Nina, Pinta & Santa Maria by Revell

Bakster, Thank you & I just finished taking pictures of the nearly finished Santa Maria & friends. It still needs to have shields & deck guns & touch up, but i couldn't wait. This is fun. Here they are. Pretty neat for a 50 + year old kit. '

 I am proud of myself, I didn't screw up the posting. Everything is new to me on the computer & Picasa has gone to Google.

 I have had a ball building these 3 & I am still going to build the Revell Nina. I think it will be better.  I am surely no compitition to Docidle on rigging as he does a beautiful job on everything .  Mine were just for fun & they were. I built the Santa Maria in about 11 days & I wasn't rushing. I used most of DavidK's paint colors & oil washes. He is an artist with them.

I just finished a long post with pictures & lost it. Bakster, Thank you. It is fun to hear that. All you guys have been great.

 I just finished taking  pictures of my nearly finished Santa Maria & here they are. I still need the shields & deck guns 7 touch up but it looks pretty good for a 50 + year old kit. I sure had fun buildin g the trio.

 Well that was fun doing the 3 & now what am I going to build when I finish the Maria. I was only on it about 11 days as it went together very easy & nice. My rigging is not anywhere near Docidle's as his work is supberb. I used David K's colors on paint & stain & he is a color artist. Thanks for the help.    Gene

Gene, these are spectacular. I love em. And they are beautifully photographed too! 

You should be very proud these. I certainly would be. 

I see that you live in NC. That is a beautiful area that you are living in. 

so you should be proud of them gene , they are beautiful , your backyard is pretty special too

steve5

Thank you, guy's. I didn't mean to put 2 posts the same on. I didn't know ther was a second page & thought I had lost it., That ridge line in the one picture is the start of the Smoky Mtn Natl. Park. I do love North Carolina & the mountains.

   We camped in 47 different states & all across Canada & I like living here better than anywhere. I love the western mountains, & have 4 wheeled over the tops of a lot of them, but I like green mtns. best.

    By the way Bakster was it you having trouble with MM paint lifting. I did too have that trouble when I masked on some planes. I never had it with Tamiya. If I prime with gray lacquer car primer (Dupli Color ) it doesn't happen. I prime most everything with it. The lacquer primer is fine on plastic, just don't use lacquer paint without priming. I built a lot of plastic car models & used lacuer paint over lacquer primer. Works great.

Gene, that is interesting to hear about your travel experiences. I am several years away from retirement but NC has been at the top of my list of where I would like to live.

Yes I did make a recent reference to MM lifting. My solution was better mixing. I just tonight opened a new bottle of MM paint and it was very gunked up at the bottom. Visualize globs on the mixing stick. That seems to be the norm for me with their paint. It takes a lot of mixing. Your observations about primer makes sense as well. I can totally see that. I am a fan of Tamiya as well!

I just took these in the bright sun. I am not much of a photographer, but they are better.

Nina from above.

Santa Maria finished.

all 3 Nina, Pinta & Santa Maria

Santa Maria with full paper flags.

Santa M. showing the paper pennant. I might just leave the ropes as they look pretty good painted & weathered. This is about out of the box.

 Iweathered the shields.

I love the image of the three of them next to each other. That glass table almost looks like water too. Very nicely done, all around. Do you have a place to display them in your house?

The table does look like water doesn't it. Bakster, I have so many models & since this last eptdemic of building I am becoming overun. I have 2 big glass cabinets with about 140  1/48 fighter planes. I have 2 4x7  shelves with about 150 1/24 cars. Then I have cased ships all over. And then another Ferrari cabinet full of 1/43, 1/24 1/16 & 1/18 & 1/12 Ferrari's. Then there is a large & small stage coach & a lot more.

    I do have a man down in South Carolina that build's nice plastic case's reasonably.

Holy cats.... You are a prolific builder for sure.

would love to see your whole collection

I agree with Steve. It would be great to see the collection. 

I will take some pictures of all my cases, you will be proud of me that I have "charmed" my wife into the models as a big part of her life too. Maybe ????

   You should have seen me when I also had a 7'x14' train layout along with all the models. I sold that to a Secretary of Defense a few years ago. He was areal nice guy. Now I just have a little 36"x60" train layout too.

My gosh, Gene. I am laughing over here. You have it made in the shade.

Yeah..lets see some pictures.

Steve & Steve, be careful what you wish for as I went around & took pictures of most all the models i have in this house.

  part of my Ferrari's, part of these are diecast because I couldn't get this scal in plastic. Everything else in these pictures I built.

My 1/48 fighters. All are completely detailed.

The trio on my bar, no home yet.

For Bakster, my 1/48 DH2,  dusty in the case.

My 1/24 cars.

My 30"x60" HOn30 train layout. I built this, but have not nearly finished it, after I sold my 7'x14' layout.

It doesn't compare to my big one.

1/32 fighters

The last of my 1/72 fighters

Just more, a lot with no home yet.

Just my den.

This is the last picture & it is the exact plane my brother flew in off the Indiana in WW2. We were at the Dulles Smithsonian & I was looking at the Enola Gay & saw this plane hanging above it. I went up to look at it & saw it was off the Indiana. They only had 2 & my brother flew in both. He got a kick out of seeing that & I built the Revell model for him.

Bakster, I forgot this for you. It is my 1/72 DH2. It is better than the 1/48.

loved it gene ,I hope you've got your wife on a very big pedistal , [wonder if I could get her to talk to my wife lol ] . I was thinking of doing the robert e lee next , your's look's great

steve5

Gene, I have to tell you that I am ALMOST...speechless. You sir, are the real deal. You are a true model enthusiast.

All I can do is smile when I look at your collection. Even the train setup is so nicely done. Top notch work Gene, in all that you did. The DH2 is cool too. And what a great story about your brother.

Question:  What more can you tell us about the plane and the ship that your brother was on? 

Thanks for sharing all this!

Steve

Bakster, The Indiana was one of the 10 new battleships. The Missouri class was 45,000 tons & his was 35000 tons, but they had pretty much the same armament. 35,000 was the limit allowed for battleships prewar,but the Japs built 3 65,000 ton battle ships with18" guns. The Yamota, Musachi & Shinano.

All the battleships had 2 observation planes on catapults at the rear. The ship would make a circle to smooth the water & they would land & be hoisted aboard.

  Towards the end of the war The Indiana & the South Dakota were sent to sink the Yamota. They didn't like that because of the big 18" guns,but when they got there 400 carrier planes had sunk her & there were dead japs & wreckage all over the water.

     The Indiana had about 11 or 12 battle stars & my brother had 7 of them. He had Saipan,Guam & Tinnian, Pellilue(?) Iwo Jima, Okinawa & The Phillipines. He was in Tokyo Bay with the Missouri for the surrender. He also said afterwards they picked a bunch of the tallest sailors, gave them 45's, & sent them ashore to see Japan. Bobby said they Sure were little people, but there was no trouble.

  He was also in the Mariana's Turkey Shoot & was on a 20mm anti aircraft gun.

Gene, thank you. You have answered all the questions that I had, even how they launched the planes. I suspect that once the planes are launched they land at some nearby base? How did they get the plane back onto the ship?

It sounds like your brother played a very interesting part in WW2. Is your brother still with us?

I had seen a documentary about how we used tall servicemen to intimidate the Japanese. I think it was at the official signing of surrender that they showed. These guys looked like giants next to them. 

I love hearing about these stories. Like with you being a kid when the war broke out, so was my Dad. He was born in Poland. He was eventually taken by the Germans and used as slave labor. His story reads like a novel. If I can find the time I plan to post some of his experiences. 

Thanks again for sharing all of this. This is really good stuff.

Steve

Gene, these are spectacularly stunning! And so beautiful. 

Thank you for sharing. 

Bakster, that is really interesting about your Grandfather, I would love to read more. We have been all over Germany & thru Dachau. Our daughter & her family have been working for the DOD over there for 18 years. 

  They used a crane with a hook they dropped to the plane & pulled it up.It was just an observation plane. 

    This has been a fun thread for me & thanks for all the nice words. I am building the Revell & the Airfix Mayflowers now. I am putting both together , the hull & decks etc. so I can see which is the best after priming & will do the best one first. The Airfix is slightly larger . The Revell only is 10 1/2" long & the Airfix about 12" . The Airfix is really a better size. 

    I have been thinking about getting the large Mayflower because the detail on the small one is very nice. The deck boards do not have recessed lines & that is not good. The old Revell Santa maria had recessed lines & painted up really nice.

Say Gene--that is very interesting that you have been to Germany and Dachau. I would like to tour the camps as well.

My Dad was not in one of the large extermination camps like Dachau. The camp that he was in was considered a work camp. Work you they did, to death. When you expired they threw your body into a pit. And make no mistake about it. They tortured people without reservation. My Dads welcome to the camp was a gauntlet of six SS guards, three on each side, all holding a heavy shank of copper wire. Your mission was to get through them without being killed. They took great joy in whipping each prisoner as they exited the truck. There is much much more to be told.

Thanks for explaining about the observation plane.

Too funny. Maybe you know that I am building the Mayflower as well. Only, my project is a slow one. Considering your speed and skill at building, I am sure that you will be done with yours before I am. I am currently working on weathering the decking. And guess what? I have the crummy raised lines. That was disappointing to discover. But what the hey... it's my first ship and it will do.

This is a good thread indeed.

Bakster, please let me know whay I can do to help you. I have got a lot of things that have really made it easier on plastic ships, I have been completely putting the hull together befoere I paint. That is all the rigging tie down items, & shroud tables but no deck detail except tie down items. I wash good with rubbing alcohol, let dry & then prime with Dupli Color lacquer  primer. I am going to use white primer this time where the white is above.

   I rub down with some Napa 2000 grit ,approx, 3M type sanding pieces. Can't remember names of things at times. Then I paint my colors on the outer hull & inside rails. I sometimes mask the rails & spray the deck. I hand paint the little bit of edging there is left. I also prepaint the smaller upper decks & install them. 

  I let things dry for at least 24 hours before I use oil stain. It is worth it to get the good oderless mineral spirits from an art store. 

  I use a lot of various size wire to attach things like spars. & to strengthen anything. Use CA with the wire. 

   I have been painting my spars & sails before installation. I predrill the sails with a bit the size of my thread ( a little larger) . Then I put some Ca on the end of the thread to harden it & use the thread like a needle,to sew the sail to the spar. 

 By the way , before I glue the hull together I CA a piece of 1x2 or 1x1 shaped to the hull bottom. You have to pre glue the second half of the hull before joining them. 

 I use #6 phillips 2" to 2  1/2" screws to join a temporary base to the hull. On the small models you  miight drill thru the side of the keel, but that is covered by a brass tube or other brass support. I will go into that later.  Excuse any errors as I wrote this fast & I am not a typist. I always had someone do it for me.

Gene you have an excellent collection.

A suggestion. The method you use to attach your sails to the yards isn't accurate, and it stands out on a nice model.

Sails are tied to horizontal yards with individual lines, spaced along the top edge of the sail.

i don't know the term amongst Spanish sailors in the time of Columbus, but in later years the term is robands.

Rather than a running stitch, these are not hard at all to do once you get into the hang of it.

Just a suggestion.

Bill

Steve, in addition to the method mentioned for BBs, USN front line ships like cruisers were set up to retrieve their scouts while underway. That was important, as cruisers functioned as heavily armed scout and first contact ships.

A boom was extended at the forward end of the ship, which trailed a cable that had a flat piece of open steel matting on the end of it, held open with a spreader. That deal was held to be at about midships, where the catapults, cranes and hangars were located.

The scout would land behind the ship and overtake her until he drove up onto the mat.

There was a whisker hook on the keel on the underside of the float, near its front end.The  pilot then killed the engine, the observer climbed up on the wing and attached the hook of the crane to an eye or short bridle, deck crew held lines attaché to the aircraft to keep it from swinging around, and up-you-go onto the deck.

The Italians did follow the practice of flying their scouts to shore, doctrine was that it was always nearby in the Med.

A really cool area of naval aviation.

Bill, I tried the right way once & it took a long time. Please tell me an easier way & thanks for the compliments. I have really had fun doing these small ships. I go crazy on one thing when I'm building. I did stay with HO trains & narrow guage & geared locos for about 40 years. I did do a lot of wood ships during that time tho.

  That was interesting about the cruisers. I remember when the Indianapolis was sunk & it scared us as we thought they had said the Indiana.  He did have a lot of Kamakazi's & 3 did hit them, but they didn't hurt a battleship much. The kam's did knock out one of their 4 props & they had to go back to Pearl to get it replaced. My brother did say he hit one with his 20mm as it was so close he could see the pilot. It crashed next to his ship. 

   Bill, I forgot to say I never had put sails on a ship. I always rigged them with no sails. They only had cloth sails for wood ships & I ddn't like them'

GM, thanks for explaining all that, and so discriptively. I was able to get a great visual from that. That is really ingenious what they did and I am surprised that I have never seen footage of that on any of the documentaries that I have seen. That is really cool. Thanks!

Gene, thanks for all the tips and the offer to help. I will consider your thoughts and what you have suggested.

Thanks!

GM, you sir, are a steely-eyed missile man. Leave it to you to find footage. Awesome!

Lol.