Black Swan Pirate Ship

This is going to be a very long build, but I'll start it here and hopefully that will motivate me to finish it.
Ever since I did the Wright Flyer, I have been wanting to do more rigging, so I looked into doing a sailing ship.



This is a kit by Zvezda of a pirate ship called the Black Swan. There is also a identical kit sold in Russia called the Black Pearl which is patterned after the Disney movie 'Pirates of the Caribean'. Since Disney would not give their approval to sell the Pearl in the states, the Swan was created using a different figurehad.



A pic of the 800+ parts laid out with my foot for a sense of scale. ;)



The beginning of the ship. Then some decks and bulkheads in place.





I dry fit the masts to get an idea of how big this will be when done. Height=23", length=22', width=9'.


I had to build cannons before I could put the next section of the hull on. 32 cannons X 7 pierces each resulted in a cannon building week!!!



Cannons installed on the lower deck and the side ready to go on.




Lots of rubber bans and clamps to keep everything in alignment.




The bow was a pain to get it to stay in place!


And we are now up to date.

I painted the sails with Tamiya white primer, then masked them off and air-brushed the yards in Testor's wood.

I have been looking for something like this. to take a nreak from cars for a bit and because I think the old sailing ships are cool. I will be with ya all the way on this one.

It's looking great Paul. I love the style of the old Galleons.

I fancy doing one myself some day.

This should be very impressive.

I am not really into ships, but the two I built were about the most satisfying modeling I have done. They weren't plastic though. They were entry level upscale kits from Model Shipways. Forum says I'm too new to post a link, but you can Google Model Shipways to see their kits (awesome!)

Here's a tip on rigging, 2whl, I found these clips invaluable for holding lines hanging, taut and out of your way, while you work on other ones.



Micro Mark carries them.

Good luck :D

Nice! I would like to build a ship one time.

I will be watching this because I have one to do and I need a push to get into it. :)

Hey Paul, I think this is the one we were discussing a while back. I had a laugh when I saw those canons. In situations like those, I put on my favourite music and go 'automatic pilot' when doing repetitive stuff. Nice work.

Geezerman wrote:This should be very impressive.

I am not really into ships, but the two I built were about the most satisfying modeling I have done. They weren't plastic though. They were entry level upscale kits from Model Shipways. Forum says I'm too new to post a link, but you can Google Model Shipways to see their kits (awesome!)

Here's a tip on rigging, 2whl, I found these clips invaluable for holding lines hanging, taut and out of your way, while you work on other ones. Micro Mark carries them.

Good luck :D

Thanks Clay. Next time I order from Micro-Mark, I'll get some. I've got a Model Airways kit(same company but airplanes) and it is a great kit. I just need to clear some space for it. It's 1/16th

coyote wrote:Hey Paul, I think this is the one we were discussing a while back. I had a laugh when I saw those canons. In situations like those, I put on my favourite music and go 'automatic pilot' when doing repetitive stuff. Nice work.

Chris, this is the ship we talked about. It's a great kit.

I didn't put on music, I used the TV for background noise. :D

Paul this is amazing! I love old ships but they terrify me when I look at the possibility of building one. You are doing an excellent job on this build! I have two Tugs and the Titanic in my stash that I'm going to tackle one day. I'm following this one close! Keep them updates comin'! 8)

I've seen the big scale "Constitution" and all the rigging and it does take time. As for the clips, they look similar to ones I saw at one of the electronics (Radio Shk) store and may be cheaper in a bulk pack. Good luck and keep us informed. Thanx!