Thank you very much Herman, Great to have hit year "80"Happy Birthday @ConsNZ. Enjoy the day.
-
Win a Free Custom Engraved Brass Coin!!!
As a way to introduce our brass coins to the community, we will raffle off a free coin during the month of August. Follow link ABOVE for instructions for entering. -
SUBSCRIBE TO SHIPS IN SCALE TODAY!
The beloved Ships in Scale Magazine is back and charting a new course for 2026!
Discover new skills, new techniques, and new inspirations in every issue.
NOTE THAT OUR NEXT ISSUE WILL BE MARCH/APRIL 2026
Need a bit of advice - I got a bit confused by enthusiasm
Thank you Kurt. The entire Easter weekend was awesome. BTW daughter gave me "Blender for Dummies" and a swear jar
Blender is SO HUGE, you can't even find the simplest tools to start modeling with. I wish I had that book when I got started. Instead, I used my prior experience as a 3-D modeler who learned on Newtek's Lightwave 3D and watched a lot of YouTube videos to get started. The Blender instructions website is worthless to a beginner because it doesn't explain anything, and has no examples. It's only a reference, and only truly readable by programmers who understand Python computer code.Thank you Kurt. The entire Easter weekend was awesome. BTW daughter gave me "Blender for Dummies" and a swear jar
BIG TIP: Save often, and save to multiple files so can unfuck what you just fucked up.
Kroum Batchvarov stated we know nothing about the Santa Maria. It was probably a carrack. Everything else is guesswork.
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2024
- Messages
- 1,669
- Points
- 488
Kurt, I agree. But people are sensitive about the models that they are building from these kits so I tried to tone down my comments.
Roger
Roger
The criticisms are correct from an experienced modeler's perspective. An experienced mariner would note the same. Things on small sailing vessels don't change much over time because, regardless of advances in technology, the sea remains the same. As someone noted, we are learning a lot about early vessels from marine archaeology that wasn't available to us before. However, as to Columbus' ships, we know next to nothing. They do fascinate people and over time many have written about them as if they knew what they were talking about when all that can be honestly said is we don't know. Their generally described "types" are in large measure a mystery to us still, at least until some diver finds one on the bottom that's sufficiently preserved to glean some idea of what these types actually might have looked like.
That said, if somebody wants to take a crack at building a ship model that they say they think looks like one of Columbus' ships, there's no reason they shouldn't try. This builder surely took his best shot at it as an early effort and did rather well in terms of his technical skill. Each build is a step towards a better one the next time. Experience begins when you start!
What's unfair here that I think has to be said in the builder's defense is that kit manufacturers do their customers a disservice by selling, often at inflated prices. kits which are not only historically inaccurate, but in the case of "mystery" ships like Columbus' fleet in this instance, historically fraudulent. Moreover, many of those kits, and the Artisania Latina Santa Maria kit is a prime example, are poorly engineered and contain cheap materials and inadequate instructions. They are often out of scale. Some, frankly, are simply crude and "toy-like."
Below is a picture of the hatch in question in the manufacturer's own advertising. Most of the constructive criticisms mentioned in this thread are also apparent in AL's own advertising! The builder here mentioned in his own defense that he'd built the model consistent with the instructions and it is apparent that he did... "warts and all." I don't think that's his fault. His model is certainly worthy of being displayed in his home and like I believe most ship modelers' "first efforts," will always have a special place in his heart. I do think he will select his next kit with more experience that he when he bought this one. This builder seems to have an appreciation for the research needed to do original modeling and perhaps sooner rather than later he will be building his own models from scratch, rather than being held hostage by the limitations of the kit manufacturers' offerings.
As I do not build ship model kits at this stage anymore, "I don't have a dog in the fight," but I will suggest that the kit building segment of the scale ship modeling community really would do themselves a favor by being a lot more critical about the miserably low standards of a lot of the kits on the market today. There is no reason why even a "novice level" kit should produce the low-quality models so many kits do, particularly considering what they charge for them.
I commend this first-time builder for doing a good job building a bad kit.
Sorry, but I just can't get past the ladder with the lashed rungs. Does anybody know the correct term for those slats lashed around the foot of the mast and what their purpose might be?
That said, if somebody wants to take a crack at building a ship model that they say they think looks like one of Columbus' ships, there's no reason they shouldn't try. This builder surely took his best shot at it as an early effort and did rather well in terms of his technical skill. Each build is a step towards a better one the next time. Experience begins when you start!
What's unfair here that I think has to be said in the builder's defense is that kit manufacturers do their customers a disservice by selling, often at inflated prices. kits which are not only historically inaccurate, but in the case of "mystery" ships like Columbus' fleet in this instance, historically fraudulent. Moreover, many of those kits, and the Artisania Latina Santa Maria kit is a prime example, are poorly engineered and contain cheap materials and inadequate instructions. They are often out of scale. Some, frankly, are simply crude and "toy-like."
Below is a picture of the hatch in question in the manufacturer's own advertising. Most of the constructive criticisms mentioned in this thread are also apparent in AL's own advertising! The builder here mentioned in his own defense that he'd built the model consistent with the instructions and it is apparent that he did... "warts and all." I don't think that's his fault. His model is certainly worthy of being displayed in his home and like I believe most ship modelers' "first efforts," will always have a special place in his heart. I do think he will select his next kit with more experience that he when he bought this one. This builder seems to have an appreciation for the research needed to do original modeling and perhaps sooner rather than later he will be building his own models from scratch, rather than being held hostage by the limitations of the kit manufacturers' offerings.
As I do not build ship model kits at this stage anymore, "I don't have a dog in the fight," but I will suggest that the kit building segment of the scale ship modeling community really would do themselves a favor by being a lot more critical about the miserably low standards of a lot of the kits on the market today. There is no reason why even a "novice level" kit should produce the low-quality models so many kits do, particularly considering what they charge for them.
I commend this first-time builder for doing a good job building a bad kit.
Sorry, but I just can't get past the ladder with the lashed rungs. Does anybody know the correct term for those slats lashed around the foot of the mast and what their purpose might be?
I agree. Slight preference for #2 but if I could make any of them I would be very proud of myself!
I'm envious of your prior 3d experiences and in total admiration of what you are accomplishing with Blender. My knowledge extends to "on/off and cross all fingers" Browsing through the book I believe I may need a bigger swear jar
cheers and all the best.LMAO! @ "Save often, and save to multiple files so can unfuck what you just fucked up". so too true.
In cvase your interested:I'm envious of your prior 3d experiences and in total admiration of what you are accomplishing with Blender. My knowledge extends to "on/off and cross all fingers" Browsing through the book I believe I may need a bigger swear jar
LMAO! @ "Save often, and save to multiple files so can unfuck what you just fucked up". so too true.
