USS Syren 1803 by Dubz

[Dubz]

Channels done. Boarding ladder V1 done, not sure if I'm happy with it
BTW, most of the parts are not glued yet, even the pinrails are just pinned. I like to do all of the single parts and "collect" them, when all parts, preparation and needed repaints are done the parts will be finaly glued.





Stern davits. They had to be rebuild, as the laser cutted ones were not high enough. If in Chucks pictures they were higher. Anyway did them in pear though
Cutting the transom was some sort of needed deconstruction I not really like





Rebuild the shotracks. The bullets are now closer together and I use bigger ones than the kits one.



Bridle ports: Modelling for me is sometimes trying out what is possible, so I decided to do the port lids with working hinges ...
I used some micro tube and 0.45mm wire for the hinges.











It works, yeah, but it is a lot of work, not sure if I will the open ports this way ..

cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

Both briddle ports are done .. looking forward to do the rest ... haha .. hmpf.





Timberheads done too ... that's more of a relaxed task imo.



I then started the port lids. This is a more tricky part. I need to find a compromise between the uneven ports, and an even look when the lids are down. Still not sure yet if I make them with working hinges, but I fear I will ...

Another "problem" under these conditions was the thickness of the lids when doing them as in the instructions. They are not thick enough this way, so I decided to do them a bit different. I also did no rabbet at the top of the half-lids as imo this would make no sense.







View from inboard.



And outboard.





At least I have one major problem with the davits and the transom. I usually use the instructions as primary source but sometimes they differ from the plans. In the plans the davits seems to be more embedded in the transom, different then Chuck made it .. together with a minor unbalanced position of the transom I say "Houston we have a problem"

Need to think about if I fill it or what I do best. Thinking about painting the stern partly black too. Opinions about that?



Catheads almost finished. Even simple looking parts can take their time ..









Some impressions of the actual state ... most of the major parts are done, nothing glued yet. Right now I'm thinking about showing the Syren with closed lids. Still 32 breeching ring thingys to do for the carronades, (maybe) 48 working hinges for the lids and countless soldered rings .... puhhhh ....







cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

I finished a missing detail on the catheads and started to make the last missing deck fitting, the bowsprit bitt.



Unfortunately it looks like I have to redo it. I have major problems to get the bowsprit into the correct angle. I allreadey removed a lot of material at the bow and it's still to high .. hmpf. So only way to go seems to build the bitt higher ... gnarf.







I rebuild the bowsprit bitt, the new one is a lot higer .. hmm ..?



As I have no idea how to find the correct angle with measuring ... I did it "per eye" and rechecked with overlaying a picture over the plans. Guess (hope ) it looks ok. No idea why I had to change the height of the bitt this much ... hmpf.



cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

As I'm not in the mood doing all the tricky small massproduction stuff I started building the bowsprit.

First attempt went to trash, don't measure something as rounded when it is a square and has to squared, it will be too small Arghhhh ...

So withy my second attempt I first did the square for the bees and then sanded the dowel to the hopefully correct dimensions.

One, mmm, little annyoing thing. The instructions said using a 1/4" dowel, but this is undersized for the thickest part of the bowsprit, so I used one thicker dowel from my wood collection. Haha, and while searching for one I accidentally broke almost all of the kits dowels ... don't take a seat without looking what might be laying there ... hmpf ... Tom from ME will sooner or later hate me



Next was the construction of the bees seat and another undersized thing, the bowsprit cap is not high enough when you sand top and bottom to the needed angle, hmpf.



Then we need some sheaves. When I don't wanna make them in brass, sometimes I'm lazy, I use this tool.



Next are beeblocks and seats coming together.



And the glued and pinned to the bowsprit.







Next will be all the small stuff. I might paint the whole sprit black with the little thingys in pure pear as I like this coloring.

From next thursday on I'm then away exploring ireland, but might post some minor updates before

First I paint it black, then did the Gammon chocks with a quote from 1 good to 5 broken when drilling.

I also add as detail a leather imitation at the bowsprit cap.











The jibboom.











cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

At last the flying Jibboom.











Fairlead & Jibboom Rest done. This took longer than the jibbooms ... I have no clue how others did the fairlead with the kits part ... I tried and as soon I had a closer look it broke





Some more minor stuff done

The saddle for the spritsail yard sling.



Iron bands, might redo them with blacked brass



The dolphin striker, not sure yet it this will get black paint.







cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

I did some preaparation works for the carronades so that the carriages can be pinned to position.





Glued the slides to the carriages.





Two carronades were be glued into position too.



As you might remember I misinterpreted a bit how to notch out the transom for the davits.



This needed to be corrected





As a consequence I will (have to) paint the transom partly or full black ...

I also got Chucks blocks this week - what a awful disaster with the german customs - and they are, sure what else, great I will use pear blocks, but Chuck was so kind to send me some boxwood ones too for comparison. Both are absolute great!



Today I finished the "fixed" transom. Painting, and not only the transom, every black parts ... again ... I hate to see transitions so it had to be ... hopefully the last time

So as an advise/hint/tip/Whatever .. Paint as late as possible. It's no problem to do so as everything is easy to mask.





I also glued the catheads in position. The black color turned out well imo, nice matt finish.





I need to do the headrails sooner or later .. hmpf

cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

The rails, especially the middle rail are a really tough thing to do. Interessting is, as I only got a small basswood piece from Chuck, that means one try only, that I work much more concentrated

First I made the second headrail.



I use the laser cut parts, glued on the basswood as template for sanding with a rotary tool.



Starting the middle rail. For saftey the will be pinned together.





And carved. It's a bit thinner then the headrail .. hmpf .. but anyway ... no more basswood ... haha



Topview.



I finished the rails today.



For the middle rail the black strake needed to notch out so that the rail sits flat against the bulwarks, thanks Chuck



And all glued and pinned into position Some impressions.















cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

Back to the rails, as this is one of the tricky parts I again will post a lot of pictures, I hope you guys don't mind.

As I have no clue atm how to do the headtimbers, these are really really hard to do imo, I did the toprails first.



As you can see my head- and middle rail are a bit too short the toprail has a bit of distance to the headrail. That's fine for me, important is to have a good run with all the lines.

I then did the stanchions. It's a matter of slowly working and being concentrated, so it took some time. Be carful with drilling.



Some more impressions:







Bow looks symmetrical. Good



The last one



All right, all right I'm convinced

I still have no idea how to make the head timbers, so many angles there, so I did the entry ladders today with boxwood.



And I think it is time for some "My two babies"-shots ...











As I still have no clue how to do the headimbers, already dreaming ybout them, haha, I did some other details.

First the boarding panels.






Next was the splash guard. As the lasercut pieces were a) to thin, and b) broke immediatly I laminated 4 layers of pear veneer.



Then a bit of sanding, and voila.









cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

These head timbers are a nightmare .. haha ... hmpf ...

I guess the angles are not really correct but ... it's a damn small nightmare ....




About the carronades ... there were one detail still missing, the breeching rope rings. I thought long about how to do them and today I made my final decision

The shape of the "ring-holder" is not exact but I guess that's ok. I used Dr Dafi's photoetched eybolts and with a drill I made a slot so that the bolts are flat with the slide.







One problem solved, yeah. Now massproduction ....

I found one more detail which "needed" to be added to the carronades. The bolts holding the wheel "carrier". Unfortunately I did not think about earlier, so I don't know how to safely do the 2 slots on the slides atm.

I also would like to do the leather caps for the elevation screw, but did not find a good solution yet. Any ideas?





I finished the carronades Busty Syren has her teeth









cheers,

Dirk

[Dubz]

First I prepared some pear in the needed dimensions. Then I marked the lines were the slots must be milled.



To get the right angle I cut the paper exactly at the front view of the ladder and the I used some double-sided adhesive tape to fix it on tmy power tool.



I have a lot of different milling heads, usually I buy the very cheap chinese ones, they are pretty good though.





After carefully sanding and "breaking" the edges I glue the steps into the first side.



The comes the other side.





After another sanding round the ladders got their oil.







The board ladders will become some brass angles to be fixed on the deck.

Iron angles done





Now a bit more rounded



cheers,

Dirk