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

[Ronald-V]

35 minutes ago, SaltyScot said:

You have a new follower, sir. What a fine build. I will be hopping aboard for the rest of the ride!

Your welcome Mark! And thanks for your compliment  

[Ronald-V]

Just a little update before I have attached all the rails.

 

I had almost all the rails attached except for the big complex one on the bow. I didn't really know how to get them on properly without getting everything covered in glue. I then looked at other logs including Bleu Ensign and he cut the whole thing up and glued it on piece by piece. I don't know why I didn't think of this myself?!

 

Too bad I only read this at the end because then I think the rest would have been easier to attach to the hull. I read that Chris also considered this and ultimately decided to attach everything together. Personally, I think it would be easier to do it in segments, since they are already lasered in the right shape/radius. But of course, these are preferences that everyone has to determine for themselves.

 

The problem I now encountered was that the holes (to center the rails) sometimes ended up exactly on the edge of the gun port as in the example below. If I were to cut that away, a half moon would remain, which is of course not so nice.

 

 

Anyway, I noticed that certain parts of the rails didn't "come out" nicely this way. So I carefully removed all the rails around the gun ports with some alcohol and adjusted them in the following order.

 

First sanded away the piece with the hole that would not fit well with the gun port edge.

 

 

Then glued a piece of scrap wood on top.

 

 

Sand it to size and score the decorative lines with a knife.

 

 

And of course a little WOP over it so that it is protected and the difference is minimal.

The decorative lines on the applied piece are not that visible in this photo, but you can see them in real life.

 

 

The second thing I am currently working on are all the center holes. I have to say they were great for positioning all the rails, but I personally want them to be hidden so you get a nice clean look.

 

For that I am sanding down a few belaying pins on the lathe (left over from my HMS Pickle build)

 

 

I glue them into the holes with a dab of glue.

 

 

And when the glue is dry, cut it off with a knife and of course finish it with a little bit of WOP. The end result is at normal viewing distance very fine in my eyes. But still have to fill a lot of holes this way, so I'm still busy for a while.   

 

 

All in all some extra work...which of course is not necessary, because you can just leave it as it is of course. But I myself think it adds something if everything looks nice and tight and neat...plus you have even more fun with such a kit  

[SaltyScot]

24 minutes ago, Ronald-V said:

For that I am sanding down a few belaying pins on the lathe

 

Nice fix, Roland. I have found that in situations like this a wooden tooth pick works well also. Yes, they may need to be stained a little to match the wood but, as they are tapered at the ends anyway, I found them very useful for plugging holes.

[Ronald-V]

2 hours ago, SaltyScot said:

 

Nice fix, Roland. I have found that in situations like this a wooden tooth pick works well also. Yes, they may need to be stained a little to match the wood but, as they are tapered at the ends anyway, I found them very useful for plugging holes.

Good tip! I can try that too.  I just have to see if I can get the color right with a layer of WOP, since toothpicks are a bit lighter in color I think

Edited June 7 by Ronald-V

[Loracs]

it indeed worth the extra work...  it does show.  ;_)

[Nearshore]

Hi Ronald,

Your Sphinx is looking absolutely gorgeous. I like the attention to detail you are doing on this ship. 

 

Nearshore

 

[Ronald-V]

16 hours ago, Loracs said:

it indeed worth the extra work...  it does show.  ;_)

 Thanks Loracs!

 

16 minutes ago, Nearshore said:

Hi Ronald,

Your Sphinx is looking absolutely gorgeous. I like the attention to detail you are doing on this ship. 

 

Nearshore

 

Thank you for your kind words!

 

And thank you all for the likes!  

[Ronald-V]

Update:

 

Finally all rails attached and also the top of the hull given a few layers of WOP. Now that the top and bottom are finally in the oil it looks like a nice whole.

Long awaited to put the top in the oil, so happy to reached this stage. Also filled all the holes that were in the rails, so that it looks nice and uniform.

 

Next job seems to be the rudder  

 

I replaced the Chess tree patterns with my own, probably sanded the originals down a bit too much when removing the char. This made them a bit too narrow

 

 

This is how the Sphinx looks now:

 

 

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

The hull looks wonderful Ronald, beautiful work. The lower hull planking is very impressive.

 

B.E.

[Ronald-V]

4 minutes ago, Blue Ensign said:

The hull looks wonderful Ronald, beautiful work. The lower hull planking is very impressive.

 

B.E.

Thanks B.E.!

[Thukydides]

She is looking really nice. The time and care you are taking is paying dividends.

[Ronald-V]

Thank you Thukydides! 👍

[brunnels]

Fantastic job, what blue are you using?  I really like the shade of it. 

[glbarlow]

Very nice work, great looking model!

 

 

[Ronald-V]

1 hour ago, glbarlow said:

Very nice work, great looking model!

 

 

Thanks Glenn!

 

3 hours ago, brunnels said:

Fantastic job, what blue are you using?  I really like the shade of it. 

Tamiya Medium blue XF-18, it paints a bit weird, you need to get used to it. But the color is really nice matt and has a nice old feel to it  

 

I saw it with "BeefWellington" his HMS Jason build...really a nice build of him with great colors  worth to take a look at his log...he needs get back to it though 😁

Edited June 26 by Ronald-V

[SaltyScot]

You have come along very nicely, Ronald. She is looking fantastic. Your patience with this build is certainly paying off.

[Ronald-V]

Thank for your kind words Mark 🙏

[Ronald-V]

I didn't know you could post videos here too? Here's a little reel I posted on Instagram

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLXAOkSTzxy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

 

 

[Liebre]

Hello Ronald,
Great result with planking, great job
The blue color is very well chosen

I have sent you a PM
Regards
Henk

[Ronald-V]

53 minutes ago, Liebre said:

Hello Ronald,
Great result with planking, great job
The blue color is very well chosen

I have sent you a PM
Regards
Henk

Dankjewel Henk! (thank you Henk!)

[paul carruthers]

Don’t you dare paint that planking 

[Ronald-V]

23 minutes ago, paul carruthers said:

Don’t you dare paint that planking 

Haha no worries, I won't  

[Nick 843]

Planking, paint; all just stunning.

Nick

[Ronald-V]

12 hours ago, Nick 843 said:

Planking, paint; all just stunning.

Nick

Thank you Nick! 🙏

[AJohnson]

Superb workmanship the planking and completed painting is so neat! 

[Ronald-V]

10 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Superb workmanship the planking and completed painting is so neat! 

Thank you Andrew for your kind words!

[Oboship]

I can only confirm Andrew's comment! Btw, I just took a look at your Instagram side. Very nice and interesting pictures and vids.

Any plans to put the model on display at Amsterdam Maritime Museum? 😉

Uwe

[Ronald-V]

8 hours ago, Oboship said:

I can only confirm Andrew's comment! Btw, I just took a look at your Instagram side. Very nice and interesting pictures and vids.

Any plans to put the model on display at Amsterdam Maritime Museum? 😉

Uwe

Ha thanks Uwe! And thanks for looking in on my Instagram page, regarding the expo...no not really, maybe i'm going to take a look but that's all  

Edited Wednesday at 06:22 AM by Ronald-V

[Ronald-V]

Update:

 

I've been working on the rudder these last few days. Below are some photos of the process.

 

First, I lightly tapered the rudder. This was optional according to the instructions. However, the visible effect is very minimal, and you really have to look closely to see the difference. That said, it only took me 15-20 minutes to sand it that way.

 

The drawing of the tapered rudder, so it was quite easy to indentify what was nessecary to sand:

 

 

Sanding of the "inner piece"

 

 

After that I glued the two outer patterns to the inner piece so that you can see the nice engraved lines on top of it.

My personal suggestion regarding the kit design as an "improvement" is to actually laser-cut the engraved parts as separate components, similar to those used in Winchelsea kits, etc. This also applies to the prow. I think this would elevate the kits to an even higher level, because now you'll still see the "inner section," which has different colors. But that's just my humble opinion.  

 

 

I glued a toothpick into the top so I had more grip while putting it in the WOP.

4 coats of WOP applied here just as the hull itself to match it color-wise

 

 

I blackened the pintle straps with AK blackening fluid. Then I used two nails as guides to position the straps correctly. It took me a while to get used to using the right amount of CA glue without making a mess, but overall, it turned out fine.

 

 

After attaching the rudder and gudgeon pintle patterns, (and also attached all the nails) I noticed they weren't connected to the pintle straps on the sides. I solved this by using small pieces of thick black paper to connect them.

 

 

The lines engraved at the top I think are supposed to be rudder straps. Perhaps these were expected to be painted? I used black paper again for this. I ignored the top one, this one will not be seen when installed.

 

 

Afterwards, I went over everything again with some black paint, as the black layer applied by the blackening agent gets damaged quite quickly when installing the parts. Details are a bit hard to see because of the lighting, but when it's attached to the hull it will look better.

 

This is the final result:

 

 

I'll first paint the rudder hole in the hull black, and then I can attach the rudder in its final position.
And then I'll figure out exactly how I'm going to attach the rudder brace straps. It will probably be a fiddly job  

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Ronald-V