brunnels

Fantastic kit so far. Showing below deck really puts in perspective how tight the quarters were for 120ish men, they must have had to push a couple men in hammocks around just to open a door below deck.

Last bit of work on the bow for now, the V Frame decoration patterns. Another very fragile piece to work with.

This morning I started work on the head of the ship. V frame brackets and head platform patterns Glued, painted, and varnished. Platform and frame glued in place Next I started on the delicate scroll trim pieces. First step was char removal, slow and steady strokes on these fragile pieces. The kit does provide extras incase you break any pieces. I then varnished the pieces so paint would apply smoothly in the middle. Once the varnish was dry I applied paint to the middle, and once that was dry I lightly sanded off any paint that got on the outside parts of the pieces. I then glued the pieces in place. I next started work on the bow cheeks, and Hawse bolsters. My goal was to paint the cheeks blue with paint removed to match the trim pieces already installed. Next the Hawse boosters were rounded down, and glued in place along with the upper rails that route in-between the v brackets.

Thanks. I agree its amazing how much difference some rails and channels make. I love the process after completing the main hull structure, it's a bunch of smaller detail parts that really change how the ship appears and really brings the model to life.

Finished up installing the railings on the outer hull. Next was the fenders and chess tree pieces. I then applied WOP to seal and complete the outer railings. While the rudder patterns were gluing together, I decided to next start on the channels. I wasn't planning on leaving the channels in the natural color, but black channels just didn't look good with the light blue color I was using, and after looking at quite a few contemporary models I was inspired to try out the channels with only a couple coats of varnish and I am very happy with the result. Channels ready to be installed. Char removed, sanded, varnished, and pins installed. Channels for main mast. All channels glued on. Next were the channel knees. I removed the char, sanded, and after they were glued on I applied varnish. And here is how she currently sits. My next tasks are finishing the rudder, then starting work on the head of the ship.

Starting on the waist railings. Started off soaking the front patterns for 20 minutes and then clamped to the hull overnight to dry. I then spent the next night filing the char off of these fragile little buggers. I snapped a couple pieces, but I eventually found a small file that made really quick work of the laser char without putting too much pressure on the fragile parts. Once the front pieces had their char removed, I glued them on with PVA glue, and started the char removal on the next set. I have the front and middle waist rail pieces glued, and should be able to get the rear patterns glued on next session.

Looks like the start to a great kit, can't wait to see the progress.

Your planking looks fantastic.

I wasn't able to work on the Sphinx as much as I would have liked last week. Last Tuesday night we had a nasty thunderstorm blow through with some very high speed straight line winds that came with it. The high speed winds blew over many trees and powerlines and as a result a large portion of the city including our home was without power for several days. Being without power is a pain, but is a serious pain when the heat index is 115f (46.1 celsius). After a couple of very uncomfortable nights our power returned, and we were able to cool down the house. I now have much more respect for my grandparents and predecessors who lived through this summer heat on a daily basis before air conditioning, they were tough as nails. Anyway, back to the Sphinx. Before I lost power I had started the process of adding filler to the hull and sanding down to prep for the white paint on the hull. I then started to apply a couple layers of paint and then go back and add more filler and sand where needed. I did the process 3 times before I was satisfied with the result. I used Vallejo Off White for the hull color. Once I was happy with the paint, I applied 3 coats of WOP lightly sanding between each coat. Next I wanted to finish the quarter galleys. The last step was the lower molding. These pieces are created by gluing 3 laser cut pieces together and then shaping with a sanding block to get the result. I filled the gaps with some filler, and then painted the moldings black to match the gunwale. Now time for a little paint. Whenever I see paint colors on build logs I really like I note the color and typically order it. I then painted a sample of all the colors I liked and then chose my favorite. My favorite of my choices was Vallejo Blue Gray, It has a really nice muted tone from the gray, and a great looking light blue tone that I think will match up with the ochre color decorations that will eventually go on top. A close second choice was Tamiya XF18 Med Blue, it was just a tad darker than what I had envisioned for this model, but I will probably use it on a future kit. The red is Vallejo Flat Red.

I would say you still have time, I actually just touched mine up when I painted the quarter galleys.

More work done on the Quarter Galleys. Before I closed up the Galleys I painted them with Vallejo Ivory White to match the great cabin. I also created the captains Seat of Ease using a 4x4 piece of lime with some leftover .8mm pear on top, and a hole drilled into both. Next I started to close up the Galleys with the window frame pieces. Next were the outer window frame piece, and the lower counter piece. A bit of sanding of the custom frame pieces I made was required to get the counter piece to sit flush to match the window frame. I then added the upper roof piece. This piece is intentionally oversized for fit, so it needed quite a bit of sanding to get the proper slant and to fit flush with the window frame piece below it. I then repeated the same process for the port side.

I was also nervous when starting them, and I used way more nails than I was expecting to keep it flat against the hull. But knowing the piece was being painted gave me relief as paint can cover up a lot of ugliness.

My next step was tackling the gunwales. While the gunwales were pinned for 24 hours to retain the correct shape, I started to work on the stern. I started with the inner lower counter piece glued with PVA. Next up was the upper inner stern piece. The next morning the gunwales had properly dried to retain their shape around the bow. I glued the gunwales using PVA, and a ton of nails. I wasn't expecting to have to use so many nails, but the piece just didn't want to lay flat on its own. No worries though as the piece is being painted, so I could fill any nail holes. While the glue on the gunwales was drying I decided to glue on the outer stern piece. The inner stern piece was a very thin piece of wood, and I kept accidently brushing it while working on the model and I was afraid I was going to snap off part of the piece. So I decided to skip ahead a few steps in the instructions and glue on the thicker outer piece to offer a little more protection against my clumsiness. I then added the outer piece for the lower stern. Once the gunwales glue had dried, it was time to tape up the hull and add some paint. I'm using regular Vallejo Black. Now time to tackle the Quarter Galleys. Since I opened up the doors this was going to requite a bit of custom work. Taking some insperation from @Blue Ensign and adjusting the parts as I felt best worked I decided to take a piece of lime wood and copy the outer curve of the MDF kit piece, and then cut it down so it was about 2mm wide. After checking the location of where the piece needed to sit a large number of times, I then glued the piece under the template piece. I then repeated the process for the two pieces below. My next step is to make a floor board, seat of ease for one side, and then add some paint before closing up the galleys with the windows.

I have finished laying down the second layer of pear planks. Just need to add some filler below the water line and then sand the hull smooth. It's not perfect, and definitely not up to par with most on this forum, but being only my second kit to build I am very happy with how it turned out.

I'm guessing it's the Santa Maria.

Weekend catch up post. This last weekend my plan was to get a start on the second layer of planking. So Friday night I glued on the llower pear laser cut pieces so I could get a good start on planking on saturday. Saturday morning came very early, my dog is in her twilight years and doesn't have full mobility, so if she is up at the crack of dawn that means I have to be up at the crack of dawn, which is fine unless I'm wanting to sleep in on the weekend. Not a problem though, as besides changing the oil in my truck I had my schedule cleared for the day so I could get some good progress on the second layer of planking. So waking up early just meant I had the opportunity to get more work done. So with an audience comfortable on the office couch, I got a nice early start on the second layer. Two rows of laser cut pear strips start off the 2nd layer, followed by two rows of full length strips un-tapered. I then started tapering at the bow, I also cut the strips in half to make it easier to work with as I will be painting the hull white so I'm not concerned about the layout of the boards. Also I had to add some thin limewood strips I had to the deadwood area as it was a little too thin for the planks to meet up at the stern post evenly. @mugje Gave me a heads up on this issue earlier, and he was correct. Here is where I left off at the end of the day sunday. The pear is very easy to work with, and the 2nd layer is actually going much smoother than I expected. Figuring out how the boards should lay down at the stern is the most time consuming part, but now that I am about 2/3rd's the way finished the boards are laying down flat at the stern progress is picking up much more quickly. The other side has a few rows less put down, but progress isn't that much further behind. Probably a few more nights of planking and then a couple more of sanding and cleaning up a few spots.

I have been pretty bad at remembering to take photos the last few days, but I have been making some progress. I spent a day sanding and filling the hull. After that was completed I glued on the keel, and stern and rudder post. Once those were dry I glued on the laser cut coverings for the keel and stern post. While the glue set on those pieces, I brushed on diluted glue and started on the port side laser cut pear pieces. After the keel pieces had set and I had some more clamps freed up I glued on the starboard laser cut pear pieces. I'm glad I invested in more clamps.

Finished putting the boards down for the first layer. A few gaps that need some filler, and a few bumps that will need to be smoothed out, but I'm happy with the result. I decided to not plank some of the deadwood area on the first layer as it will need to be sanded down to 0mm per the instructions anyway, I have seen a few others go this route on various models and decided to try this method. While the PVA glue was drying for the final planks, I decided to start wet forming the pear laser cut patterns for the out hull. While these won't be used for a few more steps, I wanted to give them ample time to dry in position over the next day. Question for the experts. I have been thumbing through the instructions and it doesn't look like these slots in the stern frames are utilized, is this assumption correct? I just want to make sure I haven't missed anything as it looks like the stern fascia pieces will cover them.

Thanks @Keith Black, I didn't even think about looking on facebook marketplace.

Beautiful planking, I can already tell you mine won't be as good as that lol.

@JFMJr Everyone else has already given you great advice, since I just finished the Beagles rigging I will give a few tips on reading the instructions that took me a minute to figure out. This one may be obvious, but this page tells you where all the lines end up being belayed at. I assumed this page was just for the running rigging, but there are several standing rigging lines that will end in places on this page. I would look up some youtube videos on belaying lines, It was one of the more difficult tasks on the rigging, but getting the right tool and technique you will eventually get the hang of it fast. On this page the circled areas (JT4) are supposed to be brass chain. My kit didn't provide enough brass chain for this task (along with many other items), but even the official youtube Occre build channel used rope for this section. I have yet to see anyone use brass chain for this section. These circed lines look like they just end up in the ships hull which had me confused. You need to install eyebolts on each side of the bow for the lines to tie to. I wrongly assumed that all the needed eyebolts had already been installed as the instructions have you put in a ton of them earlier in the build. But that is wrong, there are several eyebolts and blocks that you will still need to add onto the ship that show up in the rigging instructions. Here are a couple more eyebolts that you will have to add. These blocks look like they should be on the outside of the hull, but I believe they should go to the blocks already installed on the deck that aren't being used. The official Occre video also ran these to blocks on the deck. Also the blue lines on the plans are for the sails, if you aren't installing the sails you can ignore them. If I think of anything else I struggled with I will add more, but overall I actually really enjoyed the rigging process. I thought it was going to be super difficult and grueling, but it was a nice change of pace from the rest of the model. The model really starts to come alive and look like a ship when you start adding rope.

1st layer planking still ongoing, I'm averaging about 2-3 boards per side each night. I will say this ship has been pretty easy to plank so far, this is only my second kit, but its much easier going than my Beagle kit was. I have not soaked any wood yet, and have been using the plank bending tool that Vanguard sells on their website. I have a few spots that need some light sanding from the bulkhead needing a little more fairing, and a few minor gaps that will need some filler, but every thing is laying flat against the bulkheads which I am happy with.

Thanks for the compliments all. My father and I were brainstorming some case ideas this last weekend when he came to view the model. But holy cow did I under estimate how expensive cases are, probably going to have to build my own to make it affordable.

Got a start on the first layer planking. Only put down 3 planks per side, but it was a nice warm up. I'm really loving the lines of this ship so far.

I spent the better part of Saturday sanding down and fairing the hull. Once the sanding was complete I soaked the plywood patterns for the recommended 45 minutes, and then clamped on the ship to dry out until the next day. The next day I spent a while dry fitting to find the best alignment, so much alignment of future parts depends on pieces like these being properly aligned. I then applied diluted glue and then started to clamp and nail the pieces in place. The Vanguard nails are smaller than the nails in my Beagle kit, the Model Expo nail pusher I have is just too large for the Vanguard nails and would bend a significant amount of the nails, a smaller diameter nail pusher is going to go on my research/shopping list. I didn't cut the quarter galley doors open on the plywood piece while gluing, this was intentional as I figured the piece might not retain the needed shape at the rear and wouldn't be glued down as strongly if I cut it first. So once the glue had dried long enough, I opened up a slit in the doors with knife until I had a slot big enough for a file, I then filed the doors open to match the interior. I then added small strips of leftover .5mm basswood to cover the gaps between the hull. I intend to fix the floor area between the pieces as well when I tackle the quarter galleys in the future.