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

[Ronald-V]

3 minutes ago, Frecap said:

Ronald, is the ornament on the slats that cover the head timbers just painted, or is it embossed? Did you use a brush or a stencil? How wide are the slats?

I hope I understood your question correctly...it's still early haha, otherwise just let me know.

 

These are lasered. Chris Watton is responsible for that (part of the kit decoration). The only thing I did was paint the lower part (which was burned away by the laser) blue. Of course, I can't paint that neatly, but I was able to scrape off any paint that ended up on the higher part with a knife.

 

Like this: 

 

 

 

 

 

[Frecap]

 

Ronald, I was referring to these bars. Are they also laser-cut? What is their width? I'm asking because I'm currently in the process of assembling a head. Corel doesn't have any laser-cut pieces, and I want to add texture to these parts. However, they are very small on my scale.

[Ronald-V]

1 hour ago, Frecap said:

 

Ronald, I was referring to these bars. Are they also laser-cut? What is their width? I'm asking because I'm currently in the process of assembling a head. Corel doesn't have any laser-cut pieces, and I want to add texture to these parts. However, they are very small on my scale.

Yes then I understand correctly and yes they are lasercut, so I think that would be difficult to replicate. Perhaps with some kind of paper template that you can cut out after printing and then use as a template. But I'm afraid that would be very difficult at the scale you're building. Unless you're a gifted painter...then you could try it by hand. 😱

[Frecap]

Thank you for the information, Ronald! I'm not much of an painter...) But this is about relief. I'll try to give the details at least longitudinal relief using scribe plates)

[Russ2025]

To follow up on the amazing work seen here by Ronald I am curious about your painting technique. I have been spending time looking back through your posts and may have overlooked something but do you paint entirely by hand or do you use an airbrush or a combination of both. Curious because as a newcomer I have no airbrushing skills so brush painting it is. I guess my question is do you achieve these incredible results using a brush only. Apologies if this has been asked before. 
 

Russ

[Ronald-V]

7 minutes ago, Russ2025 said:

To follow up on the amazing work seen here by Ronald I am curious about your painting technique. I have been spending time looking back through your posts and may have overlooked something but do you paint entirely by hand or do you use an airbrush or a combination of both. Curious because as a newcomer I have no airbrushing skills so brush painting it is. I guess my question is do you achieve these incredible results using a brush only. Apologies if this has been asked before. 
 

Russ

For now, Russ, I've painted everything by hand. I'll try airbrushing the photo-etched parts, like the decorations and windows that are in the next chapter. I find these extremely small (and especially smooth) parts really difficult to paint with a brush, covering them evenly without creating a thick, lumpy finish. Wood absorbs...so applying a few relatively thin coats with a brush will give you a nice, even layer. (It's important to use the right brush for this, though.) I blackened the black metal parts that are already on the ship with a special liquid. That's given a quite nice finish too

[Russ2025]

6 minutes ago, Ronald-V said:

For now, Russ, I've painted everything by hand. I'll try airbrushing the photo-etched parts, like the decorations and windows that are in the next chapter. I find these extremely small (and especially smooth) parts really difficult to paint with a brush, covering them evenly without creating a thick, lumpy finish. Wood absorbs...so applying a few relatively thin coats with a brush will give you a nice, even layer. (It's important to use the right brush for this, though.) I blackened the black metal parts that are already on the ship with a special liquid. That's given a quite nice finish too

Cheers for that Ronald. It’s heartening to know that you are also working on improving your skills😊

[Ronald-V]

Okay...to follow up on yesterday's update, here are some pictures of the process.  

 

 

The final part of the "Head foundations," as Beef Wellington so nicely called it, revolves around the correct placement of the two "bow lower rails." I first sanded them to size because Chris had left them slightly longer, as every ship is slightly different. This way, without the grating assembly/gammoning knee getting in the way, I could hold the bow lower rails at the start point (inner hawse holes) and end point (tip of the gammoning knee) and cut them to the correct size. (I would recommend leaving them a millimeter longer so you have some extra meat at the last minute if it's just a tad too short.)

 

By the way... I assume there shouldn't be any sideways curves/distortions in these rails, but that's my interpretation of the plans/kit. They might have been in the original, but I think for better flow they should be straight. That's why I've sized them this way.

 

 

The next step was to file the slots in the V-brackets to size to prevent any sideways deformation of the lower bow rails, reaching the start and end points of the rails on the hull. Again...this is my interpretation; perhaps the original prototype had a slight curve in it...I have no idea

 

So, here and there I had to file the slots a little larger (especially those closest to the hull) so that the rails would actually lie on both sides at the start and end points without putting any tension on them. That's why I had laid the ship on its side here...so the rails would fit in place without any effort.

 

 

All that filing loosened the glued gratings from the V-brackets, which actually turned out to be a good thing. (I used some rubbing alcohol to loosen them completely.)

 

 

 

After everything was cut to size regarding the "lower bow rails," I could paint or varnish all the parts. I'm so glad the parts were lasered because, as you can see, I'm a pretty terrible painter, haha... I found it really difficult to paint the lasered part blue here without going all over the place. In my own defense, though... I'd had too much coffee and had been working out beforehand, haha, which always makes for a less-than-steady hand.

 

I used the same order as with the previous lasered decorations. First, I treated all the raised areas with WOP, so the blue paint wouldn't adhere as well. Then I painted the lower part (the lasered part) blue. Then I scraped everything off the raised part with a knife and gave the scraped area an extra coat of WOP. This creates beautiful, straight lines.

 

 

 

In the meantime, I also bought this beautiful dust extractor from Ikea, based on Mike Y's tip.
Very happy with it and it has a handy design  

 

 

 

After I put the gammoning knee with the V-brackets back in place, I glued the lower bow rails with CA. I found this more practical and felt stronger because the contact points were so small.

 

 

 

 

The next step was to install the V-shaped head rail patterns (how does Chris come up with all those names,😆). First, I soaked them in some warm water (about 15 minutes) and then clamped them to the extra set of V-brackets Chris had provided...a second set is very handy (thanks, Chris👍). I'm not sure if pre-soaking was really necessary, since the curve is minimal, but I thought it might help with the gluing afterward.

 

 

 

The painting method was in exactly the same order as the "lower bow rails" described earlier.

 

By the way, before painting, I tried sanding the underside of these parts so they fit seamlessly with the lower bow rails.
(Not entirely successfully 🥲) 

 

 

 

Then I glued these parts to the V-brackets. This is where it was helpful that the gratings weren't on top, as this made clamping them until the glue dried very convenient.

 

However, gluing them wasn't easy...it took me several tries to get them reasonably secure. (I think it would be difficult if they came loose later, so I wanted to make sure they were secure.)

 

 

 

Of course, lastly, the gratings were glued back in place (with the cute "seats of ease") and that's the end of this chapter...

 

By the way, I haven't sanded the head rail patterns at the top to length yet, as you can see in the photos; they still extend beyond the V-brackets. This is how it looks in the manual, and I saw that they were sanded to size later. I don't think I'll sand them to the correct length until I install the bow main rail. Perhaps that rail will still have some influence on this.

 

Here are some more photos...I'm happy with the final result! I didn't think it was the easiest part of the ship, but it all turned out well. 

 

 

 

I thought this photo was really cool!

 

 

Edited yesterday at 02:26 PM by Ronald-V

[Ronald-V]

46 minutes ago, Russ2025 said:

Cheers for that Ronald. It’s heartening to know that you are also working on improving your skills😊

Improving skills is a never ending story 😆

[AJohnson]

Fantastic work Ronald and thank you for the detailed explanation of how you achieved your great paintwork. 

[Geordie Tyne]

Just phenomenal. That last photo is indeed very cool.

 

Regards

[Der Alte Rentner]

17 hours ago, Ronald-V said:

Not exactly sure what Imagine and Grok 4 is, but I assume it has something to do with filming?

Not quite.  The Imagine feature provided with Grok 4 (X aka Twitter's A/I assistant), It will animate a still photo.  Below is an example of a still photo of Conny that Grok animated.  I asked it to dial back the animation to simple zoom in on one of the carronades.  But you can get some really interesting results if you tell it to have "fun".  

 

I'll gladly remove theses, if you feel they are cluttering up your build log.  

 

 

 

 

[Ronald-V]

17 hours ago, AJohnson said:

Fantastic work Ronald and thank you for the detailed explanation of how you achieved your great paintwork. 

Thanks Andrew! 👏

 

14 hours ago, Geordie Tyne said:

Just phenomenal. That last photo is indeed very cool.

 

Regards

Thank you so much  

[Ronald-V]

5 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Not quite.  The Imagine feature provided with Grok 4 (X aka Twitter's A/I assistant), It will animate a still photo.  Below is an example of a still photo of Conny that Grok animated.  I asked it to dial back the animation to simple zoom in on one of the carronades.  But you can get some really interesting results if you tell it to have "fun".  

 

I'll gladly remove theses, if you feel they are cluttering up your build log.  

 

 

 

 

Ah thanks! I get it now...For myself, I prefer to continue making videos myself, just for artistic reasons, but I do see the possibilities of what Grok could do 👍