US Brig Syren by Gahm - Model Shipways

[Gahm]

I finally had the time to continue with the fore stay, bob stay, and bowsprit shroud collars. To make life easier I added some extensions to my Syren serving machine (Img_1). I also used the open and closed heart kits from Syren. They show more details than the parts provided in the initial ship model kit (Img_3), and being assembled of three different wood layers the danger of accidentally breaking them is minimal.  The ropes for the collars were all served with a 100 wt silk thread. For the round seizings I used a 100wt silk thread of a slightly different color. Images 2 – 7 show the process and the final result. Img_8 presents the bowsprit assembly in its current state.

 

Thomas

 

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[Chuck]

Wonderful!!!   Nicely done.

[Stuntflyer]

That looks so nice!

[Gahm]

Thank you Chuck and Stuntflyer for your kind comments! And thanks for all the likes! I am looking forward to finally being able to permanently mount the bowsprit. I have been waiting for this moment for quite a while 🙂

 

Thomas

[CiscoH]

Dang that looks good.  Great job!

[archjofo]

 I like to repeat it:

Very clean and crisp work, and attention to detail.

Excellent craftsmanship.  

[Gahm]

Thank you, Johann!

[Blue Ensign]

Beautiful work Thomas, an excellent demonstration of how to do it.

 

B.E.

[glbarlow]

Very meticulous and impressive. How did you close the loop (the photo of just a loop of served rope)?  Very clever modification of the servo-matic. 

[Gahm]

Thank you, B.E. and Glenn for your kind words, and again thanks for all the likes! Glenn, the loop was closed with a 'simulated splice', i.e. I glued both ends together with CA and served the connection with the two ends of the serving thread, which I had left there for this purpose when serving the rope.

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

A little progress . . . the bowsprit is now permanently mounted. The splashguard was made out of three 1/32” layers of boxwood, sequentially wetted, the first layer bent around a jig, the following layers around the existing preceding one (or two), and glued together. This layer technique resulted in a very stable design, which held the shape and also presented no problems when cutting the fairleads (img.  1 – 3).  The gammoning can be seen in img. 4 – 5. And finally I added the bumkins shown in img. 6 - 8 with double stropped blocks (img. 6). Double stropping nicely allows for the 90° between the block and the lashing to the bumkin. It also shows again how universally the Syren serving machine can be applied.  Img. 9 and 10 give an impression of the current state of the model.

 

Thomas

 

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Edited June 28, 2022 by Gahm

[rafine]

Looking great, Thomas.

 

Bob

[Stuntflyer]

Looks great, Thomas!

[Gahm]

Bob and Stuntflyer, thank you for your kind remarks! And thanks for all the likes! They are all highly appreciated.

 

Thomas

[Blue Ensign]

Love the Mermaid figure Thomas,  and that port quarter stern shot is stunning.

 

B.E.

[glbarlow]

Very well done, pristine and crisp work!

[Gahm]

Thank you, B.E. and Glenn! This kind of feedback is always highly motivational and appreciated!

 

Thomas

[Tigersteve]

Love this build! Not sure if you’ve addressed this, but have you considered the case design? 
Steve

[AJohnson]

What a fantastic build, image #9 (img_9) is just brilliant. 😲

[gulfmedic1]

On 2/18/2013 at 7:18 PM, Gahm said:

The copper plating of the hull is finished. After
experimenting with different nail patterns I finally settled for one. The
following images show the hull preparation, the production of the nail head using a variation of
Alan’s method with the diabetes needles, and the resulting copper plating.

 

I first prepared the hull by filling every hole with wood
filler, treating the hull with MinWax Sanding Sealer and sanding it down to a
very smooth finish.

 

 

To produce the nail head I designed the desired pattern with
MS PowerPoint, shrank it to the right scale and printed it out (image 2.1). I
glued the image of the nail pattern on a piece of 3mm thick balsa wood which in
turn was glued to a thin piece of plywood. I made sure that no glue was between
the balsa and the plywood under the area where the printed image of the nail
pattern resided. Using a #80 drill (~0.3 mm diameter; Micro-Mark) and a micro
pin chuck (Micro-Mark) mounted in my drill press I drilled the holes for the
nail pattern (image 2.2). The soft balsa wood allows the thin drill to proceed
without bending. Once the drill hits the hard plywood the drill channel in the balsa
wood acts as a guide for the thin drill ensuring that it enters the plywood
without being deflected or bent. Next I removed the metal needles (~0.3mm
diameter) from the plastic heads of the diabetes needles bought at Wallmart
with a pair of pliers and inserted the needles into the drilled holes (image
2.3). Pushing the balsa wood surface against a flat piece of metal ensures that
all needles end in the same plane (image 2.4). The needle ends sticking out of
the plywood side were glued together with JB Weld (image 2.5). Now the nail
head can be cut out according to the drawing glued on top of the balsa wood.
The balsa wood surface is then sanded down until all needles show a complete
diameter perfectly aligned in the balsa wood plane (image 2.6). As a next step
the balsa wood can be separated from the plywood (for this reason it is
important to have no glue between balsa and ply wood underneath the nail
pattern drawing, see image 2.7) and the nail head is finished.

 

 

Experimenting with different nail patterns. The 3 nail heads
in the front were used for my model – one for starboard, one for backboard, and
a symmetric one for the dress belt.

 

The “Sensipress” (Micro-Mark) came in handy for the copper
plate mass production.

 

Resulting copper plate pattern.

 

 

Here are some additional views of the copper plated hull:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your jigs for making the rivit heads on the copper look like they are nails or pin but when I look at the copper plates they have outward rivits but your tool you used to mass produce them look like your stamping on the copper side not the tape side so wouldnt the rivits be indented sorry if im looking at it wrong

[gulfmedic1]

On 6/8/2015 at 9:28 PM, Gahm said:

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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Image 7

 

 

 

Sorry for the questions, Its been a while since Ive been on the site. What is Chucks syren company is there a link

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, gulfmedic1 said:

Chucks syren company is there a link

https://syrenshipmodelcompany.com/

 

[Gahm]

Steve and Andrew, thank you for your kind remarks! And again, thanks for all the 'Likes'!

Gulfmedic1, I apologize for the late reply. I did not have access to the internet for several days and therefore did not see your question. The rivets are imprinted the usual way, i.e. the result are really rivets which are not 'outward' rivets but 'inward' rivets. Amazingly due to their small size it is difficult to distinguish - like an optical illusion. To achieve this size - also to stay somewhat within the correct scale - I used diabetes needles for the inprint. 

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

Oh Steve, I overlooked your question. The case design is not yet clear. Currently I am collecting images of all case ideas, which I like. I should have a pretty good collection once I will need to answer this question 😊

 

Thomas

[archjofo]

Hi Thomas,

this will be a particularly beautiful model. 
The last pictures of it is admirably beautiful.

[Gahm]

Thank you, Johann! Your kind remark means a lot to me!

 

Thomas

[svein erik]

she is a beauty, it wil be a lovely model wen finished☺

 

svein.erik

[Gahm]

Thank you, Svein! At my building speed I hope that I ever will get to the finishing point 😃

 

Thomas

[abelson]

Just checking in to your build. Excellent, detailed work. Slow and steady as she goes. I’ve completed my Syren and have moved on to the Niagara.

[Gahm]

Thank you, Steven! This year life really got in my way. But hopefully I have the time to be back in the shop soon.

 

Thomas