SANTA MARIA CARAVEL WOODEN MODEL KIT: ESSENTIAL MODEL SHIP

The wooden ship modelling kit of Santa Maria Caravel at 1:65 scale cannot be absent from the collection of faithful replicas of any naval modeller, its construction is inescapable because it is one of the essential boats in the naval history of the planet. It is aimed at fans of this hobby with an intermediate level of skills for the construction of this wonderful scale model.

The modeller will find in this kit parts of high-quality birch wood cut with precision thanks to a laser; magnificent details made of metal and photo-etched; unbeatable and reinforced sails made of cotton, ready to be placed -this model includes the templates in die-cut cardboard to be able to paint their characteristic crosses-; and, as a bonus so that the model can be perfectly exposed, a wooden exhibition base with a nominal metal plate.

It has a DVD for computers -PC & MAC- with completely redesigned instructions: clarifying step-by-step photographs in nine different languages, as well as several video tutorials, facilitating its assembly. The kit does not contain printed instructions. You can also download the digital instructions for free on the button of this product sheet called 'Instructions and Downloadable Contents'.

Once the Santa Maria Caravel wooden model is built, its measurements are as follows: 19.80'' (503mm) length, 10.39'' (264mm) width and 19.60'' (498mm) height.

More realism for your model with a Set of 10 Metal Figurines of the Crew Members (22411F) at a 1:65 scale. It is sold separately, and ready to be assembled and painted. It is suitable for galleons and caravels. You can also paint your model with the Paints Set for Caravels and Galleons (277PACK8), for sale separately.

You can also purchase the Santa Maria Gift Pack (22411L), which includes the model, its paints and some tools.

Watch on our YouTube channel some video tutorials that will help you during the assembly of your model:

HISTORY OF NAO SANTA MARIA: WRONGLY CALLED CARAVEL

Yes, it is possibly the most important ship in history because it was the one where Christopher Columbus was when he discovered America at the end of the fifteenth century, specifically, in 1492. Santa Maria Nao, wrongly called 'caravel' -the other smaller two boats were really caravels, La Niña and La Pinta-, although the three ships were considered caravels in the original documents. In the beginning, Santa Maria’s name was La Gallega, whose owner was Juan de la Cosa.

The adventure began not to discover a new continent, but to find a new safe route to the Pacific Ocean. The first stop was in the Canary Islands, specifically, in La Gomera in order to collect more supplies and fix the damages that the nao could have, built with wood from Cantabria.

In October 12^th, after several crew riots, the cabin boy Rodrigo de Triana spotted 'land': first they arrived at Guanahani Island, which they called San Salvador, in the Bahamas archipelago, until it reached another one that he named La Española -currently, Haiti-, which did bring Santa Maria "tomb". During the night of December 24^th, the nao remained stranded because of a sandbank, due to a malpractice of the lookout man. Immediate consequence? The coral reefs destroyed the hull of the boat, the crew had to climb on La Niña. In this sense, it was rumoured that Columbus was interested in that sinking to return since they had not found gold, trying to deceive the Catholic Kings in order to return to Castile. Finally, with the materials that were left of the sinister Santa Maria nao, they lifted the Christmas Fort with a palisade, the first European in the New Continent.

Then, yes, Columbus returned to the Iberian Peninsula with La Pinta and La Niña, to later return to America, where he ran into the death of the forty colones he had left. Why? It seems that the Indians wanted to punish them for having stolen their food and their women. Surprisingly for the time, Columbus did not penalize the native's leader, but allowed other abuses, while Isabel La Católica forbade the punishments to be carried out, but she was not given much attention.