Kate Cory by jablackwell - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[jablackwell]

Here's to a new log!  I am starting the Kate Cory now, a solid hull 1:64 scale model from Model Shipways. The hull came in excellent shape with only minor re-shaping to get down to the final measure. The hardest part was the bulwark thinning, which they recommend a chisel to carve down. I used a Dremel Tool.... Wear a mask if you try this, as basswood in the lungs is a bit unhealthy ;-)  

 

The sterm of the ship needed the most wood removal and reshaping. That also prompted me to use a Dremel sanding drum, which worked swiftly. With some hand sanding afterwards, the whole thing is coming along nicely.  I used a smaller chisel to square off the deck levels and trim the bulwarks closer to the deck. 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I am going to work on the deck bevel and do some fine sanding to the exterior. I want to add a shiny coat of varnish or something to make the coppered portion stick better... raw wood is a no-go for self adhesive copper tapes it turns out, as a simple experiment shows that smooth wood just lets the tape peel off. Testing is good.

 

~johnb

Edited November 14, 2016 by jablackwell

[samueljr]

John,

 

I built the KC about 20 years ago. Still one of my favorite ships/kits.  Did you get the expanded set of plans from the New Bedford Museum. Also there is a series of articles from Eric Ronenburg (sp?) from the old SIS magazine called Whale Craft that are excellent. They follow along his build of the KC.

 

Also take a look at this site. It's an outstanding version of the Kate.

 

Good luck!

 

Sam

[samueljr]

Forgot to attach the site...... sorry

 

tjlauria.com/gallery/whaling-schooner-kate-cory

 

Sam

[augie]

Welcome aboard, Johnb.  Think I'll pull up a chair for the Kate Cory.

 

Good hunting!

[ccoyle]

I have this kit, and even started on it.  Since then, it's been bumped to the way back burner.  She's a lovely ship, though, and I will be interested to see how your model turns out.  Good luck!

[jablackwell]

Sam, 

 

Thank you for the information on the museum plan copies: I thoroughly intend to grab a set. The museum is perhaps a couple of hours south of me, so it sounds like there's a journey in store for us some time this summer ;-)    On the magazine issues: It took me a while to sort out the meaning of SiS (Ships in Scale)... they are still in print. The best part is that they also have many of their back issues on CD. Love that!  Thanks for helping this newbie out. I appreciate it,

 

~john

 

 

John,

 

I built the KC about 20 years ago. Still one of my favorite ships/kits.  Did you get the expanded set of plans from the New Bedford Museum. Also there is a series of articles from Eric Ronenburg (sp?) from the old SIS magazine called Whale Craft that are excellent. They follow along his build of the KC.

 

Also take a look at this site. It's an outstanding version of the Kate.

 

Good luck!

 

Sam

[torpedochief]

Hey John!

 

Brother I will be hanging on every word and picture.  I have a Kate Cory that is coming up in the building que. She is quite the ship!

 

Chief Don

[samueljr]

John,

 

You're welcome. If there's anything I can do to help - let me know.  

 

don't forget to take a look at that web site - it's a great reference as well

 

Sam

[jablackwell]

Hull shaping is complete and keel in place. Now to mark the water line, add the outboard planksheer, and copper the hull.

 

 

I have been scouring the web a little and found a couple of good references to hull coppering (here, in fact!) and then found myself needing to reconsider the order of building:

 

I am going to mark the waterline now.

Next, paint the region above the waterline black.

Add the outboard planksheer, which is pre-painted white.

Then copper up to the waterline.  

 

One thing that has me a little stumped is the location of the gore line. Copper plates are added from stern to stem, bottom to the gore line, then added in a second belt from the gore line to the water line. This all looks very nice in the hand sketches, but I can't find "gore line" defined or described in enough detail.... more web hunting, unless one of you marvelous readers knows the answer    

 

Here's where she is as of this afternoon....

 

 

 

 

[hamilton]

Hi John:

 

I built the Kate Cory a few years ago and had a lot of fun doing it. She builds up into a really nice model - that was before I joined MSW but I took some photos of the process - if you need some references for particular parts of the build just let me know and I'll gladly share if I've got what you need.

 

Good luck

hamilton

[Pete Jaquith]

John,

 

I will be watching your build log as "Kate Cory" is a fine looking vessel and she is definitely on my bucket list.

 

With respect to coppering:

 

>>> If you are using copper tape carefully finish your hull 1st as any blemish will show through the finished tape

>>> As you noted, varnish or finish your wooden hull prior to coppering

>>> You might consider completing and painting the upper hull prior to coppering to minimize handling damage

>>> Your "Kate cory" drawings/instructions should show the gore line as I used it as an example for my "Eagle" 1847 build

>>> I have posted my coppering process here on MSW; additionally, my "Newsboy" 1854 and "Eagle" 1847 show coppering pictures

 

Best of luck on "Kate Cory",

 

Pete Jaquith

Shipbuilder

Edited June 1, 2014 by Pete Jaquith

[jablackwell]

Hello Pete,

 

I had hoped that the gore line would have been marked, but it is not. No indication whatsoever on the plans. I have a healthy idea of the "point" of the gore line... that there is a transition from the plates applied from the keel up... eventually they become "too diagonal" to the waterline, so a new row must be formed that is parallel to the waterline at some point. The jagged triangles must be lopped off, etc... I am just not able to tell where that point is or should be. I am hoping that plans from the museum will help out here.

 

~john

[Pete Jaquith]

John,

 

I don't have my drawings here, but I seem to recall a sketch in the Instruction Manual that shows the gore line. Also, maybe the museum plans will assist. I have attached pictures of my "Eagle" 1847 coppering plan and the model application as I coppied the "Kate Cory" in my interpertation.

 

Regards,

Pete

Edited June 3, 2014 by Pete Jaquith

[jablackwell]

Hi Pete,

 

Nice work on the Eagle there. The gore line is quite evident there and in the sheet that you image with it.  I got the museum sheets in the mail today (read: excited!) and right there on the first sheet is the coppering detail. I am thrilled by that, as it has allowed me to relax a bit and focus more on finishing the wood smoothly and planning for the coatings before coppering. I think I should be all set at this stage, but like all ship models, I am sure to run into more challenges as I work along. It is a little surprising that the gore line and coppering detail is not mentioned in the kit instructions or on the plans. You have to love archival plans!  

 

Best to you,

~john

Edited June 3, 2014 by jablackwell

[jablackwell]

Update:

As hoped for, the plans from the Maritime Museum has a couple of verticals with the copper plating well detailed and easily measurable with a set of calipers and scale. This eases the mind a little, for sure. Now... to get some time to place some varnish onto the hull and get that process going.

~john

[jablackwell]

Worked on establishing the water line today. It turns out that a old fashioned #2 pencil is a perfect object to lift the bow to the right angle to make drawing the WL an easy task.  I used a level table as a base, then a level on the hull to make sure things were aligned properly. First try? No - that was not quite right. Second try? Yes indeed. All is well.  A pencil strapped to a machinist square was my drawing jig, and it worked just fine. Keeping things simple around here ;-)

 

The next phase will be to paint down to the waterline black and from the waterline down use a poly to smooth out the wood and get it ready for coppering. Once painted, I'll add the planksheer and wales, then onto coppering.

 

~john

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jablackwell]

OK - Today I painted the hull above the waterline black, two coats, and then poly'ed the hull below the waterline to prep for coppering. It's beginning to look a lot like a ship now. 

 

I am now thinking about the planksheers and wales and how I need to build a jig to bend them properly.

 

Anyone reading this:  Looking ahead, I have to get the name of the ship on the transom in some way. How are people doing this these days? I doubt free-hand painting, but maybe some of you do that. Decals? Rub-ons? 

 

~john

 

 

 

[jablackwell]

Started to copper the hull today after a few clean layers of poly were polished on. This process is a little tedious though not even 1% as difficult as I thought it would be. As with many things in life, the anticipation makes it seem so much more difficult. I finished with two completed rows:

 

~John

 

 

[augie]

I know that feeling of anticipation.  Not so bad once you get the hang of it.  Carry on, mate!

[jablackwell]

This has been a productive week. Half of the hull is now coppered. There were some interesting moments, but there is one piece of wisdom here to make it all easier: it's just tape. Pull it off and start again if needed. ;-)  

Now to see if I can get the other side to look as good and in mirror image! 

 

 

 

~john

 

 

[Pete Jaquith]

John,

 

Very nice work.  The copper sheathing realy sets off your model.

 

Cheers,

Pete

[hamilton]

The coppering looks great! A lot of painstaking work but it really pays off in the finished look. Well done

hamilton

[jablackwell]

Thank you for the kind words all. I have completed the hull coppering, which, surprisingly looks very mirror-imaged from port to starboard. I am happy with it.  

 

I spent the free time today getting all the other parts organized for the remaining build. I also ordered some Testors grey primer for the Britannia Metal parts that I'll use. I still haven't decided upon scratch building some, most or all of them yet. I think I'll wait and see as the build progresses.   To get things organized, I am using a small plastic glass bead holder (found in the art store jewelry making section) for the blocks and other many small parts. I then gather and labeled all the wood with masking tape tags. Here we go!

 

 

and sorry this is a little blurry. You can see the VERY useful calculator and calipers for measuring the wood.

 

 

~john

[jablackwell]

A busy weekend has proved fruitful. I went forward with adding the whales, outboard planksheer and rudder. The copper has been coated with Testors Dullcoat Varnish (spray). I like the dull matt finish it created. The whole thing is starting to come together rather nicely. I am really pleased with the fortunate mirror-image from starboard to port... not at all like my first build!  A little careful measuring makes the difference.  

 

 

 

Now to work on the stern with some details. 

 

~john

[jablackwell]

Worked on the transom: eagle added along with name and moulding strips.  

It took me a while to realize that adding the name was not a matter of painting it on by hand, but is easily done with a little magic done with a printer, the correct font choice and some scissors.  ;-)   

 

 

~John

 

[augie]

Stern is looking very nice indeed.

[dgbot]

You are making good progress.  The Kate Corey makes into a nice build.

David B

[Kelp]

Hi John,

 

Can you describe your process for printing out the letters on the stern, such as type of paper & font, etc.  How did you get white letters?

 

Thanks,

Don

[Bill Tuttle]

JOHN,

 

I will be interested in your progress on this also.  I am in the process of rigging a scratch built Kate Cory from Ronnbergs plans previously mentioned in this dialogue.  I didn't know they were still available and I have been working on this off and on for many years.  I am now in the process of beginning the running rigging.  Still have to carve the eagle on the stern and I am in the middle of making blocks now.

 

Stay in touch and I will be happy to help wherever my limited expertise can provide aid.  This project has been in place for so many years that I am seeing many things that would be done differently now as my expertise has progressed.  I am also a little obsessive compulsive which I am sure we all suffer from and requires me to keep going back and correcting things previously completed.  I just need to move forward finish this up and get another project started.

 

Good Luck!

 

Bill 

Edited September 9, 2014 by biltut

[jablackwell]

Hi John,

 

Can you describe your process for printing out the letters on the stern, such as type of paper & font, etc.  How did you get white letters?

 

Thanks,

Don

 

Hi Don,

 

Sure thing. I had been worrying a lot about getting lettering on this model and doing it appropriately. I finally figured out a method that worked out reasonably well. I used MS Word to print out the lettering using an appropriate font. Then, copied and pasted that a bunch of times on the page, all in slightly different font sizes. I then added TAB characters all around the wording, selected everything and selected font color to be white. The text is now invisible. I selected everything again and then used the Word highlight feature to, well, highlight the text. I then chose black as the highlight color (not the normal yellow).  Done! All that was needed was to slice out the strips and see which one best fit the model.  I used some contact cement to attach. 

Hope this helps. See attached screen shot.  

 

 

 

~john