When Artesania Latina suddenly disappeared a year or two ago, it was something of a surprise. After all, their products were well distributed and probably the first exposure most of us had to wooden ship model kits. I remember my own experience seeing a wooden ship model on display at hobby shop (when those used to be common place) close to where I worked. The model was one of Artesania Latina’s simplest kits, the Swift.
AL’s Virginia Pilot Boat Swift.
That model wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t bristling with cannons, it wasn’t very big, it wasn’t super detailed. But, it was wooden, and it was well finished. And, while I’d never built anything from wood, save a couple model airplanes my dad coaxed me into building in my younger days, it really caught my eye.
Well, here it is, some 30 years later, and Artesania Latina has just re-started production of one of their significant, classic kits, the Spanish 74-gun ship San Juan Nepomuceno. This ship one of the Spanish warships that fought with the French against the British fleet at Trafalgar.
AL’s 1/90-scale San Juan Nepomuceno kit measures just under 38″ long.
I have fond connections with this ship model kit, as the late ship modeler Henry Alsky, of the Ventura County Maritime Museum Model Guild, was a friend of mine who had built the kit and was very proud of it.
At the moment, just about the only shop where this kit seems to be available is direct from Artesania Latina here: https://artesanialatina.net/en/modelcrafts-elite/488-wooden-model-ship-kit-san-juan-nepomuceno.html
The other piece of news about Artesania Latina is a bit more exciting, because it deals with the release of a brand new kit that is not trivial, the 17th century Swedish warship Wasa, or Vasa, as they list it. I don’t have much information on this kit, except that it’s 1/65 scale, and measures 42″ long, making it the largest Wasa kit that I’m aware of.
Judging from these photos from AL’s website, this looks like it may be the most detailed and the most accurate model of the ship available. But, that’s just from a brief review of the photos. A builder would have to get his or her hands on the kit and compare details with the original that’s preserved at it’s own museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
In any case, it looks really nice and it appears to be available today, direct from Artesania Latina here: https://artesanialatina.net/en/modelcrafts-elite/62091-wooden-model-ship-kit-swedish-warship-vasa-1-65.html?search_query=vasa&results=1
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Ship Modeler 