US Brig Syren by Gahm - Model Shipways

[kscadman]

Gahm, I sit here with jaw dropped. It's amazing how "real" your carronade looks. From the elevation screw to the wheels - masterful job. Have you ever thought to do a video - I would love to see how you achieved such detail. 

 

Richard

[rafine]

Thomas, I think they look great just as they are now. No further improvement needed.

 

Bob

[Littlebob]

Well done those guns and carriages look great.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Robert Vaglio

[russ]

The carriage came out beautifully. Great details. Well done.

 

Russ

[augie]

Truly well done!

[gerty]

Beautiful work !

[Blue Ensign]

Beautiful precise work Thomas, nice job on the rudder coat, a practical approach to forming this tricky little item.

 

B.E.

[Gahm]

Thank you for all the “likes” and your great feedback! As always it is most welcome and appreciated!

 

Dirk – your guns set such a high standard that I am happy if I get somewhere close to your league 

 

Richard – detailing these carronades is not much different from making 120 beautiful hammocks . . . it just takes a lot of time, patience, and dedication to our hobby. Btw, you are most welcome to “steal” my rudder coat design . . . which I “stole” from a French ship model website (http://modelisme.arsenal.free.fr/artdumodelisme/La%20Belle%20Poule/indexgb.html)

 

Bob – of course you are right . . . I could go with the current prototype. The problem is only that I have some ideas how to do it a bit better and I am just curious whether it will work and what the result will look like. So I better try it out . . . otherwise I always feel that I missed out on something 

 

Robert and Gerty – thank you for stopping by and for your nice compliments!

 

Russ – as always I highly appreciate your feedback. And I love the sentence that comes with your contributions: “T’aint a hobby if you hurry”. I keep reminding myself of this sentence when I sometimes get frustrated with my “snail’s pace” progress 

 

Augie – thank you for your feedback. It is most valuable for me as I know it is coming from somebody who has already finished the Syren and has gone through all these steps.

 

B.E. – the rudder coat is really easily underestimated. As I wrote in my log it took me several attempts to get something acceptable. So I am glad that someone with your modeling experience and craftsmanship likes the result!

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

I optimized the carronade gun barrel. Image 1 shows the comparison between the prototype (upper barrel) and the final version (lower barrel). The major difference is the beefed up breech ring and an improved blackening process. To build it I use the 18 pounder carronade from Caldercraft, reduce the size of the elevation screw holder, add the 3 pieces shown in image 2, and shape them to the final form. Image 3 shows the mounted barrel with the new elevation screw. The spikes of the screw will be a little longer in the following versions. Also the position of the carronade barrel needs to be better adjusted on the gun carriage. Image 4 shows the carronade in relation to the gun port. It ends up in its upper third, which is not ideal but still acceptable imo.

Well, all that remains to be done now is to build another 15 of these carronades . . .  .

 

Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Hi Thomas,

 

very nice work, lovely build, I liked the technique you produced your copper tiles with, asume you must be a professional toolmaker or so...

the ship Looks great in all details

 

Nils

[Gahm]

Thank you for stopping by and all the likes! It is always much appreciated.

 

Nils, thank you for your kind comments. And no, I am not a toolmaker . . . I just love ship modeling and sometimes get carried away a little bit 

 

Thomas

[kscadman]

Amazing work Thomas! Can't wait to see them rigged.

 

Richard

[Gahm]

Thank you, Richard! Can't wait to see them rigged myself . . . I only have to build another 15 to get to that point. But what are 15 carronades in comparison to 100 plus hammocks? 

 

Thomas

[kscadman]

Point well made, lol. Hammocks are getting a bit monotonous.

 

Richard

[Blue Ensign]

Great modification to the carronades Thomas, they really look the business.

 

A fine job

 

B.E.

[Gahm]

Thank you, B.E.! It is a lot of fun to build these little models.

 

Thomas

[Stuntflyer]

Hi Thomas,

 

For the second time I'm seeing your absolutely gorgeous build of the Syren. No doubt there will be a third. I just wanted to point out that there might be some photos that are not linked on page 10.

 

Mike

Edited September 12, 2014 by Stuntflyer

[Gahm]

Thank you, Mike! I noticed the same thing before, also in other build logs, that images seem to loose their link and are not accessible any longer. I don't really know what is going on. This is probably something for the site administration to look into.

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

I added the missing images on page 10. The build log should be complete again.

 

Thomas

[Guest Tim I.]

Thomas,

 

Your carronades are amazing! Could I trouble you for the link where you found the Caldercraft carronades? Maybe I am missing it, but I cannot seem to locate them.

 

Thank you,

 

Tim

[Gahm]

Thank you, Tim. I did not find a good source for these carronades here in the US. But over the years I bought ship modeling supplies from Cornwall Model Boats in the UK (http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk). In my experience they are reliable and easy to deal with. And that is also where I bought the carronades. They actually have ship model fittings from most of the leading ship model companies, including Caldercraft.

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

As I had very limited time for ship model building during the last few weeks I turned to the gratings as an easy target for fast visible results . Image 1 shows the openings which will receive the anchor cables,  images 2 and 3 depict the building of one of the gratings, image 4 shows the shot racks, and in images 5 through 7 the gratings and shot racks mounted on the Syren can be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[russ]

Those hatches and shot racks look great. Very well done.

 

Russ

[Gahm]

Thank you for all the "likes". Russ and Dirk, thank you for your kind compliments! They are always highly appreciated.

Dirk, if you have the time to wait until I am retired, which is still a few years away, I might have a chance to catch up with you  . 

 

Thomas

[VasaRodin]

Great project to follow and to learn the things.

[Gahm]

Thank you, VasaRodin. I just looked at your build log . . . you are doing an excellent job with your Syren!

 

Thomas

[VasaRodin]

Hei Thomas! Could you please comment me your picture no.7. What kind of dark material was connected to the plywood? Is this still JB weld as on picture no.5? 

[Gahm]

Hi VasaRodin! Yes, this is what the JB weld looks like once it is cured. I also sanded it in shape so that I could add some additional pieces of wood to get better handles on the print heads. It facilitates the pattern printing on the copper plates later on.

 

Thomas

[Gahm]

A little update: I was not really satisfied with the capstan platform. When I built it I kind of had forgotten that basswood is not equal basswood. When I did the deck planking I had selected the basswood strips very carefully for uniformity in grain and color and as you can see in image one the wood grain of the first capstan platform did not really match that. The grain was fuzzy and the tree nails turned out looking pretty undefined. I also took the opportunity and lowered the capstan platform a little bit. I had seen that in several Syren models (Dirk, Rendich Lightley, . . .) and I liked the looks of it better than having everything in one plane  .

 

Image 1

 

Otherwise I spent some time producing and mounting ring bolts and the last missing cleats. Images 2 – 4 show my method of making the ring- and eye-bolts: after selecting a drill bit with the right diameter for the rings (for the breech rings of the carronades and guns I use a #55 drill bit à ~2mm outer diameter) I take the next larger drill bit (#54) and tightly wrap the black anodized 28 gauge steal wire around it (image 2A), take it of the drill (image 2B) and separate the rings from each other with a sharp-nosed pair of pliers (image 2C). The resulting rings (image 3A) still need a little treatment: their ends need to be flattened with a file so that they will fit together when the rings get closed, and the rings themselves need to be flattened with another pair of flat pliers. Cleaning up the wire ends of the rings makes their circumference a bit smaller. Therefore for the final closing I use the (slightly smaller) drill bit with the target diameter (#55) mounted on a brass plate and close the rings around the drill bit with some tweezers in the plane defined by the brass plate (image 3B). The result are nicely shaped rings where the joint is barely visible (image 3C). Based on personal preferences and other considerations they still may get silver soldered – or not. 

 

 

Image 2

 

Image 3

 

To use these rings in ring bolts (image 3D) they need to be combined with eye bolts. Eye bolts can be made using a similar jig (image 4A) where the diameter is determined by the selection of the jig (image 4B,C). The eye bolts included in the Syren kit (image 4D) look fine, and there are also photo etched eye bolts commercially available (image 4E, Dafi). The latter have the advantage that they are closed and nicely round-shaped. I use them when eye bolts are mounted alone and are well visible (gun mounts). However, to insert a ring into a closed eye bolt the ring needs to be opened up again and its shape may get impacted. As with ring bolts normally the ring is the major visible part I rather open up the eye bolt and insert a finished ring. Of course, there is also the laziness factor which sometimes overrides all these noble considerations  .

 

Image 4

 

Image 5 shows a few of these eye- and ring-bolts mounted on my Syren model. They are not yet glued in as I may need to remove them again for the final gun rigging. 

 

Image 5

 

 

 

 

 

[Gahm]

Thank you for all the "likes". And Dirk, you are absolutely right, I would not mind at all sneeking into your cellar and "transferring" the one or other detail from your Syren model . You just have one of the nicest Syren builds I have seen so far! 

 

Thomas