I was wondering if anyone could provide advice on books/materials for guidance on building a Cutty Sark model? Thinking about starting the big Revell 1/96, but I’d like to find some good pics, deck detail, and other reference to help me with some planning.
I was able to find precious few build logs here, but it’s a shame that so many hosted photos are no longer available.
Anyway, thanks for any input
EDIT: Here’s a link to the WIP I’ve just started for my build of the Cutty Sark…thought it might be nice to have these threads connected.
The Cutty Sark website might be the best place to start. They use to sell 3 blueprint sheets of the ship. Rigging, general plan and another one and quite inexpensive as well. Those 3 plans must still be available, I would think.
I started this model and got it to the stage of attaching the masts. Then I boxed it up for safe keeping before I glued the masts. I did this because I don’t have a display case and don’t want to rig it before I have one. This model definitely a long term model.
The Revell bowsprit is very flexible and may need to be redone with some other material or re-inforced to take the torque of the rigging. Something to remember
Have fun with it. There are many great photos of the ship all over the web.
Before I had any skills I built her and posted most of my progress here on FineScale. I think Rob Wiederrich would be the go to guy for questions about the build as he’s built several. He helped me out immensly when I was building mine. A true, generous gentleman as are many on this forum.
My build was a mess - now that I look at it from a few years down the road - but I’m still happy I spent the time trying to learn a few things. I did NOT do the rigging of the stays/deadeyes as you did in several of your builds - I just used the plastic kit parts. Oh well, I’ll give it a go when I get to another sailing ship model that’s at least 1/150 or larger.
Here are a few pictures I scrambled to find in several of my external HD’s that I’ve used for storage over the years. The first bunch are in no particular order and the last three are of the completed kit as she sits in my living room.
Like I said, PM Rob … I’ll bet he can point you in several helpful directions.
I’ll see if I can order the Campbell CS plan sheets from Greenwich, should be a big help.
I’m still planning it out now, but some deviations from OOB include a wooden deck from scaledecks.com, blocks and line from Syren, metal eyebolts, and possibly replacing some mast parts with wood (the bowsprit seems to be the most problematic by all accounts).
There’s really no question that Rob is the authority on models based off of Revell’s Cutty Sark…I’ve seen some of his builds in person, and I can tell you they are among the finest! Mind-blowing detail.
One of the aspects that I’m especially curious about is how/where to attach lower deadeyes…not using the kit plastic pieces, so I’ll need to figure out where on the bulwarks I can attach them…there are no channels or chainplates that I can see, it looks like they just sit on the inside of the bulwark or pinrail somehow…this is a much more recent era of ship than I’m accustomed to modeling, so I’ve got to become more familiar with how a clipper is set up.
Sail plan is the third. They are on the Shop site for 15 “pounds” the lot. There’s some question as to whether or not they are scale, since they are being sold mail order from a museum store. But that’s an easy fix at a good repro/ blueprint shop.
They are those wonderful Campbell drawings, quite artful and full of thumbnail details.
A google image search is a good place to look. Type in cutty sark ship. The word ship is helpful to eliminate whiskey ads, though some will show up anyway. But, lots and lots of pictures of the ship, and of models of the ship.
Having an iron frame changes a lot of things. You can see here that there’s a rod which runs down from the lower deadeye to a frame member. It wouldn’t be long before this whole arrangement was replaced on newer ships with a turnbuckle and steel wire stays.
I know you live on the West Coast like me, and the $$$ sucks right now, but if you can go it’s the trip of a lifetime, plus there’s Victory and so on nearby.
I just sent you a PM with some scans from my set of plans. I doubt they’ll be of much help in your query as to how the deadeyes were attached but it will give you some idea as to where. At least my feable brain couldn’t figure out how by looking at the three sheets of plans just now. It’s probably on the plans somewhere but the set I received was so poorly copied that trying to read the information is a real chore.
The last of the three links doesn’t seem to have turned “hot”. just highlight it, right click, and open.
Thanks everyone for such a great response with information and photos!
With this much support, I should have little trouble moving in the right direction
I’d love to make a trip to see the Cutty Sark, and Victory! I still need to make the pilgrimage to the our East Coast and see some of the stuff here…it’s on my bucket list.
Rob, I wonder if I’ll need to take the ferry over sometime and take some notes from a couple of your models? lol
For now, I’m just going through the kit, and the instructions, and filling out a notebook with ideas for paint scheme, block and line specs, etc…once the George Campbell plans arrive, I’ll be able to compare those with the Revell sheets and see how much of it jives together…
Since I expect to be inquiring from you all as I embark on this project, it’s probably a good idea to start a WIP thread once I get some progress made. I’m keeping my photos on Flickr now, hopefully they will still allow site hosting.
Dave, one thing you may need to figure out first off is at what stage of modification will you be modeling your CS. The aft access to the aft cabin on the poop was added by the Portugues and was not part of the original Cutty design…nor are the forward hatch additions as seen on some models.
I suggest you aquire a copy of Harold Underhill’s magnificent book Masting and Rigging the clipper ship and the Ocean carrier…It is a must for rigging clippers.
Also, get The Cutty Sark and the Thermopylae Era of Sail by Cryril Hume & Malcolm Armstrong. Lots of images.
One thing I found in my study is that the Cutty can be replicated in many fasions so dating her needs to be decided upon…nothing worse is when a modeler Mixes modifications that were not present together.
I have been acquiring materials for my Cutty Sark build now for a few years. I cannot add much to the discussion because all of it has been great. You might want to check out Radek’s evilBay store “hismodels”. He has a PE set for the stern name and scroll work and flags here:
Interestingly if you scroll along the images of Radiek’s eBay listing for blocks to fit the CS you’ll notice he has superimposed some color coding for his blocks over one page of the actual Campbell plans.
Oops, sorry. I now see that you’ve already mentioned that [:$].
Do a search on Amazon and Ebay for the book The Cutty Sark by C. Nepean Longridge. It includes a set of plans by Harold Underhill. The book was written in 1933 and includes pictures taken after she had been restored and was in Falmouth Harbor. Longridge built from scratch the model that was in and may still be in the Science Museum, South Kensington. The fittings have been described as crude compared to today’s fittings, but remember everything had to built by hand, not machine. It does have a lot of first hand information on the ship and good tips.
This thread is a great example of this forum’s purpose!
So much great info, I hope having all this stuff gathered will serve builders of the Cutty Sark for a long time! Thanks to everyone for their contributions…
I actually contacted Revell to get a new set of the decals for this kit, figuring mine is from decades ago and the decals are likely to crumble into flakes if wetted…but I didn’t realize there were PE frets available for the scrollwork. I’ll certainly buy that set.
I’ll also pick up the books mentioned previously, to help me get an idea of how things should go…the Campbell plans are on the way.
It’s neat that a full block set is available, but I’ll likely get mine from Syren, along with my line, in small batches along the way (C. Passaro makes some really, really nice blocks)…the deadeyes and eyebolts will come from Model Expo (cheap and good quality walnut, unlike their blocks, which I don’t care for)…
As far as being certain of the era…well…
Some of you know me well enough to understand that having anachronistic elements doesn’t trouble me much. At the risk of becoming shunned as a pariah among my peers, it shouldn’t surprise many of you to know that I am more focused on what pleases me than what is accurate. I’ll go to the lengths I find reasonable to make sure my kit looks the way I like it, but I doubt I’ll go to major lengths to keep everything authentic (no big alterations or “corrections” are expected)…
Nevertheless, I hope I can count on the same support and encouragement from you all, despite my lack of authentic compulsion.
I’m very excited to tackle the challenge of this kit, after a short hiatus from ship modeling.
