Syren 1803 1:64 Model Shipways

[Corsair]

Replacement chaser cannon and parts

I haven’t posted on my build for a while as personal issues are taking precedence but I’ve worked slowly away on the chaser cannon, which will be placed soon.

I changed out the kit supplied metal cast cannon because I just didn’t like them (see photo). Much the same as I did with the carronades, I purchased two brass Caldercraft 18 pounders from Cornwall Model boats in the UK. So much better looking after blackening. However, I see I need to titivate where the black seems to have rubbed off.

Changing out the cannon meant adjusting the carriage height so they poked out sort of realistically through the aft gun ports. Note the nautical term “poked out” for “run out and deployed”. The only way I could do that was change out the trucks.

I didn’t want to change the height of the cheeks so did a little research on realistic truck diameter. Turns out for this size of cannon and carriage a for’d truck diameter of 17/64” (6.77mm) is ok with rear truck diameters of 7/32” (5.65mm) at my scale. That gives me real scale 17” front and 14” back. My solution was to make new trucks for the front end and replace the rear ones with the original ones from the front end. That gave me the little extra height overall needed for port clearance. More height would have been ideal but then the trucks would have been way out of scale. They look a bit scruffy but I’m done farting around with them. I fired the ship’s chippy .

Other small fabrications included eye ring/bolts drilled and placed in the neck of the cascabel for the breech line/s, brass brackets (cap squares) for the trunnions, new trunnions from brass rod, replacement breech line rope from Ben @BenD (Ropes of Scale) whipped and seized, pre-rigged eye bolts and rings to attach the breech lines to the stern, and trimmed down the quoin to assist with cannon to port elevation. No pins in the axles though, too tiny for me. There’s still some clean up to do and small things to add but they should be ok for now, maybe, I hope.

Thanks for following along, it’s always much appreciated.

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Great upgrade ! Well done !

 

[RogerD]

Thanks Jeff. I’ll mount them soon but I think the steering gear needs to be fitted first. Lots of fiddly stuff on the Syren but my fault for changing things out too.

 

[serikoff]

Replacement chaser cannon and parts

I haven’t posted on my build for a while as personal issues are taking precedence but I’ve worked slowly away on the chaser cannon, which will be placed soon.

I changed out the kit supplied metal cast cannon because I just didn’t like them (see photo). Much the same as I did with the carronades, I purchased two brass Caldercraft 18 pounders from Cornwall Model boats in the UK. So much better looking after blackening. However, I see I need to titivate where the black seems to have rubbed off.

Changing out the cannon meant adjusting the carriage height so they poked out sort of realistically through the aft gun ports. Note the nautical term “poked out” for “run out and deployed”. The only way I could do that was change out the trucks.

I didn’t want to change the height of the cheeks so did a little research on realistic truck diameter. Turns out for this size of cannon and carriage a for’d truck diameter of 17/64” (6.77mm) is ok with rear truck diameters of 7/32” (5.65mm) at my scale. That gives me real scale 17” front and 14” back. My solution was to make new trucks for the front end and replace the rear ones with the original ones from the front end. That gave me the little extra height overall needed for port clearance. More height would have been ideal but then the trucks would have been way out of scale. They look a bit scruffy but I’m done farting around with them. I fired the ship’s chippy .

Other small fabrications included eye ring/bolts drilled and placed in the neck of the cascabel for the breech line/s, brass brackets (cap squares) for the trunnions, new trunnions from brass rod, replacement breech line rope from Ben @BenD (Ropes of Scale) whipped and seized, pre-rigged eye bolts and rings to attach the breech lines to the stern, and trimmed down the quoin to assist with cannon to port elevation. No pins in the axles though, too tiny for me. There’s still some clean up to do and small things to add but they should be ok for now, maybe, I hope.

Thanks for following along, it’s always much appreciated.

View attachment 536972

View attachment 536973

Definitely the new guns are much better. The ones from the set are garbage. I also really like the milled brass guns, but I looked at the ones in my Alert set and realized that they are even of good quality, naturally with some minor modifications, polishing, etc.

The end result turned out very well!

 

[RogerD]

Definitely the new guns are much better. The ones from the set are garbage. I also really like the milled brass guns, but I looked at the ones in my Alert set and realized that they are even of good quality, naturally with some minor modifications, polishing, etc.

The end result turned out very well!

Hi Sergey, the quality of kit supplied guns seems to vary quite a bit depending on the kit manufacturer. I’ve changed out and scratch built many of the kit parts for the Syren and much of the supplied basswood for pear and AYC. The carronades and cannon are, to me, a prominent visual part of a build so I knew, in this case, they also needed to be upgraded.

Thanks for your comments, stay safe.

 

[GrantTyler]

Good morning Roger. What they all say on the upgraded cannon. I must add that you acheive beautiful blackening of the brass. The effect and polish is superb. Cheers Grant

 

[RogerD]

Good morning Roger. What they all say on the upgraded cannon. I must add that you acheive beautiful blackening of the brass. The effect and polish is superb. Cheers Grant

Morning Grant, the cannon are the largest pieces of brass I have blackened but they turned out ok. There are tiny areas that need a little touch-up though. I tried using a tiny black permanent marker or alternatively finely applied black paint. The “repairs” show under scrutiny but I might be able to partially hide them with strategically placed clutter, like tackle or rope messengers, just laid over the cannon. Remains to be seen.

Thanks for your always welcome posts and comments.

 

[Heinrich]

Dear Roger. When you started out on this build, I envisaged exactly how this model would turn out - and I wasn't wrong. You are creating a beautiful model, my friend. You can be very proud of her.

 

[RogerD]

Dear Roger. When you started out on this build, I envisaged exactly how this model would turn out - and I wasn't wrong. You are creating a beautiful model, my friend. You can be very proud of her.

Hello Heinrich, it’s wonderful to see you on the SoS site this morning. I have always well appreciated your continued support and thank you for your post today.

Progress remains frustratingly slow but this build is just as enjoyable as it was when I started. Not too long before I can get started on the masts and rigging, I hope .

 

[RogerD]

Bash the boat

Trying to get at it again after a lull of a few weeks.

Quite a while back I cut lifts from pear stock using the basic basswood sheet shapes from the Syren kit as templates - (https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/syren-1803-1-64-model-shipways.7779/page-16#post-276064). I wanted to try my hand at this method of longboat construction even though it is more work intensive than, say, building a Vanguard type of longboat kit. The kit designer went to great lengths to provide a comprehensive manual for the Syren. So I thought I’d at least try to construct the longboat as shown in his instructions.



Progress so far includes thinning the boat hull to a suitable thickness, fitting a multitude of fiddly ribs, adding pear floor boards, spaced pear thwarts, a tiny iron mast bracket (brass), a carved and turned pear windlass, sized and reduced gratings for’d and aft, initial work on the pear cap rail, and so on. There’s lots more to come, of course, and I don’t think there’s much in the boat now from the supplied kit parts. However, I continue to enjoy working with pear so that kind of influenced my decision to “bash the boat”. A photo to show limited progress so far before I add more parts. I’m looking more for aesthetics at this stage of the Syren build than technical and historical accuracy. I can hear the intakes of breath even now ! . But all that can come later with more experience, knowledge and of course time.

If this turns out crappy looking I have a Vanguard boat kit on standby or I’ll try an “Allan boat” @AllanKP69 but I’ll see where my “bash the boat” takes me first

As always thanks for checking back in again on my limited progress.

 

[AllanKP69]

a suitable thickness

To me, the planking is one of the most difficult things to achieve at our scales as the planks, according to the scantlings from David Steel, were no more than about 0.75" to 1.25" thick depending on the type and size boat.
Allan

 

[dockattner]

Don't doubt yourself, Roger. This boat is progressing beautifully!

 

[RogerD]

To me, the planking is one of the most difficult things to achieve at our scales as the planks, according to the scantlings from David Steel, were no more than about 0.75" to 1.25" thick depending on the type and size boat.
Allan

Thanks for your input Allan, your experience is always well appreciated. I took the hull thickness down to 9/128” (about 1.75mm) on average. Way over scale but I was concerned any thinner and I’d struggle keeping the hull intact. The cap rail should “hide” the apparent thickness, I hope. As I mentioned in my post I’ll keep my options open and replace this “dugout” with something more appealing later on, if necessary.

 

[RogerD]

Don't doubt yourself, Roger. This boat is progressing beautifully!

Thanks Paul, you’re a good man. Yes, some doubts are creeping in but I’m determined to see what’s achievable with this method. Good thing is it can easily be replaced at some future date if I lash it down instead of glueing it to the gallows bitts. Though the name “gallows bitts” may indicate it’s future once mounted .

 

[AZMartyn]

Your boat is turning out great. I think the pear wood really has a warmth that would be hard to replicate in one of the 3d printed boats.

 

[RogerD]

Your boat is turning out great. I think the pear wood really has a warmth that would be hard to replicate in one of the 3d printed boats.

Thanks for looking in on my build. I've been changing out a lot of the Syren kit basswood for pear and AYC. I've always liked the look and colour of pear and find it holds an edge really well. I used it for the deck of my main build and was happy with the variations of colour and minimum grain effect.

 

[AZMartyn]

Thanks for looking in on my build. I've been changing out a lot of the Syren kit basswood for pear and AYC. I've always liked the look and colour of pear and find it holds an edge really well. I used it for the deck of my main build and was happy with the variations of colour and minimum grain effect.

I'm finally getting around to starting the Syren kit I bought a few years ago and after reading through your log I purchased AYC to replace all of the visible planking and fittings, do you think pear would be better used in some other areas besides the boat?

 

[RogerD]

I'm finally getting around to starting the Syren kit I bought a few years ago and after reading through your log I purchased AYC to replace all of the visible planking and fittings, do you think pear would be better used in some other areas besides the boat?

I found the look of pear really appealing, especially for the deck and other small fixtures and fittings. The lack of prominent grain and variations in the wood colour made it an obvious choice for me. It's also a popular wood amongst model builders for, as I mentioned previously, the ability to keep clean edges/cuts. Since the Syren has areas, such as the bulwarks, that need painting I did not want to waste pear wood in those locations. So I used AYC and found it easy to work and, similar to the pear, maintained a clean edge. It also allowed for smooth finishing and subsequently even and level painting. For tiny parts, like the binnacle, I found unpainted pear perfect for those mini projects.

Changing out most of the kit basswood was a personal decision. More so because I was looking for an even scaled finish to the best of my ability and I found after working on the hull that the basswood just didn’t do it for me. Of course the cost of pear is a factor but it becomes acceptable considering the spread of time and enjoyment we get from our builds.

I’m happy with the result so far and without doubt changing out the wood works for me. I hope this helps .

 

[Corsair]

Your longboat looks fabulous !
Great job !

 

[AllanKP69]

The cap rail should “hide” the apparent thickness

The cap rail is actually the gunwale and does not normally hang over the outboard edge of the hull. Examples below for the next time.