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- Jul 6, 2025
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Greetings Everyone! This will serve as my first-ever post on Ships of Scale.
Before saying anything else, I think it's important to note that I'm very new to this hobby and quite young compared to most of yall (good god, some of you guys have been building models for several times longer than I've been alive). I was inticed to venture into the modeling world primarily through a passion for building stuff, and a profound love for history. The only model kit I've built so far is Mini Mamoli's USS Constitution, which I managed to assemble with a small box of simple tools, some acrylic paint, and my mom's old clothing iron. However, I'm ready to tackle a more challenging build... and I have a LOT of ideas.
One ship that I've dreamed of building for quite some time now would be a "Black Ship" of the early-modern Portuguese Empire. For those who aren't aware, these were carracks that, starting in the early 16th century, carried bulk goods from Portuguese colonies in the Pacific to traders across East Asia, most notably to Japan. Though carracks themselves were gradually replaced by nimbler galleons, these "Black Ships" remained in use up until the middle of the 1600s due to their increased cargo capacity. Now, I think it's important to note that these ships were GIANT for their time, clocking in at 1200-1500 tons and outclassing all but the later Manila Galleons (which funnily enough were also Iberian trading ships operating in the Pacific) until the advent of large naval flagships such as the Vasa and Sovereign of the Seas, whom I know you guys are all familiar with. The reason why they were called Black Ships was due to the fact that they were entirely covered in black tar (pitch), likely to reduce maintenance costs and lessen enviornmental damage.
AFAIK, there are unfortunately - and unsurpisingly - currently no model kits of such a ship, and a very limited selection of carrack kits overall. As a beginner, I obviously can't just make my own model of plans like some of the veteran builders around here. After searching online for literal days, I found that this model of a Venetian carrack by Aeronaut was probably my best choice for these reasons: 1. It isn't very pricey for a sizeable kit 2. it looks easily customizable 3. it seems to be relatively historically accurate (unlike a certain Ragusian Carrack) and most importantly, 4. it utilizes a newbie-friendly pre-cut wooden hull. With some tweaking, I believe it might be possible to tweak this model into one which represents a Portuguese Black Ship. Since there don't seem to be surviving plans of these gargantuan carracks, I will be basing my modified build off of a few paintings and scenes from the recent TV miniseries Shogun:


I found the Black Ship from Shogun to be particularly beautiful and I plan to base my model around it.
Now, there are many things I wanted to ask you more experienced modelers before I make any further decisions. For one, Aeronaut isn't exactly a mainstream brand and I'm unsure whether or not they have high quality parts and instructions. Furthermore, I'm unsure whether or not this is far too ambitious of a project for newbie that has only scratched the surface of model shipbuilding. However, I am not afraid of a challenge as long as it is a decently feasible one. I also wanted to know if there were any kits out there that might be a better fit for the type of ship I am aiming to build.
If this works out, I plan to start a build log documenting my progress. That will also be where I ask a billion questions about literally everything so that I don't mess this up.
Love you guys,
Andrew
Before saying anything else, I think it's important to note that I'm very new to this hobby and quite young compared to most of yall (good god, some of you guys have been building models for several times longer than I've been alive). I was inticed to venture into the modeling world primarily through a passion for building stuff, and a profound love for history. The only model kit I've built so far is Mini Mamoli's USS Constitution, which I managed to assemble with a small box of simple tools, some acrylic paint, and my mom's old clothing iron. However, I'm ready to tackle a more challenging build... and I have a LOT of ideas.
One ship that I've dreamed of building for quite some time now would be a "Black Ship" of the early-modern Portuguese Empire. For those who aren't aware, these were carracks that, starting in the early 16th century, carried bulk goods from Portuguese colonies in the Pacific to traders across East Asia, most notably to Japan. Though carracks themselves were gradually replaced by nimbler galleons, these "Black Ships" remained in use up until the middle of the 1600s due to their increased cargo capacity. Now, I think it's important to note that these ships were GIANT for their time, clocking in at 1200-1500 tons and outclassing all but the later Manila Galleons (which funnily enough were also Iberian trading ships operating in the Pacific) until the advent of large naval flagships such as the Vasa and Sovereign of the Seas, whom I know you guys are all familiar with. The reason why they were called Black Ships was due to the fact that they were entirely covered in black tar (pitch), likely to reduce maintenance costs and lessen enviornmental damage.
AFAIK, there are unfortunately - and unsurpisingly - currently no model kits of such a ship, and a very limited selection of carrack kits overall. As a beginner, I obviously can't just make my own model of plans like some of the veteran builders around here. After searching online for literal days, I found that this model of a Venetian carrack by Aeronaut was probably my best choice for these reasons: 1. It isn't very pricey for a sizeable kit 2. it looks easily customizable 3. it seems to be relatively historically accurate (unlike a certain Ragusian Carrack) and most importantly, 4. it utilizes a newbie-friendly pre-cut wooden hull. With some tweaking, I believe it might be possible to tweak this model into one which represents a Portuguese Black Ship. Since there don't seem to be surviving plans of these gargantuan carracks, I will be basing my modified build off of a few paintings and scenes from the recent TV miniseries Shogun:



I found the Black Ship from Shogun to be particularly beautiful and I plan to base my model around it.
Now, there are many things I wanted to ask you more experienced modelers before I make any further decisions. For one, Aeronaut isn't exactly a mainstream brand and I'm unsure whether or not they have high quality parts and instructions. Furthermore, I'm unsure whether or not this is far too ambitious of a project for newbie that has only scratched the surface of model shipbuilding. However, I am not afraid of a challenge as long as it is a decently feasible one. I also wanted to know if there were any kits out there that might be a better fit for the type of ship I am aiming to build.
If this works out, I plan to start a build log documenting my progress. That will also be where I ask a billion questions about literally everything so that I don't mess this up.
Love you guys,
Andrew