Cutty Sark by Arctic37 - FINISHED - Revell - Scale 1:96 - PLASTIC

[Kevin-the-lubber]

So an older kit is probably better than a new one. I may just do a saved searched on eBay and wait for an old kit to come up. I don’t really want to feel I must re-make a lot of parts via 3D printing, at least not at the moment, because that would just be more of the same as I’m doing with the Heller Victory. After a while that becomes quite boring. I’ve never tried a real wood model, not sure I have the skills for that!

[Arctic37]

On 9/3/2021 at 1:21 PM, Kevin-the-lubber said:

So an older kit is probably better than a new one. I may just do a saved searched on eBay and wait for an old kit to come up. I don’t really want to feel I must re-make a lot of parts via 3D printing, at least not at the moment, because that would just be more of the same as I’m doing with the Heller Victory. After a while that becomes quite boring. I’ve never tried a real wood model, not sure I have the skills for that!

Probably, but I don't know if the molds shifts (which are the most annoying, and most difficult to correct problems imo), are the result of ageing or originally badly made moulds. Both new and old kits have pro and cons. New: better decals, and the shrouds are moulded, which is nice for a guy like me, who hates rigging. On the other hand the kit is out-of-date, and expensive for it's quality. Old: Probably better quality moulds (but it also the plastic sit in a box for 20-30 years in who know what conditions...), rope shrouds, which are more realistic, but the decals are worse, and the kit is not neccesarry cheaper than the new.
So the choice is up to you 🙂

[Arctic37]

The sails and yards are finished and put into place. I didn't place the sails on the upper yards, so all three sail variants (empty yards, rolled up sails, hoisted sails) are shown (and of course, I didn't have to make an additional ~10 sails). Now only the running rigging remains, to finish the model.

 

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Somewhere on this site, in the last 2 or 3 months, there was a thread (no pun intended) on rigging and the use of various media to glue coils, end etc. (I really must start bookmarking these things). Anyway, I think one of the advantages of using a matt nail varnish sealer/topcoat (rather than for instance CA) to hold a rope shape was that it looked more natural, was more or less invisible. So, if it was me, I'd try printing up a little former to get the shape I want, see if a wet rope will dry to shape wrapped around this and then try the nail varnish thing. Something like this below.

 

Your ship looks stunning. I'm resisting for now, I know I'd get just as sidetracked doing a Thermopylae (love that green hull), but it's something to look forward to.

[Arctic37]

It took longer, than I anticipated, but I finished the lifts. It was tedious and not that easy. Especially that I had to secure the wires nex to the standing rigging. But it is finished, so the next step is to make the sail-outers (?), which I thin will be even more time consuming...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also the age of the moulds are solved, since I found a date on the back of the plastic nameplate: 1959 🙂

[Arctic37]

On 9/5/2021 at 10:34 AM, Kevin-the-lubber said:

Somewhere on this site, in the last 2 or 3 months, there was a thread (no pun intended) on rigging and the use of various media to glue coils, end etc. (I really must start bookmarking these things). Anyway, I think one of the advantages of using a matt nail varnish sealer/topcoat (rather than for instance CA) to hold a rope shape was that it looked more natural, was more or less invisible. So, if it was me, I'd try printing up a little former to get the shape I want, see if a wet rope will dry to shape wrapped around this and then try the nail varnish thing. Something like this below.

 

Your ship looks stunning. I'm resisting for now, I know I'd get just as sidetracked doing a Thermopylae (love that green hull), but it's something to look forward to.

 

Thanks, I will try the varnish, I hope it will turn out good.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Arctic37

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I received my 1:96 Cutty Sark today, bought at a good price off ebay. Very exciting, particularly as it doesn't appear to have an endless array of parts so maybe won't take quite as long as the Heller Victory. However, not something to start for a while, I'll wait for a sensible break point on the old lady. I haven't fully checked it over yet, something to do a little later this evening, but I noticed that my shrouds are pre-made using thread, i.e. they look a bit different to yours and probably better than anything I'll do by hand.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

This is the thread, I think it’s one or two pages from the end. Sorry but copying hyperlinks defeats me on an iPad, so just the title.

 

Zulu “Lady Isabella” by EKE - FINISHED - Vanguard Models - 1:64

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I found a laser-produced wood deck for Thermopylae (Cutty Sark also available) on Ebay, and the seller is HiSModel in Czechoslovakia.  The standard shipping would have taken 4 - 6 weeks, so I paid extra for Fed Ex.  I was in Ebay as a 'guest' (not having an account then - I do now) and paid by credit card.  Then I saw the same seller's photo-etch and decal + flag set, and ordered that too (but with standard shipping).  The seller (Radimir Beseda) contacted me through Ebay to clarify if I wanted the beech wood versus the oak deck, and if I wanted any thing else to go into the package.  I specified then that the beech was lighter in color with a finer grain, so I wanted that - plus the photo etch thrown into the same box so they would both get to me sooner.

 

  To my surprise, I got the items in a mere 7 days! (the $23 up-charge was worth it). Fed Ex had slightly bent the box at some point, but the deck was not damaged and a slight creasing in part of the photo etch was smoothed with round handled metal tools - no worries.  Radimir included a sample deadeye with a photo-etch surround and a sample CNC milled walnut block.  They seem pretty good, and he has them available on his site - plus nice-looking 1:96 belaying pins long enough to properly function - It has been recommended to snap off the plastic pins from the Reveal Cutty/Thermoplylae pin rails and replace with scale brass pins.  

 

  Since the deck of the prototypes was bare wood, I've never been able to paint a pre-formed (plastic) deck to look 'real enough'.  The use of these thin (veneer) deck parts has to be considered right from the start of constructing either kit, and installing metal deck eyes right through the deck (after wood sheathing) was also recommended.  Items from HiSModel appear less expensive if bought from the seller directly with PayPal.  He seems to specialize in accessories to greatly improve popular plastic ships (e.g. U.S.S. Constitution 1:96).

 

  My late 50s Thermopylae (a lucky find) has excellent molded parts (and instructions - although the paper is coming apart), and I'm going to plan carefully how to go about the prospective build - using deadeyes and hand-knotted ratlines for example.  Scale points to 3.5mm and 2.5mm deadeyes - pretty small to work with, so I might consider going just a little 'out of scale' with 5mm for the large deadeyes and 3mm for the small ... plenty of time to think about that.  Some of the yards that were not painted as seen on several fine all-wood models, can be replaced by wood spars - the the fine build on this forum by Bruma.  I'm stuck on whether to build as a Barkentine (early 1890s) or as a clipper.

 

  The idea of having a few sails is a great compromise.   Fair sailing!     Johnny

[Arctic37]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

It was a long time since the last post, cuz I had little free time to work on the ship, but in the meantime quite a progress has been made.
The build is almost at the finish line.

After finishing the lifts, only the running rigging was remaining. I started with rigging the clewlines of the sails. Compared to later steps, it was simple, and relatively easy.

 

Then I continued with rigging the braces. I started from mizzenmast...

 

 

...then mainmast...

 

 

 

...and finally foremast

 

 

 

And a few pictures about the finished rigging and the ship near completion:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Towards the end the rigging started to look like a forest, and was quite the challenge to fix the ropes to their respective places, without breaking anything.

The ship is almost complete, the only things remaining are the ensigns, and the chain links on the bowsprit.

[Arctic37]

Now with the chains were fitted to the bowsprit and the ensigns to their places, the ship is finally finished.

 

 

 

 

 

As my first sailing ship model (and not an easy one imo), I am satisfied with the result. Altough on the next sailing ship I will doe some thing differently

[Kevin-the-lubber]

You've made a nice job of that. My kit is from 1976 and, if yours was in similar shape, you've done well to get the parts looking as good as they do.

[LeoM]

You have done a very nice job. Thanks for sharing your project.

[Mocko1962]

I may have missed in the build write up but what are the sails made of ? 
 

Stunning by the way .. I am considering buying the kit to build ..

 

ian 

[Arctic37]

On 12/28/2021 at 11:46 AM, Kevin-the-lubber said:

You've made a nice job of that. My kit is from 1976 and, if yours was in similar shape, you've done well to get the parts looking as good as they do.

It is probably in the same shape, because the original moulds from '59 were still used in my kit... Sometimes there were more sanding, than glueing and painting

[Arctic37]

On 12/29/2021 at 11:13 PM, Mocko1962 said:

I may have missed in the build write up but what are the sails made of ? 
 

Stunning by the way .. I am considering buying the kit to build ..

 

ian 

 

The sails are made from batiste.

 

Good luck building the kit, if you buy it

[Kevin-the-lubber]

1 hour ago, Arctic37 said:

Sometimes there were more sanding, than glueing and painting

Too true. Because there's so much flash I've separated most parts from the sprues, cataloguing as I go, so that I can try for fit and see what's what. It's not too bad once it's cleaned up but I've started resin-printing remakes of some of the deck furniture like the fife rails, windlass, bollards etc along the way. It just feels easier to do these quick and simple bits in resin rather than spend the day sanding. And now that I've primed the hull and deck it's much easier to see what needs attention in that area - as you say, the mis-alignment is a bit of a pain: even as I write I'm debating whether to sand off the 'bars' across the leading edge of the bow, which are totally misaligned, and use some evergreen to tidy that up. Already did that to the edging on the stern and it's an improvement.

[Simon 707]

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

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Hi Simon, sounds like you’re right at the beginning of the kit, and yes, you could certainly do that. If you’re not bashing the kit in any way  the revell instructions look fine. Although I’ve swerved a bit from an OOTB build on mine, I was able to hide the deck joins fairly well by bevelling the adjoining edges, glueing, filling, sanding. I lost a bit of the faux wood grain but not as much as I feared.

[David Chapman]

I suspect this may not be the place for my question so I apologize. 

Just getting started on the Revel Cuddy Sark 1/96.

I did not plan on overlaying a wood deck. My question is how do I hide the seams of the plastic deck. Also it appears to suggest the 3 deck pieces are butt jointed, painted and glued before installation. Having pre fit the 3 decks, I don't understand how that's possible without breaking the seal.

Should I glue some pieces of plastic across the underside of the 2 joints to stabilize the deck or...?

David

[Kevin-the-lubber]

David, I think you’ll see a glued, butt-joined kit deck early in my log, link below, before I made my own deck. I know I put a decent bevel on mine I.e a good 1mm, and glued some hefty styrene strips to the underside to make it stay true. It was pretty easy to sand the joined deck to disguise the joint. I’m also pretty sure I was able to spread the glued hull enough to get the deck in. I’ve noticed that unused deck a few times, lurking in my scraps box, and sometimes wondered why I even bothered to make a replacement; in other words, go for it, it’ll be fine 😀.
 

If I was doing this all over again and wanted to stick with the kit deck without any overlay, I think I would sand off the positive plank lines and scribe negative plank lines instead, after joining the main deck sections. Why? Because you’ll get a much better ‘faux wood’ effect with negative lines as the inking to simulate caulking will have grooves to sit in.

[David Chapman]

Kevin,

Thank you so much. I'll give that bevel sanding a try but still pretty sure it won't hide the seems. Thankfully the cabins will cover most of it.

Sanding off the positive plank lines and replacing with negative scribe lines I don't quite understand. Sounds very challenging.

David

[David Chapman]

Kevin, 

Both your suggestions worked!

Putting a subtle back bevel  on the edges of the decks with a file really helped. Dry fitting the decks now look highly satisfactory.

Also anticipating that these scraps of plastic for support will do the trick. 

Thanks again,

David