San Bartolome 1584 by Kevin - Ships of Pavel Nikitin - 1/48 - Jan 2026

[Kevin]

This San Bartolome was supposedly a part of the ‘invincible’ Spanish Armada led by Alonso Perez de Guzman, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, from May to September of 1588. The Armada was battered in multiple skirmishes with the Anglo-Dutch naval fleet, composed of light and manoeuvrable ships led by Charles Howard. This clash is known as the Battle of Gravelines. Elizabethan Pirates excelled in that battle, especially the notorious Francis Drake. The confrontation between Spanish and Anglo-Dutch fleets lasted for two weeks. The Armada could not regroup and, refusing to invade England, headed North. The English fleet followed the Armada along the East coast of the British Islands. The Armada’s return was very challenging, having to go through the north side of the Atlantic Ocean, along the West coast of Ireland. Due to strong storms, the Armada’s ships were taken to the far North and West shores of Ireland. During this expedition, the Armada lost more than 60 ships, of which only 7 of them were lost in battle.

Edited 2 hours ago by Kevin

[Kevin]

good evening everyone, 

 

Welcome to my new 2026 build, 

 

I wasnt allowed to purchase this kit as the delivery costs and import duties were deemed to high by the admiral, but i dropped it into the basket to see how much, and it created an invoice, never ever seen that happen before, but i honoured the agreement and waited for arrival

a great kit review here by @James H

 

 1:48 San Bartolome by Pavel Nikitin - REVIEWS: Model kits - Model Ship World™

 

here are a few shots from each of the three boxes i received, i however never ordered the cradle or stand

 

Box two

 

 

box 3

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Kevin

[ccoyle]

Very nice unboxing!

[Kevin]

Day 1 wed 14th Jan 2026

did a full contests check against the instructions

the quality of the wood is excellent, and a lot of it, the frames from Ply are well lasered, the rest of the contents is mainly beech and again well cut with little laser burn, looking forward to this, so lets get on with it

, everything was there, any issues now, i will blame the bois

the centre line is made up from 7 pieces that are sandwiched together, and  kept in place with inserts, this was then allowed to dry under weights

the same with the Keel

and then attached together with tape keeping them together whilst drying

 

 

 

 

the next part has fairing lines marked on, so using a Dremel this work was quickly sorted, and sanded before fitting in place with inserts again, im noticing a few errors with part identification, , they are not always shown and some are not where they are instructed

Edited 3 hours ago by Kevin

[Kevin]

day 2 today 16th Jan 26

a lot of frames on this build, 24 of them, they are all tight on the centre line, but just removing the laser char enables the to slide on ok, the fwd and after ones however have faring lines all over the place to ensure the plank runs flow ok but also to ensure they fit on the centre line and doubler, the beech is easy to work with and sands down quite fast

 

the first three go on together, matched as a unit, i am however not ready for that and going to do all the frames before i commit to glue

 

24 frames to go

fairing lines to get a good fit

 

[Knocklouder]

Pulling up a chair my friend, Good luck on your journey with this build.   

Bob  M.