hollowneck

Thanks, Thukydides. Sails I expect will happen around late December/January since I anticipate masting and rigging will commence sometime late this month. Diorama in mid-February/March, if I'm lucky. I'm planning for the diorama now, but I'll explain preliminary thinking for the presentation "case" reasonably soon as I think about how the sails will be deployed, the bearing of the ship and how it will appear in the water (degree of list and roll - pitch and yaw to pilots - which partially determines the dimensions of the base). I even have thought about the weather that this ship diorama will present. How's that for a little bit of Crazy, huh? Ron

Since I'm playing "catch-up" with my postings I'll mention that these first Build Log photos are NOT SEQUENTIAL. Obviously, I've spent a number of hours getting to point A (the first photo-😁)...and these photos I'll explain, but there may be random "backtracks" as I continue here. The Gratings and the companionway close-up: the purpose here is highlighting the little black beads that simulate cannonballs which are a nice scale-accurate (or close to it) inclusion in the kit's "fittings" box. The little balls were too shiny for me; my 5 yo granddaughter asked me: "Gampy, where did you get those cute little beads?"...uh... Good question, out of the mouth of babes. So I went back painted all of them FLAT BLACK MATTE. Just a tiny touch to each with a small brush. They now look like iron balls and not something random one finds in the beading aisle at Joanne's Fabrics. Not a big deal, but we collectively agonize over minor stuff like this; it's sort of what this hobby is all about- sort of. You don't need to look too close to see the ordnance as they appear in shiny bead black. Next photo, a close-up of deck goodies showing: A. a breech-rigged cannon; B. how I've finished my upper interior bulwarks (with the kit's included spirketting and laser cut deck clamp pieces); C. the hanging knees behind the quarterdeck beams; and D. the pump's iron fittings (also in flat black matte paint to show proper - non rusted - iron) and mid-deck bitts and a partial companionway (with the little "beads"). I am often asked how I get the nice warm look to most of my period models. Nothing unusual here: four shades of Minwax, available at Lowe's. Natural, (my favorite for most quality hardwoods I use and the extensive amount of pear that's included in this kit; Golden Oak for areas that I want to appear darker than the warm pink hue of pear and simulate a more accurate color for oak; Weathered Oak whose name speaks for itself. I used this on this kit's maple, one-piece deck patterns ("patterns" is a general name Vanguard gives to many pre-cut, precision lasered items in this kit). I've applied this stain to the gun deck. I may apply a "second coat" before I button-up everything amidships. A can not shown ( I misplaced it, somewhere...), Chestnut stain. This color I use on my deadeyes and most rigging blocks. I understand chestnut was used extensively by the British navy for this purpose - along with lignum vitae pulleys, both purpose-suited because of their inherent hardness. I'll stain my deadeyes soon, before they get mounted in their iron chains. It should be noted that I paint and stain all my modeling components as I build. I am constantly opening and closing various jars and cans as I build. Simply stated, I make "aesthetic decisions" as I work; these are typically about color of individual component finishes - like cannon balls! I also depart quite often from proscribed building steps for a host of reasons which should become apparent as I develop this log. I need to mention that the build manual and the extensive plans that come with this kit are excellent and generally-speaking, the construction steps are sequenced in a manner that most will appreciate, especially intermediate level modelers. Lastly, the tools I use to remove "char" from all the laser-cut wood in the kit. I've probably spent 60 hours alone (so far) removing "Char."🤯 My tools for this boring, but essential task: lots of emery/nail sanding files I buy at beauty supply stores. They last forever. But I buy new ones often as I frequently wash them and they soften and go limp after a while. Everyone knows there's not a lot you can do with a limp file. When I'm de-charing, I often slap the file on my jeans (don't tell my wife) to unpack the fine sanding dust. Works. But they do eventually need to be taken to the sink. Moving on, two from my set of diamond-encrusted mini-files shown here. The tapered round one is especially useful. Worth the money. My soft, sable hair brush. The brush I continually use on all the various surfaces of the model for clean-up as I build. It is helpful to dust the char off tiny pieces like the miniscule hanging knees shown here. The curved stem piece appears to cast a shadow; actually that's the very dark "char" that needs to be diligently removed. Goodbye Char! And, yes. I did leave it on all my cannon carriage wheels. Good idea, Jim! The manual says this is an option. I obviously agree. More to come....

I am starting this Build Log midway in this very interesting and fun project. I'll start with a photo of my overall progress and then there will be the normal, very specific photos about build details I'd like to share with the reader's of this thread. The first thing that I should note is that I am building this model as a sister ship to the Sphinx, HMS Camilla - same era. I have posted an earlier Kit Review of this Vanguard model that covered my early impressions which I can now amplify as well as offer additional insights as I've moved along on my build. I hope the followers of this thread will think it helpful; that is certainly my intention! Here we go...

Nice work! This is certainly dramatic and the Vallejo liquid gold does drip -😂 No problem, minor blue touch-ups with a steady hand (and a tiny brush) will fix things. I've been thinking about adding the Vallejo gold to the full surround on my stern decoration fascia. It looks especially nice on your treatment. Ron

I have decided to create a Build Log for my build of Vanguard's HMS Sphinx, rather than continue to post my photos and comments here - as well as intruding on other's logs with detailed posts. I've got a new set of photos with commentary that I'll post in Kit Build logs sometime soon. This is where all my detailed stuff more appropriately belongs. Thanks for your encouragement guys (and gals), see you there in a few. Ron

Jacek, I've lined my gunports since leaving them entirely bare (MDF) isn't acceptable to me. I recall that @Blue Ensign indicated he labored over this task to make the linings fit. He is a consummate über-detail kind of builder, which I do respect. And, I love little details as much as anyone on the forum, however....there is a point for me where this obsession can be OTT. Confession: I lined only the bottoms of my gunports with a scratched piece of pear since this will be easily seen on viewing the model; the cannon protrude and visually occupy much of the gunport and the verticals aren't that prominent, so I didn't bother to line these side areas. The upper lining of the gunports, you ask? Who will to see and inspect this area? I know! Perhaps a ship modeling forensic specialist... Each builder is his own captain, making his ship his own. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!😂 Ron

Jacek, Yes, I believe the blackening I use (in the U.S. = Birchwood/Casey brand) makes the P/E better hold an acrylic or solvent-based paint. I consider blackening like a "primer" coat. In some cases, the blackening alone is quite adequate for the task (especially very small eyebolts, rings, etc.); it does rub off but it still removes the curse of having "golden" fittings sprinkled about the model: Not kool. I'll sometimes even add a matte black paint to these small items to simulate iron. I'm doing the chains now and I'll blacken all the P/E pieces. Then, to make this task manageable, I'm "stringing" all the pieces onto a thin wire so I can spray paint them evenly with either my airbrush or a spray can of matte black. Sure beats painting each one of these complex multi-part assemblies! This will create a consistent look to all these very prominent fittings. I did this with the chain and hand pump P/E and I believe imparts a proper "look" to these on-deck items. On another matter, I've also scratch-lined my gunports; removing all that char first was a Sh$#$& task! I'm somewhat surprised that Chris didn't provide some laser pear for doing this. A minor complaint, but applying red paint to fix this really isn't a good solution - particularly for someone who doesn't want to paint all the bulwark items in screaming red. My preference: less is more in this case, like my removal of the unnecessary extra P/E decs on the stern. I use the Citadel washes quite a lot (in conjunction with appropriate base colors). Ciao, Ron

Jacek, I'm building the Sphinx kit too, but not posting a Build Log per se. I do have photos and notes in the Kit Review Thread and I'll be posting additional photos as I move along on my build. You mentioned seeing some different treatments to the decorations for this model. These photos show my alternative treatment to some of the decorative pieces in this kit. The resin cast piece at the stern spoke to me: "GIve me lots of interesting colors!" The headworks/stem P/E pieces are painted with a base coat of ochre and then given a wash (the same Citadel Seraphim color per previous post here) to darken the nooks n' crannies. Acrylic paint, both. This treatment is to specifically simulate "carved wood," not the trompe l'oeil (fools-the-eye) embellished style of ornate painting. I considered doing this with a paper appliqué, but decided that at 1:64 scale, my hand couldn't do this approach justice. The very small upper foc'sle bulwark decorations have small touches of a deeper golden bronze color that help to make these more interesting to look at. Since I posted the stern photo here I have removed the two upper counter decorations (on either side of the "badge") and refinished the black. These were too much to my eye, OTT, particularly after painting the upper fascia the way I envisioned it. My model (built as sister ship HMS Camilla) will have her name on the piece of .o2 thin pear that is now shown blank. I haven't decided on the color yet, but it will likely be the same blue hue I've used with creme or white lettering. Part of the fun with Vanguard's excellent kits is the many things one can do to "customize" - personalize their model. Hope these stimulate some additional ideas! Ron

Clare, Thanks for the forum link! Just read through it. Lots of good info. As others have commented, this new WoodyJoe kit is very tempting! I will also be very interested in your impressions once this new kit hits your doorstep... Domo Arigato! Ron

Congratulations Tom on your winning BOTH of the NE Show awards! Your model is stunning, beautiful. You've done an excellent job on the case too. Good to see you personally at the show. Best, Ron

Me too! Clare... Excellent. This source continues to be an interesting modeling option. Thanks for posting the photo and details for ordering; I'm tempted to spend the ¥38,000 and put this on my stash shelf. What a kool "artifact" from Japan's maritime history. It resembles European warships of the Middle Ages with castles at the stem and stern because warfare was still bows n' arrows mostly. Apparently there was also plenty of rowing labor😂 then... I agree that with some good detailing and better coloration on the woodwork it would improve the look. When this kit hits your doorstep, please take a few pics of the box contents and the all-important instructions/plans. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to see these as well as your build log - should you do one. My apologies for what appears to be my hijacking of your thread about this model's availability. I will remove the posted pics here if you'd like (by going to edit I think I can do this) - or you can since I've now posted these photos in the Gallery. I have yet to learn how to contain my enthusiasm; that's my excuse, for now... Ron

Thanks Bob, much appreciated. When posting and reading comments from others the last few days, I am consistently reminded that MSW is also a Very Good Village - for all of us! We're 40,000 Plus members now (and still growing), but, importantly still "human scale." Ron

Thanks Ryland! What did you do to fix my earlier post on this thread? I did some P'Shop rezzing and re-saved and then posted which now appears to have fixed the problem uploading to the forum...but I'd really like to know how you did this! Best, Ron

Clare, I opened P'Shop and re-rezzed some of my photos for my Takes A Village and I think this fixed the upload interpolation problem!...enjoy. I'm going to post these now to MSW gallery since I've figured out the problem which has been preventing me from contributing these to the MSW forum. You get an early peek!!🤩 Thanks for the incentive!! Best, Ron PS there's only one in this batch that didn't take on my fix...sorry

Clare, Thank you - I love yours too. Long time, no speak! Covid layed us all pretty low...but, on the East Coast earlier this month we had our joint clubs annual Northeast Conference in New London and it was very good; lots of old friends, many models, an all-around good experience. This conference is being reinstated in its regular slot in April (last Saturday of that month) in 2022. My new club (Philadelphia Ship Model Society) will be the host so I'm one of the lead guys to organize this event since I've worked on two previous Conferences with the Connecticut club. My wife and I moved to PA from CT this summer: a really long story with all kinds of problems (getting a new home, selling wasn't the issue) but things are settling in for us now. Our principal reasons for a major life change (at 75, trust me, it's a major change) were to be closer to family and the outrageously expensive living costs in Connecticut. The family part is the most important however, a daughter/son-in-law with 4 chilluns: an entire family we're very fond of. Yeah, sometimes the site flips uploads in weird orientations. I tried this earlier post a couple times and it kept doing it. Grrrrrrrrr. But I'm glad you took my suggestion to pick your monitor up and turn it...🤣 Actually, if you have an iPad you can turn off the auto-rotation and flipping it around is quite manageable!! I'm building Vanguard's HMS Sphinx kit now: I'm not doing a Build Log but I have posted some pics and a narrative on the Kit Review thread. Check it out if you'd like. I'll put my model (built as HMS Camilla, a sister ship of the era-1775) into a diorama. I'm hooked now and love to place my models in these dramatic settings. Here's a few more of my Ongakuka "Takes A Village"diorama; no guarantees on picture orientation...in fact, only two uploaded correctly this time, plus some of the figures I used which were wonderful. They came unpainted from the U.K. Please PM me when you get the new WoodyJoe Atakebune. Hope You and Yours are well and have stayed safe during the plague year (and a half). Cheers and Best Regards, Ron PS You may not know that I'm now a Director of the NRG. Mostly Good News. I'm very involved with new initiatives for the organization. Some tasking with MSW, but mainly with the quarterly Journal and other new things, like the yearly calendar, webinars, the 2021 Photo Contest, etc. ALso writing some feature articles that will be forthcoming next year.

Glennard has a good point: you'll need to adjust where the trim (trails) meet-up on the galleries (from the counters). The upper rails-to- gallery shouldn't be an issue- with the notable exception of a "gap" from the gallery roof to the drift rail. I fixed this eyesore with a tiny "extra" piece of rail inserted to fill the gap. It appears you've fixed the problem. Good recovery, Sir. Cheers! Ron

Oops. I forgot to caption the pic of the lens: this is an 85mm, f1.28 Nikon PC/E micro Tilt/Shift lens. This lens is great for composing tight close-up shots that have crisp DOF (depth-of-field). By definition it also demands to be used with a full frame Nikon digital camera. Normally, I'll choose the 45mm TS lens version for most photo work with my models - when I choose to use my full frame camera and spend the additional time required with these specialized lenses. Both are fiddly, but create near view camera excellence. Needless to say, there is no auto focus with these lenses; manual only. In practice, the most efficient way to check one's focus is to snap a pic, enlarge it (in camera software) and make sure your focus is tack sharp across the frame. The above adds more "tech talk" detail, but some members may want to try this lens for their models if they're not inclined to spend hours in post-production computer jockeying and rather get back to their benches...😁 Ron

Focus stacking is a lot of work, even with Nikon's "Focus Shift." The Helicon software is sweet...but...as Glenn has explained earlier in this thread, the overhead is also substantial (especially with a full frame camera); one will end up with multiple huge data files to process in order to obtain a single shot. It's a similar scenario with "non-automated" focus shifting (multiple shots, blended together). The basic consideration in this thread is to take high-quality shots of ship models, attempting to achieve good depth-of-field where most of the subject is in good if not, critical focus. I use an old school system that gets a decent photo of my models in a single exposure - no post-production overhead with having to diddle with software, just a clean single frame. I can shoot a couple dozen photos with only one lighting set-up and get good quality results pretty quickly. Here's the specs for my model photography (see the photo here): I use my old Nikon D5100 with an AFS-DX 40mm (prime) lens. I shoot at f22 typically with long exposures with a low ISO setting (100 usually). The photo here was taken this way with no post-production Photoshop. This arrangement gives me a decent-sized file of about 10 Mb; I've been able to enlarge this base file to a 20" X 40" canvas image and it holds up reasonably well. --------- There is another route to excellent "single shot" results. I have also taken photos with a TS (tilt/shift) lens on a newer Nikon D620 (full frame) which allows me to shift the focal plane of the lens thus allowing me to capture a sharp image over a deep focal plane. With good tabletop lighting (3 sources- hot or strobe), I can stop down to f32 (the TS lens approaches large format camera lens capability) and then I let the magic (good depth-of-field) hit the camera's sensor on a much longer 2-3 second exposure typically. A long exposure also permits me also to "paint with light" in some circumstances for achieving good lighting effects. In this case, I shoot most of my studio photos of my models with either the 45mm or 85mm TS depending on the shot composition. TS lens' are also available for Canon. The TS range for Nikon (or Canon) can be rented by the day at reasonable prices since they are indeed, pricey ($1,500- $2,200). I am not aware of TS lenses for other digital camera models. For those on the thread who are not professional photographers, a TS lens mimics the movements of large view cameras. There are still view cameras (and high-quality, large image circle lenses) being used in photo studios that simultaneously employ large sensor arrays mounted to the rear of these "old school" view cameras where large format film holders used to go. The digital sensor array feeds its signal to a video monitor and a tethered computer. I hope some of this (inexpensive) technique and tech info can help non-pro shooters in our hobby shoot better photos, Ron

Yep. The best solution.👍 Glennard - You're correct. I chose to go somewhere between photo 202 and photo 313, but leaned toward NOT SCRATCHING new stern counter piece(s). I hope all this has been helpful to you both. Glad you speak fluent English, Jesseji. I can't imagine trying to explain what I've done auf Deutsch!🤯 Ron

I made my stern fascia mounting - like you - to conform to photo 202, not 313. I did look ahead (as the manual suggests) before I mounted my piece - but I did this knowing the "gap" issue that would arise with the counter piece(s) not closely matching. I chose to "fudge" the vertical placement (by millimeters) so I didn't need to scratch a counter fill piece. The bulwarks-to-stern interface (and the slightly protruding decorative roof piece that has no function) isn't critical to the eye. At the end of the day, the best fit to the counters is much more significant. That was my choice. Ron

That looks better - your stern fascia is now even a little higher than mine - which will be fine to align the bulwarks to stern interface. And, Yes, the ply piece that reinforces the fragile MDF stern timbers IS VISIBLE through the windows. A more significant issue as you've discovered is that the lower counter (inner pattern) doesn't meet the stern fascia bottom properly. Hence, some scratching will be required; perhaps a slender strip that can fill the visible gap- but you'll need to trace the curvature at the bottom of the stern piece so don't mount it yet! Ron

The stern fascia piece needs to align so that the top of it (which has the "scallop" peak on the sides is exactly flush - even- with the highest point of the bulwarks that it meets (thin red section). You can see (barely) that my alignment of these elements at this point is slightly lower (perhaps .6 mm) than optimum but my tolerance at this same point is closer on the starboard side of my build. This is what I meant by "close tolerances for proper fitting." My comment about the lower counter and finishing piece/drop has nothing to do with this upper stern fit dilemma; my apologies, this may have been confusing. Please note however that in the manual there is an error in the build photo on Page 41, step photo 220 and points to the PREVIOUSLY MOUNTED Gallery Upper Pattern in error: this is a subsequent build step and DOES affect the lower gallery construction. James H may clarify this for you. Ron

Maybe this pic will help, Jasseji. With this high magnification, a lot of things show-up that don't normally meet the eye! You'll likely note that I changed the configuration of the lower gallery finishing piece "drop"- this is also very dependent on the alignment of the MDF slot pieces to build the gallery. Cheers, Ron

Yep. Good that you caught this problem before you go much further. It appears that the stern fascia piece is 2-3mm too low, which of course is going to affect the counters you've already built. From your previous posts - excellent work BTW - you have the skills to adjust to this problem and scratch new pieces as required. The stern is, by far, the most critical part of this build: the complex angles and multiple pieces that form this area all require carefully executed mounting with close tolerances for proper fitting. Ron

Bob, Thanks for the shout out. I plan to take photos of the entire project as it moves along. There is a lot of interest in dioramas and I agree there isn't much detail since I believe there aren't many ship modelers who are comfortable with this creative aspect. I understand this as I had reservations myself a few models ago. It does add significantly to the build time. It can also add additional money to projects too, depending on the materials and size of presentation. As I post for my HMS Camilla over the next couple months and as I get to post-rigging and sails, I'll keep a sharp weather eye on interest for more detail on how I create my water/maritime scenarios. I plan to complete my model with set sails BEFORE I build its setting. Ron