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Hi from Andalusia

S

StevemacG

Joined
May 10, 2026
Messages
9
Points
23

I’m yet another born-again modeller. Started in my early teens then sort of forgot about it when I simultaneously discovered motorcycles and girls… Like so many people, I got back into kit-building during COVID lockdown – I’m a Scot, but I live in Andalusia in southern Spain and the lockdown here was very strict indeed.

After six years of mostly modelling armour, aircraft and figures, I feel like a new challenge so I have decided to build and rig a sailing ship – my first kit will be the Airfix 1/72 Golden Hind from 1977. When I look at posts here, I’m hugely impressed (and more than a little daunted) by the sheer amount of detail people manage to get into these models. And on each post I come across words I’m not familiar with – I clearly also have a whole new vocabulary to learn…
 
Halò and ¡Hola! Steve,
Moving from Scotland to Andalusia must have been an incredible change! You traded the famous Scottish drizzle and grey skies for nearly 3,000 hours of sunshine a year.
That is quite a climate upgrade, especially for the winter months. I’ve visited quite a few cities in that region myself, including Málaga, Sevilla, Granada, and Córdoba, and it really is a beautiful part of the world.
I hope you feel just as much at home here as you do in Andalusia.
 
Peter Schaap said:
Halò and ¡Hola! Steve,
Moving from Scotland to Andalusia must have been an incredible change! You traded the famous Scottish drizzle and grey skies for nearly 3,000 hours of sunshine a year.
That is quite a climate upgrade, especially for the winter months. I’ve visited quite a few cities in that region myself, including Málaga, Sevilla, Granada, and Córdoba, and it really is a beautiful part of the world.
I hope you feel just as much at home here as you do in Andalusia.
Click to expand...
Thanks Peter and Hola,

The climate upgrade was the main reason for moving here - we lived in the Highlands of Scotland for more than 20 years, and it's a wonderful place in many ways but the weather is just downright depressing. My wife and I live in a small mountain town around 50km from Granada. We bought a house here in 2004 and moved here full-time 7 years ago and we haven't regretted it for a moment...

And tomorrow, I'm off on a trip to visit the naval museum in Cadiz where they have lots of stunning ship models to dribble over...

Cheers

Steve
 
StevemacG said:
Thanks Peter and Hola,

The climate upgrade was the main reason for moving here - we lived in the Highlands of Scotland for more than 20 years, and it's a wonderful place in many ways but the weather is just downright depressing. My wife and I live in a small mountain town around 50km from Granada. We bought a house here in 2004 and moved here full-time 7 years ago and we haven't regretted it for a moment...

And tomorrow, I'm off on a trip to visit the naval museum in Cadiz where they have lots of stunning ship models to dribble over...

Cheers

Steve
Click to expand...
Have fun tomorrow and maybe you can make some detail pictures of the Santísima Trinidad.
That's the ship I'm going to build in two weeks....
Greetz
Peter
 
Welcome Steve,
it would seem that we live about 50kms from each other, give or take! ROTF
I haven't visited the naval museum in Cadiz, but if you haven't already, you should visit the ones in Cartagena and Madrid, especially the one in Madrid has a lot of great models.

And yes, I also moved here from a rainy place many years ago...
 
KLarsen said:
Welcome Steve,
it would seem that we live about 50kms from each other, give or take! ROTF
I haven't visited the naval museum in Cadiz, but if you haven't already, you should visit the ones in Cartagena and Madrid, especially the one in Madrid has a lot of great models.

And yes, I also moved here from a rainy place many years ago...
Click to expand...
I did visit the naval museum in Cartagena a couple of years ago, and I was a little disappointed that there weren't more ship models on display, though I did find the Peral submarine fascinating. And the military museum there was well worth a visit too.
 
StevemacG said:
Hi Peter,

Some pics of the Santisma Trinidad. Not great quality - it's in a glass cabinet and the reflections are a major problemView attachment 605357, View attachment 605360View attachment 605361View attachment 605362View attachment 605363View attachment 605364View attachment 605359View attachment 605358View attachment 605356
Click to expand...
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the photos! They are definitely good enough for me. The ST looks suspiciously like the OcCre kit. Do you happen to remember if the model is roughly 1 meter long?
And did you see a model for yourself?
Greetz, Peter
 
Peter Schaap said:
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the photos! They are definitely good enough for me. The ST looks suspiciously like the OcCre kit. Do you happen to remember if the model is roughly 1 meter long?
And did you see a model for yourself?
Greetz, Peter
Click to expand...
The model was around 1m long and there was nothing to denote scale.

My first model will be the old Airfix Golden Hind kit from 1977, so there wasn't much of direct relevance to that (in fact, there was very little in the way of Spanish ships from the 16th century, most of the models were 18th, 19th and 20th century). I am generally interested in naval history and as the Golden Hind will be my first attempt at rigging, I was more interested in seeing how that's done.

Overall, it's a nice museum - not particularly large, but lots of models of ships, aircraft and even AFVs with some original artifacts. The staff were also very helpful (and several speak good English) and entry is free, something I always appreciate.

Cheers

Steve
 
StevemacG said:
I’m yet another born-again modeller. Started in my early teens then sort of forgot about it when I simultaneously discovered motorcycles and girls… Like so many people, I got back into kit-building during COVID lockdown – I’m a Scot, but I live in Andalusia in southern Spain and the lockdown here was very strict indeed.

After six years of mostly modelling armour, aircraft and figures, I feel like a new challenge so I have decided to build and rig a sailing ship – my first kit will be the Airfix 1/72 Golden Hind from 1977. When I look at posts here, I’m hugely impressed (and more than a little daunted) by the sheer amount of detail people manage to get into these models. And on each post I come across words I’m not familiar with – I clearly also have a whole new vocabulary to learn…
Click to expand...
Gone yer'sel Jimmy......a bit of retaliation on the vocabulary front. As an ex-army wannabe shipwright, I face the same linguistic challenges. But, it opens up a whole new level of insight...not to mention the potential answers to sneaky questions on pub quizzes here in Durham, aka 'hostile indian territory' for an expat Jock! All joking apart, it's good to see another newbie to share the seafaring journey with. Welcome and kind regards, it's a great place to learn.
 
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