US Brig Syren by _SalD_ – FINISHED - 3/16" scale

[Gahm]

Well done, Sal! Excellent progress! You left me in your wake . . .  Now I can look at your log to see how it's done 

 

Thomas

[Gundorph]

I will do Sal...

[_SalD_]

...... Now I can look at your log to see how it's done 

 

Thomas

Thanks Thomas, means a lot to me (he says very humbly).  You do have some deck fixtures done I still need to do though.

[jbelwood]

Hi Sal,

 

Really sorry I missed the last meeting. John A. couldn't say enough about your Syren 

when I spoke to him recently.

 

It's been 7 weeks since my surgery. I do expect to be at the October meet and hope

you bring her back so I can have a look-see. In the mean time I've been going through

your build these past few days and WOW, you've become a master builder over night.  

 

John E.

[_SalD_]

Thanks John,hope you're doing well. John A. filled us in on your surgery at the meeting..  I will definitely bring the ship to the next meeting, see you then.

[_SalD_]

Chapter 11 complete, all carronades assembled and rigged (I didn't rush Joe).  Except for the repetition rigging the cannons wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. Using the hooks from Syren help a lot.  If I had to make all the hooks and drill them into the blocks as described in the manual I don’t think I’d be a happy camper plus they look a lot better than any hook I would have made.   I also did not seize the line to the blocks or strop them as you would normally do.  I did this first to keep my sanity and secondly because there wasn’t enough space between the outhaul tackle eye bolts for the blocks plus the hooks plus all the seizing.  I just used a simple overhand knot to tie the hook to the line that I wrapped around and glued (CA) to the block and a modified slip knot to tie the rigging line to the block.  All the rope coils were made off the ship and glued in place.

 

[Gundorph]

Looks perfect... Fantastic work...

[_SalD_]

Thanks Gundorph and as always thanks for the 'likes'.

[GLakie]

She looks great with all her teeth in place and rigged Sal. Nice job!   

Edited September 29, 2015 by GLakie

[_SalD_]

Thanks George, two more trailing cannons to go but I'll save those for a little later.

[Gahm]

What a fantastic sight! Well done!

 

Thomas

[augie]

The 12 pounders are fun!!! Nice work.

[_SalD_]

Thanks Thomas and Augie.

[_SalD_]

Chapter 12 – Deck Fittings

 

I was going to start this chapter by cutting and assembling the coaming frame pieces for the small aft-most hatch until I read Chuck’s Cheerful build log and how he made his hatches. In his log he, and it seems so obvious now, recommended building the grating first and then build the frame to fit around it.  So following Obi-Wan-Passaro’s advice I changed course and made all the grating pieces for the hatches.  This worked out well because I was able to lay out the grating so I ended up with a banded edge all around the perimeter of the grating.  The pieces are slightly smaller or larger than what’s shown on the drawing but not enough to be noticeable.  After inserting all the bars to make the proper size grating I squared it up using a few Lego blocks.  The piece was made upside down and held together using a tiny drop of ca glue at each joint.

 

 

 

After letting the pieces set overnight I cut the excess off using a hobby miter box.  You need to cut very slowly as some of the pieces may loosen up.  After cutting the edges were sanded smooth and any loose bars were re-glued.

 

 

 

 

Now I can make the frames. (errrrr…right Chuck?)

[_SalD_]

Dirk, I'm not exactly sure which bars you a referring to but are they the ones I am pointing to in the below photo?  If so I think I can correct that by turning the grating over and using the other side.

 

 

[GuntherMT]

Sal, 

 

That's what he is talking about.  The fore/aft bars of the grate should be the ones that are on the top.  I did my first grating wrong too, but luckily I only have one small grating on the ship.

[_SalD_]

Thanks Dirk and Brian.  I appreciate the comments.  I think I should just be able to turn the pieces over to have the grate go in the right direction.  If not I think I'll just live with it for this ship.

[Jason]

Hi Sal,

 

Your Syren is looking really good!  The cannonades are great.

 

I always like to see when other people use Lego blocks to square things up.  My kids often see a couple of their blocks on my work table  .

[_SalD_]

Thanks Jason, I had to steal mine from my nephew, my daughters weren't into Legos.

[_SalD_]

Dirk, how does this look, better?

 

[_SalD_]

After getting my grating bars spanning in the right direction (thanks Dirk) I moved onto the coaming for the hatches.  I believe it was Brian in his AVS log that used a 1/16” square file to cope the ends of the coaming for the lap joints so I thought I would give that a try.  I clamped the pieces into a vise and using the file I notched them accordingly.  I also cut down the coaming where the capstan platform is located so the planking will sit flush.

 

 

 

 

I assembled the frame upside down and used my trusty lego block to square it up and then used a tiny drop of ca glue to tack the pieces together.  Once the entire frame was assembled I painted each joint with a dilute mixture of white glue and water.  After letting the glue to dry overnight I trimmed and sanded the ends.

 

 

The shot racks were made using my Proxxon drill press and compound table which helped keep the notches in line and evenly spaced.

 

 

Coaming and grating stained, and cannon balls added.

 

[riksgewijs]

Looks great, lots of guns.

I am busy with the canons myself. It's a great ship. Follow your work with great interests.

[_SalD_]

 

 

Did you sand the curvature?

 

Dirk

 

I did but it's very slight.  Taking measurements from the drawings the scaled curvature (radius) of the deck is roughly 36", so I tried to match that radius for the hatches. It wasn't easy.   

[_SalD_]

Looks great, lots of guns.

I am busy with the canons myself. It's a great ship. Follow your work with great interests.

 

Thanks riksgewijs, I like the cannons too.

[GuntherMT]

I didn't do lap joints at all on my AVS, so it wasn't me, but your hatches came out magnificently!

[_SalD_]

Thanks Brian, I guess I'll need to read the logs more carefully.

 

And thanks for all the likes

[WackoWolf]

Can't wait to see it this Saturday. Beautiful work _SaID_

 

Joe

[Gahm]

Very nice job on your gratings! They look splendid!

 

Thomas

[_SalD_]

Thanks Joe, see you Saturday

 

Thank you Thomas much appreciated

[rtropp]

Beautiful work,

Richard