Santa Maria

[Spiderpig]

Hi all

 

I am trying to decide on a Santa Maria kit. But I would like to know what people think is the better one?

 

From research the following companies make the Santa Maria:

 

Artesania

 

Mamoli

 

Amati

 

Mantua

 

I'm probably steering towards the Amati version. But Mantua's and Mamoli's are of greater scale.

 

Any opinions would be great

 

Adam

[vossy]

Hey mate have built the Amati version and found the kit was very good overall. don't like the metal lifeboat so built a wooden one and the instructions are not child proof. overall result was a model i was more than pleased with, will post pics of her if i can get it back from my mother. having said that i'm currently building mamoli golden hind and am very disappointed in both the quality and quantity of the wood supplied - second planking especially very brittle and not enough. may not happen with all their kits so i don't want to bag them too much. all in all i'd go with the amati its still a good size. btw i built mine without sails although they are supplied, i think a model of this size with full sails hides too much detail but you could furl them i suppose. anyway good luck with your final choice - she is my favourite ship!

[Jean-Pierre]

Glad I saw the comments by Vossy on the wood issue with a Mamoli kit.  Although I'm pretty sure this is not the case with alls their kits, I did have the same problem of very brittle second planking wood.

 

I personally would go either for Corel or for Artesania, as these are the more recently researched reproductions of the SM.

 

Anyway, from whwat I read on the subject, SM was built around 1465, and should have a round butt like the carracks of that time.  She probably had no gun ports, and had no rear mounted lantern.  She would at the most, have a SQUARE small topsail at the main mast

 

I would build the Corel model which has the best "looks" and also has the finest models made from their kit!(but I would modify her "butt", which should not be too difficult (just replacing the lower part of the rearmost lower bulkhead by a suitable block of balsa.

 

Happy modelling ... and happy discovery voyage with your Santa Maria

[Spiderpig]

Thanks guys. I didnt find a Corel version. Are you sure they do the SM?

 

I will probably do the AL or Amati version. But for now I'm waiting on my Syren to arrive, so SM will have to wait till later

 

Adam

[Jean-Pierre]

Sorry, my mistake. It's Amati !

[vossy]

the amati version is a really good reasonably priced kit. i would highly recommend for someone who has done 1 or 2 other models. its definatley not beginner but also not too advanced that you can't produce a really nice model

[aferox]

I'm doing a weird bash together (with some scratch building) of the materials from the Amati and Mantua kits right now, following the Anatomy book and personal observations from visits to the Nina and Pinta replicas.  I started with just the Amati kit, and I liked it.  However, I found my Amati kit had very soft and flexible plywood, and great care had to be taken to keep the decks and frames aligned properly.  I would recommend it though.

[marktime]

I wanted a challenge for my Santa Maria so I used the AL kit (which is an introductory level kit) and bashed it based on the Anatomy series by Xavier Pastor "The ships of Christopher Columbus", so it came out, as Jean-Pierre suggests, as a round tuck stern. I used the kit as a material source as I'm a kitchen-table modeller.

 

As I only know AL kits I can't judge the comparative quality but I couldn't fault the timber or small parts but the cannons supplied were not the lombards they are supposed to be.

[Ship Shape]

I like what you have done with this kit, I know it took some work to this and I for one will follow this thread to see how she turns out.

Rick

[Emmet]

On 5/19/2014 at 12:54 AM, vossy said:

Hey mate have built the Amati version and found the kit was very good overall. don't like the metal lifeboat so built a wooden one and the instructions are not child proof. overall result was a model i was more than pleased with, will post pics of her if i can get it back from my mother. having said that i'm currently building mamoli golden hind and am very disappointed in both the quality and quantity of the wood supplied - second planking especially very brittle and not enough. may not happen with all their kits so i don't want to bag them too much. all in all i'd go with the amati its still a good size. btw i built mine without sails although they are supplied, i think a model of this size with full sails hides too much detail but you could furl them i suppose. anyway good luck with your final choice - she is my favourite ship!

Would love to see the pics of the lifeboat for the Amati. I am building the La Nina and amnot using the metal lifeboat.