Caravele "La Niña" scale 1/50

[mleonc]

Hello, I have started building a new version of the caravel La Niña.

Named "Santa Clara" but called “La Niña” by its owner, Juan Niño, a resident of Moguer. It was commanded by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, brother of the captain of the “La Pinta”. The ship was built in Palos, and in the Canaries, its lateen rigging was changed to square rigging, as stated by Fernando Colón. The new rigging gave it a similar appearance to that of the caravel La Pinta, except that it lacked a crow's nest on its main mast, it had no topmast or topgallant mast, and it lacked a topsail. It turned out to be Christopher Columbus's preferred caravel. According to the Diario, it was the fastest, and its maneuverability and stability must have been excellent, as it endured very harsh weather conditions. Columbus chose La Niña as the flagship for his return journey, despite being smaller than the La Pinta, which confirms the quality of this vessel. The initial blueprints used for its construction were acquired from the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, I have scaled the blueprints to 1/50.

 

[mleonc]

 

[mleonc]

I have aged the deck woods with ammonia vapor.

 

[mleonc]

Here I share more pictures of the project

 

[mleonc]

To be continued

 

[mleonc]

We're talking about the kitchen, stairs, stakes, winches, and fireplaces.

 

[mleonc]

To be continued

 

[HHIG]

Looks great!!!

 

[mleonc]

Hello, Some more progress: Barrels

 

[Dave boatswain]

I understand that your model will have straight sails?

 

[mleonc]

Correct, the rigging it will carry is the one with round sails that were set up in the Canary Islands.

 

[mleonc]

I understand that your model will have straight sails?

Correct, the rigging it will carry is the one with round (straight), As you say, sails that were set up in the Canary Islands.

 

[Dave boatswain]

Correct, the rigging it will carry is the one with round (straight), As you say, sails that were set up in the Canary Islands.

View attachment 434346

I understand. Well, I’ll install lateen (triangular) sails on my model.

 

[mleonc]

The rigging shown is the original one when it sailed from the port of Palos. The difference between both types of rigging is not only in the sails but also in the arrangement of the masts and the placement of a bowsprit.

 

[Dave boatswain]

Yes I know that. However, a Niña with straight sails is no different from a Pinta, right? And if I build the entire Columbus squadron, I would like there to be differences between these two ships.

 

[mleonc]

Yes I know that. However, a Niña with straight sails is no different from a Pinta, right? And if I build the entire Columbus squadron, I would like there to be differences between these two ships.

Yes, there are differences between both caravels. La Pinta had a forecastle castle, which the Niña lacked; the hull is different. La Pinta had guardrail tables to fasten the blocks of the shrouds, whereas on the Niña, these start from the deck. Additionally, from the main mast of La Pinta, Rodrigo de Triana spotted the lands of the New World, implying that it would have had a crow's nest or lookout platform, something that the Niña lacked.

La Pinta was larger in size than the Niña; in summary, there were differences between them although they both remained typical caravels of the time with very similar caraveles.

 

[mleonc]

It must be added that both, although similar, are very different from La Santa María, which was a carrack or coca (nao).

 

[marter1229]

I envy your skills, great looking model.
scratch build I presume?

 

[mleonc]

I envy your skills, great looking model.
scratch build I presume?

Thank you very much, indeed, as I said, I started from scratch.

 

[jeep]

Well done. I admire your detail.