That is the question.
I picked it up on Ebay for a really good price ($35.00, sweet).
It is a 1965 issue and is in very good condition and I’m not so sure I should start cutting it up.
What do you think?
Thanks guys
Mike
Hello: Prof. jtilley will comment on it probably. However, what I have red thus fur on this list is the fact that the Cutty Sark from Revell 1:96 is not bad and one of the better kits if I remember correctly.
<>Btw: It is also often said that older kits have got the far better parts because there is not so much flesh around parts as opposed to newer kit releases of the same ship and from the same company. Moldings go worse when time and years tick by.
If you like the ship why not start building it? What is your experience until now? Have you ever built a plastic sailing ship? I have seen images of plastic sailing ships which have been build by newcommers with awesome results. However, it could be also a good idea if you start out with a simpler sailing ship kit and postpone the large and time consuming Cutty Sark 1:96 until to your second project to come.
Regards,
Kater Felix
Why not? I certainly would.
I guess you have to ask yourself the question: “Am I a builder or a collector?”
I am a builder. I have a collection of unbuilt kits due to the fact that I find things I want to build faster than I can actually build them. I have NEVER purchased a kit based on the premise that it will appreciate in value. NEVER! If I purchased something years ago that is presently worth more than I paid for it, it is by pure luck, nothing more. And I have NO reservations about cracking the cellophane and cutting parts from the runners, assembling and painting a rare “collectors” kit.
From my perspective, all models were produced to be assembled and are worth nothing until that work is performed.
I say build it, enjoy it and share it with others that would enjoy it as well!
Tory
I would agree with both of you. I just needed some positive feedback.
I am a builder also but sometimes (like now) I run acrosss a great kit that might or should be set aside because I’m not that experienced in ship models and I want to do it justice not chop it up and ruin it.
But, I think I’ll wait until I have some more experience with sailing ships of this size.
(Watch it be rereleased and all this waiting will be for nothing) 
Thanks
Mike
You bet ! It is one of the nicest builds out there, and most impressive when completed. Save the box, if you’d like to, but by all means build the kit.
Cool.
I was at “oldmodelkits.com” and they have an original from 1960 for about $175.00.
Mine is 1965. I’m gonna have to find a newer one.
I just don’t feel right building something so old.
Great, now I’m a collector too.
I’m glad to have the chance to comment on this one. I fear my comments on the old Heller Soleil Royal in another thread may have given the impression that I’m just a senile curmudgeon (true) who just doesn’t like any plastic sailing ship kits (untrue).
The Revell Cutty Sark is a classic - one of the nicer sailing ship kits ever. In terms of historical accuracy it certainly beats any of the wood versions of the ship on the market. That it isn’t in the current range of either U.S. Revell/Monogram or Revell Germany is really sad; it’s the sort of kit that always ought to be available. If you’ve got one from 1965, you’re probably lucky. There are nasty stories about warped parts and lots of flash on newer moldings. (On the other hand, take a careful look at the decal sheet. If it’s yellowed, or looks like it’s about to fall apart, you may have a problem.)
The kit dates from 1959, and in many ways it shows it. On the other hand, some of its features have never been surpassed. (Those crew figures are exquisite, and the figurehead, in my humble opinion, is a better-looking specimen of feminine anatomy than the one on the real ship.) If I were building it I’d certainly make some changes. I just can’t live with those plastic “deadeye-and-lanyard” assemblies, the plastic-coated “shrouds and ratlines” are hopeless, and the plastic belaying pins would have to go. Maybe the biggest problem is the pair of thwartships joints between the deck components. Years ago I made quite a bit of progress on a modified version of the kit with a layer of basswood planks laid on top of the plastic deck. That worked quite well (though the model got set aside in favor of other projects; I don’t know what happened to it after I moved out of the family house). Some of the fittings show their age; the cargo winches in front of the fore and mainmasts, for instance, are pretty blobby, and the paneling on the sides of the deckhouses could be better. But the basic shapes are right, and the kit certainly has the potential to be the basis for a superb scale model.
If I actually were in the market for a Cutty Sark kit, I’d have a hard time choosing between the old Revell 1/96 one and the 1/125 one from Imai. (Imai is out of business, but the kit recently got reissued under the Aoshima label.) In many ways the Imai/Aoshima one is more accurate. The deck fittings are better detailed - and the maindeck is in one piece, eliminating the joint problem. On the other hand, the Revell one is basically sound and quite a bit bigger. The latter point may be a plus or a minus, depending on the modeler’s living space (and the attitude of his/her Significant Other). A point I would think about if I were doing it, though, is that quite a bit of the *Cutty Sark’*s rigging is made of chain. There’s a limit to how small chain can be made; the smallest I’ve found is about 42 links to the inch. That’s too big for much of the chain rigging on 1/125 scale - and marginal for some of it on 1/96. I’d be concerned that I’d have to give up on using chain for such things as the topsail sheets and halyards on the smaller kit.
In every discussion of the Cutty Sark in this Forum I recommend one additional acquisition: the set of plans by George M. Campbell. He was the naval architect in charge of the ship’s restoration, back in the 1950s, and the plans are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Those three sheets of paper contain just about every piece of information a modeler could want - from a complete sail and rigging plan to the pattern of the linoleum on the deck of the galley. They’re available for about $15.00 through the ship’s website: http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm?fa=contentShop.productDetails&productId=40&startrow=1&directoryId=6
One of the biggest bargains available to the model builder today.
The bottom line: the Revell kit is a nice one, and has the potential to be turned into a spectacular model.
Hello: This is a very interesting site. Thanks for posting it. I had never thought that older kits exist outside of ebay.
However, some kits are listed outrageously high. In your particular case I do not understand why you do not want to build it. If you build a very old kit of a particlar ship of the same manufacturer she will look like if you had build that ship based on a newer released kit of that manufacturer. The outcome will be the same. The market is only virtual here (I mean what is the deal with a probably different kit box of two release dates?).
Regards,
Kater Felix
Thanks Jtill.
That is great info.I will make sure to check out those plans and remember this thread when I go to build it.
Kater, I see your point. It’s just that, this box and everything in it has been together for over 40 years.
In car talk, thats an antique.
Hello: Thanks again for posting the link. I hadn’t thought that there exists a market for such kind of things.
I am not objecting the prices as such (hey I spend more than $100,- every month for cigars) but one should be aware that newer kit boxes include often the same sprues.
A local hobby dealer told me he has a customer who bought from him around 1000 kits over the last few couple of years.
Last year it happend that I won an auction on ebay of the “Persian Gulf Trader” from Lindberg. I got it for $10,-. However, I have been told collectors will likely pay $40,- for the kit.
Regards,
Kater Felix
Wow! I’d kill to get a 60’s version of the kit. The molds are real crisp with very little flash. That was an awesome deal you got. But don’t just save it…BUILD IT! A model begs to be built. It is an impressive kit. I built a 79 version for my boy Jacob. He loves it and it is just beautiful.
I intend to build another one full sail for our bonus room. I’ll have to start keeping an eye on Ebay again.
Grymm
I did this kit when I was 11 yrs. old & those plans definately would’ve come in handy!! I didn’t have the instructions to the kit so, I found as many books with pics that I could find[:P] It builds up nicely & I may try it again one day. That was a model I was proud of[:D]
Yeah, everything looks pretty crisp.
Lucky to get it.
You bet, I’ll build the cutty sark, I recently won the 1960 issue on e bay for $32.00, it will sit in the line of other ships that are waiting, there’s a few more large 1/96 scale ships that I’d like to get as well, I plan on starting on a few Pyro ships to get used to the art of rigging in the smaller scale this way when I do tackle the big boys my fingers will allready be used to all the small knots that will come, I plan to order figures from Revell but can’t HO figures be used as well from the railroad modeling section in the hobby shop ? section gangs and general workers most likely would fit in pretty well with the rest of the crew figures anyone try this yet ? Karl
It was made to be built, So dive in and enjoy it
[#ditto]
jtilley’s comments about the relative size of the kit as compared with it’s Imai counterpart is the reason I haven’t been interested in the Revell version of the Cutty Sark - too big. The Imai is much more space-friendly for me.
My dilemma is similar to mikepowers however, I picked up a mint Imai kit last year with the full intention of building it (one day), but when it arrived I found it was so pristine in every respect it seemed a shame to do so. If it was in a tatty box and parts were removed from the sprues I wouldn’t hesitate so maybe I should look for another, or else buy the Aoshima.
Michael
Yes build it it will make agreat looking model.But like its been said change the deadeyes out not only are they ugly they are out of scale.Also you are going to have to do something with the deck.Revells three piece deck system is hard to hide the seams.Two ways either erace alot of detail sanding out the seams or lay in a wood deck.The belaying pins need to be changed to wood or metal.I would change the blocks to wood also.
Rod
Sounds like a good deal either way.
Built or kept–a good deal is a good deal.
Makes me wish I had not flogged the GooB bought cheap pair of late-issue CS & Thermopolye that I had meant to ‘correct’ by kit-bashing a four-masted jackazz barque out of the two. That project languished no small amount (taking a saw to the hulls still a big step even with only $15 in the two of them). Abetting languishment was collecting the conversion “bits”–you get enough belaying pins, mast hoops, blocks, eyes, etc., and it’s almost easier to build a hull from scratch as jsut use 7-8 parts out of the kits. (was going to be cool, though, “bridges” & compass platforms were neatly going to “cure” those stinking deck seams . . . )
Gentlemen,
About how long is the 1/96 Cutty Sark? I keep seeing people saying it’s a large model.
Paul