Black Pearl 1:50 ZHL

It’s getting toward time to start the serious rigging preparation. The first thing I did with this being the Black Pearl was to dump all the blocks in black stain. Here they are drying out.

BP581.jpg

I’m going to go off on a bit of a tangent again and talk a little about my thoughts on the rigging for this thing. I don’t care all that much if this is rigged correctly but I don’t want the rigging to look silly. I can’t look at lines running through blocks etc and not immediately imagine what they do. On the plan for this ship it doesn’t take much effort to realize that the pyramid of blocks above the bow sprit and the 4 block pyramid above the aft sail don’t actually do anything. The front set could actually be just 2 blocks and the 4 blocks on the rear do absolutely nothing. The line would do the same thing if it was just tied to the boom. So I’m not going to be putting those on.

My thought is to concentrate on things that people will notice, and not sweat the things they won’t. So I wont be serving lines and tying proper knots on everything. I have come up with a few cheater things to simulate fancy knots that I’ll show along the way. So I’d highly recommend looking elsewhere if you want to see rigging done correctly. Check out @WarrLight Reggies black pearl, he did an awesome job on rigging his pearl if you’re looking for more historically correct style of rigging.

So basically what I’m getting at is I’m going to just make something up that looks a little fancy and reasonable to me. I’m using the rigging plans from my Mamoli Constitution and applying it to this ship to hopefully produce something that looks good. The Mamoli Constitution rigging isn’t 100% correct, but it sure looked good when it was done IMO.

So that being said, the Mamoli rigging used triangular blocks on the stays, but the ones I have didn’t look right so I decided to go with the dead eyes like the ZHL instructions though attached differently. I twisted black wire around the deadeyes and will insert these into drilled holes..

BP582.jpg

Next I went to work preparing to do rigging. In my experience the key to rigging is to do as much prep as possible before you start actually rigging. I took the rigging plans and started adding eye bolts where I need to tie blocks. For instance I added 2 eye bolts on each side of the hull for lines that go forward to support the bow sprit.

BP583.jpg

I make the eyelets as shown below. I highly prefer these over the typical kit provided ones because the won't stretch out when you pull on them. I took a piece of piano wire and bent it into an L shape and put it in a pin vise. Then I took cut a piece of 0.41mm annealed black wire I got from model expo and a pair of pliers, as seen here. (I also use 0.58mm wire for the larger ones)

Can002-M.jpg



I bent the black wire in half around the music wire and twisted it about 10 times. Sorry about the blurry photo, trying to hold about 4 things with two hands.

Can003-M.jpg



And the end result was this. I made 50 of these in about 20 minutes.

Can004-M.jpg


I also drilled some holes for eye bolts but didn’t actually put them in. Here is an example of where a stay will be tied to an eye bolt in the deck. It’s pretty tight here between the railing and the mast, so instead of putting the eye bolt in and trying to tie to it after the rat lines are done. I’m going to tie the line to the eyebolt, and then glue the eyebolt in the hole. With the ratlines in the way I guarantee it’ll be easier to glue the eyebolt in that it would be to tie a line to it. Then I’ll wait for it to dry and then tie the other end of the stay.

BP584.jpg

I added two eye bolts to the top of the stern galley because the rear mast just has the three ratline lines on the lower portion of the mast and I think it should have something higher on the mast. I’m not going to show photos of all of them but I added 45 eye bolts in various places. Some have a set purpose based on my plan and others are just because it doesn’t hurt to have extra places to tie stuff off.

BP585.jpg

Another place that got even more eyebolts are the masts. Even the ZHL plans show tying blocks to the mastheads but they don’t actually tell you how to do that so I added eye bolts to the mastheads.

BP588.jpg

I also added eye bolts along the mast where the stays attach. On the ZHL plans they have stays run through blocks, which makes no sense being as the stays don’t move. You could even say they “Stay” in one place. :D

BP587.jpg

I also added them to top of the posts by the pin rails.

BP590.jpg

I promptly knocked the pin rail in front of the fore mast over. So I decided the pin rails that didn’t have them needed reinforced. So I added the triangular supports below.

BP591.jpg

And also to the front.

BP592.jpg

I then got out my home made third hand. I actually built this myself because I needed something to explain what “over built” means. That is just a joke, I love this thing. It is over built but it’ll hold about anything. These clamps work for most items. The rubber really helps them grab without excessive force. The whole thing is in here.

BP593.jpg

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Next I decided I needed some large double blocks for the lower spars. It occurred to me that I could cheat and make them by just gluing the provided singles together. The lower yards on the Constitution actually have triples on them, but I think the doubles will look fine.

BP595.jpg

Here’s a cheater way of attaching a large block. I jut use a square not to tie it to the block inside the clamp and then put the other end of the line to the next clamp. This makes it straight and frees up both my hands.

BP596.jpg

Then I wrap the line around it 5 to 7 times depending on how I want to look and drop a bit of CA on it.

BP597.jpg

Cut the tail off and here is how it looks attached to the mast. Once again here is an example of placing a block before even attaching the mast. This would be a real booger to add after a bunch of stays and ratlines are in place.

BP598.jpg

Next I'll be working on preparing more blocks.
 
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It’s getting toward time to start the serious rigging preparation. The first thing I did with this being the Black Pearl was to dump all the blocks in black stain. Here they are drying out.

View attachment 245073

I’m going to go off on a bit of a tangent again and talk a little about my thoughts on the rigging for this thing. I don’t care all that much if this is rigged correctly but I don’t want the rigging to look silly. I can’t look at lines running through blocks etc and not immediately imagine what they do. On the plan for this ship it doesn’t take much effort to realize that the pyramid of blocks above the bow sprit and the 4 block pyramid above the aft sail don’t actually do anything. The front set could actually be just 2 blocks and the 4 blocks on the rear do absolutely nothing. The line would do the same thing if it was just tied to the boom. So I’m not going to be putting those on.

My thought is to concentrate on things that people will notice, and not sweat the things they won’t. So I wont be serving lines and tying proper knots on everything. I have come up with a few cheater things to simulate fancy knots that I’ll show along the way. So I’d highly recommend looking elsewhere if you want to see rigging done correctly. Check out @WarrLight Reggies black pearl, he did an awesome job on rigging his pearl if you’re looking for more historically correct style of rigging.

So basically what I’m getting at is I’m going to just make something up that looks a little fancy and reasonable to me. I’m using the rigging plans from my Mamoli Constitution and applying it to this ship to hopefully produce something that looks good. The Mamoli Constitution rigging isn’t 100% correct, but it sure looked good when it was done IMO.

So that being said, the Mamoli rigging used triangular blocks on the stays, but the ones I have didn’t look right so I decided to go with the dead eyes like the ZHL instructions though attached differently. I twisted black wire around the deadeyes and will insert these into drilled holes..

View attachment 245074

Next I went to work preparing to do rigging. In my experience the key to rigging is to do as much prep as possible before you start actually rigging. I took the rigging plans and started adding eye bolts where I need to tie blocks. For instance I added 2 eye bolts on each side of the hull for lines that go forward to support the bow sprit.

View attachment 245075

I make the eyelets as shown below. I highly prefer these over thw typical kit provided ones because the won't stretch out when you pull on them. I took a piece of piano wire and bent it into an L shape and put it in a pin vise. Then I took cut a piece of 0.41mm annealed black wire I got from model expo and a pair of pliers, as seen here. (I also use 0.58mm wire for the larger ones)

Can002-M.jpg



I bent the black wire in half around the music wire and twisted it about 10 times. Sorry about the blurry photo, trying to hold about 4 things with two hands.

Can003-M.jpg



And the end result was this. I made 50 of these in about 20 minutes.

Can004-M.jpg


I also drilled some holes for eye bolts but didn’t actually put them in. Here is an example of where a stay will be tied to an eye bolt in the deck. It’s pretty tight here between the railing and the mast, so instead of putting the eye bolt in and trying to tie to it after the rat lines are done. I’m going to tie the line to the eyebolt, and then glue the eyebolt in the hole. With the ratlines in the way I guarantee it’ll be easier to glue the eyebolt in that it would be to tie a line to it. Then I’ll wait for it to dry and then tie the other end of the stay.

View attachment 245082

I added two eye bolts to the top of the stern galley because the rear mast just has the three ratline lines on the lower portion of the mast and I think it should have something higher on the mast. I’m not going to show photos of all of them but I added 45 eye bolts in various places. Some have a set purpose based on my plan and others are just because it doesn’t hurt to have extra places to tie stuff off.

View attachment 245085

Another place that got even more eyebolts are the masts. Even the ZHL plans show tying blocks to the mastheads but they don’t actually tell you how to do that so I added eye bolts to the mastheads.

View attachment 245090

I also added eye bolts along the mast where the stays attach. On the ZHL plans they have stays run through blocks, which makes no sense being as the stays don’t move. You could even say they “Stay” in one place. :D

View attachment 245091

I also added them to top of the posts by the pin rails.

View attachment 245092

I also promptly knocked the pin rail in front of the fore mast over. So I decided the pinrails that didn’t have them needed reinforced. So I added the triangular supports below.

View attachment 245093

And also to the front.

View attachment 245094

I then got out my home made third hand. I actually built this myself because I needed something to explain what “over built” means. That is just a joke, I love this thing. It is over built but it’ll hold about anything. These clamps work for most everything. The rubber really helps them grap without excessive force. The whole thing is in here.

View attachment 245095

View attachment 245096

Next I decided I needed some large double blocks for the lower spars. It occurred to me that I could cheat and make them by just glueing the provided simgles together. The lower yards on the Constitution actually have triples on them, but I think the doubles will look fine.

View attachment 245097

Here’s a cheater way of attaching a large block. I jut use a square not to tie it to the block inside the clamp and then put the other end of the line to the next clamp. This makes it straight and frees up both my hands.

View attachment 245098

Then I wrap the line around it 5 to 7 times depending on how I want to look and drop a bit of CA on it.

View attachment 245099

Cut the tail off and here is how it looks attached to the mast. Once again here is an example of placing a block before even attaching the mast. This would be a real booger to add after a bunch of stays and ratlines are in place.

View attachment 245100

Next I'll be working on preparing more blocks.
Great work Jodie! I will definitely follow your plan! I so much appreciate your guidance here! I figured it would be a great accomplishment to get the actual ship built….and that I would probably never see a way to do the rigging and sails if I was to look at those giant plan drawings and read all those complicated articles written by “experts” who are down to museum quality knots! I love your approach of pre-planning and doing a lot before the masts are in etc! My Pearl will be on display in my dining room and my friends and family who will enjoy looking at it would never know the difference from your “cheat” methods or the real deal, unless I invited the CO of the CARRIER Teddy Roosevelt to my home, and he’d likely not know either,
 
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Just a little update this time, I did find a little time in the last few days to move forward a little. I’ve been tying blocks.

BP599.jpg

Then moving forward with attaching blocks to the yards and masts. Rigging up something to hold masts and yards and helping with tying blocks saves a ton of time and effort. Before I built this fancy setup I used a 2X4 with holes drilled in it to hold dowel pins vertically. I attached clamps to the dowels and that is what I use to hold the blocks. I don’t have a photo of that setup but it worked descent.

BP601.jpg

So far I’ve attached 47 blocks, and think I’m about a third done with this activity. Here is a photo of the yards

BP602.jpg

And the masts.

BP603.jpg
 
Just a little update this time, I did find a little time in the last few days to move forward a little. I’ve been tying blocks.

View attachment 246752

Then moving forward with attaching blocks to the yards and masts. Rigging up something to hold masts and yards and helping with tying blocks saves a ton of time and effort. Before I built this fancy setup I used a 2X4 with holes drilled in it to hold dowel pins vertically. I attached clamps to the dowels and that is what I use to hold the blocks. I don’t have a photo of that setup but it worked descent.

View attachment 246753

So far I’ve attached 47 blocks, and think I’m about a third done with this activity. Here is a photo of the yards

View attachment 246754

And the masts.

View attachment 246756
Keep ‘em coming Jodie! I’ll be finishing up my hull staining this week! Used a piece of decorative quarter round for the roof of the stern gallery like you did!
 
So I decided I would go ahead and finish the lighting being as all that is left is rigging. So I dug out the parts I thought I might need. I got some frosted plastic and a bit of tinted that I had from my train layout stuff. I got out the LEDs I had left in the kit. There were 4 approx 3mm leds and I still had some surface mount ones Left over.

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I had looked at the portion in the directions where it has photos of the lanterns for the back and a note telling you the lights were upgraded so go to the last page in the manual. I finally came to the conclusion that the “Upgrade” is either the clear plastic that was included in the kit. I couldn’t find mine but I did see it at one point so I know it was included. Or possibly the upgrade was the green templates to give you the shape of the lense. I had to chuckle at the photos, they show the template marked into 7 sections, but there are actually 8.

BP605.jpg

I didn’t want the LED’s to be visible so I went with a frosted type of plastic. This plastic is from a lighting kit sold by Woodland Scenic’s. It’s for lighting building where you don’t want the interior visible. I taped it over the page from the manual and cut it out with an Exacto knife.

BP607.jpg

In the photo below you can see there is a considerable overlap in the plastic.

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This would show as a shaded area I expect so I trimmed it back a little. Here’s approximately what I cut off.

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Here’s a photo with the plastic installed you can see the plastic doesn’t follow the curve of the lantern shade. The gap isn’t noticeable after the lanterns are assembled.

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At this point I took one of the lanterns and sanded the bottom flat to clean it up and did the same with the lower mount for the center lantern. Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of that or how I glued it together. For what It’s worth I used 5 minute epoxy to glue the 2 metal parts together. Most notably though; I placed a drill through the holes in the base and lantern to align the parts when I glued them. This ensured the hole woud be functional after the glue dried. You can see the base I’m talking about in some of the photos below.

I then drilled a 1mm hole beside where I brought the wires up from below the deck. I placed a wire in for the purpose of holding the side lanterns in place. The manual at least implied you should just glue the lantern to the wood. I can’t imagine that would work very well, even if you place the lanterns straight up. I wanted my lanterns tilted and the wire allows me to bend it to wherever I want it.

BP610.jpg

I then cut the wires just a little longer than the lantern so I could solder the led on.

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And here’s one with the led soldered in place.

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Here’s the test to make sure the LED’s work and that I was happy with the appearance. I pulled the excess wire down and folded it along the top of the transom. It isn’t clear in the manual but there is plenty of space under the decorative pieces to run wire across the top. I did paint the wire black before gluing the decorations on.

BP613.jpg

SO I then glued all of the parts on with epoxy. Here’s a photo from the front and the rear. I debated on whether or not to make the lanterns on the corners straight or tilted, but decided tilting them gave them a more interesting appearance.

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I also spent some more time adding blocks to both the spars and the hull for the rigging. And then tied the rope walks along the yards.

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I’ve been avoiding it for a long time but it looks like I’m about to where I’m going to have to figure out what to do about the dead eyes, and doing the actual rigging.
 
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You’re doing a great job, Jodie. I wish you had finished before I did so I could get some tips from you.
Vic, I am a great benefactor to your work and certainly Jodie’s! I just asked him to keep the rigging input coming!:)Thumbsup
 
Vic, I am a great benefactor to your work and certainly Jodie’s! I just asked him to keep the rigging input coming!:)Thumbsup
He’s doing more than the kit requires already. I stuck with the kit and gained some valuable experience. Now I can advance to the next level. The kit doesn’t have the walk ropes that the sailors stand on to haul up the sails. I improvised some, but Jodie’s look more realistic. Also, he will probably run out of blocks unless he has a stash. He appears to be using more than I. I will probably have to buy more myself for my Soleil since I plan on doing more rigging than the kit.
 
Excellent progress your lanterns are much better than the ones on the golden edition, I like the carvings they really stand out. The hardest part of rigging is starting it, I found it very slow going to begin with but it does get easier with experience.
 
He’s doing more than the kit requires already. I stuck with the kit and gained some valuable experience. Now I can advance to the next level. The kit doesn’t have the walk ropes that the sailors stand on to haul up the sails. I improvised some, but Jodie’s look more realistic. Also, he will probably run out of blocks unless he has a stash. He appears to be using more than I. I will probably have to buy more myself for my Soleil since I plan on doing more rigging than the kit.
I completely agree with you, Vic. Jody @MystRacing going above and beyond bashing this kit to the death... ;) This is actually all about having fun and joy from the build. Great attention to detail, which triggers the 'WOW' factor.
 
I completely agree with you, Vic. Jody @MystRacing going above and beyond bashing this kit to the death... ;) This is actually all about having fun and joy from the build. Great attention to detail, which triggers the 'WOW' factor.
Jimsky I feel the beauty of these kits is the ability to apply your own imagination and vision to what may or could have been in these fictional ships. Unlike Doc Paul, whose incredible build of the Vasa is a true work of art and as close to accurate to the real deal, I find that these fictional Pirate ship kits open up our minds to a time when the World was so new to exploration. While we may have not lived as long in those days, the excitement of discovery surely beats the ho-hum media we get our info from today. In a way, our ships reflect the spirit of yesteryear and a time when so much was new and exciting. Beats wokeness! ThumbsupJust a lot of fun!:D
 
Jimsky I feel the beauty of these kits is the ability to apply your own imagination and vision to what may or could have been in these fictional ships. Unlike Doc Paul, whose incredible build of the Vasa is a true work of art and as close to accurate to the real deal, I find that these fictional Pirate ship kits open up our minds to a time when the World was so new to exploration. While we may have not lived as long in those days, the excitement of discovery surely beats the ho-hum media we get our info from today. In a way, our ships reflect the spirit of yesteryear and a time when so much was new and exciting. Beats wokeness! ThumbsupJust a lot of fun!:D
I am totally in sync with your thoughts. Whether she a fictional ship or famous, modern or old, building the kit straight from the box will give you satisfaction without questions. :cool: But if you fabricate the parts yourself, or simply upgrade existing parts, will bring you to a totally different level of satisfaction. This is where the real fun begins.
 
I am totally in sync with your thoughts. Whether she a fictional ship or famous, modern or old, building the kit straight from the box will give you satisfaction without questions. :cool: But if you fabricate the parts yourself, or simply upgrade existing parts, will bring you to a totally different level of satisfaction. This is where the real fun begins.
Whatever floats your boat as the saying goes! No matter what course you sail, having fun and enjoyment brings a high level of satisfaction to each builder!
 
Thanks for the likes guys. I'm one of those people that actually likes doing the rigging. I just don't like the way the deadeyes are attached on this ship in it's stock configuration. It's a bit of a puzzle how to attach the wire where there isn't any support underneath. Also weather to try and do a loop or a hook where there are supports under it. Then there's the issue of the PE brass being to thin for this scale of model. It's just a preference thing I know 4 different ways to go about this just working on which one I want to go with. There's a huge variation in mostly the time it takes between the different methods.
 
Thanks for the likes guys. I'm one of those people that actually likes doing the rigging. I just don't like the way the deadeyes are attached on this ship in it's stock configuration. It's a bit of a puzzle how to attach the wire where there isn't any support underneath. Also weather to try and do a loop or a hook where there are supports under it. Then there's the issue of the PE brass being to thin for this scale of model. It's just a preference thing I know 4 different ways to go about this just working on which one I want to go with. There's a huge variation in mostly the time it takes between the different methods.
As a 1st time builder, most would think I was nuts to spend $500+ on a “toy”. Funny, as I have progressed over the last four months, my friends and family members are like “wow”. Now, they keep wanting for me to have it finished yesterday….ha! I agree Jodie, the detail and possibilities are really endless in all these ships, it really becomes a question of how much time and effort do you want to invest. Personally, I’m surprised I made it this far, but I have other interests too! So it’s not about when I finish, but am I having fun with it! I’m so glad that I can follow your lead! You are my mentor here and I have no problem with the path you choose!:D:D:Do_O:D
 
Thanks for the info on the lanterns. Just in time for me as I am working on them today. Still playing with ideas so any input is valued. The lights on the golden version are definitely not as nice.
 
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