Let's begin with a simple fact; this is not medieval. In fact, this little vessel is late Renaissance through the early 19th century, perhaps a little later. Nor is it a "lifeboat"; it is a humble longboat. I had purchased two of these a couple of years back for another project, but instead chose to hold onto them.
The back of the box is very deceptive. The model shown here does not do the kit justice, nor is this one built correctly.
The single sprue kit. This model is included with the Zvezda Cog, which would not have had a boat such as this. While listed as 1/72, the design works all the way down to 1/128 comfortably. The hull will measure almost 3" when complete, making it either an 18' (1/72), 24' (1/96), 25' (1/100), 30' (1/120), 31 1/4' (1/125), or 32' (1/128) longboat. It is equipped with a lug sail.
I chose to build mine straight with a couple of slight modifications. The hull was painted a very light gray whilst the inside was done in classic Testor's Flat Brown. Trim was an acrylic brick red and dark blue.
As you can see, this is a fairly small model. The lift block is made from a brown glass bead and brass wire, which were appropriately painted and attached to the mast.
The oars were painted tan. The instructions called for the two backstays to be simply cemented to the inside at the bulwarks. I chose to make two eyebolts from 30 gauge brass wire, drilled two holes and tied the backstays to these and then glued them into place.
Looking aft. Fingers for scale. Ordinary sewing thread was used, with a liberal coating of beeswax.
The furled sail was dry brushed off-white acrylic over wrought iron gray (the same color used for the metal work on the model). The base was made from 1" x 1/8" x 2" basswood.
Whilst a little rough, it was certainly a fast, fun project.
Cheers,
Rob
"I have loved the stars too dearly to be fearful of the night..."