3' Cutty Sark

Jake,

That festival looks like a ton of fun! I wish I could go.

Regards,

I think it will be the 18th one I will have built I get more detailed everytime I do one.  BTW I will have a booth at te Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival this October 21-22 the Cutty Sark and the PT boat will be the main attraction.  Here is a link if anybody woud care to come see.

http://lpbmaritimemuseum.org/wooden_boat_festival/wbf.html

Jake

Here's a tale of two Cutty's.

Inspired by builds on this forum and Mr Tilley's excellent comments I was moved to purchase on eBay  a Cutty Sark from the USA. of 1969 vintage. The seller had a 100% record, and described the kit as 'New' Old Stock.

I found the kit had been started in a small way (not indicated) but there was a huge hole in the hull where the plastic had been broken away, obviously not in transit as some of the bits were in a plastic bag, I eventually got my money back via the dispute procedure.

Not to be defeated I bought another one on eBay from the USA. This time there was an ugly scar on the hull where apparently the tube of glue had split and melted thro' the plastic. (unfortunately it was the same hull half  as the previous purchase).

The seller was however very good and sent me two hull halves as replacements albeit un-coppered hull editions.

I now have (6) hull halves and two kits, more than enough to hopefully make a decent job of the model, which I intend to start when my current build is completed.

I suppose the moral of this story is to ask pertinent questions of the seller, but in my case it all worked out ok in the end.

It seems to be readily available on ebay  from time to time. I buy all my kits from ebay......either a store on ebay or bidding. I've had very good luck. Just use a little common sense. If the seller has many sales and near zero negative feedback...you'll be allright.

I recently bought a 1/96 Cutty Sark on eBay and I received a cracked and warped hull. The seller apologized and offered a return or half price. I took the half price. That was $13. I have dry clamped it together and it seems that I can restore it to proper alignment. The damage is about 3 inches from the stern. The bulwark is split apart at about 1/32 inch at the maximum point, and the stern is pulled out from center about 1/2 inch. There are several kits available today, 9/13/06. I now have two kits waiting for me to work on.

Big Jake is right.  Ebay is your best bet.  You won't find it at retail unless you go to some corner hobby shop and get lucky.  It's a fabulous kit.  Prices vary and buying off Ebay right now is probably not a good idea with Christmas coming.  That's when prices get ridiculous. 

Wow Jake, that was a good buy at $31.  I'm going to be picking up a couple more to build for friends in the future.  So what does that make it now?  13 or 14 builds of that kit for you?

I'm afraid JTilley is correct, the only chance of finding it is to contact several hobby shops and see if they have one sitting covered in dust.  Are you building it for yourself? I've never gotten a bad deal off Ebay for a model. I just picked up another Cutty Sark for 31.00 including shipping.  All the parts were still sealed in bags.

Jake

You're almost certainly talking about the Revell 1/96-scale kit.  It disappeared from the current Revell-Monogram catalog a couple of years ago or thereabouts.  I think it was still in the Revell Germany catalog for a while after that, but now that company has deleted it as well.  That's a real shame.  It doesn't really represent the current state of the styrene kit maker's art (it was originally released in 1959), but it's a real classic - and still one of the best sailing ship kits ever produced.

I have the impression that quite a few examples can be found on e-bay, at prices that range from outstanding bargains to outright ripoffs.  The kit hasn't been officially off the market for long; I think I've seen it in a few hobby shops around here (eastern North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia).  If you have any decent local or chain hobby shops within driving distance (not everybody does any more), it probably would be worth a few road trips to check them out.

Good luck.