Starting Academy 1/150 Cutty Sark

I plan on doing the shrouds and ratlines myself , The kit ones are too thick. The reason I ask about the blocks is there are none supplyed in the kit.

Bill

Oh... that would be a problem!

Definitely give the Lumberyard a look over, but you're looking at quite a number of them there. 

The Lumberyard's blocks have a fine reputation - though I've never had occasion to use them myself.  I have a strong suspicion, though, that even the smallest ones in that line are going to be way too big to represent any but the largest blocks on a 1/150 Cutty Sark.

My personal choice when it comes to aftermarket rigging components is Bluejacket, which makes its fittings from Britannia metal.  The smallest Bluejacket blocks (nominally 3/32") would look just about right for all but the smallest ones on a 1/150 Cutty Sark.  They take some cleaning up (be prepared to drill out the sheave holes, snip off some pouring spouts, and clean up the grooves around them), and the obviously need to be painted.  In the case of this particular ship, though, that would be necessary anyway:  the blocks of the Cutty Sark, generally speaking, are painted white.

I used Bluejacket blocks and deadeyes almost exclusively on my little model of the Hancock (1/128 scale - not far from 1/150):  http://www.hmsvictoryscalemodels.be/JohnTilleyHancock/index.html .  That model did require some blocks that were smaller than the smallest BJ offers.  In those cases I fell back on the old small-scale modeler's trick:  a good-sized knot coated with glue.  I discovered that "dark" wood glue (e.g., Titebond) is particularly good for that job; it sets up fast, quickly becoming stiff enough to be teased into a block-like shape.

Bluejacket fittings aren't exactly cheap.  But there's no reason on earth to buy the entire inventory of blocks for a model at the same time.  Figure out what you think you'll need in, say, a month, and buy that many; when you think you're within a week of running out, buy some more.  If you're just starting the model now, you're a long way from needing any blocks at all; you might want to start stockpiling them.

The Bluejacket website is www.bluejacketinc.com .  (Don't leave out the "inc"; if you do you'll wind up on a completely different site.)

One other thought, at the risk of sounding like a broken record.  Just about the best source of information for anybody contemplating a model of the Cutty Sark is the lovely three-sheet set of plans by George Campbell.  They contain (among much else) more information about the rigging than any modeler is likely need.  They're available from the ship's gift shop, and I can say from personal experience that it offers excellent service.  Here's the link:  http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentShop.productDetails&productId=40&startrow=1&directoryId=6 .  One of the biggest bargains in ship modeling.

Hope that helps a little.  Good luck.

Nice model of Hancock. I like the glue trickfor the smaller blocks and will look at Blue jacket and the lumberyard. As far as doing the deadeyes and shrouds this may be a problem on this kit because of the way it is desighned. Maybe the plastic shrouds wont look to bad. Thanks for the help.

Bill

Bluejacket's smallest blocks are labeled 3/32" too - but every manufacturer seems to have a different way of measuring such things.  The smallest of the Bluejacket cast metal blocks are the smallest manufactured blocks I've encountered.  It's also relatively easy to make them even smaller - with a few strokes of a file.

The deadeyes of the Cutty Sark always present a problem to the modeler - especially the ones for the lower shrouds.  In reality, each deadeye is surrounded by a forged iron strop, which has a small eye formed at each end.  The ends of the strop almost, but not quite, meet at the bottom of the deadeye.  The chainplate consists of an iron bar with an eye formed at its top and an iron plate, with two holes in it, at the bottom.  The eye goes between the eyes of the deadeye strop, and the strop/chainplate assembly is secured by a bolt and nut.  The plate at the bottom of the chainplate is riveted to the inside of the bulwark, near the deck.  The chainplate meets the bulwark at an angle, so it effectively points directly at the lower masthead.  (A verbal description of all this makes it sound considerably more complicated than it actually is.)  A hole is cut in the pinrail, through which the chainplate passes.  The result is that the deadeyes look like they're sitting on the pinrail.  They really aren't; they're fastened to the bulwarks by the chainplates.

Reproducing all that in 1/150 scale is beyond the capacity of most of us.  (It's certainly beyond me.)  There are various ways to fake it - all of them involving getting rid of the plastic parts.  One approach would start with drilling a series of holes in the pinrail at the appropriate locations.  Pass a piece of thread or wire through one of the holes, around the deadeye, back down through the hole, along the bottom of the pinrail, up through the next hole, around the next deadeye, back down through the hole, etc.  If you like, you could fake the chain plates with pieces of wire running from the pinrail to the base of the bulwark - but on that scale few people would notice them. 

A big virtue of that approach would be that it would let you set up the deadeyes on the pinrails before mounting the pinrails to the bulwarks.  The big drawback would be the amount of faith you'd have to put in the joint between the pinrail and the bulwark.  If that sucker comes loose late in the building process....

A stronger solution would be drill the holes in the pinrail as before, but mount the pinrail on the bulwark before rigging the deadeyes.  Also drill a hole through the bulwark at the point where the chainplate is supposed to be riveted to it.  Tie a piece of strong thread around the deadeye and trim off one end.  Pass the remaining thread down through the pinrail and out through the hole in the bulwark.  Put a drop of superglue on the thread where it passes through the bulwark.  When the glue's dry, slice it off flush on the outside.  A careful paint job will make the fakery invisible.

I don't know how the Academy hull halves are made.  If they're like the big Revell ones, the waterways (which actually are iron, covered with cement) are molded integrally with the hull halves.  The best solution of all might be to warp reality a little and have the thread "chainplates" pass through holes in the waterways, to be superglued underneath.  The drawback to that one is that, once the hull and deck are assembled, you'll never again have access to the bitter ends of the "chainplates."  But if you do the glue job carefully everything should be fine.

What's absolutely essential is that whatever method you use to secure the lower shrouds is extremely sturdy.  Those lines, even in a small-scale model, are subject to a good deal of stress.  If they come loose, you have a mess on your hands.

The foregoing are unqualified musings of a semi-senile brain that hasn't seen the kit in question.  As such, they probably ought to be ignored.  But I think you can see the basic point I'm driving at.  And I certainly do recommend ashcanning the plastic "shroud and ratline assemblies" that come with the kit.  Several threads here in the Forum describe techniques for rigging ratlines; it really isn't as hard as newcomers often think.  And the Cutty Sark, with only five lower shrouds on each side of each mast, doesn't require nearly the number of knots (or passes of the needle through the shrouds) as, say, an eighteenth-century warship.

Hope that helps a little.  Good luck.

Thanks jtilly for some very interesting info. I like the idea of going through the waterway with the thread. Blujacket has 3/32 deadeyes that have the lanyards molded with 2 deadeyes. I may order some of them and experiment. The bulwark rails have slots for the plastic deadeyes to go through so filling with evergreen styrene will have to be done and also on the mast tops which I dont think will be such a big problem.

Thanks

Bill

Hello all;

The hull is coming along nicely, I painted the copper plates with testors copper with 50% gold and I like how it looks not to copper but with a little brass look to it. I will post some pics when I take some.

Bill

I am about ready to order blocks from bluejacket and was wondering were most rope stroped or iron stropped. I asume there was a mix.

Bill

There is indeed a mix.  I'm pretty sure that most of them have iron strops of one form or another; the exceptions are the really small ones in the uppermost reaches of the running rigging.

Be aware that the smallest couple of Bluejacket iron-stropped blocks will need to have their eyes reamed out with a drill bit.  Not a big deal, but it does add some time to the process.

A point of detail that lots of Cutty Sark modelers miss:  most, if not all, of the blocks are painted white (with the iron parts black).  I'd think carefully about painting all those little suckers white, though.  It's awfully easy to blacken them....

Good luck.

The idea of reinforcing the pinrails - especially the wide ones in way of the deadeyes - is excellent.  I did something similar with my little model of the frigate Hancock.  The pinrails and the quarterdeck bulwarks are made of styrene sheet.  Under each pinrail is a short piece of Plastruct L-shaped "girder."  The combination of that reinforcment and a couple of steel pins through the pinrails themselves seems to have worked; they've been in place for at least 25 years and show no sign of coming loose.

The biggest recommendation I have regarding the pinrails of the Revell 1/96 kit (and, for that matter, almost any other kit that has plastic belaying pins in it) is to replace the belaying pins themselves.  Two reasons.  One - they're out of scale.  (The available aftermarket ones are still pretty long for 1/96 scale, but would be a definite improvement.)  Two - they just aren't strong enough to take the pull of the lines.  (As a matter of fact I've seen a number of Revell Cutty Sark and Constitution kits in which many of the belaying pins have busted off in the boxes.)  Styrene plastic is wonderful stuff for many purposes, but it just isn't good for belaying pins.  Brass replacements aren't cheap, but they'll save some outright nightmares later.