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Nina/Santa Clara


Martian

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14 minutes ago, beefy66 said:

Starting to look more interesting now that you have added some details :popcorn:

 

beefy 

Thanks Beefy, its frustrating to have run out of the plastic strip I need as I was on a bit of a roll.

 

Martian 👽

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4 hours ago, Hewy said:

I like the look it martian, you've piped me aboard for this one

Welcome to the mayhem Hewy.

3 hours ago, longshanks said:

About time the Martians learnt how to build boats :rofl2:

 

Good to see this mediocre kit being taken to the next level

 

:clap2:

 

Kev

Thanks Kev. The two tone plastic used by Heller is doing my head in though. I'm not sure why as the model is getting smothered in white plastic stock anyway but I hate it.

3 hours ago, Courageous said:

I like what I'm seeing, good attention to detail.

 

Stuart

Cheers Stuart.

 

Hiatus for a few days as Mrs Martian is taking me off to Wales for my Birthday.

 

Martian 👽

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On 12/12/2019 at 13:19, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

You are applying your characteristic multi-betentacled excellence and neatness to this wee beastie.  I’m confident that you will beat it into submission with ease.  

Thanks Crisp, the main problem is that no two people seem to agree on the rig of the ship. Seeing as how my interest is more in the ships of the era rather than Columbus' voyage per-se , I may complete the model as supplied in the kit, hence the reference to her previous life as the Santa Clara in the title, it would also make for a quicker build. This is attractive as yesterday, I finally found the missing pieces of information I needed to get my Great Eastern project under way.

 

Martian 👽

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If no two people agree, then provided your rig is plausible then no-one can prove you wrong.  After all, among the many things the Aubrey-Maturin books taught me is the fact that Captains changed their rigs sometimes quite radically to get performance out of their hulls.  Even a relatively simple vessel like Nina might well not have had a single definitive rig.

 

The world is your lobster!

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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On 12/15/2019 at 4:45 AM, Martian Hale said:

...my Great Eastern project...

Ooh; when I lived in London immediately post-Navy, my flat was only a few hundred yards along the bank of the Thames where Great Eastern was built - my Mum found this page from the Illustrated London News:

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Thanks Crisp, duly saved. I am now just waiting on the postie to deliver the CD-ROM of the plans and Mrs Martian to go up to the loft, yes I'm still banned, to retrieve the kit. Given it's size, at least this is one that she will not have to rummage around too much for! Talking of the postie, he is doubly anticipated as I have been unable to source the .60 x.60 thou plastic strip locally and have had to order it on line, thus holding up work on this build; very frustrating.

 

Martian 👽

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Huzzah! The awaited plastic strip arrived yesterday, thus allowing me to get stuck back into this build. Predictably I began by resuming work on the hull structure., This now needs a gentle rub down before I can start adding assorted fittings to it.. Acting on information gleaned from one of the on line tours of one of the replicas, I constructed the hatch leading to the captain's cabin. Apparently, he was the only one of the crew to have below decks accommodation (Quite right too says I!)*, with the rest of the crew having to make do with messing and sleeping under the quarter deck.

 

The sides of the ship below the quarter deck seem to have been open to the elements. The kit shows them as solid so a lot of time was spent opening them out, this was not a particularly pleasant task as the plastic used by Heller is very definitely on the hard side and four scalpel blades were blunted before the job was complete. The openings still await a final cleaning up with a small file before I will be totally happy with them.

 

Can some kind soul please tell the devil that is whispering in my ear to use "Carry on Columbus" as a reference for this build, to do one? Oops! too late.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAwGEVI_XH4

 

Thanks for looking.

 

*Captain (Cat and the Lash) Martian 👽

 

PS: There is no truth in the rumour that I run the MVS Poole press gang :whip: or trick unsuspecting drinkers on Poole quay into taking Mrs Martian's shilling. She is increasingly called the Blonde Haired General within the Unit and says that sixpence is more than enough to pay anyone!

 

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6 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Martian, hardly 1st class accommodation for the crew! I'd want a refund on my maritime union dues if I had to sail across the Atlantic in that ship. Regards, Jeff.

I would hate to know what steerage class was like.

 

Martian 👽

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On 21/12/2019 at 19:02, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Particularly if you didn’t really have any idea how wide the Atlantic was when you set off...

"According to Dr Heinkel, the laws of aerodynamics say that the bumble bee cannot fly. Yet ignorant of this fact, the bumble bee does fly! So you see sometimes it is better to be the bumble bee than it is Dr Heinkel, It is not just innocence that defends itself but ignorance too" (A. Hitler "Private Schultz")

 

Philosophical of Mars 👽 

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Following a look at my friend's Anatomy of the Ship book on Columbus' ships, I have decided that I like the look of the ship with a foremast and bowsprit and square sails on the two foreword masts. The book shows two, three and four masted versions of the ship, going to prove that nobody is really sure of her rig at the time of Columbus' voyage. I have not yet decided on whether to add the second mizzen mast or not. I am waiting on delivery of my own copy of the book and will make a decision upon it's arrival. I have already made a start on the necessary modifications to the kit and if I get time today, I will post some pictures.

 

Martian 👽

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1 hour ago, Hewy said:

Looking like an impressive detailing job is well under way , I'm  sure it'll  be smashing job  whichever historical version it represents  

I second that and will be following with interest. Let me also add my congrats to your wins at Telford. Have a great Xmas & New Year!

Pat

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1 hour ago, Hewy said:

Looking like an impressive detailing job is well under way , I'm  sure it'll  be smashing job  whichever historical version it represents  

Thanks Hewy. It is certainly a very interesting exercise detailing the model in this scale. I was looking at La Fauvette and Le Corsair the other day and thinking that 1/200 to 1/150 will turn out to be my preferred scale for sailing ships. For me they have something of a jewel like quality about them.

 

Philosophical/Calvados Soaked of Mars 👽  

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29 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Philosophical Calvados; is that a specialist Martian thing?

Further flight trials have established beyond all reasonable doubt that the Martian is in fact merely calvados soaked. :drunk:

 

Squiffy of Mars 👽

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As you will probably have gathered, quite a bit of work has been going on with this build over the last few days nand I did promise some pictures.

 

We start with a heads up for anyone else contemplating this kit. Heller do provide some indication as to where the upper deck is supposed to fit but as a support it is pretty useless and has caused untold hassle in trying to keep the model together for photography. I finally got fed up with this and overlaid the Heller supports with some strips of .60 x .60 thou plastic strip. Now the feck is going nowhere. 

 

I would like to be able to say that the transom part on the kit is pants but its not even that good! In places it is to narrow and in others too wide. The railings do not want to meet the same on the sides of the poop deck. I have managed to fettle all this together on the port side of the vessel but it does not require a crystal ball to foresee that there is going to be a similar punch up on the starboard side when the two hull halves are finally joined.

 

 In yet another heads up, the forecastle deck is on the anaemic side and will require modifying  for the versions of the ship with the extra mast/s. In the end I binned the kit part and scratched a replacement from .40 thou plastic card. This was drilled out to accept the bowsprit. A new foremast has been scratch built form some of the kit sprue. Cleats have been added to the bases of the masts and the inboard sides of the bulwarks. That bit took forever! Anything else? The mizzen mast needs adjusting a bit as it does not yet sit at quite the correct angle.

 

And so to the pictures. Please not that the masts are only dropped into the hull at the moment and consequently, are somewhat wonky at this stage.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Martian 👽

 

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17 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Now the feck is going nowhere. 

Gidday Martian, is this a typing error or a martian term for a part of the vessel? 😁 Seriously, it would be nice for everything to fit well and I understand your frustration when parts don't. But I gain quite a bit of satisfaction when I can repair/improve/replace bland, very basic or crude parts that are supplied, such as the masts you've done. This could be a common trait between Martians and Earthlings. Keep up the good work, she's coming along very well.

 

Regards, Encouraging of Earth.

Edited by ArnoldAmbrose
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9 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Martian, is this a typing error of a martian term for a part of the vessel? 😁 Seriously, it would be nice for everything to fit well and I understand your frustration when parts don't. But I gain quite a bit of satisfaction when I can repair/improve/replace bland, very basic or crude parts that are supplied, such as the masts you've done. This could be a common trait between Martians and Earthlings. Keep up the good work, she's coming along very well.

 

Regards, Encouraging of Earth.

Thanks Arnold, in my defence I will state that much drink had been taken when I typed those words. I too enjoy improving kits but I do get frustrated when sloppy manufacture causes a lot of extra work.

 

Martian 👽

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Mojo has been a bit low on this project recently. mostly, I suspect, that I have begun to tire of having to sort this kit's issues out. I decided to get away from this by building the yards required for the three masted version of the ship. The Anatomy of the Ship book sheds some light on the assorted rigs possible for the Nina. It seems that the ship sailed from Spain in the two masted lateen configuration as portrayed in the kit. During a stopover in the Canary Islands, the ship received the new foremast and bowsprit and a square rig for the main and fore masts and the bowsprit. There still seems to be confusion as to whether or not the Nina received the extra mizzen mast. She made a few voyages to the Americas and it may well be that this mast was a later addition. I was able to adapt the kit parts for the main lateen sail for the main mast but had to scratch build the bowsprit  and the yard for the foremast. I felt a bit better about things after all this, most likely because I was doing something to the model that I wanted to do. Next up I think I will get as many of the mast and yard fittings built as I can at this stage. Then there's the capstan and ship's pump to make. Having the book, I have a much better idea as to what these probably looked like.

 

Thanks for looking/

 

Martian 👽

 

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