1/90 Santa Maria's crew

[Kostis Ornerakis]

The desk with the navigation maps was published from another modeller in "Das Wettringer Modellbauforum" some time ago, and I apologize as I don't remember his name. There is one or two figures from older Revell's ships too, besides Santa Maria.

[Cryns]

Thanks for posting!
Looks good!
For a ship of this size, suddenly the decks look pretty empty.
I believe on its way to Cuba it had 40 crew members on board.
At least halve of them should be on the upper decks since this ship has very little space inside for the man. So you could think of more sailors. Though after reading your funny story of the man you had to size down, it will be a difficult task.
I love the open air furnace.

[Peter]

Looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

[Kostis Ornerakis]

First of all, this thread should be in "other scales" section and I am sorry for this , as Peter had kindly suggested.
Please Peter if possible move it there. I measured the figures and they are 15 mm. That means that Revell gives wrong scale for Santa Maria or she should be crewed with Preisers. The fact is that the crew figures besides captains are indentical with Revell's Bounty, and compatible at least with Airfix Endeavour's crew. I left for last the reason I applied one more reply. Imai had prodused 2 sets of crews for her 1/100 ships. They are OOP, but they are just combatible with Revells. I have modified a little, some of them, so I can add more figures to Santa Maria.

And my final touch with some sculpting. I'll paint them soon.

[Peter]

Thank you to share some background about the figures!

Topic moved to other scales

[Cryns]

So that is what was odd with your Santa Maria!
I thought the decks were very empty, I also thought the ship model was pretty big. But now it all gets clear: I think these 15mm men are much too small for this model. That's why there is so much space left on the decks.

Remember: most late medieval, renaissance and barock ships had floors and decks so low, it was hardly possible to walk straight upward. Walking under a deck, including the beams, means they had to bend over a little. Your model looks like there is lots of space left above the heads.

I think you should add 1/87, 1/72 or probably even 28mm figures to make this ship fit into the real proportions with the men. Since it is surprising how small these late medieval seaships were.

What do you think?

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Thank you very much for your interest on this thread. My source is AOTS: The ships of Christopher Columbus by Xavier Pastor. Revell's model is the second replica (Guillen's 1927) of the ship. According to the plan at page 50 the model is in 1/97, for convinience 1/100.The figures used are 15mm to the eye (16mm even 17mm to the top of their head), so I believe they are acceptable. I have to admit though, at the photo at page 23 the crew seems bigger than my model's. Of course I had to use crew with Hispanic naval uniform of the 1930s.
In any case I ll add seven more figures and I hope to make it more crowded.
Have to admit, following your suggestions may take a couple of weeks extra work but improves my ship and makes my Irene happy, so thank you for this.

[Kostis Ornerakis]

I've finished painting:

Best wishes for easter holidays

[guilhem]

excellent... Wonderfull

[Peter]

Lovely painted figures!

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Thank you for the kind comments!
I attached the figures on the deck.


Here to say, after Mr. Cryns suggestion, I think that 1or 2mm taller figures should be better, but I also like her as it is.

[Peter]

When you put the next couple of hundreds figures on that deck he will not see the difference anymore!

[Cryns]

The ships of Christopher Columbus by Xavier Pastor.

I do not have this book in my collection but Santa, Pinta and Nina have always interested me and I am getting very curious about this book, I already googled it.

Kostis, it is great to see how lively the ship with the men on its decks has become now!
I just love it.
And it is very surprising to see, again, how precise and realistic at the same time you spray and paint these very tiny figures!
There is only one sailor with odd trousers for this period: its the one with two buckets and long, wide 'soul' trousers. This one is obviously one of the 20th century sailors you mentioned.
These trousers were introduced by the end of the 18th century during the French revolution and called 'sans culottes'. (without knee-breeches). But Peter is right when he suggests:

When you put the next couple of hundreds figures on that deck he will not see the difference anymore!

All the other sailors are convincing for 1492 while still several of them must depict the 1930 Spanish marines.
What is so good about your way of composition is: these men are not spread all equally over the ship but concentrated in small groups with specific activities. This makes it lively, realistic and also very dynamic. Very well done.

The way you re-cast some figures in resin interests me a lot.
I will direct questions about this to you in the near future as soon as I am ready to produce amphora's, sailors and other details for my ancient Greek fleet.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful work once more.

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Thank you so much for the comments.
You are so right about the sailor with the buckets. The original is a part of a 1/96 Revell's ship of ACW as a boy, so I used him as a teenager. I did it the last moment to complete the scene and I admit that I just recast without any modification.
I'll be happy to share any info when you decide to cast anything.

[Cryns]

'll be happy to share any info when you decide to cast anything.

Dear Kostis,

I hope live is still good in Crete!
Last two weeks I sculpted my first series of 10 ancient Greek sailors.
Now comes the part I am asking for your help again:

You did some very tiny resin re-casts of 1:100 sailors. You present it as if it was an easy job. Searching the internet for information, the question raised:
How do you avoid air bubbles in the resin?
And if I cut small air-escape canals in my molds, how do I prevent the resin from running in at the tophole and running out again through these air-canals?

[Beano Boy]

Mr. Cryns,once the stuff comes out of vents stop them up because the air has already escaped.
i`m fishing in the dark here, because i cannot see your moulds,but Tape or blu tac perhaps would seal them. Friendly Greetings BB

Righty O`, Gosh! That is Jolly Good Work,on both figures and that fine looking ship. The question of scale figures is always debatable and a good mix up of figures can please the eye that's set upon the scene. i like everything in this photo shot and well presented piece. Even the glimmer of the child in the background.Well done on what you have already accomplished, and what you are achieving with the figures. Greetings from Fiddle Wood BB

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Dear Beano Boy thank you for your kind words.
Dear Lodewijk,
I am glad to hear from you. I sould be more glad if you decided to find out yourself, how is living in Crete.
Just to know 1 or 2 extra beds are waiting if a friend wants to come.
As far for the resins. For the molds I use SILASTIC 3481 and 5% or more curing agent SILASTIC 81-R NW.
If possible I make a single mold per master, gluing thin pieces of plastic sheet to the holes. It is not necessary to be very accurate for 2 reasons. Liquid glue can fill small gaps and it is easier to ged rid of the extra pieces with a sculpel. I usually make cylindrical molds and I am not stingy with the material. When the mold is cured I extract the master, I put my sculpel in the hole and make a cut, as I wanted to devide my mold in 2 pieces. BUT I don't do it all the way. That's why I refered to extra material for the mold. Now I can pour the half quantity of resin needed and insist with a paintbrush in every detail. After this with my thump on the hole I shake the mold to ANY direction. After this I pour the rest of the resin. Have in mind that resin has pot life about 5 min.
The resin I use is RENCAST FC 52 POLYOL / RENCAST FC 52 ISOCYANATE and I purchase all of the above from http://www.mercouris.gr/
Do I avoid bubbles at all? NO but i fill here and there with streched sprue.

[Wiking]

You do a realy nice work.
It is nice that you do all to bring live to the ship with figures.
Funny is that I read a month ago that Imai had done two set of sailors in 1/100 . And you descibed that further above.
I like your conversion and the work that you put in to do the figures as good as possible.
Does your crew get enought lemon against scurvy?

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Dear Wiking thank you for the comments. I hope I didn't painted the figures too pale.

[Zed1]

Working mostly all day under the sun and being from mediterranean ancestry, skin tone would usually be a bit darker then - let's say - the one of Skandinavian people. But I don't think that that's a big problem, especially in this scale.

I just wonder if the deck shouldn't be filled with more equipment, though I'm not sure about it.

In addition, I think that the complete ship hull/upper deck looks a bit too clean. Some weathering effect could be nice.