Vivian Galad

Wim, many thanks. As I build my ships and study about them, I learn a lot and begin wishing to build more of them, for the Junk has so many regional variations and lots of forms to explore. But that is for the future. ^^

Mark, I´m already intending on buying the Cocca Hanseatica plans from Euromodels, let me just recover from the last buy (3 kits on a row were a bit expensive, since I paid a lot of taxes). Then, only the time can say what I´ll do! Darkside calling is too strong. Doretolmin, lots of fun, lots of research. I´ll get there on the scratch. Grant, I´ve been looking through a lot of immages from this type of vessel and discovered that there´s a lot of freedom on building them ships, since the junks are there for about 2.8k years. There are a lot of variants regarding riverine types and seagoing vessels and regions. As I put on scale, the window didn´t seem too large, yet, I´ll try not to hurry and be careful on instaling the windows. Doors I´ll keep the kit´s, cause I can just put some hinges and open them. Lots of work and fun on the next days. A question, though; can the modelist go for the beverages too? Popeye, as said before, I´ll be very careful on scaling, but the cabin has to be seen, that´s for sure. A pin pusher sounds nice, I´ll be searchin for it. Ty for the tip! =*

Hey Dan, thanks for the immage, as the cog is on my target too, the immage goes to my data bank regarding this type of ship. I´m really involved in the building ship´s world and have passed through a lot of research on the last few months. There is much to learn from these ancient pieces of art! Michael, we can only imagine, since all attempts but one were a failure on replicating the caravels´ discovery voyages. Popeye, it won´t be my last, but will be my first, cherished through the years to come as my call into the model ship world! Ty!

Sam, thanks for sharing all the fun and be always welcome. I made a butt joint for the external framing and lapped for the internal; thinking on buying some magnifiers to see if I can do them cuts even smaller, lol.

A beauty to the eyes!

Daniel, in truth, yes. I thought the metal fittings too small to be a good peering hole to my cabins (if I opened holes on them, for example), so it would be if I made the new window frame in the same scale. As the size I choose is still small, on a scale for 1:60, I have a window of about 1,2m x 0,8m. Not so bad. ^^ Max, still thinking what I´ll need to do for that, but I will! =D

Well, was just experimenting and did this: That´s the first modification on the kit, since this brass windows won´t be glued to my ship. Also, as I wish to have cabins or something of the sort, windows need holes, so ppl can peer inside. Thinking about some led to throw light in there too. It seems a good window frame or should I work a little harder on them?

Well, Max, it´ll be a messed championship - too much heated feelings about it. Think u won´t miss anything from staying at home with your ships. Danke!! It´s been fun already! =*

Hola, Raymond!! I saw your vietnamese junk, nice work in her. Took my time to read some of your link and compare with your build - nicely rigged! And it is a valuable source, many thanks. ^^

Just some pics for comparison and explanations on what I changed from the original instructions. Kit instruction My view Explaining what I´ve changed: 1 - Bowsprit (?) - Maybe not a bowsprit, for it has no function as one, but this piece on the fore didn´t pleased me, so, it was cut more like some other references I found. 2 - Peering holes - Didn´t like them from the beginning, but that´s not all. When I was reinforcing the hull some planks couldn´t fit cause the pre-cut parts just ignored this building step. To fix the problem I remade the planking on this part of the ship and completely closed the holes. 3 - Collor for the Hull - The kit´s instruction tells us to paint the hull black. I thought it would be a shame to put all timber to paint and made it different - used betume on the hull to give an aged look and then a wood sealer to protect the wood. Disagreeing with the kit´s excuse for the painting (iconography shows black hulls), we don´t have any proofs about the hull colors and although the iconography shows dark hulls, it was hard to have the right color to paint the hull on the middle ages - almost all iconography shows dark hulls for many types of ships, and those we have some evidence were not that patterned on painting. 4 - Rudder´s fittings (holders) - That was something the kit didn´t provide. Had to improvise and make my own with the few tools I had. In the instructions it is left with the original collor (brass), mine, as all metal on the ship, was painted black. 5 - Deadeyes - this took me some time. Deadeyes provided were lead, as all metal fittings. The manufactor said it was because he thought wooden deadeyes didn´t show a realistic view, since deadeys were handmade. Well, I disagreed again and had to order new fittings. Deadeyes took 1 month to arrive, but the results are way better. Funny part is that in the instructions the deadeyes are wood. 6 - Didn´t put the flags. Those which came with the kit were paper and I prefer to have my caravel countryless. 7 - Cleaning holes - Intructions told me to make four of them in each side. After searching for immages on the case, I found it was pretty conjectural and made 2 on each side, to better accommodate fittings inside. Could´ve put them all along the hull too, but 2 didn´t seem too few to me.

Ulises, the beginning goes with the wind. The fastest step on the building, at least for POB kits. And when it takes form we enter on a dreamworld - thinking about all things we´ll do next. ^^ So many things to do, it´s a bright horizon.

Bindy, ! I´ll share all my steps as she becomes my second baby . Yesterday I almost got myself in this excitement and planked the first row, but could stop and see that I needed a small hammer first. Now she´s await for the "hammer time" lol. As for the unusual builds, the main interest is for medieval ships, from 12th to beginning of the 16th century, all around the globe. As kits go, there are few on my field of research (AKA hobby), and it´ll look all my ships are unusual . Ty =*

Mikec, already got the Red Dragon from AL on the run, a chinese junk. The caravels of discovery are beaultifull ships; a pity we have too few references about them and no confirmed shipreck was found till this day. Ty!! Mike Y, many thanks. Think I got some spare time to work on her

Ty, Joe. Tried to pick some unusual takes. But she is photogenic! Red Dragon is on the make ^^ Ulises, all references are welcome. As soon as my Story of The Sails arrives, I´ll see this one. Brigada =D Daniel, Next the Red Dragon with some modifications. Maybe I´ll take more time on studying her than the caravel.

Casey, it seems good, but for the shortage of parts. I counted it and there´s almost no spare so I´ll have to be careful. Already talked about the brass fittings that I´ll substitute by mine own. On overall, it´s a good kit and instructions seem to be easy, at least in spanish, but already noticed some strange translations to english, a little childish I would say. Wood is good, better than I got with the Caravel kit.

Hey, Jerome, come direct to São Paulo! Rio is some 400km from here, lol. Would make some snacks too. Spread the word!!

Hey Ollie, take a seat!!! She is a view, really. I have to confess I know little about chinese ships in general and, since I´m focused on medieval ships, my red dragon have to show that. Lots of study on my horizon. I´ll give a look on the sampan ^^ Jerome, let me see... got some port wine and sake, or some coignac, maybe? Beer, there´s always beer on my fridge.

Hi again and well, I coundn´t hold myself that much. 3 days after finishing my caravel I´m beginning a new project and hope you all enjoy it. Took me 3 months and some days to my last ship to be finally complete, and, today I started a new counter ^^ (not that I want to beat it). So, first thing first, I´ll say my impressions on the kit. I bought it from an e-bay auction. The box is a little bit worn, with some small scratches on the fringes. Since the kit is from the 80´s, there´s that look in it: Opening we can see a good care with pieces and wood, all arranged in a practical manner. My last experience was a bit disappointing regarding opening the box, cause the fittings and everything else were almost thrown in the box, with no preoccupation about the pieces´ overall look. AL, in other hand, do know how to sell it´s fish. Unboxing the fittings box I found a beaultifull set of small wooden and metal parts. Loved the distribution and care. Didn´t like the brass fittings for doors and windows, or even the lanterns - decided those will be made by me. The wood planks with pre-cut parts are easy to cut. It´s not laser cut, since in 1989 it wasn´t that common, lol. There´s a fine selection for woods, all woods. I detached the first parts to take the false keel and mount the structure. For this build I just designed a holder - Big change for better, for my last ship was builded almost in my lap, or on the kit´s base, which devastated my hull, as I saw sometime after the mistake. So, false keel on holder ready to receive framing. After cutting and sanding the frames, got numbers to them so I could follow the instructions - and make no mistakes. So, I took care to align all frames with the false keel, since some of them needed some fixing to go smooth with the keel. After that I glued them and the girders, as follows I got the impression that it was a little bit crooked and drawn a line to compare, but was just an impression. Began first planking but need to buy a small hammer, so, all paused till I buy one. Other consideration - after studying the plans I found it easy to give the ship some cabins. With a little modification on the castle I can put some nice furniture inside the ship and, following Doris inspiration, will let the windows and doors show the inside (after scratching my own windows and doors, of course). Well, that´s it!

Well, first of all I wish to thank you all for your kind words, your support and help anytime I needed. Loved to build my first wooden ship kit and had so much fun that almost couldn´t control myself to finish the caravel (to go building the other kits, lol). Truth is the hobby was in my blood even if I didn´t know it. From the day I bought the kit till today, I´ve spent a lot of hours here, reading your posts, learning from the masters and applying that I´ve learned in my ship. Thanks, danke, spocibo, gracias, obrigada!!!! She is ready to be on my heart for as much as I live.

Looks pretty nice to me, Jesse. ^^

Gaetan, loved the project. As cogs are in my interest, this is one I will follow. Ty!

Daniel, already thinking to build some other caravels regarding different types used as I learn a bit more from their history. Since they evolved from fishing boats and probably some other small sized ships from mediterranean, there are some room for speculation and the building of some new perspectives while we wait for a caravel wreck to be found. Loved her and soon will post pics from here really finished. ^^ Obrigada Michael!! Nice to know u have been here already, but just now I wanted to be far from here, since this summer seems to be a record breaker of all history on hight temperatures. Have lived on warmer places, but gosh, it´s hot in São Paulo this year. Too bad for someone who loves a cold weather. I´ll do as Amir Klink and go for exploring the Antartic. Bindy, many thanks =**** - I´m just beginning as u. And I´m proud of her!!!! ^^ Max, your Half Moon is coming great, mine is a simpler ship by far. ^^ Ulises, Si es así, better be happy about it!! As my grandmother said "don´t even looks like you made it", lol. And as I said, had the best teachers in the World!!! Muchas gracias!

Well, Mizzen rigged. Now I´ll think about fittings and details. Seems she´s nearly ready and got a great look till now. ^^ Mizzen 3 months work to this day.

Sailor, That´s some great info. I´ll not stain it more than that, but I almost died them in black tea. Luck on me! As for the scale - well, don´t say about 1:1, but 1:10 would be great!!

Ulises, as soon as I finish her, I´ll take some photos outside - I think she´ll be beautiful to look under the sun. Gracias =* Bug, my hands are itching and I´ve got this bug in my brains who keeps me wondering "if I just begin one, only another one kit". But I´ll behave and do it right. Still have to study about common objects on a caravel´s deck - sure some barrels and ropes, but would be nice to have something less common. ^^ Dale, many thanks for the compliment. One thing I assure: I have lots of fun making them. Bindy, sails bring the ships alive. I see many kits, mainly the HMS´s don´t bring them, to show all ropes and riggings, it seems, but what would catch the spirit of sailing better than sails? =D Alexander, Please, say your advice, I´ll be very happy to learn since you already build the SFII. Well, we may have 10 women in here posting their works but I bet we will grow on the hobby, for it is lovely and is so suited to everyone who wants to do it. Spocibo bolshoi. ^^ Buck, they´re rows from a machine. I was thinking on discard them and do my own, but I liked the overall look when I rigged the foresail. So, there they are. As for the e-bay, think I´ll have to be careful with my credit card. Most interesting is that my Red Dragon from AL is from 89, and seems quite complete. Other 2 kits are leftovers forgotten on Model Expo´s stock. Only missing the holders from the base that comes with the kit, but I wouldn´t use them. Ty!!