brunnels

I had to add a little filler to mine.

I can see how that would be a pain to work with, especially the cutaway side, but your end result looks very nice.

Over the weekend I was able to finish off the running rigging, and start attaching all the external pieces that were prone to be knocked off during rigging such as the anchors, lanterns, port lids, Captain figure, ships boats etc. Captain Figure This is the first miniature figure I have ever painted, while I have modeled off an on since I was a child, my model subjects were always vehicles. This was a first for me and I enjoyed it a bit more than I expected I would, while it isn't something I want to do a ton of, I do feel more comfortable painting figures in the future. The only tip I had received beforehand about painting mini figs, was to paint them in the order that they would be dressed. So I did a flat flesh for the skin tone, I then painted the socks and pants in Vallejo Off White, then the jacket in Prussian Blue with Ochre Brown trim, then the hat and shoes in grey black. I then went over the pants with a light wash. I basically have little clue if this is the best way to paint these, but I am happy with the result for my first time. Once the model was complete I cut away the base and slowly sanded away the remainder until the fleet were flat enough to be glued to the deck. Completed Model!!! My Second ship kit the Sphinx is 99% complete, the 1% left to do is rope coils but I probably won't get to those immediately as we are having a our first child, a little girl, at the end of April, plus I could use a change of subject from the Sphinx. Here are some photos of the 99% complete ship, I may try to setup a light booth to get some more professional looking photos as I think it deserves it after a year of work. I decided to only lash down the middle boat so I can display more of the gun deck if I wanted in the future. Overall I am very happy with my model, it turned out much better than I was expecting mainly due to Vanguard just making an excellent kit that goes together so smoothly, plus it really helps when you have excellent database of knowledge on this site and excellent build logs to copy from such as @Blue Ensign, @hollowneck, @Moonbug's Pegasus and numerous others which I have taken Ideas from. There are a few sore spots like the decorations above the Quarter galleys roof that I goofed up, but maybe one day I will have the means to make something to replace that parts. Thank you to everyone who helped and followed along the way. The Sphinx was a fantastic model kit and I highly recommend Vanguard models to anyone looking for a kit. My next kit will be to squeeze in the Speedy 2023 version before the Surprise kit releases, but I am undecided if there will be a build log or not with the baby coming, plus I'm not sure I can really offer much other Speedy log's haven't already covered.

Yes, this is the thread.

Small update, I have been working hard on the running rigging and should be able to complete the rigging by the end of the week. I took a few breaks in the rigging to check a few more tasks off of my build list. Quarter Deck Cable port lids - Not sure the correct term for these, they are the openings right in front of the Quarter deck companionway intended to run cables up to the capstan. The kit does not offer anything to cover these up, and I felt the openings just looked off, so I fashioned up a couple quick easy lids out of some spare wood. Nothing special but they satisfied the captain. Hammock Crane netting- I was at the point in the rigging where I needed to put the netting in the hammock cranes at the waist. I am using some tannish color toule for the netting. When I put the netting in on the Quarter deck rail, I used on piece length wise and it was super fiddely and frustrating to work with the netting just caught on everything. This time i followed what @hollowneck did on his Camilla, and cut the toule into smaller vertical strips, I found about 25mm wide is just about perfect. I start by attaching one end of the net to the inboard crane rope. I experimented with several types of glue, but CA glue ended up being the winner as I needed something that set really quick. I go down the line attaching all the pieces before moving to the next step. Once all the pieces are glued on the inboard rope I then brush Matt Acrylic (Vallejo) over the netting where it meets the deck, this will secure the bottom of the netting, this makes the netting hold place securely while I lift up the other end for gluing on the next step. Next I add the outboard rope to the hammock cranes, and then glue the other end of the netting to the outboard rope again using CA glue. Lastly I trim the tops of the netting with some cuticle clippers and the netting is finished. As you can see in my very top photos I also decided to redo the netting and remove the hammocks from the quarter deck hammock cranes. My initial plan was to outfit the Sphinx's hammock rails with hammocks, but after I finished the waist netting I experimented with hammocks and realized they almost completely blocked what little view of the gun deck I had visible underneath the ships boats. I slept on it, and the next day decided on going with no hammocks as I didn't want to hide the gundeck, I also decided to remove the QD hammocks and also redo the netting as I wasn't completely happy with my first attempt.

One of the first things I noticed, I really like the new design. Do you know what ships boats will come with the kit yet? Also do you plan on using photo etch or 3d print for the toasted cheese?

Fantastic result, your rope coils look really good. I like the cannons on the quarter deck, I have been tinkering around with the idea of adding a couple myself just to give some to look at since most will be covered with the boats.

Looking great, I also had to fix a few broken feet on my deck beams, they are much more fragile than they look.

I don't know if you all have Hobby Lobby's down there in SE Texas, but I was in my local Hobby Lobby and they had a pretty good assortment of basswood blocks that I thought would be perfect sizes for filler blocks.

I just want to clarify my post, I wasn't trying to make any assumptions that you all were ripping anyone off. I just felt that at the current price it might turn some prospective buyers away, and shipping prices can vary greatly depending on who you ship through.

Apologies for the confusion, I don't always know the terminology. I am referring to the lower yards that attach to the fore mast channels. These are what I am referring to but on the fore mast.

Not sure if there are two versions of the kit but I know there are multiple versions of the instructions, I believe I have the earlier version as well because the instructions aren't as complete as what is on the Instructions on the Vanguard website. Yes I am referring to the yards that hook onto the fore mast channel.

Yards I've been working on the yards for the last several weeks. Yards definitely took longer than I was expecting and my kit was short on a couple sizes of the dowel rods so my progress kept being halted. My local hardware store didn't carry walnut dowel, so I had to go with the basswood for a few which isn't a big deal as the yards were painted. Completed yards Yards are hung up, it took me the better part of the weekend to make the harnesses and get the yards on the ship. I started on rigging the lifts but my progress was halted as my kit didn't have enough of several of the blocks so I ordered some pear 3d resin blocks from Syren. Question on the fore studding sail yards The kit shows the dimensions and plans for the studding sail yards for the main mast, and comes with the hardware to install the main and foremast studding sail yards on the channels, but I don't see any dimensions or plans for the fore mast lower studding sail yards. Should these be on the ship? Am I overlooking them somewhere on the plan sheets? I don't see them on anyone else's build, but if the ship should have them I would like to put them on and will need to purchase more dowel.

I really don't want to make this thread too much about the shipping cost, I was just very surprised at the shipping price and nearly cancelled my order because of it, and others might consider doing the same. At that price the magazine is competing with actual reference books on my wish list. I decided to purchase to support the new magazine and NRG, but it might be hard to justify in the future. I know shipping prices are on the rise, but as a person who frequently ships stuff I can't imagine it costs that much to put a magazine in the mail in a envelope.

Ordered a copy, any way to lower shipping in the future? $8.50 is crazy high for mailing a magazine.

I guess it really depends on the subject, but personally I find weathering to look wrong on Military Age of Sail ships. Those ships were packed with men who spent the large majority of their work time on board doing nothing but maintaining the ship.

That yellow and black is starting to look really sharp, can't wait to see how it looks with the copper.

Always nice to see another Pegasus log, its a beautiful little ship that I always enjoy seeing.

My instructions say the lines should be black. Are yours different? I know mine is an earlier kit as the instructions don't have the rigging section in the instruction booklet like the New Instruction PDF online does.

I just left the pear as it came with some Wipe on Poly as a varnish.

QD Hammocks: I finished sanding the sides of all the hammocks, after I removed a good majority of the gray wash that was blotchy. I think I am happy with the result and will probably move on. In the pictures they look much more grime ridden than they do in person, I think its the shadows from the masts and ropes making them look like that in the pics. As she now stands.

Main Mast Back Stays: Still working my way aft on the back stays. -I decided to stop at the main t'gallant stays to give me better access for the hammocks on the quarter deck netting. Quarter Deck Hammocks My plan on this model is to fill the QD and waist hammocks with netting and add hammocks. When I built my first ship the Beagle from Occre, I wanted to try my hand at making some hammocks. I used sail cloth to make the hammocks and I wasn't happy with how they turned out, the sail cloth was hard to work with and roll/fold into something that looked to scale, the finished result was super large hammocks that I wasn't happy with but I had sunk so much time into them I felt I had to use them, a sunk cost mistake many of us have probably made. When @Techtonic posted his Album of his Bellerophon model in the gallery section I was extremely impressed with his model and his hammocks really caught my eye. He pointed me in the direction of @tedrobinson2000 build log where he made a nice guide on making the hammocks in that style using FIMO Modelling clay. I won't go too much into the process as I pretty much followed tedrobinson2000's guide almost exactly. I was able to make up the hammocks pretty quickly, I made probably 50 in less than an hour. I used a Light Gray wash to try and tone down the white. These are still a work in progress some are blotchy in spots from me handling them, so I will go over the hammocks once more before I glue them in. I also wanted to make sure the scale looked correct, I like to use one of Vanguards figures to help me visualize the scale, sometimes thinks measure out one way and then look completely wrong at scale. Next came the test fit Here is my first test fit, nothing is glued down. After I had filled up half of the QD netting I quickly remembered that I had forgot to sand the sides of the hammocks flat. Here is how the hammocks look when the sides are flattened a bit with some sand paper. They fit much better, I was much happier with how they looked after sanded. With a figure to show the scale, I think as far as size they look alright, but please let me know if they look too large or small. I will probably have a few more tweaks before I glue them in, but I think i'm pretty happy with the result so far. Just need to tweak the wash a bit, and debate if adding any rope around the hammocks will be too large and out of scale. Jibboom Horses (Footropes) Deviating from the stays a little more, I decided to add on the Horses for the Jibboom. Between Lee's and David Antsherls Swan Class Rigging book I was able to come up with the dimensions of the rope, and how it might have been attached. I used an eye loop on one end to secure at the end of the Jibboom and the other end was wrapped and tied around the aft end of the Jibboom behind the Bowsprit Cap.

I appreciate all the likes and comments from everyone. Question on the backstays. Is there an order that the stays go on? I started on the foremast with the furthest forward backstay and working my way rearward while alternating between port and starboard pretty much in the same order the shrouds went on. But as some of the stays have deadeyes, while others have block and tackle setups, I wasn't sure if there was a distinct order they went on. Here is what I have done for each side of the ship on the foremast.

I tried out that cutting planking tool as well on my sphinx. Once I got the hang of the tool it worked pretty good for its purpose, I found that quantity and spacing of cuts matters more than the depth of the cuts. My biggest issue with the tool is if you sand too much the cuts start to show through the wood. I'm not the best at planking so I had to sand my stern quite a bit and a lot of my cuts started to become visible. I think the tool is fine for the first layer, but I won't use it beyond that on my next model. As you can see my stern still needed quite a bit of sanding at the time and the cuts were already starting to show through.

That AK Gold looks really sharp especially next to that red, I am going to have to order a bottle of that stuff.