Lindberg Sea Witch in 1:96 scale - Not for the feint hearted

[ukmodeller]

Hi everyone.
This is my build of the Lindberg Sea Witch in 1:96 scale which was sent as a challenge from a great friend in the US and what a challenge it turned out to be. I watched my friend build this kit and managed to learn most of the shortfalls from him and that helped a great deal as it allowed me to approach things differently. This made it a lot easier and I changed a few things that just didn't seem right on a ship like this.
One of the worse jobs to do was to drill out all of the holes for the blocks (ranging from 3 x 4 mm to 5 x 4 mm) and you will need a lot of spare thin drills on stand-by as well as plasters, antiseptic wipes and a cloth to wipe the tears. Be sure to remove the swear box if you have one otherwise you will end up living on the streets. Luckily I had a lot of blocks left over from previous builds and did not have to drill too many of the blocks. A GOOD REASON TO KEEP THOSE LEFT-OVERS AND SPARES! You also have to drill holes in the masts, hand rails and virtually everywhere else they should already be pre-drilled during moulding. For this you will need rubber drills because the angles you have to drill are just crazy! The next worse job for me was hand making all of the rat lines and was something I'd never done before. They are not brilliant but they will do for me. 
Overall, the actual ship itself, the masts, etc, are fairly straightforward but every part does have a mould join line so be prepared for a lot of cleaning throughout but assembly was good and the parts fitted well. I did like the way the masts are passed through the decks and locate into a section in the bottom of the hull to give then the correct angle and stability. 
My friend made his with furled sails and they looked really good so I had to give it a go. Most pictures I found of furled sails show them fairly loose and hanging a little but when I read up on it for that era it stated that when in port the sails were tided tightly and that is what I went for in the end. As a first attempt I don't think they look that bad.
Anyway, on to the pics now which are shown below but for more pictures of this and my other builds just click HERE.
Thanks for looking and showing an interest.

 

 

[dnl42]

That's is quite outstanding! 

 

Using all the kit-provided blocks and rigging parts clearly took quite an effort as you first had to make them usable. It would have been so much easier to get AM blocks and use those. Makes one wonder how Linderg thought the kit would be built.

[Steve27752]

What a beauty.

[beefy66]

What a great result worth the effort I would say.  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Bertie McBoatface]

Through adversity to the stars, as the RAF says. That's a heavenly model sir!

[ukmodeller]

On 8/24/2021 at 2:31 PM, dnl42 said:

That's is quite outstanding! 

 

Using all the kit-provided blocks and rigging parts clearly took quite an effort as you first had to make them usable. It would have been so much easier to get AM blocks and use those. Makes one wonder how Linderg thought the kit would be built.

Thanks for your kind comments and it sounds like you may have had some experience with this kit? Compared to the Revell ships this was like being given a model you had to build while blindfolded 😂
I must admit when reading through the written instructions that I dozed off now and then. 😴

21 hours ago, Steve27752 said:

What a beauty.

Thanks, Steve. Appreciate you looking 😀

[ukmodeller]

19 hours ago, beefy66 said:

What a great result worth the effort I would say.  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

 

Thanks, Beefy. There were times that I wondered if it was worth it but I'm glad I did as I learned a few new skills after almost 50 years of building kits.
Keep safe now

[ukmodeller]

1 hour ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Through adversity to the stars, as the RAF says. That's a heavenly model sir!

 

Thank you Bertie. I sure went through that alright and did end up seeing stars at some points 🤣

[Adm Lord De Univers]

She sure is beautiful. I would be very proud to have built me something like that. I recently went to the Cutty Sark, and must say the sheer amount of rigging you've done (and it looks excellent btw) gives the real thing a run for its money.

 

David

[ukmodeller]

On 8/27/2021 at 11:38 PM, Adm Lord De Univers said:

She sure is beautiful. I would be very proud to have built me something like that. I recently went to the Cutty Sark, and must say the sheer amount of rigging you've done (and it looks excellent btw) gives the real thing a run for its money.

 

David

Thank you, Sir. I really appreciate your kind comments on my build. I have made a few of these ships/galleons now and though on this one the instructions  left out a lot of the 'down' lines from the masts I decided to add most of them. As you said these ships seemed to have hundreds of lines going all over the rigging and I would just love to see a video of them getting all the sails set out ready for a voyage because it must have been something to see. The last time I saw the Cutty Sark was when I was about 12 years old (I'm 62 now, lol) so I must be long overdue for another visit, especially now they have cleaned it up after that tragic fire. 
Take care now