Gondola by Eric S. - Venice Boats - 1:36

[Eric S.]

I had the good fortune recently to travel to Rome and Venice.  While walking through Venice I happened upon a wonderful shop with all sorts of model boats built and a variety of kits.  The shop was named Venice Boats (www.veniceboats.com) and I bought a gondola kit!

[Eric S.]

I opened up the kit when I returned home and found a really nice set of instructions and a website with English translations and pictures to refer to while building. So I got started.

[Eric S.]

First step was to assemble the hull, which went together nicely.  My modeling skills are mediocre so it came as no surprise that when I went to fit the top of the front and back of the boat that the hull sides were pushed in and some fitting was in order.  I have gotten more comfortable with alterations so I ended up cutting the pieces down to size and fitting them in.  Not perfect by any means, but it will pass the inspection from my wife and two daughters when finished 😆.

[Eric S.]

I then proceeded to finish up the basic assembly of the gondola, sanded and then added filler.

[Eric S.]

I painted the hull gloss black and it turned out ok.  My wife said that she could still see the wood grain under the paint and that it needed some more work 😩, but I think it’s as good as I can do and more paint will not improve the end result.  In any case, next steps are to add the finishing trim and add some red color to the seats.  So far so good! 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice job!