BLACK VIKING

The idea is to place four "larger" swivel cannons here.
Why swivels? Because on the Anthony drawings the cannons on the back of the fore castels usually point upwards. And it is therefore suspected that these are swivels
Why only four, Matches the drawing.
"false openings" Make yourself appear stronger than you actually are?

Is this setup final? Don't know..can change .

Update time.  The interior is done, just need to glue the fuselage together and hide it all!  😆
 
I didn't spend too long on this with it being black, so used the kit decals for the instruments, picked a few instruments out in various white, yellow or red highlights and a gentle bit of weathering.  I did find a set of P.E. seatbelts in the spares box, so pressed them into use, with a re-paint from canvas to blue.
 
Thanks for looking in and the likes.

I have trimmed or removed some of the MDF bulkheads. A couple were shaped to look like ribs. This may seem rather anal since they will be hidden under the floor boards. But you can see the ribs through the cracks in the floorboards if you look at the right angle. After the seats and other parts are attached you won't be able to see much of them!
 
I coated the inside of the hull with a clear acrylic sealer in preparation for painting.
 
The forward deck grating has been trimmed to fit between the ribs. The edges of the center floorboards piece were beveled so it sits flat between the ribs.
 
The small aft grating has been glued in place. It was a bit too wide fore to aft, probably because the space was a bit narrower due to the angles of the bulkhead and transom after gluing.
 
I am procrastinating on gluing the deck pieces into place until after the inside of the hull has been painted.
 
 
I jumped ahead in the instructions looking for things that can be done before painting the boat. The instructions say to use a couple of spare planks to make the wales. What spare planks? Fortunately there is a suitable narrow strip in the 1 mm pear sheet that was between the planks and seat support/ribs.
 
The wales were bent in place on the hull using the plank bending tool. Then they were glued in place. Here I went over to the dark side and used a drop of CA gel to attach the front end of the wale to the stem. After this set I used Titebond glue to attach the rest of the strip to the hull. The Titebond takes about a minute to set up enough to hold the strips in place, and this gives time to position them.
 
The top of the wales were positioned even with the bottom of the top planking strip.
 
 
 
I decided to add a cap rail to the top of the planking and ribs. This isn't mentioned in the instructions, but desalgu added them when he built this kit for his Dutchess of Kingston build. Instead of cutting rowlock positions into the top plank he added thole pins to the cap rails. However May's Boats of Men-of-War says cutters had an additional plank above what was normal for other boats to increase the freeboard, and rowlock openings were cut into this plank so the oars would not ride too high and make rowing more difficult.
 
Two extra seat support strips were used to make the cap rails. I made a bending fixture with some pins driven into a piece of scrap wood. These pieces were bent flat across the wide dimension. Again, they were wetted and shaped with the plank bending tool several times until they held their shape.
 
 
 
Rowlock openings will be cut through the cap rail and the top plank - cutter style. Here is a photo showing the cap rails and wales after gluing in place. The aft ends will be trimmed after the glue has set.
 

I have some more pics props have the semi-gloss applied just waiting to wash and do the light.The triangle piece for the aerials left over PE from something.I may finish this evening or tomorrow.

I recently posted photo's of 3 different 'Falconet' 1:72 4,6, 19 oared boat kits, all of which have the planks pre spiled.
I believe there are other similar kits (Master Kirobel?)

Getting back on this project after a little break. I've been trying to understand the wiring for the LEDs. If anyone has some knowledge with LEDs and would like to share some insight, I'd appreciate it. The video would have you run the wiring for each individual bulb individually. And in the end you end up with this, this is just the wires for the hold:

oof. I don't know why its done this way but it would seem to be more efficient to wire each pair of bulbs as either series or parallel as they did in the picture below. But is this series or parallel? I can't tell from this view. Does anyone know? Each bulb has a long side and a short where the longer side is positive but it appears they have been cut here. By wiring all pairs this way, there will be significantly less wires. I don't think these bulbs require resistors, or do they? None are provided with the lighting kit.

Each bulb has a little cover that must be glued into place. In addition, they have small raised areas that need to be black. I can barely see these raised areas even with strong magnification.

Once again, the sharpie is useful for this. You must also create a groove in the top of each beam to allow the wires to set in and avoid interfering with the deck. I used ALs little tool for that. I also test each LED with the 3 volt battery.

I also have the 1/84 scale officers and naval crew but they are pretty small so I don't know if I can paint them with any degree of accuracy.



 
 

The “leak” turned out to be an “error in thinking”, water dripped out of the flood zones, not the watertight compartment! 
 
Decals replaced and in clear coated with a brush (instead of airbrush) hopefully has a thicker protective coating. 

The boat was a bit heavy after so put a bit of floating foam under the deck. 
 
then today we went with a small group to my model sailing club. Sunny weather, about 1-3 feet of pretty clear water, could not be better. 
 
amd the boat sailed - a bit too fast, very easy to dive and surface and a huge turning radius. Still work to be done, but the boat is fully under control and I’m very happy!

Well, I worked all day today, continuing Surprise stuff.
 
This morning, I decided to make the templates for the fore and quarterdeck bulwarks, which are to be pre-cut. So first, the upper deck and beams were to be removed. My initial idea was to do the same I did for Indy, with most of the outer sides planked. 
 
However, I could not get the thought out of my mind just how nice the sides would look if they were pre-cut and engraved, with treenail detail - that would look great when painted ochre (or just varnished). So, with this in mind, I made a template for the whole of the hull side down to the top of the main wale line (or in Surprise's case, where the planks get thicker).
 
The pics show the end result of a day’s work, with many templates laser cut in white PolyBak, with each successive template (and there were many) tweaked a little more until, eventually, the final template is cut in the material that will be used in the kit, pear, shown in the pics. There was no warping to the undersides near the bow, and curved around very nicely on my disposable 'mule hull'
 
The downside to this, and the reason I initially dismissed doing this, is cost (0.8mm pear sheet needing to be 800mm long and 4 required just for the outer hull) and time. It will increase the overall cost to the kit. But it does mean planking, like on the smaller kits in the range, is relegated to the bottom half of the hull only, with all upper sides being completely pre-cut and laser engraved. It also means I can work slots into the bulwark sides for the fore, main and mizzen channels, these worked very well for the new Speedy and Harpy.
 
I hope I have made the right choice..
 
Oh, for the rudder fixing, I am doing the same as I did for Indy, with 3-d printed gudgeon and pintles that simply slot into the rudder and rudder post, I do very much like this method as it is both simple and looks accurate.
 

Just back from a holiday, so only a short update.
 
The rudder has been finished, the batten above the coppering added, as have the depth markers and the horseshoes and fishplates. The batten is a 1mm strip cut from 0.8mm pear fret (pear is hard on knife blades 🤨). The depth markers were painted black and glued using gel CA - spacing was eyeballed. The horseshoes and fishplates were painted with a different, darker, copper paint than the plating simply to make them stand out slightly. Gel CA was used to glue them in place.
 
The rudder is in place for the photos but not fixed.



Cheers

I was going to do a diorama then figured I’d need a lot of figures and the back hatches are not open which they would be for operation. So this should do  

Adding to the new Completed non-ship category, here is one I built in 2017.  The 1/48 Airfix Meteor, good kit from memory, with a nice touches Airfix added of having an engine and gun bays on display.

Cheers Ronald and Mark, and thanks to all following along, much appreciated.
Post 64
Headworks cont’d
Additional Timber heads

3848b
I decided to have a punt at creating the aftmost timberhead as shown on the Adm plan above.

3864a
I used the spare kit part as a template for the basic shape, traced onto some spare 1.5mm fret, and cut out on the jigsaw.

3869a

3875a

3878a
I suspect that some detail is missing from the head works, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an Adm. plan of this area.

3880a
I don’t know whether it is a kit simplification, or based on  other sources, but I have doubts that the space between the Head timbers and rails would simply be a void.
At the very least I would expect there to be Head beams running between the Head timbers, linked by Carlings in the fore/aft direction.

3887a
I decided to add these and the saddle, but leave out any further enhancement.
I’ll fit the carlings later, once I’ve checked that they don’t foul the Gammoning.

3897a
Would there have been gratings, and seats of ease for the crew? Harpy did carry quite a large crew (121), and I presume the  ‘Necessary’ at the stern was for the use of Officers.🤔
 
The final part is to add the decorative scroll work.

3901a
This is primed with Metal Prep 4k before painting with ochre brown.

3883a

3891a

3893a

3886a
The hull is complete now, but I think Harpy has raised more questions in my mind than Sphinx and Indy taken together, all great fun, and I’m enjoying this build far more than I imagined I would.
 
……..Back to the deck fittings.
 
B.E.
15/04/2025
 
 
 

Checking figurehead in relation to bowsprit, and the fit of the new stove. Pics not too flattering, but this hull is only used as a basis to check important parts and finalising the more important aspects of the hull designs. So now, I know that the whole hull goes together very well, all the gun and upper deck beams fit perfectly, and the bulkheads will give a nice run for the outer planking.
 
Also inner bulwarks shown, these do take an age to get right, due to curves and the amount of upper deck beam slots. These are cut and checked using ply, but kit version will have pear versions, engraved and all positions marks or cut for all inner bulwark fittings - I always hated having to plank inner bulwarks, very awkward and there was always the real chance of some planks splitting or breaking off when filing the ports - not anymore!

And back to Surprise. These pics show the checking of the inner bulwark template (no gun port cut outs yet), and how it aligns with the upper deck beams. Once I know the fit is as good as it's going to be, I shall do the next version with gun ports and then check again.
 
(Ply gun deck is not part of the final kit)
 
For this design, I beefed up the bow structure a lot more than usual, as I know this can be a weak point when planking..

Post 63
The Head works.
This is a critical area in the modelling of ships of this type, so, the first thing that happens is the part that represents the gammoning knee/ extension piece breaks into three pieces.
... and I thought I had soft hands🫤

3840a
These were reconstructed on the model before moving on.
There are two head timbers and the smaller forward one also  broke into two parts. Fortunately there are spares for the head timbers.

3848b
I noted during working this area that the Adm. Plan shows a third head timber close by the stem?
I’ll have a look once the Main rails are fitted how feasible it would be to install a third set.

3842a
Great care is necessary handling the Hair brackets and I didn’t attempt to remove the char from the edges. They were pre-painted using Vallejo Ochre Brown before fitting.

3846a
The upper and lower cheeks are nicely formed and required very little adjustment to fit. I fitted the upper one first which sits atop the wale, to act as a guide  for fitting the lower.
The Hawse Bolsters require reducing in depth by around 2mm, and are improved by rounding the edges and chamfering the  grooves over which the cables  would run to reduce wear.
I also induced a slight round to match the curve of the bow area.
 
The Main Rails

3847a
I usually find holding the rails in place for dry fitting a bit tricky, but not so bad with Harpy. Pleased to note that the rails sit against the head timbers without manipulation, so I think  using pva on the hull and cyano on the head timbers will work.
 
I was a little confused about the positioning of the Main rail where it meets the cathead.
The manual and the prototype photos show it ending beneath the Sheer rail; Plan 5 suggests it runs over the rail against the underside of the Cathead.
There are examples of both approaches on builds ahead of me at this point.

3860a
I opted for the lower position which makes it flush with the Sheer rail, but importantly it still met the head timbers correctly.
 
Cathead support Bracket.
This fits over the Main Rail beneath the Cathead.

3856a
The brackets do require some tweaking for best fit and it improves the aesthetics to simply shape a slight curve on the outer sides of the bracket.

3852a

3861a
Not quite done with the headworks yet…..
 
B.E.
14/04/2025

The falcon alone looks even more dynamic...
 

And now for something completely different.
When I need other people, more skilled than me in other disciplines, to do work for me for future developments, I like to get these aspects sorted way, way before I start the project myself.
Here is such an example, a set of cannons and a 17th Century brick stove/fire hearth, that were sent to me last night and printed overnight, for the very first check of parts – all went together pretty well, I think.

The first part of video 6 is complete. All support posts are installed. The video calls for very specific heights for each post and I made each post to that height. I'm not sure if that will be the correct height for my model but I can shorten them later with a set of very sharp nippers if needed. A small jig is provided with the kit to help get the correct distance between posts where there are three posts across the frames. I tried this with the first frame but it was getting in my way more than anything else. I abandoned that and just determined the correct distance apart for the posts. I used a brass nail in the bottom of each post as seen in the video and did my best to get the posts aligned correctly.
 
Next up are the flour sacks. The kit provides a template to make these from paper or cloth I guess. I feel like this would have been a great 3d resin part. I'm going to skip that step for now while I see if I can find some 3d parts that will work. Next up are the barrels, a part I don't recognize (part H25 in the kit) and the ballast material.

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. 

What I especially like about bike kits are the different metal finishes, you need to let it look realistic. Here, I used aluminum, titanium a mix from jet exhaust and copper and chrome, all from the AK Extreme Metal range. Chrome got a undercoat of gloss black, the others were sprayed directly onto the plastic.
I was lazy, avoiding masking and sprayed the 3D printed chain in aluminum complete with the chain sprockets. The chain should look like steel and was therefore treated wit a heavy dose of black panel liner, followed by Uschi chrome pigments, which I rubbed in. The tyres received a treatment with a grey Flory wash, to enhance the detail and let them look a little less plastic like. The fit and engineering is still fantastic and putting together the kit is pure joy.







Cheers Rob

Naturally the first step is to paint the propellor… from the pics I’ve found it’s a wooden laminated prop. 

I painted the propellor buff colour and used a stationary pencil and moved the propellor against it to draw 2 lines to show the layers. It’s 4cm long so was a bit fiddly. From the pics the middle layer is the light colour, so painted the outer layers with a darker brown acrylic.
 

Then once dry covered it with dark brown oils and let it dry for a bit before brushing the oil off to try give a wood grain effect. I’m fairly happy with it and will give it a few days before I seal it in after any touch ups I think it needs with a clear coat. It blends the two shades together well! 
 

 
To me it looks like a wooden prop 

We’re all ready for the first of five concrete pours. I would like to get 3 in this week if possible. 

Video 5 is complete and this completes the primary structures in the hold. However, there quite a few details yet to complete the hold, such as support posts, flour sacks, barrels and ballast. This is covered in the next video. In addition, the lighting will need to be addressed. I haven't used lighting on a ship model before but this model seems to need it.
 
I followed the order of assembly for the bow storage as seen in the video. I test fitted everything along the way.


Some adjustments were needed along the way, again paying attention to the need to clear the deck.

I glued the storage in before adding the final wall which is farthest to the right. There is a step up to that part of the decking so I wanted to make sure there was a good fit.

Here are the other details that are added to the front compartment of the bow storage.

Installed. The orlop deck doesn't have an opening that corresponds to the ladder but there is what appears to be a hatch cover there which you could open up if you choose to do so. I also installed the side walkways.

This wall is just aft of the bow storage. The video would have you add the support posts after gluing the wall in but there is no way I would be able to see well enough to do that. I attached them before gluing the wall in. Just needed a little trial and error to get the proper length of the supports.


Complete.

With the problems with the tracks behind me progress has been steady. The last serious photo etch was the baskets for the jerrycans. They were actually fairly easy to make using a folder and the cans fitted without causing any distortion.

The tool kit was painted and added. The saw didn’t actually seem to be needed.

I wanted to show the tank as the winter warms up, the white camouflage is deteriorating and the tank is plowing through mud. 
I used powdered ceramic bricks from my Aedes Ares Loarre Castle model, mixed with some white glue, water and brown acrylic paint. This was then applied with a stiff brush and cleaned up with cotton buds where I had got too enthusiastic. I may have been too liberal with the effect but I think it works and it does cover some of the issues with the track assembly.

I think this is finished and it’s time to go back to HMS Iron Duke and some serious PE.
Thanks for looking in, the likes and comments.
alan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm confused why Don states that bowsprit shrouds and bobstays were not used on SotS.  Bowsprit shrouds are not to be confused with the shrouds for the bowsprit topmast.  Bowsprit shrouds on modern yachts run from the bowsprit to the hull on either side of the vessel, and prevent the bowsprit from bending to port or starboard.  Typically the aft end of the shroud is attached to the hull using a thimble and shackle to an eye bolt which goes through a chain plate that is bolted to the hull.  Take a look at my model of the Halcon of 1840.  There are two bowsprit supports on each side of the bowsprit.  One "guy" line starts at the tip of the bowsprit and runs to the dolphin striker where it splits into two guys which have tackles attached in turn to the hull (large arrow).  The other is a bowsprit shroud that runs from a collar at the base of the dolphin striker and runs to a tackle on either side of the hull, near the guy tackle (small arrow).  So, yes, SotS did not have bowsprit stays.


 
As to where the bowsprit running rigging was belayed, that is unknown.  Doris Obručová's model has a belaying pin rack located on either side of the beakhead (below).  Perhaps there were cleats on the deck or railings or kevels on the inboard sides of the beak.  We don't know.  Vasa had a pinrail on the beakhead deck.  Don Dressel rove running rigging lines through blocks fastened to the gammoning, and then up to the forward railing on the forecastle on his model, or directly from the blocks attached to the bowsprit, located foward of the spritsail yard but behind the bowsprit top, rearward to the forecastle railing.