HMS Sphinx 1775 by Ronald-V - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[Ronald-V]

4 hours ago, Blue Ensign said:

A great planking job  Ronald, well done👍

 

B.E.

Thanks B.E.! And also everyone else for the likes, I really appreciate that.

 

I made a little area wet and under all the sanding dust is some beautiful wood hidden. Curious how the end result will look. Not there yet, because after sanding I will first install the wales, and maybe also the rudder.

 

[Ronald-V]

Update:

 

Done with sanding...first grid 120 then 240 and finished with 400. Happy with the overall result, less happy with the planking at the bow. Somehow I didn't took

enough time with that and as a result I've ended up with a small seam there. 

 

When I was almost done with the planks I did get ideas how the planks would fit well in the rabbet, but it was actually too late. A bit disappointing, but I think that is also part of model boat building...learning to deal with your own mistakes. And that can be hard for a perfectionist like me, but a valuable lesson.  

I used some diluted PVA and sanding dust to fill this gap, not super pretty, but okay. (also other small gaps at the keel etc.)

 

I have to check the entire hull again for glue residue, because I plan to use wipe-on poly and you don't want any glue residue. I've already been quite busy on the keel, because I was a bit messy there with the glue  . And if unexpectedly some light spots appear after the first layer of WOP, then it can still be sanded away, but ideal would be no glue residue in the first place  . And the sternpost need some sanding too as you can see, there is some filler on there.

My plan was to mount the wales after this, but when I saw in Blue Ensign's log that he had first oiled the hull and then mounted the wales, that seemed like a better order to me. Otherwise you might have problems with glue residue on the bottom of the wales and now that will be better sealed with the WOP.

 

Tip: With wiping white spirit over the hull you can see the glue spots lighting up, because the liquid won't penetrate the wood due to the glue. Then with some alcohol and sanding paper remove the glue...that's the theory, the real test is with the WOP ofcourse. 😬

 

 

 

 

Edited August 5 by Ronald-V

[AJohnson]

That planking looks super Ronald!   As for the gaps you mention, then I can’t see any that are nearly as large as the etched detail deliberately put in the bulwark sides anyway! Good job!

[Ronald-V]

19 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

That planking looks super Ronald!   As for the gaps you mention, then I can’t see any that are nearly as large as the etched detail deliberately put in the bulwark sides anyway! Good job!

Thanks for your kind reaction Andrew! It isn't a large gap, but I have the tendency to focus too much on the negative, and then it's looking quite large in my head  

That's the cool thing with this hobby, for me there are many valuable life lessons hidden in modelship building. I learn a lot to deal with mental things that can derail me otherwise in life. Another example that I've learned with this hobby is staying in the moment, just focus on the part you are building and don't look forward how much needs to be done. In the past this could really paralize me and just give up.

 

Model ship building for me is more than just building a miniature of a war ship   

[Ronald-V]

Just a little peek, because I'm quite excited what's happening with the wipe-on poly.

 

I first taped off the location of the wales so the oil wouldn't get on that area.

By the way, I just use Polyurethane lacquer and dilute it with white spirit (about 60/40) Minwax like our friends in America use is unaffordable here  

 

In the second photo I just applied the WOP so it still has to dry, but it looks already quite good!

Here and there still a few little white spots of glue residue, but nothing major.

 

 

Edited August 5 by Ronald-V

[brunnels]

That looks absolutely fantastic with some WOP.

[Katsumoto]

You should be proud with this result. It looks great!

[Ronald-V]

Thanks everyone. It is of course a little duller when dried so it definitely needs a few more coats. I will sand between coats with grid 400 and will see where it will bring me. But at first glance i'm quite happy and proud of my planking job  

Only now can I see what I've done in the past months haha 😄

Edited August 5 by Ronald-V

[Chuck]

Lovely lovely planking.

 

Chuck

[hamilton]

Beautiful job on the planking Ronald! 

hamilton

[glbarlow]

Excellent planking, very well done. The first coat of WOP is usually dull as the wood absorbs it. It’s about the third or fourth coat the beauty appears (I kinda loss track of how many my Winchelsea has). I do a light sanding with 400 grit after 2nd or third coat.  Not sure how much WOP I’d put on wood below wales. Tamiya tape provides an excellent seal, much better than blue painters tape. 

Edited August 5 by glbarlow

[CiscoH]

thats some nice planking.  the finish elevates it to the next level

[Ronald-V]

9 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Excellent planking, very well done. The first coat of WOP is usually dull as the wood absorbs it. It’s about the third or fourth coat the beauty appears (I kinda loss track of how many my Winchelsea has). I do a light sanding with 400 grit after 2nd or third coat.  Not sure how much WOP I’d put on wood below wales. Tamiya tape provides an excellent seal, much better than blue painters tape. 

 

Ah thanks Glenn. I thought I had to sand between each layer, but it makes sense that the wood absorbs a lot of varnish first and that you can sand after a second or third layer. Your tips in Delf his "DoK" building log helped me to understand how to apply the WOP, so thank you 

 

Thanks everyone for the likes and nice comments! I appreciate it a lot  

Edited August 6 by Ronald-V

[Ronald-V]

Update:

 

Finished with the WOP, so here are the final pictures of the result.

Used 4 layers of WOP with sanding after the first two coates. I used 400 grid sanding paper, but would advise other people 

to use some finer grit. 400 felt a bit to coarse for the job.

 

I'm quite happy how my planking turned out, also the color has a nice warm tone. Now onto the wales  

 

Btw...glad MSW is back online!💫

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9 by Ronald-V

[Knocklouder]

Very nicely done,  that looks awesome. 

Bob M.

[Gaffrig]

Beautiful planking!

Well done! 👍👏

 

Gaffrig.

[Gregory]

That is as good as any planking job I have ever seen..   Better than most. 

It would serve as a great tutorial for Sphinx and any number of other kits.

Edited August 9 by Gregory

[md1400cs]

Ronald - just discovered your log as many have posted incredibly good work - your hull planking is so perfect 👍. will go back and look through this build as well. PS so like the horseshoe detail as well 

Cheers,

Edited August 9 by md1400cs

[Ronald-V]

14 hours ago, Gregory said:

That is as good as any planking job I have ever seen..   Better than most. 

It would serve as a great tutorial for Sphinx and any number of other kits.

 

Thank you for your very kind comment! Well Chuck created the tutorial for planking, I just followed it. I have read articles about planking before, but I never really understand it well. It wasn't until I saw Chuck's videos that I started to get it. That's why I haven't really written a detailed report on how I approached the planking, because that already exists in the form of the videos.

 

6 hours ago, md1400cs said:

Ronald - just discovered your log as many have posted incredibly good work - your hull planking is so perfect 👍. will go back and look through this build as well. PS so like the horseshoe detail as well 

Cheers,

Thank you so much! Yes that detail of the horseshoe is pretty cool. Still need to add it though. That's what I love on these Vanguard kits...there aren't many manufactures that include all these nice little details  

 

 

Thank you all for your very kind comments and likes! Really nice to read  💫

Edited August 10 by Ronald-V

[PvG Aussie]

1 hour ago, Ronald-V said:

It wasn't until I saw Chuck's videos that I started to get it.

Ronald, even though I have done plenty of planking, I would still like to learn more from Chuck's video. Can you provide a link so I can find it? Cheers,

[Ronald-V]

2 hours ago, PvG Aussie said:

Ronald, even though I have done plenty of planking, I would still like to learn more from Chuck's video. Can you provide a link so I can find it? Cheers,

Here you go!  

 

https://www.youtube.com/@chuckpassaro7634

[Ronald-V]

Soaked the wales yesterday for the first time. Only the part at the bow, but that felt insufficient. So today gave the whole wales a bath for the second time.

If I try to follow the line it needs to run in the middle of the ship it wants to come of a little here and there at the bow. That's why it felt better to soak the whole thing.

But will still need plenty of nails when the final install with glue happens I guess  

I'm toying with the idea of having the wales start just off the rest of the planking at the bow, as if the wales were in the rabbet. As they are in real life, but I'm not sure if it's worth it, or if it'll even be noticeable. Will decide that when they are dried.

 

 

[Dave_E]

That hull planking is some sort of perfection I’ll say! Outstanding! 👍😀

[Ronald-V]

1 hour ago, Dave_E said:

That hull planking is some sort of perfection I’ll say! Outstanding! 👍😀

Thanks Dave!

[paul carruthers]

Don’t paint that planking!

Edited August 10 by paul carruthers
Encouraging

[paul carruthers]

[Olli Sukunimisson]

Ronald—just wow! That’s an incredible planking!

If I could make planking like that, I’d be sooooo happy.   

[Ronald-V]

9 hours ago, paul carruthers said:

 

That's the goal i'm aiming for Paul! Your Sphinx looks superb!

 

9 hours ago, Olli Sukunimisson said:

Ronald—just wow! That’s an incredible planking!

If I could make planking like that, I’d be sooooo happy.   

 

Everybody can Olli, just take your time and it will come.  

Edited August 11 by Ronald-V

[paul carruthers]

4 hours ago, Ronald-V said:

 

That's the goal i'm aiming for Paul! Your Sphinx looks superb!

 

 

Everybody can Olli, just take your time and it will come.  

Thanks, but yours is better than mine, I couldn’t bring myself to paint mine after sweating over it lol.

[Ronald-V]

First wale installed. As suspected needed tons of nails 😁. First I painted the bottom black so I don't have to mask the hull when painting the rest of the wales.

I used some diluted PVA and glued 1/3...nail the wale down, then another 1/3 and so on. This gave me some time to attach everything. But still the glue dried pretty quick so it will be a test when the nails will be removed if everything stick well to each other... I hope so  

 

 

 

 

So here the nail pusher slipped from his spot and damaged the lasered gunport patterns a bit, that's a bit sad...so this needs some cosmetic work afterwards.