Cutty Sark by Snug Harbor Johnny - Monogram (Imai/Aoshima) - 1:120

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  As indicated elsewhere, I sprang for a Monogram release (early 80s?) on 4 color plastic sprues at a true scale of 1:120.  I gave up trying to fiddle with a 'so-called' (per the box) 1:130 CS Airfix "Vintage Classics" release (only a few years old) that turns out to 1:168 by Noel Hackney's book on the original kit - having a 15.7" hull and VERY small parts & quite thin yards (among other pieces) made nearly 'rubbery' due to the soft nearly blonde plastic used.  There have been comments on softer plastic used in 'later releases' of many kits (originally well-regarded) where aging molds have less definition and more flashing.  First and second releases of the Airfix molded in better black plastic come up on Ebay now and then for around $50 (USD) or so, and may be doable for someone with the skill and inclination to accomplish miniature work.  Note: other than on the cabin, no stanchions for railings are in the Airfix kit.

 

 A 1:150 Academy CS I examined for a while (said to be a 'shrunk down' version of the original IMAI 1:120 CS) was molded in 4 colors and, apart from only having fully extended studding sail booms on the yards (some have cut these and re-glued in a retracted position), it is in my opinion a much better kit (but not large - having about a 16" hull) suitable to encourage a young builder to try the hobby.  And thus I gifted that kit to 6th grader who expressed an interest in models.  I binned the 1:168 Airfix.  Below is the boxtop of the Monogram kit.

 

 

  But I've digressed ... the short history is that Imai of Japan produced a fine 1:120 Cutty Sark plastic model having a 22" hull (compared to the nearly 28" hull of the 1:96 Revell CS or Thermopylae).  That makes it halfway in terms of length between the Revell and the Airfix versions.  Monogram acquired the molds a some point (others will be more familiar with the history of this kit, as well as the convoluted history that follows ownership of the Airfix molds).  Aoshima produced the kit next, followed by a hiatus and then a re-manufacturing period early in the present century.  They were considered 'pricy' for a plastic model (and still are, since production was limited compared to other sorts of kits and even the later Aoshima kits are now 'out of stock' according to retailers ... that leaves Ebay - and a few other sites, or the odd model kit collectors' show - as the most likely source for it.  I paid $125 plus $15 shipping from New Jersey (UPS truck) to my small town well West of Philadelphia.  Having examined the contents I'm pleased with it as a means to get a hull ready without having to stick-build, so I can practice rigging it as well-explained in Hackney's book - which can serve as a decent set of instructions to make up for the cursory sort that came with the kit, mostly valuable for the line drawings of assembly.

 

  I figured the Monogram booklet would be in English - which it is, as the Japanese versions are only in ... Japanese.  Having built a Woody Joe kit, I got Google translate on a phone - and it did indeed translate (more-or-less) what would otherwise be unintelligible lines of unfamiliar characters.  But I think the Hackney book, 'Cutty Sark' ... just one book in the 'Classic Ships - Their History and How to Make Them' series sponsored by Airfix goes well with the 1:120 kit, as most of the modifications and all of the rigging information is applicable.  In 1:120 scale, this project is far more practical for a builder not wanting the rigor of a nearly 4 foot long 1:70 wooden kit - nor wanting something nearly as large size of the plastic 1:96 kits (nearly 3 feet from stem to stern).  I believe I've found a very good compromise.  So let's look at what's in the box.  First, some of the instruction booklet.

 

 

 

 

    I found 'Made in Japan' on at least one sprue, and the IMAI mark on the underside of the display stand.  But one can see able that Monogram identifies the parts as made in the US from unaltered Imai molds.  BTW, there are several locations marked on the underside of the stand for the builder to choose where to drill through for the stanchions the hull will sit on.  I plan to fashion a wooden base of colored hardwood and turn metal stanchions.  The page shown below hints at excellent detail on the cabin sides (and I found this to be true), but also to the most obvious mis-calculation on the design of the hatchway on the weather deck just in front of the poop deck.  Others who have modeled this kit advise correcting the goof using sheet styrene - not too hard to do.

 

 

  Also, both winches each have one cable lifter (another mis-interpretation of the Campbell drawings), thus one rom the rear wench must be cut off and applied so that the front winch will have have lifters on both side for the anchor chain.  Some reasonably fine chain was included in the kit, but perhaps a longer length would have been better.

 

  The next shot depicts fully extended studding sail booms - which I expected would be provided in the kit.  But the presence of SIX masts (each molded as a single piece ... might have been nice to 'build them up' like in the Revell kit) had me confused, 2 Foremasts, 2 main masts and 2 mizzens !  Only by looking all the sprue over did I discover that the 7 yards having booms ALSO have them molded with the booms in the retracted position !  This is cool, so the builder can choose which to use.  All the other yards are common to either way of building.

 

  Below is a picture with the booms in-board ... the sensible way to make the build, since if the booms are fully extended one HAS to put sails on them or the model will look odd.

 

 

Thin plastic sails are included (quite typical), and I'd only use them as forms to mold lighter material pretreated with watered-down PVA or other stiffener. 

 

 

   The decking is molded in tan, and has negative caulk lines between planks.  There is no joggling, and the jointing may appear to regular for some - as a more staggered pattern might have been better.  But the weather deck is all one piece ... no sectional joints to deal with like in the 1:96 kits.

 

 

  A closer look.  I'm pleased with the detail on most of the parts - yet plan on using veneer for decking rather than paint, just one more way to go.  A closer look is below.

 

 

 

  Now the hulls look well formed, but my attempts to get close shots with the lousy camera used didn't turn out.  The detail at the bow means no decals are needed there.  A decal is included for the stern decoration.  Whether is can still be used is uncertain, but I could carefully cut it out and apply to tie a low profile 3D appearance.  'Don't think there is any PE for this kit.  The fretwork at the bow is not pierced, but this might still be done.  The rudder is molded on.

 

 

  The ratlines are molded (often typical), versus having to weave them one's self as with the Airfix.  But the 1:120 scale is large enough to do actual deadeyes (as well as blocks) - even if they go a little out-of-scale.

 

  I did not a slight deformity to one upper molded ratline molding - still fixable.  There was a slight bending to some of the sprue, but the individual parts look OK.  The bowsprit has a slight bend to it - again correctable with care, but I plan on replacing it with a turned piece of wood - since I want to drill through for fore stays.  Below is the sprue with the yards having extended studding sail booms - very wide !  Note also the three masts.  Some have carped that the top gallant mast sections are a little thicker than they should be.  I really don't notice it, and as molded there shouldn't be deflection is the rigging is not overly tight.  I note that all the yards (as molded) will be in the raised position, and I intend to have the lower able yards in the lower position (Hackney's "harbor rig").  So the mounting pads for those yards will have to be re-positioned.

 

 

  There were two sub-bags each having two sprues - the parts shown thus far were not in plastic bags.

 

  Below is the sprue with the yards having booms NOT extended.  Note the loose white piece - a few parts had come off but were in the bag, due to handling over about 40 years.  I note that one thin railing stanchion had broken off (but was present), and two others were not fully molded.  This is fixable with sprue or styrene - but I might also turn my own railings since I have a Unimat miniature lathe with a universal 3-jaw chuck (it came in handy in the Khufu Barge build).

 

 

A closer picture of the cabin detaining.

  Various parts on the white sprue.

 

  The boats seemed OK.  The tops were not pierced, than can be done with care.  To rig more authentically, a builder will have to make lubber holes, but any notion of individual fair leads may be impractical - so those lines can pass through where the slats will be pierced linearly.

 

Below is a closer shot of the boat interior - nicely done, and a little dressing is all thats needed.

 

 

  A closeup of a top.  The molded deadeyes/ratlines would glue in the depressions - but for rigging with actual deadeyes or beads, the voids must be filled in, the slats pierced and holes drilled for the deadeye fastenings as needed - all optional, of course.

 

  A plastic base is included with some 'average' rigging rope (I won't use), a decal and paper flags.

 

 

Below is the Imai mark molded on the underside of the base.

 

  For hull comparison (to the Imai hulls show much further up in this post), I show the Revell 1:96 Thermopylae - another 'keeper' of mine that I really want to do 'justice' to by 'busting' where needed to get closer to the ship its supposed to be.  Its a pretty big model as plastic models go, so starting with the 1:120 CS version (as I said - mainly to try out rigging ... also to become reacquainted with plastic modeling and painting) may be a good experience without loosing my eyesight (or patience) with anything smaller.

 

 

  My opinion is that the Imai/Mongram/Aoshima kits are reasonably well thought out (with only a couple of corrections needed), well molded with good detail, and can be made into a much better model than simply building 'out of the box'.  Some scoff at the price examples have gone for ($125 - $165), but the supply is limited and shrinking all the time.  You can't 'take it with you', mate.  So if this floats your boat, go for it !

 

   Fair weather !     Johnny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Edited February 13 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[72Nova]

A great Review Johnny, so essentially this is a cross over kit from Imai. I do have the big Revell CS that I plan to build in harbor rig fashion after my current build.  You don't see too many builds of the CS at this scale for various reasons, but I see a lot of potential with this kit , my wheels are turning!

 

Michael D.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

36 minutes ago, 72Nova said:

A great Review Johnny, so essentially this is a cross over kit from Imai. I do have the big Revell CS that I plan to build in harbor rig fashion after my current build.  You don't see too many builds of the CS at this scale for various reasons, but I see a lot of potential with this kit , my wheels are turning!

 

Michael D.

    Before doing anything with the CS, I made a resolution get back to my suspended log of the 1:100 billings Vasa (sold as Wasa, but the Swedish  museum in Stockholm have insisted on using Vasa for some time - yet I'm reluctant to change the title of the build).  Yup, its been a year since I ran into a few mental snags how to proceed.  But having done a lot of research and build-following of CS, I was looking for something to practice with plastic assembly & painting - with the addition of wood veneer to make the decking look better ... I've never been happy about how painted -plastic look compared to REAL wood.  BUT ... that has been a motivator for me to decide how I want to proceed with the Vasa, due to the many problems associated with the first Billing version of that ship.  

 

  Later revisions incorporated better scholarship as the original was brought into a state of pretty good restoration, and I would not hesitate to recommend  the current Vasa kits on the market.  Its the OLD version that I started trying to 'correct', yet realized that there is only so much I can do do the flaws of early kit design and as far as I got with it as a teen in the 70s.  Soooo -  the decision is to render it in a state of construction (still in dry dock) with just the first mast sections in place with fore stays, shrouds and ratlines.  I note that there are models depicted in 'full sail' - yet the original never sailed that way (only two or three were set at the time of the disaster).  I'll do what I can with the decoration and armaments, yet don't have to attend to every detail as the ship I'm building will depict the Vasa still under construction and far from fully 'fitted out' or rigged.  This gives me the leeway to plough ahead and take a few liberties - yet be happy with it for sentimental reasons.

 

  Once I have a few Vasa pictures of renewed progress to post, that will happen - but given the shortcuts I'll take to get something displayable, it won't be an excessive number of pages, as the work will be fairly obvious.  THEN, the way will be cleared to start a new project.  I realized today that my Testors enamel paints are all glossy ...  so I went out to a local hobby store to be flat acrylics and some fresh CA.

[mtaylor]

There is /was a Billing Wasa/Vasa build using the latest info at the time a few years ago.  He painted it as the museum says it was painted in all it's glory.  

 

If I remember right.. it's this log. 

 

[LeoM]

Looks to be a promising undertaking!

Have a nice journey, I will be following along.

[NoelSmith]

The late Professor John Tilley I seem to remember posted on another site that the Imai Cutty Sark is reckoned to be the most accurate. As the Monogram one is the Imai kit under licence that looks really good.

 

A UK company named Scale Warship has made a set of photo etched parts for the Academy kit.  The smaller scaled Airfix one sells in much higher numbers so I was a bit surprised that Scale Warship had not gone for that one instead.

Scale Warship do sets of PE for the Revell Vasa Kit, and also for the lovely little miniature Mary Rose kit by Airfix.  That is besides their modern warship PE sets.

Edited February 6 by NoelSmith

[NoelSmith]

Further to my very last post, I was looking through Kingkit's site (a well established UK second hand kit warehouse) for Cutty Sark kits.

I came across one or two 1/120th scale kits by Revell that I suspect may be the Monogram/Imai kit under the Revell banner. As many already know, Revell acquired Monogram a few years back.

Edited September 10, 2023 by NoelSmith

[NoelSmith]

Can anyone who has bought the Revell 1/120th scale Cutty Sark kit confirm if it is the Imai kit that was marketed under the Monogram label before being acquired by Revell?

Original Imai ones sell for stupid money on Ebay. I'm a builder not a kit collector, so the exact same kit sold inexpensively under another brand name will do me fine. Just want to make sure it is the right one before buying the sets of photo etched parts from Scale Warship that they designed for the Imai kit.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Just an update note ...  rigging at 1:96 (I use 1:100 to figure block sizes easier, e.g. an 8"block is about 200mm - so that would be 2mm on the model, dividing by 100, that is).  Now I have some 2mm blocks, and they are DARNED hard for my hands to deal with.  So sizing blocks up to 50% out of scale might fly - and the 3mm molded blocks in the Revell 1:96 kits suffice.  Looking at 1:120 (definitely a size smaller),  my thoughts are to use beads like my father did at that scale.  I found some bronze-brown Czech 'demi round' beads that look pretty good as blocks (compared to ordinary round beads) in  2, 3 & 4mm - representing 6" (30% oversize), 8" (50% oversize) & 12" (50% oversize) at 1:100, respectively.

 

  The 2mm beads at 1:120 would only be 20% oversize for 8"blocks - definitely close enough.  The 3mm at 1:120 would be 43% oversize for a 10" block or deadeye ... but I suppose that the 4mm would be OK for the hearts, and perhaps passable as the largest deadeyes - with the 3mm as backstay deadeyes and topmast deadeyes (saving the 2mm for topgallant mast deadeyes).  One has to choose one's battles carefully.

 

  ALL the Scientific clipper kits are about 1:20 scale.  This includes their "best" kit - the Thermopylae.  I've seen that listed as a larger scale model, but DON'T believe it.  Just to be absolutely sure, I bought one on EBAY for $99 (the hull barely started, with nothing not correctable).  Sure enough, its a 1:120 kit.  What makes it stand out from the other clippers in the line are three big drawings (compared to single sheets in the other kits) that go into much better detail - including rigging.  Now they intended the kit to be equipped with sails, and they omitted some key lines to make the kits easier to build ... and much of the omitted lines would be blocked by the sails - specifically clew lines and sheets.  Halyards for the yards having them would just run down the back of the masts, so they are omitted also - as well as reef tackle and downhauls.  (There are no jackstays shown.)

 

  The drawings DO go into detail for all the braces, bunt lines and leech lines - and how to rout them to specific belay points (modified for the purposes of this model)  They show in and outhaul lines for the jibs (and their sheets), but no hauling lines for staysails (yet that can be copied from what is shown for the jibs.  The rigging for the spanker seems detailed enough - as well as the shrouds, forestays and backstays.  The effect will be to present many lines that are most visible for a ship under sail.   With some additional source material, one could omit the sails and add some lines for a decent enough 'harbor rig'.  Railings still have to be hand-made, but I suppose there are aftermarket stanchions or PE that might help in that area.

 

  There is a multi-page instruction book with more illustrations that beats, by far, the relatively scant instructions in the other kits Scientific made.  There are also more fittings provided - including a nice metal casting of King Leonidas for the figurehead.  A challenge from a modeling standpoint would be the same presented doing the cabins and some other details as noted on Popeye the Sailors MSW build of the 1:124 Sergal Thermopylae.  Things get tiny at scales smaller than 1:100 - and they are tiny enough even then!  Note to self:  now that I have this Thermie kit, do a review with photos on the forum.

 

  Now an idea hits me ... that the cabins and many small details so well done on the 1:120 IMAI Cutty Sark would work on the 1:120 Scientific Thermie - another case of 'borrowing' stuff from one kit to use on another ... like lifeboats, davits, winches, etc.  The idea will take some time to hatch.

 

Edited February 8 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

On 12/3/2023 at 5:57 AM, NoelSmith said:

Can anyone who has bought the Revell 1/120th scale Cutty Sark kit confirm if it is the Imai kit that was marketed under the Monogram label before being acquired by Revell?

Original Imai ones sell for stupid money on Ebay. I'm a builder not a kit collector, so the exact same kit sold inexpensively under another brand name will do me fine. Just want to make sure it is the right one before buying the sets of photo etched parts from Scale Warship that they designed for the Imai kit.

  Ahoy Noel,  (Sorry for my delay in response) Indeed, the Imai 1:120 CS was marketed under the Monogram label (the one I bought on EBAY) and also Aoshima (as noted in the title of this kit review - see also the picture of the box top).  'Can't recall where the seller was located, but the 1:150 Academy version I bought for inspection came from Japan.  So far I've bought things from around the world, but as long as it was through EBAY there were no problems.  Buying directly from Artsania Latina (or any well-known manufacturer) is also just fine.  It's only international direct sales from an individual (or Ali Baba) where you start taking risks.

 

  But I digress -  the 1:120 Cutty Sark kit is indeed worth getting, as it is not so large as the 1:96 Revell - nor as small as the Academy 1:150 or even the 1:168 Airfix 'classic' CS (discussed elsewhere).  They are just too small to get into much detail (although some have the incredible skill it takes to do so).  As for the 1:300 scale version found in toy stores or Hobby Lobby ... forget it.  The things the 1:120 kit does NOT have are blocks.  The instructions only show rudimentary 'simplified' rigging, when in fact there is a lot you can do with or without sails by consulting other sources (e.g. the companion book to the Airfix CS 'Cutty Sark  Classic Ships  Their History and how to model them'  Noel C. L. Hackney 1974.  What a compendium for any level of pretty authentic rigging for the CS or late clipper - if you have the patience to navigate through it and study.  It shows an actual model - a fine miniature - at 1:168, so imagine what one can do at a  more generous 1:120 !)

 

  If one does not want to struggle rigging scale deadeyes, the molded shroud sets in the 1:120 kit are better than average since the ratlines have 'sag' built into them.  One can also rig true deadeyes (and blocks) that are 1:96 scale and get away with it, which you really can't do in smaller scales.  Iis up to the modeler just how far 'into the weeds' one will go.

 

  Now I recall that there was an uncommon 1:96 Thermopylae kit from Japan where the hull was plank on frame, but the deck upwards was plastic.  Now that I have the idea of combining the 1:120 Scientific wood Thermopylae with parts from the 1:120 CS, it becomes obvious why a 1:96 version combining wood and plastic came about.  The cost of making a large hull mold for injection molding was too expensive for the low production imagined.  Gosh, the details about said kit escape me now, but I suppose if I'm that curious I can retrace my investigations.

[NoelSmith]

Thanks for the very interesting feed back Johnny about the Cutty Sark kits.

The late Professor John Tilley spoke highly of the Imai kit and reckoned it to be the best.

I have Noel Hackney's Cutty Sark book and his Victory and Mayflower ones. Really good references for builders of any of those particular models and other ships from those periods too.

A company in the UK named Scale Warship does photo etched sets of detailing parts for the Academy Cutty Dark kit.