Syren 1803 1:64 Model Shipways

Very little has been accomplished since I finished planking the hull. I have now filled and sanded the hull as necessary. I’m going to use a diluted PVA glue or a scenic cement to seal the wood. Then after testing on scrap basswood I’ll see if it’s suitable, longterm, for the copper plate tape glue.

However, everything is almost at a standstill now as I prepare for eye surgery later this month. I know recovery will be a few weeks and I suspect I will be given my orders with regard to ship modelling. The fine dust from sanding may be a problem as may other contaminants. In particular I wonder if CA glue fumes will adversely affect the “new” intraocular lenses over time.

So lots of reading in the next few weeks. I have a stockpile of books sitting on bookshelves and lots of time to lurk around this SOS site reading all your great posts. I wonder if it will get me out of doing the dishes, vacuuming and laundry? :D
 
My dear friend - I will join Paul in prayers for you. That is all that we can do.
 
Hello Heinrich, thank you for your ever present support. I am told this type of surgery is not as scary as it sounds. There are many others in much more difficult circumstances. My biggest concern is if it will affect my ship modelling over time. However, I will adjust to the newness of it all. Maybe it means an HMS Victory at 1:10 scale :D
 
RogerD said:
Very little has been accomplished since I finished planking the hull. I have now filled and sanded the hull as necessary. I’m going to use a diluted PVA glue or a scenic cement to seal the wood. Then after testing on scrap basswood I’ll see if it’s suitable, longterm, for the copper plate tape glue.

However, everything is almost at a standstill now as I prepare for eye surgery later this month. I know recovery will be a few weeks and I suspect I will be given my orders with regard to ship modelling. The fine dust from sanding may be a problem as may other contaminants. In particular I wonder if CA glue fumes will adversely affect the “new” intraocular lenses over time.

So lots of reading in the next few weeks. I have a stockpile of books sitting on bookshelves and lots of time to lurk around this SOS site reading all your great posts. I wonder if it will get me out of doing the dishes, vacuuming and laundry? :D
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Cataract surgery? Easy peasy! You'll be at or near 20/20 and colors wil much more noticeable. I don't think CA will affect your IOL's but you should ask the opthalmologist. (I had the procedure 6 years ago).
 
Philski said:
Cataract surgery? Easy peasy! You'll be at or near 20/20 and colors wil much more noticeable. I don't think CA will affect your IOL's but you should ask the opthalmologist. (I had the procedure 6 years ago).
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Hi Phil, yes cataract and astigmatism correction plus lots of floaters. I really appreciate your response, it gives me a little more confidence in the outcome. Sometimes thinking about the unknown is worse than the process. I’ll definitely ask about the CA because even with eye protection afterwards there’s still the off-gassing in and around the model.
 
After many months working on the hull structure I decided this morning I needed to try something different, which would not include fine dust in the short term.

I thought I’d try my hand at very basic carving for the moulding strips at the transom. The Syren manual says to use 1/16”x1/16” stripwood, narrowed down a little. There is no mention of any fancy work for the two strips but I can see in Chuck’s manual that there appears to be a groove running through each moulding strip. It is very tiny but I decided to see if I could replicate this without making hand made scrapers, cutters and the like. An OptiVisor helped as did my “she who may now need more shoes” photographer.

Photo copied from Chuck’s Syren manual
185F8307-D32C-4794-9C83-6B31D36B2C04.jpeg

I took a 1/8” strip and using a tiny 1/16” gouge ran carefully and evenly along the strip against a ruler. I tipped the gouge slightly to lessen the cutting depth and give some side support as I carved steadily through the basswood. Turning the strip on it’s side I then used a miniature plane to reduce the strip to 1/16”, taking wood from both sides. The final width is about 1/16” to be reduced further by a little sanding. I made extra moulding strips in case of breakage but it looks as though they will be fine, after some cleanup. After a few practice runs the time to make each strip was about five minutes. A photo sequence below.

E93FE7EE-FBC1-4A4F-A552-B70F57E8DE8B.jpeg25854D21-7F42-4A3C-8474-324EB409CDBA.jpegA10E8546-E46A-4ECD-9070-1186576EAA0F.jpegC8AF6A5E-7F0B-4F9C-9A86-697B6BBE9BAB.jpeg992E7451-3A04-4842-B6F6-0B894F6FEA16.jpegBA7048D0-002B-49E0-9BA7-46A8576C03E9.jpeg
 
Man, I am so glad to see you back at the bench. That strip looks just like what the doctor had ordered for the Syren. Thumbsup
 
RogerD said:
Thanks Paul.
What I needed was my photographer to look at the mouldings and say "you need a power tool for that". No such luck.
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Hello, Roger. I will pretend to be your photographer and will say, you need to use a scraper or shaper as we call them. You made a very good molding, but...you are using the cutting edge of the gouge against the metal ruler, this will dull the tool. The second observation, it is kinda dangerous for your hold hand. One slip...and...God forbid!
You can buy those scrapers online but, you can make them by yourself, pretty much all kinds of shapes, out from an old\dull sheetrock cutter blades. You can do it with diamond-coated needle files or cutting disks in a rotary tool.
The power tool might not be a good choice for such a small molding, IMHO
 
Jimsky said:
Hello, Roger. I will pretend to be your photographer and will say, you need to use a scraper or shaper as we call them. You made a very good molding, but...you are using the cutting edge of the gouge against the metal ruler, this will dull the tool. The second observation, it is kinda dangerous for your hold hand. One slip...and...God forbid!
You can buy those scrapers online but, you can make them by yourself, pretty much all kinds of shapes, out from an old\dull sheetrock cutter blades. You can do it with diamond-coated needle files or cutting disks in a rotary tool.
The power tool might not be a good choice for such a small molding, IMHO
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Hi Jim,

Thanks for the great advice. As I look at the photos I can see exactly what you mean about the holding hand. I also agree the gouge edge will get dulled quickly using the steel rule as a guide.

I’ll look at other methods you suggest and I’ll try not to have nightmares tonight about “what if” accidents :oops:

Thanks again Jim.
 
I am going to replace some of the basswood (crumblewood :D) on my Syren build. I’d like to use a better quality wood.

I am considering either boxwood or swiss pear for the decking. I also want to replace the inner bulwark planking. However, I feel it a waste to use the boxwood or pear on the bulwarks because they will be painted that reddish colour. So I am thinking of yellow cedar for that area. The supplied basswood just does not paint well.

The cedar comes in a lot cheaper but I have never used it before in model making. I will be using Vallejo acrylics for the paintwork. I might be wrong but I believe yellow cedar is a little oily? Does anyone know if acrylic paint “takes” well on yellow cedar?

Thanks for any help, comments and advice.
 
RogerD said:
I am going to replace some of the basswood (crumblewood :D) on my Syren build. I’d like to use a better quality wood.

I am considering either boxwood or swiss pear for the decking. I also want to replace the inner bulwark planking. However, I feel it a waste to use the boxwood or pear on the bulwarks because they will be painted that reddish colour. So I am thinking of yellow cedar for that area. The supplied basswood just does not paint well.

The cedar comes in a lot cheaper but I have never used it before in model making. I will be using Vallejo acrylics for the paintwork. I might be wrong but I believe yellow cedar is a little oily? Does anyone know if acrylic paint “takes” well on yellow cedar?

Thanks for any help, comments and advice.
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So....are you going to buy pre-made lumber or buy a board to mill by yourself?
 
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