US Brig Syren by Gahm - Model Shipways

[rafine]

Thomas, I just realized that in my time away from modeling, I had had not seen your Syren in a long time. It looks absolutely great. It seems, however, that you, like me, have not used the virus lockdown time for modeling. 

 

Bob

[Gahm]

Thank you, Bob! Yes, you are right, during the last two years my business obligations doubled or even trebled, and I have a hard time freeing up a few hours for modeling now and again. Especially this whole Corona disaster generates the need for new business strategies to be able to survive, which translates into a lot of extra work. I really regret this because like you I love to build ship models. But like all of us I have to deal with reality . . . 

 

Thomas  

[Gahm]

To hang the jolly boat from the rear davits a few steps are necessary: I need to get the rudder pendants out of the way, close the gun ports, hang the jolly boat from the davits and relocate/ re-tackle the long guns. As a first step of course a lot of destruction is necessary . . .

 

Img 1 shows the initial solution for the rudder pendant. With this solution on my Syren the rudder pendants and the tackles for the jolly boat would have touched each other where they crossed (img 2). To avoid this I used a slightly different solution for the rudder pendants, which can be found on a lot of models and follows in general the guidelines from Steel (img 3). This solution moves the crossing points of the rudder pendants to a part of the davits, which has a stronger slope and which allows to have the ropes cross each other without touching: the rudder chain is moved outward and hung from three hooks on each side of the rudder (imgs 4-5). Each rudder pendant is attached to a ring at the end of the rudder chain via a moused hook with a ring splice and a thimble (img 6). Imgs 7-8 show details of the implementation.

 

Thomas

 

 

 

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[Gahm]

Thank you for the likes!

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

Finally the changes to the stern of my Syren are finished. The gun ports are closed (img 1), the long guns are back in place and rigged (imgs 2 and 3), and the jolly boat is in its final position (imgs 4 – 8).

 

Thomas

 

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[Dowmer]

Flawless execution.  Beautiful work. 

[NovaStorm]

In awe of the striking level of detail you insist on. It inspires me to do better.   

[rafine]

Remarkable work Thomas. 

 

Bob

[Gahm]

Thank you Dowmer and NovaStorm, and thanks for all the likes! Your feedback and your kind words are highly appreciated! And you are right, 'the devil is always in the details' 🙂, but this is also where the fun is.

 

Thomas

[Stuntflyer]

Wonderful work, Thomas. Detailed and neat.

 

Mike

[JesseLee]

Love it! I wish I had done this with mine.

[Gahm]

Bob, Mike and Jesse, thank you so much for your kind comments!

 

Thomas

[yvesvidal]

GORGEOUS !!!! That Stern is so beautiful and your attention to details is amazing.

You have done a masterpiece.

 

Yves

[Gahm]

Thank you, Yves!

 

Thomas

[Overworked724]

Love your build!!!  Such clean work!

 

[Kevin]

wow

 

it is so very clean, tidy and precise, very nice indeed

[schooner]

Gahm, 

Wonderful work! I've got the Syren on the shelf and am noting those build logs worth emulating and yours is sure one of them!

Question about the carronades - are they kit-supplied or after market from BlueJacket or Caldercraft ? The ones in my kit are way too skinny.

 

Thanks and keep up the good work!

[Gahm]

Thank you, Schooner! The kit-supplied carronades are a bit on the skinny side, also when compared to the plans. I bought the ones on my Syren from Caldercraft and modified them a little.

 

Thomas

[Beef Wellington]

I always marvel at your updates Thomas, such a beautiful model...thanks for sharing.

[Gahm]

Thank you, Jason!

[glbarlow]

This is quite amazing work - well done!

[Gahm]

I started with the Syren longboat construction. Using Chuck’s plans provided in the Syren kit I subtracted from the frame profiles the amount caused by frame thickness (1/32’’) and planking (<1/32’’) and built a jig out of bass wood (imgs 1-2). I milled a longitudinal groove in the center of the jig for the keelson. The keelson consisted out of boxwood (width 1/16’’) with 1/32’’-wide notches cut into it at regular intervals of 5/32’’ (img 3). A thin layer of plastic foil was inserted between the keelson and the jig to insure that the longboat would not accidentally be glued to the jig during the building process. Using the mill I ‘transferred’ the keelson notches to port and starboard side of the jig to drill holes (diameter ~1/16’’) and cut slots perpendicular to the jig. Both were placed as close to the jig as possible (img 4). With these preparations finished boxwood strips of 1/32’’x1/32’’ were soaked in hot water, inserted one after the other in the holes close to the jig, bent through the corresponding keelson notches and moved through the slots on the other side to the jig. Each boxwood frame was glued into place at those three points (img 5). As a next step the keel assembly was built consisting of stem, keel, deadwood, sternpost, and transom (img 5). A rabbet was cut on both sides of the stem to facilitate planking later on. The last three rear frames were assembled out of small profile pieces and boxwood strips to accommodate the shape of the frames. Img 6 shows the front and the rear part of the finished framing. Finally to stabilize the whole construction two planks were glued to the frames on both sides (img 7). After cutting the frames above the points where they were glued to the jig the whole longboat frame assembly could be removed from the jig. This was primarily done to ensure that it would come off in one piece and that the whole construction worked 😉. The result is shown in images 8 – 10. To facilitate planking the longboat frame will be screwed to the jig again later on.

 

Thomas

 

 

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[NovaStorm]

Great job making the jig, the framing looks fantastic Thomas. Great update  

[Justin P.]

Wow.   This project is the one by which all others should be judged.   Simply amazing.   

[Gahm]

Thank you Robin and Justin for your great comments! And thanks for all the Likes! Building these little boats is a lot of fun. And as far as I know Syren had three of them. So there is still a lot to do 🙂

 

Thomas 

[Overworked724]

Bloody Awesome!!!  Seriously...I think I just peed a little in my excitement. 
 

That is simply brilliant!

Edited November 4, 2020 by Overworked724

[Gahm]

Thank you, Patrick!

 

Thomas

[niwotwill]

Thomas

I'm with everyone on you work. Reading Patricks comment I decided to go the loo before reading your log. Awesome.

 

Back too belaying pins and the lathe. Looking at the photos leaves me wondering how you repeated the pattern. Do you use a pattern follower or some other method? I'd love to make my pins but just don't know how I'd repeat the pattern for the necessary uniformity.

Stay well and Stay safe

Will 

[cog]

Impressive Thomas, very much so!

[Nirvana]

Great jig work, Thomas

I better print that one out otherwise I will forget how you did it.