William A Posted October 12, 2022 Share Posted October 12, 2022 (edited) After watching a part work HMS victory take shape under the fine hand of my stepfather over the last 10 years or so, and my own dalliances with Railway Modelling, and a completed but not spectacular HMS Dreadnought, I felt that it was finally time for me to try for the age of sail. I have decided to build a 1/96 Revell Cuttysark. I have a fairly well stocked plastic modelling workbench as a result of my railway modelling experience, but that’s it. I’ve never attempted a model of this size and scale before. While I am not focused on 100% fidelity, I would like to keep a level of prototypical accuracy. I am hoping to find any advice for the early stages of building this kit – such as jigs, templates, workholding, or any essential supplies or aftermarket components (i see there are decks, blocks and sails). Does anyone have any advice? ps. I have ordered the books by Longridge! Edited October 12, 2022 by William A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted October 12, 2022 Share Posted October 12, 2022 Wow! At 1/96 that's going to be a big impressive model. I think the Airfix Cutty Sark is in 1:130. I remember when I was young having a Revell catalogue with a large picture of the Cutty Sark's rival, Thermopolaye but I have never seen either kit in the plastic. So can't offer any advice I'm afraid. I understand the kit dates from 1959 and seeing you were about to start I was quite intrigued to know if anyone did make aftermarket or detail parts for a kit of that vintage. To my surprise I found this site https://www.hismodel.com/cutty-sark-revell-1-98 selling wooden decks for the kit as well as rigging and other detail parts for the Cutty Sark kit (and the Thermopolyae too!). I'm sure you aware of this site but nevertheless found it fascinating. Best of luck with your project! Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William A Posted October 12, 2022 Author Share Posted October 12, 2022 Wow, 1959!? I was hoping for a slightly more modern kit with less to worry about in flash and assembly - but such is life I guess! Thank you for the link! I’m not sure the parts are required as a newbie to this lark so any advice most appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
europapete Posted October 12, 2022 Share Posted October 12, 2022 Hiya, and welcome. Jump over to the "Ships of Scale" website. There are some Revell Cutty Sark builds on there. Regards, Pete in RI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William A Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 Thank you, I've done that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrB17 Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 Ditto ships of scale. I’ve built one, and have the original 1959 issue. The original issue did not have the vacuformed sails, the one I built was a later issue with the sails. When I build the 59 one, it will be easier to see everything, I found that the sails look good from a distance, but if you want people to see all the work, no sails is better. A few notes that might help you: If you want to build a display case for it, do that first. It’s going to take time and dust is your enemy. Putting the case over it when your doing other things, is helpful. If no case is used, at least keep it covered. I make my own cases, using 3mm acrylic and methylene chloride to glue it. The base can be wooden and I use corner moulding to strengthen the edges, plus it looks good. It’s a lot easier than it sounds, and any modeller should be able to make one. You will save hundreds of dollars doing it yourself. I found the uppermost masts bend easily when you tension the standing rigging, seeking out finer rigging, helps and looks a lot more scale. What the kit provides is very overscale the higher up you go. You can also find a lot of aftermarket stuff, from laser cut wooden decks, wooden blocks and deadeyes, pre sewn cloth sails and photo etched brass to replace the decals. I’m sure the modellers on ships of scale will steer you in the right direction. The kit was also marketed as the Thermopylae, her rival. That kit is no more the Thermopylae, than an apple to an orange. The only nitpick of the kit, is the curved forefoot, I think it was done for marketing it as Thermopylae, trying to compromise. It should be a sharp angle, and it’s not very hard to fix. Good luck with your Cutty Sark, I am sure you will enjoy it. Cheers Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William A Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 Thank you - I've checked out bcochran's build and it seems he has started from a similar position to me - but went too far into the intricacies of perfect, scale rigging! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William A Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 It seems the main question is basically whether or not I want to go with the provided rigging, or sort my own. Honestly, I don't know if I'm qualified to answer that question: "It would be nice" doesn't really mean anything when I don't know much longer it would take to rig the ship via the kit components or via parts and a rigging plan: 5hrs vs 20hrs? 100hrs vs 1000hrs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrB17 Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 Some people get carried away with perfect scale rigging, but if you just want it to look better, find some thinner thread the right colour, if you go synthetic, you don’t have to beeswax it either. Cheers Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William A Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 Thanks Jeff! I think I could live with the reduced rigging, but it that really looks off with the injection moulded shrouds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrB17 Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 1 hour ago, William A said: Thanks Jeff! I think I could live with the reduced rigging, but it that really looks off with the injection moulded shrouds. I think you must have the latest version, previously they had preformed shrouds with rat lines all in one, made with fine string covered in a black rubbery substance. You can cheat on the shrouds and rat lines by using heavy black thread and just gluing the rat lines on. As for the deadeyes attached to the shrouds all in one piece, apart from the lighter rigging, these look better done with separate deadeyes and thread. However I have seen some clever painting of the plastic ones, where you have to look real hard to see they’re plastic. Cheers Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Smith Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 (edited) On a model that size pre formed shrouds will not look right. Making them up is a bit of a pain but will look much better. As for vacuum formed sails, personally I would ditch them and make furled sails from flying aero modelling tissue. Alternatively you could build the model in harbour rig. That is with the running rigging taken down leaving the standing rigging with the yards above the mainsail yards lowered. There is a brilliant set of plans of the Cutty Sark by George Campbell that are really the definitive set to obtain. I think that the Maritime Museum in Greenwich sells them. I bought mine many years ago when visiting the ship itself so the Cutty Dark Society may be other source or maybe the ship has an on line shop. Two books specifically about the Cutty Sark. One is by C.Nepean Longridge who built the Science Museum model. It was published by Model and Allied Publications. The other is an Airfix Special book about modelling the ship from their kit by Noel C Hackney that was published by Patrick Stephens Ltd. Both long out of print but worth seeking out. Edited October 16, 2022 by Noel Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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