Revell Cutty Sark 1:96 with 3D printed modifications

Joined
Dec 14, 2021
Messages
144
Points
113

A while back I posted a log on the Heller HMS Victory I was working on, which I then parked in order to make the Revell Cutty Sark 1:96. The idea was to take a break from Vicrtory and work on something easier, preferably building more or less straight out of the box and being done and dusted in maybe 3 - 6 months. Well, it hasn't turned out quite that way and in the following posts I'll try to give a summary of what I've done and where I'm now at.
 
I really disliked the join lines in the revell deck, along with the positive plank lines. Consequently, I remade the deck, initially making an almost exact copy in terms of holes and placements, though later on the project evolved and the end product is more tailored to my build. My deck is made in five sections plus a standalone quarterdeck and foredeck. If you look at the first picture below, you'll see a join line right across the site of the aft cabin. That line (joint) continues across via those fake plank lines. Further to the right you'll see another set of plank end lines. These are just set into the deck as part of the design; the point I'm making is that the actual joints are all but indistinguishable from the negative plank lines.

Initially I tried printing these on a resin printer but couldn't get an acceptable joint. So I shifted to FDM which, as you can see, gave an excellent result. It's worth me mentioning that FDM seems much more reliable in terms of dimensional accuracy than resin, which was essential here as the plank lines and joints are only 0.2mm wide. I only ever print in PETG now as it seems to tick all my boxes. This photo looks like it was taken mid-way through sanding; PETG sands well, slightly hard work, but nothing to complain about.


DSC_0023 (4).JPGDSC_0022 (5).JPG

The version above was not the final product and, fast forwarding, it was the one below. The major difference was that I originally printed the deck at about 1mm thick and had an evergreen backing sheet plus a clunky framework to give it some rigidity. Glueing it together was very tricky and I ended up using double-sided tape instead. The version below is 5mm thick. This is just thin enough to allow fore to aft flexing to the shape of ther waterways and the lateral curve on the top surface is designed in. The bottom is flat. It doesn't require any bracing but I did have to create custom locating lugs below the waterways to accommodate the extra thickness. Glueing was very straightforward: I placed the first piece on top of a long piece of baking parchment, lightly clamped it in place, then applied rapid epoxy to the next piece, clamped, gave it a few minutes, then repeated for the next 3 sections.

IMG_20220814_084246.jpg
 
Another area I decided to try to improve was the rails along the bulwarks, in part because from the outset I'd decided to do my own shrouds ratlines etc. This meant cutting away all the gussets which revell use instead of stanchions.

DSC_0015 (5).JPG

I'm afraid I don't have any good photos of the home-made pinrails other than these two shots. As you can see, I designed in the 'lozenges' which are absent. This was an important part of the glueing strategy as it means there is a fairly substantial bit of plastic being joined rather than just the back edge of the rails. I prepped for this by masking the corresponding areas of the bulwarks prior to painting and glued using epoxy so that I'd have slightly more time for fine adjustments before everything set. You'll see from post #2 that I then glued in stanchions, these are just short lengths of 0.8mm evergreen.

pinrails.jpg

IMG_20220530_231644.jpg
 
As a complete beginner (assuming I complete it, this will be my first model in 50 years) I spent a lot of time trying to learn a bit about model painting as I wanted to get a teak finish on the deck furniture. I've had mixed results - the photo below, of a scratch-designed booby hatch, is probably the results at their best, if I'm honest. But it all comes down to the light, time of day, perspective etc. Sometimes everything just looks orange, other times much too dark, and so on. As with most things that I'm describing here, it was a long path through to this result which involved trying out inks, acrylic washes, and all kinds of mixes, until I settled on a technique gleaned from the british model railway community here https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13594

DSC_0009 (4) small.JPG


IMG_20220805_203629.jpg
 
Last edited:
Another area for 3D attention was the windlass. The revell kit part sees this almost hidden away under the foredeck but, as any visitor will attest, this is an imposing machine on the real ship. Getting it out into the open and bigger meant re-working the foredeck a little, for which I copied the Campbell drawings. Personally I much prefer the longer, campbell foredeck, it accentuates the sharpness of the bow.

In passing, I'm still re-working this area a little: something I realised, usually too late, is that the revell scaling is often miles out. Those ringbolts on the foredeck, at their existing scale, would be knee high in real life so I'm making these a bit small. It's probably too late for the bitts.

IMG_20220814_084742.jpg
 
It's probably been evident from other photos that I wanted to do something a little different with the hatches; this is the main hatch, which I'm leaving open like so, looking down onto a cargo of wool bales. The fore hatch is closed and the aft hatch is a proper booby. It's a nonsense of course to have the hatch planks stacked like this but, as they say, it's my model and I'll do what I like with it!!! :) .

IMG_20220828_164004.jpg
 
Well impressed so far, the real deal was actually built 7 miles from my house, just sayin'
 
A few bits and pieces to round off for today;

Another little machine, the pump. I think I just made it because they are fun to do, and the revell part is quite okay.
1661702977038.png

A scratch built ships bell that goes just beside the entrance to the quarterdeck cabin

IMG_20220601_133011.jpg

Following a mini-catastrophe where I dropped the quarterdeck assembly and had to remake it, I lowered the height of the skylight and gave it louvres. The louvres themselves are now painted brass colour.
DSC_0010 (9).JPG

Though it doesn't show up so well here, after the accident I gave a lot more room between the quarterdeck cabin and steering wheel, and gave the steering gear box an upward tilt. I also added some anchor points to the stern

IMG_20220814_084758.jpg
 
So, where am I at currently? Well, the reason I haven't covered the rather pretty catheads and whisker-booms I made earlier is because I broke one of them while trying to correct one of the most stupid mistakes imaginable - putting them on wrong handed. So now I'm fixing that and the enormous gouge I managed to put in the foredeck when the scalpel slipped. All part of the journey!

I have two other big-ish things on the go while I finish off the deck detail: I've been modelling a clinker built jolly boat, bit by bit; and I've started experimenting with remaking the masts and spars.

The jolly boat is quite repetitious and hard work, so I just do a bit when I'm in the mood. The aim is to create a set of clinker-built ships boats that can hopefully be adjusted to suit more or less any age of sail model, by simply adjusting the length and breadth and/or scale. This is what it'll come out like, all going well (this is a 3D render of a reference model).

jolly boat 1.jpg

The masts and spars - also a bit heavy going because, at this point in time, I have virtually zero understanding of the arrangements and fixings. I'm reading the various authorities, Underhill etc, and trying to keep my eyes open for more than a page. I failed all my school exams and became a craftsman for a reason and nothing has changed there!
 
You are doing an excellent job on the model, but what the heck are FDM and PETG? ;)
Hi Jim, apologies for not explaining the tech at the outset. Here’s a brief trot through 3D as used by me.

I do all my design work using Fusion360. This is not very different to traditional pencil and paper component design, except f360 enables you to turn the digital drawings into (virtual) 3D parts. I occasionally use other software such as Meshmixer if I need to sculpt something but this is rare. Turning objects from the virtual to real requires converting them into a printable format, commonly called an .STL file.

I have both resin (SLA) and filament (FDM) printing gear and use this according to whichever I think is best suited to the task. Resin printing basically uses a laser to cure tiny layers of liquid resin; filament fuses thin layers of melted plastic together. Most people start out buying an FDM printer as it’s cheap, clean and fun. Resin has a slightly unwarranted reputation for being more expensive, smelly, messy and hazardous.

As a very general rule, my default is resin, as this gives the best finish and is much better for detail. All the deck furniture including the cabins is printed in resin. I am still experimenting with resins, in a quest for the ideal, and these days I mostly use my own blend of Elegoo ABS-Like and Syratech Fast at a ratio of 50:50.

However, resin tends to be brittle and lacking in some other material properties. Filament can be much better in this respect and I tend to turn to it when I’m making parts, tools or equipment for the home and garden, or anywhere that I can compromise on finish or detail. For this model all three decks were printed using FDM. There are loads of different filaments available for FDM, such as ABS, PETG, Nylon, PLA. Each has slightly different properties and requirements. For instance you can smooth the surface of ABS post-printing with acetone, making it very popular with people who make war gaming miniatures, but it needs to be printed at a particularly high temperature and I’ve never got on with it so far. The ‘standard’ material is PLA, this can be printed at lower temperatures, comfortably within the capability of the typical hobby printer, but it’s a fairly rigid material. I prefer PETG, which is halfway between PLA and ABS; it’s also easy to print, but has the flexibility of ABS, however it has to be sanded by hand if you want a fine finish.

I hope that’s shed a little light on the basic 3D tech.
 
I like the 'brief' trot... ;) So, you are using the hobby-type 3D printer, correct? The results are excellent as far as I can judge.
 
I like the 'brief' trot... ;) So, you are using the hobby-type 3D printer, correct? The results are excellent as far as I can judge.
Yes, entry (hobby) level kit. A Creality Ender 3 Pro for FDM and both an Elegoo Mars 2 and Elegoo Saturn for resin. The quality of resin printing is mind-blowing, way, way better than that of injection-moulded kits. A few people are starting to sell resin aftermarket parts for popular kits like this and the Victory (I may join them presently) and there are even some newer kits that include some resin parts.
 
This is the re-made cathead assembly, complete with the cats head decoration on the end, positioned correctly. Once the oil paint on the railing has dried it'll get glued in again. I found a freely downloadable .stl of the cats head on the dunfermline museum website (I think), then scaled and edited it a little for my purposes. Like the winches and pump, parts like this are fiddly but fun to make and, likewise, are a mixture of resin printing and 0.5mm metal wire (for the chain gear release here).

IMG_20220829_080851.jpg


IMG_20220828_175951.jpg
 
amazing job, excelent tips. I´ll use it the day I start with this kit, today in my stash
Give me a shout when you do, and I’ll tell you a few more things I’d do differently next time. I can tell you now that I’d remake the hull, because this would give the freedom to do all manner of things better. It’s worth knowing that the revell deck is about 4mm or 5mm too high, which causes probs down the line.
 
Give me a shout when you do, and I’ll tell you a few more things I’d do differently next time. I can tell you now that I’d remake the hull, because this would give the freedom to do all manner of things better. It’s worth knowing that the revell deck is about 4mm or 5mm too high, which causes probs down the line.
Thanks for the comment Kevin!!!
 
Back
Top