Amerigo Vespucci — Italian Navy 1931 Training Ship Model, Medium Painted (29 in / 74 cm, Cedar & Mahogany)
Amerigo Vespucci — Italian Navy 1931 Training Ship Model, Medium Painted (29 in / 74 cm, Cedar & Mahogany)
How big is it?
Length about 74 cm / 29.1 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 29 in / 74 cm
- Materials
- Mahogany, Western red cedar, Brass, Linen sails
- Construction
- Plank-on-frame, built by hand
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Tall Ship Models - Admiral Line
- Item no.
- T382
The Italian Navy's 1931 training ship at 29 inches, hand-painted in her unmistakable livery: black hull, two white bands tracing the historic gun ports, gilt at bow and stern.
Built plank on frame in cedar and mahogany. The white banding is the difficult part — two continuous lines that have to hold true along a hull curving in three directions, applied by hand.
Specification
- 29 in / 74 cm
- Plank-on-frame hull in western red cedar and mahogany, hand-painted
- Three square-rigged masts with complete hand-knotted rigging
- Hand-stitched linen sails
- Gilt trailboards, stern gallery and figurehead detail
- Deck detail: boats, davits, deckhouses, wheel and rails
- Solid wood base with engraved brass nameplate
- Fully assembled
The ship
Launched at Castellammare di Stabia in 1931 and still in commission, Amerigo Vespucci is the oldest active vessel in the Italian Navy. In 1962 the carrier USS Independence signalled to ask her identity and, on getting the answer, replied that she was the most beautiful ship in the world. The remark has followed her for sixty years.