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

Bulkheads and Stairs


After a couple of tries, I figured out that the best way to install the stair landings is before the bulkhead is glued to the deck. Preferably when the bulkhead is still on the spru.


Transome and Forward Bulkhead














There is a ton of detail painting here. I started by laying on a coat of flat black. The windows were painted Dark Ghost Gray the same as the windows on the stern galleries. I wanted the carvings to have depth, not just gold paint, so I layered colors on starting with Testors flat brown, making sure to get the paint into the recesses. Next Testors gold was painted on using a heavy dry-brushing technique to apply paint to the higher surfaces and skip the darker recesses. Finally Testors silver was dry-brushed onto the highest surfaces to give a shiny effect. The royal coat of arms on the stern was painted mostly gold. The lion was painted Testors red brown acrylic, dry-brushed with flat tan and the horse painted Testors Model Master Camouflage grey with flat white dry brushed highlights.

Hull Assembly







After the black paint on the strakes dried I removed the masking tape. Some touching was still needed. After finishing the paint on the stern galleries, they were installed with alligator clips and liquid cement. Since I want the individual planks of the hull to stand out I mixed up a wash of dark brown water color,with a drop of dish washing soap added, and applied it liberally to the light colored part of the hull and let dry. I also mixed a lighter brown wash for the gold and dark red wash for the red areas. After all the washes dried overnight I carefully removed the excess from with a wet paint brush and q-tip.





I have kept the 2 hull halves separate up till now because it makes it easier to do all this detail painting. But now, before I paint the bottom below the water line, It's time to cement the hull halves together. The alignment of the halves is very good and required no trimming or removing any of the alignment pins, just put it together with liquid cement and as many clamps as I could get on. Let it dry overnight.

The bulkheads for the deck piece were painted Testors Flat Red and Gold with Middle Stone on the railings and cemented in place. After the cement on the hull dried I gently pried the sides apart just enough to get the deck in place. Starting from the stern and working forward, I positioned the deck and cemented it with super glue. After the whole deck was in the correct place masking tape was used to hold the sides of the inner hull against the deck edge. I was careful to make sure the tape was only on the top of the rail and did not touch the gold paint on the hull.

















































More Hull Painting
















It took two coats of Middle Stone to completely cover the hull area below the black. Middle stone was also painted on the railings. After all this dried I masked off the strakes and painted up to them. After the paint dried I masked off the space between the strakes and painted it middle stone. Time consuming but it's the only way I know to get a nice clean paint separation between the black and the middle stone. I began painting the flat black on the stern galleries. The decoration at the top of each side looks like feathers and a picture of a painting of this ships shows them white. I painted them Model Master Camouflage grey. I'll dry brush the with flat white when it's dry. These stern galleries still need a lot of touching up.

I waited until most of the hull was painted to paint the bottom because I was trying to decide between white or light grey. Finally deciding on Testors Flat White spray can after looking at photos of other modelers work. Although I'm pleased with the result, waiting this long to paint was a bit of a blunder. During the masking process some parts were knocked off and some gold paint was damaged. After repairing the damage all good again.







Hull Painting

After the gold dried I started painting the lower relief Testors Flat Black and Polly Scale Middle Stone Acrylic. I think the middle stone looks more like fresh lumber then tan. I painted the strakes flat black also. I painted the strakes pretty sloppy because I will be masking around them to make a neat appearance with the hull color. At this time I painted the parts for the stairs and bulkheads Testors Flat Red with the raised relief in gold. The transom and stern gallery windows I painted Model Master Dark Ghost Gray.





Painting continued, the deck.

The deck is one large piece and like most large pieces it is really warped. That is something I'll deal with later but for now the painting is pretty simple. There is only one raised feature on the deck and I painted it Tamya dark brown. After this dried, Testors Model Master Dark Tan was painted on the rest of the deck.





Starting to paint the hull

This model will need a lot of detail painting! Just look at all the decoration on the hull. I have found the best way to tackle this is to start painting the highest relief items first and work to the lowest relief. This way I can push the paint up to the edge of the raised part. I started with the gold wreaths around the gun ports. Testors gold was painted on and around the wreaths and other hull decorations and left to dry. At this time the bulwarks were painted Testors flat red.





Starting the kit


I've had this kit in my collection for a few years now, and I'm finally going to start it. From what I've read this kit is no longer in production, but they still pop up on ebay from time to time. The kit is molded in one color, tan, styrene. I cluded is one spool of rigging thread and one flag sheet. The molding looks pretty good with fairly crisp details and minimal flash.