bcochran

Your models are very impressive and a great source for inspiration. I am not a sailing man, so unless I am quoting the experts, my posts are my opinion. I should not post uneducated opinions here. When others do, it bugs me. I'll try and research first. I have walked the decks of the Star of India and the Balclutha. It's been a while, but I remember looking at the deck color on these iron ships and I seem to remember they both were a uniform grayish color. I remember the Balclutha's waterways were an unpainted cement trough. I am going to the San Diego Maritime Museum next week for inspiration. That place always puts me in a ship building mood. I don't feel the HisModel deck is authentic, but I used it rather than try to make the plastic look presentable.

I have tried to make plastic decks look like wood with little success in the past. Also wooden ship decks were not a multitude of colors in my opinion. I think they were holystoned meaning scoured and whitened. The HisModel deck was the path of the least resistance and a time saver. Thanks for the encouragement. I am hoping to use deadeyes and wood blocks, but I worry about stropping them.

I glued the deck down this morning. I used Testors liquid cement. I glued the deck to the supports I made and tried to eliminate any gaps between the bulwark and the deck. I could not eliminate some gaps, mostly in the bow and stern. I think I will live with them. When ever I build a model, there are imperfections I decide to live with. This ship will not be the exception. The judgement call I make is, is the model pleasing to my eye. If so, I am happy. The other thing I do when building a historical model is to learn as much about the real thing as possible. To that end I have on hand: George Campbell's "China Tea Clippers" George Campbell's Cutty Sark plans C. Nepean Longridge's "The Cutty Sark The ship and a model" William F. Baker's "Running Her Easting Down" Basil Lubbock's "The Log of the Cutty Sark" Noel C.L. Hackney's "Classic Ships Cutty Sark Their History and How to Model Them." I also have two articles on building Revell's Cutty Sark in model magazines. I don't like to make mistakes like calling the Cutty Sark's two heads, sail lockers, though, until I learn I make many of those mistakes. Likewise, I learned the wedges I cut off the model's waterway are poor representations of stanchions. I will replace them with better looking ones.

I glued tabs to the hull to mount the deck on, since the deck is warped and some lugs the deck is supposed to rest on were broken off. I will attempt to epoxy the deck to the tabs.

I mounted the hull on a wood base using the kit's stand parts. I drilled through the keel and stand into the base and fastened the hull to the base with wood screws. I used the stand instead of pedestals, in keeping with the idea that it is a plastic model as apposed to wood. The base forms a very sturdy, steady platform to build the rest of the ship on. Being mounted to a plastic model, the base gives the ship an extremely low center of gravity.

I have glued the hull together and placed the deck on temporarily. It fits pretty good. The port side is warped a bit, but gluing it down should take care of that. I am using the kit stand mounted on a wood base. Screws fasten the hull, stand and base together. It makes for a very sturdy platform to build on. I know using Testors enamels is not too sophisticated, but no one knows unless I tell them. The ideas for coloring of my ship model come from George Campbell's book "China Tea Clippers." Also from the plans he drew. About the copper hull he writes, "Under full sail, heeling over slightly, and rising and falling easily through the sea, a clipper must have presented a magnificent sight from another passing ship. Many eyewitnesses have left us enthralling descriptions; how sometimes a gleaming copper would be exposed down to the turn of bilge in the trough of the sea, or the keel lifting clear from the forefoot to nearly one-third of the length." This would seem to me to argue against weathering the copper with green and white streaks. About the waterways he says, "On both sides of the Atlantic the waterway planks (or gutters if metal) were painted a darker contrasting color such as blue, green, grey or buff." About deck house panels, he said, "The teakwork was varnished bright originally .......... Later, with reduced crews, some of the panels might get painted white, as also the curved moulding on the edge of the roof." I am going to add these white panels. On the plans it states, "topgallant bulwork of varnished teak and teak stanchions. Panels painted white also iron bulwork. (On the hull,) "varnished teak rails, (the top two rails.) (The bottom rail) varnished later white. In his book Campbell says, "The thin white ribband just above the copper line which was painted on the Cutty Sark in her retirement days was not authentic for her or any other tea clipper, and was a detraction." C. Nepean Longridge says in his book that the hatch covers were black. My brown color is supposed to represent a very dark varnished teak, maybe not right, but I like it. Some varnished teak was very dark.

For white stripes, I am using MicroScale decals. I am using paint pens and a jell pen to color the water cask bans, portholes and raised rails on the hull. (The picture is from a prior attempt at this model.) To color the rails on the side of the hull, I used decals for the white rail. I masked off the brown rail and painted it with a brush and touched up where needed.

The masking tape I am using came from Hobby Lobby and Home Depot. The orange from Hobby Lobby and the blue from Home Depot. I cut the blue in thinner strips with a straight edge and an exacto knife with a #11 blade if I need them. The brass stanchions are made by aero-naut. I bought them online at a model ship supply site. I don't remember where. I am using 9mm one and two hole stanchions. I make eyelets with dark annealed 24 gauge steel wire. I don't remember where I got it

I glued the wood deck from His Model to the plastic deck using Testors liquid cement. I first glued the three deck sections together, sanded any raised areas flat, then painted only the sides of the hatches, leaving the rest of the deck unpainted. I liberally painted the liquid cement on the plastic deck with a brush until all of it was covered. The cement softens the plastic, making it tacky. Before it dried, I laid the wood deck down on the plastic, pressing it down by sliding over it with a paper towel held in my hand. I blackened the brass chain with a product called gun blue by Hoppe's. You can get it at a gun store. I dipped the chain into the bottle held by a piece of wire. It only takes a minute to work, and dries in a few more minutes. I am using Testors enamel paints. In the past, I used Floquil and Model Master paints, but they are mostly gone now. These I can get at my local Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I used my spray gun to paint the hull sides with black, copper, white, rust and gray straight out of the bottle after masking areas with masking tape. My compressor was set to 20lbs pressure. I clean up with lacquer thinner.

To add to my build do I just reply to it? I haven't done this before.

I am working on the Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark. I haven't gotten too far along, even though there have been many hours spent. The hull is painted and ready to assemble. I have been working on the deck as paint drys elsewhere. The photo taken in Australia is my reference along with books and plans. The model will be what I call clean, by not trying to create a diorama on a stand with weathering and all, just making a replica of a ship in 1/96 scale. I am not sure who else likes the look. I removed the wedges from the inside of the hull. I am going to replace them with small plastic rod. Testors enamel is being used with an air brush and also painting by hand with a paint brush. There are brass stanchions with brass wire. Decals are being used to add the white panels to deck houses. I will also use decals to add the white portions of the inner bulwarks. The eye rings are made by me with annealed wire. The deck covering is from His-Model. I plan to fully rig the ship, something I haven't done before. I am not going to add green to the copper, as copper only turns green in the open air. In the water, it remains copper. The only part of the sheaving that is green is the part out of the water. There is a good picture showing this at the Charles W Morgan website. The ship was being lifted out of the water. Also, I am not going to weather anything. I'll be posting more as I go. I am new to this build format.