There are certainly a lot of areas I can improve on in the next build, which is yet to be determined.  So here's the beginning with the frame, bulkheads, and spacing blocks.  Spacing blocks were cut on table saw from scrap wood and make alignment super easy.

 

[desalgu]

Learning to do this build log.  Looks as if I "reply" to add more.  Here's the gunport sills and lintils.  The last photo will show the oar ports.  Up to this point, I remember everything being straightforward.  My experience with with model airplanes, kits and scratch built, and I've built one model ship about 20 years ago.  

[desalgu]

Here's the stern framing after much sanding.  I remember this part was tricky and I had trouble getting the stern frames aligned.  It wasn't perfect, and required quite a bit of sanding.  I used dremel for sanding to remove larger amounts of wood, and sanding blocks or sticks when I got close to what I wanted.  I'll also attach a photo of the bow when ready to start planking.

[desalgu]

Here's pictures showing the start of planking.  The first is the first wale plank.  This is followed by the bulwards planking on the outside of the hull.  I used Chuck's trick of using pencil along edge of planks so they show up later on.  It worked great.  I should have been more careful planking around the gun ports and oar ports, making sure everything was square and clean.  This was the time to do it.  I was not able to improve it later on.   I had a hard time clamping around the bow.  These clamps left marks in the planks that had to be sanded out or filled a little.  Perhaps steaming them to get a little curvature beforehand would help, so you wouldn't need as much clamping force.

[desalgu]

Here's the transom and stern bulwarks planking.  I also added the remaining planks for the wales.  After quite a bit of sanding, I stained the planking with "golden oak" stain.  I probably could have sanded more than I did.  It seems impossible to sand too much.

 

Interesting that one photo attached upside down.  I have no idea how to rotate it after attaching.  I tried several times rotating it differently before attaching and no luck, so I gave up on it.  There's plenty of pictures as is.

[WalrusGuy]

Your model in her early stages is beautiful, Desalgu. Eagerly waiting to see how she currently looks in the near completion state 

[desalgu]

Even before starting Syren I decided I would plank the bottom part of the hull (below the wales) with walnut instead of copper like in the kit.  It's just me, I like the look of wood.  Plus copper looked rather daunting to make it look right. This is the only major change I made to the kit, so my Syren is a double-planked version.

 

I'm in Chapter 5, Steps 3, 4 and 5 in the excellent instruction manual.  In my case this will be the first layer of hull planking.  I followed the manual doing some planking below the wales and along the keel, leaving a gap in between to fill in.  This procedure worked well.  I also added treenails along the bulwarks.  Chucks trick for simulated treenails worked great and was not difficult.  You need battery powered mini-drill and #60-80 drill bits.  I used this tool a lot all thru the build.

 

One picture shows the clamps I was using.  I wasn't that happy with how these worked, but I used them until the gap between the planked areas got too small.  I may look for a better clamping method on the next build.

[desalgu]

After I finished the first layer of hull planking, I did the usual sanding and filling until reasonably smooth.  I wanted it to be as smooth as possible to provide a good base for the 2nd layer of planking.   I added the 2nd layer of planking using the same procedure, working from the wales and from the keel, filling in the gap in between.  If I remember right, I used 5-6" lengths of strips, and I staggered the breaks along the hull.  

 

I used a tool I got from Model Shipways for bending strips.  I soaked or wetted the strips, placed them on a pattern, and used the tool to heat and steam them to shape.   The wood released a little when removed from pattern, so pattern needed to have a little more curvature than needed.  I used CA to glue on strips, and didn't worry about simulating treenails on this part of the hull.

[desalgu]

Because I double-planked the hull, I only painted the wales black.  I used a very neutral stain on the walnut.  From experience with the first model ship, I wanted this one to be lighter, so it's easier to see detail.  I also painted the extra top plank along the bulwarks black.

 

I followed Chapter 6 completing some stern details, or I should say details at the time.  Looking back, I'd call this basic construction.  

[WalrusGuy]

That's some top notch planking!!! She's truly gorgeous 

[desalgu]

The next step was the inboard bulwarks planking, and how well I remember this.  Sanding the inner bulwarks was a challenge.  I made some sanding blocks with curvature in an effort to make it easier.  It was still not easy, and I didn't get the frames as thin as I wanted.  Some months later I got a mini vibration sander.  I don't know if this would have made it any easier or not.  I think it's probably one of those steps that requires a lot of patience, and you sand until you are tired of sanding.

 

I used a slightly darker shade of red for the inner bulwarks than it looked in the manual.  At first I wasn't sure about the red accent, but the more I worked on the ship, the more I liked it.  Pictures show the inner bulwarks planking and cap rail completed. 

[desalgu]

Deck planking was next (Chapter 7).  I decided not to do the joggled planks at the bow.  Deck planking was not difficult and this simplified it more.  I made this decision based on my skill with little details like this.  I think if I was to do it again, I'd go ahead and try it.

[desalgu]

Since I double-planked the hull, the only part of Chapter 8 I did was the rudder.  I stained the rudder in an effort to match the hull.  Looking back, should have gotten a piece of walnut for the stern post and rudder, but I didn't think about this until later. 

 

I remember having great difficulty getting gudgeons to follow shape of hull and transition from stern post to planking.  So I made them shorter so they fit along the stern post.  This was a decision based on frustration at not being able to get a good fit.  

[Justin P.]

Your double-planking turned out very nice.  Though it looked like the first layer looked nice too.    I assume you wont be coppering over it?    Other details look well executed too.  

[desalgu]

You're right, I decided early on to double-plank instead of copper.  Just like the look of wood, and didn't trust my skills at doing copper.

 

Chapter 9 adds details to the hull.  What I remember are the gun ports.  I have a hard time repeating stuff over and over, and I remember thinking I should have selected a ship with 4 guns instead of 20!  It certainly makes me think about building a ship with more than 20 guns in the future.

 

Gun ports came out pretty good along with other details.  I used the metal badges and scrollwork provided in the kit.  Gun ports and small metal pieces were my first experience dealing with tiny parts and you can tell by the Syren lettering on the stern.  I had a hard time mixing a "wood" color to match the golden oak stain I used on the bulwarks.  I got it close, but not as good as I wanted.  I used Model Masters acrylic paint for everything on the ship.

 

I should have made a jig holding the hull vertical, bow down, so I could be more accurate placing the letters.  This was also before I learned to use the wax tips for holding and placing tiny parts.  On my Syren the sailor that did the lettering had had a bit too much grog!

 

[desalgu]

Bow details are next, and probably like a lot of people, I was a bit intimidated.  Instructions in manual were excellent and made it not too difficult.  I would have struggled a lot if all I had were plans and a couple of photos.  In many cases like this, I learned a lot from the instructions.  I wish all model ship kits had instructions like this one.  I can tell Chuck put a lot of work into it, and it made life a lot easier for me.

 

The most difficult part was fitting in the head timbers.  Each one had to be custom fit and no two were alike.  On some I got lucky and got a good fit without too much trouble.  On others, it took a bunch of tries to get something that fit halfway decent.  Once again, at a certain point, I decided that was the best I could do, and moved on.  I used the metal figurehead provided in the kit, filing and test fitting before finishing the bow details.

 

[desalgu]

Chapter 11 does the inner bulwarks details and carronades.  When making carronades I had the same thought about a boat with 20 guns.  But it sure looks neat when you get finished.  All details on this ship model are more details and complex than on the first model ship I built.  It's been challenging, and hopefully, I've learned a lot.  The trick is not to forget what you learned on the next build.

 

I'll start with a couple of pictures of belay racks.  I used the brass belay pins in the kit, and painted them the "wood" color I used on badges and figurehead.  It's close to a brass color, so about all it did was take the shininess off the brass.  

 

I guess there will be only one picture.  The other one attached upside down again.  Haven't figured out why this happens.  Picture displays fine on my Mac.

 

You can see on this where I've marked deck fitting and mast locations.  Looking back, I should have drilled holes for the masts at this point.  I think it's best to do this as early as you can, when you can still easily make a jig of some sort to hold boat firmly for drill press.  When I did it later on, it was more difficult.

 

[desalgu]

Now for the carronades.  I had never rigged carronades before, and had not done rigging for about 15-20 years, so this was a challenge.  About the time I got halfway good at it, I was done.  

 

I used blocks provided in the kit, and I was unable to drill holes in them for hooks without splitting the wood.  No matter how careful I was, the wood split, so I quickly gave up on this idea.  Instead I used wire strops and formed a hook from one end of the wire.  This was not hard to do and at this scale you don't notice unless you look real close and know what to look for.  I'm guessing that you could do hooks as shown in manual using boxwood blocks from Syren Models.

 

A trick for threading rigging thru blocks is to dip about 1/2" end of thread in CA and let dry.  This stiffens the end of the thread making it easy to feed thru blocks or eye bolts.  It works 100x better than needle threaders.  I tried those on the first model ship, broke a ton of them, and finally started stiffening thread with glue.  No more problems!  It's one of the few things I remembered from building the first ship.

 

I also took liberties when seizing ropes.  I've fought this on all rigging, and have never come up with a good method.  I used rigging thread provided in the kit.  I'm guessing rigging thread from Syren Models is much better and would make this task easier.  It seems to me that I needed a thinner thread than the 0.008 provided in the kit for seizing ropes.  Whatever I've done looks clunky and out of scale.

[desalgu]

Deck fittings are added in Chapters 12 and 13.  I had fun doing this part.  Each little part is different, and there were no particular difficulties.  I was amazed how adding one deck fitting would make the model look more ship like.  It kept looking better and better each time I added a fixture.

[desalgu]

Here's more deck fittings.  For whatever reason I found the ladders one of the more difficult fittings to make.  Getting them to sit right was not easy with the carronades in the way.   The photo showing the ladder was before I got it fitted and glued.  It looked a lot bettet later on.

 

[desalgu]

I decided to make the long boat next, so did Chapter 15 first, and then Chapter 14.  I decided it would be easier to mount long boat in the center of the ship before adding cap rail details.

 

The long boat is a separate project all by itself.  It looked a bit intimidating, but turned out to be a fun project.  I just followed the manual and made steady progress.  The long boat on my previous model was from a Model Shipways kit and was plank on frame.  This one was different being laminated patterns.  Both methods work, and I don't think one is any easier than the other.  The difficulty is making something this small and detailed.  You can do small, detailed planking.  Or you can do a lot of sanding and shaping, being careful to sand just then enough and not too thin.

[desalgu]

Here's the finished long boat and how it's mounted on deck.

[desalgu]

Now for the cap rail details.  I was kind of dreading working with netting, but once again, following instruction manual I was able to get through it ok.  Not the greatest job, and I ran into some difficulties, but it came out ok.

 

I think the worst part is after working on the netting, from there on, I kept brushing my hand or fingers on it.  It's very hard to avoid when belaying threads or doing anything on the deck.  I remember trying to fit basswood in the net cranes and then deciding to use a small strip of plastic I had.  This turned out to be a mistake, because it's hard to glue plastic to wood.  I've had to repair the joint between the boarding panels and the plastic upper part that runs parallel to the cap rail.  I used rtv type glue, but it's not that strong and after hitting a couple of times with my fingers, it breaks.  I learned the hard way, but I think basswood would have been too soft.  A strip of hardwood would be better.

 

Once again I wished I had thread smaller than the 0.008 rigging thread in the kit.  The knots holding the netting are too large.  And I got lazy.  Instead of searching for smaller thread, I used what I had.  I had an awful time trimming the netting along the top rail and thread.  I tried several methods, and I think a brand new, super sharp xacto worked as good as any, holding end of net with tweezers and trimming.  It's very tedious however you do it.

 

[desalgu]

The hull is done, so it's time for bowsprit and masts.  The next step, Chapter 16, is to make the bowsprit.  I don't recall any difficulties with this part other than working with tiny parts, so I'll just attach photos.  First photo shows the entire hull at this stage.

 

[desalgu]

Continuing on with mounting the bowsprit assembly.  One thing you quickly notice is how much larger the boat gets.  Once you add the bowsprit, it becomes a lot longer and you have to be more careful moving it around.  Once you add the masts, it gets very tall, and even more difficult to move around.

 

The bowsprit foot ropes were a challenge.  Getting thread to hang anywhere close to the way a rope hangs is very difficult.  Now that I've used wire for yard foot ropes, it makes me think I should have done that for these foot ropes as well.  No reason you can't tie knots around wire as easily as around thread to get the right look.  I've found the wire foot ropes on the yards work well, and if you bump them slightly out of shape, they are easy to bend back.  

 

One thing I discovered is it's difficult to take pictures once you start rigging.  It's hard to isolate what you want to show.  It's easy at this stage, but gets much more difficult as more rigging is added.

 

[WalrusGuy]

10 minutes ago, desalgu said:

What a beautiful shot!! Completely took my breath away. I am really liking the walnut hull

[desalgu]

The masts are next, Chapter 17.  I'll just show the foremast, because they are both nearly identical.   I had some difficulty stropping blocks and mounting under the platform.  With practice, I got better stropping blocks with thread, but I struggled on the first ones under the platform.  I had the same problems learning to make little eyes with thread.  

 

I never found a quick, easy way of doing this.  The blocks are tiny and difficult to hold, and the rigging thread is stiff enough that it doesn't want to go around the block.  Perhaps a better rigging thread would make this easier.  I try to hold thread around 3 sides of the block, apply some CA (I use medium thickness CA and apply small amounts with straight pins), wait a little, and then try to tie an overhand knot on the remaining side.  By mashing thread around the overhand knot with fingernails and applying glue, I can get the loose threads approximately in the position I want.  I've lost a quite a few little blocks on the floor.  When I did the blocks under the platform, I was still trying to figure this out, and I haven't been happy with results.

 

This was my first experience building masts.  The first model ship I made just had simple dowels for masts without all the detail on this model.  The detail adds a lot to the model, and is well worth adding.

 

[desalgu]

Thank you for the kind comments.

 

Here's more pictures of the foremast, working upward.  I struggled wrapping thread around the small deadeyes on the platform.  It was much easier wrapping wire around the deadeyes on the channels.  If I was to do this again, I would think about using wire on these deadeyes.  Once again I felt I needed smaller thread than what was in the kit, but for some reason was stubborn and stayed with what the kit provided.

 

I decided not to paint the platform black like in the manual.  It seemed like too much black in that area, with masts and future yards, so I wanted something with a little contrast.  There were only a few places I deviated from paint scheme shown in manual.

 

[desalgu]

The next pictures show the masts stepped or mounted.  One pictures shows what I used to get them aligned properly.  One mistake was to not drill hole deep enough in deck to keep mast secure as I had to reglue it at least once.  And after all this work aligning, the rigging pulled the masts aft giving them more rake than I wanted, and this is what caused the glue joint to break.  These will be things to watch closely on the next build.

 

I didn't take pictures of all the blocks I added to the masts and crosstrees before stepping.  And despite trying to be careful, I missed a couple, but didn't know it until later.  Believe me, it's sure better to add them now instead of later.

 

[WalrusGuy]

13 minutes ago, desalgu said:

Believe me, it's sure better to add them now instead of later.

This is where I'm at with my build. I'll definitely make sure to check I have added all of them. They just don't seem to end!