revell Thermopylae

Well I'm so cross with myself, went  to do some rigging on this and dropped it, snapped off the rear mast broke the shrouds on the fore mast snapped some of the rigging on the bowsprit, a few of the hatches have come off, broken some of the stanchions round the top of the rear cabin. luckily nothing that cant be fixed but its put me back quite a bit, Grrrr and no one to blame but my butter fingers. I could almost swear, flippin heck, blimey and fiddle sticks (sorry for the profanities there)

I've emailed them and told them legally I'm entitled to my money back as the kit is not fit for purpose, also I've told them I'm taking them to small claims court for the cost of the gold leaf and my time guilding it, since due to them I wasted my time guilding a useless piece of plastic and obviously wasted the gold leaf. We will have to see how well that goes, but I will deffo get my money back, not going to drop this. I hate Heller they treat customers with complete contempt. 

I am sorry to hear that ., you were doing really nice work on it

The soliel is shelved again Heller are obviously not sending the part, I will never ever buy another heller kit.

don't know how you can do two complex build's at once , and do them well , I'm flat out doing one at a time .lol

really enjoying this build kpnuts ., keep up the good work

Hi all here I another update (think I've managed to hide the black around the rear cabin area now)

Thanks gmorrison I checked it out, I though you were pointing me to some modeling guru not a first timer, god if she's doing stuff like that on her first attempt, she's got some skills, glad I check that out, thanks for the pointer, one to watch I think.

It is not possible. Those are top and bottom deadeyes, rigged with lanyards. Replacing them with ones bought from an online store would be a LOT easier.

That being said, I sure would not pick this ship for starters. Look at Jess's Bounty- she got good results with careful painting.

Hi all (I have no idea if I could do this)(I have very limited smills) would it be possible to cut the blocks off the things the shrouds go through drill them out and rig them with actual tread, if so how would I make them all the same as the moulded ones are.

Was it converted into a Barkentine..or a bark?

The Portugese also rerigged the Cutty Sark into a Bakentine.  This is interesting information that the Portugese also owned the Thermopylae........Cool.

Rob

i built PEDRO NUNES in the mid '60s when i was a kid. she is THERMOPYLAE after being sold to Portugal and rigged as a barque. always wanted another one and a few years ago a friend gave me one. 

Hi all here is the next update

This is shaping up to be a very nice model. I have been liking the wood color. The rear deckhouse is just really attractive, very subtly finished. Keep it up.

Sauron that looks amazing, I hope mine is half as good.

With regard to the Cutty Sark weathering I agree vertical weathering would probably work on a ship which has been in dry dock for years but the Thermopylea was at sea most of her life until she was used for target practice so was always in the sea so I can't see the vertical weathering only above the waterline below if there were any streaks I would imagine they would be horizontal as the water flowed by on sail, but I even doubt it would leave streaks which I why I went for a random mottled effect.

Here is my completed model done quite some years ago.  Probably just a reference for what NOT to do.  Can't say it's accurate at all, just OOB, vacuformed sails and all.  I think yours is looking better than mine so far.

Looking very nice so far.....Cheers mark

Looking very cool kp. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Steve

Hi all here is tonight bit, Gill you are right it looks so much better having the whole whale painted and not just the edge.

Its looking like a diamond in the rough.  I to am anticipating your progress and to watch your technique since your final results quite impressive. 

The deck houses look good. I'd paint the entire wale white, not just it's edge. But thats just my opinion.

Watching with interest.

Hi all a small update on this one

Hi all given the green a coat of paint and weathered that and done a bit more to the copper

Hi all well I've started weathering the copper.

Looking good!