USS Syren - By knightyo

[knightyo]

I'm also thinking about doing this on the inside with the rivets.   You guys DO have me reconsidering the whole nail thing tho....    I'll make you a deal and stop the nail folly for now, and work on the quarter galleries and figurehead, while I think about what I've done. 

[knightyo]

Mini-update....

 

Below are photos of my roughing out the figurehead.  The pattern I'm using is from an old Heller kit (I think the kit was actually Sirene?)..   At any rate, my version is slowly starting to look like a human female.   A few days ago it looked like some type of ghoul.  I'm very hopeful to have a passable figurehead in time.  I'd say she's about 1/4 way complete.  This is the first time I've ever carved a human form, so it's really been a challenge.

 

What has been even MORE of a challenge however, is the pewter piece you can see above the heads of the figureheads.  This is one of the pieces in which support the cannonades.  There will need to be 32 of them...  The amount of time I've spent trying to turn out 32 identical pieces is astonishing.   The piece above was created by a silicon mold and pewter.  It still needs to be shaped... Along with the other 31 pieces.. I'm just happy I have a mold now which is providing adequate pieces.  Creating enough vent holds for the pewter to flow through the mold without actually compromising the mold was a bit tricky.

[Tigersteve]

Nice work so far. 

Steve

[knightyo]

Thanks Steve.

 

A small update on this one.  Still working on the figurehead and quarter gallery carvings.  I have a couple figureheads in different stages of carving.  The one one the right will probably be the final unless disaster happens, which is a fairly good possibility.  I'm just working on these a little at a time.  The one one the right becomes a little more acceptable after each session.  

 

The tiny pieces in the next pic are the bottoms of the quarter galleries.  The patterns have been rough cut into them, and now it's just a mater of shaping the leaves, and then putting the assemblies all together.  I secretly have extremely high hopes for these quarter galleries.  They are in pear however, so it will be interesting to see how they look against the basswood hull.  

 

I've been set straight on the rivets on the hull (a huge thank you to those who have stopped my folly!), which I was indeed doing incorrectly.

 

A posting down the road might actually show a new pear hull to match the pear of the quarter galleries, figurehead, stern carving, etc.   The only thing stopping me from doing that right now is that it would be exceptionally hard to do well.   The rivets can all be pulled/corrected with a bit of work, but I'd also like to change the pattern around the gunports in order to have 2 holes in the ends of each plank.  We'll see.  There are some fairly severe pros/cons both ways.

 

Alan

[knightyo]

Ok, the rivets have been removed, and I've "cleaned" the rest of the holes on the port side.  My pin vice actually gave me a blister doing this, so starboard will be done on a different day.  I'm also thinking about running basswood through my drawplate for the trennails.   I'll need to run another light coat of stain over everything in order to darken them once they are installed.   

 

I was going to work on the quarter gallery carvings a bit more, but broke the last #11 while working on the Triton.  Looks like I'll be making a dash for the hobby store at lunch tomorrow!

[HIPEXEC]

Very nice detail work! I can't carve to save my butt, so that's pretty good carving.

[knightyo]

Just a quick update.  I've used my pin vice to "clean" the holes in the hull on the starboard side. I'm about 1/2 way through. My fingers are sore. 

 

I've also found that my drawplate doesn't make trennails small enough to insert into the holes. I don't want to enlarge the holes any more, so am thinking of alternatives.  I might go back to the wire idea, but not have "heads" on the wire.  Just pieces ending up flush with the hull, which should darken over time to match the hull color...  Might also do the filler/putty method, but am leery of sanding the hull at all, as I have about 2500 layers of various color applied in order to get the basswood color to be somewhat uniform...

 

Alan

 

 

Edited October 15, 2017 by knightyo

[Chuck]

That looks really nice Alan.  Its good to see that model again and I have caught up with your progress.

 

Chuck

[knightyo]

Thanks Chuck! I know this should have been completed about 8 years ago, but I'm getting there. lol

 

Alan

[knightyo]

Ok, which version of the 3 trennails do you guys think looks the best?   I have not installed them all the way, as I know I'll be pulling them back out.  They are sticking out a couple millimeters.  If we are being historically accurate, I suppose the pear at the top would be the most correct in color because it matches the color of the rest of the hull.  I love pear, but I do admit to being a little worried that the pear won't be "visible" enough. It would be a shame to put in a lot of time installing these, and not have them visible.  The unstained basswood below sure stands out, but of course maybe too much?  The lowest is the wire again, but with no "head" this time.  As I learned, it is by far the least historically accurate, but does have a happy medium between the pear/basswood.  I'm tinkering with staining the basswood a bit, but again... There's no way I'd be able to get a uniform color with stained basswood trennails....

 

I also see that the top right nail hole is off.. damn.. 

 

Alan

Edited October 21, 2017 by knightyo

[tlevine]

I vote for the pear.  The basswood is too light.  Once the finish is applied, the end grain will give it subtle contrast.

[Maury S]

Alan,

Subtlety is something to be strived for.  I too vote with Toni.

Maury

[knightyo]

Thanks guys.  Pear it is!

 

Alan

[knightyo]

Ok, I want to sincerely thank everyone who expressed their opinion on the trennails. The pear came out perfectly compared to basswood, wire, etc...  AND... my worries about the pear blending in too much with the hull were unfounded.  I learned that the natural oils from my fingers would significantly darken the ends of the trennails once installed! 

 

These are also incredibly satisfying to install.  I know a lot of people prefer to use filler in order to simulate these, but these really are a lot of fun to do.  Yes, they take about a year and a day to make, but it's worth it.   Shaping the ends into points with a small file while holding in a pair of tweezers works wonderfully.  the holes in the hill are extremely tight fits for these, so care must be taken to install fairly short trennails.  It's pretty easy to bend these if they are too long while trying to "force" into the holes. This process has also given me the opportunity to "correct" some of my misaligned holes, which I've been doing as I've been working my way down the hull.  The pic below shows the drawplate I've been using to shape the trennails.   

 

During this process however, I've determined that it is difficult to seat the nails perfectly flush with the hull.  I've been using the flat end of a the drawplate to press them in the last little bit, but you can tell from certain angles that they aren't perfectly flush.  A brand new xacto blade gently run across the tops finishes the job, but it is pretty easy to also scratch the sides by doing this.  If this was a model with no stain yet applied, this wouldn't be a problem at all; a final sanding over them would do the job very well.

 

I might actually lightly sand the hull down a bit in order to yield "perfectly" flush nails, and a "clean" look.  There are dangers in this, as I've mentioned the hull has many layers of acrylic and stain already in order provide a uniform color.  I also have to remember that the pear trennails will be significantly  harder than the surrounding basswood, and to sand accordingly.  I think the benefits outweigh the risks, however.  I'll make a final evaluation after the nails have all been installed... I'm About 1/4 of the way done at this point.   

 

Alan

 

EDIT:  And now I see the pic I took is blurry.  Of course.  I'll take more pics when I'm done.

 

Edited October 28, 2017 by knightyo

[knightyo]

On 11/13/2019 at 1:26 AM, PaavoOsoArts said:

You have done quite well here. I love your work. 

"Marine Design: An Imperative to Art, Design, & Engineering." 

 

Thanks!  I'm eager to restart progress on this one.  Now that it's been a few years, I can copy the techniques of the higher skilled builders who went before me.

 

Alan

[knightyo]

So I've done something a touch drastic with the model, but first I have a question for the group.  Take a look at the below photo.  These plates were made out of copper tape and installed circa 2008 or so.  The are now starting to peel.  Any thoughts on solutions?  There is a sick part of me that would like to place extremely small rivets in each hole in order to secure each plate;  I've made larger bolts out of wire, but something this small?  We'll see. My OCD level is indeed high enough that I'd follow through with it, if it turned out to be a viable solution. I definitely want to be careful not to do anything which would cause the plates to "crinkle" tho.

 

 

 

And now it's time for my confession.  Ever since I planked this ship years ago, I was never satisfied with the hull appearance.   As the log reflects, I've done a number of things to the planking to try and make it "good enough", but it's never hit the mark.  Sooo..... You can see what I've done.  Isn't it beautiful? 😁 Hull re-planking with swiss pear has begun!   I believe this will make the model look far and away better than the poorly stained basswood I'd installed previously.  This also makes sense, as my quarter galleries, stern decoration and figurehead are also all made out of pear, so everything should blend together.  You can see the first plank I've re-laid on top of the wale.  Once the planking has been laid, I'll be applying an aging medium I procured from Canada (after extensive testing on scrap strips).  

 

 

[Gahm]

Wow, that takes some courage!

 

Thomas

[knightyo]

1 hour ago, Gahm said:

Wow, that takes some courage!

 

Thomas

 

Well,  it did take me about 13 years to pull the trigger on that decision. 😉