Restoration of a Large Sailing Model, 1

RESTORING AN ANTIQUE SAILING MODEL OF THE SCHOONER

SADIE MORSE

In the “ON THE WORKBENCH” section of the site, I’ve always highlighted a new project, L. A . Dunton. Emma C. Berry, Kate Cory. But I thought since I have been doing a lot of repair work lately,...Read More »

Restoration of a Large Sailing Model, 2

SAILS, SPARS AND RIGGING

I will discuss my findings in the order above and try to address them from fore to aft, top to bottom and port to starboard, as needed.

SAILS

When The client and I discussed how the repairs would be carried out, he mentioned that he might like to...Read More »

Restoration of a Large Sailing Model, 3

Just finding out what needs to be done took quite a long time with this model. Here, we continue the findings, moving further on with the spars and the aft cabin.

THE FOREMAST had sustained some damage a long time ago. The broken section was at...Read More »

Restoration of a Large Sailing Model, 4

PART TWO

From this point on, the actual repair work begins

For ease of transportation to my studio, all of the temporary rigging was removed, the model was dis-masted and it was packed into my car.

Once in the studio, many “before” photos were taken and there was much poking and...Read More »

Restoration of a Large Sailing Model, 5

THE SPARS

The majority of the time repairing this model was spent on the spars, sails and rigging. As I did earlier, I will outline the repairs from fore to aft and port to starboard. THE BOWSPRIT AND JIB BOOM were in good condition and needed no repairs. ...Read More »

Restoration of a Large Sailing Model, 6

In Part One of this report, I outlined the damage discovered on the MAINMAST. The repair for this mast and the foremast are very similar. After determining how much needed to be cut away, a diagonal scarf was cut into the sound part of the mast. Again,...Read More »

Ships in Scale Magazine

The November-December issue of Ships in Scale magazine has the first part of the article I wrote about building the Kate Cory. It’s also the cover story (my first)! It seems they plan to publish the rest of the article over the next two issues. So, January-February, then, March-April will...Read More »

Building the Kate Cory

Hull and Deck Details

Here you’ll find some of the “whys” and “hows” of scratch building this sweet little whaling brig.

...Read More »

Building the Kate Cory, Part 2

Whaleboats

Kate Cory carried four whaleboats; 3 active and fully equipped boats which hung from iron davits and 1 spare boat carried on the “featherboards” off...Read More »

Building the Kate Cory, Part 3

Finishing Things Up

In Part 3, I talk a bit about how I dealt with filling the gaps in historical information. It will also conclude this series on the project.

Many people ask me how I...Read More »