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Converting the 1/96 Cutty Sark into the Glory of the Seas

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  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Thursday, June 6, 2013 10:52 AM

Thanks for your fine comments Marc.  don't worry about your english......I can figure most of what you want to say out........I'm glad you are a history buff as ships are concerned...so am I.

Rob

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Thursday, June 6, 2013 6:01 PM

Worked on the Glory today..but I diverted a bit.  I decided to finish off the head gear rigging first..that is what I did on the CS...so...

Unlike the Cutty..I had no plans to go from cept the drawings of the Glory's rigging...and her sail plan...and with plenty of photographic help...I proceded .

From under the figurhead. I had to build the dolphin striker according to the prototype.

Robby Rich's photo.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Thursday, June 6, 2013 6:02 PM

More closeup

Robby Rich's photo.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Thursday, June 6, 2013 6:04 PM

I had to build all the strap and hoop connectors to fix the shrouds to..and the chain stays...a full view

Robby Rich's photo.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Thursday, June 6, 2013 6:06 PM

The jibboom shrouds are fixed directly to the cathead bit...unlike the CS

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Thursday, June 6, 2013 6:08 PM

Wider view showing the stays..I temp. taped them to the mast...they will be fixed after I begin the backstays

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Thursday, June 6, 2013 6:12 PM

And lastly one showing another angle...and all the new work.

She's coming along.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Saturday, June 8, 2013 10:23 AM

This ship had gone through several color and deck mods during her history and with every subsequent captain in charge.

She once had red banded masts...red painted pump flywheels..blue waterways...aft *boy* cabin forward the aft deck hold cover....boat skids in several places(over the*boy* cabin and on suspended skids...forward of the poop cabin and on the suspended skids......no skids.  Live stock house built over the mid deck hold hatch(which dependent on the captain, housed chickens and pigs or cows and goats.

Not to mention all the extreme mods made to her when she was a fish processing plant and a cold storage barge..

I chose to depict her just before her major overhaul and refit of 1872...and when she was painted simply black without any gilding or flair.

This is one reason why I enjoy ship modeling...you can make changes as you see fit and what pleases your eye...and if your subject had an extremely varied life...you have ample room for expression.

Rob

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Saturday, June 8, 2013 12:42 PM

Adding some anchors today.....one is in the lowered position.  I weathered  then as was depicted in historic images.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Saturday, June 8, 2013 12:43 PM

Another view of both.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Saturday, June 8, 2013 12:45 PM

Another view of the port anchor stowed on the foc'sle.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Saturday, June 8, 2013 12:46 PM

Still..another angle

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Saturday, June 8, 2013 9:51 PM

A final image.....showing the depth of detail that separates a typical plastic kit from a nearly scratch built model.  I'm thankful I have a 3rd CS kit to kit bash from.

I think I am ready to begin the shrouds...you?

  • Member since
    June 2012
Posted by arnie60 on Saturday, June 8, 2013 10:27 PM

The chain tie down for the anchors adds really nice detail. whats the scale on the chain? 24/inch?

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Sunday, June 9, 2013 7:50 PM

Thanks..the chain in 42 lpi.  The smallest I could find.  It is in scale for sure..

Again thanks.

  • Member since
    June 2012
Posted by arnie60 on Monday, June 10, 2013 12:07 PM

One more regarding the chain.....where did you get it from?

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Monday, June 10, 2013 3:49 PM

An awesome fittings shop....(My favorite).   castyouranchorhobby.com

They sell copper chain, brass chain and polished blackened  steel chain.  From 9 lpi to 42 lpi.

You can buy chain by the foot. :)

They sell lots of other period ship fittings as well..and very reasonable.

Rob

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 3:36 PM

Spent time today rigging the mizzen mast shrouds.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 3:37 PM

Little closer

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 3:39 PM

Another view

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 3:40 PM

The tops

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 6:08 PM

Today I snuck in some hours and rigged the main mast shrouds.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 6:09 PM

Closeup...

Robby Rich's photo.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 6:10 PM

Another view...now I am onto the formast shrouds.......Probably bee done with them tomorrow..then I can get to the top shrouds.

Rob

Robby Rich's photo.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 6:57 PM

Coming along nicely.  I hope to sneak some time in tomorrow to finish up the foremast.

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • From: Marysville, WA
Posted by David_K on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 7:01 PM

Hey Rob-

You might have already covered this, but what are you using for the chainplates and deadeyes?

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     )_))_))_)
     _!__!__!_         
     (_D_P_K_)
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ~~~~~~~~~~~

Current Project:  Imai/ERTL Spanish Galleon #2

Recently Finished: Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark

Next Up:  ???

 

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 7:22 PM

Right.....

The channels are made from milled cherry to scale and the chain plates/cable is made from copper wire fixed to the deadeyes.  I first installed the channels..then drilled the holes for the cable in accordance to the location of the shrouds.  Then I cut, bent and installed the wire.  Then cut them off with about 1/16" extending past the top plate.  Then I drilled and then wrapped the deadeyes in wire and glues them onto the extended wires.

Typically...you would wrap the deadeye..then run the wire down and through the channels.  However the fixed part that bends back toward the hull can be problematic....so.....

I went from the ground up(shall we say)..instead of top down.  Painted it does the job nicely.

These external fixtures where heavely tared to protect them from the weather anyway.

Thanks for asking.

Rob(The deadeyes are from  castyouranchorhobby.com)

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Sunday, June 16, 2013 10:21 AM

I took a look at the Cast Your Anchor Hobby website.  The company certainly carries a big range of merchandise.  I'm unaware of another convenient place to look for such variety of products and manufacturers.

The list of fittings, on the other hand, appears to come almost directly out of the ModelExpo website.  I saw a handful of fittings that didn't look familiar (notably some miniature figures, which frankly looked pretty crude for the price), but the vast majority of the photos seemed to be the same ones I've been seeing for years at www.modelexpo-online.com .  Those with less-than-deep pockets should know that ModelExpo almost always has something on sale - frequently (albeit not always) including fittings. Those sale prices are considerably cheaper than those advertised by Cast Your Anchor. And ME sells some of its fittings in bulk, at big discounts.  For example, 10 feet of 42-link chain at ME costs less than half what 10 individual, 1-foot lengths cost at CYA (or, for that matter, ME).

One very interesting group of fittings I did see at CYA is a line of tiny miniature turnbuckles.  I haven't seen the smallest sizes elsewhere.  I'm thinking the very smallest just might work for 1/32-scale WWI aircraft.  (I've got a Wingnut Wings kit waiting for me....)

The pages devoted to tools and books also seem to be identical to their ModeExpo equivalents.  The one dealing with wood really puzzled me.  Some of the pictures from Cast Your Anchor are the same ones Model Expo uses.  But it's hard to see how a ship model supplier in this day and age can stock balsa and not basswood.

For what little it's worth, my personal favorite blocks and deadeyes are the cast Britannia metal ones from Bluejacket.  Cast Your Anchor Hobby sells Bluejacket's kits, but apparently not its fittings.

I was particularly interested in Cast Your Anchor's ratings of kit manufacturers.  These appear to be honest efforts to let modelers know about the huge variations in quality among those companies - including the various HECEPOB ones (Mamoli, Artesania Latina, Corel, et. al.).  (For the uninitiated, HECEPOB is the acronym we've developed over the years in this Forum for Hideously Expensive Continental European Plank-On-Bulkhead.  I won't allow a HECEPOB kit in my house; neither will hundreds of other serious scale modelers.)  There's also some interesting information on that page about the histories of the various companies.  All in all, a commendable and refreshingly candid effort.  I have to say, however, that I seriously question the knowledgeability of anybody who gives Model Shipways and Bluejacket lower marks for "accuracy" and "detail" than Artesania, Mamoli, Corel, etc.  Every manufacturer's products vary as the company ages, but I personally would put those two American companies way ahead of any of the HECEPOBs.  Model Shipways and Bluejacket kits are designed to replicate actual ships.  The HECEPOBs are designed to...well, I've never been able to figure out quite what they're supposed to do, other than take money from the uninitiated.

One manufacturer who's conspicuously absent from the Cast Your Anchor list:  the British firm Caldercraft (aka Jotika).  That company's plank-on- bulkhead kits are honest-to-goodness scale models, designed by people who actually know their subject matter.  I just wish I could afford one of them.  (The Jotika 1/72 H.M.S. Victory costs well over $1,000.)  I can hardly blame any American hobby dealer ship for not stocking Calder/Jotika kits; the market in this country must be tiny.  But they're some of the best kits in the business.

I've ordered Cast Your Anchor's printed catalog, and I look forward to reading it.  I'll be interested to see how much it differs from Model Expo's.

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

  • Member since
    December 2012
Posted by rwiederrich on Monday, June 17, 2013 8:18 AM

Thanks jtilley for reviewing CYA..... I too, thought a lot of its advertising was similar to Model expo...however, I failed to(Probably because I'm clueless), make any comparisons.  I 'm just looking for what I need.  Model expo is a fine supplier, so is BlueJacket.

Again..thanks for the write up.

Rob

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Monday, June 17, 2013 10:58 AM

Geez, I didn't think of that post as a "review."  I haven't done business with CYA; frankly I'd never heard of it until rwiederrich mentioned it.  One big factor in evaluating any mail order firm has to be the quality of service it gives, and I obviously can't comment on CYA in that context.  I've generally gotten pretty good service from Model Expo - especially in recent years.  On one occasion, though, I sent an e-mail asking for some parts that were missing from a Model Shipways kit - and never got an answer.

Come to think of it, maybe we ought to come up with a better acronym than "CYA."  Around the joint where I work, at least, it means "cover your Censored" - as in "CYA memo."  Nasty to talk that way about what looks like a perfectly reputable ship model supply house.

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

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