Cutty Sark by bcochran - Revell - 1/96 - PLASTIC

[bcochran]

I am working on the Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark.  I haven't gotten too far along, even though there have been many hours spent.  The hull is painted and ready to assemble. I have been working on the deck as paint drys elsewhere.

 

The photo taken in Australia is my reference along with books and plans.  The model will be what I call clean, by not trying to create a diorama on a stand with weathering and all, just making a replica of a ship in 1/96 scale.  I am not sure who else likes the look.

 

I removed the wedges from the inside of the hull.  I am going to replace them with small plastic rod.

 

Testors enamel is being used with an air brush and also painting by hand with a paint brush. There are brass stanchions with brass wire.  Decals are being used to add the white panels to  deck houses.   I will also use decals to add the white portions of the inner bulwarks. The eye rings are made by me with annealed wire.

 

The deck covering is from His-Model.  I plan to fully rig the ship, something I haven't done before. 

 

I am not going to add green to the copper, as copper only turns green in the open air. In the water, it remains copper.  The only part of the sheaving that is green is the part out of the water. There is a good picture showing this at the Charles W Morgan website. The ship was being lifted out of the water.  Also, I am not going to weather anything.

 

I'll be posting more as I go.   I am new to this build format.

 

[rwiederrich]

Welcome and great clean job thus far.....she's starting out fantastic.

 

Rob

[ccoyle]

Very neat work -- your model is off to a great start!

[bcochran]

To add to my build

do I just reply to it?  I haven't done this before.

[rwiederrich]

42 minutes ago, bcochran said:

To add to my build

do I just reply to it?  I haven't done this before.

Yep...you just respond and add more content....ie...pics, graphs....comments.....etc.

 

Rob

[bcochran]

I glued the wood deck from His Model to the plastic deck using Testors liquid cement.  I first glued the three deck sections together, sanded any raised areas flat, then painted only the sides of the hatches, leaving the rest of the deck unpainted.  I liberally painted the liquid cement on the plastic deck with a brush until all of it was covered. The cement softens the plastic, making it tacky.  Before it dried, I laid the wood deck down on the plastic, pressing it down by sliding over it with a paper towel held in my hand. 

 

I blackened the brass chain with a product called gun blue by Hoppe's.  You can get it at a gun store. I dipped the chain into the bottle held by a piece of wire.  It only takes a minute to work, and dries in a few more minutes.

 

I am using Testors enamel paints.  In the past, I used Floquil and Model Master paints, but they are mostly gone now.  These I can get at my local Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  I used my spray gun to paint the hull sides with black, copper, white, rust and gray straight out of the bottle after masking areas with masking tape.  My compressor was set to 20lbs pressure. I clean up with lacquer thinner.

Edited April 5, 2022 by bcochran
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[bcochran]

The masking tape I am using came from Hobby Lobby and Home Depot.  The orange from Hobby Lobby and the blue from Home Depot.  I cut the blue in thinner strips with a straight edge and an exacto knife with a #11 blade if I need them.

 

The brass stanchions are made by aero-naut. I bought them online at a model ship supply site. I don't remember where.  I am using 9mm one and two hole stanchions.

 

I make eyelets with dark annealed 24 gauge steel wire. I don't remember where I got it

[bcochran]

For white stripes, I am using MicroScale decals.  I am using paint pens and a jell pen to color the water cask bans, portholes and raised rails on the hull. (The picture is from a prior attempt at this model.) To color the rails on the side of the hull, I used decals for the white rail.  I masked off the brown rail and painted it with a brush and touched up where needed.

[bcochran]

I have glued the hull together and placed the deck on temporarily.  It fits pretty good. The port side is warped a bit, but gluing it down should take care of that.  I am using the kit stand mounted on a wood base.  Screws fasten the hull, stand and base together. It makes for a very sturdy platform to build on.

 

I know using Testors enamels is not too sophisticated, but no one knows unless I tell them.  The ideas for coloring of my ship model come from George Campbell's book "China Tea Clippers."   Also from the plans he drew.

 

About the copper hull he writes, "Under full sail, heeling over slightly, and rising and falling easily through the sea, a clipper must have presented a magnificent sight from another passing ship.  Many eyewitnesses have left us enthralling descriptions; how sometimes a gleaming copper would be exposed down to the turn of bilge in the trough of the sea, or the keel lifting clear from the forefoot to nearly one-third of the length."  This would seem to me to argue against weathering the copper with green and white streaks.

 

About the waterways he says, "On both sides of the Atlantic the waterway planks (or gutters if metal) were painted a darker contrasting color such as blue, green, grey or buff."

 

About deck house panels, he said, "The teakwork was varnished bright originally ..........  Later, with reduced crews, some of the panels might get painted white, as also the curved moulding on the edge of the roof." I am going to add these white panels.

 

On the plans it states, "topgallant bulwork of varnished teak and teak stanchions. Panels painted white also iron bulwork.  (On the hull,)  "varnished teak rails, (the top two rails.)  (The bottom rail) varnished later white.

 

In his book Campbell says, "The thin white ribband just above the copper line which was painted on the Cutty Sark in her retirement days was not authentic for her or any other tea clipper, and was a detraction."

 

C. Nepean Longridge says in his book that the hatch covers were black.

 

My brown color is supposed to represent a very dark varnished teak, maybe not right, but I like it. Some varnished teak was very dark.

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by bcochran
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[ccoyle]

Your project is well on the way to being a very striking completed model!

[bcochran]

I mounted the hull on a wood base using the kit's stand parts. I drilled through the keel and stand into the base and fastened the hull to the base with wood screws.  I used the stand instead of pedestals, in keeping with the idea that it is a plastic model as apposed to wood.  The base forms a very sturdy, steady platform to build the rest of the ship on. Being mounted to a plastic model, the base gives the ship an extremely low center of gravity.

Edited April 6, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

I glued tabs to the hull to mount the deck on, since the deck is warped and some lugs the deck is supposed to rest on were broken off.  I will attempt to epoxy the deck to the tabs.

Edited April 6, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

I  glued the deck down this morning.  I used Testors liquid cement.  I glued the deck to the supports I made and tried to eliminate any gaps between the bulwark and the deck.  I could not eliminate some gaps, mostly in the bow and stern. I think I will live with them.

 

When ever I build a model, there are imperfections I decide to live with.  This ship will not be the exception. The judgement call I make is, is the model pleasing to my eye. If so, I am happy. 

 

The other thing I do when building a historical model is to learn as much about the real thing as possible.

 

To that end I have on hand:

George Campbell's  "China Tea Clippers"

George Campbell's Cutty Sark plans

C. Nepean Longridge's "The Cutty Sark The ship and a model"

William F. Baker's "Running Her Easting Down"

Basil Lubbock's "The Log of the Cutty Sark"

Noel C.L. Hackney's "Classic Ships Cutty Sark Their History and How to Model Them."

I also have two articles on building Revell's Cutty Sark in model magazines.

 

I don't like to make mistakes like calling the Cutty Sark's two heads, sail lockers, though, until I learn I make many of those mistakes.

 

Likewise, I learned the wedges I cut off the model's waterway are poor representations of stanchions. I will replace them with better looking ones.

Edited April 7, 2022 by bcochran
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[shipman]

Coming along nicely.

 

Right decision to remove those wedges, looking forward to seeing your solution for the bulwark supports.

 

The His-Model deck looks impressive and covers a multitude of sins, though the deck fastenings and plank stepping bares no relation to the real deck before or after restoration. In fact one has to look hard to see the plank buts and fastenings at all on the actual ship.

 

I must say your treatment of the deck houses is remarkable; you'd never guess they are the parts included in the kit.

 

Keenly looking forward to future instalments.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  The wood deck looks sharp, mate ... really fine.  'Looks like you got the oak option from HisModels - I have a vintage Thermopylae model that I ordered a birch deck for when I get around to building.  Hands down, adding a wood deck seems better than trying to paint plastic to look like bare wood.  Now some have done well with paints, but ... real wood is real wood.  Now, where wood was painted on the original - no problems painting the molded parts.

 

  Removing the triangular 'stanchions' was also a good move, as you can replace them with better realism.  Wood blocks and deadeyes for full rigging should look great.     Fair sailing!     Johnny

[bcochran]

I have tried to make plastic decks look like wood with little success in the past.  Also wooden ship decks were not a multitude of colors in my opinion.  I think they were holystoned meaning scoured and whitened.

 

The HisModel deck was the path of the least resistance and a time saver.  Thanks for the encouragement.  I am hoping to use deadeyes and wood blocks, but I worry about stropping them.

Edited April 7, 2022 by bcochran
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[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I share the same stropping concerns - a reason that 1:96 may be the smallest scale I'd care to work in.  Reference Popeye the Sailor's log on the 1:124 Sergal Thermopylae to see how it can be more finicky, and still many components can go 'out of scale'.  Louie da Fly is working on an even smaller scale model of Henry Grace a Dieu, which has a build log.  Kits at around 1:70 can be more manageable - e.g. many of the OcCre kits.

 

  As to our respective 1:96 classic models, Rob has several fine logs of ships based on the Revell Cutty hull.  He has used the blocks in the kit - like in the current log of Glory of the Seas, perhaps because many of the blocks were 'internally stropped' by the time of the clippers and had an iron ring on one side.  I suppose wood blocks could be stropped with beading wire depending on the configuration needed; e.g. a hook on one end, a hook plus a ring on the other end, double ringed ...  I'm no rigging maven, and will have to consult the many sources available.

 

  There are posts showing ways of using mini clamps or fly-tying implements to assist in stropping with miniature rope.  BTW, I bought a Rope Rocket from Chuck at Syren Ship because I'd like to try spinning my own modeling rope - a vast improvement on most of the rigging thread around.  You can also buy scale rope from Syren or Ropes of Scale.

 

  Rob is placing furled sails on his Glory, which (per photos of real ships)   ... more to follow

[rwiederrich]

Decks can be tricky for sure.  Especially since they *grey* with age.  Dependent on the vessel, you were dealing with yellow fir, pine, and even teak on some vessels.  My own Cutty's I greyed the deck on my award winning 1/96 Cutty....and on my award winning Ferreira...aka Cutty Sark.

 

Rob

[gak1965]

4 hours ago, bcochran said:

 I think they were holystoned meaning scoured and whitened.

We had a once around on this topic earlier. Royal and US Navy ships holystoned into the 20th century in ships that had wooden decks, but given the small crews compared to similarly sized warships it seems less likely that the decks of commercial vessels were regularly holystoned. Even in British naval service by the mid-19th century it was being done less frequently (2-4 times/month) and the US Navy banned it on the battleships b/c it was wearing the teak decks down at an alarming rate.

[rwiederrich]

Another of the deck.

 

 

Rob

[bcochran]

Your models are very impressive and a great source for inspiration.

 

I am not a sailing man, so unless I am quoting the experts, my posts are my opinion.  I should not post uneducated opinions here. When others do, it bugs me. I'll try and research first.

 

I have walked the decks of the Star of India and the Balclutha.  It's been a while, but I remember looking at the deck color on these iron ships and I seem to remember they both were a uniform grayish color.  I remember the Balclutha's waterways were an unpainted cement trough. 

 

I am going to the San Diego Maritime Museum next week  for inspiration. That place always puts me in a ship building mood.

 

I don't feel the HisModel deck is authentic, but I used it rather than try to make the plastic look presentable.

[bcochran]

I am reading C. Nepean Longridge's book about the Cutty Sark's deck.  He says, "The Cutty Sark's deck was of teak, .........  Owing to the amount of oil it contains (teak) it is extremely durable, and exposure to the sun and air bleaches it to a soft light grey color, although when new, and when wet, it is brown."

 

This is where I got the idea that decks were not a multitude of color.

[shipman]

I completely understand your choice of deck, the plastic one isn't the best, especially because it is divided into several sections.

 

My earlier comment was a simple observation: there are plenty of photos of the ship online which illustrate the deck before and after renovation, for anyone to make their own conclusions.

 

I'm a big fan of what can be achieved using the Revel kit and admire how you are overcoming the difficulties. Several modellers have recently given us the admirable fruits of their labour on this forum; yours clearly demonstrates yet again what can be achieved; your own unique and admirable interpretation lifts the bar once again.

 

Looking forward to your future posts.

[ccoyle]

12 hours ago, bcochran said:

I don't feel the HisModel deck is authentic, but I used it rather than try to make the plastic look presentable.

 

It is a great improvement compared to the plastic original and is an excellent match for the colors of your model.

[bcochran]

The stern of the Revell Cutty Sark hull does not come together well. The rails do not line up and the two pieces leave gaps. Also the rails are not formed the same depth. I used Tamiya white putty to sculpt the stern so that it is more evenly formed.

 

I used Testors clear parts cement for the porthole windows and the skylight.

Edited April 8, 2022 by bcochran
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[bcochran]

On the whole, I am pleased with the way things look so far.  There are gaps, errors and fitment problems that I must accept.  Even so, I am inspired to press on.  In the back of my mind, I have mixed feelings of dread, anticipation and excitement thinking about rigging this model.

Edited April 8, 2022 by bcochran
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[Cirdan]

I really like the idea of using Aeronaut stanchions. I've always wondered how I could replace the kit's stanchions on the CS with nicer ones, but never managed to come up with this glorious idea, even though I live 10 minutes' drive from the Aeronaut company 🤣. So I have to thank you very much for your helpful inspiration.
Will you also use these stanchions on the bow and stern?

Edited April 8, 2022 by Cirdan

[shipman]

If you find Brumas fine build of this kit I introduced him to these stanchions (below).

My source for these is no longer available but I do believe His-Models sell them. I don't think there are better ones available unless you make them yourself.

[bcochran]

I have one ball and two ball Aeronaut 9mm stanchions. I have enough two ball stanchions for the stern, but need more for the bow. Can you buy them direct?  I was looking online but could not find 9mm 2 ball stanchions.

 

HisModel lists preformed railing, but says it is not available yet.

Edited April 8, 2022 by bcochran

[bcochran]

Here are a few details I will use. I need more Aero-naut 9mm 1 ball and two ball stanchions. I can find larger ones online, but not 9mm.

Edited April 8, 2022 by bcochran