Brainchild

Apologies upfront for too many words - it's just that I wrote without much of a filter and things kept coming to mind. This is such a wonderfully difficult question – right up there with, “What is the meaning of life?” However, it is easy to offer one’s views. So … here we go. I have enjoyed reading everyone’s responses and, like many contributors, I agree with most of what has been said. I think my three top criteria for the appropriateness of the label “entry level” to a kit are: instructions and plans that are clear, extensive and visually well supported (i.e. with lots of photos and drawings); a reasonable completion timeframe (2-to-4 months of model building in place of half of the 3-to-4 hours a day of TV?) ; and some aesthetic and/or emotional appeal in the particular ship. I definitely agree with those who mentioned the importance of at least some previous modelling experience (plastic kits, model railroads, dollhouses and miniature furniture, etc. – collecting die-cast cars doesn’t help much!) My first wooden ship kit (28 years ago, I think) was the Santa Maria (which I only know because we moved house last week and my wife discovered the old “plans”), which I abandoned (once I had split and broken enough bow planking holding it over a steaming kettle) and eventually threw out. About 5 years later I saw the AL Marie-Jeanne in a hobby store (where I was looking at plastic plane kits with my dad) and thought it looked cute, so I bought it. No problems building that kit – better instructions. Then I picked up a couple of kits on “special” – La Toulonnaise by Carta Augusto, and the Amati Bounty. My next build, however, was a scratch build from the plans for La Toulonnaise, but expanded by 35% and adapted to accommodate radio control. Took a year, drove my wife and kids crazy, but looked great on the water. Then family stuff and my other hobby – playing French-horn – kind of took over for about 10 years. Then I happened to be on the Internet browsing something about ships and I came across a reference to the Kate Cory. Well, my real name is Cory and my wife’s name is Kate, so getting back to model shipbuilding became a no-brainer. Even better … the Kate Cory is an “entry level” kit. Ha, freakin’ ha!! I agree with Chris’ comment on this claim. I planked the solid hull because I wanted it to look planked, but planking isn’t hard (and now of course I realize that adding planking to it violated the overall “scale” dimensions of the hull), but there is so much to do and so much detail (oars, paddles, harpoons, cutters, rope buckets, grapnel hooks, etc. and that’s just stuff for the whaleboats – each of them!!). And rigging is the greatest void in my knowledge. (Maybe add relatively simple rigging to my “entry level” criteria.) My personal opinion is that the Kate Cory should ABSOLUTELY NOT be billed as “entry level” – unless it is to be a baptism by fire and an initiation test: if you can get through the Kate Cory and produce a decent result then, congratulations, you can enter the world of model ship building! I have been “working” on the Kate Cory off and on (much of it off) for about 10 years; at this point there is “only the rigging” to go. However, I have more time available now and I expect to finish it by the end of summer. I am looking forward to retirement this fall and I have a cupboard of kits to learn from – starting with the MSW Bounty Launch and then the Amati Bounty (having had it in my cupboard for 20-plus years). I think Brian’s comment that the modeller is as much a factor as the “level” of the kit is bang-on. Very important, I think, is having a perspective/mindset through which you can see progress and get a sense of accomplishment from the completion of small tasks. In completing a model ship, you haven’t completed one thing, you have completed maybe 4,000 things, many of which are visible and even impressive singly, let alone all together. In that way it is a fabulous hobby. Also, especially with a site like this, there is so much to learn. And so much to inspire (and sometimes intimidate!) – so many people who do this so well.

I used cedar to plank the hull of a scratch-built radio-controlled version of La Toulonnaise (for which I used a 35% enlarged version of the plans for a Carta Augusto kit that I still have in the box). I had seen cedar used for hull planking on several soling one meter models. I found that working and bending the cedar was easy. (If you want a bending challenge, try edge-bending 3/32 by 3/8 maple for a caprail!! Of course, that was in 1994; I was younger then!) I used bamboo for treenails. Yes, the cedar grain is too large for static display models and for deck furniture. However, coated with epoxy (inside and out for waterproofing) and at a short distance, my Toulonnaise looked really good in the water. On a painted hull, I would use cedar any time - especially if I had a lifetime supply. I would find the principal challenge to be milling it! Oh - and it really hurts when it goes into your fingers when sanding!!!