| Academy 1/160 Cutty Sark |  | Background The Cutty Sark was launched on 23 November 1869, designed to be the fastest merchant clipper in the world. Designed in Scotland by Scotten & Linton, the Cutty Sark was intended to outperform another Scottish clipper, the Thermopylae (at that time, the fastest clipper in the world). During this era, these clippers were built to support trade between London and China and the only way to reach China was around the Horn of Africa. Races were routinely run to encourage rapid transit to/from China and keep the trade flowing. Unfortunately (for the Cutty Sark), the Suez Canal was also opened in 1869 and reliable steamship traffic commenced shortly thereafter between London and China. The age of the high-speed Clipper was almost over. In 1879, Cutty Sark became a wool clipper, connecting Syndey Australia with London. While Thermopylae joined the fleet two years later, Cutty Sark was still the fastest Clipper in service. In 1915, Cutty Sark was sold and sent off for restoration. She was presented to the Thames Nautical Training College in 1936. After WW2, Cutty Sark was placed in a special dry dock where she remains on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The Kit Academy's Cutty Sark is made of injection-molded styrene for the ship and its structures and vacuformed plastic for its sails. In fact, the injection molded parts are provided in multiple colors to allow for some modelers to assemble a nice-looking ship without painting. The hull and rat lines are molded in black, the decks are molded in tan, the railings and trim in white, and the masts and deck houses in dark brown. The instructions do provide detailed painting instructions to achieve a more realistic rendition of this vessel. The first 12 steps in the instructions are focused on the hull and deck structures/fittings. Steps 13 & 14 add the masts and anchors. The remaining eight steps focus on rigging and installation of the sails. The layout for construction and rigging of this ship is nicely done and there does not appear to be any lurking problems for the average modeler. As with any sailing ship, much of the beauty and artwork lies within the rigging. If you're like me, I am knot impaired and projects like this have always intimidated me. Academy addresses this fear with a nice tutorial on knots as an annex to the instructions. With a little patience and a little less caffeine, I can see that this project is not at all difficult. Conclusion Academy's 1/160 scale Cutty Sark is an ideal kit for someone who has never built a sailing ship before. At 17.5 inches long, the hull is not large and won't occupy much display space. Since the Cutty Sark was a merchant clipper near the turn of the century (the 20th century that is), she was not armed and therefore her deck is a simple design. As with any sailing ship, there is a load of rigging to run and you will become acquainted with a variety of knots. The instruction book has a nice tutorial on knot tying in the back of the booklet. I recommend this kit to anyone wishing to try out a sailing ship model for the first time or to any ship modeler looking for a pleasant project to tackle. My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample! | 
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