I’m glad to know I’m not alone in the rudder struggle Jack and buying them has been on my mind too. But my wife dropping mine is not something I’m going to think about
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Syren 1803 1:64 Model Shipways
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No I would not either. She meant well as she was cleaning, but well you know the rest.I’m glad to know I’m not alone in the rudder struggle Jack and buying them has been on my mind too. But my wife dropping mine is not something I’m going to think about
Roger, I think your gudgeons are great and the choice of copper is perfect.
Beautiful work on the binnacle excellent choice not to use basswood. Love the cherry with some wipe on poly it really gets warm and soft looking. Gun ports lids: how are you cutting the inside reliefs they are looking great.
Good afternoon Roger. I think those look fantastic.Another small update but a protracted battle making the rudder pintles and gudgeons. I need to get the rudder on before turning the hull upright for the deck fixtures and fittings, which I have been working away at.
I started off with the kit supplied 12” length of brass, drilled erratic bolt holes, struggled with soldering tiny pins for the pintles, ran out of the sized brass strip then decided the use of copper strips might be easier and more realistic. I had also tried various methods making the soldered gudgeons similar to Dirk’s @Dubz Modelling World. However, I couldn’t get a small enough spacing between the rudder and hull so changed tack again.
I purchased a small sheet of 0.5mm (1/64”) copper and cut scaled strips on the Byrnes table saw with lots of repeat small scale measuring. Many efforts later I decided to stop trying to line up and drill the multiple bolt holes and simply simulated them with a Dremel engraving cutter. For drilling I held the copper in place using a “Jimsky jig” @Jimsky.Then it was back to tiny soldering for the pintle pins and some careful bending. I think I now have a possible solution.
I have been at this on and off for some time and was getting “pintled off” at my lack of progress
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Ditto- we should add this to the dictionary.
“I did it my way” - good grief I am starting to sound like Grant!
. Don’t follow my bad example Roger your work is to good to go there. .Cheers Grant
Thanks Tobias, the next step is to glue them to the copper plated hull and rudder with CA. I did a test with a gudgeon that I messed up. I glued it to a copper plated piece of wood and it held really well. I realize the best option is to pin them but I will wait and see how things go.
Hello Will, thank you for your comments. Making the binnacle was an enjoyable few hours of cutting and construction. The bell, which is a “to do” is supposed to go on top but I might use an alternate idea for it’s placement.
For the gun port lids I glued two roughly 6” pieces of pear together lengthwise. Glued together they gave me half the gun port height (half lids). I made up quite a few extras. Then measured the required rabbets and milled along and across the now joined 6” pieces. My first time milling so there were many repeats and wasted wood. For the half-circular openings I measured a diameter that is suitable for the carronades. I marked the bottom of each semi-circle on each lid so they were equal in depth. I made another mark at exactly the mid-point of each semi-circle on the top edge of the 6” pieces for each lid. That top edge mark gave me a cutting guide for a small Dremel sanding accessory. I inverted an old Dremel rotary unit I have, held in place in an old little Dremel router table. I then cut a notch in line with the top mark to guide me and then eye-balled the sanding till I had my semi-circle. Each one was done separately and it took a while to get reasonably competent. I tried a sized drill bit originally but it tended to shred the rabbet edges. I tried drilling before doing the rabbets too but I found similar broken edges when it came to milling the rabbets. I am not competent in milling by any means! There was a pile of messed up lids that were returned to the builders yard under warranty
.I hope I my explanation makes sense. Sometimes it’s easier to see it in your own head than trying to describe it.
You are very complimentary Grant but I know there are a lot of SOS members who would agree with me when I say you are a great example of an excellent modeller - true story (where did I hear that before?)Good afternoon Roger. I think those look fantastic.
Ditto- we should add this to the dictionary.
Cheers Grant
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Very clear explanation of the lids and rabbits. As to trying to mill a gun port slot you'd spend a lot of time and effort jigging up the pieces in the vise. Your idea seems to be a better approach.
Scrape wood oh! yes my box keeps needing to be fed when I cutting wood especially with the scroll saw.
Scrape wood oh! yes my box keeps needing to be fed when I cutting wood especially with the scroll saw.
Quarter badges
As I progress to more of the external fixtures I have come up against the matter of the quality of the metal fittings in the kit.
I cleaned up the quarter badges as best I could and it’s obvious from the first photo how difficult it is to paint fine lines. So I experimented a little and air-brushed the whole badge, then dry-brushed the shingle looking things on the top. I then painted the imitation windows black and allowed for a tiny glassy sheen. The second photo shows the results of that first effort. Reasonable from a distance (10 metres) but maybe too crappy close up.
As far as I can tell quarter badges were less common on these smaller ships and tended to serve no purpose. In many cases quarter badges were omitted completely, so now I have choices:
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As I progress to more of the external fixtures I have come up against the matter of the quality of the metal fittings in the kit.
I cleaned up the quarter badges as best I could and it’s obvious from the first photo how difficult it is to paint fine lines. So I experimented a little and air-brushed the whole badge, then dry-brushed the shingle looking things on the top. I then painted the imitation windows black and allowed for a tiny glassy sheen. The second photo shows the results of that first effort. Reasonable from a distance (10 metres
) but maybe too crappy close up.As far as I can tell quarter badges were less common on these smaller ships and tended to serve no purpose. In many cases quarter badges were omitted completely, so now I have choices:
- Mount the painted quarter badges as shown on the left (after a little more tweaking).
- Use one subdued colour covering the badges completely, then mount them so they are not overly prominent but the build effect on the quarter is there.
- Omit them completely.
- ?
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You’ve got skills Roger - could you make your own? It wasn’t on your list of options.
A much appreciated vote of confidence, thanks Paul. I’m wary of saying I have the ability to make them but heck this hobby is about continued learning and practicing different techniques, so worth an effort at least. I think it will be an intermittent mini project as I continue other parts of the build.
Time to get out the tiny gouges and razor sharp blades (Jim @Jimsky is now horrified I have sharp gouges in my hands again ).
Time to get out the tiny gouges and razor sharp blades (Jim @Jimsky is now horrified I have sharp gouges in my hands again
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I agree with Paul. I must say you work is great. The castings on my Syren were so bad pieces of the laurel were missing and Model Shipways replaced them upon my request.
Thanks Will. I think getting casting replacements might be a bit hit-or-miss. I’ll try making them and see how it goes.
I didn't add them at all when I did my Syren. Quite frankly I didn't know what purpose they would serve.
If I had to do it again, I would have tried 3D printing these things.
Oh wait, I don't have a 3D printer! Well I think I just found my new CHristmas present. lol
If I had to do it again, I would have tried 3D printing these things.
Oh wait, I don't have a 3D printer! Well I think I just found my new CHristmas present. lol
Three D printing might be as hard considering that you'd still have to make a 3D model to print. But still a good Christmas present.
Roger this is some very useful information of how to make you own counter badges.
Go to Model Ship World and search for the below entry
US Brig Syren by WalrusGuy - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64
Page #7 and it starts with entry #208 and continues for several pages.
This morning I looked at my Syren badges which are nowhere as nice as yours. Looking back i've decided to make my own now.
Go to Model Ship World and search for the below entry
US Brig Syren by WalrusGuy - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64
Page #7 and it starts with entry #208 and continues for several pages.
This morning I looked at my Syren badges which are nowhere as nice as yours. Looking back i've decided to make my own now.
That is very helpful, thanks Will. It looks like his modular type of approach works well. Doing piece by piece means less chance of messing up overall.
Merry Christmas Jack
Roger post as you go I'll be following along. I am definitely going to replace mine when I get my work shop back. (hopefully in 3 more months)