Santa Maria Caravelle by GGibson - Ships of Pavel Nikitin - 1:48

[neilm]

Coming on just great. The kit is not perfect by any means but our modelling skills are what it is all about.   Lovely build. 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

    Eastern Europe has a long history of sophisticated paper modeling of all sorts of things.  Of course paper is thin enough to be viewed as a two-dimensional material, and paper model design flows from how one can bend, twist, roll and otherwise join 2 dimensional components.  I wonder if  this background (school of thought or shared history?) is reflected in more recent kits coming from Eastern Europe.

    Model kits (non-ship) from U-Gears are laser cut on thicker wood stock, thus have a third dimension.  But the U-Gears offerings are built like puzzles without having to bend pieces (for the most part).  The Nitkin ship kits have a mixture of thick and thin wood parts, and the the planking does require bending.  The pre-cut shapes of all the planks likely correspond to a certain "perfect" hull shape (determined in the design phase).  The hull frames do have lines on each side to serve as a guide for how to fair them ... but get the builder only 'so close' to the theoretical ideal.  Fairing is a tricky (artistic, actually) process where not trimming/sanding quite enough versus going too far can be measured in thousands of an inch (or hundredths of a millimeter).

 

    Perfectly 'faired' hulls (whether frames or bulkheads, with filler wood or not) won't have any 'kinks' or 'dips' in planking (or springy wire used to lay over a hull in progress to judge the fairing process) put over the exterior.  A plank length designed to fit perfectly over an ideal faired distance will appear short or long in its place depending if the fairing along the hull covered by that plank is not exact.  There's the rub!  2-D laser cutting cannot pre-fair ship frames, and frame assembly also produces slight positional variations in the framing that even 'assembly jigs' (on smaller models) can't completely prevent.

 

    With regular plank-on-bulkhead kits, one must cut, shape and fit one's own planks from long pieces of planking stock to conform to whatever fairing shape the modeler happens to have achieved on the hull.  This may seem inconvenient to some, but the result will be appropriate for the hull being built.  The concept of a 'fully engineered' kit where all the shapes have been pre-determined and will 'fit like a glove' is alluring indeed - but I fear that it will likely remain something of a "Holy Grail".  We're forced to deal with at least a few assembly variables that still require a modeler to 'work around' a few surprises.  But isn't that what model ship building is all about?  So I wouldn't be too hard on Pavel because of the very high (and difficult) bar he's aiming for, and consider the 'partnership' of sorts that exist between kit designer and model builder.

 

    Consider the words of old Einar Billing, founder of Billing Boats:  "The most important point is that this kit is intended to be built, and not merely assembled.  In consequence, you must not expect the parts to fit together perfectly - it will be necessary to exercise skill and imagination in the building of this kit.  I have tried to make the parts as accurate, and the instructions as precise as possible - but thought and care should be exercised during the construction.  After all, any child can put a puzzle together.  I wish you a lot of success in building your model."

[GGibson]

Well, I've completed another phase in this Santa Maria build, so thought I'd post an update with the progress I have made and the pictures I have taken to-date.  At my last update at the end of December, I had not yet stained the outer hull, so it was time to do that.  I think I had noted that Pavel Nikitin had his own set of paints/stains that he was recommending but, being the poor sprayer that I still am, I decided to use more conventional stains and brush or wipe them on.  For the hull, I wanted a darker stain, so I opted for Minwax Honey wood finish.  I wiped it on the hull, then sanded and used some steel wool to smooth it out some, then applied a 2nd coat.  May do a bit more touchup before completion, as it is a bit "splotchy" in spots, but it gives a decent impression, I think, of how a 15th century ship may have looked.

 

 

 

Next task was to work on the main deck and quarter deck rails.  The kit's quarter deck rails consist of 5 sets of two rail pieces glued together to make the proper rail width. while the kit's main deck rails consist of 6 sets of three rail pieces joined to make its rail width.  The char on all of these pieces was removed the best I could using my Dremel with a 220-grit sanding disc.  

 

 

 

 

Once these were all glued together to form two sets of rails, the kit provided a sheet which was needed in order to cut and shape each of the rails to their proper form.  That was completed and then they were set aside for now, waiting to be stained and then placed once the decks were completed.

 

      

 

There is a back wall for the quarter deck that really isn't discussed anywhere in the pictorial instructions but suddenly shows up in a subsequent picture, so we added that now while also working on the quarter deck planking.  As the provided planks were placed on the quarter deck braces, there was a gap in the planking, so I cut an extra piece using the sheet that the planks came from and filled that gap.  The poop deck planking was also laid out.  Again, as is done with all of Pavel's sheet pieces, you can see the numbering on the planks for identification and placement but, of course, these were flipped/rotated when secured on the ship, so the numbers are not visible.

 

      

 

 

The rail system that was provided in the kit for the poop deck was a dark gray resin material.  Most of it would be covered by wood slats, but the decorative "X" supports were painted black in order to stand out a bit better.  The top rail isn't in these pictures, but you'll see it in later pictures.  The poop deck came out looking fairly well.

 

     

 

      

 

Now to the front of the ship.  I had previously completed the forecastle deck but have not yet secured it to the ship itself.  I had also worked previously on the braces that go under the forecastle deck, but they were a bit shorter than I wanted, so I re-did them so the braces extend out a bit more on the sides.  I stained the braces using the same Minwax Satin Antique Walnut that I used for the decks.  The black marks on each of the braces just helped me remember what side to face up during placement, as the forecastle deck will be placed on top and cover the markings, anyway.

 

Once the forecastle deck was placed and secured, I could then place the main deck rails and quarter deck rails that I had previously completed.  They seemed to go on fairly well, but I will need to look at filling a few gaps between the rails and the hull where needed.

 

    

 

But, with the placement of the rails, that pretty much completes this phase of construction.  I think the next project is to work on the vertical buttock riders that are placed on the hull along with the channels, and then there are several deck items to work on, including rails, ladders, the windlass, etc.  So, for now, this is how my Santa Maria looks. 

 

      

 

 

 

Appreciate those of you who have been peeking in with the likes, comments and advice.  Thanks...

[neilm]

Excellent work Gregg.  Coming on beautifully. 
Lovely build. 

[GGibson]

1 hour ago, neilm said:

Excellent work Gregg.  Coming on beautifully. 
Lovely build. 

 

Thanks, Neil.  Appreciate the follow and comments.

[grsjax]

Considering the missing parts and parts that don't fit right you should contact Pavel and let him know about it.  I know that some of his earlier models had issues that were corrected in later editions.