I bought Santa Maria from Constructo and Nina and Pinta from Mamoli. All of the in Scale 1:100. I did not realy look at the price of them, they looked like what i did want. I did want to have all three and i have limited space unfortunatly.

O Boy, how surprices i have been.

The Santa Maria is ok. It has all the details, and looks like a nice model to build. Solid hull and lots of nice details. The cost was about the double of the Nina or Pinta.

The Nina and Pinta are a lot simpler. No blocks or deadeyes, the rigging is tied directly to mast, and so on. It does not have the same detail level as the Santa Maria.

So the question now, is it worth to upgrade it to same detail level by either building or buying the missing parts.
Does any have any tips or ideas, or have been in the same postition.

The worse part is, i have not even started to look into the historical accuracy of the models.

Roberth

Hi Robbox,
Boy, have I been through that dillemma, not in model ships, but in model aircraft, and in model railroading.The problem stems from lack of availability of a particular kit I would like to do, and then, after obtaining it, finding through the research, that the kit doesn't fit historical standards (at least to my liking) or it is lacking in details. This problem really cropped up for me in HO model railroading, as I am modelling a particular RR, which in real life, had it's own way of doing things, and modifying it's equipment accordingly. So, in answer to your question, should you go through what it would take to bring the models up to what you would like to see is going to depend on what you discover in your researching. The good news is, that those three ships are familiar to most of the world, and I'm sure there are volumes that have been written regarding them. In the case of the two smaller ships, to solve the rig problems would seem rather inexpensive if it's a matter of adding blocks, extra lines and so forth, but if the basic lines of the ship are wrong, then you will have to decide how much effort it would be to modify the hull/decks/masting. The level of detail you wish to add is another factor. 1:100th scale is not very large, as these were small ships to begin with, and I can see where you could really drive yourself crazy trying to duplicate every little detail, without the model becoming too cluttered. So in that case, maybe just a representation of particular detail facets would suffice. In any event, once you get into the research, you will have a more solid knowledge foundation on which to base your modelling decisions. I guess these are kind of general guidelines, but hope they help:) Good luck, and let us know how it works out for you.
Peace
Bob

Thanks, for good quality reply. It looks that updating the model is the way to go. Specially that they are good information about the model. Because Nina and Pinta are simple ships, i think you can get pretty good details on them. It worth a try. But first finish the my Vasa model from behind the iron curtain, with the unique flavor of first sketches from Vasa.

I ran into the same problem with Shamrock II from dutch models. It had this nice picture on the box but inside was a shaped hull and bare minimum wood no blocks no real deck plan and crappy printed sails. As I researched it further I discovered the keel was completly wrong and so was the rudder. It turns out to get the keel and rudder right I had to change the shape of the hull to the correct dimensions. Long story short I am making the blocks now and wil rig it correctly including wire stays. It will be well worth the effort when it is done. I will have a correct model of a rarely modeled boat.

Good Luck

I ran into the same problem with Shamrock II from dutch models. It had this nice picture on the box but inside was a shaped hull and bare minimum wood no blocks no real deck plan and crappy printed sails. As I researched it further I discovered the keel was completly wrong and so was the rudder. It turns out to get the keel and rudder right I had to change the shape of the hull to the correct dimensions. Long story short I am making the blocks now and wil rig it correctly including wire stays. It will be well worth the effort when it is done. I will have a correct model of a rarely modeled boat.


I got a good book in the series: Anatomy of the Ship, named "The Ships of Christopher Columbus, by Xavier Pascal.

I have studied the book and the kits. There are quite a lot changes needed to be done. But the S:t Maria, Nina and Pinta are simple ships. What i like with the books are that the research seems to have reached a maturity which seems stable. This means that a pretty good view how the ships realy looks like. Hundred years of debate seems to have reached a common understanding.

So add a lot of scratch built parts will be worth the effort.