Revell Black Pearl 1/72

Beautiful work. Would really like to hear a description of how the weathering was done, in particular the figurehead. Was it painted white and then powdered or washed etc. Fantastic job of making it really stand out, without looking out of place.
I agree. Looks great.
 
Beautiful work. Would really like to hear a description of how the weathering was done, in particular the figurehead. Was it painted white and then powdered or washed etc. Fantastic job of making it really stand out, without looking out of place.
Thanks much for the kind comment and question! Pretty much all the painting here was done in washes of various dilutes. Everything that was wood began with a coat of primer in "deck tan" or something similar (actually a can of paint+primer from Ace in a beige). Then everything that was made of wood then had India ink washes that I learned how to work from another member--I'll try to find his work and cite. India inks mixed to make a loose, watery brown (I think Van Dyke brown, sepia, and a bit of red). One or two coats of that (dries in a jiff). From there, it was on to the final washes, which for most parts included a dark grey / black in acrylic (It is the Black Pearl after all), and then a wash of dilute light grey to make the dusty / musty / dingy overall effect.

The figurehead was different. After looking at as many film stills as I could, I finally decided that, for some of the films at least, the figurehead had originally been painted as per prototypes but was now overall a salty / ghostly / eerie weathered grey. So I actually did paint the figurehead in colors--a flesh tone for the face and arms, the gown in green and red, etc.--but watered down in washes. Then over all that went a less dilute light grey. And then over all THAT went a very dilute grey / black to bring out highlights. I think that's how it all went. I actually want to pick out the colors underneath the washes a bit more--it looks a bit too ghostly to me at present.

Thanks again for the kind comment. I really am happy with how the paint job turned out. I am a returner (really a newbie) to ship model building, so I know there are many aspects of the model that are questionable in terms of prototype (I guess it's just a fantasy ship in any case), but I really did learn so much about working with different pigments and media in painting, and that was so fun. best, Scott
 
Thanks for the info. I think you should leave the figurehead alone. The ghostly appearance is what I really like about it, to me it captures the feel of, is it alive, is it dead, don't really know but I'm not going to hang around and find out.

In my opinion it's technically very nice and truly exceptional artistically. I hope I can come somewhere near matching it when I get to that point with my Black Pearl.
 

Ahoy There!! Your model of the Pearl is a real beauty! I'm building the same revell set and I had some questions for ya. How did you go about lighting her up. I've always wanted to put lights in one of my models but I have absolutley no clue how to even start. Secondly what paint did you use for her stern gallery? I love the weathered and oxidixed copper on the statuetes and was wonding how you did that. Any advice would be great! Thank youuuuu!
 
Ahoy There!! Your model of the Pearl is a real beauty! I'm building the same revell set and I had some questions for ya. How did you go about lighting her up. I've always wanted to put lights in one of my models but I have absolutley no clue how to even start. Secondly what paint did you use for her stern gallery? I love the weathered and oxidixed copper on the statuetes and was wonding how you did that. Any advice would be great! Thank youuuuu!
Hi, and thank you so much for the kind words. This is only the second model I've lighted up, and really it's mostly very simple. The LEDs are widely available, but the easiest to work with come from https://evandesigns.com. They basically come wired up and ready to plug in. For the BP I used, I think, 2 or 3 1.3 mm LEDs in the under decking and three pico chip LEDs in the lanterns. Rigging the lanterns was the trickiest part, but really it's just a matter of filing channels for the wires and opening up the lanterns to hold the LEDs (glued in). My biggest challenge was due to my own stupidity and slowness of uptake, and that was that I decided pretty late that I couldn't bear not to light the ship (the lanterns especially) until after it was really smart or safe to start drilling holes in decks. There was some touch and go with drilling and then threading wires in a basically completed hull. Below decks is not pretty on this model.:)

The painting was the best part of the build for me--learned so much, especially about using various media (ink, acrylic) in washes. The oxidized copper is easy. That's just Citadel Nihelakh Oxide brushed on and dabbed off with Q tips.

Thank you again so much! Scott
 
Ahoy There!! Your model of the Pearl is a real beauty! I'm building the same revell set and I had some questions for ya. How did you go about lighting her up. I've always wanted to put lights in one of my models but I have absolutley no clue how to even start. Secondly what paint did you use for her stern gallery? I love the weathered and oxidixed copper on the statuetes and was wonding how you did that. Any advice would be great! Thank youuuuu!
PS, The biggest single piece of advice I have about building the 1:72 Revell Black Pearl is actually about the fitting and gluing. It's a very well engineered kit, and the parts WILL go together correctly. The biggest challenges I had involved having to rip apart and redo various assemblies, especially the big ones: hull and deck sections. Do as much test-fitting as you can and get the theory, at least, for how the parts are supposed to go together so that you know what's right before you head to final gluing. Good luck! It's a lovely kit. Cheers, Scott
 
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