HMS Sphinx 1775 by Hollowneck - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[Bruma]

This is just so beautiful! One of the, if not "the" best sea diorama without resin I have ever seen! Your taste for colors and your attention to details are really remarkable! Thank you so much for sharing this marvel and for taking the time to explain the making process. It is really inspiring! I hope I will be able to do something similar for my Cutty Sark. Thank you!

[shipman]

Wow! So impressed!

 

To ad another level of realism, here's a photo I found of the 1979 'Bounty' replica after her journey from the Antipodes to Tahiti.

 

[Gahm]

Phantastic work, hollowneck! It looks unbelievably realistic!

 

Thomas

[CiscoH]

wow.  i guess if youre going to do something do it well.  thats an amazing diorama

Edited December 9, 2022 by CiscoH

[Glen McGuire]

Brilliant work!

[Nipper]

Well, I can only echo the comments made above.  That is so realistic that we could be on a cross-channel ferry looking across at a full size replica sailing past us.

Thank you for giving us such a detailed breakdown of how you create such a masterpiece.

 

Nipper

[DelF]

What they all said. Simply stunning.

 

Derek

[glbarlow]

The bow wave and the water work in general are well done and very realistic. 

[Landlubber Mike]

Fantastic stuff Ron.  Your sea is very lifelike with all the colors, shapes, etc.  Really well done my friend!

[scrubbyj427]

Incredible work! 

[hollowneck]

@druxey, @mtaylor, @JeffT, @jpalmer1970, @Blue Ensign, @BobG, @AJohnson, @James G, @Bruma, @shipman, @Gahm, @CiscoH, @Glen McGuire, @Nipper, @DelF, @glbarlow, @Landlubber Mike....and @scrubbyj427.

 

Thank You to you all (sometimes spelled "Ya'll)...

I am truly humbled by all your comments. I sincerely hope this unique "Group Thank You" suffices.

 

I'll keep getting on with it since there are a few more (nautical) miles to go. I'll also take high-res (properly lighted) DSLR gallery photos when I announce my project's completion.

Many of you know this was my first Build Log. To everyone here and those of previous posts who offered their help, advice, hints - and especially encouragement - a very special thanks for your time to look in on my Build.

[hollowneck]

Progress shots of Camilla's starboard and stern waters now complete.

First stage for fashioning the stern wake.

Completed wake; a good amount of sea foam added to her rudder. This shot shows her prominent list to starboard.

Change of lighting; lots o' drama. Water gets very"inky."

 

A higher angle view of her port side (missed this one on the previous post).

All the principal water features are complete with only a high gloss acrylic left to apply overall. 

Time to choose a good, complementary stain for the case.

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by hollowneck

[druxey]

Wow! Masterful, Ron.

[TBlack]

The colors and the action of the water are spot-on. Ron must have an artistic background.

Tom

[hollowneck]

18 hours ago, druxey said:

Wow! Masterful, Ron.

Thank You, druxey, much appreciated.

31 minutes ago, TBlack said:

The colors and the action of the water are spot-on. Ron must have an artistic background.

Tom

Thank You, Tom. Yes, for many years during my professional career I was a graphic designer and photographer.

[hollowneck]

On the first page of this Build Log I posted a terse description of HMS Camilla's history with a portrait painting of the frigate. The most notable fact about this warship is the extraordinary length of her service for England and the detailed history of extensive prize captures under nearly all of her commanding officers: nearly 55 years of service in the British/American War (American Revolution), the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She was sold in 1831, presumed to be broken up shortly thereafter.

 

I recently came across a lengthy history that revealed a little of the fascinating background for HMS Camilla's early service, including being the flagship for the "Commander of His Majesty's Ships & Vessels in North America." (1779). I found this detail and an additional wealth of information about Connecticut's early involvement in the American Revolution in a two-volume set of books published in 1925: Maritime Connecticut During The American Revolution pictured here. I purchased the set several years ago when my home was in Connecticut. While doing some casual research about my early choice to build this Sphinx Class (10 ships) model from Vanguard, I came across additional history, the facts of which I hadn't been aware until the model was nearly completed.

 

For those who may be interested in this ship's history, I've excerpted some interesting historical background below.

In addition to completing the finish to my model's casework, I'll make an appropriate nameplate as I've done for nearly all my recent models in dioramas. I'm contemplating the following title:

 

HMS Camilla

Leaving Spithead, bearing West, So’west for North America

August, 1776

 

Here is a short, but fascinating summary relating to this possible nameplate choice for the model's identity. Upon commissioning (May, 1776) she made her maiden voyage to North America (Boston) to patrol the troubled Massachusetts colony waters; three years later into the deeper, evolving conflicts in North America, HMS Camilla found herself in shallower waters of Long Island Sound, in a slightly different wartime footing, as follows (information in the first of the dual volume history, from a Connecticut Broadside, a "newspaper" of the era):

 

 

An Address to the Inhabitants of Connecticut

 

Given on board  his Majesty’s ship HMS Camilla in the Sound, July 4, 1779 by Commodore Sir George Collier, Commander of his Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in North America.

 

“The ungenerous and wanton insurrection against the sovereignty of Great Britain, into which this colony has been deluded by the artifices of designing men for private purposes might well justify in you every fear which conscious guilt could form respecting the intentions of the present armament”…

 

Collier continues:

 

…“Why then will you persist in a ruinous and ill judged resistance? We hoped that you would recover from the phrenzy which has distracted this unhappy country; and we believe the day to be now come, when the greater art of this continent begins to blush at their delusion. You who lie so much in our power, afford the most striking monument of our mercy, and therefore ought to set the first example of returning allegiance.”…

 

-----

 

One day later on July 5th, a sizable force of British troops invaded and pillaged New Haven, CT and continued along the colony’s coastline punishing the rebels. The fleet was manned by a crew of sailors and marines estimated at 2,000 men, and was the largest that had ever entered Long Island Sound. The fleet, afterward employed to transport the British from Newport, Rhode Island to New York, consisted of 110 sailing ships “…passing New Haven by daylight. "

 

"The ships were of light draught, and the largest was the Camilla frigate on which Sir George hoisted his pennant as flagship."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by hollowneck
grammar, a couple typos fixed

[toms10]

Ron,

you are ridiculously talented!😁 I think I actually felt the spray from the whitecaps! 😂

 

Tom

[hollowneck]

6 hours ago, toms10 said:

Ron,

you are ridiculously talented!😁 I think I actually felt the spray from the whitecaps! 😂

 

Tom

Unwarranted praise (but I'll take It!)   Humbled and a sincere Thank You, Tom.

Expect to get wet when looking into the deep end!!🤣

[HardeeHarHar]

It is true, you ROCK Ron.  What a beautiful build, and to offer up such historical information along the way further demonstrates what a true master craftsman you have become . Your Camilla is spectacular, and then you add the water....inspirational work my good man!  

[TomShipModel]

Beautiful Ron!  The sea looks like a photograph.  Very realistic!

 

[hollowneck]

@HardeeHarHar & @TomShipModel

 

A big "Thank You" to you both. Much appreciated.

 

The ship model is finished now that I've added rope lashings to hold the ship's boat securely to Camilla's midships skids and made a few touch-ups, mostly minuscule paint daubs; these additions are not worth a Build Log update. The full diorama also got a final coat of Liquitex High Gloss Varnish (an acrylic) so that the seascape looks very wet now. I'll take a couple photos of how this looks and post them soon.

 

The case will now get some finishing work and then I'll take studio photos to post here in the Gallery. The staining and sealing is dependent somewhat on weather which means it may possibly be a few weeks before this gets accomplished. 

 

 

[Gahm]

It has been already voiced by everybody before me, but I have to add my voice to it, too: this is a marvelous display of a beautiful model! Outstanding work!

 

Thomas

 

[hollowneck]

@Gahm...Thank You kindly.

 

[hollowneck]

HMS Camilla: The Way Of Water

 

Here is what happens when a final coating of High Gloss Acrylic Varnish is applied across the water surface.

I also added gloss varnish below the scuppers to indicate wetness along the hull from water pouring from them. This type of detail will show-up better when I shoot studio photos with a DSLR. I've also applied a liberal amount of the gloss varnish along the model's hull, up and over one wale, as well as splash areas at the stern tuck and even on the lower spritsail. 

 

I've chosen a stain color for the embellished casework: pecan (MinWax). I did a rub-on trial with this color stain and I believe two coats will achieve a warm, complementary appearance that accents the model's warm pear wood hues. I'm holding-off on its application for awhile; I'll post photos later. 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by hollowneck

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

The ship is great and the water is FANTASTIC!  I wish I could make water like that!

[James G]

Just finished reviewing your post and had to go get a towel. Had to dry the sea spray off my face. Wow!

[Nipper]

What an incredible outcome!  Your description of making the sea effect sounds so simple, but it isn't at all.  I guess it seems simple because you cannot really describe what you have done as a series of steps.  Instead, I think it is a creation of art, not an assembly of materials.  It's your ability to see what you want to achieve, and then to let your hands and brain pull it together.  Genius!

 

Nipper

[shipman]

BRAVO!

This is the second ship/water/diorama I've seen on this forum recently.

Both spectacularly successful.

The evident fact is, displaying a sailing ship like this (canvas spread) enhances the model above and beyond a similar model mounted on a plinth.

[Thukydides]

Great job @hollowneck everything has come together on this. The water is some of the most impressive I have ever seen. You should be very proud of your work.

[Paul Le Wol]

Ron, the way you submerged the rudder chain is just one example of the incredible amount of detail here. Your final photos will be amazing.