The recent posts about the Revell Stag Hound made me realize that I’ve never posted pictures of my Revell Flying Cloud, so here are a couple:
I built the kit essentially OOB. I found an old copy on ebay-- I wanted a kit with the old coated thread ratlines, and not a later edition with the way overscale molded plastic ones. I think that in this scale, properly installed, the coated thread ratlines don’t look too bad. (But next time, I think I’ll tie my own.)
I sanded off the molded coils of rope on the cabin tops, but left the ones on deck, as I didn’t want to deal with trying to repair the lost planking detail I’d incur there. I added some generic rigging to the fife rails, to create the illusion of all the lifts, buntlines and clewlines that would be going up to the yards. You can’t see it well in the photo, but I used small knots in places to simulate some of the blocks in the rigging.
http://home.earthlink.net/~billkaja/images/flyingcloud5.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~billkaja/images/mainfiferail.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~billkaja/images/focsle.jpg
That looks great. The wood grain paint is very good. I especially like the way the ship in anchored.
I agree. These excellent photos also are a tribute to the artisans who worked for Revell in those days. Ok, some of the details are oversized. (Powder Monkey’s earlier point about the mast bands is well taken - though rcboater’s paint job has minimized the problem.) And in those days it was customary to cast more details integrally with the main components than we like nowadays. But take a look at the countersunk “seams” between the deck and hull planks. And the copper sheathing. And the stack of capstan bars on the forecastle deck. And those coils of rope, with scale blocks on their ends. (Note that every coil is a little different.) And the pinrails molded on the insides of the bulwarks. This kit originated in 1957. Countersunk surface detailing didn’t become the accepted norm in 1/72-scale aircraft kits until at least 1980.
It’s hard to believe that such things improved sales of the kit significantly. Those details are in that kit because the people who designed it wanted them to be there. Quite apart from the fact that the kit is a good representation of the ship, it’s also a rather awe-inspiring example of just how good a mold could be - almost fifty years ago.
Revell Germany - the next time you’re looking for an old Revell sailing ship kit to bring back, stay away from the Beagle, Seeadler, United States, Alabama, Thermopylae, and Stag Hound. Those things aren’t scale models; they’re merchandising stunts. Please, please give us back the Mayflower, Golden Hind, Charles W. Morgan, Viking ship, and Flying Cloud.