aydingocer

Drawings on the Plan sheet and the photos in the manual show the correct orientation. If you just follow them and just ignore the engraving on the part, then you'll be fine.

Photo 502: Stairs. I really like that the stairs are laser cut. They look much more realistic as opposed to those in some other models, where you cut from wooden strips, making it like a "model kit". Photo 503: I use right angles to align them properly while the glue is drying. Photo 504: Coamings and stairs in place.

Build Day 49: 1.5 hrs / Total 110.5 hours Photos 499-501: Coamings. Got rid of the char from the outer edges as well as the inner edges where the stairs will fit. Keeping the inner cut-outs in place while sanding the outer edge helps prevent accidentally breaking them.

Build Day 48: 3.5 hrs / Total 109 hours Photo 498: Finalized the cabin, with the glitch I wrote above.

Forward bulkhead screen parts have a problem that ended up me installing door handles and hinges on the wrong side... unless the problem is with me: The engravings for the hinges are on the different side than in the manual. Photo 495: This is how they look in the manual. i.e. the hinge engravings are on the part where the slot is closer to the left. Photo 496: Whereas in the kit they are on the opposite facing part, i.e. where the slot is closer to the right. This is the side where I didn't suspect and glued the hinges and door handles. Photo 497: As a result my Forward Bulkhead Screen door handles and hinges are now facing backwards, while they should be facing outwards. I don't mind too much as they won't be too visible in the final, though. I would just like to know if it is me or the kit. 🤔

Build Day 47: 0.5 hrs / Total 105.5 hours Photos 493-494: Short progress today. Rudder chains cut to a little shorter than 6cm and rigged to place.

Photos 493-494: Two photos showing the current state of my Sphinx with the deadeyes installed on channels.

Build Day 45-46: 7 hrs in two days / Total 105 hours 100 hours completed today! I spent altogether 8 hours for deadeye installation. Here I share my installation sequence, after the parts have been painted, removed from the sheet and trimmed. This is a 5mm deadeye structure. The 3mm deadeye structure has one less number of parts. Photo: 479: Open the deadeye strops with a tweezer (or as I used above, a wire bender) Left: unopened Right: opened Photo 480: Insert the deadeye and squeeze back the strop. A single hole in the deadeyes should be on the bottom, like in the photo. Photo 481: A tiny drop of thin CA glue to further secure the deadeye. Photo 482: Insert the deadeye int its slot on the channel. Other components shall be fitted from underneath, as they won't fit through the slot. Photos 483-484: Take these two chainplate components and combine them as in the photos. Note the open side of the elliptic part should face inwards (i.e. towards the hull) when installed and the longer part actually has an engraved front face, though barely noticable, which should face outside when installed. Photo 485: Open the upper part of the elliptic part a little, in order to insert it through the loop under the deadeye. Photo 486: Deadeye structure in place, hanging freely at the moment. Photo 487: You'll need two nails, one shortened and one full size. The shorter one is to be used in the upper part, so that it won't get through the other side of the deck. Photo 488: Position the hole and drill a 0.5mm hole to help insert the nail easily. This is helpful especially for trimmed nails, as their tips are not that sharp after cutting off. I tried to insert the nail without drilling first a few times but they bent all the time. Photo 489: Now insert the short nail through the last piece... Photo 490: ... and insert it to the hole you drilled. Photo 491: Finally insert the second nail to the lower opening of the bottom lower part. Photo 492: This is how it looks. Now repeat the above steps for 50+ times

Photo 478: First chainplates nailed in place. I will touch the nails with black paint once all deadeyes are complete.

Photo 477: Here is a look at the black lower stern.

Yes it looks much better than the glue stains for sure

Photo 476: Deadeyes on the starboard fore channel. Chainplates hanging freely at the moment. They'll be fixed to the hull as next step.

Photos 473-474: I use this wire bender that I found in my toolbox, to open the strops for fitting the deadeyes in. It worked better than tweezers for me. Photo: 475: First deadeyes fitted in their strops.

Build Day 45 continued: 1 hour / Total 98 hours Moving on to deadeyes. There are quite many of them and here I refer to the plan for correct installation. Photos 471-472: Deadeyes, strops and chainplates etc. 5mm and 3mm deadeyes use separate parts and in order not to get them mixed I remove them from the PE sheet in small amounts as I need them.

Photo 470: Now painted in black and looking good.

Thanks James, that's what I'll do.

Photo 469: I wasn't able to avoid these glue stains on the stern. I tried sanding them away slightly but didn't help much, as looks like the glue stain penetrated deeper than just on the surface and I don't want to ruin the engravings. I am considering to paint that rectangular area to black, so that it would look as an extension of the black wales, this way at least covering the disturbing glue stains. @James H or others, does it sound like a reasonable idea or you have any suggestion?

Photos 467-468: In the mean time painting the necessary parts for my next task: deadeye installation

Build Day 45: 1 hour / Total 97 hours Football World Cup is going on with less busy schedule, allowing me to resume my Sphinx build slowly. Photo 466: First Gun Port Hinges. It has a tiny rigging with 0.1mm natural thread.

Photos 452-455: Hull side steps prepared, glued and painted. It is essential to refer to the plan sheet for accurate and correct positioning of these.

Build day 44: 2 hrs / Total 96 hours Finished hull decorations. Installed Hull side steps. Photos 449-451: Some photos showing the hull decorations. The whole process went rather smoothly. In s few spots I had to trim the PE to fit in place. They were mainly under the channels.

Photos 447-448: Two photos showing the current state. This is only the right side at the moment.

Photo 446: So many similar shaped parts, I thought it would be wise to mark the progress on the plan with a marker in order to avoid wrong placements.

Photo 445: I am using normal and thin superglue with thin nozzles for this purpose and so far it is going well. In more detailed areas I also use this "superglue applicator" from DSPIAE. It allows applying tiny amount of glue.

Build day 43: 3 hrs / Total 94 hours Continued with Quarter deck roof structure Hull decorations preparation (prime, paint, seal with varnish) gluing Photo 442: Quarter deck roof tiles, from photo etched sheet. The photo was taken after I had already started fitting the hull decoration, as seen on the right side. Photo 443 : One of the longer parts. With 0.2mm thickness and even less on the engraved areas, these parts deserve replacing the knife with a new sharp blade before removing. Photo 444: Gluing in progress.