by John Lemire
1/90 16th century Caravel (Revell)
After doing a great deal of research for a vessel of which no actual ships survived to today, only speculative ‘replicas’ such as Columbus’s Pinta, I modified the 1/90th scale kit from Revell into a late 16th century caravel; which may have had some influence on the design of the later galleons. Already there were some modestly innovative features that set precedence for later day rigging, with ratlines up the main mast and use of tarred standing rigging.
I used nautical fittings from Model Expo, including brass belaying pins and wood deadeyes and black chain to secure the rudder. And of course my planked wooden decks with scale lumber from Northeast Scale lumber. I replaced the kit rigging and anchor ‘ropes’ with higher quality as well. I also had to saw and file off all of the molded-in detail, esp. the rope coils, from all of the decks to prepare them for gluing the planks. The rope ladder to the crow’s nest came out ok! Has anyone noticed that there seems to be a lot less glue in the Crazy Glue gel tubes? I used to use maybe two tubes for a small model like this one and think I ended up using at least six tubes this time. ? ? ?
I had fun building, for the first time the ladders to the upper decks and while certainly evident that they are a first attempt, I was pleased with the results.
I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed making it.
