Cutty Sark by Bill97 - FINISHED - Revell - 1/96 - PLASTIC

[Bill97]

I built the Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark some 50-55 years ago as a teenager. After recently finishing the Revell USS Constitution I decided to do the Cutty Sark again using the skills I have refined over the years as well as the patience that comes with age. This time I decided to work with acrylics as well as enamels to achieve the effects I want, or hope for. Will include more pics as I make my way. 

[Henke]

I really like the color variations and tone of the deck. Could you please explain to us all how you did proceed?

 

Regards

 

Henrik

[NenadM]

Go on!

CS needs patience and skill

Nenad

[clearway]

is now a bad time to mention a european manufacturer makes a laser kit wooden deck for her😇- however excellent weathering technique with the deck.

 

Keith

[Bill97]

Clearway now you tell me! 😀

Henke I used a product on the deck that was recommended to me. I don’t know if it is new or not. Vallejo makes an acrylic spray set of colors for “old and new wood” effect. It is basically a process where I applied (airbrushed) a primer coat of one color, then a second color. After they thoroughly I took a .01 pigment pen and carefully drew in all the lines representing the individual deck boards. After that it was just a matter of applying various other colors on random boards and light and dark washes of the thinned acrylics until I was satisfied with the outcome. Then finally I gave it a few coats of a Matt finish lacquer for protection. Giving ample time between base coats for drying I would say the process took maybe 4 different days I worked on it. 

[Bill97]

HELP!  Anyone who has, or is now, building the Revell Cutty Sark!  The assembly instructions has the deck in already. Step 9 shows installing the anchor chain. There are no holes in the deck for the chain to go down through in order to come out the holes in the bow. What did you do?  I am stumped!

[VTHokiEE]

I have not built this model, but I have looked at a few build logs and while I didn’t see anything particular about installing the anchor chain I did notice that it looks like another deck sits atop this section. If this is correct you could potentially drill a hole in the deck and thread it through (depending on the area below), or maybe cut the chain and simply glue it down since it will be covered?

Maybe these aren’t great ideas, but I would take a look ahead in the build to see how much of this area is covered as it may provide some flexibility in how you approach the problem.

[Bill97]

Thanks VTHokiee. I was able to use a combination of both your ideas and suggestions from another blogger. Got it done. 

[Bill97]

A good bit of small painting and fitting including the little brass bell. Since the instructions did not explain real well how to do the anchor chain I improvised. I think looking at the picture in the instructions Ravell wanted the builder to simply glue the chain on top the deck and an additional piece coming out of the bow, as if it was one continuous chain. I did not want to do that. I drilled holes in the deck up under the forecastle, ran the chain down through and fished it out the bow. The other ends I wrapped around the windlass and then back to the chain gate covers where I had drilled two additional holes and fed the chain ends into. I think it came out OK. Enough for today. 

[Bill97]

https://cuttysarkdrydock.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/the-cutty-sark-windlass-revamp/
 

To give credit where credit is due for idea. 

[Bill97]

Continued the build for a while today. Added a number of elements to the deck. After solving the anchor chain challenge prior to my last post, I have found the Revell instructions to be pretty clear and straight forward. The instruction book does list recommended colors with most being in the matt sheen. I have watched a number of YouTube videos of the actual Cutty Sark museum. There does seem to be a bit of shine in n a number of the structures and machinery on the deck. So I have opted to use a satin or gloss enamel on those pieces to add visual effect and contrast with the flat/matt finish of the deck. 

[shipman]

Following your build with enthusiasm. I have a couple examples of this kit. One is an original version with the copper painted hull. A few features puzzle me. The anchor chain exits the pipes from the cable locker underneath. It then trails forward across the deck and runs alongside the coaming of the fore hatch. If you've ever seen a ship drop its anchor, the chain runs out with some violence and speed. Well, as this feature is commonly depicted, the deck and the hatch would be destroyed! So I've never been happy with this. Before the ship was restored, it had the chain laid on the deck. The recently restored vessel has none of this.

Another feature of the kit are the clearing ports, which are depicted on the outside of the hull. It would be nice to emphasise these; yet the inboard deck level makes a nonsense of them. It just wouldn't work.

Otherwise, the kit is a fair representation of the ship as she is now. Looking forward to the rest of your build.

[Bill97]

Thanks Shipman. I had the same curiosity about the anchor chain placement. Thought in actuality it would tear up everything when anchor dropped. I use this YouTube video for reference and could not find any footage of the chain on the ship. 

 

[shipman]

G'day Bill. I haven't yet found what would have been 'best practice' for anchor/chain management on other Clippers during that period and would appreciate input on this from other members, hopefully with some reference.

When Cutty Sark was 'rescued' from the then Portugal owners, she'd undergone many changes and modifications, few of which were recorded. Indeed, accurate descriptions of her in her finest years are scant. An example would be the deck rails, which I suspect, would have been polished brass?

[Bill97]

Good morning Shipman. I too have tried to research old pictures and data about the CS but not much. I did notice on the current videos that the anchor chain no longer comes up from below deck through the pipes. I don’t know if that is just to prevent a trip hazard for tourists or what. Wonder if those pipes were and chain route were old modifications from the original design construction?  Possibly the anchor chain was originally stored, let out, and pulled back in from a lower deck. What is your thought?

[Bob Fraser]

Hi Bill.

Here's two close ups from the Cutty plans.

1st is from Campbell, the plans are "as built 1870".

 

This secong is from Underhill. Dated 1932

 

It would seem the Revell model is from the "as built" plans.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Bob

[Bill97]

Thanks Bob. This is very interesting. I think 1932 was about the time the ship was sold, reconfigured, and began begin used for training purposes. Wonder the time thought that led to the anchor chains on deck. Guess we will never know. 
 

Bill

[shipman]

Thanks for the drawings Bill. Just compared the Underhill drawing with his drawings in Longridges book. They aren't identical.

Longridge states Underhill updated his drawings to include his own research, based on a stay on the ship while she was still afloat.

As I understand it, the original plans/drawings haven't survived; only a sketchy diagram from Lloyds Register.

The Portuguese owners did their best to ruin the ship, nearly sinking more than once and drastically reducing the rig.

Apparently the fore deck house wasn't an original feature.

The 'Dolly Winch' just in front of the chain pipes has fittings which are clearly there to bring the anchor in, yet again nothing lines up.

My suspicion is, the original chain locker may have been below what is now the forward hatch. I accept my suggestions are extremely speculative. Photo's of her as a training ship show several high deck bulwarks  full width and several extra boat davits forward. Another suspicion is that a lot of the deck 'furniture' is not where it was when she was a working ship. Continuing this theme, I suspect a lot of these fittings were initially absent on her return to England, but were 'salvaged' and re-fitted to retain some semblance of original character. I don't think we'll ever know the truth, but time has a habit of providing evidence which is sadly lacking at the moment.

Also, the beak-head rails and stern decoration are pure fiction, having gone missing at some point in history. I've read that the original stern was decorated with a rather racy tableau with scantily clad characters from Shakespeare's tale, which caused embarressment and scandal in polite society at the time!

Considering how much money was spent on the recent restoration and the use of supposedly superior modern paints and varnishes, she's already beginning to look rather shabby.

I'll close by mentioning I have an extensive collection of books on the ship dating back to the early 1920's.

[Bill97]

Shipman these are Bob Fraser’s drawings. It is so interesting the history of this ship. And so unfortunate that we cannot know exactly how she was at first launch.  Building it now while knowing it is not an exact replica of the original design does diminish it a bit, but I hope to build a beautiful display model and keep the secret of her changes to my self. 98 percent of the people who will see my model in person will have no idea! 🙂

[Bob Fraser]

Hi Bill.  Forgot I had Longridges books!  I also have Modelling the Cutty Sark by Edward Bowness, 1959, and The Cutty Sark and the Days of Sail by Frank G G Carr, 1957 for the Cutty Sark Preservation society.

The first shows this, but doesn't say where he got the drawings from other than mentioning Underhill revised his original drawings later on, so I suspect his model is from them.

which shows what looks to be a sliding hatch forward of the cargo hatch and the anchor run.

In the glossary he also mentions a "Cable Lifter" as "a sprocket wheel on the winch spindle with large teeth to fit the links of the anchor cable" This could be to lift the chain clear of the cargo hatch?

 

This one from the Carr book showing the forward area is completely different.  Unfortunately no date for the photo.

Note the cowls, the anchor chain running alongside the (now boxed in) cargo hatch a through a tunnel, and the small hatchway in front of the windlass.

 

As Shipman said, she changed a lot over the years, so it would seem that no matter which plans you follow you'll get a good representation of her at some point in her life.

I have this model myself (which is why I have the plans and books), half built, but our ever helpful remodelling cats have sent her off the shelf a couple of times resulting in parts broken off and damaged so she's laid up while I consider my options.

 

Have you seen this build by Sailcat? Quite an amazing transformation. I could only wish for the skills he shows.

 

@shipman All the photos in the Carr booklet show white rails, including the photo of her after losing her rudder in 1872

 

All the best,

Bob

[Bill97]

Yes I have seen Sailcat’s restoration!  Quit a feat to be proud of. I am still debating if to fabricate something that would give the appearance of being used to protect the forward hatch from the destruction that would have been caused by the anchor chain. Would not be authentic but as we have all said, something was probably there. Or at least I need to severely scar up the paint under the chain.   

Continued today along the deck adding elements and features. The instructions say to paint the top of the deck houses kind of a gray brown. However the videos I have watched of the ship museum show the tops white (I think) so I painted them matt white. 

 

[Bob Fraser]

Hi Bill, found something that you might like to see.

A contributor here, Lou van Wijhe, (Thanks Lou!) took some high resolution photos back in 2012 and kindly made them available to us.

The mention of the "Cable Lifter" as "a sprocket wheel on the winch spindle with large teeth to fit the links of the anchor cable" got me thinking and I remembered these photos.

Here's exactly what it is

 

Showing the run of the anchor chain around the hatch, but going behind the spokes that fit into the gaps between links, which would raise it above the hatch when raising or lowering.

No need to weather your hatch! 😄

This detail IS on the winch assembly for the model, easily overlooked without a magnifier 🙁 but might well be over large for the chain provided.

There's another good one of the windlass showing the chain coming off the top of it, again providing lift to clear the hatch!

 

Keep up the good work she's looking good.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[Bill97]

Thanks Bob. This helps a lot and explains it. Going to see now if I can make these changes. I currently have the chain coming out the bottom instead of over the top of the windlass 😳. Hope I have enough chain and can get it lose without doing any damage. Do you have any knowledge of the color of the roof of the two deck houses? As I mentioned, the YouTube videos I have looked at seem to show them all white. 

[popeye the sailor]

I'm glad that someone made use of the blog    I did that on my second Cutty.........never could figure why Revell wanted you to use multiple pieces of chain to do something so simple  .    the Cutty blog should be there also......originally,  I posted it on Blogger.  most sailing ships were rigged that way.......whether it be chain or rope.  this must be a newer kit....Revell Germany?   I got the second one from E-bay........the decal sheet was trash.  I reordered another one using the missing parts request that Revell used to do,  but that one was badly micro cracked.  I opted to make my own decals.......had to use a paint marker to do the depth markers.  I love your deck........it looks very good.  I believe the company is ScaleMates that does a wooden deck for these large scale models........even for the Connie.  I also have the U.S.S. United states,  another second ship {the first one met an untimely demise by my own hand { yes,  I admit it }.  I made wooden decks for her.....currently in the closet........been in there for a couple of years.  what a pain it was to do,  but boy,  it was worth it   last year......or was it two???????.......I forget,  I bought the Connie..........it will be my second time on her as well.  I can't say.......but I plan to do something different with her   icky Mae............

 

these large scale kits from Revell are about the best I've ever built.........they are my favorite.  there are nay sayers out there....but ignore them.  I've never had to stuff brass rod in the masts and I used the plastic eye bolts with no problem at all.  I mentioned somewhere concerning 'zero tolerance' rigging.  if your interested,  let me know......it's quite simple.   there are many builds of the Revell Cutty,  but check out some of the wood builds too,  as they might give you an idea or two.

 

glad I looked in.......your doing a splendid job!  pleased to follow along.   here are some other blogs I did,  as well as in rigging the Cutty

 

http://seymore-thecuttysark-abuildlog.blogspot.com/

[Bill97]

Thanks again Bob. Modifications made. 

[shipman]

Wow! Lou's splendid photo's made me sit up. Such good quality images. It would be great to see more of them, please.

I think the deck house roofs were originally planked (like the deck). I've read so much recently, but I think that was an observation from Longridge.

There is an etch brass set of the bow and stern decoration available, which I have and are so much better than the kit decals . Can't remember exactly where they came from, but if you ebay the kit, the source comes up.

When I lived in London during the 80's I visited the ship a couple of times, but it wasn't open, so never got to see the deck areas. It struck me to be a large vessel, but I just got the 1:350 kit from LEE. When comparing it to more modern ships in that scale the 'Cutty' is tiny! That kit was originally boxed by Imai and later by others. The current 1:350 Revel looks to be the same moulds, but they did offer an entirely different version in that scale some years ago.

So happy to get others input on this subject, which is very refreshing.

[Bob Fraser]

@shipmanI have all of Lou's photos, but they are copyright him, so I'm not sure about being able to share them. They are a total of 1.4Gb, around 12Mb each.

Unfortunately the link shared in his original post is no longer working.

I know he last logged on April this year, so maybe PM him to ask if he has an updated link?

 

From the pics in the 1957 pamphlet it seems the roof colours changed over the years, wood, white, or white edged wood, as did the deckhouses themselves, all wood, or wood with white panelling. The boat chocks always seem to be white though.  So again, whatever way you decide to go, it's right for part of her life.

 

Have you seen rwiederrich's build of her as the Ferreira?

 

[Bill97]

Continued to work from the bow back toward the stern adding deck  elements. Some of which I must admit don’t know the name of. One of the things I really liked when I built the Revell USS Constitution is that the instruction book had several pages that listed all the parts by number and name. The Cutty Sark instructions did not have that. Something I am curious about and someone may know. On the deck house in the back there are two elements that look like upside down baskets near the front. No idea what they are. The instructions had me put the compass on the back end of the house. In videos I have watched the compass is in the front where these little baskets are. One other thing I have noticed that I have to work on is my sharp edge painting. When I look with my naked eye I think my edges look pretty good. But when I take a picture and zoom in I can see a bit of fine tuning is needed. I added some weathering to the sides of the deck houses as well. 

[Bill97]

Just a bit more at the stern of the ship today. Also did some fine tuning of some of my paint lines to get sharper edges. Once all the deck elements are on, probably some time this week, I plan to do a little additional touch up. Have some glue spots that are showing up a bit shiny I want to touch with some matt top coat and a few little white spots on the deck where the weathering effect needs to be touched up. 

[Bill97]

Continued today with mainly touch up and fine tuning my painting. Also added the wheel house. I found Artic37’s Cutty Sark build. He included the building instructions from an older production that are much more detailed and informative. In the instructions with my kit it said to paint the 8 bucket shaped objects back by the aft deckhouse brown and place them under the quarterdeck rail. Gave no name to these pieces. In the Instructions Artic37 provided they are called fire buckets and instructions say to paint red. That made more sense to me so I changed them. Also weathered the top of the two deck houses. Developing into a beautiful ship.