HMS Sphinx 1775 by cdrusn89 - Vanguard Models - 1/64

[cdrusn89]

I am starting the Sphinx as my first model of a three masted ship with masts, yards and rigging. I completed the brig Niagara several years ago but since then have only built fore and aft rigged vessels or Admiralty models and want to get a three master done before my eyesight and hand eye coordination make that impossible.

 

Because I am working on another small model in the main work area I will start by building the three ship's boats.

 

This is the 28 ft pinnance with the first row of planking. It is quite a challenge (for me) to get these very tiny strips to lay where they are supposed to in spite of have between pre-bent and thoroughly dried. The two clamps at the bow are to hold the stem in place - pressure from the rubber bands makes it want to shift to one side or the other.

And now with two rows.

I use the clamps to push the rubber bands to slightly inside the planking so they will hold the planks both against the ribs and the plank below.

 

I use thinned PVA applied with a brush to the rib contact area and to the seam between the planks.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30 by cdrusn89

[Gregory]

22 minutes ago, cdrusn89 said:

....my first model of a three masted ship.

Not counting Winchelsea!  😁

[cdrusn89]

Greg - I meant a three masted ship with the masts, yards and rigging. If we count Winchelsea than Confederacy would count as well. 😄

Edited January 30 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Pinnance with 3 rows at the sheer and two at the keel.

 

I will admit to using thin CA in a few places, principally at the bow to get the planks to "stick" before running them the rest of the way aft.

 

And here is the skeleton for the 24' Launch ready to start the planking process.

 

I have 6 planks in the "bending jig" to cover the first three rows.

 

Edited January 31 by cdrusn89

[Ronald-V]

Have fun with this nice kit!

[cdrusn89]

When I realized that I had skipped the "fair the hull" step and was half a dozen rows into planking on the pinnance I quit that effort and ordered a new kit from Vanguard - in fact I ordered a kit for all three boats such is my confidence it getting them all built successfully. I built the Model Shipways 18th Century Long boat to go on my Winchelsea model and it took two kits before I got a usable version. So...

 

Here is the launch with five rows of planking on the sheer and the garboard strake drying in position.

 

I started tapering the planks at both ends after the first three and that may have been a plank late but filler can cover many planking sins.

 

I also started putting a drop of medium CA on all the keel/bulkhead joints as I had the keel come off the bulkheads once on the pinnance. It was quite an effort getting everything back together so I want to prevent a repeat. Even if the CA does show on the inside that area should be covered by the floorboards.

 

Also since this kit has a great deal of PE Brass does anyone have a recommendation for how to prep the brass before painting and the type/brand of paint to use?

Edited February 3 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I got one side of the Launch finished - the planking part anyway.

 

After about 7 strakes were complete I gave up any pretense on finishing using stealers and dropped planks. Just too hard (for me) to do that with such small planks. And the pictures in the manual whuch are suoppposed to illustrate where the plank taper was done are next to useless.

 

So I finished off with three rows of planks pointed on both ends. I will finish the other side in a similar manner.

 

Filler/putty can cover a variety of sins.

[allanyed]

Is there a reason you did not taper the planks so they end at the rabbet?   They were pretty much done as the ship planking and would be much easier to get in place.  Chuck Passaro’s four part video on planking on You tube is a huge help. Allan

[cdrusn89]

Alan - At this scale there is no physical rabbet. Since the meeting point of the planks at the stem is accomplished by thinning/beveling the planks I find it easier (for me) to accomplish this at least partially after the planks are in place.

 

The lack of taper to keep the planks from ending in points is mostly a lack of planning on my part. As I have said, filler can cover a multitude of planking sins and these boats are all painted rather than "natural" so I think it will work out okay in the end.

 

Thankfully the Sphinx hull is double planked so I will get to practice before planking "for score".

[cdrusn89]

This is 24' launch after a dose of filler and primer paint.

 

Not looking too bad especially considering the photos above. Filler can cover.....

 

The 22' yawl is progressing smoothly (relatively speaking) and should have to planking completed in a day or two (maybe three; girl friend's birthday is tomorrow so shipyard time may be very limited).

[Wacom]

On 2/4/2024 at 2:37 AM, cdrusn89 said:

Also since this kit has a great deal of PE Brass does anyone have a recommendation for how to prep the brass before painting and the type/brand of paint to use?

I use CRC Etch-it, comes in a rattle can and sprays mid to dark green, very easy to apply and dries quickly.

Be sure to wash the parts with either Acetone or Vinegar before spraying. 

[JeffT]

If the end color is black, I've been using brass black to blacken it. Works well.

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Reg and Jeff - I have tried most of the commercial brass blackening products over the years and have not found them as effective as paint.

 

I will try the vinegar wash and some flat black spray paint for those items that need to be black - which is most of them.

[cdrusn89]

I made one more pass with the filler and primer and then cut the MDF bulkheads out.

As you can see in two case the entire bulkhead came out. Probably reinforces my tactic on the yawl of putting a drop of thin CA at each bulkhead/keel intersection.

 

I salvaged the missing pieces and glued them back in. Here you can see that the stern is not completely symmetrical but there is little that can be done about it now. It is very easy (IMHO) to get in this comdition as the transom piece is quite thin and displaces with little effort. And it is harder to see this with the hull upside down.

 

 

I also noticed here that there is a section  of the keel at the very stern that has to be removed now. Maybe I should have done this before (no mention in the instructions) but it came out without drama and I think helped support the keel where the transom attaches.

 

So now on to the ribs. I put the hull in my "keel holder" and can install two at a time. I considered doing a pair at each end but given my obvious lack of planning skills decided this way it will be harder to mess up the spacing.

 

 

 

 

[cdrusn89]

I finished planking the yawl. Here it is after a preliminary sanding before the first fill and sand session.

 

I actually had a drop plank planned out at the bow but the plank broke right where the "notch" was cut so I took that as a bad omen and just made it two planks; well actually three as you can see below about midway between the sheer and garboard strakes.

 

IMHO this was a better job than on the Launch but it will still need a session or two of fill and sand.

 

We will soon see if my gluing the front and back bulkheads to the board will cause problems beyond my having to saw off the "tabs" on each one.

Edited February 8 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

With the launch and yawl hulls more or less (yawl more than launch) it is time to take another try at the pinnance.

 

So here is the hull structure ready for another attempt at a reasonable planking job. I did use thin CA on each of the bulkhead/keel joints. The transom was attached to the P12 with PVA.

[cdrusn89]

24' launch hull after a coat of grey primer (no filler, just primer).

 

There are a few areas near the keel that could just some additional attention but since they will be "invisible" when on the model I will not worry about them now and press on with the interior details.

 

The plan is to paint the entire hull flat white, the interior MS 4820 H. Cream (I cannot seem to get the interior of the planking "clean" enough to leave it "natural") with the seats and other topside features varnished pear wood, and add a black band of hull planking above the bulwarks per the instructions.

[cdrusn89]

The fun never ends.

 

While trying to fit the first two planks on the NEW pinnance I managed to break off the most forward section of the keel. It has a slot in it to presumably engage the first two rows of planks but not on this boat now.

 

So I cut a piece out of the keel carrier sheet, sanded until it just fit and CAed it into place. I am tempted to glue it to the build board too but have not done that yet.

 

Hopefully I will be  bit more careful fitting the planks but without the slot it actually may be easier. Trying to get that little plank half way through a 1mm wide slot probably made the task harder than it should be. IMHO it is easier to mate the plank to a solid stem.

[JeffT]

Wish I had a dollar for every time I broke a model part.

[cdrusn89]

I would settle for $.50.

[cdrusn89]

I got the yawl hull planking done and the first set of fill & sand. Here is what it looks like after a brush coat of Badger gray primer.

Plenty of work to get done for Fill & Sand #2.

 

After breaking the stem off the pinnance and getting what I hope will be a satisfactory repair I got the first plank on the port side in place and noticed that the transom is a bit too flexible for my liking. This turned out to be a significant problem on the 24' launch as it now has a somewhat deformed stern.

 

To avoid a repeat I installed a "stopper" to keep the transom from flexing (I hope) and (I really hope) will not interfere with the planking operations until the transom is fixed in place by the planking.

 

I used the disk sander to set the angle where the stopper meets the build board in hopes of getting very good contact and then I covered the side of the stopper contacting the transom with scotch tape to keep any glue that might seep up the stopper from gluing it to the transom. I used an adequate" amount of thin CA to glue the stopper to the build board.

On to more planking and filling and sanding.

 

 

 

Edited February 11 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Back to the yawl.

 

I finally got to a point where I was ready to try a "finish" coat; at least the finish color; flat white.

 

It needs some fine sanding and then another coat but I think it is getting close to time to get it off the building bard and work on the interior.

[cdrusn89]

Two coats of flat white and the hull is "finished" (or so I thought).

 

Taking the bulkheads out went well (except that in three place amidships (Bulkheads 4,5 and 6) everything came out leaving just the keel. Probably no big deal as this are is well hidden under the PE Brass floorboards. However, at the top of the planking just aft of the stem a section of planking also came out. I am not sure what happened here but clearly something was glued in a place it was n ot supposed to be.

I made a fist attempt at filling in the area and proceeded to sand the interior.

 

One point that should (IMHO) be made is that when gluing the planking together it is the planking that needs to be glued NOT the planks to the bulkheads. Although so far I have not had a problem with planks being damaged (the issue at the bow notwithstanding) I would suggest that if you are using the thinned PVA applied with a paint brush that you try and keep the glue in the area between the planks and not (as I had been doing) make sure there is glue between the bulkhead and the planks. All of the excess glue and whatever part(s) of the MDF bulkhead remains attached to the planking has to be removed or at least its removal attempted after the bulkheads are removed.

 

Another point - once the bulkheads are removed the hull becomes quite flexible and you can split open the junction between the planks while trying to sand the interior.

This happened in two places on the yawl hull. I have applied putty but I am not sure it is going to make these "go away". Maybe I can fill them with paint.

I would suggest that at least one, maybe two of the bulkheads be left in place while the interior that is accessible is cleaned up and then when the last bulkheads are removed the only area that needs work is around them. The less handling of the hull after the bulkheads are removed the better.

[cdrusn89]

The transom "stopper" I employed on the yawl worked out okay so I added one to the redo of the Launch.

 

Luckily the transom on the launch is large enough that I can put one on and not interfere with the planking.

 

[cdrusn89]

Status report:

 

Yawl - damage to hull caused by removal of bulkheads repaired, interior sanded; needs ribs and interior paint

 

Launch - four rows of planking completed - ,3 sheer and garboard strake - has both garboard stakes drying which accounts for all the clamps and rubber bands.

 

Pinnance - five rows of planking completed - 3 sheer, garboard plus one (drying now).

 

Shipyard time will be limited for next several days do to "outside" (aka girlfriend) commitments

Edited February 14 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I have decided (for no particular reason other than personal preference) to bring all three boat hulls to the same place in the construction process before proceeding further with the yawl hull which is awaiting the floor board installation.

 

This means finishing the hull planking on the pinnance and launch and then getting the hulls smoothed out ready for painting.

 

Since this is going to require several cycles of "fill & sand" I filled the waiting time by getting the oars ready although they, like the boats will not be anywhere but storage for the next year or more.

 

The oars are laser cut on the 1mm carrier sheet.

 

I believe there are at least 48 oars provided although I doubt there would be more than 24 needed; 6 in yawl, 8 in launch and 10 or 12 in the pinnance - I say this without counting oar locks I doubt more than 6 or 8 would actually be placed in the boats for display.

 

Anyway it is a good thing so many are provided as once removed from the carrier sheet they are very fragile especially where the handle meets the shaft. Trying to get the laser char off and get some semblance of "roundness" on the 1mm square (more or less) shaft and the even smaller handle led to more than a few oars ending up in the trash.

 

Partially my fault for deciding to have the blade and handle natural and the shaft white. Although I did not try it I suspect that painting over the char might lead to fewer "rejects".

 

So, here with two coats of Badger 16-417 White paint on the shafts and two coats of WoP (applied with a brush - trying to wipe it on with a rag would result in more casualties) are 30 oars.

 

Edited February 17 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I got the launch hull "good enough" I went to remove the bulkheads and except for a part of bulkhead 1 ALL of the other bulkheads came out in their entirety.

 

So much for my gluing technique attaching the bulkheads to the keel.

 

I am busy cutting the bulkheads apart and gluing the lower part to the keel/hull. They are needed I suppose to keep the bottom of the hull stiff and support the floorboards.

 

Hopefully I did a better job on the pinnance which is ready to have its bulkheads removed.

 

Edited February 18 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

They say it is an ill wind that blows nobody good and here is an example.

 

Because the bulkheads were not glued in very well and I took some pain in the planking to try and avoid gluing the planks to the bulkheads the interior clean-up took no time at all.

 

Except where the filler came inside (my planking skills are obviously not all that great) there was little to do.

 

Hopefully the pinnance will be similar, except the bottoms of the bulkheads stay attached to the keel.

Edited February 18 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I guess you can't have everything.

 

The pinnance only lost 2 1/2 bulkheads.

 

But the interior sides are going to take some work to get the glue residue off.

 

Edited February 18 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

So here they are ready for ribs, seat supports and floorboards.

 

The vises will hold them but only if the are placed with the stern near one end - the keel is not tall enough for the vise jaws to grab once you get more than a third the way forward.

 

Don't ask why I have three of the vises - that is a whole "other story".