Unboxing 15th century wooden boat by thibaultron - Ships of Pavel Nikitin - 1:48

[thibaultron]

Pavel Nikitin (https://shipsofpavelnikitin.com/shop) is a ship kit manufacturer in the Ukraine that makes a series of well designed laser cut wooden ship and small boat kits.  This kit is a 1/48^th scale (136mm length) model of, I believe, a ship's boat from the Santa Maria from plans by H. E. Adametz. The kit costs ~$20 US, He also produces a larger 1/24^th scale (272 mm Length) kit with mast and sail “The “Santa Maria” Caravel Boat” for ~$66 US that looks to be the same boat as this smaller kit, sans the mast and sail.

 

The kit comes in a small box about 6 inches long.

 

 

Opening the box there are a four page set of plans/pictorial instructions, and two plastic wrapped packages of laser cut wood parts.

 

 

The instruction sheets have pictorial type instructions similar to a plastic kit. There are no written directions, so some modicum of wooden ship model knowledge is needed. Perusal of a few build logs on this forum, would provide the needed knowledge.

 

Here are pictures of the cover sheet and a sample page of the instructions.

 

 

The kit is built upright, in a cradle, the parts for which come in one of the wooden packages.

 

 

Opening the bundle of the parts for the boat itself reveals 7 sheets of laser cut parts. Sheets 1 through 6 and sheet 9. I’m assuming the sheets 7 and 8 are the cradle parts, thought these are all separate parts, not two sheets of parts.

 

Sheet 1 has the keel, stem, stern post and display cradle parts.

 

 

Sheet 2  has the frames, stern, and some smaller parts. The frames have secondary lines for beveling the frames before installation for the initial fairing of the hull.

 

 

Sheet 3 has the engraved planking for the final stern layer, the gunnels, seats, and floor.

 

 

Sheet 4 has more frames, small parts, and the rudder.

 

Sheets 5 and 6 contain the pre-cut planking.

 

 

Sheets 7 and 8 are the parts for the construction cradle.

 

 

Finally Sheet 9 has the oar blanks.

 

 

The kit has no metal parts, but other than perhaps rudder pintles, which can be made from paper, you really don’t need any for this small model.

 

This kit should build a nice display piece for a small space.

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

I am NOT criticizing the quality of the kit or the enjoyment that casual hobbyists might get from assembling it.  I am criticizing marketing it as Santa Maria Boat. If we don’t have reliable design information for Santa Maria, even less is known about the small boats that she may or may not have carried.  There is some scholarship coming from the excavation of the “Red Bay Galleon” found in Newfoundland.  Accurate drawings exist for one of her whaleboats and  a more typical small boat called a “Barca” has been excavated but I have been unable to find anything published about this boat.  These boats are also 100 years later than the boat in the model kit.  A c1570 Spanish whaleboat unfortunately has nowhere near the marketing appeal as Santa Maria.

 

Roger

[No Idea]

Such a tiny little boat - good luck with the build 👍  I have don't know how the manufactures make these for so little money but I'm glad they do.  What a great way to get into our hobby.

[thibaultron]

As to the accuracy of the boat. He pulled the design from a reputable source, and apairently the Santa Maria replica has one.

[Pitan]

Thanks for this review.  I chose this kit for my first wooden boat build.