HMS Sphinx by Delf - Vanguard Models - 1:64 scale

[glbarlow]

47 minutes ago, DelF said:

easy to ca a piece of coarser stuff

I have a source for adhesive sandpaper I cut into small pieces. I also found the supplied paper not helpful. I make custom sanding sticks and foam sanders. Comes from Soft Sanders

[DelF]

11 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Comes from Soft Sanders

I was tempted to get these but they're silly money in the UK - eg £42.16 (~$54) versus $29.95 for the 5" set. I'll have to continue to make do with ordinary flexible sanding blocks ☹️

[glbarlow]

We in the US just assume everyone in the UK is rich😂🤣

[DelF]

1 hour ago, glbarlow said:

We in the US just assume everyone in the UK is rich

We are, 'coz we spend our money wisely 💰

[glbarlow]

Are you still out there?

[DelF]

On 8/8/2023 at 3:58 PM, glbarlow said:

Are you still out there?

Hi Glenn. Apologies for missing your post - spending time with family and friends has kept me away from ship building for a while, apart from a bit of fiddling with port lids, which I'll log shortly. I'm hoping to get onto 2nd planking once the next set of visitors and holidays are out of the way.

 

Derek

[DonSangria]

Hi Derek, 

How is your Sphinx going? 

 

[DelF]

Second planking finished (at last!)

Apologies @DonSangria for missing your enquiry. My model making has been so infrequent and disjointed over the past 16 months that I’m afraid I’ve neglected my build log and the forum.

Here’s a belated attempt to catch up. I’ve missed photos of several steps so rather than offer an incomplete narrative I’ll just show some pictures of the current state of play, then in a following post I'll explain one or two of the steps where I’ve departed slightly from the build instructions.

 

Here’s the second planking finished, sanded, and an initial coat of wipe-on-poly applied:

Looking at the photos, I'm tempted to leave the hull unpainted, at least from below the wales.

 

I'll follow on with some more information on intermediate steps, hopefully later today.

 

Derek

 

[Thukydides]

She is looking fantastic Derek. Good to see you back at it.

[Ronald-V]

Looking real nice! And indeed good to see you back at it  

[DonSangria]

I'm in the middle of the second planking on my Sphinx build. I hope mine will look as good as yours!

[DelF]

Second planking finished – some detail

 

Thanks for the likes and kind comments. As promised in my previous post, here’s a couple of instances where I departed slightly from the build manual.

 

 

Gun ports

The outer planking patterns went on as per the manual, with the usual profusion of clamps and pins:

 

However, like many other modelers I lined the gun ports as I didn’t like to see the raw layers of wood and MDF:

 

 

The wales

The manual suggests completing the second planking then attaching the wales. However, I wanted to line off the hull and plank it using proportional dividers (as described in my Duchess of Kingston log). I tried dividing the hull into planking bands but found this difficult when working across the whole of the second planking area:

  

I eventually decided the method would work best if I worked from the wales down. So I planked down to just below where the wales would sit, attached the latter, then trimmed any exposed second planking back to the bottom of the wales.

I didn’t get any good photos post-trimming, but here’s one showing the wale in place…

 

…and another showing my method for flattening any gaps between the wale and the hull!

 

NB I left off the trimming last plank under the wales until the final stage before I resumed second planking. I wanted to satisfy myself that I could get the battens in place (measured from the bottom of the wales) so that they ran fair and divided the hull into useful bands.

 

Wider planks & a bodge at the stern

 

I was chuffed that I was able to plank the entire hull without a single stealer or dropped plank. This was partly due to the method used, but also because I used wider planks in key areas at the stern:

For these I just cut suitable pieces from the 0.8mm laser cut pear sheets.

 

The bodge came in this same area. I’m not sure why (probably an issue with the first planking), but when I brought the second planking up under the stern counter it was obvious there was going to be a sizeable gap between these planks and the rudder post. The only solution I could come up with was to bridge the gap with suitable wood cut to size. Hopefully it doesn’t look too unsightly:

 

Just a final note on planking. I'm still having to take care with using ca. Although the odorless ca from BSI (Bob Smith Industries) that Glenn (@glbarlow) recommended to me works well, I still look for ways of minimising my exposure. The method I use now is akin to spot welding - on a plank I'll put a spot of ca every half inch to inch or so then fill the gaps with PVA. Works well for me and so far I'm avoiding the problems that I suffered on Speedy.

 

Now that I’m up to date and able to spend more time in the workshop I’ll try to keep the log in better shape.

 

Derek

Edited October 8 by DelF

[Ronald-V]

Nice planking! I experienced the same with that gap at the sternpost  

[DelF]

Just now, Ronald-V said:

I experienced the same with that gap at the sternpost  

Thanks - glad it's not just me!

[glbarlow]

Welcome back!

[DaveBaxt]

Good to see you back and hard at it Derek. She is looking great too. I look forward to watching your progress again and lkeeping an eye out for your masterful tips. Best regards Dave

[DelF]

Wales

 

Thanks everyone - it's good to be back.

 

Today’s task was prepping and painting the wales. Probably a bit early in the build for this, and I’ll undoubtedly need to touch them up later on, but after so long with a bare hull I was itching to get some contrast.

 

I’d originally intended to leave the pins I used when gluing the wales, but eventually decided the heads just wouldn’t look right. So the first job was to file them down - very carefully!

Next I considered the scuppers. As others have pointed out, these seem to follow an odd line along the wales. I took my lead from @Blue Ensign's log and shifted them all to the first plank above the wales, using a 1mm drill for the new scuppers and some filler for the old:

 

Then it was on with two coats of AK 3^rd generation acrylic black, slightly diluted and applied by brush.

 

Starting to look more like it. I was pleased that the planking lines etched into the wales were still visible after two coats.

 

Next I'll be focusing on the stern.

 

Derek

[glbarlow]

Don’t know why you’d paint that hull. It looks great!  Though I did note there’s this one plank……..🤣

[DelF]

20 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

 Though I did note there’s this one plank……..🤣

Yeah, I see what you mean. It looks awful, I'll have to paint it. Perhaps I could just paint that one plank? 🤪

[glbarlow]

51 minutes ago, DelF said:

just paint that one plank? 

Yep, that’s the solution, red I think. 

[DelF]

Work on the stern

 

I’ve fallen a bit behind on the log again so I’ll have some catching up to do. My excuse is that we’re planning to move house and there’s a lot of work to do to get everything ready for the sale.

Anyway, the Upper Counter and Stern Fascia (Inner) went on easily, once I’d satisfied myself they were in the right position. The latter is crucial, as others have stressed. I decide the best sequence was to fit the inner Stern Fascia first. This photo from later in the build shows how the fascia needs to be 2mm above the bulwark in order to leave room for the capping rail on the latter:

Fitting was straightforward, with the usual clamps helped by a few pins:

 

The Upper Counter was then easy to fit below:

In this final photo I’ve dry-fitted a few items to get a feel for the next steps, including some of the quarter gallery components and the cabin floor. Chris provides two options here, either a wooden floor with a laser etched checker pattern or a paper pattern on one of the plan sheets. I chose to use the latter, preferring to scan the pattern and print it rather than cut the sheet. My first impression is it’s too bright, so I’ll look for ways to tone it down before gluing in place.

That’s it for now. Progress, albeit slow.

 

Derek