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

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

    I've just re-read your entire log, and find it to be highly instructive ... I'm still mulling over how to deal with the Revell 1:96 Thermie kit - that is with modifications to make the deck layout closer to the original (once I've finished my present project).  Everything about building the hull, painting, etc. is food for thought.  I recommend leaving the log on MSW as a benefit to those with an eye on building these kits.

 

  Hull building is one phase ... and the rigging of a ship appears to be a whole different trip - perhaps more demanding than building the hull in phase one.  I'm half dreading and half anticipating the challenge when I get to phase 2 of my build.   Edison said, "Invention is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration".  Yogi Berra said, "Baseball is 90 percent mental ... the other half is physical".  I suppose both may apply to ship modeling.

[VitusBering]

Thank you Snug Harbor Johnny and I'll be following your Thermopylae build with great interest. I am, to be honest, more fond of that ship than I am the Cutty Sark (the full scale versions of them). Her lines were more attractive, her story is more interesting, lots of reasons. It is tragic that she's been treated so poorly by history, her owners, and model kit makers.

 

I've learned an immense amount during this build. I do hope I can apply those lessons to positive result.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

    The assembly order of certain details take some thought beforehand.  For instance, having perused (and I'll have to do a lot more of it) the Hackney book  - there are some halyards that end in a double block going to one side or another near belaying pins for the associated mast.  There is a corresponding double block below, whose becket is held by a deck eye below the pin rack.  A line from the becket on the lower end of the halyard block is sheaved through the deck block, back to the halyard block - then down and back for a second sheave before going to the assigned belaying pin.

 

  I occurs to me that said deck block would be best installed on the deck even before the deck is cemented in place, as getting one's fingers or tools into tight spaces can be a pain.  The blocks on the original are 'internally stropped', which is why some have used the plastic ones in the kit (even though out of scale).  The fully scale blocks form HIS seem a little 'too small' for my skills, so I'll probably compromise with something 'in between' out of wood and strop them with line.

 

  The deck block could be tied to the intended deck eye, and I'll use a commercially available one (one source is the parts department of Model Expo ... their new catalog has NO Black Pearl or pirated kits that I can see), or just make what I need and put the end of the deck eye clear through a small hole drilled in the deck so the end can be bent and epoxied underneath.  The halyard block can be laced to the deck block (again, before deck installation - and this goes for several such block arrangements extant on the CS) with extra line temporarily wrapped around the lines running between the two blocks.  Much later, when the masting and sparring are being assembled as they would when building an actual ship, the end of the respective halyard can be put (stropped) around said halyard block - the method I use is to tie a small 'hangman's noose, then pull tight, cement and trim.  The final adjustment would them be made on the sheaving line already between the two blocks - which is then belayed, with a 'fake' coil places over the respective pin.

 

  'Seems like a lot of thought to go into this particular detail, but it will make the rigging process less frustrating in the long run - having pre-thought out every move ahead of time instead of just 'winging it' as I go along.  I note that there are also blocks mounted on the pin rail itself in places.  Every line has a purpose, so I have to learn them all.  This is why (after much pondering) I'm eschewing sails altogether ... they 'hide' a lot of the model anyway.  Without sails, bunt lines can either be 'stopped' by a stop knot at the bunt blocks - or omitted entirely.  Underhill shows how a luff line can be combined with the outer bunt line (bunt bent to leech p.169, fig.151 ... IF one wants to include sails) and two bunt lines can be rigged so that they are controlled by a SINGLE resultant line whether sails are included or not (p.163, fig.150) that goes down to a belaying pin at deck level ... a compromise that will reduce the 'spaghetti' effect of all separate lines while maintaining authenticity. 

 

  Yup, more advance study and planning.

[VitusBering]

45 minutes ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

    The assembly order of certain details take some thought beforehand.

 

That may be the most important lesson I learned from this truncated build. Every component - the decks, the rails, the masts, everything - needs to be carefully thought out with as much foresight as possible.

 

I agree with you totally about pre-installing many of the deck components before the decks are installed - it goes for the main deck as well as the fo'c'sle and poop.

 

I'll be paying even more attention to the pin rails this time than last time. I did install brass pins last time but I painted them, this time I'll blacken them. Also, I've revised my plans for the blocks and deadeyes that are attached to the rails - I'll drill holes in specific places in the rails before they're installed to allow for fastening the deadeyes and/or blocks - all before the pin rails are attached to the main rail.

 

[edit] More on the pin rail thing. Last time I shaved off the kit-formed pins and drilled holes for the brass pins. That worked out OK but the deadeye and block installation was more problematic. I am considering scratch-building pin rails from Evergreen sheets of the appropriate thickness - all I need is an accurate shape and I can do that easily enough. Then I can mark and drill holes for the pins and other components and not have to wrestle with the existing pins.

 

I'll still have to remove the plastic pins in the fife and other rails, but that certainly is doable.

 

I won't glue in the fife rails, either, until time to rig. There are lots of pre-assembly things like that. I'll assemble the masts piecemeal, lashing shrouds and installing blocks and deadeyes and other rigging components in the tops and crosstrees before the next segment is installed - that sort of thing.

 

Same goes for spars. I put mine on tragically early last time to disastrous result. I want to configure them well and also have virtually all of the standing rigging done before the spars are attached.

 

Padeyes in the deck are a bit less of a problem for me, the kit ones worked out well last time - they didn't pull out or break.

 

I also completely agree with you about the books! Hackney is a good resource and I have found that the Underhill Masting and Rigging book to be a true treasure trove, as are the two volumes of the Longridge books.

Edited April 19, 2023 by VitusBering
Additional text

[gak1965]

2 hours ago, VitusBering said:

Same goes for spars. I put mine on tragically early last time to disastrous result. I want to configure them well and also have virtually all of the standing rigging done before the spars are attached.

The Revell instructions (and the Heller Passat) suggest putting the yards in place before the standing rigging. I don't know if it's because not everyone rigs their models (strange but probably true), or because much of the standing rigging (at least the shrouds, ratlines, and the deadeyes for the shrouds and backstays) are premade, or some combination of these and other reasons. 

 

Every wooden ship model instructions I've ever seen starts with the standing rigging. Probably a good choice with v2.0

[VitusBering]

2 minutes ago, gak1965 said:

Every wooden ship model instructions I've ever seen starts with the standing rigging. Probably a good choice with v2.0

 

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  A couple things I've observed on the Revell CS - the larger spars have (imitation) sheave openings at the ends where you can pass sheet chain through.  Some have replaced wood yard for plastic and made tiny metal sheave units mounted to the front side of the yard end - which is fine, but at 1:96  I'm thinking of using at least the thicker molded yards as provided and still use the 'in the yard' sheaves, as such a method was not uncommon.  (Since the Thermie was sunk, no one knows the rigging details of her - so when I get around to building there is more leeway to use various documented rigging options.)

 

  At the foot of the masts of the Cutty, there is a 'crown-like' collar of eyes that blocks for hauling sheets hook onto - and making them seems challenging at 1:96 (don't know how one would attempt it for 1:168 per Hackney).  I'm of a mind to just install deck eyes around the masts for the same purpose, and pre-install blocks as mentioned in my previous post.

 

  Another MSW member suggest installing standing rigging from the mizzen mast forward (instead of front to back), and there is always Rob's technique (and others have also done so) of having mast sockets in a piece of wood so that test fitting and dry assembly of the masts can be done off the model - then placed (whether glued or not) into the sockets on the model.  Hmmmm, come to think about it - perhaps one could consider not 'gluing' the masts at deck level (since they appear to be 'positively located' as molded).  Once the standing rigging for the first level is in place, the masts won't be able to come out ... yet there still is the practicality of being able to remove them for repair, rework or modification. (You never know.)  Having 'reversibility' can be a real advantage in a pinch.  And once the plastic is "welded" by glue, going back becomes a virtual impossibility.  

[VitusBering]

Great info, Snug Harbor Johnny, thank you again.

 

I, too, will stay with the molded spars with some modification - Flemish horses, footropes, and jackstays (last time I did those with flat strips, this time they'll be round - I'm still not fond of using brass wire for those, the Evergreen rod should do nicely). I plan to follow Hackney and Underhill fairly closely when it comes to running rigging, using chain where appropriate and lots of custom blocks and pulleys, I really like how Bruma did his, and Hof00 as well. There are other great examples around here, too. The molded sheaves seem plenty large enough to accommodate rigging options.

 

The mast band is fairly sturdy and will suffice for me depending on the gauge of the rope I'm using for that - we'll see.

I have plenty of padeyes in various sizes (some PE, others stamped) if I want or need to put some on the mast or in the deck.

I would be cautious about putting them in the deck near the mast bases, those locations are crowded already 😉 

 

That being said, have a look at Richard Gentile's Flying Cloud model, where the bases of the masts have a lot of padeyes with blocks and sheets attached. But that vessel doesn't have fife rails so they're kind of necessary, I think. It is a quite nicely done model.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135292470@N02/albums/

 

When it comes time to deal with the spars I do want to use chain for the yard slings and those will have to be set up before the mast parts are assembled. There is an eye on the mast where they attach but it isn't big enough for chain and it is fairly inaccessible when the cheeks have been installed. I think I plan to run rope through the eye and the slot in the cheeks to prep for the chain before the cheeks are installed. Just another one of those things that didn't manifest until it was too late in my last build.

 

There are, if I recall correctly, a few other instances where putting eyes on the mast may be necessary or at least convenient. I'm not sure about that yet, but I will know them when and if I see them. I'll certainly share with you via the build log any insights or revelations I may gain or encounter, and I do thank you very much for your sharing of your own.

 

I agree with you completely about waiting to glue in the masts until very late. Removing them after standing rigging is installed would be non-trivial but doable, and the Tamiya glue wicks into spaces and welds the plastic so when it does come time to set them, they don't need to be removed.

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by VitusBering
Typos

[VitusBering]

Addendum... the full scale vessel actually has two mast bands - one with the thumb cleats as in the model, another with eyes. I haven't deciphered details about what is anchored to most of them.

 

 

Also, too... many of the lower deadeyes are attached to their chain plates with metal bands painted white.

 

 

It isn't practical to replicate this on the model but I am considering some ideas. I thought maybe a small gauge insulated wire (white insulation) could simulate the metal bands but that means reworking my ideas for attaching the deadeyes to the pin rail. It is something I'll mull over. I could also simply use white rope, or paint whatever rope I do use. Lots to consider.