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 November 7 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 👍

[Ronald-V]

Not really an update, but a quick snapshot of what I've been working on. I've been busy cleaning up/reorganizing my house these past few weeks, and the hobby room was definitely in need of some work. I had a lot of stuff in there that wasn't hobby-related and was taking up a lot of space... I cleared everything out and moved it, and now I'm really happy with the space I have left! I also rebuilt the work table (it had rather uneven scaffolding planks and therefore wasn't perfectly level), making it a nice, long table (2.4m). I'm currently waiting for a magnifying lamp I ordered, and then I'll have it pretty much complete. It's not a large space, but it's enough for what I'm doing.

 

Now I can happily get back to working on the Sphinx!

 

[vvvjames]

Just caught up, I have to say the craftsmanship in this log is on another level Ronald, you've done great work and I'm looking forward to following along for the rest! Also that's a great workspace, if it's anything like mine, it'll be a mess within a few hours😂

[Ronald-V]

2 minutes ago, vvvjames said:

Just caught up, I have to say the craftsmanship in this log is on another level Ronald, you've done great work and I'm looking forward to following along for the rest! Also that's a great workspace, if it's anything like mine, it'll be a mess within a few hours😂

Thanks James!

[Some Idea]

Fantastic workshop Ronald-V and I understand why you sorted it out so well.  Part of the enjoyment of ship building for me in my workshop is the fact it's very organised and tidy.  It's just a nice place to be when doing our favourite hobby and yours is the same.

[Der Alte Rentner]

Man - oh - man!   I wonder how many days it would take me to clean and organize my shipyard.  I love your, a place for everything, and everything in its place approach to your workspace.  In particular the small hand tool organizer you have on the wall above the bench.  I'm tempted to take a few days off to follow your lead.    Thanks for sharing and the inspiration..  

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

[Ronald-V]

4 hours ago, Some Idea said:

Fantastic workshop Ronald-V and I understand why you sorted it out so well.  Part of the enjoyment of ship building for me in my workshop is the fact it's very organised and tidy.  It's just a nice place to be when doing our favourite hobby and yours is the same.

Thank you! Yes, absolutely...and it's best when you've just finished a construction phase and then you can tidy everything up and put it back in its place. So satisfying 🫠😁

 

3 hours ago, Der Alte Rentner said:

Man - oh - man!   I wonder how many days it would take me to clean and organize my shipyard.  I love your, a place for everything, and everything in its place approach to your workspace.  In particular the small hand tool organizer you have on the wall above the bench.  I'm tempted to take a few days off to follow your lead.    Thanks for sharing and the inspiration..  

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Thank you! Yes that is really simple to make and I have always enjoyed having these tools within reach, but also not laying on a pile in a drawer.

And wish you ofcourse also nice days!

Edited yesterday at 06:49 PM by Ronald-V

[Knocklouder]

Very impressive,  made me start cleaning up , out of embarrassment  .lol 😳 

Knocklouder 😁 

 

[Geordie Tyne]

Lovely work area!

 

Regards

[hamilton]

A cosy and well-appointed space, Ronald! But it is really that tidy all the time?

hamilton

[Ronald-V]

12 hours ago, Knocklouder said:

Very impressive,  made me start cleaning up , out of embarrassment  .lol 😳 

Knocklouder 😁 

 

Thank you 🙏

 

11 hours ago, Geordie Tyne said:

Lovely work area!

 

Regards

Thanks!

 

9 hours ago, hamilton said:

A cosy and well-appointed space, Ronald! But it is really that tidy all the time?

hamilton

No it's not always this tidy, but inbetween fases it is...so, for example, just as I finished the headwork on the bow, I tidy everything up and put it back in its place. It's always nice to start a new chapter from a clean and tidy place. At least that is how I like it. I have a friend who is an artist (painting and miniatures) that has a workplace that looks like there is a bom exploded, and het looks like that all the time. She just likes that and finds that cozy, for me it's too chaotic. Everyone has their preferences  

[Ronald-V]

Small update about color choice decorations:

 

But first, I need to paint the roof of the quarter galleries. I tried it with a brush first, just for convenience' sake...but I found it wasn't working well. It looked streaky, and I found myself struggling to paint a straight line. This was partly due to the odd angles of the roof. There's nowhere to rest your hand properly to prevent it from shaking. So I decided to sand the paint attempt and then attack it with an airbrush.

 

First of all, masking...I have different widths of tape for this

 

 

I'm using Vallejo "black grey" 185 as the color here...the kind of lead color I was going for. It could probably be a bit lighter to make it look truly lead-like. But that could be done with highlights later.

 

 

I'm quite pleased with the result, nice and even. There's some bleed-through here and there, but nothing that can't be touched up with blue paint, for example, or scraped off the bare wood. The angled section will be covered with photo-etched lead tiles later, so that will be covered. But if any wood is visible underneath, at least it'll be the same color underneath.

Starboard in particular had quite a bit of bleed-through, I had already painted this earlier and then masked it off somewhat hastily...it really pays off to take your time with this , port side was already much better.

 

Of course, everything will be neatly finished with either photo-etch or wooden decorative strips.

Okay...the color choice for all the decorations. I already had in mind that it should be some kind of ochre-yellow or gold. This seems to me to match my hull color best, the soft, slightly dark pearwood. I personally like a look where everything is somewhat cohesive and not too much stands out. I'm not really into anything too flashy. I certainly liked the gold James used in the prototype, but after testing the pieces below, I discovered that it doesn't go so well with my ship and the colors I already have. It's a bit too flashy. I ended up with Vallejo "Gold Brown" no. 158 (second from the left). This, combined with a rusty (brown,red) weathering stain, gives the decoration some depth and three-dimensionality. Perhaps some highlights, but I'm not sure about that yet. I've already done some test pieces with this color and stain and was quite enthusiastic.

 

 

I'm glad I picked out a color so I can really get started now, starting with the windows  

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Ronald-V

[glbarlow]

Very fine work!  The head rails and grating were the hardest part for me on Winchelsea, yours here are nicely done.  Nice workspace you have as well.

[Ronald-V]

14 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

Very fine work!  The head rails and grating were the hardest part for me on Winchelsea, yours here are nicely done.  Nice workspace you have as well.

Thanks Glenn!

[Bomber_County]

Roland, just about to start my first ship, reading your log scares me to death that I'm going to completely •••••• the build. Been a plastic modeller for a very long time so this is another step. Hm Sherbourne is being delivered by sled so keen to start the journey. Stunning build Roland hopefully I'll achieve around 5% of your skill. 

[Russ2025]

9 minutes ago, Bomber_County said:

Roland, just about to start my first ship, reading your log scares me to death that I'm going to completely •••••• the build. Been a plastic modeller for a very long time so this is another step. Hm Sherbourne is being delivered by sled so keen to start the journey. Stunning build Roland hopefully I'll achieve around 5% of your skill. 

I completely agree but this is a benchmark for how good we can become!

[Ronald-V]

1 hour ago, Bomber_County said:

Roland, just about to start my first ship, reading your log scares me to death that I'm going to completely •••••• the build. Been a plastic modeller for a very long time so this is another step. Hm Sherbourne is being delivered by sled so keen to start the journey. Stunning build Roland hopefully I'll achieve around 5% of your skill. 

Thank you for your kind words Phil! To be honest I'm scared as **** all the time too  . Not sure if that ever goes away 😄

Although, sometimes more so than other times. New steps, especially when you don't know exactly how or what, are scary. But this hobby is quite forgiving, meaning...if you mess something up, it's often relatively easy to repair or recreate from a scratch piece of wood, very different from plastic modeling, where, in my opinion, it's more difficult to recreate something.

But you learn quickly in this hobby, and it will definitely work out, no worries! Take your time...and for me, I only work on it when I feel like it. As soon as it starts to get frustrating or I want to finish something quickly to get to the next step, I walk away and pick it up again when I really feel like it. That makes it much more fun for me (though it does take longer ).

 

Also everyone else thanks for the likes!

Edited 1 hour ago by Ronald-V