Cutty Sark by Kevin-the-lubber - Revell - 1:96 - PLASTIC

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I’ll add it to my saved searches on eBay. Those that I see at present are still just a little too pricey for me, given I have the plans and Underhill so probably wouldn’t make much use of it. Although I’m upping some of the detail vs the kit I’m not going for super-fidelity, that feels like another rabbit hole. I too manage to pick up bargains from time to time, I got the 1:96 Constitution last week for about £40, think the only large kit that I still want ‘for later’ is the Soliel Royale, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that going cheap.

[Cirdan]

17 hours ago, shipman said:

Oh, while I'm at it.....

 

I had the pleasure of examining Longridges model at the Science Museum model ship collection, now sadly CLOSED! At the time I didn't carry a camera.

 

I've run exhaustive searches online, yet have found only one poor photo of that model.

So at the moment at least, the only photo's available are the ones in the book.

 

The model must be in storage, possibly at Chatham. If someone has the resources, I understand the museum will grant access (upon request) to most objects in their posetion and allow one to photograph them. I'm in no position to do that, but someone would do us a great service and do just that!

Hi shipman, I can provide some links to photos of the Longridge model. But they are relatively small (1024 to 1500px). 

 

1. Science Museum Website: Rigged model of the "Cutty Sark" | Science Museum Group Collection

2. Maritima-et-mechanika.org: Former Shipping Department, Science Museum, London (maritima-et-mechanika.org) 

                                     photo: ScienceMuseumShipping-11.jpg (1024×787) (maritima-et-mechanika.org)

3. modellmarine.de   photo: http://www.modellmarine.de/images/albums/science-museum-zivil/science-museum-zivil01.jpg 

 

I picked up more pictures in the net (at about 10 or so), but I don't know the source any more. I don't want to post them here because of possible copyright restrictions. Some of them might possibly not be found in the net any more. 

 

 

 

 

 

[LeoM]

Thanks for sharing these pictures, Cirdan 😉

Edited April 19, 2022 by LeoM

[John Ruy]

Kevin, 

 

Nice work, you got me interested. I’m pulling up a chair to see where this goes. 
 

Thanks

John

[Kevin-the-lubber]

1 hour ago, John Ruy said:

I’m pulling up a chair to see where this goes

John, I don't even know myself so welcome to the magical mystery tour 😊

 

By way of a general update, I thought I was going to move on to the pin rails this week but haven't had the three or four hour stretch it needs for me to really focus and, meanwhile, have decided I want to rework the forecastle area, which also needs concentration. Hopefully I'll get some time this coming weekend as I got most of the spring gardening done last weekend.

[Bill97]

Kevin your work is looking fantastic. I have not commented in a bit because I would just keep repeating myself! Wow!  Great job my friend. Really enjoy watching you build your version of a model I am very familiar with. 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Something nice but a bit silly that I stumbled across after spotting gold paint on the ends of the catheads and going googling. What else would you find there, other than a.... cat's head. Readily downloadable as an STL from Dumbarton museum. I've just resized and am in the process of trying to apply some paint while keeping the detail. Obviously no-one will ever even realise that's what's there, but as it's there, why not. 

 

Added a slightly better photo

Edited April 29, 2022 by Kevin-the-lubber

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I've been trying to get the windlass to look right compared to the real thing, and finally realised why I'm chasing my tail on this one: shock, horror, the main deck on the Revell is sat about 4 or 5 mm too high. This bears out when compared to both the real ship and Campbell plans and a number of oddities now make more sense. When I was roughing out the pinrails I seemed to have very little height to play with for the oval recesses in the woodwork above the rail (still work in progress); I couldn't get the proportions of the chicken coops to map to the real thing, and the bad news for the crew is that it's budgie for dinner on this particular ship, don't eat it all at once; and I can't give the windlass the girth it should have, so a bit more elbow please, all round. This also explains why the cabins etc have seemed to sit a bit high. Oh well, I'm too far along the way to do anything about this now, though as I remade the deck I wish I'd spotted this earlier.

[shipman]

Your and 'bcochran' are both posting builds of this kit simultaneously on this forum. Each I;m following and where I can I hope to be making pertinent comments. Confusion between the two has made me realise you are approaching your builds with slightly different philosophy. In future I'll try and be more aware of that.

 

I've followed several builds of this kit, including 'Bruma's' admirable version.

 

You are the first to spot the kit deck is too high; congratulations!

 

That explains why the 'freeing ports' molded outboard don't register with the deck inboard. I've puzzled on this in the past, as I think those hinged flaps would be an interesting feature.

I'm sure it would be a pig of a job to lower the deck, but should I ever start the two kits I have, lowering the deck would be essential.

 

Enjoying following both these builds, each bringing new insights and solutions.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Thanks again Shipman, I bookmarked probably every existing revell 1/96 build back when I started (including of course Bruma's) but it never occurred to me to check for new starters. My philosophy is 'I dont really know what I'm doing so I'll just do whatever seems right on the day' 🙄. And that really is the honest truth. I'm not a very methodical researcher, I just don't enjoy that side very much, probably because my day job involves reading and writing endless, dry papers. So I just steal nuggets from those of you that do, or if something catches my eye I'll follow through! In other words, I'm a bit of a magpie.

 

Even this too high deck business - I'm less concerned with it being historically inaccurate as that it means I can't install an 'in yer face' windlass!

 

Anyway, glad your enjoying both logs, slightly bogged down here right now as I have too many competing things going on and haven't got solutions for the foredeck area clear enough in my head yet, but still managing to maintain a bit of forward progress.

[bcochran]

Hi Kevin,

 

I thought I would drop over to your build.  This isn't the first time here.  My impression is, even if you don't finish, the components of your ship are fantastic models in their own right.

Edited April 30, 2022 by bcochran

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Thanks, as I said over on yours, there's an awful lot of trial and error underneath the parts and if you have the luxury (and patience) of being able to easily remake and remake, sooner or later you're bound to come up with something reasonable. I'm hoping that over time I'll build up a bank of knowledge that will allow me to eventually get things right first time. 

 

Cross-referencing with yours, I bought 0.3mm jewellery making wire on ebay, there were lots of sizes and metal colours and it's quite cheap, I just went for gold and will either blacken or whiten.

 

Shipman, although I half-dread it, I'm looking forward to getting to the rigging. Half of the reason I'm so tentative about glue-ing things in place is because I can't yet visualise how the many ropes lie, so don't have a workflow plan. That's uncomfortable territory for an engineering type like me, I'm used to being able to see the whole in my mind and follow my own logical sequence and  imagine that the hull and furniture were to a large extent designed around the rigging rather than vice versa. For instance I'll be placing the deadeyes in the pinrails according to Campbell rather than Revell. Will the difference in positioning matter? At this point I have no idea. 

 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I managed to get a few hours for modelling today. I think we have too many beds and borders in our garden for my age now, they seem to eat up every available hour and the weeds regenerate as soon as my back is turned.

 

Anyway, today has been more foredeck work, particularly the catheads, along with a little experimentation on the lines of using acrylic paint pens rather than airbrushing. I like that no detail gets lost and, even though these photos make it seem otherwise, the gold comes out a lot smoother than normal painting. I'm a little undecided about the black, it does seem to take on that bronze-ish, metallic hue that you get with ink.

 

Regarding the pictures, photography is a cruel mistress and the lines you see on the parts are not actually readily visible in real life. They are layer lines, an artifact of resin printing. I could probably reduce them or just lightly brush with emery. I've left the brass 'sheave bolt'  in it's natural colour for now, as I kind of like it. Might blacken it in due course. These catheads may not be the final objects as this particular resin is a bit too soft and the whiskers are quite bendy. Even as I write the alternatives have just finished printing so I'll compare presently. I only went so far with the anchor release, there's micro detail and barking mad detail. I did tinker a little with the cat's head file downloaded from the museum, just plugged the bolt holes and accentuated the eyes, mouth and nose. Though at only 3mm square you'll need the eyes of a hawk to see that.

 

 

[Ian_Grant]

Kevin, I love the cat head on the cathead. Checking my old CS, there's nothing there, as you know. I would truly like to build another Revell CS and correct the deadeyes & lanyards at least, and rig proper shrouds, but I doubt there are enough years to get to it. 😢

[shipman]

The best paint available in the UK, I've found, are the acrylic Citadel range from Games Workshop, which are the bees.

They have very fine ground dense pigments and flow beautifully off a brush (as they are designed to).

Coverage is excellent, yet they are thin enough to not obscure detail.

One stroke and you're done....including a wide range of metallics.

They aren't the cheapest

 

My experience of sharpies and other felt tips is they aren't as permanent as they'd like you to think.

Edited May 2, 2022 by shipman
spelling

[Kevin-the-lubber]

6 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

I love the cat head on the cathead. Checking my old CS, there's nothing there, as you know.

Well Ian, if you ever get tempted you know where to come for a pair of cat's heads. I should have mentioned, as the STL is freely shared by the museum I'd assume there's no issue with me sharing my re-working of it, so anyone who wants it, just send me a PM.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

9 minutes ago, shipman said:

acrylic Citadel range

I'll give them a go presently. White is my bugbear - always seems to require too many coats. The pens I'm using aren't sharpies or ordinary felt tips, they are Posca acrylic paint pens. Whether there's any real difference (other than price - they are of course pricey) I don't know.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Received my Amati rope set from hismodel today. It all looks quite rope-like to me though at the smaller sizes you'd need the eyes of a hawk to spot this. It's all polyester as far as I can see, apart from the very, very thin one on the white reel which is nylon. It looks much the same as the smaller white rope that came with the Heller Victory (the larger one on that kit is more braided), and much the same as the two beige ropes that came with this CS kit. I wouldn't say I'm blown away but neither am I disappointed. I think Bill (Bill97) went for similar quality on his Victory and that looks great to me so I'm sure this will be the same. However, I think I will probably get one or two of the smaller sizes from Syren just to see if there is that much difference.

 

In other news, I'm messing around with photo-stacking (not very successfully so far) and picking up on the pinrails again as I'm a bit bored fiddling around with the deck furniture, which I know is just a subconscious device to avoid the tricky pinrails. I'm glad I've delayed though, as all this procrastination has spawned a plan.

 

[shipman]

Don't forget the Cutty used steel standing rigging.

Running rigging, foot ropes etc were hemp.

A considerable amount of chain was used on bowsprit, masts and yards.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Yes, I've spotted that. I'm not sure yet what I'll do in respect of the cables but provided I can source small enough chain I'll use that where indicated. I revisited the discussion, possibly on Bruma's build, last weekend, so know 40+ LPI is out there. I'm kind of planning on furled sails; not tight to, and on top of, the yards as per Rib's Glory but reefed (?) up loosely underneath (there's probably a term for this). But this is the loosest of plans, hinges on whether I'm able to make a fist of Maurice's (Blue Ensign) method of sail making.

[shipman]

Chain 40lpi

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362852779497

[Kevin-the-lubber]

That's the one, I bought two at the same time as you but couldn't remember what lpi they are. Hopefully 4 lengths will be enough.

[Hubac's Historian]

I think you will find, Kevin, that there is definitely a difference with the Syren rope.  This past October, I watched Chuck demonstrate his technique at the Joint Clubs mtg in New London.  His rope is superb.  The best I’ve seen, really.  Personally, I’m torn between learning to make rope, myself, where I’m in complete control of the quality, or buying rope.  The Amati rope looks very good.  For the price, it is - I think - hard to beat.  Chuck’s rope would be ideal, but I need a lot of it, and it would be cheaper to make on my own.

[Kevin-the-lubber]

22 minutes ago, Hubac's Historian said:

Chuck’s rope would be ideal

I think I'd best get some from Chuck and compare. I'm quite hesitant about embarking on making my own, a little related to it being another rabbit hole, which as you know I'm very good at going down, but mostly because my forte is getting or making machines to do things for me. From what I've seen on line, short of making a motorised ropewalk, there's still a fair bit of manual skill required to get the consistency. I've seen a motorised design that wouldn't be very expensive to make, given I have all the kit to make my own gears etc, so I might explore this as and when I want a break.

[Hubac's Historian]

Rabbit hole - perfectly expressed.  I’m inclined to jump-in, because I know I will eventually build models that really deserve perfect scale rope.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Hubac's Historian

[Kevin-the-lubber]

21 minutes ago, Hubac's Historian said:

deserve perfect scale rope

Much the same here - although I’m trying to do the best CS that I can, as a build in it’s own right, it’s still all aimed at gaining enough proficiency through these less complicated kits to build the Victory that’s in my minds eye, and being a detail person, it would niggle if I thought I could have done better by buying or making really convincing rope. And part of it, I’m sure, is what the rope is like to work with. Fortunately the Heller rope (I think) appears to be cotton whereas the Amati is polyester, so that’s one comparison I can make early on.

[Bill97]

Kevin watching you build your CS combined with the knowledge I have gained building my Victory, makes me want to rebuild the Revell CS and USS Constitution. I have them completed and in cases but back then I just followed the instructions. Made very few changes, if any, as my build blogs of those two ships here on MSW will attest too. With still quite a ways to go on my Victory and my Heller Soleli Royal waiting patiently, I doubt I will build those ships again, but who knows?  I am not throwing in the tools yet. 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

Bill, I think modelling is just like the trades; when you know exactly what you’re doing from the outset, you do it all way quicker and better, and it wouldn’t surprise me if you got to rigging stage on another Cutty in a week or so, given the speed you work at. But everyone, no matter how good, seems to spend ages on the rigging. If I was to start over, one thing I would do is lower the main deck.

[Bill97]

Your right about that Kevin. The rigging does seem to take ages but I enjoy it once I understand a particular line. Especially the shrouds and ratlines. That is something I would for sure do different on a new CS and Constitution. Both of my models in their case have the Revell plastic molded shrouds. 

[Kevin-the-lubber]

I'm falling at the first hurdle today: I need to do a test piece of setting up the deadeyes for the lower shrouds. Can anyone tell me what size rope should be used for the deadeyes, and how I could have readily figured that out for myself? I have plans and reference material galore, so must be missing something. I know the sizes for the shrouds, just not the rope that connects the deadeyes to each other.