View larger image This is billed as an entry-level model from Artesania Latina. Like most European kits I've seen, instructions are minimal and of little help to a first-time modeler. I agreed to build this model for Ships in Scale Magazine and write a series of articles about building it, targeted at novice modelers. Otherwise, I'd never have chosen this one! I finished the model at the beginning of February, 2003. It took me about 4 months to complete.

The first picture below shows the kit boat from the box top, the way AL builds it. The remaining pictures show my version.
July/August 2003 CoverHardly an accurate model (simply not possible with this kit) but better, I think, than AL's version. This kit is at a scale of 1:75. The hull is about 22 1/2 inches long.

I guess the one advantage to this kit is that if you're a new modeler, it's not a bad kit to make your mistakes on. It's not very expensive and, with some effort, you can turn out a respectable model while learning some of the skills you'll need for future boats. If you are working on this kit and are a new modeler, you may want to download my articles that document my construction as I went along. There are about 24,000 words of text and many pictures taking the model to completion.

The box top photo	Bow rigging detail
Hull planking	Anchor detail
Deck detail	Foreboom tackle
Main sheets	Finished model

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Last Updated: December 28, 2007