Navwar CAT Merchant

The following is an excerpt from "Eighteenth-Century Colonial American Merchant Ship Construction" by  Kellie Michelle Vanhorn:

"Cat

Cats were developed in northern England around 1700 in response to Dutch flutes; they generally measured 250-300 tons and were used in bulk cargo trades such as coal and timber. Chapman's plans show the cat to have a broad, round stern with a narrow square transom above. The bow is bluff with a plain stem and full entrance, but the run is finer. With little deadrise and hard bilges, the hull shape is boxy and the sides are verticle, even on the smaller vessels. Chapman uses ship, snow, brig, and sloop rigs on his cats and they could all carry guns for defense."

Here is my rendition of Navwar's version of this merchant vessel. Since it was developed from the Dutch flute, I am using her as a Danish trader.

At first I intended on using the Navwar sails that came with the model and just replacing the masts. But the fore topsail was a flawed mold cast.

Looks like a pour bubble ruined the top of the sail

 I found a spare matching foremast sail set in my scrap pile but I let the Dremel tool run away while removing the topsail and ruined it too! Grrrrr.....

So back to my usual of scratch sails and masts. I chose the Langton unrated bomb sail set from my Mast Log that were about the right size.

Masts, sails and spars

 The quarter deck was flush at the stern with no bulwarks or rail at all so I had to add some wire rings for later rigging. I also lifted the hull by adding a balsa layer to the bottom.

Side shot of the hull, Stem left Stern right. The rings I had to add at the stern just visible. You will also note the wood hull extension added to the bottom to lift the hull a bit

Comparison shot with the GHQ West Indies Merchant

I'm not sure what I am going to do next. Maybe another merchant?