US Brig Syren by Gahm - Model Shipways

[Stuntflyer]

Very nice Thomas! Your attention to detail is excellent as usual.

 

Mike

[Gahm]

George, CaptainSteve, Augie, Sal, Mike, thank you so much for your kind comments! And thanks for all the "likes"! 

Looking at my "speedy" progress with the carronades you probably won't hear from me anything else but "cannon talk" during the next few months. At this moment I am really happy that I am "only" building a 18 gun brig and not one of those big frigates (Augie, Rafine!) or a ship of the line. I cannot imagine what it would be like to assemble close to 100 cannons! 

 

Thomas

[arnie59]

I just spent the last couple of hours reading through your log for the first time. Incredible attention to detail and impeccable execution!

[Gahm]

A little update. Things as usual are moving very slowly due to lack of modeling time (what’s new ? ). I finished the first 4 carronade carriages and the first “production” carronade (image 1).

 

Images 2 a-d show the fabrication of the hinges for the gun barrels. For this I milled a grove into a brass strip and silver soldered a brass tube into the grove. The result is shown in image 2a. To cut hinges from this piece with always the same width I combined my Taig lathe and my rotary tool with flex shaft (in lack of a suitable table saw) to a metal cutting device (see images 2b and c). The resulting hinges are shown in image 2d.

 

Image 3a and b present the method I used to determine the correct location of the hinges on the carronade carriage. I placed the gun barrel-hinge assembly on the carriage in such a way that the elevation screw was located correctly on the metal fitting and marked the front end of the hinges with masking tape. As a next step I placed the hinges alone nicely centered on the carriage, with the right distance between them and the front end aligned with the masking tape (image 3a). To help with this process I covered the carriage first with further masking tape and a double-sided sticky tape on top of the masking tape. Once aligned satisfactorily I marked the 2 front ends of the hinges on the masking tape, removed every tape with the exception of the tape with the alignment marks and mounted the hinges permanently using these marks (image 3b). Finally the gun barrel was mounted, the elevation adjusted with the elevation screw, and barrel and screw glued in place. The final result is displayed in images 4 and 5. Images 6 and 7 show the first carronade in its final place on my Syren model.

 

Thomas

 

 

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Image 7

 

[CaptainSteve]

Oh !! My [iNSERT DEITY OF CHOICE HERE] !!!!!

That is stunning !!!

Edited March 31, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[rafine]

Thomas, all I can say is WOW. The carronades are fantastic.

 

Bob

[GLakie]

Those are some fantastic looking carronades Thomas! Amazing workmanship on them! 

 

Cheers

[JesseLee]

WOW!

[Mirabell61]

beautiful work Thomas,

 

Nils

[Stuntflyer]

Well thought out and superbly executed. I second the WOW!

Edited March 31, 2015 by Stuntflyer

[CaptMorgan]

Unbelievable !!!  A simple "like" can never do that kind of workmanship justice. Amazing. 

[Gahm]

Thank you so much for this enthusiastic feedback! It is much appreciated! And thanks for all the 'likes'. 

 

Thomas

[augie]

Sheer perfection!

[Gahm]

Thank you, Augie! You made my day! 

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

A little sign of life: I finished the first 5 carronades – see images below. Unfortunately this time in the year there are always too many other projects that need to be taken care of. So right now I am following the philosophy of Confucius: ‘It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop’ 

 

Thomas

 

 

 

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[_SalD_]

Thomas the carronades are stunning, beautiful work.

[GLakie]

That's some lovely detail you've put into those carronades Thomas. Beautiful! 

[augie]

Beautifully done ..... great color.

[rafine]

Beautiful -- at whatever speed you're working.

 

Bob

[Gahm]

Thank you so much for all your nice comments! And thank you for all the likes! Both are always highly appreciated! Building these carronades is a bit of a perseverance test as each of them has >60 parts and worst of all 29 holes which need to be drilled with a #80 drill and a pin vice through brass. So a little encouragement is very welcome  

 

Thomas 

[GLakie]

Extra steps and work are obviously worth the effort Thomas, as the proof is in the end result. One that we all strive for. 

[dafi]

Why?!?

 

Why did this gem did escape my attention so far? Wonderfully build and thank you for showing so much of the "how to".

 

Cheers and congratulations!
 

DAniel

[Gahm]

Thank you, Daniel! And thank you for all the likes! 

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

I treated myself to Chuck’s new serving machine. Not that I need to serve anything at the current point in my Syren build , but I always like to get acquainted with new techniques early on so that I don’t run into too many problems when I really need to apply these techniques later.

 

During the last few months I had thought about a suitable design for my own serving machine. It is not really difficult to find good examples in the internet. However, when I looked at the amount of work, which would go into the design and the material, especially suitable gears, Chuck’s new ‘Serv-O-Matic’ kit along with the reasonable price tag quickly changed my mind. Images 1 and 2 show the content of the kit. As all of Chuck’s products the kit is high quality (solid Cherry wood) and easy to assemble – basically only the laser burn marks need to be removed (to have a nice looking machine) and the wood sealed with rub on poly (image 3). The end result is a beautiful, very sturdy, and nicely functioning serving machine (images 4, 5, 6). Image 7 shows the result of a test run with a thread, which was not really suited for serving, but was conveniently ‘available’. It may give a little idea what kind of results can be achieved with a little practice and the right serving thread.

 

This was the 3^rd time I bought products from Chuck’s Syren company. I know I am repeating what other fellow modelers have already written in their build blogs. But each time I ordered something I was amazed about the excellent service, the reasonable pricing, and above all the outstanding quality of the products.

 

Thomas

 

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[rvchima]

Wow, I wish that was available a couple of years ago!

[Gahm]

After several weeks of traveling and lots of other projects I finally resumed work on my Syren again. Nothing exciting - I just continued building the carronade sleds. So far I finished drilling the holes for all photo-edged sled parts and mounted them with the 0.4mm rivets from Scale Hardware on the sleds. Images 1 – 4 show the current status.

 

Thomas

 

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[_SalD_]

Thomas, I thought about doing that but not for very long, nice work, keep it up.

[Blue Ensign]

Nice work on the Carronades Thomas, Syren is such an attractive model, and you certainly are doing her justice.

 

B.E.

[Gahm]

A little update: I have finished all carronade sleds, which means they are now all equipped with wheels and breech rings. I also added the 22 eyebolts with split rings to the Syren deck. To transfer the correct positions from the plan to the model I used masking tape. The tape first was aligned on the plan parallel to the gratings and the positions were noted on the tape (the black contours on the plan nicely shine through the masking tape, see image 1). In a second step the tape with the marks was aligned parallel to the gratings on the Syren deck, the position marks fine adjusted, the holes drilled through the tape, and finally the tape removed (image 2). Images 3 – 6 show the current status of the model.

 

Thomas

 

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Image 6

 

[GLakie]

Nice work using the tape for alignment of the deck-rings Thomas.  She's looking splendid!