Hello everyone!

Welcome to my Sphinx build log. I have a little introduction about me in the following link:

Introduction post

I started the Sphinx in July 2023, so I have been working on it on and off for a few years now. I am a slow builder and also make excursions into other creative adventures every now and then. I am very satisfied with the kit from Vanguard Models; the quality is excellent and so is the service. Because I have been working on it for a while, the first part will be more of a photo report with a short summary above each post. That is, until I reach the point where I am today, Then I will again provide some more detailed descriptions of what I am doing.

Enjoy! 🙂

Just for who is interested. The Marshal paintings with the HMS Sphinx 1775. You could use it as a reference, I will get some inspiration of it but will not copy them one on one

We start with the construction of the frame, but first of all, the bow and stern pieces. What I found easier was filling the spaces between these pieces with balsa to create a solid structure. This gives a much better visual impression of the good flow of these crucial shapes. This is all laser-cut MDF and slides together like a construction kit. Everything fits very precisely, and I find it quite impressive how someone comes up with this!

Quality of the photo's will be a bit low in the beginning of the build log, because of the use of an old camera

Lower deck being installed with hatches etc. I haven't paid much attention to this otherwise, because it won't really be practically visible.

More pieces of the puzzle...personally, I find this very cool and the rigidness afterwards of the construction is impressive.

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Sanding of the inner bullwarks (took a long time!) and glueing the lasered bullwark patterns. Btw...sanding MDF is very easy and straightforward, but wear a dust mask to protect yourself :)

Installing the lasered inner bulwarks patterns

Some red ochre Caldercraft paint on the inner bullwark patterns.

Here you can also see that I have installed the lasered deck, that the kit comes with it, but I eventually replaced this with boxwood planks (this will be shown later).

Here is the checkered pattern for the captain's cabin. I eventually replaced this as well, as will become clear later in the build, but I just wanted to show what comes with the kit. The only thing I regret not modifying is the small piece right at the rear, right against the inside of the stern. It feels a bit clunky and straightforward now and could be better. I saw that Chris Watton improved this later in newer generation kits. That being said... I won't see almost any of it anyway once everything is assembled.

Fairing the outside of the hull. This took a long time to get it right, but it is also a satisfying job to get that nice flow in the lines. 🙂

Using a lot of sandpaper! And fingersprints 😆

Cutting/sanding the inside of the gunports to size. What struck me about this kit is how important the thickness of the bullwarks is to get the feel of a truly solid ship. In other kits, this often looks too thin, as if there is no real frame inside.

Installing the outer (false) gunport patterns here as well. I remember soaking this pattern twice to get all the beautiful lines right, horizontally and vertically.

Here are the first few (whole) planks installed at the height of the wales. (the hull is being planked in 2 layers)

Because I wanted to pull out all the stops to make a truly beautiful and well-planked hull out of this, I started practicing with the first layer of linden planks so that I would begin to understand how measuring works and, especially, what the lines of this specific model are like. With the previous models, I was just winging it, but with the Sphinx, the real intention was to understand it, and if it was good enough... to leave the hull natural, meaning just with oil on it and not painted. Because personally, I think that is a very beautiful look.

So first starting with "lining off the hull". I used a narrow tape for this (which didn't stick to well, but it did his job somewhat).
I mainly looked at contemporary models to see how the lines should flow, and of course it's also a bit by feel... what looks/feels good.

The hull was divided into sections, naturally spaced to the size of the planks. For this, I simply used the kit planks and not planks of different widths, which I did do for the second layer. My purpose here was purely for practice. Chuck Passaro made some excellent video's about how to divide and plank a hull found here:

Chuck's planking video's

It didn't all go smoothly, and I wasn't afraid to start a section over. I noticed that the lines/flow of the planks weren't right here, so I broke that piece away and sanded it again. I noticed in particular that the lines at the bow weren't correct. On the third picture you can see that the curve is much nicer 🙃

At the stern post, I was left with a considerable gap between the first planking and the laser-cut stern post pattern. I read in other build logs that I wasn't the only one. The solution was quite simple: to glue a piece of filler wood to the stern post later on to close this gap. (You will see later in the build that this is a very good solution, and looks really good.)

Once again, I realized that I hadn't sanded the lines properly when fairing the hull. I saw in many build logs that people had an angle that was too sharp here and no good flow. This was the case with me as well, and you only really notice it when you install the planks. At least, that's how it worked for me. So, I broke it away again and did a lot of sanding to get a good flow/line here. (A real learning experience!)

From there, planking the hull went exactly according to plan, and I was satisfied with the first significant milestone. As you can see, for the last few planks towards the keel, I used some pearwood planks I had lying around, since I was short on planks from the kit (due to all the broken planks I had used up, haha). I do want to make it clear that there were plenty of planks in the kit, though; this was really my own fault.

Finally, I also used some filler to smooth things out here and there..

Such beautiful lines when she was sanded 🙂❤️

Dry-fitting to ensure all parts of the cabin/stern parts are properly aligned. Naturally, it is important that everything is straight and symmetrical for a good appearance.

Installing the gunport outer hull planking. These are large laser-cut pieces of pear wood (4 parts per side). Not easy to install, but the end result is beautiful 🙂

Only the rear gunports had gunport sills. I added these to the rest as well, on the underside and sides of the gunports (then used the Caldercraft red ochre again). I found clothespins quite handy for clamping them in place while they dried after gluing.