Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark

A close up........I did things different then...but still not bad for over 35 years old.

Lastly...one from the stern.

Wow, these are all amazing - even the ones deemed flawed. It's a beautiful ship.  I'm getting inspired to dig mine out of the stash, but the rigging scares the daylights out of me.

I think the rigging is the most fun. Don't be afraid of it. The instructions are great.  A long double action tweezers is essential and you might improvise with some old modified dental tools for pushing lines under belaying pins.  Also if you can review Rob Wetterich's sequential photos and description of his recent Cutty Sark you'll be helped a great deal.

Nice presentation of the sails.  

Fine looking ship.  I hope I do as well when I build my first sailing ship.

Update: Almost Finished Cutty Sark - The good, the bad, and the ugly:

1. While working on running rigging I broke each of the lower yards (fore course, main course and cro-jack) from their respective masts. One went back together in a reasonable manner, the other two (cro-jack and main course) were re-attached in a far less than ideal manner.

2. After having glued the spanker gaff and boom to the mizzen mast I proceeded to break each of them off by accident as I was turning the model around on my work table. Both were re-attached in a crude but acceptable (to me) manner.

3. While I was working on the fore and aft running rigging I managed to break the starboard cathead at the point where it begins to angle back to perpendicular  with the center line of the ship. That's where it becomes much "thinner". I used some brass wire to reinforce it when I glued it back together and did the same reinforcement of the cathead on the port side since its thickness needed to match the starboard one. Obviously I painted the reinforcement flat black to blend in as much as possible.  I know, not to scale. C'est la vie.

4. I broke about 6 stantions from several areas of the ship. I had to try to re-rig the railings of just those stantions I'd broken - too much in the way at that point to actually try to do ALL the stantions and railing. Just a mess

5. I had lots of problems attempting to attach lines to belaying pins that are between the bulwarks and the deck houses. Even with the "special" tools I bought for rigging I was having a heck of a time trying to get the lines under the pins. In many cases I broke the bottom of the pins off in my fumbling attempts to tie off a line. The next ship I attempt to rig fully will have any plastic belaying pins replaced with metal ones. (I had replaced a few of the belaying pins that were broken off on the sprues. Next time - ALL of them!)

6.  I had just completed ALL the rigging today when, with my glasses on, my headband magnifier in use, and my hand as steady as I could make it, I attempted to cut a little length of string from a knot I'd made on the end of a block. I knew there were other lines nearby but I thought I saw my way clear to just nip this one little section of excess string. You know what happened - I cut two (not one but TWO) lines of some braces I'd just rigged in half!! This led me to re-rig the braces but I could no longer reach the belaying pins I'd originally used so I used some pins that were supposed to be for studding sails which I wasn't going to rig at all.

7. I used too much glue in almost all the tie -off points on the pins. I figured I'd be able to cover them up somehow with loops of "line". I haven't gotten to that part yet - I can't imagine it'll be too difficult - just a little time consuming.

8. I broke off the starboard section of the mizzen mast crosstree. I was unable to glue it back properly so it sticks out like a sore thumb. I'll just have to be more careful in my next build. I mentioned in one of my "updates" that I broke off the dolphin striker. I also broke off several of the capstan bars from the little shed just aft of the starboard side of the forecastle - fortunately I had a replacement from another CS kit.

9. OK, there were more breaks, "fixes", and mistakes that I made but here's the GOOD: I learned quite a bit more about technique (although it may not show much in this build), I practiced patience, I stuck with it even when I wanted to chuck the whole thing in the trash, and I may actually keep it to remind me of where I want to go in the model building process.

I'm still not sure what I want to build next but, whatever it is, I'll take a little break from the amount of rigging I've just finished.

Pictures from today:

It needs to be said- fantastic model.

You will need a clear cover box, otherwise it will get dusty and fall apart.

Super model

Mike, she sure looks pretty. Good work!

GMorrison and Shipwreck,

Thanks to both of you for the compliments.

As far as a case for it, well - that will probably not come to pass. Too expensive for me. I might buy one if I hit a jackpot at the Spirit Mountain casino , but I'm not going to go there too often - my brother always seems to win there (he refers to it as his ATM ). Not me, when I gamble I usually lose . However, I am willing to try the slots and join my brother for the buffet lunch there from time-to-time so, who knows?

I have so many aircraft to build (as well as a large stash of ships) that I'm in a quandery as to what I should attempt next. Perhaps an interwar F3F-1 or 2? Then back to a ship - probably the Gertrude L. Thebaud.

It's always a pleasure to look at your WIP. Both of you are such accomplished modelers that I can only hope to get to a small fraction of either of your building skills.

Mike

I'd be a very proud man if I could do work like that

Thank you Steve, I feel as though I accomplished most of what I set out to do with this kit. It's been a very satisfying process.  

Mike

Terrific job.  You did a fine job on keeping the tension on the running and standing rigging.  I like the way you have equalized the length of lines to each block.  Here's a thought: I use a plastic cake Lazy Susan, (little turntable), I bought at a church auction for $1.00.  I sit the ship model on it during construction and rigging.  This way, to work on each side of the model I simply carefully touch and rotate the turntable..  Voila - no more picking up the model, and braking things  to get to the other side. You have to be careful however with all the ends of the rigging lines that they do not get caught and tangled up, with the turning.

Also sometimes, if I am not careful,  when concentrating on rigging, turning the models,  the top of the mainmast of my models have hit the light  fixtures above my work table.

Thanks Frank.

I like the Lazy Susan idea. Unfortunately, in my hobby room / office I have very little room for a big model like the 1/96 CS which measures 36" from the aft point of the spanker boom to the most forward point of the bowsprit. However, if I reorganized my work space a little I might be able to work on a 3 ft. + length model using your turntable idea. When I get to several big kits in my ship stash (1/96 Sea Witch, 1/100 HMS Victory, 1/150 Preussen, 1/96 Kearsarge, 1/70 Golden Hind, and Revell' large Gorch Fock) I'll give it a try.

Here's my Hobby room. I had, at that stage, put the CS on a storage bin. I worked on it while it was on the folding tables in front of the windows.

Mike

Surely you're not going to leave her on the storage bin? You're making me nervous.

TD4438,

LOL, Don't be nervous! . For the time being I've put her on the dining area table (I take my meals either at the island in the kitchen area or in the living area when I'm watching the boob tube).

Mike

You have done a superb job on her. I love it.....Cheers mark

Nice work!  How did you tie the sails to the yards?  Did you make the  rat lines or were they in the kit?

"You have done a superb job on her. I love it.....Cheers mark"

Mark,

I sincerely hope you were viewing my ship .... Rob's old ship which has sails is at the top of the page I linked. He (Rob) is a master modeler  and I don't expect to ever reach his level of craftsmanship. However, if you are referring to my Cutty Sark (no sails) I thank you. I hope to improve over the next 10 or so builds from my stash. I do find the process very enjoyable.

"Nice work! How did you tie the sails to the yards? Did you make the rat lines or were they in the kit?"

Frank,

My model has no sails. I do befieve you are referring to Rob's (Rob Weiderrich) images at the top of the page. As I said above, he's a master and I learn much from him but will never approach his skill level. When looking at my model, the ratlines are not from the kit. I strung the shrouds as accurately as I could and then tied (mostly tied - about 1/4 of the top section of each set of shroud/ratlines are just glued) to the shrouds. For the ones I actually tied I used a square knot on the end shrouds and a clove hitch for the ones in the middle.

It woud be valuable for anyone starting over again (as an adult) to look carefully at Rob's build log throughout the thread. I think he chimed in around the 2nd or 3rd page and posted pictures of his progress until near the last two pages. On the second to last page last page (page 25) Rob posted images of another of his older Cutty Sarks. You should go back to the first or second page of this thread and watch his build. It's modeling at its best.

I only interjected my images along the way to juxtapose a "novice" build (mine, of course) from the "master" (Rob's, natch)  .

Mike

I feel better now.

Mike...you're no novice.  You have good skills and your build is far more precise then you give yourself credit.  That CS version I injected into the thread near the end with the sails was indeed from about 25 or so years ago.  I had yet delved into weathering and *Hyper detailing*.  Your weathered bottom is very convincing and applied well.

Actually..I did indeed win the best in show for my recent CS *Rudder repair diorama* on the *Ship Modeling  Forum* 2013 Model contest.  I fully appreciate the honor and the generous gift certificate and lovely award certificate.

Model ship building is a great hobby...full of great people. Skilled and novice alike.

Your recent CS build is beautifully done and you should be proud of all your hard work.

Rob

Beautiful job!

Ahoy! I'm working on Revell's 1/96 scale Cutty Sark that I started in 1987 and I found several forums. Since you have experience building this model, photograghs are a big help. For some reason the images don't appear in the forum that started in December 2012. Do you have a library of photos that I could see?

Thank you!

Yes, I can email photos but have you looked at Rob Wetterich's amazing series of photos in this forum?  If you want mine I’ll need your email address. 

Dave

Ahab...I PM'd you.  Hope it helps.

Can't believe its been over 5 years....

Rob