Santa Maria Painted Hull?

[Papa]

I have decided to finish my Santa Maria kit that I put aside more than 20 years ago out of frustration. My biggest issue now is that the wood on the lower part of the hull is very blotchy. I made several messes with the planking and did a poor job staining which I then tried to correct by bleaching and sanding it out.  My question is: would it be appropriate to paint the lower hull an off-white.  The Mini Mamoli kit of the Santa Maria shows the lower hull painted white. All the other models I’ve view are natural wood, but that  just isn’t going to work.  
I purchased the kit at the 500 anniversary of Columbus’s voyage in 1992!

Ron Gove

[vossy]

Hi Ron,

 

how about getting some ultra thin strips and planking over it? You can get strips so thin they are almost like paper. If it was me, I would be trying to keep it unpainted. Strips will cost next to nothing, and if you muck it up, then paint it. If you do have to paint it however, I would go for a brownish base and try to weather it a bit. Be more realistic I reckon.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[acaron41120]

I am building a Billing Boats Santa Maria kit and they split the color of the hull into two sections. From the waterline down they call the hull to be painted tan and from the waterline up they say clear poly. Just adding some info from another kit.

[Papa]

9 hours ago, acaron41120 said:

I am building a Billing Boats Santa Maria kit and they split the color of the hull into two sections. From the waterline down they call the hull to be painted tan and from the waterline up they say clear poly. Just adding some info from another kit.

that sounds like a plan

[Papa]

Samuel Morrison in his Columbus biography writes. “ the ships' bottoms of that period were "covered with a mixture of tallow and pitch in the hopes of discouraging barnacles and teredos”

 

so if I can figure out  what color “tallow and pitch “ would be I’ll be historically accurate.

[Papa]

Behr Tallow Candle 

[Jaager]

A shallow search indicates that Spain did not mine asphalt for another 200 years, so the pitch was probably "Pine" tar.  Dark, but not 000,000,000 black.   The proportions of dark brown and tallow are maybe lost forever or in the Spanish archives,  but see what 50:50  dark brown to tan nets you.

[Papa]

18 hours ago, Jaager said:

A shallow search indicates that Spain did not mine asphalt for another 200 years, so the pitch was probably "Pine" tar.  Dark, but not 000,000,000 black.   The proportions of dark brown and tallow are maybe lost forever or in the Spanish archives,  but see what 50:50  dark brown to tan nets you.

thanks for that information.  I'm not ready to paint it yet. I am working on the parts that made me give up years ago.  The SM has timbers on the sides of the hull.  The plans called for making them out of square strip wood, 5/32" maybe (not near the plans now). No matter what i did i could not get those pieces to conform to the hull.  Recently i decided that i would make them by laminating thin layers.  I think this is going to work.

 

[Papa]

On 4/25/2020 at 8:36 AM, vossy said:

Hi Ron,

 

how about getting some ultra thin strips and planking over it? You can get strips so thin they are almost like paper. If it was me, I would be trying to keep it unpainted. Strips will cost next to nothing, and if you muck it up, then paint it. If you do have to paint it however, I would go for a brownish base and try to weather it a bit. Be more realistic I reckon.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

After much thought I decided to follow your advice. I ordered some .6 mm walnut strip wood from Model Expo and will replank the lower part of the hull.  There is a thick wale that separates the bad part and will make a natural stopping point. 

Edited May 14, 2020 by ragove

[Bob Cleek]

On 4/26/2020 at 10:44 AM, Jaager said:

The proportions of dark brown and tallow are maybe lost forever or in the Spanish archives,  but see what 50:50  dark brown to tan nets you.

Actually, I believe they coated the bottoms with pitch (pine tar) and then applied the tallow on top of the pitch. The tallow was mixed with hair from horses or other animals. It was believed the hair deterred marine borers.