Revell Cutty Sark

Revell's 1:220 'Cutty Sark' build.

Hand brushed using Revell Aqua acrylic and enamel paints.

A change of format for this build. The budget 'Cutty Sark' from Revell in 1:220 scale.

Since I re-started building models again I have been using Revell Enamel paints exclusively.

I got this budget kit which came with a nice set of six acrylic paints so it seemed like a good opportunity to see how Revell Aqua Colors compare with their enamel paints.

So this is like a double article really. Firstly the build itself, and secondly an assessment of the Aqua Color paints.

First impressions

And good they are too!

For the price you get a lot. Unusually included are rigging wires in black and brown, anchor rope, paints, glue and a brush.

First impressions of the kit are favorable. I was surprised at the level of detail in the surfaces. The copper cladding/riveting on the hull is really rather good. And the imitation planking on the deck is also good. Shame the planking joints are raised rather than lowered - but that's a small point.

On the down side the degree of spillover sprue is fairly noticeable. This will all need to be cut out par usual. Its not excessive just time consuming.

The climbing ribbing is very much a compromise but even here there is some potential to bring out detail in the ropes and pulleys.

All in all a lot to be satisfied with.

As a level 5 kit its a bit more challenging than some. Especially the rigging aspects.

Painting with Acrylics

Very good that Revell now produce exactly the same colours in acrylic as they do enamel. It makes swapping over very straightforward. I can just continue using my existing pallete which i am rather attached to.

I am starting with the wood textures and using this contemporary photo (right) as a guide. The supplied six colours just cannot really achieve the almost red wood of the cabins. I use a bright yellow base to achieve that look which is not included so i will use enamel for that.

A few tests (left) using the supplied Sand Yellow 16 and a little Humbrol Red acryllic. The red was a wash over the dried yellow. Different dilutions gave some pleasing and subtle results. Thats quite usable. The darker brown uses Brown 38 diluted over the same yellow base. Again subtle dilutions with water produce quite a range of colour depth.

First coat

On with some Sand Yellow 16 for the decking floorboards.

This was slightly diluted to get an even texture. Not all that impressed with the first coat which was very patchy. Slightly too diluted perhaps? The drying time is very fast - a few minutes. After an hour a second coat can be added and I was really impressed with this. Good coverage, the patchiness dissapeared and the floorboard texture still cuts through the paint very well. Giving the paint a good mix for 30 secs before use made all the difference for this second coat.

The basic colour was then sealed with some Vellejo Gloss varnish and allowed to dry overnight.

Over this basic colour i used a highly dilute 'wash' of Brown 381 to darken and add some 'wear and tear' type textures. Even highly diluted it dried very quickly, so you need to work fast. Best to do small areas.

A key difference from my usual enamel wash is that once the enamel wash has dried its pretty impossible to re work. Using an enamel wash stays workable for a lot longer, days even, so that is a bit of a limitation of using acrylics. Well see how that works out as the build progresses.