wemattson

Life got in the way of my ship building and therefore, progress has been a little slow this past week. Over the last couple of days I was able to cut the slot for the bowsprit, which I did by cutting multiple slots with an X-acto saw followed by using a small chisel to remove the slivers. This was finished off with sanding sticks. Once the bowsprit is installed, I'll fill in the gap between the bowsprit and cap rail with a small block of wood carefully shaped to fit. As I look back at these pictures, I see I need to do a little fine tuning. It's also funny how the stem knee looks crooked but in real life it's straight.

Thanks for the feedback. This build might take a bit of time, I'm trying to learn how to enjoy the journey, not sprint to the finish as I have sometimes done on some of my plastic scale models.

Finished up shaping the hull and carving the bulwarks. The instructions indicate that the bulwarks should be carved down to 1/32" thickness. I used a Dremel to carve most of it and then sanded the rest down to a thickness that I felt comfortable with, which wasn't quite 1/32". It finished up somewhere between 1/16" and 1/32". I was too nervous to go any further and risk breaking it. If I find myself in this situation again, I will probably cut away the pre-carved bulwarks and rebuild it with 1/32" sheet. I finished up this evening by applying a coat of sanding sealer. Tomorrow I plan on drilling the mast holes, drilling the holes for the stands and starting on the planksheers and wales.

After spending a couple of years following some of the amazing build logs that have been posted here, I figured I jump in and start a build log of my own. Part of my reasoning is to learn as much as possible from the great people here and partly to keep track of my successes and failures. Hopefully, the log will provide extra motivation to do things the right way and to follow through to completion. Having grown up in the New Bedford, Massachusetts area, whaling history was a big part of our education and is part of what defines the city. Going to the New Bedford Whaling Museum and visiting the Seamen's Bethel was a regular field trip for us not to mention that Moby Dick was required reading in school. The whole adventure of spending years at sea sailing the globe in search of whales just really captured my imagination. With that said, I have always been interested in building ship models and a model of a whaling ship was a given. I chose the Kate Cory for a couple of reasons; it was built locally (Westport, MA) and should be a fairly strait forward build as my first real wooden ship model. I almost didn't start this build after seeing the condition of the hull when I opened the box. The bow had a big chunk taken out of it, there was a real bad knot at the stern in the compound curves leading to the rudder, and there were numerous dents throughout. I almost returned the kit but I figured I should give it a try and repair it. I've built and repaired quite a few R/C airplanes and thought that this repair shouldn't present any real issues. I didn't take any pictures of the original condition of the hull but you can get a sense from looking at the filler and the glue lines from where I glued the bow piece back in place.

Wow! Beautiful work on that photoetch. The level of detail that photoetch brings to a ship model is always amazing. Keep up the good work, I'll be following this one closely. Cheers, Wayne

Joe, I went to the model shipways website and there is no mention of the Kate Cory but when you google it, the following link pops up: www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=MS2031 which when clicked on indicates that it will be available in 15 to 30 days. This kit has always been so popular you'd think that it would be in continuous production and listed with the other solid hull kits on the website. Wayne

Foxy, I have always had this model in mind as a future build. You're off to a great start and I'll be following this one closely. Wayne

Carlmb, The only one that I know of around here that is open to anybody is the USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild. They are also very welcoming to any skill level of modeler. Wayne

Carlmb, Welcome aboard! Excellent work. It's good to see someone "local" on this forum. How are the ship modelling supplies at Hanson Hobby? Cheers, Wayne

Tom, Spectacular work! Thank you for sharing this build with us. I just got back into this hobby after a long absence and following your build is like an online tutorial. Also, very inspirational. Cheers, Wayne

Anthony, Have you made anymore progress on this build? The work you've completed to date looks good and I'd like to see more of this. Cheers, Wayne