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

dockattner said:
On the second date with my future wife, we went to a restaurant with booth seating. She slid in, and I slid in next to her, and for the next hour this young lady banged her arm into mine so often that I decided this was going to be our last date. And then I noticed she was left-handed, so I opted for the third date. Four children (and now four grandchildren) later it would seem we figured out how to coexist despite out fundamental differences ROTF.
Click to expand...
Great story :D

I am ambidextrous, so not purely left-handed... perhaps there is still hope. :oops:
 
Your stern and gallery lights look fantastic.
Ronald-V said:
It can take forever if you put it under the magnifying glass....you always see something to improve
Click to expand...
And that's why jewelers are only supposed to use a 10X loop when grading diamonds. The more you magnify the more inclusions can be seen, or in our case, mistakes, can be found. Look at your work from a normal viewing distance and that is what others will see. :)
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
Your stern and gallery lights look fantastic.

And that's why jewelers are only supposed to use a 10X loop when grading diamonds. The more you magnify the more inclusions can be seen, or in our case, mistakes, can be found. Look at your work from a normal viewing distance and that is what others will see. :)
Allan
Click to expand...
Yeah your right Allen. I do keep alternating, you know. I try to improve as much as possible under the glass. And then a little later I come back to see if I still see anything strange from a normal distance.

Thank you all for the likes!
 
Update:

I’ve finished the resin stern decoration piece...or rather...I’m done with it haha. Of course, there’s always something to criticize, but I thought it was good enough as it was. And I was afraid that if I worked on it longer, I would mess it up more than it would improve.

Stages of painting:

First of all, as stated in the manual, briefly immerse it in freshly boiled water for a few seconds and hold it against the stern to establish the correct shape. This went fine. I actually repeated it once more to make sure the shape was there.

IMG_20260502_112857034.jpg




Be aware that there are these small dots/dimples on the sides that need to be sanded away. I assume these are the mounting points for the printing? You could possibly use a little filler for the dimples. On one of the sides, you also saw the "layers" from the printing. I sanded this smooth a bit as well.

IMG_20260502_113025185.jpg





Primer on laquer base

IMG_20260504_112657987.jpg





For the base color I used the gold brown from Vallejo as used earlier for the windows etc. Then a rust brown wash for the deeper laying parts. This will also mute the gold brown a bit. And in the end a lighter mixture (more like dirty white) for some highlighting (dry-brushed) As you can see I didn't go overboard with this...just subtle effect which I like.

IMG_20260505_141310324.jpg





And then of course the blue... I spent a few days on that, about 20 minutes or so every day, after that I start shaking too much or I can't see properly anymore. So I stopped at a point where I'd had enough. So there is always room for improvement, but I think it's okay this way. I found the thin line around the edge to be the trickiest, especially. Because it blends in a bit rather than being a hard line, you have to paint it neatly yourself. Quite tricky!

IMG_20260518_162240622.jpg





Anyway...this is how it looks assembled!I will take some more photos when the rest of the decoration is on the stern, plus the name. The camera is also acting a bit vague here regarding the colors, but I will see if I can get that a bit better with the other photos as well.

IMG_20260519_145411390_HDR.jpg





That brings me briefly to a point regarding the decoration of the rest of the hull, and specifically the side. Chris came up with beautiful decoration for this in the form of PE. Truly beautiful, I must say, very delicate... but I have decided not to use it. Personally, I prefer a somewhat calmer look, like the examples below. I think the lines of the ship stand out just a little better that way. I do think the decoration suits an Admiralty model without a masts, like in the painting from Marshall. But with a fully rigged ship... there is already enough to see in my opinion. Perhaps not everyone will agree with this choice, but that is of course okay. I think it is nice to have different examples of a ship so that people can see what is possible. And personally, I haven't seen a Sphinx without this decoration yet.



These pictures are from the NMM

A Sixth Rate on the Stocks, John Cleveley, 1758, National Maritime Museum.jpg
f9204_002.jpg
 
great work. Especially for such a finicky step. I like your strategy for painting the piece. I always seem to rush this because I don't like painting.
 
Ronald-V said:
Update:

I’ve finished the resin stern decoration piece...or rather...I’m done with it haha. Of course, there’s always something to criticize, but I thought it was good enough as it was. And I was afraid that if I worked on it longer, I would mess it up more than it would improve.

Stages of painting:

First of all, as stated in the manual, briefly immerse it in freshly boiled water for a few seconds and hold it against the stern to establish the correct shape. This went fine. I actually repeated it once more to make sure the shape was there.

View attachment 604683




Be aware that there are these small dots/dimples on the sides that need to be sanded away. I assume these are the mounting points for the printing? You could possibly use a little filler for the dimples. On one of the sides, you also saw the "layers" from the printing. I sanded this smooth a bit as well.

View attachment 604684





Primer on laquer base

View attachment 604685





For the base color I used the gold brown from Vallejo as used earlier for the windows etc. Then a rust brown wash for the deeper laying parts. This will also mute the gold brown a bit. And in the end a lighter mixture (more like dirty white) for some highlighting (dry-brushed) As you can see I didn't go overboard with this...just subtle effect which I like.

View attachment 604686





And then of course the blue... I spent a few days on that, about 20 minutes or so every day, after that I start shaking too much or I can't see properly anymore. So I stopped at a point where I'd had enough. So there is always room for improvement, but I think it's okay this way. I found the thin line around the edge to be the trickiest, especially. Because it blends in a bit rather than being a hard line, you have to paint it neatly yourself. Quite tricky!

View attachment 604687





Anyway...this is how it looks assembled!I will take some more photos when the rest of the decoration is on the stern, plus the name. The camera is also acting a bit vague here regarding the colors, but I will see if I can get that a bit better with the other photos as well.

View attachment 604688





That brings me briefly to a point regarding the decoration of the rest of the hull, and specifically the side. Chris came up with beautiful decoration for this in the form of PE. Truly beautiful, I must say, very delicate... but I have decided not to use it. Personally, I prefer a somewhat calmer look, like the examples below. I think the lines of the ship stand out just a little better that way. I do think the decoration suits an Admiralty model without a masts, like in the painting from Marshall. But with a fully rigged ship... there is already enough to see in my opinion. Perhaps not everyone will agree with this choice, but that is of course okay. I think it is nice to have different examples of a ship so that people can see what is possible. And personally, I haven't seen a Sphinx without this decoration yet.



These pictures are from the NMM

View attachment 604689
View attachment 604681
Click to expand...
A nice paint job of the stern decoration, Ronald. Also the overall look of the stern!
Regards, Peter
 
ERSRich said:
Beautiful work, thanks for posting.

Could you explain the finish on the Wale? Is it straight paint? In my shop use a light coat of stain or shellac prior to airbrush applied Tamiya.

Thank you,

-Rich
Click to expand...
You mean the black? Yes it's just straight paint. It's the Admiralty Ironwork black from Caldercraft.(if i'm not mistaking...all those data is lost with the hack of MSW, but i'm 90% sure :p ) It's a nice flat black. Caldercraft does also have a "dull black", but somehow their ironwork black looks more flat. I applied it with a brush.

​

 
Ronald-V said:
You mean the black? Yes it's just straight paint. It's the Admiralty Ironwork black from Caldercraft.(if i'm not mistaking...all those data is lost with the hack of MSW, but i'm 90% sure :p ) It's a nice flat black. Caldercraft does also have a "dull black", but somehow their ironwork black looks more flat. I applied it with a brush.

​

Click to expand...
Awesome, thank you.
 
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