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

Work on the knee/stem

The parts were a bit simple straight out of the kit, and I saw in other build logs that people painted a nice blue stripe on them. That seemed like a good idea to me too, but it had to be nice and clean, and no mess on my part. So I made a simple template to scrape a groove that I could then paint blue.

The simple jig to put the parts in

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Scraping the parts with Artesania scrapers

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The jig was nessecary because the scrapers didn't have the right width. So the jig works like a filler

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When painting the groove, if you get a bit of paint besides it, you can easily scrape it off with a knife. This gets you nice clean painted grooves

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Here you can see how bad I painted the lasered grooves on the decoration. But by simply scraping of the excess (which lays higher), you get a really neat paint job.

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I have tested how good PVA sits on painted surfaces and found the joint strong enough so that I don't have to sand everything before gluing. If I do have the opportunity to sand, I won't hesitate. But because the stem and wales were already painted so beautifully, I left it as it was.

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Drilling the hawse holes very carefull

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Construction, sanding and varnishing of the various other parts in this area

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Beautifully done planking. FWIW, nearly all kits fail to address the tapering of the knee of the head. IF this kind of thing matters to you, for the next time the following may be helpful regarding how the knee of the head siding changes from where it attaches to the stem to the fore end.

From The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture by David Steel

Guns - Siding at the stem - Siding at the fore part at the upper end
110 ------ 19.5" -------- 6"
98 --- --- 18 -------- 5.5
80 ------ 17 ---- --- 5.25
74 --- --- 16.5 -------- 5
64 ------ 15.5 -------- 5
50 ------ 15 --- ----- 5
44 ------ 14.5 ---------- 4.75
38 ---- --- 13.5 ----- ------ 4.75
36 ------ 13 ---------- 4.5
32 --- --- 12.5 ---- ------ 4.25
28 ------ 11.5 --- ------ 4
24 ------ 11 ---------- 4
18 --- --- 10.5 --------- 3.75
 
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