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| Syren US Brig 1803, MS kit# 2260 | ||
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Moderators: Winston, aew
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| Author | Post | ||
| NovaStorm |
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  Registered Member #5618 Joined: Sat Sep 22 2018, 02:33pmPosts: 492 | I will be starting this build at the same time as my good friend Charles. Mid October. This adventure will be my second build to date. I am really looking forward to slightly bashing the kit with the use of swiss pear for the decking and decorative elements. I will also be replacing the kit cannon's and carronades, ships wheel and a few other features. When the box arrived in early Aug I got around to opening it a couple of weeks later. I was surprised to find I had some pretty warped bulkheads and the bulkhead former. An email was dispatched to MS and a short time later new material arrived. This seems to be a rather prevalent problem with this kit. Sad really when you think about all the work that went into it's creation and how popular it has been.  The state of the original bulkheads:  The little mermaid is actually not to bad cleaned up! The galley castings P&S are different sizes, I am going to attempt to make my own. The transom decor is probably pretty hard to cast at this size so I will attempt to make my own. This will be my first time carving soo... we will see!  Here are the MS cast cannons and carronades against the plans, I will be using brass cannons from Caldercraft part# 85180A and part# 85818A for the carronades.  A bit of Syren History: btw it appears the mermaid figurehead was added by the British  USS Syren (1803) Courtesy Wikipedia, Published under creative commons: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ History: United States Name: USS Syren Builder: Nathaniel Hutton Cost: $32,522 Laid down: 1803 Launched: 6 August 1803 Commissioned: 1 September 1803 Renamed: Siren, 1809 Fate: Captured at sea, 12 July 1814 RN EnsignUnited Kingdom Name: Siren Acquired: 12 July 1814 by capture Commissioned: Not commissioned Fate: Not listed after 1815 General characteristics Type: Brig Displacement: 240 long tons (244 t) Tons burthen: 298 (bm) Length: 94 ft 3 1⁄2 in (28.7 m) (overall); c,75 ft 0 in (22.9 m) Beam: 27 ft 0 in (8.23 m) Depth of hold: 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) Propulsion: Sail Complement: 120 officers and enlisted Armament: 16 × 24-pounder carronades USS Syren (later Siren) was a brig of the United States Navy built at Philadelphia in 1803. She served during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812 until the Royal Navy captured her in 1814. The British never commissioned her but apparently used her for a year or so as a lazaretto, or a prison vessel. She then disappears from records. Description Syren was designed by Benjamin Hutton, Jr. of Philadelphia and built for the Navy in 1803 at Philadelphia by shipwright Nathaniel Hutton and launched on 6 August 1803. She was commissioned in September and Lieutenant Charles Stewart was appointed in command. She was sharper, but smaller than USS Argus (1803), yet carried the same armament. Both vessels were built the same year for the First Barbary War. Service history in US Navy: First Barbary War Syren departed Philadelphia on 27 August 1803 and reached Gibraltar on 1 October. A fortnight later she sailed via Livorno to Algiers carrying presents and money to the Dey of Algiers. She then sailed to Syracuse, Sicily, where she arrived early in January 1804. The first action Syren was involved in was an attack aimed at destroying USS Philadelphia, a frigate that had run aground the previous autumn and that Tripolitan gunboats had then captured. To prevent Philadelphia from opposing his planned operations against Tripoli, the commander of the American squadron in the Mediterranean, Commodore Edward Preble, decided to destroy her. To achieve this, Syren and ketch Intrepid sailed from Syracuse on 3 February 1804 and proceeded to Tripoli, which they reached on 7 February. However, before the American ships could launch their attack, they were driven off by a violent gale and did not get back off Tripoli until 16 February. Before the attack Syren tied up alongside Intrepid to transfer some of her crew for the assault on Philadelphia. Aboard Intrepid, under the command of Stephen Decatur, sailors from both Intrepid and Syren succeeded in burning Philadelphia. Also present during the assault was Thomas Macdonough of Syren. Bombardment of Tripoli, 1804 Syren returned to Syracuse on the morning of 19 February. On 9 March, she and Nautilus sailed for Tripoli. Soon after their arrival, on 21 March 1804, she captured the armed brig Transfer belonging to the Pasha. Stewart took Transfer into US service and renamed her USS Scourge.[5] She then served in the American squadron. The very next day Syren captured a polacca named Madona Catapolcana and sent her to Malta. Operations in the Mediterranean during the spring and summer of 1804 and participated in the attacks on Tripoli in August and September 1804. The ship continued to support the squadron's operation against Tripoli which forced the Pasha to accede to American demands. After a peace treaty with Tripoli was signed on 10 June 1805, the brig remained in the Mediterranean commanded by Master Commandant John Smith for almost a year helping to establish and maintain satisfactory relations with other Barbary states. The ship returned to America in May 1806 and reached the Washington Navy Yard in August. She was laid up in ordinary there until recommissioned in 1807 and subsequently carried dispatches to France in 1809. In 1809, her sailing master at the Norfolk Navy Yard was Captain John "Mad Jack" Percival. The following year, her name was changed to Siren. War of 1812 Little record has been found of the brig's service during the War of 1812, however small news items appeared in the Salem Gazette and the Boston Gazette. In May 1813 it was reported that within the space of two days a merchant vessel, Pilgrim, was boarded, first by HMS Herald which was searching for Syren, and then by Syren, which was searching for Herald. Syren was now commanded by Lieutenant Joseph Bainbridge. The following month Syren left Belize and proceeded to Cuba where after three weeks searching for a Royal Navy sloop, probably Herald, she sailed for the coast of Florida putting in at New Orleans before departing on 9 May 1813. No prizes were taken during this voyage and the ship needed repairs. By January 1814 Syren was in Massachusetts and was now commanded by Lieutenant Parker, In February she sailed along with a privateer, Grand Turk. Not long after sailing Parker died and command transferred to Lieutenant N.J. Nicholson. Syren captured at least three merchant ships off the coast of Africa. On 28 May she captured and burnt Barton, Hassler, master, which had been sailing from Africa to Liverpool. Then on 1 June Syren captured Adventure, which too was from Africa to Liverpool. She took-off their cargoes of ivory and sank them. Lastly, at some point Syren captured Catherine. On 12 July 1814 Syren while cruising off the West African coast encountered the British ship HMS Medway a 74-gun third rate ship of the line under the command of Captain Augustus Brine. Heavily outgunned, Syren attempted to run. After an 11-hour chase Medway captured her despite Syren having lightened her load by throwing overboard her guns, anchors and boats. During her last voyage she had captured or sunk several British merchantmen. Among the prisoners was Samuel Leech, who later wrote an account of his experiences. According to Samuel Leech, after being captured the crew of Syren were taken to the Cape of Good Hope, and after landing at Simonstown, marched to a jail in Cape Town. Here they were held until transferred to England when the war was over. On arriving at Simonstown, other American prisoners were seen to be leaving the jail and being shipped off to Dartmoor. The Syren crew met these again in England while waiting for transfer to the United States. Some had been present at 'The Massacre'. British service history: After the capture by Royal Navy she had a figurehead of mermaid installed. The Royal Navy used her as a lazaretto. She is no longer listed after 1815. | ||
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| Charles |
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  Registered Member #1923 Joined: Mon Nov 28 2011, 06:07pmPosts: 1008 | I am almost ready to go friend The bad wood received is a problem of storing they are in Miami One bad storm water infiltration and well wood warping plywood are delicate for that | ||
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| aew |
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Arthur  Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 3070 | I'm surprised more manufacturers haven't swapped to MDF for the bulkheads and keel section. | ||
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| NovaStorm |
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| Registered Member #5618 Joined: Sat Sep 22 2018, 02:33pmPosts: 492 | That sounds like a excellent idea Arthur. Are there any using it now. It would be cheaper than plywood for manufacturing too. | ||
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| NovaStorm |
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| Registered Member #5618 Joined: Sat Sep 22 2018, 02:33pmPosts: 492 | Lets start things rolling. I've finished painting our entire unit and the office. Charles has some things on his plate and will be starting his build in a few weeks. So with a little time on my hands last weekend I decided to start pocking around in the kit. Before I knew it I'm picking up the glue and sticking things together. Couldn't help myself.  Above: gluing what will become the rabbet strip between the keel and the bearding line. Below: After cutting and sanding the bearding line into the bulkhead former the stem knee is sanded (tapered) in order to facilitate the mermaid figure head. Followed by gluing it into position on the rabbet strip.  Next the keel is glued on. The slight step where the stem knee meets the keel is where the false keel will go running to the stern. Seems to be a little controversy as to weather the false keel is copper plated or left natural wood. As it is designed to come off if the ship should run aground I plan on the un-coppered look which is what it calls for in chucks instructions.  Now I test fitted the bulkheads onto the BF (Bulkhead Former) after sanding out the char. Followed this by ruffing out the bulkhead bevels. Nice to now get a first look at the form of the ship     That all for now, fun start, feels good to be back in the shipyard  | ||
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| Charles |
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| Registered Member #1923 Joined: Mon Nov 28 2011, 06:07pmPosts: 1008 | That is a good start Will join you soon Will you fill the empty space as suggest in the instruction?  | ||
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| jacknastyface2 |
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| Registered Member #5239 Joined: Sat Apr 21 2018, 05:29pmPosts: 823 | Glad they fixed the bulkheads! Keith. | ||
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| aew |
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| Arthur Registered Member #1929 Joined: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:05pmPosts: 3070 | Re using MDF for the Keel and bulkheads: NovaStorm wrote ... Are there any using it now. It would be cheaper than plywood for manufacturing too. Yes, the Vanguard kit used MDF. It's a relatively modern kit but that shouldn't really be relevant. I would think a laser would 'cut' MDF just as well as plywood, so changing material on something like Syren shouldn't be too much of a problem in that respect. If the MDF was a slightly different thickness to the ply, that would require a revision of the slot widths in the keel and bulkheads though. | ||
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| NovaStorm |
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| Registered Member #5618 Joined: Sat Sep 22 2018, 02:33pmPosts: 492 | Keith and Arthur, I think I am going to bring up the mdf with John over at MS. Find out at least why they dont use it. It could be because they can not get it in the right thicknesses. I wound up using the BF that came with the kit initially, the replacement one was even worse. But at least the BH replacements were a darn site better. Charles, I am going to block in between the bulkheads yes. But first I have taken a step that I haven't seen done in any of the logs Ive looked at. You might also want to consider doing this. One area in the instructions that made me cringe is in Chapter 12. for setting the masts. They want you to take a electric drill and drill out the mast holes down through your deck and the slightly raised section above and into the plywood. By this point the ship is half done including the copper plating etc. The main mast has quite a rake to it and the fore mast is almost perpendicular. This step has given people nightmares lol. So I wondered why they didn't just notch out the plywood with the laser like on the bluenose. I searched for a reason and couldn't find one so I went ahead and did it myself. It is so easy to do. Using Sheet#1 of the plans, lay out your BF with the stem knee and keel glued on but nothing else Line it up on the sheet and you can draw the mast lines and angles right onto the BF. Now you just cut out your notch and glue two sandwich boards one each side to make a mortise. Now when it comes time to set the masts all I've got to do is file two side of the mast base to form a tenon that will fit right in and have my mast all set at the approximate degree required. Doing it this way I should be able to get away with not gluing the masts in also. In the instructions they glue the masts in. Here's hoping anyway! Pick showing what I did:   Now with the notches cut. I cut plywood to make the sandwich. Before gluing any of this together I faired up the bulkheads a bit better using a guide plank before gluing them in using a square to keep everything in line. A few pics of the above:      Next I will be cutting and installing blocking between the bulkheads to strengthen everything and give the decking better support. I am going to use balsa for the blocking. Easier to deal with (since I haven't got a table saw) sniff sniff (yet) but it will be a lot lighter to which I like. Cheers all >:D< | ||
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| Charles |
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| Registered Member #1923 Joined: Mon Nov 28 2011, 06:07pmPosts: 1008 | Your Idea for the mast is very good and a superb solution I was thinking in another direction after reading some of the comment you mention. In a French forum a modeller use mortise tenon to make a strong fitting So will have to think about it as both solution are valid. | ||
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