Lost and Confused

I got a couple of suggestions for repairing my oops moment last week. Snug Harbor Johnny suggested an option made from brass, that he had done. Beautiful work, but out of my comfort zone, as I have done absolutely zero work with metal. I came up with a solution made from a wooden toothpick and a bit of wire and a few 1mm eyebolts. Here is the finished product. Originally the wire at the upper end was the toothpick itself, filed down to match hole in bowsprit I installed it after carefully ( I have handled explosives in the military with less care) drilling the hole under the bowsprit. Held nicely. Proceeded on model, until 3 or 4 days later, while moving the model, I heard(or felt) a mild "crunch". Broke it again. Right at point where the toothpick tapered to enter the sprit. After I recuperated, I drilled a wee hole in the end and installed a bit of steel strait pin. You think I should use a rigid wire, or a bendable brass one to attach to the sprit? If I thump it again perhaps it will bend rather than break. Also I wont use adhesive, as the tension of the forestays will hold it securely in place.(maybe a dab of white glue). Im afraid if I use the steel pin that the bowsprit could be damaged. Id appreciate any input. Thanks mateys

By the way, Snug Johnny, your scratch looking bowsprit is beautiful.

Thanks for the help guys. I have been working with sanding down a round wooden toothpick to the right diameter and drilling holes to accept 1mm eyebolts (from hismodel), and using fine steel wire to replicate the slots for the upper forestays on their journey to the head. Ive screrwed up 3 of them so far but, each is better than the one before. Am concerned about installation. Ill likely snip off the remnants of the dolphin striker and attempt to drill a hole for install. That will be my biggest worry as I may have to set the ship on its side to do so. I can do it at this point as only the foremast is stepped, and no yards. The hull is very firmly attached to a 24" base. But i see all kinds of dire consequences if I dont do my work well. I like your suggestion on a brass replacement Johnny, but that type of metal work is not practical for me at this time. I have already reinforced the bowsprit before assembly as you did, having done plenty of research beforehand. Lucky too, as it may have broke there, if I hadn't. Would have been more damage. I just ordered a bunch of stuff from Radimir, including 3mm hearts. I had originally rigged the bowsprit area using 2.5mm deadeyes, pre-whipped. It turned out wonderful, even if not historically correct (artistic license?). I have no problem with redoing bowsprit rigging. This is by far, my best work on a tall ship model. The cathead extension (whiskers) are another thing... broke the stbd. one off early on...repaired it with a touch of wire underneath and some ca glue. Worked ok, but I hit it again, not long after. It didnt break, but it bent to an unsatisfactory position, and loosened the rigging a bit. As I said, I can address that should I redo the bowsprit rigging, (I know I will). I attempted a couple of photos but I gotta get the book out on it. Photos forthcoming. Heres a couple of the earlier ones, before i mothballed her for a year

Well, after she sat all of last year, I got my Cutty out and continued work on her. Had subassembled and rigged the foremast and stepped it. Was proceeding with standing and running rigging with the intention of working fore to aft. I was pretty happy with my results until i installed the ratlines on the fore lower shrouds. I had made several errors ,each, not too bad yet accumulatively I was dissatisfied, so last evening I cut them away and started a do-over. It was going well when, checking to see if the new shrouds were in order, I looked too closely and hooked the bowsprit with my visor type magnifier/light. Oops, bummer, dagnabbit, and other comments that may not be appropriate. I broke off the dolphin striker?, and a few of the deadeye rigs securing the forestays. I had also broken off the starboard boomkin, which I was able to repair, but it had again been damaged. I been doing this long enough to know that if you're gonna make an omelet, you gotta break a few eggs. Pretty frustrating though. Looking at it, I know that when I did the bowsprit rigging I should have used hearts and lanyards as opposed to deadeyes. Looked cool though. I guess on the repair, I'll do it right. Am unsure how to repair the dolphin striker ( or whatever you call that object). Im looking at my round wooden toothpicks. Here's a kind of before and after photo, please forgive my photography, cant seem to do that right either. Will keep you advised if there is any interest. I look at this website every morning, part of my routine...happy holidays

The provided plastic sails can look just fine if carefully cut and installed

I would go for the older version as the plastic is likely of a higher quality, and hasnt been "nerfed" by Revell. Also the older shrouds made of black line are far superior to the molded plastic ones in todays kit. (In my humble opinion). Also Im sure that the rigging instructions are FAR more comprehensive than the ones in the '17 kit. These are barely useable. I am working on the 2017 Revell CS and I am using a lot of aftermarket parts , and so far she's lookinj pretty good. Good luck whatever you decide

Call in the carpenters to lengthen the room!

Well mates, ill never see 60 again either but I find it to be an advantage. When i built models in my youth, I would go along for awhile and then run out of something :ie. paint, glue etc. Or need a tool that I could not improvise. Alas, i would have to wait for Friday to get my allowance. 5 bucks went a long way back then. Now if I want it, Im off to Hobby Lobby or on the web to Amazon or whoever has what i need. I also have muuuuuuch more patience which is (not too arguably) the most important ingredient to the hobby. Keep at it man, your CS is lookin good. My Cutty is kinda on the back burner now as its getting time to do my outdoor gardening and lawn work. Cant be having the neighbors complaining. keep those pics coming. ill post a few of mine when I take a few more.

Hello fellow modelers. I'm whittling away on my revell 1/96 Cutty Sark and have run into a problem. I have rigged the lower and topmast shrouds and am at a loss on how to install the upper deadeyes on them in a satisfactory way. I have made makeshift jigs from cardboard with some success but am not getting the uniformity I want. I saw a jig made from twisted wire and made one but it didnt work for me. I have come too far on a very (my very best) build to settle for low quality in this area. To me, a nice presentation of the shrouds, deadeyes and ratlines are very, very important to the overall quality of the build. Any photos of jigs or tips for this are greatly appreciated. The masts are not yet installed. Am doing the topmast and topgallant ones off-ship. Still having a time. Have cut them away twice now because they didnt meet my standard. Thanks again.

Nice looking job, David. My Cutty Sark kit came with 2 different sizes of chain, although I ended up not using either one. There are multitudes of markets for chain out there, easily learned about, just by reading these forums. Same with rigging line. Even going "stock" with this kit, as you intend to, it might be wise to download some more comprehensive rigging plans, as the ones provided by Revell are extremely vague at best. I downloaded the Campbell plans which are used by the majority of CS builders. If nothing else, with these you can figure out the grey areas in the Revell plans. You can find them hereabouts for free. I have found that I spend more time looking stuff up, than actual modeling. Check out other folkses build logs and many of your questions will be answered before you even ask them. These guys are here to help. Keep up the good work.

Thank you all for your helpful replies. I have decided to wax my rigging lines. I have a block of beeswax that I've used on several models...I don't know about my model lasting 100 years, but the wax can't hurt. Thanks again. Onward

Im using Amati rigging line from HIS model. Is that cotton, polyester, or what?

Im gettin ready to commence the standing rigging on my Cutty. I have waxed my rigging lines on all of my other builds. See here and there that many dont use wax. Which way is best??

mucho goosto matey. Thanks for the input

You don't think the angle on the mizzen is excessive?

I am well along on my plastic Cutty and am presently assembling and pre-rigging the masts. I see that the mast bases are molded angled, apparently so that the mast is set at the correct angle, I read somewhere, about 85 degrees. The fore and mainmasts are ok, but it seems that the angle is excessive on the mizzenmast Like about 10 degrees from vertical to the aft. Are all these kits like this or just mine?. they also want to cant to port when dry fitted....I've been filing material off of base to make a correct fit, but have created a lot of looseness. I read that alot of you dont glue your masts but I dont see any way around it when the time comes. I plan to use a level and plumb bob and mount them 1 at a time and rig, then proceed to the next. Perhaps if I used wood glue, it would fill the gaps, yet allow for removal, if required. I am determined to get a s perfect alignment as possible as this has been a weak point for me on past builds. What do you guys think? Im open to all suggestions. Heres a very poor photo, but you may get the point. Thsnks DSCF0027 - Shortcut (2).lnk

By the way....Welcome aboard......There are some master modelers here.....You might check out the build logs....Check out Bruma's Cutty Sark, build log if you want to see something just wonderful.....very inspiring

I am presently building the revell 1:96 Cutty Sark. I did not glue the stands on until I was almost done with the hull assembly, as this allows you to maneuver the model around as needed. When all is about assembled on the hull, go ahead and glue the stands on. A good time to add a wooden plaque stand if you like.

John, It shows that you put many, many hours into your beautiful Conny. I hope it's not too late to cover mine. A local library is possibly interested in displaying it. That would solve my problem and maybe some kids would be interested enough to take up the hobby. We could have been surgeons

I was certainly not doing my homework on the deckhouse rails. Most of the work on the hull was done last winter, before I discovered these resources. That is why I'm trying to plan ahead. There will most certainly be more mistakes to come, partially to lack of research, lack of timely parts delivery, and lack of skill and patience. There are lots of resources that conflict. I am going to try to adhere to the Campbell plans on the rigging, but again, no two Cuttys are the same. How did you come up with the idea of the drydock?? It is marvelous

beautiful job on "old ironsides". Did you get the sails from Radimir? My Connie is collecting dust. Was your glass case very pricey? The ones that I checked out costed waaaay more than the model expenses. I didnt "go overboard on the stateroom detail or actual operating rudder/helm as I didnt want anyone sticking their hand in there between the rigging to get to the helm. and viewing the cabin detail was difficult. You didnt build that one overnight did you.:)

I wish I'd have found His parts for my USS Constitution. The deck coming in 3 pieces killed me. My solution was "caulking" the gaps with rigging cord. It made it even MORE noticeable. At least to me. There was a huge gap at the stern end of deck which I trimmed a scrap piece of their plastic sail material to size and painted. That fix worked pretty well. Maaaayyybeee on the next one??

I will likely never be "on the same page" as Bruma. Truly a master of the craft. I sometimes think that he has a crew of 1 inch tall elves that work on his ship for him