Welcome to my Web site

Welcome to my website. This site is for folks who build or would like to build plastic model ships. I’ve been building ship models for many years and I still get as much enjoyment from the hobby as I did when I started. If you are an occasional modeler, serious modeler or if you’ve been away from the hobby for awhile and are coming back, I think you will enjoy this site.

I chose Revells’ Cutty Sark as the launch project because there are a large number of these kits out there in closets, attics and modelers collections, waiting to be built. Also, this kit builds into a pretty impressive ship model, no matter where the modelers’ skill level is.

The plan is for this site to grow over time, featuring a different model about every month. Previous models will be archived for reference and new visitors to the site. As you may have already noticed, this site is written in a blog foremat with the latest post on top and previous posts in decending order. I hope that modelers will find this website enjoyable and useful and will visit often……………..John

Painting Stern and Quarter Galleries




I guess this sounds like I'm making excuses, but I just was not satisfied with the stern and quarter gallery painting. The relief was pretty shallow and painting these carvings was pretty sloppy. also after looking at the blue after it dried I decided a darker shade was more accurate. I used a flat exacto blade and sandpaper to remove as much of the carvings as I could and repainted the galleries. I like this cleaner look better.


Assembling the Decks and Hull Together























After painting the decks, I rubbed them lightly with Burt Umber pastell to show the deck seams. I tried using a prisma color pencil of the same color but it just wouldn't work because the relief is not raised enough. The gun carriages were first glued to the deck and the cannon barrels were glued on next. All the rest of the gun deck parts were assembled after painting (red). After test fitting the deck to the hull I had to reposition the forward guns to align with the forward gun ports. The spar deck assembles onto the gun deck very nicely and I used super glue especially to secure the stanchions to the bottom of the spar deck since this part curves. I left the stairs off at this time because I'm sure the would have broken off during hull/deck assembly. The decks assembly was installed into the port hull half and aligned and super glued. Then I installed the stairs to the bottom of the gun deck. The starboard hull half was assembled but the decks sagged a little and I had to use a long screwdriver to push the deck up into its correct position. Lucky I didn't damage the model. Super glue was used to cement the hull halves together.





Hull and Deck Painting
















I always start by giving the parts a bath in lukewarm water and dish washing detergent while they are still on the spru. this is to remove any traces of mold release agent that may be remaining. The hull halves were cleaned up by removing molding flash and ejector pin stumps that will prevent the hull halves from fitting together correctly. Usually the hull halves are assembled together in the first step of construction, but, this kit is different. The gun deck and spar deck are assembled as one unit and assembled together with the hull halves on this model. Because of this, I painted the hull halves and the decks while they were unassembled. I painted the hull insides Testors Flat Red spray after masking off the outside and mating surfaces of the hulls. This was also a good opportunity to paint the gun carriages and inside the gun port lids. When the paint dried I brush painted the black strake on the hull and the yellow trim of the freeboard. When this dried these areas were masked off and the freeboard was painted Testors Natural Wood spray. Since the decks are the same color, They were painted at this time also. Finally, after this dried I masked off the bottom of the hulls and sprayed them Testors Flat White. The bulwarks were brush painted with Testors Blue.

Opening up the Kit


This is another kit that has been around for some time. I don't think this is the original title for it. Since the interest in pirates caused by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, a number of sailing ship kits have been repackaged and re marketed as pirate ships. I won this kit in a raffle this past winter, at a model contest/show in Rochester. After opening it up I found this to be a pretty nice model of a 30 gun frigate from the mid to late 18th century. The kits only concession to pirates seems to be a Jolly Roger skull and crossbones flag. I'll build this as a frigate and do some research to find a possible name for the ship. Since this is an old kit there is some flash from the molding process which will need cleaning up. Otherwise, the kit looks pretty good. Molded in two colors, tan and dark brown. Vacuformed sails and one spool of black thread are included. Right now I don't plan to build the model with sails.