Revell Cutty Sark 1/96 Rescued, Rebuilt and Reimagined

This is the project that inspired my return to scale modelling after over a decade of inactivity.  It took 4 years and almost 8 months, albeit with many gaps due to life situations and plain old procrastination.  This was also where the seeds of my current insanity were planted - after such an intensive and extreme project my brain was stuck in the 'I need a ridiculous challenge' mode.

The Revell Cutty Sark in 1/96 scale is one of those ubiquitous tall ship kits - they produced these from about 1959 onwards through the early 2000's (I think, I'm not sure about the dates) so there are likely over a billion of these kits floating around in the world.  Back on October 01, 2009, a workmate discovered the wrecked remains being thrown out in the garbage and offered it to me ...

My original caption for this was, "Now here's my plan …"


After the aforementioned time this was what I wound up with.




























If I was given another opportunity to try and rebuild a wrecked ship model I'd run away, screaming.  But the stuff I learned from this experience was invaluable and is now being reflected in my current stupid/insane/maniacal project.  Just goes to show that I haven't really learned a thing, lol.

I remember this one too Kats.

You did an amazing job to restore it to such fine condition.

I wouldn't even contemplate taking it on.

Amazing, This one really rocks. I started this kit some time ago and do plan to return to it soon. This inspires me to get back to it.

That is very, very impressive Kats ...

Beautiful model and a brilliant piece of work to get it to that standard considering what you started with Kats.

That is unbelievable. The finished product is a work of art not even considering where it came from.

Great work, Kats.

That was a ridiculous challenge!! And you rose to it and conquered it! Amazing! I love tall sailing ships myself, but if I saw that joker as it looks in the first pic, I would have tossed more trash right in on top of it! LOL!
Well done !!

Well, I had to look didn't I? I love it; can't imagine starting with that wreck. The next to last shot looking up through the rigging is daunting alright but I am also inspired.

I see a lotta rigging, a LOTTA rigging. Big congrats on all the work.

Thank you all for your very kind comments

I should mention that when I originally 'really' got into this rebuild I had intended to have furled sails rolled up and tied off under the yards but I gave that up as it added another 30 - 40% to the rigging required - my brain was already exploding so I did not wish to add more TNT to the mix, lol.

For anyone tackling the challenge of the rigging I can say that at first it was daunting and that did not stop throughout the process. But instead of comparing it to learning a complex task I started comparing it to free climbing El Capitan - no matter how good you get, no matter how many times you may have done it, each time is a new experience and each step is very, very important to get right. There is frustration and anxiety, to be sure, but there are also those moments when you step back, take in the developing whole and think, "There is No Way I did this."

It's those moments of disbelief in your own achievements which spur you on to complete the task. Hope this helps.

So true. To do it in small steps and not get overwhelmed by the challenge is good sense. Every model will have its own pluses and minuses. To bring out the best, with your own personality added, is the result. Everyone sets goals, when things work out well, it IS amazing. Thanx for your effort.