Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark reissue parts photos

It certainly looks like the old Cutty Sark we Olde Phogies know and love. I note the words "Made in Poland" on one of the part bags. That's a surprise.

On the basis of what I can see in the photos, the parts look unchanged from the original. (Thank goodness those wonderful crew figures are still there - though I've never been able to figure out what those two guys are carrying in their left hands.) I see the flags are now part of the decal sheet; they used to be on a separate sheet of gummed paper. The color of the "sails" looks pretty unbelievable, but lighting and the vicissitudes of digital photography may have played a big role in that. The rigging instructions are not the same as the originals (from 1959), but they look reasonable.

Grem56 is probably right in suggesting that the price, by current standards, is reasonable if not downright low - though I can remember when the version without sails cost $10.00 and the one with sails cost $12.00. The latter was, I believe (along with the Thermopylae and Alabama), the most expensive plastic kit in the U.S.

One odd feature of all this: the kit seems to be showing up all over the place, but it's not listed on the website of either Revell-Monogram or Revell Germany. I wonder why not. It's a grand old kit; every serious modeler interested in plastic sailing vessels really needs to built it at least once.

I would love to blame my digital Canon but in this case the sails really are this "sepia" brown. The air freight to Europe cost nearly as much as the model itself but all in all still cheaper than the retail price for this size Revell kit in Europe (if you can even find it here). I am very happy to have an example, as I mentioned, the last time I saw it was about 30 years ago.Now if I could just find the Thermopylae.............................................

Julian

I would have to say that the parts look exactly the same as my recently aquired 1974 kit. The sails in my kit are also a darkish tan/sepia color, as well. Funny the thread in my kit, which was in an un-opened stapled bag, were balls of thread. Running rigging thread was a light green color.

<> The rigging seperate sheet/poster with my kit is quite extensive, although I do plan to send for Campbell's plans. 

I got mine delivery included for $40 bucks, however I think the new kit price is pretty good for a big model that may take a year to build and keep someone busy.  Thanks for putting those photos up.

Note : as I've rigged my Alabama, I've found that the Revell tan/stiff running rigging thread works pretty well, and is not fuzzy. I stretch it first and it holds a knot well. It is easier for me to manouever as the rigging gets more crowded. I think a limper thread would hamper me first time doing this. Of course the plastic coated thread is trash. 

   Wilbur, in building your CSS Alabama did you use the kit supplied belaying pins and blocks or did you use aftermarket details and would you have the sizes used ? I visited the hobby shop and found several types a dark gray, walnut, boxwood and brass, any info would be a great help, thanks.   Karl

Grem - If your interest is in scale reproductions of actual ships (as I gather it is), don't waste much time looking for a Revell Thermopylae. It's just a somewhat modified reissue of the Cutty Sark. In reality the two ships looked similar from a distance, but that's all.

The three-foot-long, 1/96-scale Revell sailing ship kits get a lot of attention. Many people seem not to have noticed that there really were only three of them: the Cutty Sark, Kearsarge, and Constitution. The Thermopylae and Pedro Nunes are just modifications of the Cutty Sark; the Alabama is a modified Kearsarge; and the United States is a modified Constitution. According to Dr. Graham's history of Revell, the three of them had appeared in no fewer than eleven different boxes, with eleven different kit numbers, by 1979 (when his coverage stops) - and each of them has been issued at least once since then.

Would that Revell - or somebody - would give us some more sailing ships of that size. About the only other ones on the market are the Heller Victory (a nice kit, though it suffers from some significant - but eminently correctable - flaws) and Soleil Royal (which, by my personal definition at least, has so many problems that it doesn't meet the definition of the term "scale model").

Thanks John, yes I know Revell has been recycling those models since I was about 5 years old ( remember seeing one of these model ships in Lawson's model department in Plymouth UK before I moved to Holland). Now being 50 and with more cash than common sense I am trying to get hold of these kits again (second youth/nostalgia ???). I built the Alabama when I was training to be a merchant naval officer (ended up on Dutch salvage tugs and loved every minute) about 32 years ago. Building the Kearsarge is a stroll down memory lane (besides being a challenge due to the fact that it is the most flash ridden kit I can remember buying).

cheers,

Julian

It looks much better then the ROG Constitution I bought a while back.  There was so much flash that it looked like a Guillows die cut model.

We may be seeing more models coming from former Soviet block countries.  I read in Forbes this month that Chinese factories are subleting to Eastern Europe because labor and indirect costs are now lower there than in China.

Well, the rigging diagrams are definitely different from my early 70's kit.  And the string has definitely been replaced.  While out of scale, the thread included with my kit was good quality and was very easy to tie.  That crap that's been included with your CS is the same junk included with the ROG Constitution.  Impossible to tie and just plain crappy. 

It sounds to me like Revell wanted to re-release the kit, but not put any money into fixing or replacing the mold, and cut corners on supplies like rigging thread.  Typical business decision.

Grymm

 

starduster, I had to replace the pins on the deck pin rails because they were so caked with flash they couldn't be saved, the pinsrails for the bulwarks were the kit supplied ones (they were ok).

I used rod styrene to do the deck pin rails (it worked well for me) and while slightly out of scale, now that I've done some rigging, and tied around them they look fine. I also have taken the advice learned on here in drilling a small hole next to the bulwark pins so as not to kill myself trying to tie around them (I just slip the thread end through) Later I will make a small jig to make the figure 8's of rope to go on the rails.

I do believe the CS pins are 5/16" in my CS kit. They are molded well and clean. Blue jacket has them if you want to replace them.  I'm in my 5th month now on the Alabama, and am really liking this sailing ship build. I have amassed a  lot of questions which I will post in another thread sometime.  Good luck, and looking forward to seeing and hearing about everyones Cutty Sark Build before I begin mine later this year.

I strongly recommend replacing plastic belaying pins - and eyebolts - even if they're molded properly. Styrene is a wonderful, versatile material, but it has its limits. The breaking strength of a piece of styrene less than 1/32" in diameter is so meager that tying threads to it, and pulling on those threads, invites disaster. It's possible to make the kit-supplied eyebolts and belaying pins work, if you're careful enough. But the rigging process is much, much simpler, and less frustrating, if you simply don't have to worry about eyebolts and belaying pins breaking.

The Bluejacket turned brass belaying pins are beautiful, but not cheap - and the smallest size offered, 1/4", is pretty big. If your scale or your budget is too small for them, you can make reasonable looking belaying pins from brass wire. Just make sure all the pins are the same length. When it's secured in the pinrail with a rope coiled around it, nobody's likely to notice that it isn't shaped like a real belaying pin. Rounding over the top of each one will enhance the illusion.

I refuse to pay good money for manufactured eyebolts. It's ludicrously easy to make them from scratch. Hold a piece of brass wire of the appropriate diameter over a candle flame till it turns red. Let it cool. It will now be much softer, and easy to bend into a tight radius. (If you use copper wire, you can probably skip that step.) A set of drill bits, #60 to #80, makes an excellent set of mandrels. Clamp the appropriate bit in a vise, bend the wire around it, and twist the ends into a tight "pigtail." Super-glue the "tail" into a hole in the deck (or whatever), and you've got an eyebolt that won't break before the thread does. If you plan the work in advance, you can install the eyebolts in parts like the decks while you still have access to the underside. Spread the ends of the "pigtail" and superglue them to the underside of the deck, and nothing will pull the eyebolt loose.

I should have mentioned that I replaced every eyebolt with wire bent around a small brad to get the correct diameter, then C/A'd them into holes drilled slightly snug, pushed in with a needle nose pliers. They will not break or come out.

The blue jacket pins do look good, and I always want to avoid a disaster, so I'll look at getting them when its time. 

To make a head on a belaying pin made of wire, I wick some medium CA on the end of the cut wire, hold it upsidedown so it forms a small teardrop, spray some accelerator on it, and then paint it.  Looks convincing.

I put all the precut wire pieces on a strip of styrofoam so that I can do multiple pins a time.