Simon 707

Making progress, so far I'm following the instructions fairly closely. I haven't attached the rudder yet, it seems to easy to break it off while working on the rest of the ship.

Making progress, so far I'm following the instructions fairly closely. I haven't attached the rudder yet, it seems to easy to break it off while working on the rest of the ship.

I'm using a thread of cotton to preserve every hole. For example, if the bow spit hole was closed with paint, I would have a problem.  

I've had an idea (always a risky thing) to make rigging a little easier. Before I install the eyes into the deck, I'm going to put a loop of ordinary cotton through them. When I come to rigging, I can use it as a draw string. I tested it and using ordinary wood glue and twisting them together. When dry, it pulls through quite easily.

Even a bar of soap has a use 

First dry assembly,  as we know, a long way to go 

Tip

I've learnt to see a use in anything. 

I used soup cans to support the hull while painting it.

I had one of those impossible to open plastic cases on a gadget but the plastic is perfect for glass in windows.  

Wooden clothes pegs hold small parts while painting. 

I tried dry fitting the deck and found that it is a little short.  Aft is good and I hope that the forecastle deck will cover the gap. To give extra support to the bow, I'm trying a cross brace, I plan to  extend the other support points similarly. The emery board is temporary to give support at the right height. I will do the same from the other side and loosely join them with cotton since I don't know the exact gap.

I used plastic from a packaging case to give the impression of glass windows.  I had to use superglue to attach it. 

Deviation 

First Hint

First Mistake

The deck comes in three sections. I tried to hide the joins but I made a mistake. For my copy of the kit , the deck sections are not EXACTLY the same thickness. I worked from the underside to get a flush join but I found that the topside was a fraction off. I have clamps with flat grips and, next time, I will use a little padding on the inside to account for any variation and then concentrate on making the topside flush.

The first good thing is that it took a month for my kit ro travel from the Netherlands to me. At first I was unhappy to have to wait but I now realise that it was a good thing. If Amazon had delivered it the next day I would have jumped straight in, as it was, I’ve spent the month reading everything I could find online. I realised that I was taking on a serious project and collected a lot of good advice.

My first discovery is that there isn’t a ‘correct” colour scheme. The actual colours changed over the years and so it’s a matter of selecting a style and following it.

Lets start

To get the deck colour I started with a black wash and then applied a Beige coat but let the black show through.

I have just started the Revell Cutty Sark 1/96 model. There are several excellent build logs already available and so I plan to focus more on tips and especially the mistakes I will make. If I don’t mention a step , it’s because I followed the vanilla instructions and have nothing of value to add. I have made many paper, wood and Lego models over the past years but its been many years since I last built a plastic model. 

I am working from the latest instructions, enhanced by the 1987/88 version. I am also following a couple of the existing build logs I found here.

Any views please? Can I  join the 2 hull sections together, paint it, attach the  3 deck sections together,  paint it. Seems easier to hid the joins