Cutty Sark by VitusBering - Revell - 1:96 - PLASTIC - Abandoned

[hof00]

4 hours ago, VitusBering said:

 

I think some explanation is in order. I started this build as a nostalgic exercise. I built this kit (hastily) more than 35 years ago and my wife happened to find that exact version last year and gifted me (bless her soul). I didn't intend at the outset to make a museum quality model and, indeed, did not think it was possible that this kit could be built in any realistic fashion.

 

Then I came here, and saw these astounding build logs and realized the potential in this model. The talent on display here - not just this model but across the board - is phenomenal.

 

So this has been, so far, a very fun thing to do. It is good for my well being - retirement has been uncomfortable for me. I putter with home improvement but that is not very fulfilling. Building this model, however, is great for my mental health. I say that before starting the rigging, of course :-}

 

As I get further into this, I've come to realize that this build may just be a trial run. Sure, it is a wonderful thing to do and the result will be an aesthetically pleasing model worthy of display on a shelf. But I've learned so much - mostly from folks here and some from my own bumbling - that I now know that with some concerted effort I could produce something worthy of a display case. This is not a throw-away build. I've invested a lot of effort and will continue to do so and I hope to end up with a much-better-than-average example of this marvelous vessel.

 

I am, though, taking notes about what I may do differently if I do it again. Whether I will actually do it again is unknown, but it is rattling around in my head.

 

Until then, I'll find a lot of joy and fulfillment in the building and especially the learning, Thank you all for all you are and do.

Hi Chap,

Good on you!!

 

That's a great attitude.

Personally, I find the whole process very therapeutic including the frustrations that come with it and the solutions to fix those frustrations.

It is also good to know when to "Walk away" from the task at hand and carefully consider.

 

Take your time and it'll work out just fine. 🙂

 

Cheers and Regards,

 

Harry.

 

 

[hof00]

14 hours ago, VitusBering said:

I think the thread will work out OK.

I'm still shopping for very thin and stiff brass wire though but I'm not having much luck.

Harry, do you possibly have a link to where I might find that?

 

Next up - rigging the boat davits. The 2017 kit instructions have them rigged each to its own, but I'm going to do it the way the full scale ship and the 1974 instructions show,  in an X pattern.

Sorry Chap,

I don't have a link for K&S, I have purchased from NZ Model shops in the past.

(Just a thought, you could do davits from Brass Wire as well....  Aneal and flatten the "Boat" end of things and drill holes for the Boat Lines, sorry, not intended to overwhelm you.)

 

Your Cutty is looking good!!

 

Cheers and Regards,

 

Harry.

[shipman]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=MODEL+BOAT+BRASS+STANCHION+HAND+RAIL+WIRE+0.7mm+or+1.0mm+Diam+(+1mtr+length+)&_sacat=0

[VitusBering]

I am quite admittedly a n00b about these things. I will look more closely at brass solutions. I really need to study this because my brain is telling me that there's no way even a fine wire is malleable enough for a railing.

 

I am sure I'm wrong but I will study.

 

I saw the jeweler today and he has no brass but he does have fine gold wire. Hmm...

 

[shipman]

At diameter required, the brass wire is perfect for the job.

[ccoyle]

23 hours ago, VitusBering said:

I putter with home improvement but that is not very fulfilling.

 

You can say that again! I always tell people that the problem with do it yourself projects is that when I finish one, it looks like I did it myself! 🙄

[VitusBering]

42 minutes ago, shipman said:

At diameter required, the brass wire is perfect for the job.

 

Thanks shipman. I've ordered some in a couple of the smallest guages I could find.

[shipman]

Tip:-

if you kink the wire unintentionally, roll it between 2 hard flat surfaces.

Ta Da! all straight again.

I use small pieces of hardened glass.

Edited February 21, 2023 by shipman
Correction

[Ian_Grant]

2 hours ago, ccoyle said:

 

You can say that again! I always tell people that the problem with do it yourself projects is that when I finish one, it looks like I did it myself! 🙄

To each his own I guess. I have always been about building things, progressing through lego, meccano, plastic models, balsa planes, gas engine planes, RC electric boats, RC sailboats. During my engineering career I enjoyed home reno projects, gutted kitchen, bathrooms etc. After I got tired of being laid off repeatedly in high tech I spent 14 years as a handyman doing everything from assembling barbecues to yes, gutting bathrooms. I drew the line at structural change other than removing non load-bearing walls. I got a lot of satisfaction at the happy looks on peoples' faces when they saw the completed jobs; that was way more thanks than I ever got from management in high tech. Now I'm scaling back, confining drywall to just patch jobs, and I think I've tiled my last bathroom (other than my own) because lugging all that stuff up the last client's stairs was harder than it used to be.

 

So now I'm back to ship models again. Full circle! 😃

[VitusBering]

Lifeboats are on. I rigged them as closely as I know how with the documentation and pics I have so far. They can be re-rigged if necessary but this looks pretty close.

 

 

Employing some artistic license I did put some tiny pad eyes on the bow and stern of the boats.

[VitusBering]

It appears I'll be on hiatus for a while (2-4 weeks) awaiting delivery of paint.

The entire planet seems to have run out of black and white Revell acrylic paint.

I've said before I detest this brand of paint but I'm too far into the project to switch horses now.

 

I've ordered from a supplier who claims to have a stash but has to pick it from a warehouse.

Errgh. These paints do not store well over long periods of time so I hope they haven't been stored for too long.

Some of the boxes I have contain paint the consistency of peanut butter.

I've been mostly able to restore those to a usable state with a few exceptions where I've simply discarded them.

 

I'll touch up what I can, and tinker with cleaning flash on upcoming parts, and keep myself sort of busy in the mean time.

I'm exploring ideas for making jackstays, too. I have found some material that may fit the bill nicely.

 

I think I will re-rig the boat davits. I used some of those marvelous wooden blocks but the ones I used are too small, I think.

 

I am also still waiting on books and drawings. I did receive the Noel Hackney book and that's been interesting reading.

I'm waiting for Longridge and Underhill, and for sets of drawings from the Royal Museums Greenwich.

All have been shipped, finally, but the process is very slow.

Edited February 11, 2023 by VitusBering

[hof00]

6 hours ago, VitusBering said:

It appears I'll be on hiatus for a while (2-4 weeks) awaiting delivery of paint.

The entire planet seems to have run out of black and white Revell acrylic paint.

I've said before I detest this brand of paint but I'm too far into the project to switch horses now.

 

I've ordered from a supplier who claims to have a stash but has to pick it from a warehouse.

Errgh. These paints do not store well over long periods of time so I hope they haven't been stored for too long.

Some of the boxes I have contain paint the consistency of peanut butter.

I've been mostly able to restore those to a usable state with a few exceptions where I've simply discarded them.

 

I'll touch up what I can, and tinker with cleaning flash on upcoming parts, and keep myself sort of busy in the mean time.

I'm exploring ideas for making jackstays, too. I have found some material that may fit the bill nicely.

 

I think I will re-rig the boat davits. I used some of those marvelous wooden blocks but the ones I used are too small, I think.

 

I am also still waiting on books and drawings. I did receive the Noel Hackney book and that's been interesting reading.

I'm waiting for Longridge and Underhill, and for sets of drawings from the Royal Museums Greenwich.

All have been shipped, finally, but the process is very slow.

Hi Chap,

It's not all bad having to wait for stuff.

I've done plenty of that. (Waiting)

I find it gives me time to think about things and plan for next steps....

 

I look forward to your next chapter.

 

Cheers and Regards,

 

Harry.

 

[VitusBering]

Thank you Harry, you're very kind. I will be patient. I look forward to your adventures as well - a new airbrush is a big deal.

[VitusBering]

Better, I think with larger blocks. The rigging is not at all realistic but a fairly close facsimile.

[VitusBering]

I've been keeping busy while waiting on paint - but that just brings up more questions and problems.

First, and this is mostly just news, not a question (that comes at the end of this lengthy post).

 

The spars in this kit have pins or standoffs (I guess that is what they may be called) that seem to be designed for jackstays.
Revell neglected to finish the job and actually add the stays. I guess I understand the reasoning, they would be even more fragile than the standoffs.

 

Given the age of the kit (the sprues have been rattling around in the box for more than forty years) some of the tiny pins have broken off.

I have a backup 2017 version kit but it has an even bigger problem.

The two sprues that hold the majority of spars on the newer kit are terribly molded and the spars themselves are unusable.
Here's an example.

 

I could probably get a replacement sprue from Revell but that's a lot of time and trouble.
The pins on the newer kit's spars are mostly intact (a few are also missing, so this seems to be a systemic problem).

 

But, necessity being what it is, I trimmed the requisite number of those pins from the newer kit's borked spars and replaced the missing ones on my spars. The lighter colored pins are replacements. The apparent space is intentional, no pin is supposed to be installed there.

 

I've ordered some Evergreen styrene strips in .010x.020 size (the smallest I could find) to hopefully lay across the tops of these pins and voila, jackstays.

The strips arrive tomorrow. I intend to test the process on some of the throwaway spars to see how it looks and behaves. I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

I know this isn't the norm for jackstays - on most vessels they seem to be usually made of cable run through pad eyes.
I did briefly consider removing all the standoffs and micro-drilling holes for the tiny pad eyes that came from HISModel but only briefly.
That would work well for the larger spars but the smaller ones would pose a real problem.

 

I'll also be adding footropes and Flemish Horses. I think I'll use one of the methods I've found here - making stirrups by reinforcing black thread with CA and attaching one of those little pad eyes to the ends. It should work out well, I have a bunch of different gauges of black rigging thread/rope courtesy of Radimir.
 

Ok all of that is just a status update, mostly.

Here's my current dilemma.

 

I want to start the head rigging but I'm a little confused. The instructions for both the 2017 and 1974 versions of the kit have some rather rudimentary instructions for the martingale chains - one each side running from just forward of the catheads to attachment points on the boom.

 

 

 

 

However, the plans I have from the museum show a more interesting arrangement.

These appear to show two chains on each side running from just under the trail board to the boom.

 

How do you folks think the chains should be rigged?

[Ian_Grant]

Revell is correct. In the 70's instructions, the HEAD GEAR RIGGING shows the martingales in chain, as you say. They use the lowest pair of cleats on the dolphin striker.

 

The upper four cleats are used by ropes, not chain, specifically the fore stays. Section #1 FORESTAYS notes to see Detail E, which depicts the fore royal stay, the fore topgallant stay, and two of the jib stays each being tautened by a pair of bulleyes and lanyards. Detail E shows which side of the hull these all run to.

 

Must be fiddly gluing on those tiny bumps!  I believe people usually use wire for jackstays not styrene, which would be fragile too.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Ian_Grant

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Rob didn't use styrene for the jackstay, but a straight piece of wire laid across the small vertical projections - glued with a small dab of gel CA (applied with a pin ?) so it would cure (relatively fast compared to plastic glue) and resemble a real jackstay support once painted.  He started at one end, and progressed going out from there.  BTW, I rather think that there should be a vertical support in the "gap" you depicted.

[VitusBering]

Thank you Snug Harbor Johnny. I'll see how the strips look in my tests since they're almost here, but I think I agree that some sort of cylindrical thing - wire or plastic - might look better. I was, and sort of still am, a bit apprehensive about attaching a round thing atop a flat surface at that scale.

 

I also agree with you about the gap - yet they appear on several spars in the same places in both kits. An oversight? Maybe. At any rate, I can add them and probably will. Thank you very much for the info and advice.

[VitusBering]

3 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Revell is correct. In the 70's instructions, the HEAD GEAR RIGGING shows the martingales in chain, as you say. They use the lowest pair of cleats on the dolphin striker.

 

The upper four cleats are used by ropes, not chain, specifically the fore stays. Section #1 FORESTAYS notes to see Detail E, which depicts the fore royal stay, the fore topgallant stay, and two of the jib stays each being tautened by a pair of bulleyes and lanyards. Detail E shows which side of the hull these all run to.

 

Must be fiddly gluing on those tiny bumps!  I believe people usually use wire for jackstays not styrene, which would be fragile too.

 

 

 

Thanks Ian! I know about the stays, the illustrations in all the instructions and documentation I have agree. My question, that you have answered well, is about the martingales. So two it is, it shall be done.

 

It is fiddly dealing with the pins but that's part of the deal with modeling, no? It is for me, at least.

 

[shipman]

There are plenty of online photo's of the ship where details such as the martingales which are clearly visible.

But hey! what do they know at the NMM?

[VitusBering]

Thanks shipman - I did look around at online photos of the ship and also archives here (wow Kevin-the-lubber posted a ton of 'em) and I'm afraid I got a bit lost. My fault, surely, so I fell back on the tried and true method of asking the experts. I think my confusion stemmed from the dearth of overhead or vertical views of the head rigging. Lots of side views but they obscure some detail. Again, I'm sure I simply missed the obvious and I'm also sure it won't be the last time ;-}

[hof00]

3 minutes ago, VitusBering said:

Thanks shipman - I did look around at online photos of the ship and also archives here (wow Kevin-the-lubber posted a ton of 'em) and I'm afraid I got a bit lost. My fault, surely, so I fell back on the tried and true method of asking the experts. I think my confusion stemmed from the dearth of overhead or vertical views of the head rigging. Lots of side views but they obscure some detail. Again, I'm sure I simply missed the obvious and I'm also sure it won't be the last time ;-}

Hi Chap,

I found the CS "Complex" to say the least!!

It took me quite some time to understand and recognize all the vagaries of Masts/Yards/Rigging.

Once you really get into the "Swing" of things, it will all become more "Logical."

 

Cheers and Regards,

 

Harry.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

18 hours ago, VitusBering said:

Thank you Snug Harbor Johnny. I'll see how the strips look in my tests since they're almost here, but I think I agree that some sort of cylindrical thing - wire or plastic - might look better. I was, and sort of still am, a bit apprehensive about attaching a round thing atop a flat surface at that scale.

 

I also agree with you about the gap - yet they appear on several spars in the same places in both kits. An oversight? Maybe. At any rate, I can add them and probably will. Thank you very much for the info and advice.

   Injection molds for all sorts of plastic products have 'ejector pins' that push the entire item out of a mold half with sprues still attached.  Many times one can see various sized circular evidence on the plastic where these were located.  I wonder if  at those points on some yards there was an ejector pin.  

 

  I used to work in a factory where plastic hard hats, bump caps and welding helmets (among other plastic parts) were made.  The molds can rather complex and the entire injection molder is a sophisticated device.  The molds have to absorb the heat from molten plastic, and generally have a coolant running through them under pressure that is refrigerated by a 'chiller' and recirculated.  When ejected from the mold, the plastic can still be warm - and if the production rate is set too fast, deformation can occur after the product has been removed if not carefully handled.  This can be seen in some components of plastic models.

 

  BTW, if you search 'Cutty Sark by Bruma' on our site, you can see a build of the 1:96 kit that is not too long - and not too far into the build there are very good photos of how he re-did the martingale in metal and did the chain rigging.  The model (due to the way the mold was made) has a pair of rings for the chains facing sideways at the bottom (along the mold parting line), which can be satisfactorily used as-is.  Note that the martingale and the whiskers projecting from the catheads are easily subject to breakage.  Actually, dropping any model can ruin your day.  Bruma showed how to reinforce the bowsprit when assembling.

 

  

Edited February 16, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[VitusBering]

3 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

[...]

BTW, if you search 'Cutty Sark by Bruma' on our site, you can see a build of the 1:96 kit that is not too long - and not too far into the build there are very good photos of how he re-did the martingale in metal and did the chain rigging.  The model (due to the way the mold was made) has a pair of rings for the chains facing sideways at the bottom (along the mold parting line), which can be satisfactorily used as-is.  Note that the martingale and the whiskers projecting from the catheads are easily subject to breakage.  Actually, dropping any model can ruin your day.  Bruma showed how to reinforce the bowsprit when assembling.

 

Bruma's build is astounding. That sort of detail is well beyond my modeling skills. Part of my reason for this build is to develop and hone those skills - but it happens gradually. I do intend, most likely, to build another CS at some point but this one is really for the fun of it.

 

I know about the fragility, there are plenty of parts in this kit that don't bear any jostling. The bell is held on by a prayer.

 

Thank you again most kindly for your thoughts and advice.

[rwiederrich]

22 hours ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

  Rob didn't use styrene for the jackstay, but a straight piece of wire laid across the small vertical projections - glued with a small dab of gel CA (applied with a pin ?) so it would cure (relatively fast compared to plastic glue) and resemble a real jackstay support once painted.  He started at one end, and progressed going out from there.  BTW, I rather think that there should be a vertical support in the "gap" you depicted.

I used extremely thin stainless wire(you could use stretched copper wire).  I add strength by drilling appropriate holes at each end to secure the jackstay to...(By bending the ends to form a foot), along with the glue at each jack bolt.   The slight mod is not altogether unrealistic in smaller scales...such as 1/96...the greatest benefit of the secured ends is that they hold the jackstay secure and parallel to the tops of the jack bolts while you glue them.   I did not attach the sails to the jackstay( which is the typical practice), so I could evaluate and expose the jackstay detail....in this particular instance.

Rob

Edited February 16, 2023 by rwiederrich

[VitusBering]

The jackstay strips arrived today, will test what they look like on one of the spare kit's spars.

They won't be painted yet - both of my suppliers (one domestic the other European) have black paint backordered.

 

Most of my books still haven't arrived, I'm getting mildly concerned. I did get the Hackney book but not Longridge or Underhill.

I'll reach out to AbeBooks on Monday. I did get the drawings from the museum - they're great. Still in the tubes because frames won't get here until next Friday.

 

Head gear rigging is coming along nicely. My seizing skills need work, I think.

 

And I surprised myself. I was sure I'd make a total mess of this, especially with a metallic paint.

It turned out OK, though. I don't want to paint the stars gold. Some other color -- blue maybe.

I relented - the stars are gold.

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by VitusBering

[VitusBering]

I can live with this. In fact, I like it.

This is one of the poorly molded spars from the spare kit. I didn't bother cleaning the flash and after installing the rails I painted it to make it all one color. Grey is one of the colors I have on hand that I'm not using for anything else.

 

 I do have .020 styrene rods on order but in all likelihood I'll stick with the sticks 😉

 

[Bruma]

You are doing great with this small beauty! 

Rigging can be really daunting at first, but once you get into it, it will gradually be easier.  Keep going! 

[VitusBering]

On 2/19/2023 at 12:36 AM, Bruma said:

You are doing great with this small beauty! 

Rigging can be really daunting at first, but once you get into it, it will gradually be easier.  Keep going! 

 

Considering that yours is the standard by which all others are judged, these are very kind and inspirational words. Thank you!

[VitusBering]

Yours is awesome too, Harry - just a different kit and you have done a stellar job of it.