The Speedwell is a plank on frame model built to 3/8" scale from Syren Ship Model Company.

I'll start off with the preparation and assembly of the stem and keel. The build board.

Sanding stem pieces prior to removal.

Stem and keel completed. The wood is Alaskan Yellow Cedar, and the figure head is a resin casting.

Next it was the rabbet, upper and lower aprons and the deadwood.

Next up to start assembling some frames and boy there are a lot of them.

First frame pieces cleaned up and dry fitted with framing jig. The fit is very good.

Once the frames were assembled they were added to the keel. Here are the first and second and third frames set on keel. Machinist squares were used to make sure they are properly aligned and match the plans glued to the building board. Notice how the jigs line up as you add frames.

Continuing with the frame installation on the keel.

The sweep ports were sanded to roughly the correct shape prior to gluing in place. This would make fairing a bit easier. They were placed above the short frames. This was the same for the gun ports.

Templates were used to ensure that the frames, sweep ports and gun ports were all in the correct locations.

Here you can see the cross bracing for the short frames. This is the forward half of the framing.

Rusty

Here are all the main portion of the frames in place.

This completes chapter 1.

Now on to the fore cant frames. You will see another clever jig added to help align the frames.

Finishing the aft frames.

The laser cut quarter pieces were added next. They needed to be sanded to shape. Beveling both inboard and out board was needed. You can see the areas marked to be reduced on the left and the finished one on the right.

And here they are in place as well as the stern framing and transom.

Bow timbers.

Shaped prior to installing them.

This concludes chapter 2.

Here we start with the laser cut square tuck and counter.

The hull removed from the build board and the first rows of planking added to the wales area.

Now that several rows of planking have been added the hull is strong. Now it was time to cut the upper portions of the frames and remove the framing jig.

The interior frames were sanded down to match the 5/32" wide fairing cap.

One last thing to do inboard before adding the rest of the outboard planking. Add the keelson. It was in three pieces and assembled off the model and then the frames were tweaked until a nice smooth fit was obtained.

Now it's time to return to the exterior and finish planking the hull.

Planking used to go around the sweep ports and gun ports. First one shows the sweep ports cut out. Second picture shows the gun port cut outs added.

I finished planking the hull and now it was decision time. To treenail or not to treenail? I am usually one who does not do a lot of tree nailing. So I marked out a portion of the hull.

Here the tree nails were marked out but not drilled yet.

After looking at Chucks and other Speedwells I decided to bite the bullet and tree nail.

Okay that went well. Now the finished result and I'm glad I did it.

Onward. These pictures are the end of chapter 3 and the start of chapter 4. After reviewing the pictures I took I notice I got carried away with building and did not take very many progress picture. Sorry.

The start of the stern windows.

And then the stern is mostly completed. Just a figure on each side needs to be added. I intentionally left them off for now. Mainly because I know I would most likely knock the off.

Then it was time to add the wales, sweep port hinges, frieze and cap rail. Again just completed picture.

Next will be adding some of the interior components.

Continuing with Chapter 4, Lower platforms.

First it was the limber strakes and the mast steps fore and aft.

This group is of the bow section lower platforms.

Planked and the stove and riding bitts temporally in place.

and then the breast hooks.

That concludes chapter 4. Chapter 5 will be the aft platforms and cabins.

Now it was time to do the aft platforms. They are done just like the forward platforms. Height and location were taken from the plans and transferred to the hull frames. Deck beams were installed as per the plans, planked, hatches and split rings added.

Shot locker was laser cut and assembled and glued in place.

Next it was the planking the cabins walls and adding the transom beam. The other beams were fit, numbered and removed to be installed later. Also the bench lockers were added.

Now the surround for the rudder head was added.

The bulkheads for the aft cabin assembled, test fit painted and placed. The three strips in the doorway will be removed once the bulkhead is glued to the deck beams. This creates the opening for the door.

The cabin walls were assbled, sanded to fit, hinges and handles added and glued in place.

The dome over the doorway was then assembled and painted cooper.

Note, there is a set of stairs under the dome that no one will ever see.

Note

Time to move on to the forecastle. As you saw earlier the stove and riding bitts were already made. The deck beams were fit but only the aft most beam was glued in place. The forecastle bulkhead was put together to fit around the riding bitts.

And the stove and base were then glued in place.

Summer is a really busy time for me between work and family time. To make it tougher my sister-in-law purchased a house, and I had been helping with the renovations. With that now completed I've been able to do the last little bit of beck beams at the fore deck to finish chapter 6.

I've ordered Chapter 7 and hopefully by mid-September I'll be back at it.

So clean and precise, as is typical for your builds! 😊

And what a brilliant kit, truly a friendly fully framed model. Hope there would be more of those popping up, this kit should be a hit!

I'm hoping that Chuck and JJ work out something so that these chapters can become available from the start again. Very sad I missed it during my hiatus.