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

[cdrusn89]

Looking ahead and trying to kill some time to make sure the hull is REALLY dry before starting the quarter galleries and wales I took inventory of the blue paint colors I have accumulated over the years (I started this hobby in earnest in 2010).

 

Found seven different shades all but one from Badger and judging by the names (B&O Blue for instance) they appear to mostly based on train line colors).

 

Anyway I cut a piece off the 0.8mm pear carrier sheets, put a coat of polycrylic flat (as the area to be painted already has a coat on it) on and then when dry (overnight) a sample of each of the seven colors I have.

 

Here is what the sample looks like after all the gloss of wet paint has disappeared.

The one in the middle (Vallejo Flat Blue) seems to be the closest the Humbrol 25 Flat Blue on the prototype in the manual.

 

No decision required now as I have enough of all seven to cover the required areas.

 

 

[cdrusn89]

I noticed that I managed to sand all the way through the pear planking (in an area where it SHOWS) but have decided to not attempt any kind of repair now. It really is not in a high visibility area being somewhat "under the counter". I think at least my attempting some kind of stain (can't think of anything else to do) to reduce the color mismatch might very well make it more rather than less noticeable.

Also in manipulating the hull around getting the wales on for "shaping" I managed (not sure exactly how) to mar the paint on the bow. I sanded it smooth(er) but have decided not to return to the paint booth until I have the quarter galleries in place in case some else happens during that process.

And now for actual progress.

 

I painted the upper edge of the pieces that go above the wales, and attached the pre-shaped wales to the starboard side - it took more than a few nails to get both edges down on the hull then added the "planks above wales".

Once satisfied the glue was dry I pulled out the pins (except the two at the very front as I was scared of gouging up the surrounding parts getting the pins out and this area is pretty well covered by other parts going forward), filled the pin holes and carefully sanded them smooth.

 

I put a coat of polycrylic on the wales and above wales planks, masked off above and below and hand painted two coats of flat black on the wales and the above wales planking once the polycrylic was dry.

 

Now for the port side.

Edited July 9 by cdrusn89

[Ronald-V]

Those wales look beautiful! And your hull looks super smooth! 🤩 For the sand through spots...maybe some sanding dust with diluted PVA to fill it up? Or mixing some paints to match the color of your pear and cover the underlying wood with it (would test both methods first on scrap pieces). Or like you said...if it don't bothers you, then it's okay ofcourse  

Edited July 10 by Ronald-V

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Ronald.

 

Hull is not so smooth close up which is why I only post pictures of the hull which hides many sins, so to speak.

 

Now that the wales are done I moved on to adding the upper counter and stern fascia.

 

And as Yogi Berra is reputed to have said Deja vu all over again. The two sides are at different heights AGAIN!

It is not as bad as last time - just over 1mm as best I can measure but still 🤐

 

My plan is to "split the difference " and trim down the high side .7mm (or so) and add a .7mm (aka a very long thin triangle) to the low side and adjust the "lay of the molding" to match. But not until I get the quarter galleries done.

 

I clearly do not "get it" during the bulwark installation process.

 

 

[Ronald-V]

1mm is not that bad indeed...like you said, split the difference and in the end result you won't notice anything different.

[cdrusn89]

While waiting for the stern fascia to dry I dabbed some small bits of Minwax Golden Oak wood filler over the areas where I sanded thru the pear and it looks better. A few coats of flat poly and it might look even less conspicuous.

[Ronald-V]

That's a great save! Looks spot on  

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Ronald.

 

So on to the quarter galleries.

 

First off the pictures in the instructions show the patterns too low as we moved the stern items lower than was done on the prototype.

 

Second while the window pattern go on more less without incident (aside from cracking the outer pattern as you can see) the lower "berthing" patterns are another matter. As you can see I could not get the curvature of the pattern to match the windows even after I added a small spacer on top of the 45a pattern.

 

Third getting the berthing pattern glued on is a challenge because I could got find a way to clamp it in spite of owning what my girl friend claims is every clamp ever made. I finally had to resort to medium CA and holding it with my hands.

 

I will fill in the gap and no one will be the wiser as this area has molding along it and decorations above and below.

Edited July 11 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Now on to the lower finishing patterns.

 

I followed the instructions to glue the two small pieces together but then decided maybe trying to shape these as a single piece might not be (for me) the way to go. I could not find a drawing of the finished pattern without all the decorations/molding so I thought it best to fit it one piece at a time. And since this piece crosses over the wales as a single piece it would have to be "adjusted on both the front (facing out) and back so it will sit against the hull.

 

I am not a great fan of mdf but appreciate it is easier to shape than "real" wood but the part 29 (2mm mdf) I started with started to "disintegrate" after the first bit of shaping with 120 sanding stick. That and since the space between the bottom of the gallery (on my model) and the top of the wales was just a hair over 3mm I decided to fashion a part 29 replacement out of 3mm pear using the "residue from the 3mm carrier sheet.

 

Here is the original part 29 and the replacement piece in its final form before installation. It took a good bit of sanding (which would have been easier but my disk sander is "out of commission" awaiting the refinishing of the garage floor where the power tools are located (powers that be have been most emphatic about power tools in the house (vacuum and kitchen appliances excepted)).

 

And here is the first "layer" dry fit below the gallery. And I filled in the gap below the windows (but not yet sanded.

Edited July 11 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I worked on getting the lower finishing patterns in place one layer at a time. on the starboard side I used a 3mm and 1mm thicknesses for the first two layers. I think the approx 1mm difference in the height of the bulwark between sides made the starboard side (which is higher) be further up and thus created with wider gap above the wales.

I am not sure I would recommend the layered approach (as opposed to following the instructions) as trying to sand the lowest part while holding it proved a challenge.

In any event, with the help of some filler I got the starboard side q-gallery completed for this stage. To make sure I was at least close to the desired configuration I cut the q-gallery out of plan sheet 14 to use as a template recognizing that it is a 2-D representation of a 3-D object so may not be completely accurate for this purpose but it beats finding out later than this part was significantly too big or small.

The port side lower pattern went together just like the instructions suggested (although I did it in layers instead of as a single piece). And I used the kit provided pieces (29 and 45b). I did use any filler (yet) as I want to get some paint on this to see where it might need attention. the multicolored layers make it hard (for me) to get a clear picture of what it REALLY looks like.

As you can see from the pictures I have masked off the areas where the molding and channels will go so now it is time to decide about returning the starboard side to the paint booth or press on with painting the upper bulwarks.

 

Paint booth won.

 

 

 

 

[cdrusn89]

With the hull in the paint booth I decided to revisit the rudder.

 

I have a rudder in the "to be installed" box but remembered there was something not right with it.

It would appear that I failed to cut the brass pins short enough and they are forcing the three pieces of the rudder structure apart. Would not as big a deal on the other side but this side SHOWS,

 

To avoid this issue (and potentially create another one) I decided to just use the heads of the pins and create a simple flat plate to glue onto the rudder. Getting them placed correctly now becomes the challenge since the pins are no longer locating the plate.

 

I made the mistake of priming the PE sheet (grey self etching primer) first and then had to drill out the holes so the pins would fit easily.

 

I put the required number of pins in the plate then used thin CA to glue the pins to the plate and when dry (10 seconds) cut the pins off as close to the plate as possible. To reduce any unevenness I ran the plate along a 220 sanding stick a time or three.

 

Here is what on of them looks like

 

Rudder is assembled and waiting for glue to dry.

 

Then we will see how this approach works.

 

If this fails I will have to fill in the opening in the "old" rudder and hope the waterlines are close enough to make adjustment "uncomplicated".

 

 

Edited July 12 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

For the rudder gudgeons and the horseshoe and fishplates I modified the above procedure to leave the two outermost holes empty and use them to locate the plate. I thought this especially useful for the gudgoens since they have to be placed on the hull with no locating "holes". I thought the probability of my locating them correctly and drilling all the holes without "issues" to be finite but very small.

 

The rudder is still drying on the hull so took one of the horseshoes for a test run. since it is easy to clamp it in place (unlike the gudgeons).

 

Here is the horseshoe with one "rivet" in place and then the finished installation.

I painted the heads of a dozen or so pins copper then cut off all but about 2mm on the shaft (while holding the upper part in needle jaw tweezers) then placed the "remnant" in the hole which had a very small drop of medium CA in/on it. I thought about leaving the glue out but although under no stress if something can go wrong it likely will.

 

 

Edited July 14 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Starboard side rudder gudgeons installed. Using the end holes to locate the plates seems to work out.

 

I did not get the rudder lined out exactly with the keel but it doesn't look as bad when the hull is upright.

 

I am ho;ding off on the fishplates until I get the port side gudgeons installed. I may decide to send the hull back to the paint booth for some touch-up at the stern.

Edited July 14 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I guess the "misaligned" rudder bothered me more than I thought yesterday because this morning I cut a piece off a 2mm carrier sheet and "scabbed" it onto the bottom of the rudder.

 

Luckily I did not disassemble the paint booth yet so the rudder gets one more trip there.

 

I also noticed that I did not add the "black bands" at the top of the rudder so one more thing to take care of before it is permanently installed. Given that most (maybe all) of the attachment is with the PE pieces it probably pays to not put any stress on the rudder through the rest of construction.

[cdrusn89]

Rudder is in the paint booth so I started on the red and blue paint on the bulwarks.

 

I had previously masked off the areas where molding and channels will go and put two coats of polycrylic flat to both give the paint something to adhere to and to seal the masked off areas. The masking tape is Tamiya 2mm which may be just a bit too wide but I could not find 1.5mm and have no intention of trying to make my own so we will just have to see how this works.

 

Blue is Vallejo 70.962 Flat Blue and the red is Vallejo 70.957 Flat Red. Not very adventuresome but I am not trying for historical accuracy just something close to what looks as good as the paint in the instructions. 

 

Probably will take two to make sure I got all the "nooks and crannies".

Edited July 15 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Rudder now installed and fish plate added.

 

Rudder might be a hair too long now but not enough to make me want to try and shave a .1 or .2 mm off.

 

Having determined that the water based Vallejo Flat White and the oil based Testors Flat White (the spray I used on the hull/rudder) are NOT the same I ordered a bottle of the Testors Flat White since the paint does not stick to the pin heads particularly well. I have two heads to touch up already.

 

Back to painting the bulwarks.

Edited July 16 by cdrusn89

[Thukydides]

If you want to paint metal parts you need to prime them first. Just normal acrylic paint won't stick. I suspect that is your issue with stuff rubbing off.

 

Also a good rule of thumb is you can do oil over water but not water over oil. This is not completely true, but it is a good rule of thumb.

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Thukydides.

 

I probably should have at least taken a pass at the pin heads with the same 220 sanding stick I used to smooth out the back. Would have given the pin heads a "flattening" but probably not very noticeable under the paint.

I first tried using the heads off plastic bolts used on scratch built model train engines but I did not have a size that worked and my experience trying to get the right size in a reasonable amount of time had me decide to go with the pin heads.

[cdrusn89]

Starboard side painting and molding completed.

At the q-galleries I decided to extend the blue band across the area under the windows (and eventually across the stern) in place of the black shown in the prototype. The jury is still out but I am considering painting the lower transom black to extend the black band of the wales all the way around the ship.

 

I trying to figure out what to do at the stem. Instructions show black above the wales until at the stem where it turns blue.

 

But I have a bit of time yet before I need to do anything "up there".

 

On to the port side.

[cdrusn89]

While waiting for things to dry; or for a break from working on the hull I have been working on the standing rigging.

 

According to various sources the lower stays (Main and Fore in particular) were parcelled and served to reduce damage from chafing by the lowers sails (courses and jibs mostly) and running rigging. I followed this practice, well just the serving.  I have three serving machines, the Syren "Serv-o-Matic" and two versions (including the latest) from Domanoff's Workshop both of which are powered. I did almost all the work on the Serv-o-Matic or the latest Domanoff in manual mode. I was not able to get the powered option to work smoothly - there is enough resistance in the gear train that the power to overcome that makes things too fast (for me) to handle without needing a third (and sometimes fourth) hand to keep things moving as they should. Backing off the power once things get moving did not work for me as I was unable to reduce just enough to keep thing moving, it always stalled. And for what I am doing - the longest served item required is about 25" (main stay or preventer I can't remember which is which) which is four "passes" on the Serv-o-Matic. Used at at full length the Domanoff can do 12" in one "pass". Don't ask me how I know but for long serves you have to be serving against the lay of the line. Otherwise by the time you are 9 - 10 inches along you have untwisted the line you are serving and things get "interesting".

 

So the first five stays (on left) below are the Fore stay, Fore Preventer stay, Main stay, Main Preventer stay and Mizzen stay. Then the five Top Mast stays and finally the three Top Gallant stays. They are normally hanging behind my plans easel but I brought them to this side for the picture.

 

I have a few more shrouds to finish when things get slow on the hull but it is good to get these "out of the way". I only wish there was some way to do the ratlines ahead. I have seen the commercial templates but cannot understand how I would be able to use them. Seems like too much critical measurements required and no way to check until everything is done. I'll just have to slug along when the time comes.

[cdrusn89]

I finished the molding on the port side and now it is on to the channels.

 

Given that the channels are going to take all the standing rigging and most of the running rigging "load" it is imperative that they be securely anchored to the hull. Don't ask me how I know but having to "re-secure" a channel (or pin rail) during the rigging process is to be avoided if at all possible. The addition of the pins securing the channels to the hull is a good start and hats off to Vanguard for supplying them as part of the kit.

 

I used medium CA on the edge of the channel and when that was dry added a bead of medium CA along the underside of the channel (hull turned upside down) as an extra measure of "security".

 

Then to make sure the molding (which is going to support the knees) as securely fixed to the hull I added .020 phosphor bronze pins through the holes already in the molding at the locations behind the channels.

 

I also scraped the black paint off the channel where the knees are going to be placed. I decided to paint the knees black rather than leave them "natural" - probably to avoid cleaning off the laser char on very small curved surfaces. Anyway I painted the sides while they were on the carrier sheet as I do not trust my hand to paint the sides once in place. Although the area behind the channels is not going to be all that visible after all the deadeyes and rigging are in place.

 

So here is a closeup of the fore channel and an overall view of the starboard side with all the channels and knees in place.

 

Edited July 19 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Channels and knees completed on both sides.

 

Time for a little touch-up painting and since I already "did" the rudder I should be at step 275 in the instructions ready to start work on the bow.

 

I am still thinking about how I want the paint scheme at the bow to look so I will have to decide something pretty quickly or be faced with trying to execute whatever I decide with the "bow clutter" in the way.

 

In any event here is what my Sphinx looks like at step 275.

[cdrusn89]

Assembly of the grating and support arms was pretty uneventful. Just followed the instruction.

 

I painted the stem as seen below. The black continuing from the wales and then up the stem and the blue between the hair brackets.

For the cheeks I wanted something that would continue the hair bracket "decoration". On the prototype since the cheeks are mounted on the wales they were just painted black. I want something a bit more elegant but will fall back if that proves to be more than that of which I am capable.

 

Below is my first attempt at getting a grove down the center (more or less) of the cheek. I want to paint the inner section blue with ochre (or maybe gold) on the edges. I plan to paint the hair bracket to match.

 

I am toying with the idea of recreating the cheeks in three pieces so I would have a more consistent "edge" but my power tools are all "incapacitated" awaiting the coating of the garage floor on Wednesday. Might be more challenge than I am "up" for at the moment but something I will have to think about some more.

 

 

[cdrusn89]

So here is my attempt at the hair bracket and the upper cheek dry fit for now (hence the clamp).

 

I abandoned my blue/ocher paint scheme in favor of continuing the blue/red theme used throughout the model. No sense (IMHO) in introducing another color now..

 

I made the cheek from three layers, two of 0.6mm pear (excess from a carrier sheet) and one layer of 1mm pear also salvaged from a carrier sheet. The baseline cheek was 2.17mm thick so this should be very close.

 

I can't say I am looking forward to making nine more "cheek blanks" but I think this looks good enough to proceed and I am not sacrificing any of the kit pieces in case madness over takes me and I decide to revert to the kit implementation

[cdrusn89]

So once I got to the point above I realized that if I did one set of "trim" in the red/blue motif I had to do the rest as well.

 

So here in dry fit (less one piece I forgot to paint) are   the other "trim " pieces for the port side painted in the same fashion.

 

I think painting these is good practice for the molded piece across the stern

[Ronald-V]

Looking good! 👌

[brunnels]

I like your 3 piece cheeks, I wish I would have thought of that method lol.  Red and blue on the head looks great. 

[cdrusn89]

Thanks guys😀

 

While messing around with painting all the detail on the head rails, etc. I also manged to get the stern decoration painted.

 

I combined the prototype and brunnels schemes adding the red in the center to the blue and gold of the prototype.

 

There are probably a few areas that need one more round of touch-up but that will have to wait until I am sure the gold is dry and the head details are done.

Edited July 24 by cdrusn89

[hamilton]

Beautiful work on the stern decorations - it is mystifying to me how some can keep their hands so steady as to achieve these effects! I think I would need to clamp my forearm in a vice!

hamilton

[brunnels]

1 hour ago, cdrusn89 said:

I combined the prototype and brunnels schemes adding the red in the center to the blue and gold of the prototype.

 

Looks great, I really debated hard with myself on using gold when I started the kit.  Are you using the Vallejo Liquid gold?  I tried using their Liquid Copper paint and haven't had much success with it.