I'm glad to have the chance to comment on this one. I fear my comments on the old Heller Soleil Royal in another thread may have given the impression that I'm just a senile curmudgeon (true) who just doesn't like any plastic sailing ship kits (untrue).
The Revell Cutty Sark is a classic - one of the nicer sailing ship kits ever. In terms of historical accuracy it certainly beats any of the wood versions of the ship on the market. That it isn't in the current range of either U.S. Revell/Monogram or Revell Germany is really sad; it's the sort of kit that always ought to be available. If you've got one from 1965, you're probably lucky. There are nasty stories about warped parts and lots of flash on newer moldings. (On the other hand, take a careful look at the decal sheet. If it's yellowed, or looks like it's about to fall apart, you may have a problem.)
The kit dates from 1959, and in many ways it shows it. On the other hand, some of its features have never been surpassed. (Those crew figures are exquisite, and the figurehead, in my humble opinion, is a better-looking specimen of feminine anatomy than the one on the real ship.) If I were building it I'd certainly make some changes. I just can't live with those plastic "deadeye-and-lanyard" assemblies, the plastic-coated "shrouds and ratlines" are hopeless, and the plastic belaying pins would have to go. Maybe the biggest problem is the pair of thwartships joints between the deck components. Years ago I made quite a bit of progress on a modified version of the kit with a layer of basswood planks laid on top of the plastic deck. That worked quite well (though the model got set aside in favor of other projects; I don't know what happened to it after I moved out of the family house). Some of the fittings show their age; the cargo winches in front of the fore and mainmasts, for instance, are pretty blobby, and the paneling on the sides of the deckhouses could be better. But the basic shapes are right, and the kit certainly has the potential to be the basis for a superb scale model.
If I actually were in the market for a Cutty Sark kit, I'd have a hard time choosing between the old Revell 1/96 one and the 1/125 one from Imai. (Imai is out of business, but the kit recently got reissued under the Aoshima label.) In many ways the Imai/Aoshima one is more accurate. The deck fittings are better detailed - and the maindeck is in one piece, eliminating the joint problem. On the other hand, the Revell one is basically sound and quite a bit bigger. The latter point may be a plus or a minus, depending on the modeler's living space (and the attitude of his/her Significant Other). A point I would think about if I were doing it, though, is that quite a bit of the Cutty Sark's rigging is made of chain. There's a limit to how small chain can be made; the smallest I've found is about 42 links to the inch. That's too big for much of the chain rigging on 1/125 scale - and marginal for some of it on 1/96. I'd be concerned that I'd have to give up on using chain for such things as the topsail sheets and halyards on the smaller kit.
In every discussion of the Cutty Sark in this Forum I recommend one additional acquisition: the set of plans by George M. Campbell. He was the naval architect in charge of the ship's restoration, back in the 1950s, and the plans are some of the best I've ever seen. Those three sheets of paper contain just about every piece of information a modeler could want - from a complete sail and rigging plan to the pattern of the linoleum on the deck of the galley. They're available for about $15.00 through the ship's website: http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentShop.productDetails&productId=40&startrow=1&directoryId=6
One of the biggest bargains available to the model builder today.
The bottom line: the Revell kit is a nice one, and has the potential to be turned into a spectacular model.