Mayflower by Old Rentner - FINISHED - Revell - 1:83 - PLASTIC - 1966 kit

[Old Rentner]

I am 89 years old and have never built a boat before!  I used to make plastic kit planes when I was a boy.  In the very early 70s I was given a damaged Revell kit by mother in law who worked with an insurance company.  The kit was returned as part of an insurance claim.  The box was stored and resurrected this year.  I took one look at it and put it away!  It looked far too complicated and difficult to make!  I was encouraged to try to make it as an occupational therapy project by my daughter!   Only Revell pieces were used except for four hooks that I made from wire.  The pictures and comments that follow document my build.  I had some fine forceps and a few old dental instruments that I was given many years ago.  Some pieces were damaged, the ‘sails’’ were broken and some pieces were missing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Rentner]

I carefully, or so I thought, read the meager instructions and commenced to glue parts together.  I did not know to paint before assembling nor did I know to use a primer coat with acrylic paints!  I used clothes pegs and elastic bands to keep glued parts in place.  I was unaware of the fine nozzles of modern Revell glue bottles and used the 50 year old glue added to the box by my mother in law.  It was sometimes not easy to apply accurately because my hands are now not as steady as they used to be and the glue tube (made of lead in those days) was quite broad.  I was surprised how small some parts were!

 

 

 

Clamping the hulls together without decks - ? A mistake!

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

I did not think that I could successfully paint the entire hull so I decided to use the natural plastic ‘brown’ as the base colour.  I painted the decks and stern and a few other pieces before gluing them into the hull.

 

 

 

 

I wanted the decks to look ‘aged’ but I did not know about dry brushing or putting a dark base coat under the deck colour and then ‘scratching’ the board pattern!

Edited September 10, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

I glued one of the damaged deadeye composites on to the fore port side and was prepared to replace the missing pieces with cut match sticks!  It looked a mess!!!  I removed it and put it aside.

 

 

The main deck looked better.

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

I assembled the masts after careful study of the instructions, and fixed the boom in place (I did not paint it which made it more difficult when I tried to do it later.

 

 

I was particularly pleased with my painting of the bow decoration because of my unsteady hands.

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

The model was beginning to look like a boat!
 

 

I painted the masts and bowsprit after I had gammoned it to the beak head.  It was not easy in the confined space available.

 

I fitted the cubbridge heads and managed to insert the remaining decks.  I completely forgot to put in place the beakhead bulkhead and have it as a reminder to look even more carefully at the instructions.  I did not attempt to correct this mistake because it was not visible anyway!  The hulls with the glued decks were held in place with rubber bands.

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

I painted the ladders, made and painted the lifeboat and fixed the upper ratlines.

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

I was worried about the vast expanse of unpainted hull so it was painted white.  I found masking difficult too because I did not have proper masking tape - I used ‘Leukopor’ tape.

 

 

i was not too happy with the very colourfull colour schemes of most Mayflower models so I simplified it and omitted green.

 

 

My painting was not too steady so there were many ‘touch ups’.  There was no mention of painting the hull before glueing that I could find - it would have been easier!
 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

When I re-examined the three masts carefully I realized that despite vigorous perusal of the meager instructions, I had glued the top fore mast and the pennant mast 180 degrees out of line.

 

 

 

 

i was unable/did not know how to unglue the pieces so what to do?  I pondered the problem, thought that any corrective action would be too difficult and thought that no one would notice!  I then realized that there were, in fact, many people who would notice and that somehow I had to correct the mistake.  I took my courage in both hands and cut off the tops, turned them in the correct direction and glued them back together!!  I think the result was ok?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Jsk]

Old Rentner,

 

I built this kit about 17 years ago and, like you, received it second-hand. IIRC, it did not contain instructions or all of the parts but it was enough to make the build enjoyable. Not enjoyable enough to keep it when we downsized, though.

 

Looks like you're making good progress. And... if a first kit isn't all about learning what not to do then I don't know what the point is!

 

--jeff

[Old Rentner]

I began to notice, as I manipulated and handled the hull that small flakes of paint were coming off - I had not undercoated it before painting - so I thought that if I retouched the the areas of paint loss and then sprayed the entire hull with a clear, matt, acrylic varnish, it might protect the parts that were being damaged.  On a wind still day I took the hull outside, supported it upside down in an ice cream container, warmed the spray can, shook it for 5 mins., donned gloves and a face mast and gave the boat three coats of paint.  I had one small ‘run’ which I was able to sandpaper away and respray.  I did find that the hull paint was much more secure following the application of the varnish.

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

1 minute ago, Old Rentner said:

 I did find that the hull paint was much more secure following the application of the varnish.

 

Good save!

[Old Rentner]

The next task was to step the masts and get on with the rigging.  I had decided not to use the plastic sails and only to try to rig the boat with non directly sail related (sheet, clew, bunt, martlet, and leech) lines.

 

The instructions had no detail regarding fitting the masts.  The fore and aft masts passed through holes in decks before being ‘anchored’ into their own ‘sockets’ on the main deck.  Sadly, obviously in retrospect, the fore-aft positioning of the upper decks affected the fore-aft tilt of the masts and although the upper decks were fitted nicely into their places in the hull they were not vertically lined up regarding the mast holes and mountings.  Again what to do?  The fore mast was tilted forwards about 20^o!  In the end I cut off half of the base of the mast and repositioned it so that the mast became almost vertical.

 

 

The main mast had a forward lean but I thought that I could pull it back with some of the rigging lines.  I then set about painting the blocks and deadeyes.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Baker]

Congrats, very nice model 

[Old Rentner]

The standing rigging did not look too difficult so I started to rig!  I used only the thread supplied in the kit throughout with the exception of some thicker black thread from my wife’s work basket for the stays and some fine fawn thread for the flag halyards and to seiz the stays.

 

 

 

 

I thought/hoped that as the rigging progressed the loose stays would be tightened.  I have seen some sagging loose rigging lines on other models and really did not want any loose lines in this model.

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

Keeping the lines tight was difficult but progressed slowly.

 

The main mast became more vertical.

 

 

Many blocks were attached to stays and yards.  Attachment ties were were ‘locked’ with pva glue and allowed to dry before excess threads were cut off.

 

 

Excess threads removed.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

Bowsprit rigging.

 

 

Mizzen rigging.

 

 

Completed fore and aft rigging.  I used the provided ratlines and had quite a lot of difficulty fitting them.  I had already glued them to the deadeye chain plates and replaced the missing ‘chains’.  I discovered that some were fitted to the wrong ratlines because the direction of the deadeyes did not line up with the shrouds.  I separated the offending combinations and reglued them.  In spite of correcting the geometry, the angles were still incorrect and when the deadeyes were mounted, the tops of the ratlines were either in front of or behind the mast.  Further surgery was required to line up the ratlines!  I guess, in retrospect, a warning in the instructions might have helped me and saved much anxiety and toil?

 

 

More rigging blocks tied in place.

 

 

 

 

 

Small wire hooks were made for the main garnet tackle.
 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

I attached the blocks for the braces, applied pva to the knots, let them dry and then amputated the excess thread.  I tied most of the rigging and only seized the stays - very difficult for me with very fine thread.  I tried to use everything supplied in the kit but there was no very fine thread.
 

 

 

 

Securing a line - I tied the line, glued the knot and then pulled the knot inboard so that it was not visible.  I glued a small thread coil over the knot inboard.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

At the beginning of the build I had inserted the anchor rope before gluing the hulls together.  When I came to spraying the hull, I removed the rope and then much later had great difficulty reinserting it!  I pushed a paper clip through the two holes in the hull (a bit of a job lining the holes up!), I tied a fine thread to the paper clip and pulled it through, I tied and glued the thread around the end of the anchor rope because I had to make sure that it’s cut end came trough the hole and not a loop.  It worked!

 

 

I made two small hooks with copper wire and secured them to a line.  I created a sort of double block with the cat head and secured it to the beakhead rail.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

My build was finished (at least, as far as I had determined to go) and I was wondering whether to spray the rigging, masts etc.?  I had a test run with a few threads mounted on the sprue but I did not like the result.  The build had taken about four months with many trials, missteps and tribulations.  I had read the Model Shipways manual and Hackney’s book.  The latter was not much help because I did not know many of the terms and the part numbers referred to Airfix parts and not Revell.  There were too few illustrations for me as a novice!  I understand that the later Revell kits had about three times the pages of my kit so if I had had more help I might have had more success and less mistakes?

 

i managed to break the boomkin three time and it was so small that it was not easy to repair.  I wished I had known how easy it was to damage and I would have added it last!

 

 

The best I could do!

 

 

 

In the end I was quite pleased to have finished and at my age I was reasonably pleased with the result.  When I looked at many of the builds on this site I wondered whether to describe my build at all was appropriate because they were all so beautifully made.  I guess that if I had known I might have made/bought wooden blocks and hand made the ratlines but under the circumstances I doubt that I could have managed.

 

All I had to do was paint the sign.

 

 

But………….

 

Model Shipways Manual. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/973192/Model-Shipways-Mayflower-1620.html
 

Hackney NCL.  Mayflower.  Patric Stephens.  1970.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

I used the Shipways manual a lot and recently discovered that in the Shipways’ Mayflower there were water pumps on the main deck.  I decided to try to make a pair with some of the remaining sprue from my kit.

 

 

 

More to follow….

Edited October 5, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

The finished water pumps were painted and are now ready to be installed!  It was fiddling work and not as neat as i would have liked.

 

The pumps were white-tacked to sprue to facilitate painting.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Old Rentner]

The two pumps in place.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Der Alte Rentner]

Had to look at your build log when I spied the name.  Welcome aboard!  

 

Also, your build takes me back about 60 years when I build one while in the 8th grade.  

Edited September 15, 2023 by Der Alte Rentner
added more text

[Old Rentner]

My ‘second childhood’ build might be similar to an 8th. grade standard???

[Ferrus Manus]

89 years old! Wow. Your Mayflower is looking amazing. However, if you want to add a special touch to your model, I would deviate from the instructions and rig the ship based on academic reconstructions, and replace some of the rigging elements with aftermarket items. 

[Old Rentner]

My ‘build’ is finished.  I found the painting particularly difficult.  In a way, I’m sad it is finished because it kept me occupied, but on the other hand I’m glad that I made it.  I’m sad it’s not up to the standard of the other builds on this site, particularly the wooden ones, but at least I finished.  I will never know if it would have looked better with sails?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S.  I did manage to get a peep at the newer 30+ pages instruction manual!  It was all pictures, some quite unintelligible to me, with no useful written instruction at all.  In retrospect, my old instructions were far superior!

 

FINISHED!

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Ferrus Manus]

You can never expect a first-time build to be half as good as people who have 10+ years under their belt. Your Mayflower looks many orders of magnitude better than my first build. If you want a similar build to try, I would buy Revell's 1/96 Golden Hind. I built the kit, and if you want a general idea of what it should look like in a perfect world, check out my build log thereof. 

 

I would purchase rigging blocks from your local model shop, or better yet, order them online. These include single blocks of various sizes, double blocks, deadeyes, hooks, et cetera. I would also replace the rigging lines they give you. Revell's older kits are notorious for having inadequate rigging lines. I would order various sizes, in both black and tan, of rigging thread. 

 

As per the painting, there are many paints that are significantly higher quality than Revell's paints. Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, etc. If you want to give your model a weathered look, buy some Plaid Folk Arts Antiquing Medium. Other natural oils will work for other elements of the build. 

 

Also, you will need tools, and lots of them. Multiple sets of clamps, rubber bands, tweezers, an Xacto knife, a pin vise with multiple bits, and that doesn't even include things like paint brushes. These are things that i would never expect a first-time model shipwright to know, and neither would anyone else. 

 

For a first model, you absolutely did amazing. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Ferrus Manus

[Old Rentner]

 

Thank you very much.  Towards the end I did know about the third party blocks and different thread sizes but I did not think that I could manage them.  I did not think that I could make my own ratlines either.  I guess that if I were younger, I would try again and try with third party parts.  I did make a kit set wooden drummer though.  I don’t know if I’m allowed to show you?

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Old Rentner

[Tigersteve]

Congrats!

Steve