15th Century Latin Caravel by Vivian Galad - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - Scale 1/50

[Bindy]

Wow Vivian!  You must be so proud and you should be!!!!  Your model just looks amazing and you are a genuine inspiration in so many ways!!

[maggsl_01]

WOW

 

Perfect... Congratulations Vivian

 

Its a very very cute ship, a super built model... Hope my Half Moon can compare

 

Best wishes

 

Max

 

Cheerio

[Ulises Victoria]

I have to say it one more time, Viv. Your build came up at a level very rarely attained at the first or second attempt. My first attempt at wood building was an embarrassing disaster.

And those photos you took as if taken at deck level look really good. Very realistic. And sails are not an easy part to do. Yours look very well done!

 

Mil Felicidades, linda!!!

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

https://www.facebook.com/dekogge/photos_stream

[Vivian Galad]

Daniel, already thinking to build some other caravels regarding different types used as I learn a bit more from their history. Since they evolved from fishing boats and probably some other small sized ships from mediterranean, there are some room for speculation and the building of some new perspectives while we wait for a caravel wreck to be found. Loved her and soon will post pics from here really finished. ^^

 

Obrigada Michael!! Nice to know u have been here already, but just now I wanted to be far from here, since this summer seems to be a record breaker of all history on hight temperatures. Have lived on warmer places, but gosh, it´s hot in São Paulo this year. Too bad for someone who loves a cold weather. I´ll do as Amir Klink and go for exploring the Antartic.

 

Bindy, many thanks =**** - I´m just beginning as u. And I´m proud of her!!!! ^^

 

Max, your Half Moon is coming great, mine is a simpler ship by far. ^^

 

Ulises, Si es así, better be happy about it!! As my grandmother said "don´t even looks like you made it", lol. And as I said, had the best teachers in the World!!! Muchas gracias!

[Vivian Galad]

Gaetan, loved the project. As cogs are in my interest, this is one I will follow. Ty!

[Moonbug]

Great work Viv. Good looking ship you have there.

 

-Bug

[Vivian Galad]

Well, first of all I wish to thank you all for your kind words, your support and help anytime I needed. Loved to build my first wooden ship kit and had so much fun that almost couldn´t control myself to finish the caravel (to go building the other kits, lol). Truth is the hobby was in my blood even if I didn´t know it. From the day I bought the kit till today, I´ve spent a lot of hours here, reading your posts, learning from the masters and applying that I´ve learned in my ship. Thanks, danke, spocibo, gracias, obrigada!!!!

 

She is ready to be on my heart for as much as I live.

[JPZ66]

Bravo ! The ship looks really great Vivian. Love the photography too ! I look forward to seeing the Red Dragon next..

 

-Joe

[Ulises Victoria]

Hey Viv:

 

To further help you in your quest to become a better builder, I suggest you look for and buy the book " Ship Modeling Simplified" by Frank Mastini

 

I think this is a MUST have for any beginner shipmodeler. 

[DSiemens]

Great build she looks wonderful!  Can't wait to see what you have planned next.  

[mikec]

Fantastic model. And very unusual. What is your next project going to be?

[Mike Y]

Wow, such a nice model in just 3 months! Unbelievable! Good luck with next one!

[Vivian Galad]

Ty, Joe. Tried to pick some unusual takes. But she is photogenic! Red Dragon is on the make ^^

 

Ulises, all references are welcome. As soon as my Story of The Sails arrives, I´ll see this one. Brigada =D

 

Daniel, Next the Red Dragon with some modifications. Maybe I´ll take more time on studying her than the caravel.

[Vivian Galad]

Mikec, already got the Red Dragon from AL on the run, a chinese junk. The caravels of discovery are beaultifull ships; a pity we have too few references about them and no confirmed shipreck was found till this day. Ty!!

 

Mike Y, many thanks. Think I got some spare time to work on her

[Vivian Galad]

Just some pics for comparison and explanations on what I changed from the original instructions.

 

Kit instruction

 

My view

 

Explaining what I´ve changed:

 

1 - Bowsprit (?) - Maybe not a bowsprit, for it has no function as one, but this piece on the fore didn´t pleased me, so, it was cut more like some other references I found.

 

2 - Peering holes - Didn´t like them from the beginning, but that´s not all. When I was reinforcing the hull some planks couldn´t fit cause the pre-cut parts just ignored this building step. To fix the problem I remade the planking on this part of the ship and completely closed the holes.

 

3 - Collor for the Hull - The kit´s instruction tells us to paint the hull black. I thought it would be a shame to put all timber to paint and made it different - used betume on the hull to give an aged look and then a wood sealer to protect the wood. Disagreeing with the kit´s excuse for the painting (iconography shows black hulls), we don´t have any proofs about the hull colors and although the iconography shows dark hulls, it was hard to have the right color to paint the hull on the middle ages - almost all iconography shows dark hulls for many types of ships, and those we have some evidence were not that patterned on painting.

 

4 - Rudder´s fittings (holders) - That was something the kit didn´t provide. Had to improvise and make my own with the few tools I had. In the instructions it is left with the original collor (brass), mine, as all metal on the ship, was painted black.

 

5 - Deadeyes - this took me some time. Deadeyes provided were lead, as all metal fittings. The manufactor said it was because he thought wooden deadeyes didn´t show a realistic view, since deadeys were handmade. Well, I disagreed again and had to order new fittings. Deadeyes took 1 month to arrive, but the results are way better. Funny part is that in the instructions the deadeyes are wood.

 

6 - Didn´t put the flags. Those which came with the kit were paper and I prefer to have my caravel countryless.

 

7 - Cleaning holes - Intructions told me to make four of them in each side. After searching for immages on the case, I found it was pretty conjectural and made 2 on each side, to better accommodate fittings inside. Could´ve put them all along the hull too, but 2 didn´t seem too few to me.

 

 

[overdale]

Great work Vivian, you are a 'natural' to model building.. I am enjoying watching your confidence and skills grow.

 

 

I thought you might like this image. I too am very attracted to medieval ships, but as you know, there is little information out there. The only good thing about that is a lot of the time, no one can prove you are wrong so you can be as creative as you like.!

 

I am building this in a waterline setting complete with a hold full of armored soldiers. (I'll post more when I make any progress.)

 

Dan.

 

Edited February 9, 2014 by overdale

[md1400cs]

Vivian,

 

Nice job.. And to think that people actually crossed the Atlantic in a tiny little boat like that. Hmmmm

[popeye the sailor]

you've completed a very nice ship Vivian,  a lot of thought went into her.      first ship..........surly won't be your last!

[Vivian Galad]

Hey Dan, thanks for the immage, as the cog is on my target too, the immage goes to my data bank regarding this type of ship. I´m really involved in the building ship´s world and have passed through a lot of research on the last few months. There is much to learn from these ancient pieces of art!

 

Michael, we can only imagine, since all attempts but one were a failure on replicating the caravels´ discovery voyages.

 

Popeye, it won´t be my last, but will be my first, cherished through the years to come as my call into the model ship world! Ty!

[Moonbug]

Just getting caught up on some builds. Nice work Viv!

 

- Bug

[Ulises Victoria]

WOW Viv!  ...hats off! You made a lot of modifications any beginner wouldn't dream to do!!!

And what I like the most is your attitude of "I didn't do this  just because I didn't like it." That shows that you put your own personality in your builds.

I can see a Master builder  to emerge here soon!!!

 

My congratulations!

[Vivian Galad]

Ty, Bug! ^^

 

Don´t know if I´ll be a master builder, but I´ll love each build I do, Ulises. The Red Dragon will pass for a lot more than the caravel and I think each build from now on, till I scratchbuild my own models, will be modified more and more. There´s a lot to learn in there, though, and I just love to learn. =D

[Bindy]

WOW Viv!  ...hats off! You made a lot of modifications any beginner wouldn't dream to do!!!

And what I like the most is your attitude of "I didn't do this  just because I didn't like it." That shows that you put your own personality in your builds.

I can see a Master builder  to emerge here soon!!!

 

My congratulations!

 

I couldn't agree more!

[overdale]

 

 

 

Hi Vivian,

I built a Ming Dynasty junk some years ago. As there weren't many drawings of Junk hull shapes around, I based the hull on the plan from the Amati Red Dragon kit.  I enlarged the lines to give me the hull shape at 1/48 and built it on bulkheads as per the kit but everything else was scratch built.  After the Caravel, I'm sure you won't have any trouble building it, but if you need any advice about deck fittings traditional colors and designs, or how to make the sails don't hesitate to ask.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dan.

Edited February 21, 2014 by overdale

[Vivian Galad]

Bindy - ^^

 

Dan, nice pics. Yours is a big one representation, very similar to the Ning Po junk that crossed the Pacific in the early 20th cent. at least on details - the bird depicted is one of the immortals, too? Would love to see more pictures from your ship and regarding the dragon depiction from the AL kit, no way! There must be the eyes in there! Since I still don´t know where to place my junk in history (pirate one or part of an official fleet) and so, collors are on the open, yet. One thing I know - she´s to be there and seem a sailing ship - that´s a characteristic I want for all my ships. ^^

[NAZGÛL]

I just went to the medieval museum in Stockholm and when I looked at the ships there I thought of your great model Vivian.

 

It's turning out very nice and I like your taste for these ships.

 

 

/Matti

[overdale]

Bindy - ^^

 

Dan, nice pics. Yours is a big one representation, very similar to the Ning Po junk that crossed the Pacific in the early 20th cent. at least on details - the bird depicted is one of the immortals, too? Would love to see more pictures from your ship and regarding the dragon depiction from the AL kit, no way! There must be the eyes in there! Since I still don´t know where to place my junk in history (pirate one or part of an official fleet) and so, collors are on the open, yet. One thing I know - she´s to be there and seem a sailing ship - that´s a characteristic I want for all my ships. ^^

 

Vivian, 

here are a few more photos of the junk as requested. It's about 20% larger than the AL red dragon kit.

The last two are of another model of a similar junk set in a storm. It was an inch and a half long. The rigging was stretched contact adhesive, the sails were paper and the sea was clay.  The porcelain fragments next to the sea are Ming dynasty, recovered from the wreck of a junk that sank in the China Sea.

 

Hope the pictures are of use, any questions please feel free to ask..

 

Kind regards,

 

Dan.

Edited February 24, 2014 by overdale

[Vivian Galad]

Dan,

 

   Loved your pictures and your junk. Great you enlarged the hatches, since AL gives us a junk with no compartments, lol. As you aged your deck, I did with mine. Can´t stand that clean look. I intend on doing some rustic crates. Thanks a lot for posting the pics and for your care in showing your work. =*

[Vivian Galad]

Then, I got a crewmember - or this is the first view of a komodo dragon?