Sloop Speedwell 1752 by Capt Morgan (Steve) - Syren Ship Model Company - 1:32 Scale - POF Sloop

[CaptMorgan]

Hello everyone:

This seems to be the day to start Speedwell logs.  

I received my first 2 chapters about a week ago.  I don't think I will be buildings as fast as some others but I have started and we are off & running.

My only thought so far is when attaching the two curved pieces together make sure they are as exact as possible.  Mine were off a little, and then you have to sand them to get a good fit with the stem assembly.  And trust me - you don't want to sand any mating surfaces you don't have to...

I think I finally got a decent fit.  It took a lot of extra time but worth it. Now a little extra sanding for the figurehead and the fancy piece on the top.  Then it will be time to get the plans out and lay the keel.  

I also hope we can start a group build.  It might encourage a few others to join us. 

All for now

Steve

 

[Chuck]

Excellent work and great start.  You have some nice tight joints there.

[CaptMorgan]

Hello everyone:

Just a quick update.  I got the stem tapered for the figurehead and also have the rabbet installed.  

Moving on to assemble the front apron all the little wedges for that.  

Little steps...

Steve

      

Edited April 8 by CaptMorgan

[Chuck]

Lovely workmanship.   Keep it going...slow and steady.

[Stuntflyer]

Nice start, Steve. Keep up the good work. No hurry, we'll be following.

[CaptMorgan]

Thanks Mike & Chuck -- and the likes.  I'm not in any hurry - I just have an abundance of spare time right now.  That will be probably be coming to a end when I head back north in about a month.  

[CaptMorgan]

Someone was looking for places to get copies of the plans in another thread.  I got 3 done at the local UPS store while I waited.  Only $4 per sheet.  I took the plans to them on a USB.

Worked out pretty good...   thought I would let everyone know....

[Trussben]

You can also get large plans printed and shipped to you online, on paper or mylar if needed.

 

https://blueprintsprinting.com/account/

[Rustyj]

54 minutes ago, Trussben said:

You can also get large plans printed and shipped to you online, on paper or mylar if needed.

I like the idea of having one mylar set. Thanks Ben.

[allanyed]

On 4/8/2024 at 2:25 PM, CaptMorgan said:

I got the stem tapered for the figurehead

Fantastic.  Very few kits address this feature resulting in a lot of bowlegged figure heads.  Chuck hit a grand slam home run with this kit.

Allan

 

 

 

[JeffT]

2 hours ago, Trussben said:

You can also get large plans printed and shipped to you online, on paper or mylar if needed.

 

https://blueprintsprinting.com/account/

That's where I had mine done. Had them in my hands about a day and a half after ordering.

[CaptMorgan]

I've been making a little progress and got the keel finished up.  Thought I would throw a few pictures of where we stand so far...

I have the build board all set to go.  I pretty much followed Mikes lead - can't go wrong doing that....

 

Next up will be attaching the false keel - seems I forgot that till I seen the pictures...   After that I think I will put on some WOP that to protect what I have done so far. 

Then fixing the plans to the build board.

So far --- so good...    Thanks for looking in.

Steve

 

[yvesvidal]

I wonder if the Wipe on Poly will make the wood darker.... Sometimes, it does that on very light wood, such as maple.

 

Yves

[Rustyj]

Looks really nice Steve. I've put a coat of WOP on mine. I feel it helps keep it clean. 

 

52 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

I wonder if the Wipe on Poly will make the wood darker.... Sometimes, it does that on very light wood, such as maple.

 

It does add a little depth to the wood but not a lot. I do put light a coat on and wipe it off right away. That seem to help retain the natural color.

[CaptMorgan]

Well, it has been a long time since my last update but I have been making some good progress.   So I live in Florida and do the snowbird thing in the summer.  I took all of the frames up north with me so I could have something to do up there. 

 

   

The only issue I found was I was missing an upper frame 9 and I had 3 uppers for frame 10.  I let Chuck know & he will take care of it.  I just need an upper for frame 9 but will wait till whenever I order Chapter 3 sometime in the future.  I wont be needing it for a while. 

Everything fit together real good and there were no other problems that I have encountered.

I got the frames all assembled, sanded, and ready to install.  

 

Below are a few pics to show where I am at this point.  I went ahead and put in the tree nails into all of the tall frames, short ones will come later.  I also put WOP on all of the fore and aft sides of the frames because they will be to close together to do later.  

    

     

By far the biggest challenge is to keep everything as square and spaced as possible. Just have to take your time & follow Chucks awesome instructions.  I think I'm off to a pretty good start. 

Moving on --- one frame at a time....

Steve

 

Edited October 15 by CaptMorgan

[Freebird]

 Very nice Steve. I’m looking forward to getting restarted on my Speedwell soon. 
 

Best Regards …. Rick

[Rustyj]

Looks like you are off to a great start Steve.

[Seventynet]

Nicely done Steve!

 

Ian

[Trussben]

Looks awesome

 

Did you forget to trim those frame joints back just below the gunport?

 

Spoiler

 

 

[CaptMorgan]

The sweep port and the gunport base have not been glued in yet so I can take them out to trim them before I glue them in. They were there to help with alignment.

From everything I have seen so far those upper frame joints will be hidden by planking so I decided to not trim those.  Hopefully I'm not wrong....