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1:65 Santa Maria – 1492 Artesania Latina Catalogue # 22411N Available from Artesania Latina for €149,99 La Santa María (The Saint Mary), was the largest of the three Spanish ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, the others being the Niña and the Pinta. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa, a man from Santoña, Cantabria, operating in south Spanish waters. Requisitioned by order of Queen Isabella and by contract with Christopher Columbus, whom de la Cosa knew previously, the Santa María became Columbus's flagship on the voyage as long as it was afloat. Having gone aground on Christmas Day, 1492, on the shores of Haiti, through inexperience of the helmsman, it was partially dismantled to obtain timbers for Fort Navidad, "Christmas Fort," placed in a native Taíno village. The fort was the first Spanish settlement in the New World, which Columbus had claimed for Spain. He thus regarded the wreck as providential. The hull remained where it was, the subject of much modern wreck-hunting without successful conclusion. The kit I’ll always have an affection for Artesania Latina as those were the kits that started me in this hobby, and I built a small number of them before moving onto things like Panart, Model Shipways, Amati, and the sort of projects I’m building now. In fact, my first ever kit was their San Francisco, bought from a shop in York. Although there are of course other very fine entry points into the hobby for the raw beginner, there is obviously still a real place in that market for AL, who seemingly came back from collapse in the recent past. The re-emergence of AL kits has also seen then getting a revamp in terms of some materials, packaging and instructions. I’ll come to the latter, later in the review. AL’s original Santa Maria was first released in 1992, and now we see a ‘revitalised’ kit. The new release is packaged into a much different style of box than I’m used to seeing with Artesania, with it still being a rigid and glossy affair with many images of the finished vessel. Inside the box, the contents are packed a little differently too, and not quite as tight as they used to be, with some space for things to rattle around a little. All strip and dowel is packaged into bundles tied with elastic cord and shrink-wrapped, whilst the sheets of parts are presented in a tough shrink-wrap film. Also included in the kit are the pre-stitched sails and some masks to paint the crosses onto them, a sheet of photo-etch parts, flags, a plastic storage box containing all the fittings, and an instruction manual on DVD. Why a DVD? I think it’s more to do than with me being a traditionalist, the reason why I am not a fan of manuals on a DVD. The only place I can see these is on a screen, and I won’t take my MacBook into a dusty workshop while I work on a project. To me, there is no substitute for an actual paper copy to work from. This model has no plans either…absolutely everything is done from the images on the DVD. Don’t get me wrong, Artesania have done an incredible job of showing every stage, including rigging, in photographic form, but unless I print this out, then I will need to keep referring to a computer. I suppose it’s understandable that they won’t want to supply one though, as the manual is a hefty 164 pages long! All done in the most brilliantly pictorial fashion. There is also another 12-page manual showing every single sheet of material and strip of wood, fitting etc. in high resolution. In all, the DVD contains the manuals in both PDF and JPG format. As well as those, six videos are also included which show a few tips and how to use some of the tools that you might want to purchase. Generally, I have to say that I would prefer the older style instructions AL used to supply, along with plans. Timber! The ship’s hull is built up from 3mm ply, which is all cleanly cut, with part numbers engraved on there too. On the false keel, all bulkhead positions are also engraved with the bulkhead number which slots into there. That’s all easy enough. Also included on the 3mm ply sheets are parts for making the cradle for the kit, shown on the box as a ‘bonus’. In all fairness, the original release of this kit didn’t have a cradle for build/display, so that’s fair enough. The deck sections are supplied in a combination of both 1.5mm and 2mm ply. There is no camber in the decks on this kit. It’s perfectly flat across its breadth. The 2mm sheet also carries parts for the jig used to build up the ship’s boat. I’ve definitely seen that approach to ship’s boats featured by another manufacturer somewhere (!) It is a big improvement over Artesania’s original practice of including poorly cast boats in their kits. Also found on the 2mm sheet are parts for the mast top. Also in 1.5mm ply are the hull sides/bulwarks, extending from their lowest point on the main deck, up to the very top of the forecastle and poop deck bulwarks. The ply used on this kit is verry reminiscent of the stuff I used on the Artesania kits I built all those years ago, but maybe a higher quality than it was back then. Other parts are supplied on 1.5mm sheet. The ply itself is of a very reasonable quality, and definitely a step up from the AL kits I built when I started in the hobby, although there is still warping present, perhaps exacerbated by tightly shrink wrapping the sheets up with parts. Strip timber is verry reasonable in quality and it’s of a nice consistency. As the strip material is also coded, you can clearly identify this with the parts plan which has images of the various material types and thicknesses. Photo-etch One fret of photo-etched parts is included in this kit, containing the stand nameplate, cabin door, inside edge of mast top, lantern body etc. Production quality is very good and generally on par with like materials I’ve seen in some other kits. Fittings All fittings are supplied in the same style plastic compartment box that I remember when I first bought AL kits. Many of the parts in here are generic, but the quality of them seems to be perfectly fine. You’ll find eyebolts, turned brass cannon, cast anchor, swivel guns, cleats etc. as well as turned wooden windlass, barrels etc. I have to say the larger barrel size looks unfeasibly large for this scale. Other wooden items include buckets, parrel beads, deadeyes and riggings blocks. Flags, rig, sails and masks The included flags are nicely printed and come as either foldable or parts assembled from a front and back. Flag parts will need to be cut out of their master sheet. Rigging cord is of a verry reasonable quality and certainly better than I remember it being in the old days where it was full of fuzz. I mean, it’s not Gutermann, but certainly better than I remember. Five pre-sewn sails are supplied with this model, and they already have a nicely aged effect to them. Of course, one thing this ship was famous for was the large cross on the sails. This is something you will need to paint onto the sails, and thankfully, Artesania has supplied some cardboard templates to help you with that task. Instructions The Santa Maria is actually a very simple model to build and follows many of the conventions and techniques that I remember were prevalent when I began in this hobby. The breakdown of the model is quite straightforward and is depicted admirably throughout the 164 pages of the manual. There really is nothing left to any doubt with the sheet number of photos suppled, showing the various steps from so many different angles. The photos are superbly clear and will guide a builder like as if virtually holding their hand. I have to say the method of planking the hull is certainly bizarre! As this model comes with no plans, the instructions also come with a step-by-step to adding every single rigging lime on the model, and all off it is very, very clear. Conclusion I do have a lot of affection for Artesania Latina. As I’ve said before, if it wasn’t for their San Francisco, I may never have made the step into this hobby. There is quite a different feel to the actual product now, but with most familiarities remaining. There has been an improvement of sorts in the overall quality of things, or that’s certainly the way it feels/appears to me. A big change has been the instructions and their format. I’m not sure about the price point for this kit. On one hand, it seems a little high, but then again, I suppose if you even that among the number of hours it’ll take to build, it’s still a relatively cheap hobby. Definitely a nice build for a beginner. My sincere thanks to Artesania Latina for supplying this kit for review on Model Ship World. I do think it’s nice to see their name back in the hobby after that short break. To purchase directly, click the link at the top of this article. …lastly: Set of 10 x 1:65 Metal Figurines for Caravels and Galleons Catalogue # 22411F Available from Artesania Latina for €19,99 This is a set of white metal figures designed to be used with kits such as this, especially as Christopher Columbus himself makes a guest appearance in the line up! The figures are listed as: Christopher Columbus. Juan de la Cosa. Martín Alonso Pinzón. Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. Rodrigo de Triana. Sailors 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 I have to presume a couple of the sailors are boys as they do seem to be smaller than the other protagonists. Metal casting is quite nice and these should paint up nicely with the prerequisite skills. Various poses are included so you can have men climbing up rig etc. The figures are supplied in a slip box and held in a plastic tray within.

First Wooden Ship Model

I completed La Nina in 2019 and am currently building HMS Victory 1805. I am building the Victory in New Hampshire. I travel south in the Winter and Victory is too big to take a long. So while I am south I will build smaller, less complicated ships. Santa Maria is my choice. I am only in New Jersey now to see a couple of doctors. The coronavirus is worse here in New Jersey and we are better off in New Hampshire. We also have a grandson graduating from high school and we are going to congratulate him, unfortunately at a distance. So for a start I am putting the basic drawing in along with the frames on the keel. I see already that a frame is below the keel and will have to remedy that along with truing the frames in general. I did not bring my shipyard for this short trip so I will only have this entry for now. I will be back here in November and resume the Santa Maria. Sorry about feet.

Un po' per curiosità, un po' per passione condivisa con tante persone, provo ad aprire questo wip su questo sito, (non so se la scrittura in italiano, l' unica lingua che conosco "abbastanza" bene, provocherà dei problemi per comunicare con gli altri, ma proviamo a vedere cosa succede, io ho messo il traduttore in automatico... vediamo se potete farlo anche voi ) si tratta della costruzione della caracca Santa Maria, forse uno dei modelli maggiormente realizzati da quasi tutti i modellistici, i piani di costruzione sono allegati nel libro " Le navi di Colombo" di Heinrich Winter, si tratta di un sei tavole in scala 1/50 nel quale viene riportata la "caracca" (nao) di Cristoforo Colombo, o almeno, uno dei tentativi di riportare, come doveva essere la "nao" di Cristoforo, con la quale nel 1492 attraverso l' oceano Atlantico con l' intento di scoprire le Indie..... altro libro che ho e nel quale vengono riportati altri esempi di disegni sulla caravella è "The ship of Christopher Columbus" di Xavier Pastor, il libro di Winter lo avevo da diversi anni, ma non ero particolarmente attratto dal modello, uno tra i piu' classici modelli, e per di piu' di una nave "tonda" cosa che non lega o meglio legava con il mio gusto, perchè fino ad oggi avevo realizzato modelli di nave "lunghe", ma c'è sempre una prima volta... anche perché la realizzazione della caracca non è particolarmente complessa e questo modello mi permette di ripartire con la realizzazione di un altro modello in un periodo nel quale ho poco tempo, per cui la decisione di partire con questo modello è stata presa non tanto per la realizzazione stessa, ma per il "bisogno" di ripartire,,, per cui mi sono messo a guardare le tavole realizzate da Adametz, nelle quali viene riportato anche la costruzione di un particolare "scaletto" per la messa in opera delle ordinate sulla chiglia e il fasciame, cosa che ho realizzato scrupolosamente, e che non avevo mai trovato in altri piani costruttivi in pratica sullo scaletto verrà realizzata in maniera "capovolta" la parte iniziale della realizzazione del modello, con le ordinate che andranno ad aderire alle battute riportate sullo scaletto, almeno l'intento dovrebbe essere questo.......vedremo saluti a tutti luponero

Hey! No need to write a history of this model. This is my first wooden ship build ever. I bought this kit from a local shop in my city. I had no idea where I was getting into! First look inside: Work of first evening: It was a really tedious process to sand all the edges: I had to get some power tools in order to sand trickier parts: I have made clamps from document clams (similar to Amatis https://store.amatimodel.com/en/tools-and-equipment-parts-per-model/product-clamp-set-b7377.html) Getting first planks in place was difficult since I was doing that first time. I had to read and watch lots of videos to understand all the techniques. Props for this forum and written guides! I was really surprised that I my planking speed was 2 planks / hour. I was using hot water and soldering iron to get planks into the shape. Dremel tool was a huge help shaping this line: Starting to look like a ship: I saw no point covering back of the ship with these planks, but instructions showed that I have to do it: It took a while until I have prepared hull for second planking, but it is smooth as butter now: Started second planking:

So here I start another Build Log... This being my 3rd wooden model ship started, and only one being completed (the first perhaps a little bit over my head), I purchased this model kit on Ebay for a very good price about 20 months ago and actually only began this kit in the late fall last year. At first I was not going to do a build log as I always find my time limited with regards to posting progress and updates but given the lack of build logs for this particular Mamoli kit (another one, the first on this forum, just recently started this last month), I thought I would start one. I have always found the age of Exploration of the most interest, and especially with regards to Christopher Columbus... and that being said here is the token picture of the opened box.

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First ever attempt at a builder's log so please bear with me. This kit is a Plank-on-Bulkhead (POB) kit. First I squared up the keel, stem post and stern post and then glued them together. I then let the assembly set on a 1 X 6 and set another 1 x 6 on top for 24 hours to cure up and to keep the assembly flat. After getting answers to my questions on the stem post and on cutting the rabbit, I dry fit the bulkheads to the keel assembly and marked where the rabbit should be cut. I have removed the bulkheads and will start cutting the rabbits tomorrow. (Have to home school my grandson during the day). My plan is sand it with 100 grit sandpaper glued to a paint stick. Here's how it went so far. So please let me know your thoughts and if I am proceeding correctly. Also noticed the Santa Maria scale was listed as 1:65 but the plans on Sheet 1 (the rigging sheet) says scale is 1:50. I guess this is typical of kits. Thanks, Allen The keel assembly with the bulkhead positions and rabbit line marked. The keel assembly BEFORE the rabbit line drawn in. Stem post with the notorious "staple holes". These hole will not be visible when the hull is completed.

Okay, before we get to the customary build log pictures (the boxing, unpacking etc etc) I feel the need - no, the obligation to explain why yet ANOTHER build log. For my Birthday last month I was told I would like my present but I HAD to do something with it right away. Well, it turns out that I received the Santa Maria by Artesania Latina. It seems my lovely wife has taken an interest in the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria and wants them in our office on display. So, we are starting with the Santa Maria. I figure if the Admiral is going to encourage another build far be it from me to say no . So, while I had no intentions of starting a new build with 4 on the table - this became a special case and special project. So. Away we go! Lets begin with the customary unboxing of the Santa Maria by Artesania Latina. (Because of the limit on uploading pictures I split this into two posts to get all pics in there).

I started building this handmade Santa Maria kit 3 months ago which was prepared by my friend. It is going quite slowly because i have limited time. I am going to share what i have done so far and continue to share when something new is done.

After HMS Pickle I started Santa Maria kit of Mantua which I bought three years ago. I will modify the kit a little during the construction. Everybody knows about everything Santa Maria. So, no need to tell about her history. I did the framing and glued the main deck in place.

SANTA MARIA 1492 - ARTESANIA LATINA - 1:65 Topic Contents I. A bit of research II. Kit Review III. Frame Assembly IV. Main Deck V. Main Deck Front Wall VI. Bulwarks VII. Quarter Deck I. A bit of Research Content : Introduction History of the Ship Historical Context About The Ship Replicas Quadricentennial, 1892 Expo Iboamerica, 1929 New-York World Fair, 1964 West Edmonton Mall, 1986 Quincentennial, 1991 Madeira Wine Expo, 1998 525th Anniversary, 2018 Model Kits Introduction Hello Everyone, Here I start my first build log of my first wood ship model... I have some experience in modeling plastic aircraft and got recently into wood modeling with the Wright Flyer from Guillow's. I really enjoyed this wood modeling experience and decided to go to the next level with a real ship model (Covid lockdown being also a great help to find free time !..). For more introduction : So after looking on the forum and the internet, and given my modeling experience and budget, I decided to go with the Santa Maria which looked something not too complicate at a beginning but still presenting some challenges...let see if I was right... I will rely mainly on two builds completed on this forum of the same kit, one by Katsumoto and one by Moonbug : History of the Ship Historical Context In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed a small fleet of three small ships west from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean, hoping to find a shorter route to the riches of Asia. Before his voyages, Chinese and Indian luxuries for European markets were transported over the long and hazardous overland route through Arabia. The Santa Maria and Columbus’s other fleet members the Niña and the Pinta were older ships used for coastal trading rather than vessels designed for ocean crossings. Nine weeks after the little fleet left Spain, land was sighted in the Caribbean on 12 October 1492, but exactly which island Columbus’s crew first spotted remains disputed. The fleet went on to explore the north coasts of the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (now Haiti). On the return trip, on 24 December (1492), not having slept for two days, Columbus decided at 11:00 p.m. to lie down to sleep. The night being calm, the steersman also decided to sleep, leaving only a cabin boy to steer the ship, a practice which the admiral had always strictly forbidden. With the boy at the helm, the currents carried the ship onto a sandbank, running her aground off the present-day site of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. It sank the next day. The ship’s timbers were salvaged and used to build a small fort on shore. Fortunately for Columbus, he was able to return to Spain on the Niña. Instead of Asia, Columbus had landed in the Caribbean islands on his first voyage. Although they were already inhabited, he claimed them for Spain. Columbus made three more voyages to the western hemisphere between 1493 and 1504. Waves of conquerors and colonists—both free and enslaved—followed. What was a triumph for Spain became a catastrophe for native peoples. New livestock, plants, diseases, and beliefs unsettled centuries-old communities and ecosystems, changing and destroying the lives of millions. About the ship The three-masted vessel Santa Maria was the largest of Columbus’s expeditionary vessels and his flagship. Measuring around 70 feet in length, it carried a crew of 40 men. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa. She was built in Pontevedra, Galicia, in Spain's north-west region. Santa Maria was probably a medium-sized nau (Carrack), about 58ft long on deck, and according to Juan Escalante de Mendoza in 1575, SM was "very little larger than 100 toneladas" (about 100 tons, or tuns). There is very little historical evidence regarding exactly what the "Santa Maria" looked like, or how it was built. There was little to no documentation regarding ship building in 1492, and this ship was scuttled and its lumber used for shelter not long after its initial voyage. Replicas Interest in reconstructing the Santa María started in the 1890s for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage. In an effort to reproduce history, the "Santa Maria" has suffered six major Spanish versions, and one American. Little is definitively known about the actual dimensions of Santa María, since no explicit documentation has survived from that era. Since the 19th century, various notable replicas have been publicly commissioned or privately constructed. These opinions are not entirely uneducated. A number of shipwrecks of naos have been investigated, from which verisimilar general measurements could be made, and there are some statements from the literature from which dimensions can be deduced. Whether Morison, a former admiral in the United States Navy, is bringing realism to the topic, or is being perhaps slightly more skeptical than is warranted, is a matter of opinion. There is one sense in which none of the "replicas" replicate an ancient ship: the concessions to the conveniences of the modern world, especially on the ships meant actually to sail. These are well-hidden: it might be an engine, or modern rudder machinery in a closed compartment, or communications equipment. No modern sailors are expected to undergo the hardships of a 15th-century voyage. They have bunks where Columbus' sailors slept on the deck, and modern stoves instead of cooking fires on the deck. In case of emergencies, help is a radio call away. The Renaissance seamen risked life and limb, and some died on every voyage. They feared going to sea, and if they did go, feared to get out of sight of land. 1. Quadricentennial, 1892 In 1892 the naval historian, Fernandez Duro, modelled the ship as a Nao - A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese (its creators), and later by the Spanish, to explore and map the world. It was usually square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. Unfortunately, Fernandez Duro made a fundamental error as result of an erroneous reading of Columbus's log. It was also criticized as being too ornamented for the period. 2. Expo Iboamerica, 1929 In 1929, the second attempt to recreate the ship was by Julio Guillen Tato, known as the Guillen version. This reproduction for the Expo was controversially designed as a Caravel - a small, highly maneuverable ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. Caravels were much used by the Portuguese for the oceanic exploration voyages during the 15th and 16th centuries. Tato's reproduction sailed badly and ended up a wreck. 3. New-York World Fair, 1964 Ninety feet long, weighting 110 tons, the vessel was constructed in Barcelona after years of research in museums and naval archives, and brought to the United States on the deck of a freighter. Her architect was Jose Maria Martinez-Hidalgo, curator of the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, Spain; his consultant was Colonel Howard I. Chapelle, chief of the Naval and Transportation Section of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. 4. West Edmonton Mall, 1986 A replica was built during 1986 World Exposition held in Vancouver, Canada, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion - World in Touch". It was anchored in "Deep Sea Adventure Lake" at West Edmonton Mall. Built at False Creek in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ship was hand-carved and hand-painted, and then transported by flatbed trucks across the Rocky Mountains to Edmonton, Alberta. 5. Quincentennial, 1991 A replica, depicted as a Carrack, was commissioned by the city of Columbus, Ohio. It was built by the Scarano Brothers Boat Building Company in Albany, New York, who later cut the ship in half and transported it by truck to the Scioto River. The replica cost about 1.2 million dollars. The ship was constructed out of white cedar as opposed to an oak wood used on the original to give the ship a long life in the Scioto River and to reduce cost. The main mast was carved out of a single douglas fir tree and was equipped with a top sail (since removed). The replica was declared by Jose Maria Martinez-Hidalgo, a Spanish marine historian, to be the most authentic replica of the Santa María in the world during the ship's coronation on 12 October 1991. Dana Rinehart, the 50th mayor of Columbus, christened the ship as part of the 500th anniversary of its voyage. The ship was removed from its moorings in 2014, cut into 10 pieces, and stored in a lot south of the city, pending funding to do repairs and restorations. 6. Madeira Wine Expo, 1998 A functional replica was built on the island of Madeira, between July 1997 and July 1998, in the fishing village of Câmara de Lobos. The ship is 22 m (72 ft) long and 7 m (23 ft) wide. In 1998 Santa María represented the Madeira Wine Expo 98 in Lisbon, where she was visited by over 97,000 people in 25 days. Since then thousands more have sailed and continue to sail aboard that Santa María replica which is located in Funchal. 7. 525th Anniversary, 2018 The Nao Victoria Foundation has built in 2018 the replica of the historical Nao Santa María. The construction of the ship has been carried out respecting its forms and details with historical rigor, applying an innovative and revolutionary system in the shipbuilding sector of historical replicas of these characteristics, which combines the construction in fiberglass and its lining of wood. It is a novel technique that represents a huge advance in terms of environmental impact, costs, durability and maintenance of the ship. The work has lasted approximately 12 months, and the launching is scheduled for the beginning of March 2017 Built in the Punta Umbría shipyards, it employs about one hundred professionals of different profiles: workers from the Puntaumbrieño shipyard, craftsmen, carpenters or rope makers, mechanics or electricians, forming a large multidisciplinary team of work, together with historians, engineers and builders, who are involved in the planning of the first plans of the replica designing the forms and measurements of the ship. Sources : Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_María_(ship) Fundation Nao Victoria https://www.fundacionnaovictoria.org/replica-nao-santa-maria/ Fundation Larramendi http://www.larramendi.es/fundacion/guillen-tato-estudio/ West Edmonton Mall https://www.wem.ca/play/attractions/marine-life/experiences/santa-maria New York World Fair 1964 http://nywf64.com/sanmar01.shtml Model Kits I recense below the most famous kits available in scale 1:65 or larger, but there are a lot of ther existing. I decided to go with the Artesania Latina one, since there was a lot of material and build logs available for this version. - Amati, 1:65 - https://store.amatimodel.com/fr/modeles-amati-classique/produit-santa-maria-b1409.html - Mantua, 1:50 - https://www.mantuamodel.co.uk/products/ship-kits/mantua/459/santa-maria-1492-detail - Artesania Latina, 1:65 - https://www.amazon.fr/Artesania-Latina-Santa-22411-65-Véhicules/dp/B000L4IKV6

Just recieved 2 model ships from my grandfather and would like to try and restore it. Would love any tips on cleaning, finding or making new parts, painting, etc... Any tip on any part of restoration would be much appreciated.

Hello everyone. Please pardon my delayed return. Like many, the idea of re-creating ship build logs is a daunting task. However, I obviously miss the shared knowledge and camaraderie. I'll do my best to both re-create my Santa Maria log as well as catch everyone up to speed on the Ship's progress. Please forgive some of the rudimentary comments, I have copied and pasted some of the progress posts from a Blog I also keep that is geared more toward those how are unfamiliar with ship builds. Most people know that the ship "Santa Maria" or La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción was the flagship of Christopher Columbus' journey to the Americas. However, people may not realize that there is very little historical evidence regarding exactly what the "Santa Maria" looked like, or how it was built. There was little to no documentation regarding ship building in 1492, and this ship was scuttled and its lumber used for shelter not long after its initial voyage. Interest in reconstructing the Santa María started in the 1890s for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage. In an effort to reproduce history, the "Santa Maria" has suffered three major Spanish versions, the first timed with the 400th centennial anniversary of Columbus landing in the New World, the second, for the Expo Iboamerica of 1929 and the last, the New York World Fair, 1964 In 1892 the naval historian, Fernandez Duro, modelled the ship as a Nao - A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese (its creators), and later by the Spanish, to explore and map the world. It was usually square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. Unfortunately, Fernandez Duro made a fundamental error as result of an erroneous reading of Columbus's log. It was also criticized as being too ornamented for the period. The second attempt to recreate the ship was by Julio Guillen Tato, known as the Guillen version. This reproduction for the Expo was controversially designed as a Caravel - a small, highly maneuverable ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. Caravels were much used by the Portuguese for the oceanic exploration voyages during the 15th and 16th centuries. Tato's reproduction sailed badly and ended up a wreck. Director of the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, Spain, Martinez-Hidalgo returned the "Santa Maria" into her rightful class, as a Nao. He further refined his ideas for the 500th centennial celebration in 1992. The model I am building is from a kit by Atesania Latina, and will be based on this 1992 version which is considered by most ship historians to be the most accurate.

This is my first build ever, which I've been working on for a looooooooooooooong time now. I've had so much trouble building this thing, and I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I think its turned out pretty well so far. I've finished basically everything now other than putting the sails up. I lost a bunch of pictures I had of the progress of the build, so I don't have nearly as many pictures as most people here. Since my older pics aren't great I'm only posting pics of where the build is at now. I won't finish any more for a while since I'm going away to school tomorrow. Hopefully I can get something done around xmas.

I started this build 6 years ago, got the hull bone and then stuff in life started ! Now my kids are 18 and 17 i finaly have time on my hands .....yay ! So i dicided i'd start builing again , since my restart ive spent about 20 hours on my ship i'll poste pics tonight . Cheers André

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Click on the tags in the title above (shown in black) for an instant list of all the build logs for that kit subject.

Click on the tags in the title above (shown in black) for an instant list of all the build logs for that kit subject.

After some thinking I have decided to pick the Santa Maria as my first project. I have some experience in plastic modelling but this is another level. I decided for Amati because I heard good things about this kit manufacturer. This particular kit is specified to be a level 3 difficulty, which means intermediate. Maybe I will struggle a little bit but this is a part of the journey I believe. If I have some issues I will ask for the help of more experienced kit builders so please check my build log. Here it is. The package was more heavy as I expected which is a nice thing. I really prefer the heavier kits. Maybe this is normal for wood but for me coming from plastic models, it is a little bit unusual. I started by studying the plans of the ship and the instruction manual. For now, I understand the process, but there will be some parts where I will need help, especially on the part of the mast and the rigging. I started by carefully cutting out the pieces and numbering them in order to not mess them up later on. After cutting them all out I have inserted them into the keel just to check them out. Obviously I saw some problems with one or two of them as you can see from the picture above. The center bulkhead and the one immediately on his right is not perfectly straight. Another unexpected thing was that one or two of the bulkheads were inserted to the keel with some difficulties and I had a hard time getting the out from the keel. I used a small hammer to get them out... After this I started gluing the bulkheads and attaching them to the keel. I checked their position with a ruler just to be sure that they are straight. After much straightening, I inserted a clip between the two bulkheads and I will let the glue dry for the night.

1:100 Santa Maria – First Step Amati Catalogue # 600/03 Available from Euromodels for £69.99 Santa María was built in Pontevedra, Galicia, in Spain's north-west region. She was probably a medium-sized nau (carrack), about 58 ft (17.7 m) long on deck, and according to Juan Escalante de Mendoza in 1575, Santa Maria was "very little larger than 100 toneladas" (about 100 tons, or tuns) burthen, or burden, and was used as the flagship for Columbus’ expedition. Santa María had a single deck and three small masts. She was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa. Courtesy of Wikipedia The kit Everyone has to start somewhere in this hobby, and few manage to build a fully rigged Man ‘O War or clipper without at least some experience of how to work timber etc. Of course, being any sort of modeller who can think on their feet is always an advantage, but there a whole demographic who would like something just to kick-start their passion, whether they are of our generation, or a whole new generation of younger modeller who may progress to the lofty heights you see here on Model Ship World. For that latter group, Amati have their First Step range, and today we take a look at the first of three of these kits that they’ve sent to us for review. Santa Maria is packaged into a small and attractive box with an artwork of a finished model on the lid, and some vessel history on the side. As you can see from the box, this particular model has a length of 28cm, a height of 24cm, and a width of 6cm. So, it’s still a reasonable size. Lifting the lid reveals a set of plans, instruction manual, sail cloth and printed paper sheet for flags, two pre-carved wooden hull halves, a bundle of strip wood, a packet with two MDF laser-cut sheets, a wooden display base, and a whole box of fittings. Unlike your traditional model ship/boat, where you either plank over a series of bulkheads or frames, the Santa Maria comes with two pre-carved hull halves. Looking at the other kits in this range, these halves appear to be of the same shape, but it’s what you add that really makes these models look very different from each other. Note the two holes. These are used to align the halves, and also peg through a centre plate which forms the keel. Instructions will show you how to paint and stain your model when complete. Here you see the main 4mm MDF sheet that contains the main keel/profile with the alignment holes and mast sockets, plus a deck section. Parts are all laser-cut and are clean and precise. Of course, you will need to ensure that any sanding that’s to be done with these parts means you will wear a face mask. Wood dust isn’t great for the respiratory system, but MDF can be particularly bad. Important that youngsters are aware of this. The second and last sheet is also MDF, but 10mm thick. There are ten parts here, for raising up the fore and aft decks, creating the correct shape of this ship and totally transforming the shape of the basic wooden hull halves. When your model is complete, you’ll want to display it properly, and this kit includes a neat wooden base. Nicely turned pedestals are also included that will glue to this and into which the keel will slot. A small bundle of timber is included for masts, spars, wales, bulwarks etc. Timber quality is excellent, as we have come to expect from Amati. These plastic fittings boxes are very common to Amati releases, and even these First Step kits get one, stuffed with goodies to adorn and detail your model. All parts are bagged and compartmentalised, and the clear lid holds tight, keeping everything in place whilst in the kit box. Unlike other kits, this one has a brown plastic-moulded grating which you will need to cut to the required size. Note the mast top/crow’s nest is manufactured from a piece of turned walnut and is silky smooth to the finish. Some white metal parts are included too, such as doors, windows, and the ship’s launch. Casting is very nice, and with a lick of primer/paint, should look very good once installed. Remember, this is a very small model when complete, and therefore these parts are also small. We also have a packet of nails for general construction. Of course, you will also need an anchor or two. A packet of two is included with this release, complete with wooden stocks and brass ring fittings. The anchors themselves are blackened and ready for use. A couple of small packets contain the decorative shields for the upper, rear exterior bulwarks. These are designed to be painted. Also, we have some small copper and brass fittings, such as rings and eyelets. There are a few small staircases on Santa Maria, and these are cut from these pre-formed lengths of timber. Note also some parts for the windlass and rigging blocks. There are only a couple of the latter, as the model is designed to be simple to build (and rig). Here are the aforementioned turned walnut pedestals onto which you will mount your completed model. These are high quality and require no extra finishing apart from some varnish, perhaps. Only two spools of rigging cord are included, one being in black for the standing rig, and the running rig being in natural colour, as a general rule. You will need to make your own sails, but this is fully explained, and is very simple. Plenty of material is provided for this. For the flags and pennants, a sheet of colour-printed paper is included. You can also go to town with fabric paint and add the familiar Maltese cross to the main sails. Again, this is shown so you can copy from the illustration. One large plan sheet will show you everything you need to know for your build, and everything is simple to follow. Several 1:1 scale images are shown for you to measure against, including the masting diagrams. Amati’s instructions tend to be well illustrated and easy to follow, from my personal experience, with many of the very new kits having the best I’ve ever seen in any of the modelling genres. This kit also has a nicely illustrated manual that takes the construction through in a series of easy to follow steps complete with English text. I can’t see anything here that would thwart even a young modeller, with the various drawings. A handy parts list is also supplied at the end of the manual, which is handy for you to check your supplied parts against. Conclusion These kits fulfil several roles on the market. For me, the first is to introduce a young modeller to our hobby and initiate them with a number of the skills required to advance a little and create more complex results. Another is to allow a modeller who may never have used timber before, to build a very nice replica of a ship and to help them also pursue a line of attack into a more challenging project. Lastly, these could well appeal to a seasoned modeller who fancies a little fun between larger projects and may want to build something they could gift when complete. So many possibilities. The kit itself is actually a high-quality product that is well thought out and executed. There are also some classic vessels in this range too, with something that should appeal to most ship builders, or soon-to-be ship builders. Price-wise, these kits are also relatively inexpensive and will provide a good number of happy hours at the modelling bench. Wherever you are in the hobby, or whether you’re starting out, give one of these a try! I have already given this model kit to a young man who will send me some photos of his progress. I will post them here as he builds this model. My sincere thanks to Amati for the sample reviewed here. To purchase, click the link at the top of this article.

Hi everyone! This will be the build log of my first wooden ship model. It's the Santa Maria by Amati 1:65 scale. I've gathered some tools that i had laying around in the house, especially power tools like a DeWalt cordless drill and a dremel type rotary tool. I think these will come in handy in some parts of the process. Ordered some more tools online, some of them have arrived but some still on the way. As of now i have two types of white wood glue, some industrial strength CA glue, 180 and 400 grit sandpaper, medium/fine/superfine sponge sanding blocks, two 300mm stainless steel rulers one of which is flexible, drill bits varying from 0.3 to 8mm, various sized clamps and clips, an exacto knife, regular cutter, tape measure, nail pushing tool, small and medium wire clippers, sketchbook, needle tweezers. Still waiting to receive a set of precision needle files, a 360 degree rotating vise, a small wood scraper and some sanding rotary tool bits. As i progress through the build and find the need for additional tools i will order them and get the job done. Here's my workbench: So far i got to the point of cutting out the laser cut parts from the plywood boards and trying to fit them together to get an idea about how it will come together and also built some kind of support to hold the keel upright. After fitting the bulkheads on the keel i've instantly noticed that the laser cuttings weren't very precise. The bulkheads have the tendency to lean to the right towards the middle of the ship and that is because the keel has a slight warp in it. I have attempted to straighten in using a flatiron but as it cools down it warps back to the original shape. The warp is not that bad as you can barely see it with the eyes but when laid flat on the table, the bottom part sits flush and the upper part rises about 1-2mm towards the middle of the board. This is after correcting it with the flatiron because before it had a 5mm bend. Also noticed a difference of level between the tops of the bulkheads. Got this fixed by adding some thin pieces of planking material where the bulkheads make contact with the keel, and in some places i had to scrape a bit of material from the contact point in order to lower some bulkheads to sit flush with the top of the keel. This was the initial difference in level and the piece fitted to correct this issue: After applying the corrections it now looks way better and all the bulkheads seem to be of proper height. Here's a view from above and from stern to stem. There is a fair amount of space for the bulkheads to move freely in the slots cut on the keel and i can adjust when gluing to get everything properly lined up. It's looking better already even though nothing's glued in place. One more thing isn't right. One of the bulkheads in the bow area sticks down too much and doesn't follow a straight line with the other bulkheads. This will be an issue when planking because the garboard plank will be pushed downwards at the bow area by this bulkhead. The upper part of this bulkhead is flush with the frame therefore i cannot rise it anymore. What do you suggest doing? Should i sand it down when fairing till it comes to a level with the other bulkheads and use a batten to determine the proper curve? Or should i rise the bulkhead to the point it follows a proper line at the bottom and then sand the top part of the bulkhead till it comes flush again with the frame? I would like to fair the edges and fine tune everything prior to gluing because i will use the small rotary tool with a sanding drum bit to shave most of the material from the bulkheads and then fine sand it to get a perfect surface for the planks to adhere. I am also wondering if the edges where the deck sticks to the bulkheads need fairing because the deck has a slight upwards curvature towards the stem and stern. Any suggestions on how to approach this last issue are welcomed. I won't do any progress until this is solved. Thank you! Romique

Me again! I bought this as a gap filler as I knew I would end up waiting for partworks to arrive and so on. This was also the first model I ever looked at when thinking about taking the plunge into wooden ship modelling years ago. Another good reason for this one is I've nver built a ship with sails, and this is quite simplified so will be a good way to get some experience. If this one turns out ok I might think about building the Nina and the Pinta to go with her. I've not done a great deal yet, just working my way down the keel to about half way so far. I've been bevelling the frames as I go, I personally find it just makes things easier, even more so as I can do the bulk of the removal before fixing the frame in place using a Mouse sander. Yes sort of cheating I know but it works. Progress so far:

Its been about a year since my last post; I've been taking some time off. I had gone full throttle on the SIBs for over a year, and neglected the Ship that launched them all for me. So I eventually decided to complete the restoration on the old Santa Maria. The true provenance of this model isn't fully known: My father, born in 1936, once told me that he built the kit as a boy, but he doesn't rememeber how old he was, or how old the kit was, for that matter. Having survived many moves long before I arrived, I remember the ship presented herself to me only in states of worsening decrepitude. As a boy I remember the tangle of fallen masts and sails, and a big dead moth that resided within that mess for years. She sat like that for decades, with most, but not all, parts junked on the deck. Finally, in preparation for a move in the summer of 2017, we were given an ultimatum: Restore the Ship or let's throw her out! These next shots of her, cleaned up as much as possible, prior to work. The Stern has seen better days. Since this restoration took place over many months - and years in fact- and since part of it took place prior to my membership in MSW, I didn't photograph the restoration in an ongoing manner. In fact, half way through I decided to just show the finished product. Eliminating the need to capture every moment of improvement was much easier for me; and quite franky, since my techniques were largely crude, impulsive, and totally uninformed by any nautical wisdom, I don't think I am depriving anyone of any great techniques. I would be happy to respond to any questions about the hows and whys, and most answers will include: balsa wood, bass wood, cyanoacrylate, acrylic paint, waxed thread, hand drills, and more cyanoacrylate. I started with the hull and all the ribbing - all the easy stuff - just to see how it went. After a few months of hull work. Fortunatley, all masts and spars were present and intact! Many vertical ribs were replaced. Painting the stern windows and gilding. Quarterdeck cleaned and restored as much as possible. Rebuilding the poop deck was what intimidated me the most, and it was unease with this next step that made me take a 2 year break and switch gears towards SIBs in 2018. I wanted to respect the original design: It looked like a wire railing, so I tried to replicated that even though most renditions suggests an all wooden rail. Who knows?!? Shileds on the wire poop deck rail were largely destroyed, so I had to be very creative. At this point in the photos I really skip forward all the way to the sails. Suffice it is to say, I reworked the shrouds and ratlines first. For the sails, I bought some muslin of pleasing color, texture and heft. I extrapolated the design from online pictures. I wish I took more pictures after all the sails were up. They hung there flat and dull. It wasnt literally untill the last 2 days, when I chose to fills the sails with wind, that the model came alive! Dont mind the doll's head, my daughter uses it for braiding practice! Thank you for reading!

Good Evening fellow shipsmiths First a little intro about myself. I am a 35 years young man from South Africa, currently residing in Cape Town. I have done quite a few plastic models before and have enjoyed doing them. My uncle picked up a AL San Giovanni Battista about 15 years ago(which he is still doing) and this was my first introduction to wood modelling. For the last 5 years i have been working in construction which gave me a few skills for me to attempt a wood model. After finding this forum and these build logs i finally decided to do one and to do the Santa Maria by AL as it was one of the readily available ones here in Cape Town. I first wasnt going to do a build log but after seeing how much help others have gotten here am going to do one. Onto the build. I started this build at the beginning December 2019, I dont have many earlier build pictures as over eagerness didnt leave time for pictures lol. I used many of the advice and ideas from the build logs here. Would like to thank whoever created all the articles in the database you have here. I got a lot of ideas from a user Katsumutso(sp) build of the Santa Maria and must say his build is absolutely stunning, not gonna measure myself against it lol. I didnt really have any trouble with the planking phase. I did make a few mistakes when assembling the false keel and bulkheads. i also did not check to see if my deck lined up properly with all my bulkheads and had to use a bit of wood filler as a result. I had more trouble with the veneer as it was harder to get it to bend the way i needed them to but in the end managed. A few pics to show you where I am currently.