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

[Elijah]

The rigging looks great Sal! Are you planning to use the working sheaves to change the angle of the spars for a realistic and dramatic affect? If you do, I'm sure you'll make it look great!

[_SalD_]

And interesting thought Elijah but.....I think the spars on this ship will stay right where they are, maybe next time.

[rafine]

Great looking rigging Sal. I've found that no matter how many times I've done it, the run of the lines down to their belaying points is always a puzzle. My "solution" is often to leave a lot of the lines hanging loose until I can figure out which will go in front of what. Not scientific, but useful.

 

Bob

[_SalD_]

Thanks for the tip Bob.  It's amazing how many lines are on these ships and how they kept them all in order.

Edited April 14, 2016 by _SalD_

[CDW]

Having sufficient, uncorrected vision to see all this rigging is something taken for granted until you lose it. Being grateful for my corrected vision and the tools to at least get a chance to continue my modeling experience, it is no substitute for natural, uncorrected 20-20 vision. Unintentional "banging into things" just seems to go along with corrected vision, be it glasses or visors or whatever.

But on to the real important business at hand...great looking model, Sal! Absolutely super. 

[_SalD_]

Thanks daddyrabbit.  I think I'll look for a smaller magnifier, the visor I have is like wearing a welders helmet.  

[J T Lombard]

Sal:

 

Let us know which magnifer you find & what you think of it. That would be most helpfull to the rest of us who are going blind.

 

regards

 

J

[CDW]

I bought these from Amazon. They are small (compared to a visor) and comfortable. The LED lights are a plus. However, I wish it came with maybe some 2X or maybe 5X at the most, lenses. 10X is the smallest size they came with and that's a little too much for rigging. But they are very good for extremely small things.

 

http://www.amazon.com/LEMONBEST-Magnifier-Jeweler-Magnifying-Glasses/dp/B010FOSA0W?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

 

Craig

[_SalD_]

Thanks Lawrence really appreciate the kind words

[_SalD_]

Lawrence thanks so much for the compliment I really appreciate it.  It's been so long since doing those I needed to go back and refresh my memory.

Edited April 19, 2016 by _SalD_

[_SalD_]

The last yard!!  The spritsail was hung and rigged following Chuck's instructions.  The hardest part was tying off the spritsail braces to the pin rails with the lower yard's sheets and tacks rigging in the way.  The only other little problem was that the directions for running these lines abruptly stops so you know where it starts but not where it ends.  Like I said though it’s not a major problem because it’s shown on the drawing.

 

 

Completed spritsail rigging.

 

 

My method for checking if the yards are square to the ship centerline. Not too bad for an amateur.  You need to be careful standing over the ship to look down that you don't hit the bowsprit.

 

 

All rigged out and ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

Rigging this ship was, to say the least, an experience, an enjoyable one though.  Enjoyable because of Chuck’s detailed instructions.  If it wasn’t for his instructions I’d still be fumbling around on the footropes.  For those of you working on this ship if you go step by step as shown in the manual you should have no problems at all.  That being said the only little deviation I made was the placement of the rope coils on the belaying pins.  I had started to put them on as I ran the lines but I found that it was getting hard to tie off the later lines with the coils in the way.  So I just waited until everything was finished, except for the lower yard’s sheets and braces, to put all the coils on. That went for the cleats on the bulwarks and the tops also.

 

 

And one complaint, not with the directions but with the amount of  line that is provided with the kit because I ran out of 0.012 and 0.018 manila line.  Maybe it was the lack of experience on my part as to how much line to use for each rigging line but I didn’t think I was wasting that much.  They did however give me a lot of .021 manila thread but you don’t use it anywhere.  I also ran out of 1/8” double blocks and I know I didn’t waste or lose them.

 

On to the anchors.

[alde]

She looks fantastic Sal. Congratulations on a project well done.

[_SalD_]

Thanks Al, I'm almost done, just  need to add the anchors and flags.

[GLakie]

Love those over-all shots of her Sal! Outstanding work! 

[Gahm]

What a fantastic sight, Sal! Can't wait to get there myself . . .

 

Thomas

[JesseLee]

Me too!

 

Jesse

[_SalD_]

Thanks George, Thomas and Jesse.  Sometimes when you do something you even impress yourself, I have to say (humbly) that this is one of those times.

 

I'd like to thank all those who hit the likes button too, the likes are always appreciated 

[Elijah]

Great work Sal! Do you know what you're going to do with her when you're done?

[_SalD_]

That's a good question Elijah and I hadn't given it much thought until you asked the question.  Do I keep it in the basement man cave so basically only I can look at her?  Or do I keep it upstairs so the Admiral, myself and friends who come over occasionally can look at her? Or do I loan it to the local library (I don't think I could donate this one) so many people could enjoy it?   Decisions, decisions, when I decide I'll let you know.

[JesseLee]

She looks too good to keep hidden away for your eyes only!

 

Jesse

[_SalD_]

Anchors aweigh...

 

For the anchors I decided not to use the provided metal stocks and tried making my own.  Four pieces of wood, 5/32” square, were notched with a file for the anchor and then glued together.  After the pieces were dry  they were tapered per the detail shown on the drawings.

 

The anchor buoys were also made a the same time.  These were made out of a 5/16” diameter dowel, chucked into my ‘poor man's lathe’ and shaped per the plans using a small file.

 

 

After the stocks were tapered they were stained, then faux treenails were added, and then the iron bands put on.  The treenails were simulated by drilling holes into the stocks and then filled with a Minwax blend stick, the iron bands were made using the copper foil tape, blackened and cut into 1/16” strips.  The anchors were paint black and the buoys were stained.  The harnesses were made and tied around the buoys as described in the manual.  The iron rings were made from 22 gauge wire and wrapped (puddened) with .021 rigging line (hard to see in the picture). I kind of cheated when doing this because I found that I could serve the wire while it was straight and then bend it around a 3/16” diameter dowel to make the ring. The ends of the pudden need to be cut back a little so the ring can fit into the anchor hole.  All the anchor pieces were assembled and the lines were then tied to the anchors and buoys

 

 

 

 

Lashing the anchors to the cap rails and the buoys to the shrouds was pretty straight forward. The hard part (and now I know why Dirk ran his anchor cable ahead of time) was threading the anchor rope along the deck with all the rigging in the way.  That was tough especially wrapping it around the riding bits.  One thing that would have made it a bit easier would have been to drill a deeper hole in the hull where the cable does down through the hatch openings.  I only had about a ¼” deep hole and had a difficult time bending and holding the rope in place while the glue dried.  With a deeper hole, say  ¾” to 1” deep, the thick rope would have been easier to bend into the hole and keep in place.

 

 

 

 

All I have left to do are the rope coils for the buoys and the flags and some last minute tweaking.  I don’t want to rush but I’m hoping to finish everything for the Northeast Ship Model Conference this Saturday in New London, CT.  Finished or not I will still be bring her.

[JesseLee]

Love the anchor stocks and buoys. Thanks for showing me how to do it when I get to them on mine

 

Jesse

[alde]

More fantastic work Sal. You and the other Syren builders are making the kit shine.

[Seventynet]

Lovely work Sal. So much for me to learn from your build. Thanks for sharing.

 

Best, Ian

[_SalD_]

Dirk,Jesse, Al, Ian, thank you all for the nice words and I'm glad to share my experiences with you all as I build this model.  I've learned so much on this website that it seems only right to give something back when I can.

 

And thanks for all the likes also.

[usedtosail]

Sal, those anchor buoys are tough to rig. You did a fine job. I will also have to remember how you did the puddin. I find that hard to do too.

[_SalD_]

Thanks Tom.  One more thing about wrapping the pudden on the straight wire is that I put a little ca glue on the wire as I wrapped it to keep the line in place.  The white serving thread was added after the ring was formed.

 

ps:  Happy Birthday

Edited April 27, 2016 by _SalD_

[Gahm]

Excellent job, Sal! Your Syren is a real beauty!

 

Thomas

[Elijah]

She looks stunning! Great job!

[WackoWolf]

For those that don't know yet, Sal took 1st place at the show in Ct. Congrats Sal.