Thermopylae by kpnuts - Revell - PLASTIC

[popeye the sailor]

awesome progress since I last looked in.  hope your holiday is good...........happy new year!  

[kpnuts]

Hi all done a bit more to this one.

 

 

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

I must have missed it..........the galley structure looks as though it doesn't fit the field.   if this was the Cutty,  it would have sort of a triangular appearance, but this one looks to be more rectangular.   is this an upgrade,  or are these the kit parts?    looks good,  but how do you plan on masking the raised shadow?

 

one word about the decals.   I got a set for my cutty,  to replace the ones I got with it  {got the kit off E-Bay}  when I went to use them they were micro cracked.   even if they look new.......these decals are old!   treat them with a product called decal bonder....it can be bought alone or can be found in the  'sure thing' decal maker kit  {it's sold by Testor's}.   it will coat the decals and bring them back to life........solving the micro cracking problem.  it was a hard lesson for me.........I don't want it to happen to you!  

[kpnuts]

Yes I am somewhat puzzled by that bit the instructions say to paint it black, I assumed there was something went round it or on it, didn't realise I now have a weird black shape on the deck now. The platform for the fire buckets goes on there which won't leave much showing so will give it some thought when they are on as to what to do with it.

[popeye the sailor]

yepper........a definite question here.   you see,  back in the time that the 1:96 Revell series was put out {the first few date back to the early 60's},  to make better use of the molds,  they would do knock offs.   the kits are the same,  but have subtle differences added.  the Thermopylae is the knock off from the Cutty.......if it weren't for the decals,  you'd be building the same ship.  I read an article a while back,  where folks complained to Revell that they got Cutty decals in their Thermopylae kit {wish I still had the article}.   I'd check with your friend.....perhaps this is a upgrade for the kit and he was going to add this in.

    do you have any extra cabin parts?   what do the instructions say....or look like?   I have the instructions for my Cutty still.....I can't recall if they say to paint the area,  but I didn't......it will not be seen.   I also don't see the locator slots for the cabin walls........did you fill them in?   the fire buckets,  if the kit is the same as the Cutty,  will be lined across the aft deck railing....they sit in little holes along it's base.   I looked at some images on line......I saw yours {you subscribe at finescale?},  of course,  I saw nothing definitive.   I have some galley pictures from my cutty:

 

 

 

 

this will give you an idea of what to look for.   the concern here is the raised pad that the cabin sits on......it's raised and there is no deck detail.   to sand it down and scribe in the detail would be quite a task.....a bit too much work for an upgrade.  the only logical thought I can think of,  is this is a big goof on Revell's part to differentiate the two ships.  they could have done better than that  

[kpnuts]

I think with the fire buckets in place It hides a lot so maybe I will try to blend the rest of the deck in, anyway here is the next update.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

look'in good KP.............love the old car  

[Marcus.K.]

Hey ho, this Looks really nice! ..

 

I would like to know: how do you work with this "copper" you had?

Did you have to scrap off what was on the wooden side above the water line? Or did you have to repaint over it?

 

An idea: why not "covering" the black area behind the captains cabin with an additional grating .. the helmsman usually stand on a grating .. if you would just "enlarge" the existing one, you could cover this area.

[kpnuts]

H all here I another update (think I've managed to hide the black now)

 

 

 

 

 

Popeye the old car is Hellers 1/8 Citroen Traction Avant, its finished now and in a dio, dont think you are allowed to post cars on here but its on Britmodeller under the Vehicles ready for inspection, Citroen Traction Avant Viva Le Resistance if you wanted to check it out .

[ScottRC]

Hi KP,

Great tutorial on applying washes and tones.  I know of a few new members who are doing plastic that I recommend seeing your posts.  I see your setting up the shrouds off the kits deadeye assemblies.  How are they secured? To the main rail or are they connected to the chain plates?  Reason I ask is that I have set up the ratlines on the Thermopylae, Alabama, and Constitution using a similar technique.  On the both the Thermopylae and Alabama, I did not have them secured enough and a while later, close to completion, they broke loose.  There will be a lot of tension placed on them as the construction gets completed.  Looks like you have them pinned in so I am curious how you did it.

Scott

[kpnuts]

just glued ( hope I'm not going to get problems later) think I will re glue them, make sure they're well and truly stuck down.

Thanks for the heads up.

[kpnuts]

Hi all another update on this one.

 

 

 

[NenadM]

What type of chain you use ?

[kpnuts]

came with the kit.

[popeye the sailor]

the chain plates are a misconception on the Cutty and the Thermopylae.   looking on the top rails,  tabs can be seen to suggest that the dead eye assemblies be cemented there.  actually,  they are to be cemented on the pin rails themselves.   I too found this out later...........makes them look better too

 

I saw the Avante.....wonderful looking diorama........did you even detail out the power plant too?

[kpnuts]

Well I'm so cross with myself, went  to do some rigging on this and dropped it, snapped off the rear mast broke the shrouds on the fore mast snapped some of the rigging on the bowsprit, a few of the hatches have come off, broken some of the stanchions round the top of the rear cabin. luckily nothing that cant be fixed but its put me back quite a bit, Grrrr and no one to blame but my butter fingers. I could almost swear, flippin heck, blimey and fiddle sticks (sorry for the profanities there)

 

 

Yep power plant fully detailed (incredible kit)

[popeye the sailor]

well that stinks!  sorry to hear of your mishap.........fingers crossed and good hope,  that you can get'er back ship shape!  

 

 

if it will make you feel any better......I took a complete ship  w/sails and stuck it out on the porch........who would have thought that wind could send it flying!

[docidle]

Yikes! Sorry to hear about the incident, and if makes you feel any better, although Popeye's is on the extreme side, I have dropped the Imai Catalan Ship that I have been working on twice now. Hopefully you can get her back into a shipshape appereciate soon. Or are you going to concentrate on the Soliel Royal now that you have the correct hull half?

 

Steve

[kpnuts]

 nope still on this as well, and the mefistofeles and a vw samba bus, busy, busy, busy.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well repairs made.

This believe it or not was the worst bit ( I glued that wheel on at least half a dozen times)

and made a bit more progress 

 

[Ray1981]

Wonderfull job!!!! 

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is tonight update may I first say anyone contemplating this ship, please read the rigging instructions alongside the build instructions and dont leave them till the end, as you can plainly see I have not done that and still I've made things extremely awkward for myself, there is some rigging from the main mast to the four iron rings in the deck which now I have the belaying pin racks and the foremast shrouds in place will be extremely difficult to attatch.

anyway here is where I'm at now.

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

nicely done KP.....

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is the next update on this 

 

 

 

 

Baring in mind these are almost Identical scales (the thermop is 1/96 and the soliel is 1/100) I still cant believe how much heavier and bulkier and cumbersom the soliel was (I mean I know she had to be able to withstand cannon fire and such) but she must have been sooooooo slooooowwwww 

 

[popeye the sailor]

looking good KP     is there a build log for the Soliel?

[Ray1981]

That Soleil looks wonderfull too! Is that also a plastic kit?

 

 

Grtz Ray

[kpnuts]

Yes it's plastic, the build log is Soliel Royal 17th century ship of the line. Thanks guys

[kpnuts]

Hi all well this must be jinxed I went to get an hour in tonight and have had a catastrophe, now I've got several hours of remedial work, it's now back in the outhouse while I calm down.

[dgbot]

Brings back memories.  Years ago I built that model and had a ball.  From painting to modifying the deck.  As for the sails, they were well shaped and were

given what I call a wash with a dirty paint solution from my brush cleaning bottle.  I was in retail at the time and gave it to one of the salesman;s mother as a birthday gift.

David B

[popeye the sailor]

I'm not liking that with a ten foot pole!    holy crap my friend........that's really terrible     if the stub is still in there and there's a hole,  perhaps it can be repaired with a suitable dowel.   you may not even have to remove the rigging to do it.  I hope you have good luck with the repair.