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

Elevators and Catwalks


 Instead of removing all the girders and netting from the deck edge elevators I just made 2 from .020 styrene sheet, tracing the kit elevators to get the size correct. The No.2 elevator is not accurate anyway since the rounded leading edge is missing on the kit part. I made one from a piece of 3/32 styrene tube and a piece of .100" styrene angle. Glued them in place along with No.1 elevator and filled and sanded the seams. Cemented the flight deck onto the hull assembly using super glue, lots of super glue! Without the bottom on the hull the hull is really flimsy and unstable. Used the superglue on one section at a time starting from the bow. Catwalks were made from .100" styrene angle from Evergreen. Made the antenna mounts from .060" styrene C channel and the shelves for the life rafts from .020" styrene sheet, all Evergreen. The fuel lines on the hull exterior are .020 styrene rod. I used a lot of photos available online as a guide. Testors Liquid cement was used for all this. It works really good with sheet styrene. I used the GMM photo etched set for the elevator girders and structure on the 2 and 3 elevators. The PE safety nets for the elevators proved a little more problematic. Since I modified the leading edge of No.2 elevator, the nets will not fit correctly as they are on the fret. Using photos of the ship, the nets were cut and attached the best way I could. I cemented a small strip of styrene to the bottom of the elevator leaving a small ledge extending. This provided a place to attach the nets. The nets for No3 elevator were slightly too small so I cemented them with one side slightly higher. There was also a gap between the inboard end of the nets and the flight deck. I cut a couple of pieces from an unused net to fill the gap. I think if the elevator is in the lowered position the gap would not be apparent. The PE railings were attached using white glue. I use this a lot instead of super glue because it allows me to position the railings easily and if they get gluey, water cleans them off. Super glue is very unforgiving. I replaced the molded gun tub sides with .005" styrene cut into strips. Once cut it bends pretty easy like PE. Liquid cement makes a clean joint. After the railings were on the crane was folded and installed. Using the PE instructions, the kit post was cleaned up and used with the crane. The model was now mounted onto the base which looks like water. A detail I want to include is the life rafts on the catwalks. On the ship, these were loosely installed into floater baskets outside of the railings on the catwalks. The rafts themselves resembled a large box wrapped in a black tarp. I cut .080x.080 styrene square stock into sections(eyeball measure), painted them black and superglued them to the shelves glued to the catwalks. I used 1/720 scale railings to simulate the floater baskets. The 5" guns are pretty inaccurate. The barrels were replaced with some styrene rod to look a little more correct. 1/700 scale flight deck nets were also added to the bow and stern. this scale looks more correct then the 1/540 nets on the fret from GMM.






Starting the Flight Deck

 I like to remove all the raised detail from the flight deck surface. First I use a small drill to locate certain important items such as the arresting wires, catapults and the angle deck centerline. The holes are small and can be easily filled later. A chisel exacto blade makes quick work of the bigger pieces and 400 wet sandpaper does the rest.
Instead of removing the railings and sanding the catwalk smooth, I've decided to just remove the catwalks from the flight deck and replace them with styrene angle. Again the exacto saw and a cleanup with 400 wet sandpaper works well. I have some very good drawings of the Yorktown flight deck to go by. I intend to cement the elevators in place and fill in the gaps and sand them smooth. The decals will indicate the elevators.

Stern Gun Tubs



 I used some pieces of the removed hull bottom to make angles that would hold 2 small nuts that will secure the model to the mounting. 5 minute epoxy was used to cement the nuts on.
The gun tubs at the stern are different from the stern of the Yorktown. The Yorktown is one long back porch so I started by trimming the sides from the gun tubs and rounding them with sandpaper. The gap was filled with a piece square plastic rod. A strip of .010" styrene was shaped around and putty filled the gaps. Sanded it all smooth and applied some paint to check for imperfections.

Making this a waterline model


I've decided to build this as a waterline model because there are some inaccuracies below the waterline and I like waterline models anyway. Masking tape was used to mark the waterline and guide the cutting. I found that by using short length's of tape it is easier to keep the tape straight on the waterline. Xacto saw does the trick. Next, removing the molded railings since I'll be using photoetched . This was also a job for the xacto saw but it was quit a tedious process and I really made a mess of it in a couple of places. Nothing some putty and sanding can't fix though. Started attaching the bulkheads and hanger deck sides along with the gun tubs on the sponsons. Something I've learned from building older kits like this one. In order to keep the frustration level down I try to remind myself that decades ago when these kits were first sold they were really toys. They were not the well detailed and well fitting kits we see today from Tamya, Trumpeter etc. So even after a lot of fitting and filling it still might not look quite right. Just sayn'.





The kit

Today I picked up a Revell USS Hornet kit in 1/530 scale. This is a reissue of a very old kit. I remember seeing them in stores when I was just a kid. The plastic inside is the same even though the kit has been marketed as other ships including Essex and Wasp. I have also built this kit a few years ago as the Shangri-La. A good friend of mine from the navy spent time aboard the Yorktown so I plan to build this as CVS-10. Gold Medal Models makes a photoetched detail set with some nice touches like radars and railings that I'll be using.