by Philip LaVoie
1/350 Santa Maria (Heller)
This is the old Heller Santa Maria model kit. Always interested in adding to my 1/350 scale collection, I broke this little guy out one weekend and had a go at it. After doing some internet research, I was surprised to find there are no definitive records of what the largest ship of Columbus’ fleet actually looked like, just speculation on what it probably appeared as based on available records. So, it leaves the modeler some room for personal interpretation.
Here is a summary of the major modifications:
After cutting the hull to make it waterline, I removed the crows nest off the main mast and scratch built a new one, then added some brass railing to the stern. The plastic sails were removed and replaced with cloth. The bound sails were tied with rigging line, and the open sails dipped in diluted white glue to make them a little rigid. The dingy was from the parts box, and an anchor was scratch built. The side nets that lead to the crows nest, I have no idea what their proper name is, were constructed from some medical gauze that I colored with a black marker then sprayed with dullcoat to make them stiff. I think they turned out pretty good. The flags that came with the model are HUGE! I scanned them into my computer, resized them and color printed them. Finally, some leftover Eduard figures were added, and rigging made from stretched sprue attached.
The base is spray painted aluminum foil covered in Future Floor Wax, with bathroom caulk used around the ship. Since the base was so long as compared to the model, I added some rocks from the yard and touched them up with green paint to represent algae. And, as a side thought, I made four little mermaids to watch the ship from some Eduard figures. Being a mermaid collector, I think I can say they are the smallest ones in my collection. With a little TLC I think it builds up to a neat little model.
